All the soldiers on the scene fell silent. It was brutal out there on the foreign battlefield, and Draco had the battle scars to prove it. “Get dressed.” Kaze waved his arm and said, “You saw it. Your chief commander is single to this day for fear of scaring the women when he takes his clothes off.” It sounded like teasing. However, it was no laughing matter. “The battlefield is not a place for easy fame or fortune. It’s a dangerous and challenging place where you must be prepared to risk your life.“Let me put it out there now. If you’re looking for a career that will make you rich and famous, this isn’t the place for you. The door is right there if hard work and danger scare you.” Kaze said his piece and walked away. Back on the training grounds, the soldiers stood at attention for a long time. The silence lingered. “That’s so uncool, Boss. Now the kids have seen me naked. There goes my reputation.” Draco put on his clothes and caught up to Kaze. He removed
“Come on. I’ll give you a tour of the military base. I made a formal request, so you won’t be arrested over it.” Draco patted Sky’s head. He warmed up to Sky because of the latter’s relationship with Kaze. Sky was now a younger brother to Draco. “Thank you, Draco, for saving us.” Sky was relieved, but a wave of anxiety quickly washed over him. “What about Kaze, Draco? Did he commit a serious offense?” “I doubt he has done anything,” Draco replied peevishly. Rose asked, “Why did the disciplinary commission approach him?” “They just want to get an understanding of the situation,” Draco murmured randomly. “So Kaze blew the whistle on all of us. That’s why we were arrested!” Landon’s eyes bulged. Draco glared at him. “Show some respect to Kaze or I’ll hit you.” Out of the three kids, Landon was the most annoying. Landon turned pale and kept to himself. Sky said, “Oh, I get it. Kaze reported those people from affluent families to get them arrested, so they can’
“I say when it’s over. I’m going to make the bastard who hit me pay.” “I am Zephyr Garland, the son of the South River State’s governor. You have a lot to answer for after beating me up,” one of the young men clamored. Despite his upbringing in politics, Zephyr made a threat. He was equally punished like the rest of the group. As a known gentleman in the South River State, he had never been so insulted. Kaze said indifferently, “Zephyr, should I call your dad to pick you up?” “Who do you think you are? My dad is too busy to take time out of his day to deal with this. I demand an apology from Draco now.” Zephyr looked at Kaze in disdain. Like Draco, Loid was a regional commander. Loid ran the state while Draco oversaw the military. They were not in the same administration. It was challenging to ascertain who held the higher rank.“Did you take part in the selection, Hank?” Harry yelled toward the office door. He saw Hank entering the disciplinary commission bure
“Kaze, you are a vile man!” “Doomsday is ahead of you, Kaze. The Duncans will make you pay. It’s not over between us either. It’s too late to grovel and beg for forgiveness now.” Even though Hank was a rival in love, the group of wealthy youngsters felt bad for his predicament. They hated Kaze’s guts.“Your families can come after me with everything they have.” Kaze shook his head, unbothered to waste his time on these idiots. He waved his arm at the member of the disciplinary commission. “Put them behind bars since they don’t want to leave. They can go, but their fathers have to bail them out.” He then took off. “Who do you think you are, Kaze? I’ll be released when my dad makes the call to Draco.” Zephyr was livid. The others were the same. They believed Kaze was humiliating them intentionally. With that, the group made up their mind to get even with him once they got out. Kaze left the disciplinary commission bureau and met up with Draco who was taking Sky, Ro
Kaze looked at the group who were pushing Shangrila Group employees out. He said curtly, “Tell these people to stop and leave right now.” “You’re a loser, Kaze. Who are you to tell me to leave?” Winston grimaced. Smack!Kaze hit him to the ground. “Is the slap good enough for you?” “You!”Winston cried out in pain and glared at Kaze with his hand over his cheek. In the end, he got scared. “Come on!” He got up from the ground and beckoned to his men to leave. Before leaving, he turned around and put his finger up Kaze’s nose. “Just you wait. Once these young masters are back, I’ll crush you.” “Get lost,” Kaze responded. Winston scoffed resentfully and stormed off. Relieved, Winnie said, “We wanted to review the financial statements, but Winston won’t let us. I suspect we might have a problem.” “It’s okay. Go on and make the necessary reviews. The lapdog will be back.” Kaze knew Winston would not back down, but the latter was no threat. Winnie nodded and l
Winston arrived outside the conference room and saw Kaze sitting on the chair in the middle with his legs crossed. He was smoking and fiddling with his phone away. Thud! Winston kicked the door and shouted, “Kaze, the father of the young masters are here. You better get up and grovel now.” He glared at Kaze cockily. Winston failed to notice the discoloration of the group’s faces in the back. Lifting his chin, Kaze looked over. “Oh, I see,” Kaze responded nonchalantly before turning his focus back on his phone. “The nerve of you, Kaze.” Winston’s eyes bulged. “The governor is here, and so are the heads of many prominent families. Why are you still seated—” “Can you shut up?” Suddenly, Loid’s chilling voice came from the back. Winston shuddered. He wanted to slap himself. It was not Winston’s place to talk in the governor’s presence. “I’m sorry, Governor…” He scooted to the side and apologized embarrassedly. Without looking at Winston, Loid took strides to K
