Snow fell into contemplation before uttering, “He’s right, Chairman Lee. My mother belongs to the Clarity family. “But you should know that it isn’t rainbows and butterflies in a family like the Clarities. My mother is not on good terms with my grandfather’s side of the family.“I don’t have a good idea about the history, but I know that she didn’t turn to my grandfather’s family for help when struggling to run the family business after my dad’s passing.” Snow’s father passed ahead of his time. May raised Snow all these years while sorting out family issues. “Don’t kill me, sir! I’m telling the truth!” Reading between the lines, Wind shrieked out of his mind, fearing that he would be Kaze’s next target. “Thud.” The Desert Eagle was flung to Wind. Kaze towered over him and said indifferently, “You get to live another day.“Go back and tell Jet that I expect Mrs. Frost’s safe return in three days. “Failing to do so, I’ll make a trip to the Frosts’.” Wind closed his e
Kaze let out an awkward smile and criticized, “Need I say more? “I am your superior, but your commitment to work allows me to take the back seat. You’re more than a subordinate to me. “I’ll regret it if anything happens to you.” Kaze then changed the subject. “Let’s talk about your family. What’s going on?“I got Venom watching over your mother. How did this happen?” Snow’s eyes flickered with disappointment at Kaze’s avoidance. However, she quickly put away her personal thoughts since her family issues mattered more now. “I’m not sure about what’s going on. I got a general idea when Bass and the others arrived, Chairman Lee.” After much thought, Snow murmured, “Midas King’s revenge stirred unrest in my family. “It helped that Mom went home with Venom. With my grandfather ill, Mom was in control of the family. “But several family members were poisoned days later. They were either core members who ran the family business or the family’s armed resources. The key playe
“Like Aaron, Mom had planned to get rid of Midas King with the Krads’ help.“But you managed to convince her otherwise. “Jet rather force me to marry Aaron to gain power than let my mother be the savior of the family.” Snow made a wry look. “I can understand Jet helping my family in a crisis, but I can’t accept the fact that he’s making me marry Aaron.“I was close with him when we were young. “He’s now a stranger to me. He won’t think twice about sacrificing me.” The betrayal and manipulation of the family were the worst. Snow, strong as she was, felt heartbroken. Kaze reached his hand out and ran his fingers along her smooth hair. He reproached, “Why didn’t you tell me when your family was in trouble? “Mrs. Frost took a risk to contact me. Only then you come here to see me.” Snow, her cheeks blushing, said with a wry smile, “I know you have a lot on your plate here in Riverbank. I didn’t want to bother you with my family issues, Chairman Lee. “Plus, I held out ho
After the call, Kaze gave Darcy a call.Prior to calling, Kaze realized that Darcy had called and texted him several times half an hour ago, saying that she would be arriving with her parents today. With the Quints’ business shifting to Riverbank, Darcy’s family needed to travel in advance to sort the accommodation and other necessities. Kaze was on his way to save Snow, so he did not notice or respond to the calls and messages. “Beep, beep, beep…” The line was busy. Kaze phoned several times, but his calls went unanswered. The only way Kaze could get through Darcy was by text. However, he saw the message from Buffy about a woman calling the house on the hilltop, looking for him. The call ended the moment Buffy picked up. Kaze put down the phone with a wry face. He could guess that Darcy made the call. Darcy must have gotten the wrong idea when she heard Buffy’s voice. “What’s the matter, Chairman Lee?” Snow asked concernedly upon noticing Kaze’s expression. “Not
Kaze laughed out loud. “Don’t be so upset, Mr. Gwake. I admit that I was rash in slapping you. “Buffy is staying with me. “I should have that dinner with you for her sake.” Kaze’s smug remarks got to Jude. “Bring Buffy along!” Jude then hung up on Kaze. Kaze was going to meet the security team sought by Conan, and that had to wait. He went to pick Buffy up at the hilltop villa to meet Jude for dinner. Not long after Kaze was gone, a MacLaren turned up outside the hospital. The car door opened, and out stepped a young, handsome man in a windbreaker. His hair was combed back. The combination of a sports car and a hot guy was a surefire way to attract attention. The young man turned heads right away. Used to the attention, the young man looked up at the hospital with a smile. “Oh, my God. Isn’t that Draig Tenby, the fighting champion of the national championship?” “Wow! It’s really him. He made his debut this year, fighting 108 matches. He’s undefeated, an idol o
Draig had always been aggressive and cocky. He always made the rules, not the other way around. In his mind, Draig got to choose who he wanted to protect. The money did not matter. The daily pay of 100 million dollars would not be able to change his mind from walking away if he did not like his client. Still, Draig had the competence to match his arrogance. Conan was only able to hire him as Draig owed his family a favor. Even so, Draig showed Conan no respect. Out of all the things Conan could achieve as an heir of his family, he chose to be in a gang. Conan was a joke in the elite community. Draig had no respect for Conan. Heck, he would not even heed the request if not for the Queens. Stacey nodded, her eyes fixating on Draig with adoration. No one could make Draig do anything. Minutes later, the passersby around Draig and Stacey were blown away. A gorgeous and aloof woman walked out of the hospital. Stacey, standing next to Draig, felt inferior. She kn
