2025-08-01 22:48:25Edward continued.
“They have information on my secret dealings and are using ghost products. So, they have money…or sponsors. And, they are not causing any harm to humans, yet, my business is bleeding. So, I am the target!” Edward Kramer declared softly.
The other man eyed Lord Kramer.
“Someone wants to hurt ME. Someone is attacking ME. Someone has the audacity to strike at what matters the most to me at a crucial time, a key juncture, in my life.”
“It’s personal,” the guest summarized.
“Yes. Quite so,” Lord Kramer droned.
“That’s a long list,” the other man commented flatly.
“But we do have one,” Edward Kramer replied snidely.
“WE do, do we?” the man retorted dryly.
Edward’s gaze shifted back to his guest. He smiled cordially.
“Yes. WE,” Edward replied casually.
The other man sat back, shaking his head lightly as he joined Lord Kramer with a confident smile of his own.
==========
Upstairs in Lord Kramer’s home, Lady Kramer was occupied with her own troubles.
“Vincent! Get up! What are you doing? Where is your gift for your father?!”
“Mother! Get out of my room!!” the sleepy heir to the Kramer empire mumbled.
“Why?” Lady Ginnie Kramer shot back icily, “Because of your friend? Or should I say friends?” she continued caustically as she eyed the girls in her son’s bed.
“Are you still messing around at this hour?” she complained, her soft voice rising exponentially.
“Mother!!” the heir to the great Kramer empire groaned as he turned face down on his palatial bed.
“See them out, wake him up, and get him down to the design room,” Lady Kramer ordered frostily as she spun around, breezing out of her son’s room the same way she had breezed in.
“Yes, ma’am,” the head butler of the Kramer household droned, bowing his white head to his Madam.
==========
An hour later, Master Kramer sauntered into the design room, where his mother had been waiting for him.
Her eyes were on four large paper designs.
A cold cup of tea was at her elbow.
Vincent ran a slender hand through his thick mane. His dangling earring trembling from his fingers brushing against it.
A long, gem, bead, and silver, single-drop earring of Vincent Kramer’s own design – his protection gem.
Just as the images his mother was gazing lovingly at were his designs.
His irritation faded as he watched his mother’s eyes.
The young heir smiled sweetly.
“Which do you prefer?” he called out respectfully as he approached the slender beauty at his crafting table. His mother. A slight, graceful woman in her late forties who could easily pass for younger.
Ginnie Kramer smacked her cheeks, eyes still on the drawings. Well, more like diagrams.
Each one contained not only a sketch but also details of dimensions, weights, and materials for each part.
“I can’t choose!” she gushed.
Vincent laughed contentedly.
His mother’s praise never failed to delight the young man.
Just as her consistent intrusions into his privacy never failed to piss him off.
He moved to her side as a maid entered with a full tray of breakfast foods for the young master, even though it was well past noon.
Vincent ignored the maid, just as he ignored the implication of the food.
His mother always liked her little punishments.
He would have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even if he had left his room at six p.m., Lady Kramer would make him ‘do the right thing.’ Nothing was allowed to be missed or skipped.
Vincent pushed his irritation down.
He leaned over her shoulder, gazing at the papers.
“So, these four, huh? The others have been weeded out?” he murmured, looking at his mother’s selection.
“Yes, these ones, my sweet!” Ginnie Kramer breathed, turning to her son and kissing his cheek, holding his face in place with her palm on his other cheek.
Vincent grimaced, but he wasn’t upset.
“Mother…,” he droned, fake complaining.
Ginnie wiped her lipstick off her son’s clean-shaven face, smiling proudly up at him.
She turned back to the papers.
“The colors, the gems, they’re all…all so…,” she …,” she commented, mesmerized.
“Magnificent?” a deep voice rolled into the room, cutting off Ginnie Kramer’s next words.
Mother and son glanced up at the same time and they both flipped the drawings face down as they smiled at the intruder.
“Father!”
“Edward!”
“Do you know what time it is?” he shot off hand at his son, while nodding gently as his wife, his expression tight.
Vincent’s brow furrowed.
He moved away from his mother as Lord Edward Kramer strolled into his son’s office. Vincent’s workroom. The design room of the Kramer estate.
The Kramers were descendants of the ancient rulers of the nation, Ashrone.
Every descendant was born with an affinity for gems – locating them, harnessing their powers, or crafting tools or weapons from the various gems – miners, alchemists, and crafters.
It was why their ancestors had been able to discover and eventually control the best mines in the land.
Most descendants had one gift. They may have other general, more commonplace magical talents or affinities, but one of these three was present.
Gifted ones had two, in any combination.
Only an ‘Emperor’, as with the first Kramer, could do all three.
Vincent, the heir, was a crafter.
His father, the current Lord Kramer, had none of the Kramer specific talents. What he was, however, was an astute businessman, a top strategist in both commercial and technical matters.
He had moved the Kramer wealth forward since taking over as Head.
The businessman was staring down at his only child, his heir, who had slept into a workday.
“Daytime?” Vincent tossed casually at his father.
“You –” Edward snapped.
“Darling! Our son has been working tirelessly on your present. He has been quite busy, working into the night on it –” Lady Kramer cut in, her eyes pleading with her husband as she faced him, while he faced their son.
“Genevieve, please,” Lord Kramer stated patiently, his tone softening.
“Seriously, Darling. I would invite you to see, but it’s supposed to be a surprise,” Ginnie continued, her voice sweet, cajoling.
