“Mayor Brooks, Jason Statham served Paladia with his blood and spirit! You have to hand over the culprit and let us sanction him, or else you will be hearing from the officials of Paldia!” At Lilyrose Detention Center, a man with a golden mane and beard was shouting at Johnson, exerting his superiority over the mayor. The man was Harrison Ford, the consul of Paladia. It was right then he received a call from Danny. Harrison was stunned when he heard Danny’s plea before he shouted back angrily. “Danny, you fucking bastard! You must have gotten in trouble and said those words to piss me off! An Arcadian monkey wants me to kneel and apologize? You fucking liar, I will kill you!” Harrison did not believe a word Danny said because it was impossible. “Harrison, stop shouting with that mouth of yours. Do you want to be the first consul of Paladia who dies in Arcadia?” Then, another voice came through the phone. The person gave him a death threat, which ignited the explosive
“Darcy, that’s what you get for indulging that idiot. He’s putting your whole family in trouble now. “If I were you, I would cut ties with him right away,” Adam told Darcy curtly.Pale in the face, Darcy said desperately, “Come on, Kaze. Let’s just go back to Horizon Mirror.” That was the only solution she could think of. With the chief commander’s guards on duty, Harrison, consul or not, would think twice before barging into the area. Nevertheless, that was just a quick fix to buy time before the entire issue was resolved. “Don’t be scared, babe. We’re not going anywhere. We will wait here for Harrison’s apology,” Kaze said with a smile while squeezing her hand. Darcy was lost for words. To think Kaze still smiled after landing himself in hot water. Gritting her teeth, she stayed put with Kaze. She was the chairman of two major corporations, and Kaze was the CEO of Hudson Investment firm. They were not vulnerable or powerless. In the worst-case scenario, they would
“Thump!” Behind Harrison, a dozen of his crew kneeled together with him. “Um…” The spectacle threw everybody else for a loop. It was unbelievable. Harrison, the consul of Paladia, kneeled before Kaze instead of getting even with him. Many rubbed their eyes, wondering if their eyes deceived them. “That’s impossible!” Danny yelled horrifically, and his despair was clear in his voice. His life was over at that point. Harrison was a national hero. As the consul, he represented Paladia.Yet, he was quick to kneel before Kaze. “How could that be? How did it happen? Who the hell are you?” Sherry freaked out. Paladia was the land she had always wanted to be in. Her biggest dream was to get a green card and immigrate there. She did not believe Arcadian men were good enough for her. Sure, Sherry was involved with some men, but she only saw them as tools for her own gains. Yet now, Kaze crushed Danny, the pseudo-aristocrat, while Harrison, a consul, groveled at Kaze
“Argh!” Danny yelled in agony. No Arcadians on the scene pitied him. If not for Harrison, they would not have known that Danny turned to Arcadia to scam the people because he could not make a living in Paladia. Their cheeks burned with shame as they defended Danny when Kaze called him trash. Adam was upset. He sucked up to Danny moments ago. Smack!Bam!Harrison roughed Danny up, only stopping once he believed Danny had enough. Danny sank to the ground without the energy to scream anymore. His eyes bulged resentfully at Kaze. Danny could not understand why Harrison would revere Kaze. He was not the only one puzzled. No one could figure the situation out. Everybody wondered if Kaze was more than he let out to be. Nevertheless, the fact that Harrison, the Paladian Consul General, was so intimidated by Kaze and considered him to be on the same level as the Queen of Paladia was beyond the imagination of those present.“Are you happy with that, sir? If not, I don’
Harrison represented Paladia, and the last thing he wanted was for the embarrassing incident to become public knowledge. Besides, Harrison knew how to take a hint. Since no one seemed to be aware of Kaze’s identity, Harrison understood that Kaze preferred to keep a low profile. Hence, Harrison was sure Kaze would not want word to get out either. Everybody was too scared to make the incident public. They would not be able to make the consul apologize on his knees like Kaze. Once Harrison was gone, the crowd was relieved and looked at Kaze with complex emotions. The man who took his wife’s last name sure gave everybody something to think about tonight. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lee, Ms. Quint. I want to apologize for my earlier disrespect. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge. I hope you can forgive me.” Many who took jabs at Kaze and Darcy moments earlier came seeking forgiveness. Those who took things too far even kneeled on the ground. The consul of Paladia had dropped to
Adam’s mind wandered back to the recent event. Sure enough, Kaze said something vaguely on the phone which scared Harrison to apologize on his knees. The whole thing was absurd and defied common sense. Besides, Darcy tried to drag Kaze to take cover in Horizon Mirror in case of an act of revenge. The chief commander placed the area under heavy guard. Chief Commander Lang was the God of War’s right-hand man. In other words, Darcy’s family had gotten into the habit of using the God of War’s name to get what they wanted. “That bastard! How dare he lie to me!” Adam was furious to be fooled. “Do you get it now, Adam?” George burst out laughing and said, “Just turn up the heat on the idiot to release Cosmo and make a personal apology. “He has less than an hour left in the three-day time limit. “We will not allow the idiot to ask for more time. “I will try and get in touch with Harrison to expose Kaze’s lies.“My family and I won’t have to lift a finger because the
