The clerk aze flickered between the expensive designer clothes draped over Margaret Miller and the simple attire Nathan wore.
Margaret noticed the hesitation and immediately pounced. "You see? Even the clerk knows something is off. A street racoons like him could never afford such an expensive herb. He probably scammed someone for that card."
Jessica folded her arms, sneering. "Or maybe he found it in a trash can like the rat he is."
The clerk furrowed his brows, clearly uncertain. Then, in a bold move, he reached forward and placed his hand over the herb, blocking Nathan from taking it.
"I’m sorry, sir," the clerk said, forcing a polite smile. "But given the circumstances, I believe it’s best to let Madam Miller purchase the herb instead."
Nathan’s eyes darkened. "Given the circumstances?"
The clerk nodded. "Madam Miller is a well-known figure in the city, and you… well, you don’t exactly look like someone who can afford this."
Margaret smirked. "You hear that, Nathan? Even random nobodies can see what a joke you are."
Jessica covered her mouth mockingly. "I almost feel bad for him. He’s like a stray cat begging for scraps, but when someone throws him a bone, he actually thinks he belongs at the table."
Nathan’s grip tightened around the receipt. He could feel his patience slipping, the heat of his anger rising.
He exhaled slowly, his voice turning sharp. "Are you saying you’re refusing to sell me?"
The clerk shifted uncomfortably. "It’s just… Madam Miller is a loyal customer, and you… you’re an—"
"An orphan?" Jessica interrupted, grinning. "A broke, homeless reject?"
Margaret chuckled. "A nobody who had to crawl after my daughter like a starving dog?"
Nathan’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t rise to their taunts. Instead, his gaze stayed locked on the clerk.
"First-come, first-served," he said coldly. "That’s the rule in any professional establishment. Are you telling me you’d rather break business ethics and lose your credibility just because this woman is throwing her weight around?"
The clerk stiffened. "It’s not like that—"
"Then what is it?" Nathan’s voice was sharp, cutting through the air like a blade. "You judged me based on how I look. You assumed I was beneath her. You ignored the fact that I paid first. Tell me—is this store in the habit of treating paying customers like garbage?"
Margaret scoffed. "Oh, drop the act, Nathan. No one here actually believes you earned that money. You think waving a fancy card suddenly makes you respectable? You’re still the same pathetic stray who chased after my daughter, hoping to be part of our world."
Jessica smirked. "It’s like dressing up a sewer rat in silk—it’s still a rat."
Nathan’s patience snapped. His eyes gleamed with a dangerous coldness.
"Manager," he said, turning to the clerk. "Call them. Now. Let’s see if your boss shares your discrimination."
The clerk hesitated before reluctantly picking up the phone.
Margaret crossed her arms, smug. "Go ahead. I have connections. Let’s see who they believe—me or a nameless nobody."
Nathan leaned against the counter, smirking. "We’ll see."
The manager arrived within minutes, a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a belly that strained against his expensive suit. His beady eyes swept over the situation, lingering on Margaret Miller’s expensive jewelry before flicking to Nathan’s simple attire.
His lips curled in disdain. Another one of those nobodies trying to act rich.
"What’s the issue here?" the manager asked, his tone clipped.
Margaret wasted no time. "This nobody is trying to scam your store. He flashed a black card, but do you really think someone like him has money?"
Jessica snickered. "It’s so obvious. He’s like a mangy dog who snuck into a palace, thinking no one would notice."
Nathan exhaled sharply, his patience fraying. "I already paid for the herb. Your clerk is refusing to honor the transaction."
The manager didn’t even try to hide his sneer. "And why should I believe you over Madam Miller?"
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. "Because I have the receipt."
The manager scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "You could have stolen that card. Or maybe you found it in a dumpster. Let’s be real—you look like you don’t even belong in a place like this."
Margaret smirked. "Exactly. Do you see the difference between us? I own companies. My family is respected. This little street racoons?" She let out a laugh. "He’s just a stray trying to sit at the table with lions."
Jessica giggled. "More like a flea-ridden alley cat pretending to be a tiger."
Nathan clenched his jaw. Enough of this.
He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "You’re wasting my time. If none of you want to act professionally, let’s settle this another way."
Margaret raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Are you calling the cops? Let me guess—you want to report us for bullying?" She feigned a gasp. "Oh no, someone call the pound, the stray is crying!"
Jessica burst out laughing. "Maybe he’s calling his imaginary rich uncle to come save him."
Nathan ignored them, his tone flat as he spoke into the phone. "Come inside. Now. Some people are not letting me buy."
Margaret rolled her eyes. "Who are you even calling? Some other loser?"
The manager crossed his arms. "Let me guess, you’re going to claim you know someone important?" He let out a dry chuckle. "Pathetic."
Nathan smirked. "You’ll see."
A moment later, the door swung open.
A woman stepped inside, her sharp heels clicking against the marble floor. Her cold, commanding presence sucked the air out of the room.
Harper Valente. General Manager of Imperial Corp.
The manager’s face drained of color.