Edward closed his eyes.
His wife was always like this when it came to their son.
And the boy let his mother stand between them. Defend his actions.
Edward’s mind drifted to someone he had not thought of in years.
He frowned.
Ginnie and Vincent both took a step toward the head of the family. The breadwinner. Their shelter in all storms.
His mind had gone somewhere, and it had nothing to do with Vincent Kramer’s tardiness.
Mother and son, however, did not speak.
They waited for the Master of the house.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 99
“What are you doing with Lord Kramer’s photo?”“Hmmm?”“What are you doing?”“Which Lord Kramer, Father?” Anton Voltera droned to his father as he sat at his computer screen, adjusting the close-up shot, high-resolution photo he had been playing with for over three hours.Maricius approached his son’s chair.He had come to his favorite child’s office at Voltera Enterprises to get an update on his visit with the Kramer servant.He had walked in, without knocking, the boy had not acknowledged him, so he had walked around his large, yet minimalistic, designed desk to see what had engrossed his son to such a degree.“Lord Henry,” the elder Voltera remarked.Anton’s head snapped up even as the boy remained seated.“It is, right?!” he exclaimed, his grey eyes bright.His son was not one for exclamations. Maricius’ eyes narrowed at the boy. He glanced back at the screen and stared at the light blue eyes, which were the o
Chapter 98
Tyler’s eyes drifted to Emily’s, and she held his gaze. A moment later, his hand dropped, and he glanced away from her, back to the city.Emily stayed where she was and shook his chair.He turned back to her, slowly, like his body was too heavy for him, like he was underwater.“What have you done?” she asked patiently, her voice calm as she repeated her initial question.“I helped Raymond.”“How?”“Magic.”“Why?”“I owe him.”“What did you give him?”“An earring, of a sort.”“I didn’t see one.”“You won’t. No one will.”“Why?”“To heal his body.”Unlike Ashley, Emily knew full well the limitations of a hospital on some matters.She held Tyler’s gaze.“Will he wake up?”“Maybe.”“Do you think he’ll wake up?”“Yes.”“Why?”“He’s a strong kid. A strong mind. A focused drive. Passionate. He loves life. Loves living. He should wake up.
Chapter 97
While Tyler was being grilled by Ashley Belarnt, Lord Henry Kramer was searching for an old servant. His people drove to one of the servants’ estates used by the nobles’ retired staff.It was rare for any former masters to visit their past servants, but as soon as Lord Kramer’s vehicle reached the property line, every living former servant of the Kramer Estate got the information.He went directly to the administration office, which was equivalent to the town hall premises, and met the curator of the property.There were sixty houses on the grounds and thirty apartment complexes. The estate, like all the others, was a community unto itself.Most of the residents were over the age of fifty, but many had relatives who stayed with them; as such, there were people of all ages and walks of life on the grounds.By the time Henry was greeted by the curator, the chief administrator of the estate, and had been seated, fifteen of the oldest Kramer servants w
Chapter 96
Tyler had woken last night, after over forty hours of sleep. He had taken a potion to help him move, despite all his wounds and pain, despite knowing what the reaction would be in the morning, and had turned down the strength of his black rock clock.Limiting its range to twenty feet and activating a cloaking spell once he got out of range.He went to Raymond’s room. A private one on the topmost floor of the hospital.Tyler’s floor was in the middle of the hospital building, ensuring that if anything happened at his location, the entire structure would suffer for it.He stared at the boy who was in a body cast and had been unconscious for over four weeks. He had gotten all the information from his men about the boy’s injuries.He had been beaten, with magic fully involved, breaking bones, damaging nerves, and rupturing organs.A weaker person, physically, would have died.Whether it was intentional or by accident that the boy was stil
Chapter 95
“How did that bastard get into my Tower?” Lord Ashton Belarnt rumbled.“I,” Raymond grunted, “I approved it,” he replied hoarsely, facing his uncle, even as he hung suspended, he held his uncle’s gaze.“How did he rise so fast through the ranks?” Lord Ashton rumbled. “He was under you, yet of all your staff, you kept him in your office. Directly. How did that happen?”“I pushed for it,” Raymond rasped, not using more words than necessary to end his torture.“How, then, in the name of every fucking sage there is, did that nobody get the free hand and access he got to our oldest contracts and locations within months of his arrival? Something reserved for the most senior officials?”“I allowed it. He was useful. I used him,” Raymond croaked, forcing his voice to come out loud and clear.No matter the question from his uncle, Raymond accepted the blame. More than once, he heard the only female of the group gasp, but she remained silent. Ashley B
Chapter 94
When Raymond woke, he was in a stone room. No windows, low ceiling, thick door. A dungeon.He almost laughed, but his face wouldn’t move. His cheekbone was broken, his jaw shattered. The pain was the only thing that let him know he wasn’t asleep or hallucinating.For two days, he was left there, alone. No food, no water, no company.In his silent prison, he kept his mind as light as he could, focusing on little things, like how the space wasn’t dark. Gems in the wall and ceiling lit up the room.He was also glad it was dry, as he knew much about the Belarnt private cells; every noble family, at least, everyone at the very top of nobility, had such things, and he knew how bad the Belarnt ones could get.The Belarnt’s, miners by trade and profession, had very special cells. Old, former mines. Places no one would ever go, or simply stumble into. Places where, if they liked, the gatekeeper could forget their prisoner and have no need to make burial arr
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