Envy. Pure, unadulterated envy, aimed at Zayn for being the son of a Saintess.Zayn had known nothing about Sicut In Caelo prior to this other than a vague description about how mysterious and powerful it was and the fact that his mother originated from there. But what exactly was Sicut In Caelo? Where was its headquarters?He had not a single inkling. But after his run-in with Miles’ older brother, Zayn had a vague, but good grasp of what Sicut In Caelo might be. From the sound of it, his mother’s pedigree was rather eminent, too—“Saintess” might very well likely be her designation rather than her codename.This cryptic organization just kept getting more and more intriguing the more he heard about it.His opponent turned out to have quite some vitality to spare, since he remained alive—coughing hard and looking as though he was hanging by a thread, but alive nonetheless—despite the life-endangering damages. He had lost the self-aggrandizing grandeur he first debuted with, though,
Of course, that was impossible. Zayn simply knocked Vulcan out. Murder was still a crime in the eyes of the law, so even if he wanted to kill the man, Zayn would not be so stupid as to murder him in front of a crowd.He turned back to the people gawking at him from behind and noted the gazes they shot him.It was how Faye and her family looked at him—it triggered a long, drawn-out sigh that he tried to stifle. He did not expect anything of what had happened to—well—happen, never in his wildest dreams. Then again, that is what life was. One could try their damnedest to map out a script of how their life should go, hunched over a large drawing board churning out contingency plan after contingency plan. Even after all of that, there was an element of chance and luck one could never account for.No one could be the sole master of their life. The future would always be uncertain, nebulous, and poorly-defined.Now that the impossible and unexpected had happened, regret had quickly become
Zayn had chosen Gordon’s help over Mr. Hyde’s for a very simple reason—he distrusted the man’s neutrality. It was hard to believe he would do things for Zayn’s favor when the former was, himself, a member of Sicut In Caelo. It would not be surprising if the man let Vulcan go because of this connection, and as someone who was exacting as he was meticulous, Zayn would definitely not allow room for errors.He would, however, allow a degree of leeway to poor Skye Carter, whose sanity seemed just a bit too close to snapping. In a moment of pity, he let her go.Now that he tied every loose knot, Zayn could finally give himself a breather. His battle with Vulcan had exhausted too much of his strength and energy that he was starting to feel the creeping signs of fatigue.He turned, locking his eyes with Faye and her family’s distant—and almost fearful—gaze and feeling a pang of unhappiness from the way they looked at him.“Since your house’s a bit of a mess right now, why don’t you come an
Ruby’s feelings had always been largely defined by her vanity, so the fulsome attention immediately made her feel like she was at the height of her life, basking in the adulation reserved for the queen of the world. Even those rich housewives who used to look down on her had come rushing to talk to her without a shred of condescension. How could life be any better by this point?!She had sunken completely into the high of having her vain ego pampered and massaged the moment she lived in a luxury villa. In fact, it was enough to make her forget Zayn’s incident—and all the terror of it—completely.Waine could not contain himself from trying as soon as he saw how much glamor his wife managed to net. He broadcasted similar pictures to his social media account and immediately received a whirlwind of adulations and attention. So many people had come in and voiced their jealousy! So many had invited him for meals and hangouts too, just so they could take a peek at their seven million dollar
Faye had known the truth even before Zayn’s confirmation. However, that did not take away the earthquake it brought her from hearing it. It felt like the entirety of her mental landscape had been flipped upside down. It felt like someone had broken the glass container that housed her fragile heart, and now all of her emotions were broken out and running free, assaulting her heart and mind however they liked.She opened her mouth to form a reply, but her words failed her. There were no words in her head—only loud, confused buzzing.Then came images of the past sallying into her mind’s eye like tides. The first time she met the chairman of Violet Vision, when she was all alone in the building. How Sean Wilson, CEO, treated her with respect without showing a sign of exploitation or harassment. How he had looked so eager to ingratiate himself on her, if not outright apprehensive about her, before sending her to the chairman’s office.The man had worn a mask to cover his real face. He ha
Happiness had come to him in such a short notice that even a simple response to it had become baffling. Zayn’s blithe wasted no time climbing up his spine and colonizing his brain in a wild, maddening frenzy; he even started feeling a little lightheaded.Faye watched him staring blankly ahead without any answer and gave a loud harrumph. “What, you don’t want to agree to it? Well, okay. We’ll call this off!”Zayn snapped back to reality and finally answered quickly, “Of course I agree to it! There's no way I would disagree! How could I possibly not agree?!”Faye’s jubilance blossomed into the most beautiful, radiant smile possible on Earth. It even seemed to eclipse everything else under the sun with its sheer brilliance—and Zayn watched, enthralled and completely hypnotized, murmuring under his breath, “God, Fifi. You’re beautiful.”Faye did not hide the glee of hearing him say that, though she did return a bashful “stop it, dummy!” to the mesmerized man.It was the happiest day i
Vulcan had lost all manners of that holy, out-of-this-world aura about him; he no longer had the look of a higher being gazing upon his mortal inferiors. By now, he looked no different from a human prisoner—or if one wanted to be more accurate, a pauper. His clothes were dirty, torn, and bloodied. His every breath sounded like it was his last.When his eyes found Zayn peering at him, they darted in panic, though they quickly darkened into a sort of bleak, abysmal color of fear.Zayn curled his lips into a cryptic, meaningful smile. Turning to Gordon, he remarked, “You guys really fixed him hard, didn’t you?”“S-Sir, he looked like he was trying to escape, so we did a little something to frustrate his plan,” Gordon explained quickly. “Don’t worry about it, sir. Our people know their limits. All they wanted to do was to make him taste a little bit of physical anguish… he’s definitely not suffering from any life-threatening complications!”He sounded frantic—almost as if he was worrie
“Please, sir, these are two braindead morons you’re looking at! Please don’t take their words seriously!” Gordon pleaded.Zayn waved him off dismissively, hinting that he did not care about whatever they say.He turned to Vulcan and began, “Alright, Vulcan. Please just drop the pretense, okay? I can sense the rising vitality from you. At least half of your strength has recovered, isn’t it?”Vulcan sputtered hard. He looked very much closer to the dead than to the living. “I don’t understand what you’re saying, man. What, you don’t know how hard you hit? I’m literally about to die here. Look, Zayn, your mother and I go way back, so can you please show much needed mercy on the sake of our relationship? I promise to reward you handsomely.”“Oh? How handsomely, exactly?” Zayn said, cocking his brow in apparent interest.A glimmer of hope lit up in Vulcan’s eyes. He coughed again, before answering, “How about 150 million dollars? I’ll transfer the amount to your bank account the moment