Realizing that he had come on too strong, Draig nodded and said with a smile, “Alright. I’m entirely at your disposal, Ms. Frost.” Draig would be near Snow anyway, so there would be other chances. He trusted that he had the charms and moves to win Snow’s heart. All it took was time. … Meanwhile, Kaze took Buffy to Scarlet Creek. It was a long-established, upscale restaurant. The patrons were often elites among elites. Nevertheless, Buffy mentioned that her family owned the restaurant. Kaze and Buffy went to the top floor. No patron was in sight, only a few cautious servers. Still, there was a dangerous presence in the place. Someone lurked within the area. Kaze smiled without a care. He and Buffy followed a server to the biggest private room in the middle. “My father-in-law talked about buying me dinner, but he assigned security all around. Is this even a party?” Jude and his confidante, Serene, were in the private room. With Kaze entering, Serene looked at him
Jude grimaced. It took a while for him to get a grip on himself to say emotionlessly, “It’s not a good thing to be hotheaded, boy. I want to give you some friendly advice since you’re close with Buffy. “You will end up on the wrong side of the stick if you keep up with this attitude.” Kaze picked his cutlery back up with a smile. “I should learn the art of patience and discretion from you. “It does take some type of skill to secure your place as the deputy chief after all these years.” Jude made a face. Kaze was disrespectful. “Cut it out, Kaze,” sitting next to Kaze, Buffy murmured. It was sweet of Kaze to defend her honor. However, the dinner would end on a sour note if Kaze kept this up. “Fine. Since Buffy asked, I’ll stop.” Kaze took a bite of food before asking with a smile, “I’m sure you didn’t invite me here just to have dinner together. “What do you want to talk about? “Just cut to the chase. We’re family, so you don’t have to beat around the bush.” As
“How dare those men hijack the plane and take Kaze. They must be punished…” Despite her grumbles, Snow grew anxious. “Given Mr. Lee’s capabilities, he won’t be hurt.” The agents around her tried to comfort her. They believed she was being too nervous. “I know, but we as subordinates have failed him by allowing this to happen. We have to do our best to make up for the mistake, and not rely on Mr. Lee to get out because he can.” Snow drowned in self-blame and regretted not being able to help. It was her negligence that allowed the hijacking to happen. “But there’s nothing you can do now. It’s late. Even the hijackers need to rest. They won’t do anything yet.” “It’s because the hijackers need to rest that we have to hurry and beat them to it. That’s the only way to solve this matter!” “But we’ve searched high and low and didn’t find anything. No one knows where they have gone. Even if they transported the passengers via buses, we didn’t see any tracks.” The agents discu
Kaze breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly went over to Miguel and pressed his hands with the gun down so that it would not misfire. “Good job.” “Thanks.” Miguel curled his lips into a nervous smile. He frequently trained in the gym and mixed martial arts but had never encountered any real-life incident before, thus being inexperienced. Fortunately, his mentality was stronger than the others and allowed him to act accordingly. “I’ll be taking the gun. This is self-defense, you won’t be charged and you won’t need to take responsibility,” Kaze said. Miguel’s pale face looked relieved. “What should we do now? Are there more of them?” Miguel dared not let go of the gun, worried there might be more enemies. “I’ve counted the numbers and this guy here should be the last one.” He then took the gun from Miguel’s hands. “Really? Gosh! That was crazy! I was so terrified!” Miguel finally loosened up and let his instinct take over. His heart was pounding so fast that it
Manson came over and saw the mercenaries lying in their own puddle of blood. The gore shocked him and made him sick. He tried his best to hold back the urge to throw up as it would attract attention. “Don’t look if you can’t take it! Don’t make things worse!” “Yeah! Professor! Grow a pair of balls!” “I have never seen dead bodies like this before!” he explained with a flush of embarrassment on his face. “Can we go out now and run away?” The hostages were eager to leave as things had settled down outside. They thought the danger was over. A dead mercenary was inside the container with them and they were still horrified. Once the others found out about this, the hostages would be shot to death. “If you want to die, be my guest. The moment you step out, you’ll be shot!” Callahan said as he looked at the others scornfully. One of the hostages had already put his hand on the handle of the door and was ready to dash out, but he quickly pulled his hand back after listening
