Inside one of the city's tallest hotels, known for its absolute luxury, hosted the most precious annual event, reserved for the city's elite, where wealthy tycoons and influential guests gathered beneath crystal chandeliers.

In the meantime, a group of four people arrived.

They walked slowly along the red carpet, carrying an aura that didn't seek attention yet still drew everyone's gaze.

The Adonis family.

Leading the group was the family's first lady, Adonis Carla, accompanied by her husband, Victor. Also, there was the first young master, Noah, the heir who will take control of the entire family's inheritance, and the youngest young master, Lior.

The waiters escorted them smoothly to their seats, which had been arranged perfectly. However, Mrs. Adonis didn't sit for long. She got up and moved in the direction of the jewelry exhibition area.

Soft white lighting illuminated the crystal glass displays, causing the rare jewels inside to glimmer with an almost unreal brilliance, catching her full satisfaction.

Suddenly, a man in a black suit passed behind her in a swift movement, almost unnoticeable. Yet the words he left behind were enough to shift her expression instantly.

"Wolf in sheep's clothing."

She spun speedily, eyes narrowing, but the man had already disappeared into a section where no guests seemed to enter.

Without hesitation, she followed him, anger igniting in her chest and spreading outward.

Weirdly, the further she went, the quieter everything became.

"Come out," she called. "Don't test my patience."

"..." Silence swallowed.

Unexpectedly, a presence appeared behind her.

Before she could react, her heel slipped on the marble floor. Her balance broke, but before she began to fall, a strong hand caught her waist and pulled her back.

"Don't touch me, you bastard! Do you know who I am?" She shoved him away.

"I know." His eyes flicked over her briefly before returning to her face. "You're a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"Watch your words!" Her voice dropped into a warning tone, eyes stared on the nameplate pinned to his jacket. "You think being handsome makes you untouchable...Vaelic?"

"So, what? You will punish me in bed?(⁠๑⁠¯⁠◡⁠¯⁠๑⁠)" The corner of his lips lifted into a smirk.

"I don't need to waste my energy. Maybe just one word from me, and you could disappear from this world."

"Besides using your husband's power to threaten others...what else can you actually do?" His voice lowered.

"You!" Her hand clenched, nails dug into her palm. The confidence on her face cracked, replaced by fury she couldn't fully hide.

"Go on, I'm curious." Vaelic leaned slightly closer, just enough to invade her space again.

At that moment, two of Carla's bodyguards rushed forward, pushing him back and surrounding him at once, like trained hunters closing in on a target.

"I don't want to fight," he said lazily, giving an eye-roll as he folded his arms. "Can you just move away?"

"Go teach him a lesson." Carla murmured.

Without delay, one guard reached for his collar while the other drove a punch straight toward his face.

Vaelic tilted his head slightly to let the punch miss by an inch. At the same time, he caught the first guard's wrist mid-grab, and used the man's own weight to spin him straight into his partner, causing the two of them to crash into each other, stumbling sideways,

From the shadows behind, four more guards emerged. Now all six of them spread into a wide circle around Vaelic, cutting off every exit.

Surprisingly, the lights went out, making the whole room dropped into darkness. Only the sound of breathing and shoes scraping.

"Ugh...!" A few painful groans echoed one after another.

Just a few minutes later, everything fell into dead silence.

The electric power returned, revealing the aftermath in full clarity.

The bodyguards lay scattered across the floor, unconscious, while Vaelic stood fucking fine at the center like the entire clash had never affected him.

"Am I strong enough to handle your desire, Carla?" His gaze locked steadily onto hers.

Vaelic was about to step closer toward her, but his phone suddenly rang.

In a heartbeat after seeing the caller's name on the screen, his emotions changed entirely.

"What are you looking at?" Carla asked softly. "Answer it. Don't keep people waiting."

He said nothing, just raised the phone to his ear.

"..." His expression remained outwardly calm, but his grip on the phone tightened until his fingers pressed hard against the device. A sharp pressure built inside him, rising like magma.

"Tch! You look like a mad dog right now." She scoffed, eyes filled with cruel amusement. "Next time, know your place. Don't try to challenge people who are already far beyond your reach."

"You're nothing without your psycho husband." After that he removed his jacket that smelled of her perfume and threw it aside in disgust and walked out to deal with the problems at the club.

"!!!😡" Even after he disappeared into the distance, Carla still stood there, gazing at the place where he had gone.

And if she chose revenge, what would she do next?

| Diamond dust club |

Vaelic stepped out of his Bugatti La Voiture Noire car, which was parked neatly in front of the club, and entered inside. However, everything seemed unchanged from an ordinary night. Shortly after, the manager approached him with the quiet urgency.

"Boss~" He lowered his voice. "The authorities reported their inspection had yielded no serious findings, though they said that the area would now remain under continuous surveillance to prevent any future incidents."

"Hmm! Where's my aunt?"

"I'm not sure either. She just disappeared after things were resolved. Maybe she-"

"I know." Vaelic cut him off before the explanation could continue because he suspected he already knew her exact location.