Kaze did not want unnecessary trouble. Now that the group knew of his residence in Lilyrose, they might pop by for a visit. When his cover was nearly blown, the Quints could sell a seat for millions. The likelihood of the group approaching to befriend Kaze was high. Hence, Kaze put the word out there. “Don’t worry, Sir. Mum’s the word,” Loid said with a nod. Shocked, the other family heads swore up and down that they would breathe a word about him. Thump! Once Loid and his party were gone, Winston fell to his knees. He sprawled across the floor and crawled to Kaze on his knees. “I was wrong, Kaze. I should’ve known better. I was a snob. I deserved to be punished,” Winston wailed while slapping his own face. The loud commotion startled Winnie and the others. They came over to the office and caught sight of the unbelievable scene. Shangrila Group employees, Winnie included, widened their eyes. What was going on? A minute ago, Winston was cocky and vowed to crush
Out of the dozen young masters, Harry was most persistent in pursuing Yume. He was most earnest and eager to seek justice for Yume in Lilyrose. Knowing how Harry felt, Yume took Harry’s affection for granted. She never minced her words in Harry’s presence. Once the call connected, she grilled him gruesomely. Her group of suitors left Lilyrose without informing her. “I have a family emergency. I need to get home quickly, Yume.” Harry was in the car, on his way back to Takeno City. Yume was not having it. “What can be more important than standing up for me and finishing Kaze off?” “I really do have an emergency, Yume. A word of advice—you should stay away from the Go… Kaze.” Harry gave her the heads-up. Now that Harry knew who Kaze was, there was no chance Yume could get even with him. “What’s the meaning of this, Harry? Kaze slapped me right in front of you! I can’t believe you would take his side,” Yume shrieked angrily. Harry uttered, “Don’t say that about him. H
With the secret out in the open, the housekeeper dropped his attitude. He pointed at the basement not too far away. “My employer is in there.” The housekeeper grimaced and kept his head down. Kaze laughed. Unaware of his impending doom, Perry was still living it up. It was absurd. Perry was playing with fire by hurting Leah. “About time you wise up.” Arthur smiled and patted the housekeeper’s face. He opened the door to the basement. Kaze walked to the bar counter and picked up the best bottle of champagne there. He fiddled with the bottle before carrying it to the basement. The other Viper’s Den members followed him. Kaze took a stride down the steps, to the basement. The noisy music was blasting before they reached the entry. Kaze was filled with a mix of emotions. Nevertheless, he said nothing. He opened the door and walked in. The light in the basement was bright, making everything perfectly clear. However, the people inside were not bothered by the
“You know him. It’s Perry Duncan, Leah’s ex-boyfriend.” Snow did not see the point of hiding the truth, so she laid everything out. “Leah must be feeling foul because she was unaware that she was being stalked. By the time she realized what was going on, she was taken into a vehicle. “We spotted the vehicle they departed in from the surveillance footage. They headed to the mountain up north.” Snow had a general idea of the location. “I got Arthur on the job. He’s putting up a team from the Viper’s Den.” Snow was uncertain of Kaze’s stance toward Leah, but now that she was made aware of the situation, the least she could do was help. Katie belonged to the Viper’s Den, so Snow was lending a hand to a friend in business. “Thank you. Please save my daughter.” Katie was nervous. The Viper’s Den was the people she could count on. “Arthur is good, but he’s slow. I’ll do it,” Kaze said. The whole thing was unrelated to him. Kaze was well within his right to stand on the si
Even so, Elsie was out to get Leah. Elsie could pick up on Perry’s delight when she took a swing at Leah. Poor Elsie was just trying to survive by catering to others. People like her learned to pick up social cues and read body language to please customers for money in return. Their income would double if their customers were happy. Leah was the obstacle. If the women could not get rid of her, they would lose their profit. They had no hard feelings for Leah, but they stood on opposing ends. “You should be fawning over Mr. Duncan, not begging me,” Elsie said while grabbing Leah’s hair to pull her up. Leah snatched Elsie’s wrist to try and break free. “Let me go. I never did anything to you.” Leah was no doormat. She did not want to cross these people or get involved with them. She still hoped that by waiting here, her prince would arrive to save her. However, all she got was a cruel beating, and she had enough. “This isn’t my fault. Blame Mr. Duncan for your cir
