No one thought that the Lilyrose Strategic Department, who rarely attended local events, sent a representative over to attend the ceremony. Shin was a well-known figure among the citizens of Lilyrose. His Tiger Fangs even arrested Dan and his men who caused problems at the construction site two days ago during their routine practice. It made the headlines for days and became the hottest topic. As for Koga, he was lesser known but he too was a powerful figure—the commander of the special operation team, ranked the same as Brigadier General Shin, and only one more rank away from general. The two powerful figures came to the ceremony of the Construction and Material Society. The Hilfinger family was well-connected! Even Roger was overwhelmed by their presence. He invited the mayor and the chief of police, but he did not invite the two brigadier generals. He did not expect that they would pay him a surprise visit. The ceremony was full of surprises! When the news got ou
Compared to Koga, Andrew and Liv were more afraid of Kaze. Andrew said in a trembling muffled voice, “Liv, Commander Atlas went to the back because he doesn’t want to sit in front of that great one. If we continue to sit here at the front, we will suffer again when they notice us!” “Yeah!” Liv nodded. The two top celebrities stood up. “Mr. Chairman, can you change our seats? We want to sit there as well.” Their requests immediately attracted all the attention. They pointed to the back of the hall, where Koga and the others were seated. “Oh, alright. I’ll make some space for you two.” Roger was stunned. In fact, not only him, but all the other guests were stunned. The hierarchy of status was messed up completely. Two brigadier generals, the mayor, the chief of police, and two top celebrities abandoned their front-row seats and went to the back. The closer the seats were to the stage, the higher one’s status would be. However, the people with the highest status in
A strange scene happened. Every row in front of Kaze swiftly got empty. Only him, Gold Tooth, Dan, and their men remained seated at the same place. There was no one left in front of him but it was extremely crowded behind him. Kaze came under the spotlight as the crowd moved behind him. Jessica followed everyone to the back. When she noticed Kaze was still sitting at the same spot, she scoffed. “Kaze, all the VVIPs had gone to the back but you are still sitting there. Are you trying to embarrass them?!” She was loud with her sneers. Kelly, Haiden, and the others were busy arranging the seats for the guests and they too laughed when they heard Jessica. “What’s the problem with me sitting here? Who said I can’t sit here?” Kaze leaned back and sat comfortably on the chair. He was not moving. Haiden bellowed, “You stupid idiot! How dare you sit in front of the mayor and the other VVIPs? Who do you think you are? Get the hell back there!” He and Wayne wanted to drag
Kaze did not want to waste time on the woman. He was more interested in Roger’s performance. The emcee was on stage with the mic. The rebuilding ceremony of the Construction and Material Society had officially begun. “Ladies and gentlemen, today is the big day that the Construction and Material Society will be rebuilt. Welcome…” The emcee gave an uplifting speech. There were almost two thousand people on the floor, applauding like rumbling thunder. Next, as the chief secretary of the new Construction and Material Society, Kelly was invited on stage to read the new system and projects. They were just some beautiful but empty words. After the standard speech, Kelly smiled and said, “Now, let me introduce you to the fifteen board members of the new Construction and Material Society!” Then, many people stood up from their seats. As a matter of fact, the list of board members was not a secret. They were all the gangster bosses of the underworld. Fifteen of them joined
Amid the thunderous applause, Roger strutted up on stage and stood in front of everyone. All fifteen gangster bosses became the supporting characters that set him off. “Mr. Hilfinger, why don’t you give a speech?” Kelly took the mic from the emcee and gave it to him. It was the emcee’s job but she snatched it just like that. She was the chief secretary of the Construction and Material Society, she should be the woman of the event. With all the limelight on her, it would propel her life to the next level. Soon, she would become the daughter-in-law of the Hilfinger family. In the future, she might even be the missus of the top family in Lilyrose. Kelly had high hopes for her future. Roger looked at the guests on the floor. Some of them were CEOs of local and foreign companies, some of them were heads of top families, and some were in charge of various government departments. There was also the mayor, the chief of police, and the two brigadier generals from the milit
Following Roger’s order, the massive LED screen embedded on the wall behind him lit up. Something started to appear on the screen. The first scene that appeared was a huge construction site. “That's the Golden Edge construction site!” Someone immediately recognized the site project. Golden Edge was a new mall in the city, currently undergoing construction. It had a total investment of over a billion. The scene then cut to the front gate of the site. A red banner was being pulled up. “Golden Edge Project Department Congratulates the NEW Construction and Material Society on the Rebuilding Ceremony!” Below were the workers at the site, lining up neatly and clapping their hands. Judging from the time frame displayed on the screen, it was live. The scene reminded everyone of an incident that happened recently. It was said that Bob sent his men to cause trouble at the Golden Edge construction site. The person in charge of the site ultimately submitted and agreed to st
This time, everyone looked at Kaze as if he was a corpse. They believed Kaze would not continue to be stubborn after witnessing the power of the Construction and Material Society, but they were wrong. “Roger Hilfinger, you are not worthy of judging me.” Kaze remained seated with a scornful look. He stared at Roger, finding it amusing for all that he had done just to display his power. Roger said coldly, “A stubborn one I see. Your support, Perfect World Group, is going down. Ray Forrester is just a coward and he’s not even here at the ceremony! “Gold Tooth and Dan Niners are useless. I can kill them if I want to. What else do you think you have against me? Your status as the son-in-law of the Quint family? Hahaha…” He cackled. “The Quint family is just a second-tier family. I just need to send one board member there and even Master Quint would kneel before me, let alone your wife who has no power in the family. No one can protect you now. I can kill you with just one pinch!
