“I want the bastard’s wife to kneel and grovel before me,” Yume said coldly as rage consumed her. Even Lyn and the others shuddered in fear. They had never seen Yume hold such a huge grudge against an individual. “Yume, Darcy’s the chairwoman of two major corporations. I heard that your father values her talent. He wants her to embrace the Vinlands and take care of your family business in the future. Aren’t you afraid that you might tick your father off?” Juno said worriedly. Although they were friends with Yume, Hudson appeared intimidating to them. Even their fathers trembled in the presence of Hudson. “My dad’s just lying to her.” Yume scoffed and revealed the truth. “My dad wants to trick Darcy into changing her last name. Once she becomes a Vinland, she would have to hand over her assets, and we will gain control over her.” Juno and the others felt chills down their spines. Hudson was long known for his scheming, but Yume’s minions were witnessing it for the fi
Yume’s domineering tyranny came unexpectedly. She slapped the female employee in public. “W-Why did you attack me?” The female employee put her hand over her swollen cheek and glared at Yume. Smack! Yume struck again. “Who do you think you are? I’m a member of the prestigious Vinland family. So what if I hit you?” “Being in a prestigious family doesn’t give you a right to attack anybody.” The female staff member covered her face and wailed. The other employees were frightened. Word had gone around of the Vinlands’ takeover of the city. They had felt nothing before. However, Yume just went into full-on tyrant mode.“So what if you’re a Vinland? It doesn’t give you the right to hit anybody.” “That’s right. Call security. Get this crazy, assaulting woman out of here. Call the cops too. We can’t let her attack our colleague.” The few employees were furious. Startled by the commotion, Quartet Group’s security personnel rushed over. “Regardless of the reason,
“And you are?” Darcy frowned. Master Quint said, “That’s the daughter of your grandmother’s brother, Yume. She’s your distant aunt.” Darcy’s eyes burned with rage. Yume was so arrogant. When nothing went her way, Yume ordered her men to break Lucas’ rib. However, Yume belonged to the prestigious Vinland family. Darcy drew a deep breath to calm herself before speaking solemnly to her employees in the back, “Dial the emergency line now. Lucas and the others need medical care now.” Yume did not stop Darcy. Instead, she looked Darcy in the eye and said, “I need a word with you, Darcy.” “What do you want?” Darcy swallowed her anger and asked. The grimace on Darcy’s face did not sit well with Yume. Yume’s eyes grew stern. “I’m your aunt, Darcy. Watch your tone when you speak with me.” “You came to my workplace for no reason and ordered your people to break my employee’s rib. What tone are you expecting?” Darcy’s tone was strained with tension. While she had her mis
“Ah!” The security officer let out a heart-wrenching cry. “Stop, you animal!” the employees of Quartet Group shouted angrily.Yume burst out laughing. “Darcy, as the chairwoman of the company, you won’t want all your employees to get broken ribs, right?” Her gaze fell on the security officers on the ground and the other employees. Archie approached the next security guard. With tears in her eyes, Darcy shouted in rage, “Tell him to stop, and I’ll go with you.” “Now that’s a good chairwoman.” Yume clapped and said, “Take her with us.” “Ms. Quint, don’t give them anything.” The employees panicked. “Take them to the hospital for immediate treatment now.” Darcy wiped her tears off and walked out. “Come on.” Yume left with a smirk. Lyn, Juno, and the others followed in the back. Master Quint and the other former Quint family members tagged along apprehensively. The employees of Quartet Group were left to dwell in their angst. “What do we do? The woman is wic
“Darcy, Hudson said that you will take over the Vinlands’ business once you become part of the family.” Master Quint tried to convince Darcy earnestly. “Hudson is now in charge of Quintessential Group. You’re so naïve.” Darcy said committedly, “Stop trying to talk me into it. It’s pointless. I’m a Quint and will always be.” “Darcy, you…” Master Quint panicked. “Get out of the way, loser.” Yume pushed Master Quint away, pointed at Darcy, and said sternly, “You are so disrespectful, Darcy. Your grandfather asked you to change your last name, but you defied him.” She raised her voice. The commotion caught the attention of many onlookers. “Oh, that’s Darcy. She’s the chairwoman of Quartet Group and Sky Ocean Corporation.” “What happened? Is she changing her last name too?” “Didn’t you hear? Her grandfather wanted her to change her last name, but she refused.” “Fuck. That family is just a pain in the neck. They could just drop their own last name, but why did they ha
Swoosh! As the whip cracked, everybody could not bear to watch and closed their eyes.Darcy shivered, her skin going numb. She soon found it strange. She felt no pain. She opened her eyes and saw an arm, its grip clutched to the whip, stretching across her eyes. “Kaze!” Darcy cried. Her tone said it all. Her pent-up emotions opened the floodgate of her tears. “Kaze!” Yume gritted her teeth and said maliciously, “How dare you show your face.” “I didn’t think you’d keep digging your grave.” Kaze’s tone was icy. “You’re the one digging your grave. Now, let go!” Yume screamed while tugging the whip, but her strap remained tight in Kaze’s grip. Kaze gave a yank, and the whip handle tore out of Yume’s grasp. “Ah!” Squealing from the burning sensation in her palms, Yume threw the whip aside. A bloody cut ran through her soft palm. Kaze grabbed the handle of the whip and looked at the two men restraining Darcy. “Let her go.” Archie smirked in disdain. “Who
“Save me!” Yume yelled frantically while holding onto the whip around her neck, trying to break free. “Let go of Ms. Vinland, boy!”Her two other bodyguards ganged up on Kaze with an angry scream. Kaze released the whip around Yume’s neck with ease before cracking it again. The two bodyguards were each struck in the face. Their weight in the 100-pound range was thrown by the impact. It was a horrifying sight. Everybody looked at Kaze in horror. Was he even human? “Woah! Is the guy a pirate? He’s good with the whip.” In the crowd, a little boy clapped enthusiastically, but his parents quickly dragged him away. The gory scene was too hard to swallow. Still, the public felt that justice had been served, seeing how Yume and her party behaved earlier. “I warned you to stay away from my wife, Yume,” Kaze said curtly while snapping the whip at Yume. Yume’s mangled flesh peeked through the shreds of her clothes.“How dare you whip me, Kaze! My dad will get even with
“I think Kaze has been pretty tolerant with us in the past,” Rudy said, his lips quivering. Master Quint and the former Quints turned ashen without a word. They were startled by Kaze’s aggression and heartlessness. Compared to what Yume and her minions experienced, Kaze had been more than kind toward them. “Call the emergency line now. Get Ms. Vinland to the hospital. Hudson is going to blow up when he learns what happened to his daughter.” Master Quint sighed. “Kaze is a bastard. He is putting Hector and the others in danger.” Everybody was horrified. Before, the former Quints would gloat about the misfortune of Hector’s family. That was the last thing on their minds now. They felt uneasy. Only God knew whether Hudson would put the former Quints down when taking revenge on Darcy’s family. Yume and the others were admitted to the hospital. Close to ten of them were covered in blood and broken flesh. The individuals with the most severe injuries were the bodygu
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