The Hades Family, and the entire city of Silverlace by extension, were in a jubilant mood when Hazel Hades returned to her family estate.On one of the city's local news stations, two quirky newscasters had bright smiles as they relayed the public sentiment.“It is a memorable day today in the Hades Family as their missing daughter, their Crouching Lioness, Hazel Hades, returns to the fold after escaping the clutches of kidnappers. We will be connecting with our correspondent at the crime scene where she was saved late last night. ”The scene changed to show a correspondent at the gate of the Hades Estate where there was a crowd of fans and well-wishers cheering for her return.“Thank you Jack, I'm Stella Holt from Silver Lining News reporting live from the Hades Estate as many fans and well-wishers congregate to celebrate the safe return of Miss Hazel Hades. Miss Hazel had been kidnapped a few days ago of which her case had stomped many, only for her to be rescued late last night by

That night, Alan and Hazel met at the same roadside cafe where he signed the marriage contract.This time, they sat inside the cafe, looking at the passing crowd through the one-way mirror beside them.“I thought we would be busy with all the work that's going on.” Hazel noted.It was a surprise to her when she saw Alan's call to meet up for dinner. She was stuck at home - since her grandmother wouldn't allow her to work after escaping such a traumatic experience - and his call was a welcome change of environment.“I was half expecting you to be buried at work. I hear there hasn't been any improvement at the Emporium.” Alan took a sip of his drink.“It worsened when I got kidnapped. Stocks crashed, and some of my young talents got recruited by competitors.”“Tough luck”, Alan chuckled into his glass.“It's not funny”, she complained. This was a real headache for her and she didn't know when the effect of their plan would begin to show fruit. It didn't make her feel any better that he

On the way down the hill, the two of them walked down the silent road. Although they weren't discussing anything, they felt much closer than before they went up the hill.Hazel could see three cars just at the bottom of the hill, the SUV and two cars, meant to take them home. She remembered her previous driver, he had been paid off by her attackers and had disappeared after that unfortunate incident.She was still in thought when some men appeared in front of them. Each man looked menacing, and were dressed like goons and thugs.Hazel instinctively glanced towards the SUV afar, only to see that the bodyguards seem to be unconscious within the vehicle. Alan stopped walking, pulling her grip from his arm, to his hand. He then stepped forward, shielding her from them.“Good evening Miss Hades”, the person leading the group greeted enthusiastically. He was a short man with a balding head, wearing casual clothes with a gold chain on his neck.“I hope there's no problem”, Alan said calmly.

Although Alan wasn’t a police officer, he could imagine the kind of headaches Interpol would face from this platform alone. He couldn’t even imagine the amount of resources would be required to run such an elaborate website off-grid and away from the prying eyes and fingers of many powerful parties. He even had a sneaking suspicion that many powerful factions in the world were using this underworld website as a mode of performing illegal business transactions.It wouldn’t be a new thing for the powerful and rich to run shady deals in the dark, while keeping their public image as pristine as possible. He just hoped his family wasn’t one of them.‘Having the support of a sovereign family…that would be frightening’“Let us wait for him to reach out to us again”, Alan said. He was sure that the mastermind would return soon. After all, they had detained the bodyguards and one of Gold Aries security teams had gone to the Hades Family Estate to make a report. Although they wouldn’t show Haze

John adjusted his suit happily as he waited for the other members of the Hades family to arrive at the large meeting room in the main villa.Old Lady Hades and Hazel’s parents had left for hours already, he knew they must have gone to see Hazel’s corpse, they probably didn’t say anything because they were too shocked and didn’t want to inform the rest of the family yet.It took just fifteen minutes for the first batch of family members to stream into the large meeting room. Linda and their father, Henry, sat in front of the room, facing the crowd.After another ten minutes, the room finally became full. All the Hades family members available within Silverlace City had arrived, and those that weren’t available had their representatives present.Due to the large size of the Hades family’s business Empire, minor branch families were usually posted to different countries to handle the family’s business there, with Scions spread out among the cities. They all reported back to the main fami