Without saying anything more, he proceeded to the private elevator reserved exclusively for him, where the exit went directly into his private room.

Ting.

The door slid open, revealing the suite bathed in city glow filtering through the glass façade, painting everything in silver reflections.

As expected, his aunt sat on the fur sofa near the balcony, staring at him with an expression she always wore when she was about to say something he didn't want to hear.

"Do you know what you did today?" Erifa asked.

"I occupied the auction tonight. What's wrong?" He responded while walking to the bespoke cabinet, pouring a glass of red wine.

"Then explain this." She picked up the remote, pointed it at the television, and the screen filled with footage, taken from a distance, showing Vaelic and Carla standing too close, framed intimately.

"...(;⁠ꏿ⁠_⁠ꏿ⁠;)"

"Vaelic," Erifa called his name in a disappointed sound, one that carried disappointment rather than anger. "I have always told you not to get involved with that family, but you never listen to me."

Vaelic stood still. He had no suitable answer to that question.

"The past is the past. Why can't you just let go of what hurt you and live normally?"

"I'm sorry, auntie. I did something so stupid again." He lowered himself down in front of her until both knees met the floor. His head bowed and fully rested against her thighs, as if the weight he carried finally found somewhere safe enough to release.

"If you truly respect me as your aunt," she said, each word placed with deliberate care, "listen to me. Stop walking back into fires just to prove you can withstand the heat. Let the revenge stay where it belongs. Focus on becoming better than yesterday."

"Noted"

"It’s time to rest now. Don’t overthink things anymore."

"Good night, auntie"

Erifa gave him a final glance before departing.

Afterward, silence reclaimed the room.

Vaelic went ahead toward the glass wall, glaring at the endless night sky scattered with a million stars.

He opened the drawer beside the lounge table, retrieved a Davidoff Oro Blanco cigar, and ignited it.

The thin stream of smoke curled upward in slow, delicate trails, gradually dissolving into the darkness until it vanished completely.

In her eyes, he was still attempting to remain a well-behaved boy. Yet the truth was far more distant from that illusion. Since his high school years, he had already been drawn deep into a world she wished he had never discovered.

Simultaneously, the ringtone cut through the moment. He remained quiet and placed the phone to his ear.

It was Kael, Vaelic’s right-hand aide.

"I'll." He terminated the call and tucked the phone into his pocket.

Vaelic strode in the direction of the bookshelf, putting two fingers on the unmarked book on the third bracket. The sensor activated, scanning his fingerprint and confirming his identity in less than a second.

He stepped in without breaking stride.

The bookshelf door shut behind him on its own. The biometric locking system re-engaged.

At the bottom, the space exposed a wide underground garage like a technological hub.

Several expensive cars were parked in perfect lines.

Beyond it stretched a concealed roadway linked to the main boulevard.

The tunnel was built with a reinforced vibration-dampening walls, electromagnetic shielding, as well as a waterproof geomembrane barrier layer to prevent external tracking and regulate hydrostatic pressure.

He grabbed the keys to the matte black car and drove out through the passageway speedily.

Ahead, the route inclined upward meanwhile, the final gate detected the car’s encrypted signature, and opened automatically.

| The warehouse |

From the exterior, it resembled a deserted house at the end of an unpaved road, surrounded by overgrown grass and aged trees. Conversely, below the rotting floorboards and the dust-covered furniture of the upper level, the basement was a different world entirely.

It functioned as a covert facility for manufacturing illicit weapons and narcotics, distributed through dark online networks, black markets, criminal organizations, and wholesalers.

A little bit later, the sleek car rolled to stop under the broken wooden fence. The engine shut off, leaving only the quiet hum of insects and the faint rustle of leaves.

A group of operatives in black suits positioned near the entrance moved the moment they recognized Vaelic's presence. Heads dropped in unison, bowing at a full ninety degrees to greet him.

In the middle, there were two figures kneeling on the ground with no clothes.

"Man, don't kill me, please!!! I have a family and parents who depend on me. I only followed orders because I need the money to buy medicine for my children that are seriously ill. I swear, I didn’t have a choice…please, I’m begging you!" A guy pleaded desperately when he saw Vaelic. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face mixed with the dried blood.

"Who ordered you?"

"I-I can’t tell you," his voice breaking under pressure. "If I do, they’ll wipe out my entire family." His body trembled as he spoke, fear tightening every word he forced out.

Vaelic frowned at him momentarily.

"Tell me. And I will give you extra payment. Also guarantee protection." He offered the deals with a sly grin.

"He is...Jame Alder-Uggh!" Before the name fully said, Vaelic pulled the gun from the waist of his right-hand aide standing nearest, and **BANGGG.**

One shot.

The bullet pierced the first male and the second one, killing them in the same breath.

"You should’ve stayed away from my business" Vaelic took out a sharp knife from his belt, pierced and cut their heads, throwing them on the ground.

Following orders, the security personnel lifted the corpses, transporting them to the far edge of the estate, and discarding into the lake. In a flash, the water exploded. Crocodiles came from everywhere at once to eat those dead bodies in harsh ways.

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