Following the scream, two thousand people in the hall switched their attention to the big screen on stage. The screen was switched back to the Golden Edge construction site. It was still live but the workers with the congratulatory banner were gone. Loud sirens could be heard from the site. Then police cruisers entered the frame, followed by multiple green armored cars. Common police officers and riot police officers came down from the cruisers. The green armored vehicles unloaded a battalion of fully-armed soldiers. They were equipped with live rounds and were ready to take out their targets. “Arrest them all!” The captain of the operation gave the signal. The police officers and soldiers charged into the construction site. In less than a minute, more than a hundred gangsters were arrested. Some gangsters were bleeding and bruised, and they were dragged across the ground like ragdolls. They were thrown into the armored vehicles mercilessly. Bob, one of the boar
The incident did not sit well with Kaze, so he left them out to dry. After much searching, Kaze came across a café. Kaze bought a cup of coffee. Cupping the drink between his hands, Kaze sipped slowly. Many passengers swarmed the arrival hall in the airport, dragging along their luggage or pulling out their phones to get a pick-up. They all had a destination, a place they had to be in a rush. Intrigued, Kaze followed the crowd out. Kaze turned on his phone, and a text message from his airport pick-up came in. He glanced at the message, curious about who the person was. Nevertheless, Kaze trusted that the Westeros Branch members would not set him up out in the open. At most, they would pull little stunts to mess with him. Kaze was not the type to sweat the small stuff. However, he would not tolerate any extreme behavior. He had been keeping a low profile back in Butterworth, keeping the limelight off him. The purpose was to handle Jet without unnecessary complicati
“Alright. I will work hard to be the manager of the Northborn Group. You need to show me the ropes and teach me about management.” Leah looked at Katie with a smile. She believed Katie had not lost her mind. Katie simply had her memory mixed up. “You need to keep your people in line and reward those who deserve it. It all boils down to profits. “You need to work toward managing your people and working with rivals. You’ve got to keep the balance, and nobody loses out. “You need to build your own system when it comes to working together. Don’t be led around by the nose.” Hearing that Leah would start work soon, Katie imparted her knowledge. “Don’t worry too much about things. Joey is nice. You can go to her for help,” Katie said earnestly. Katie seemed to be herself at the moment. Leah wondered if Katie faked her insanity to escape the punishment. “What have become of you? Did they do something to you? “Did you really betray Kaze?” Leah whispered while leaning close
Leah kept working on her knowledge until late into the night. Just as she was about to hit the sack, she got a message from Snow. Learning was a hard enough process. The text message came out of the blue. Leah did not expect Snow to contact her at night. The message was strange as well. Leah could not understand why Snow would give her the address of a nursing home. Leah was determined to turn things around. She strived to become stronger instead of being a burden. She was grateful for Kaze’s help. At least, she had a job now. However, her gratitude was not extended to Snow. She believed Snow had gone too far. Snow left her feeling powerless. Leah did not think much about the message. She assumed that the text was not meant for her. Since Leah did not respond to the text, Snow put the matter aside and went to bed. Leah called Snow the next day. “Why did you send me an address?” Leah went straight to the question. She had been equipping herself with knowledge before
Snow could not believe her eyes. Katie suddenly went quiet and behaved like the CEO she was.However, Katie did not look like she was right in the mind earlier. “What’s going on? She seems to have gone insane.” Snow turned to the warden, still digesting the change. Katie had lost touch with reality before the Viper’s Den did anything to her. “How did this happen? She has been taking her meals. Just days earlier, she nagged about getting out because she was worried about her daughter. As usual, we didn’t respond to her requests.” The warden found the whole thing peculiar too. Just a few days ago, Katie demanded her release. Now, she kept to herself and abided by the rules. Out of the blue, Katie went nuts. Things had gotten complicated. Snow wanted to keep Katie behind bars due to her betrayal. However, Kaze decided against pursuing the matter for Leah’s sake. Katie would be let go soon enough, but she would lose her job at the Northborn Group. Katie’s presence woul