Latest Chapter
Ch-127
The rain still clung to Nathan’s boots as he stepped into Imperium’s field war room. Selene’s intel was real; the Syndicate’s push for the Seventh Ring was accelerating, but Marion wasn’t banking on occult relics alone. They had weaponized capital.Across the Atlantic, Ethan Reed was already in Zurich, trying to absorb CeraCore under an umbrella of proxy firms. If he succeeded, the Syndicate-backed biotech would sweep the black market.But Nathan didn’t need to be in the room to burn their plans to the ground. _____Zurich’s Titanium Pavilion shimmered beneath a crystalline winter sky. The annual Biotech Futures Summit, hosted at its panoramic top-floor hall, glittered with translucent wall-panels, kinetic architecture, and wealth. CEOs, journalists, and research magnates whispered in eleven languages as glasses clinked and holograms flickered through the air.Ethan Reed moved among them like royalty. He wore Imperium-blue cufflinks—a mocking echo of the company he’d once schemed to
Ch-126
Harper’s words… “We’re not afraid of you anymore” rippled across every feed. In rebel cells and Syndicate war rooms alike, the footage fractured narratives that had ruled unchallenged for years. Even as Nathan watched it from a dim corner of the safehouse, he knew the backlash would be swift. The Syndicate wouldn't bleed quietly. So when the motion sensor at the perimeter gate flashed crimson, no one moved lightly. ——— Rain fell in dense sheets across the pine-thick ridgeline where the safehouse clung to the mountainside. The perimeter alarms had been silent for hours—until now. Nathan stepped out into the storm, Dominion ring warm against his skin, flanked by Miko with a pistol at her hip and Harper just behind, rifle raised. A figure staggered into view, barely more than a silhouette in the dark. Lightning split the sky, revealing a woman in a torn infiltration suit, one arm cradling the other where blood slicked her side. She moved with the grace of someone trained not to fal
Ch-125
The ancient scrolls still echoed in Miko’s mind as she left the monastery’s archive chambers—words about legacies, betrayal, and a coming reckoning. But there was no time for reflection. A red-coded alert crackled to life on Nathan’s secure channel before she even stepped into the sunlit courtyard.“Block 47 in Sector Gray,” Harper’s voice said, sharp with urgency. “I’m closest. I’ll handle it.”Miko’s breath caught. Sector Gray wasn’t just hostile—it was Syndicate-occupied. And Harper was already en route.______The city block had been a civilian quarter once—clean streets, overhead rails, schoolyards now abandoned. But now it was a no-man’s land of blown transformers, smoking barricades, and flickering signage over collapsed buildings. Drones buzzed like carrion over broken towers. Somewhere, a child was screaming.Harper landed in silence, her black ops boots sliding over shattered glass as she dropped from the rooftop via a rusted fire ladder. She didn’t wait for backup. The SOS
Ch-124
As Nathan exited the glass boardroom of Nexora Global, leaving Dresden in security custody, the tension in his chest barely loosened. He had secured one front, but the war ran far deeper than corrupted executives. Somewhere in the shadows, Marion Voss still moved the pieces… centuries ahead of them in knowledge, and one step closer to something larger.In the quiet sanctuary of the Eastern Temple, far from skyscrapers and shattered gala stages, another battle was unfolding. Not a battle of weapons, but of memory._______The monastery archives were built into the mountainside itself, which were sheltered from light, noise, and time. Here, the air was laced with incense and old ink, and silence hung thick as stone. Scrolls older than modern nations lined the carved alcoves. A place untouched by the outside world, except through legend.Miko sat cross-legged on the polished stone floor, surrounded by parchment and fragments of forgotten language. Her fingers were stained with dust. Sym
Ch-123
The Rivergate Tower still smoldered beneath a gray dawn as Nathan stood with Harper atop the parking structure across from the plaza. Below them, news drones hovered in flocks, transmitting shaky footage of the shattered gala venue, now surrounded by fire crews, security teams, and hundreds of stunned civilians. What had been a tribute to Syndicate control was now a smoking symbol of its unraveling.Harper scrolled through the latest intel feeds on her datapad, her eyes hard. “The files hit the darknet an hour ago. Every Syndicate tie to Nexora has been exposed. Dresden’s shell companies, the signed black budgets, the neural override tests… everything.”Nathan didn’t look at the screen. His gaze stayed fixed on the tower. “And what about the board?”“Half of them forwarded the documents to their legal teams before they even opened the videos. The rest are calling emergency votes.”He nodded once. “Good. Then we end this now.”____Hours Later… at the Nexora HeadquartersThe elevator d
Ch-122
The cryo-facility groaned as backup power surged. Nathan stood before the boy’s awakening pod, the Dominion ring humming with a strange synchrony, one that pulsed deep in the earth, deep in time itself. Miko held her breath, watching as the failsafe’s eyes flickered behind closed lids. Not yet awake, but close. Harper’s voice cracked over comms. “We don’t have time. The Syndicate’s hosting a gala tonight. Rivergate Tower. Ethan’s expected to announce some kind of 'new phase.' That’s our moment.” Nathan turned from the pod, jaw tight. “Then we don’t wait for the future to happen. We will break it tonight.” --- The Rivergate Tower gleamed like a blade in the night, its mirrored surface catching the floodlights of the Syndicate’s most ostentatious event of the year. Inside the atrium ballroom, the elite circled like vultures in designer suits, toasting conquest over glasses of diamond-filtered champagne. Ethan stood at the top of the marble staircase, posture perfect, smile practice
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