Leah had not had it easy these recent days. However, she had learned to be submissive and give in. It never occurred to her that Perry would do this to her. After repeated beatings, she quickly wised up. “Mr. Duncan, why is this disgusting person here? She’s an eyesore.” Dressed in a red number, a woman with wavy hair sat next to Perry. She clung to Perry intimately. She spoke in a sultry and mesmerizing voice. “Oh, she’s just a bitch. “She got on my nerves, so I punished her. I’ll dump her once I’m bored with her.” Perry had the time of his life getting back at Leah. He got a kick out of it. However, he did not feel that it was enough. Every time he looked at his injured hand, his resentment toward Leah grew. “How did she upset you, Mr. Duncan?” Another lady extended her arms to knead Perry’s shoulders while gently murmuring into his ear. With women gathering and fussing over him, Perry felt his ego thoroughly stroked. He was thrilled. “Well, she doesn’t kno
Katie thought about everybody. Kaze was the odd one out, so he had to be the suspect. It made sense that Leah would elope with Kaze. “There must be some sort of misunderstanding. We can talk it out. Don’t do anything reckless.” Snow stopped Katie from doing anything extreme. “How could there be a misunderstanding? There can be no one else but him.” Katie was stubborn. “We can help with your daughter’s disappearance. You won’t get anywhere by picking on him.” Snow tried her best to defend Kaze. She would not let Kaze be hurt on her watch. Eager to find her daughter, Katie believed her suspicion to be the truth, and Kaze must have stashed her daughter somewhere. “I don’t have time to waste, but no one could’ve taken Leah away.” Katie was naїvely convinced that Kaze was behind it. Kaze had only just learned about Leah’s disappearance. It was quite late for Katie to finally look into the matter. “I didn’t take your daughter, but we can dig deeper into this.” Leah w
The blue gem necklace around Snow’s neck brought out her elegance and class. Snow was educated well. She carried herself with ease at the social event. She exchanged pleasantries with business partners and greeted them all. Snow shared a few drinks with several prominent families. Aloysius and her secretary stayed with her and drank on her behalf.The party was a success. Kaze held a glass of wine to sip in a corner. Snow’s brilliance was the assurance he needed. He did not have to worry about her leading the Frosts now. “I guess I was worried about nothing. I didn’t even have to be here. She has gotten everything covered.” Kaze was concerned about Snow because she had always been his assistant. He was apprehensive that Snow would have no control over her staff after her promotion. He even asked the Viper’s Den to lend a hand. Nevertheless, Snow did not let him down. She had done a great job. Kaze drank wine and enjoyed the music. Soon, men and women entered the
Aloysius looked at the business venture at hand with a mix of emotions. Jet was supposed to make a comeback with the project, but the defeat was a huge slap to his face. “Can I ask whether Kaze was behind this?” Aloysius braced himself to ask the question. Even though Aloysius had an inkling, he feared receiving confirmation of his suspicion. “Chairman Lee helped me. If Jet hadn’t hurt my mother, I wouldn’t have rushed back to take his place. “He did this to himself,” Snow said blatantly. “How did you know about the island project? We have been discreet about it.” Aloysius was eager to find out. The question would burn on his mind unless he got some answers. “You can’t keep anything from the Viper’s Den, but this is the end of the matter. If you’re interested in the project, I can put you in charge of it.” Snow could not be bothered to explain herself. Aloysius played it smart. He had been carrying out Snow’s orders without a hitch. Snow was happy to honor her prom
“Tell them that the company is expecting funding, and all the projects will be launched in a few days. Everything will be back on track. It’s a good thing that the higher management is gone. We will be opening the positions for internal employees to apply.” Snow got the right solution to handle the situation. She had to give these employees hope to gain their dedication in return. Aloysius was surprised. “Who would pour money in when our finances are in a mess?” Having worked with Jet, Aloysius had a good understanding of the company’s ins and outs. Several business ventures were up in the air, and the company was bleeding money. Even with a relaunch, these projects would not bring in much of a profit. Most importantly, the relaunch had to be backed up by some funding. The business got a loan from the Viper’s Den. If payment was not made in time, the company’s shares would be used to make up for the loss. The whole thing spelled trouble. Snow just joined the company.
“This is the financial report you submitted today. Any intern can do a better job than you.” Snow mocked Jack. She was disappointed in his performance. A finance director who could not even get his basics right should not be working in finance in the first place. “Who do you think you are, doing this to us?” The others are only out to save their own asses. They did not sympathize with Jack. “I’m sure you are well aware of what you have done.” “You’re on your phone all day at work. You put your daily expenses on the company card, and we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars a month. You only bought stuff for your personal use. “Let’s not forget about you. Your so-called business trips are to take your mistress out for expensive hotel stays and vacations.” Snow looked at each one of them while detailing their deeds. She shamed them in public, utterly humiliating them. “Why were these allowed before? Why are you stopping these practices now? If you can change