It was quiet in the office. Snow sorted the last bit of paperwork before picking her head up in exhaustion. Her initial plan was to delegate the tasks. However, Katie was controlling. Previously, she personally oversaw many matters. Snow could not distribute the responsibilities because the employees had no experience in handling them. They came to Snow for every tiny, little thing, and Snow really got her hands full. Despite her frustration, Snow could let things go as Katie was locked up. “I should pay her visit.” Snow decided to see Katie. Some things should not be left unsaid. Leah would be working for the Northborn Group soon, and the mother and daughter should meet to tie up loose ends. The truth would put Leah to shame, and her guilt would stop her from ever betraying Kaze. After a quick bite, Snow drove to the prison. Katie was furious when she was imprisoned. She was one step away from victory. She was so close to leaving Butterworth to head to Westeros
“Why do you want to sell the properties? Do you need money? Don’t you have some saved?” Joey had a good understanding of Leah’s finances since she ran all the paperwork. “My mother is being held, and I need money to ask favors. Maybe I can get her out.” Leah was not thinking much. Money could always be replaced, but not her mother’s freedom. “Don’t be silly. This is not the way to go.” Though Joey did not have the details, she observed that things were not as simple as Leah thought. Kaze was safe now, but the fact that Katie had betrayed Kaze and revealed his whereabouts remained unchanged. Katie had broken the Viper’s Den’s rules. Even if she got out, she would be a wreck. With Snow running the Northborn Group, Katie would remain a failure. Either way, Katie would not get away with it. Even if Leah offered all her assets, Katie’s situation would not change. It was a waste of money and resources for Leah to save her mother. Nothing would come out of it. “But I
“Give me an answer. Are you taking the job? If you are, you should sort out your affairs. Don’t bring your personal feelings to work.” Snow was not the type to go easy on fragile women. If Leah did not have what it took, she could be forced to leave the company. Nevertheless, Katie had left a lot of assets to Leah. Even without work, Leah could very well survive. The girl would have trouble keeping the wealth, seeing that she was without power or connections. If Leah had a job, she would have the resources to hold onto her assets. Leah had seen the best and worst of mankind. She was once the center of attention, and now, everybody avoided her. It dawned on Leah that it was over for Katie. If Leah could not even keep a job, she would lose everything. “I didn’t know things would happen.” Leah never thought that Katie was capable of stabbing Kaze and her in the back. The thought of betrayal put Leah in distress. Kaze was a great guy who helped Leah a lot. Feeling ete
Leah got dressed and was ready to leave, but she did not know who to turn to. She thought about going to her wealthy friends to see if they could uncover anything through their connections. However, Leah could not get a hold of them. It dawned on Leah that loyalty would fade when power was gone. Even though Katie was just missing, intel spread around Butterworth very quickly. These people must have found out and have chosen to stay away. Leah had always been treated like royalty. Nobody had ever avoided her like the plague. Nevertheless, she had not been in touch with these friends since her injury. Now, in her attempt to contact them, she could not reach them. “Why is this happening? My good friends have gone MIA, and I’m getting silence from those who have been trying to connect.” Sitting on the couch, Leah looked out the window in despair. She tried to seek help with her mother’s search, but her efforts were futile. She could do nothing for her mother. All al
“I have to work hard starting today. But before that, I have to get some sleep.” Snow remembered that Kaze punished her to get some sleep. He said her face looked tired and pale, signs of how hard she had been working. It felt great being cared for. It was because of his kindness, Snow fell for Kaze uncontrollably. Yet she understood not all things were meant to be. After she returned home, she went to sleep immediately without talking to anyone. She only woke up in the afternoon after a comfortable and easy sleep. Next, she would have to work on many things, first being taking over Northborn Group. Katie’s disappearance had the company shaken, but it gave many others a chance. They tried to calm their subordinates down and contact the higher-ups for more information, hoping that they could replace Katie as the new CEO. Little did they know, their preparations would eventually fall short. Snow and her secretary arrived at Northborn Group in the afternoon, and her a