“You’re asking for it, bastard!” Adam heaved angrily because Kaze was not in despair despite his exposed lies. “I’m telling you now, Kaze. The Lees are in contact with Harrison about you posing as the God of War.“If you don’t want Harrison to kill you, you should wise up in letting Cosmo go and apologizing to the Lees in person. “They might just save you since you were part of the family.” Adam then turned to Darcy. “Your idiot husband can’t think straight. You should talk some sense into him before he harms your entire family.” “Kaze, maybe you should release Cosmo.” Darcy gave Kaze a yank. She did not want to see Kaze confront a mammoth presence like the Lees. Harrison was a terrifying figure, but he was a foreigner without strong ties to Arcadia. The Lees were a different story. As an affluent family, the Lee family was well-established and connected. They had many ways to hurt them. Kaze sighed. “I don’t want to fight the Lees, but they won’t get off my back
Adam was stunned. Kaze’s way of thinking was too complex for Adam to grasp.Before Adam could say anything, Kaze told Johnson, “Ask Harrison for a little favor, Johnson. “You work for the government, so it won’t look good on you to take the law into your own hands.” Adam smirked in rage. “Kaze, the Lees have exposed your lies to Harrison. I can’t believe you expect Harrison to do your bidding. “He might be on his way back to kill you.” “We shall wait and see.” Kaze smiled. Back in Lilyrose Detention Center, Harrison went through the formalities for Jason’s and his crew’s release. He received a phone call when leading them out of the detention center. “Hello, Mr. Ford. I’m George, the head of the Lee family.” Knowing who George was, Harrison said courteously, “What can I do for you, Mr. Lee?” “Here’s the thing. I need to tell you something, Mr. Ford.“The young man you met at the hotel tonight is Kaze Lee. You thought he was the God of War and kneeled before him.
Snow had already sent men to where the plane was found. If the passengers were taken away, then they must still be nearby. It was difficult to transport an entire plane of passengers to some place far within such a short time. It was a race against time. Snow did not know who would do such a thing. Kaze took a common flight like everyone else, yet it was hijacked. It was strange. The coincidence was uncanny. Snow believed the hijacking happened because of Kaze but she did not know why. “The only explanation is that there’s a traitor among us…” She finally came to an unlikely conclusion after combing through the details. If there were a traitor, it must be within the Viper’s Den. Kaze had laid a low profile for as long as he was in Butterworth. Not many people knew about his identity and those who wanted to make connections with him were because of Snow. It was unlikely that someone would go after him so suddenly unless this person knew his identity and background.
If they were sent to capture Kaze, then they were severely under-numbered. In addition, they allowed Kaze to be alone with the captives, which proved that they were inexperienced. Or maybe they did not know what he had done in the past as the God of War. Kaze believed that the mercenaries were after him but they did not know his true identity. There must have been some miscommunication between them and their employer, which was good news to Kaze. Tiguan and his men were eating. Since they were unable to identify the target, they were forced to bring everyone back. The plane was huge. It would be an easy target for the law enforcement to locate them. Maybe the outside world had caught wind of the hijacking. “Boss, what should we do now? That man seems like he vanished into thin air.” “We got his boarding information but we can’t identify him on the plane.” “Who are we looking for exactly? Why is he so mysterious?” The men were baffled. “We are looking for the righ
“We are almost there. We have to transfer these people as soon as possible. The plane must take off right away. We cannot leave any traces behind.” They must hurry or they would be caught very soon. They held the pilot hostage and forced him to do an abrupt landing. The sudden descent caught everyone off guard, shocking them. A few of the passengers even hit their heads. Many of them did not get the chance to fasten their seat belts. Kaze grabbed Barney and protected his head from hitting the front seat. “Thank you.” Barney looked at Kaze with gratitude and then looked outside. “Where are we? Have we reached?” He was worried that they would be completely trapped. “They are going to transfer us elsewhere.” Kaze had a similar experience before and he knew what the hijackers would do next. “Transfer us? Are they going to transfer us to somewhere secluded and kill us all?” Barney looked horrified as he stared at Kaze. He somehow felt safe beside Kaze. “They sai