“Tsk. Hold on.” Vexed, the man clicked his tongue and then waved at his colleague. “Come here. Someone fainted. Help me get him out.” The man wanted to take the professor out of the container. Manson’s heart pounded as he listened to the man. He was afraid he might be exposed, but there was no turning back now—he had to play along. Kaze stood behind the door, calming his breath down to lower his presence. “Get back. Stay away from the door. If anyone gets close, don’t blame me for being rough,” said the man as he unlocked the container. He opened the door and saw a number of hostages still sleeping. He then looked at the professor on the floor. He went closer to nudge him but did not get a response. It seemed like the professor needed medical attention. “Come on. Help me get him out.” The other man outside the container was on edge, looking as if he would pull the trigger at the slightest movement. “Why don’t we do it?” Callahan and Miguel volunteered. “You two
“It’s freaking troublesome.” “Boss, don’t worry about it. We’ll get an update tomorrow.” “Yeah. It’s late. Get some rest.” Tiguan’s men told him to get some rest and not worry so much. A few of them were already snoring on the chair. Tiguan sighed and killed the cigarette. He then closed his eyes to get some rest, too. The container that Kaze was in fell into silence once more. No one dared to make any noise but they all looked at Kaze, hoping to find out about his plans. Kaze’s eyes remained fixed on the window and showed no intention of revealing his thoughts. Miguel and Callahan were annoyed by the other hostages. “If you people want to get out of here alive, you better cooperate or come up with your own idea. No one is responsible for saving you.”“Yeah. I don’t want you guys to turn on us after we do all the heavy lifting. It will cost us our lives and you people won’t even be grateful.” Miguel’s tone was sarcastic because he disliked how the others looked at t
Kaze read the hostages’ minds and refused to be used. He wanted to leave but not under such circumstances. “That’s not true. We just don’t have the skills for this kind of situation. You guys are stronger, of course, you should be in the front,” said the man in glasses and a suit. A hint of sharpness gleamed in his eyes. Miguel knew what the man was planning, either. “That’s some plan you have there. You are just trying to use us to escape this place and no matter what happens, you’ll win.” “That’s not it! I just want everyone to stand together and get out of this place. I’ve never thought of using anyone!” the man argued, trying to look innocent. Even a monkey knew what he was planning, yet no one dared to speak up because they would benefit from it too. “Why don’t you guys think of something? If you need our help, we’ll help,” said another middle-aged gentleman who looked more just and fair, as if he could lead the group. “Then what is your plan?” Kaze suddenly wante
The hostages were locked up in the containers. Some of them were elites in their own field while some were ordinary people with average income, yet all of them got into trouble when they boarded the plane. Most of them could not accept their fate. Yet they dared not defy or resist the mercenaries. When things started to calm down, they broke down in tears, weeping in silence as resentment consumed them. Kaze sat down at a clean corner that allowed him to look outside the window. The window was dirty but at least he could see outside. The space inside the container was filled with people sitting closely, offering comfort to one another. They were aware they were just temporarily safe in this container. No one knew what the mercenaries would do to them at the next moment. “My parents must be worried. I said I would call them when I land but now I can’t even get in touch,” Barney muttered as he sat beside Kaze. He too looked outside the window, his feelings mixed. He watc
Kaze thought of what he had overheard in the toilet. If he told the hostages about that, they would probably panic. “It’s nothing. They are just going to separate us into different rooms or containers. They said the buses would be disposed of,” he said. He did not want to reveal too much because it would cause panic. Once the hostages knew their lives were on the line, things might spiral out of control. The mercenaries could kill a few of them to make an example, and none of the hostages would dare to cause problems anymore. Kaze kept it a secret because he wanted to protect the people. “That’s it?” “Is there anything else? How many men are there? What is their plan? Who are they looking for?” “We want to know because we want to survive. This isn't our problem—we just got caught up in it.” The hostages looked at Kaze, their eyes filled with worry. They felt aggrieved because they should not be caught in such a huge problem. “I don’t know either.” No matter how m
“There’s a room there. Get in.” The mercenary pointed his gun at the mother and son, which led them to look at Kaze nervously, seemingly asking for help. “What do you want?” The mother was nervous. She clutched her son’s hand tightly, nearly making him cry, but she reacted quickly enough to cover her son’s mouth to prevent him from doing so. “All women must go into that room. You go in now,” the mercenary explained. He did not want the woman to get the wrong idea. “You people won’t hurt me, right?” the mother asked, worried that she might be ravaged. “We are not into MILF,” said the other mercenary who was escorting Kaze, indirectly assuring the mother. Kaze shot a glance at the mother and nodded at her. “They told us they were going to separate us, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he said, worried that the mother and son would not cooperate. The mother then carried her son and followed the other mercenary into the room. It was called a room but it was actually ju