With trains, there was still an option to jump out. However, everybody was sitting ducks in a plane. Kaze had always been sensitive when it came to safety. He had a sinking feeling in his gut as if something was about to happen. He turned his head back to observe the plane’s interior. Several passengers stood up in the business class section. Strangely, these people were seated separately. However, they seemed to know each other. They exchanged glances as if searching for something. Finding the whole thing bizarre, Kaze observed them. Those passengers went straight into the air stewardesses’ compartment and disappeared out of Kaze’s sight. Kaze could not shake off the eerie feeling. Something was off. He looked back, and several more rose to their feet. These individuals were young but toned. They likely underwent some form of specialized training. Kaze had a bad feeling. Trouble was brewing, and the plane was likely being hijacked. “Why are you looking around? Is
“I see. What bad timing.” Katie was a little disappointed to learn that Kaze had left, but in a way, she was relieved. She had gotten on Kaze’s nerves, and he could turn around and make things difficult for her. Now that Kaze was gone, Katie got to keep her job. She did not have to fear Kaze’s retaliation. The news caught Leah off guard. “Why did he leave without saying goodbye? I didn’t even thank him yet.” Leah had a hard time digesting the news. She had been waiting for a chance to show her gratitude to Kaze and see him again. He was out of her life before she could do anything about it. “I’m sorry. Chairman Lee’s departure was unplanned.” Snow put on a professional smile, appearing friendly and distant. “Please present the gifts to him for us if you can. We are grateful for Mr. Lee’s help.” Katie was annoyed that Leah could not spend time with Kaze. The bond could help with her career. Kaze’s departure cost Katie an opportunity, but there was no point in dwel
“Now that’s the spirit. You can’t take every matter into your own hands. You’re a leader now. You should put the right people in the right jobs.” Feeling relieved, May nodded. “Where’s the guy? I have been wanting to meet him. I missed the chance when I was unconscious.” May came over right away just to score a chance to see Kaze. Kaze saved her life, but she did not have the chance to thank him in person. “I set the date. We’re seeing him tomorrow afternoon. Let’s freshen up. I’m taking you home to rest.” With a time in place, Snow had to get ready. May nodded. The pair returned to the mansion where they felt at home. Even though it had been a while since their return, nothing had changed. “Did Jet say anything when he stepped down?” May was clueless on the specifics. “He went mad and ran out. I get this uneasy feeling, but I can’t locate him anywhere.” Snow was concerned. Jet, as witty as he was, likely played up his meltdown. It was a shame that Jet got aw
“I have pointed you in a direction. If you still can’t trust your team, you can go to the Viper’s Den.“There’s one thing, though. Don’t rely too heavily on the Viper’s Den, or your company will be left without secrets.” Kaze’s suggestion gave Snow assurance. She considered tapping into the Viper’s Den’s resources. However, Kaze warned her against excessive dependence. “Why did you say that, Chairman Lee? Will the Viper’s Den stab me in the back?” Surely, the Viper’s Den took orders from Kaze. The Viper’s Den would always be an ally so long as Kaze was the branch leader. “I just don’t want you to put too much faith in others. You find loyalty by developing your own team. Those who revere me will never trust you completely.” Kaze analyzed the situation. Snow ate her supper and looked at Kaze in confusion. “You can only count on the people you win over. You can’t trust anyone else, and that includes me.” Kaze would never hurt Snow. However, he hoped that she would fin
“As you said, all is in the past. What’s the point of dwelling on it?” Leah perked up. Such was life, but it took her too long to understand the harsh reality. She guessed things were just not meant to be. “I’ll think about what to get Kaze. Rest well. We’ll visit him in a few days.” Taking the matter seriously, Katie wanted to get gifts ready ahead of time to thank Kaze. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do too. I want to be in touch with the outside world. I don’t care what they have to say. This is not my fault. I won’t blame myself.” Leah wanted her phone back to contact her former friends. Ultimately, she needed to move forward instead of backward. She had to face and fight back the rumors with courage. It was the crucial step to kick trauma in the face. The abduction was kept hush-hush for the most part, but Katie’s frantic search for her daughter at the cocktail party did not go unnoticed. Hearing about the incident, the influential people were keen to find out
“When did Kaze start setting it all up? I get the feeling that everybody played into his hands right from the start, and he had controlled every step of the way.” Leah realized that Kaze was an amazing man. Nothing could go past his eyes. “I don’t know.” Katie feared someone like Kaze. She would not be caught dead near him. Even when grasping the situation, Katie dared not look into Kaze for fear she would be targeted. Katie was careful not to show her face around Kaze. For all she knew, Kaze might get back at her. “But he came to Butterworth alone. We met at the train station, and he helped me out of a bad situation.” Leah felt warm and cozy inside just remembering the events. They did not know each other then. Kaze was kind to help a stranger out. From then on, Kaze could do no wrong in Leah’s eyes. Leah befriended him and found him nice. Her interest in him grew. They also got along well. Her memories of Kaze were sweet. Anyone could hurt her in the world, but