The Black Card System

The chaos within the Lewis empire

CHAPTER 7 — “THE CHAOS WITHIN THE LEWIS EMPIRE”

Noah entered the mansion , he immediately fixed his expression to the same one the Lewis family expected from him. He slipped off his shoes and kept his head lowered. The living room felt tense,there was loud voices bouncing all over the place before he even walked in.

“ What are we going to do !!!”

“ Are we going to go bankrupt?”

“ You all calm down please …i am trying to think “

Noah heard several voices as he walked in .

Tara’s father stood near the staircase, his face was red, he was obviously furious.

“There you are,” he snapped. “Where have you been?”

“Working,” Noah murmured.

“ What work ? “ Tara yelled at him .

“ You ordered me to join the cleaning team …remember?”

“ Ohh that …did you scrub the floor well ?”

“ Yes “ He replied his head bowed.

Tara’s father stepped closer, jabbing a finger at him. “You were at the financial building today, weren’t you?”

“Yes, sir. I was cleaning, I was assigned to that area and that was why i was there , Is there a problem sir ?,” Noah replied softly.

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

The older man’s voice cracked with anger. “Three hundred million vanished! Do you understand what that means?!”

“I don’t…” Noah let his voice shake slightly. “ Three _hundred_ million, that’s a lot of money …Just vanished?”

Tara folded her arms and rolled her eyes.

“He’s too stupid to steal anything. He doesn’t even know how to open a transfer page, Look at him stuttering…”

Her father turned on her. “You don’t know that. He’s been acting strange lately.”

Noah lowered his gaze. “Sir, if you think I did something wrong, I’ll accept whatever punishment you want. I just… I don’t know what’s going on and i am as shocked as you guys ….”

Tara scoffed. “He’s panicking, He is too scared of us to even steal from us …. Look at him.”

“He should panic,” her father barked. “Everything is falling apart and the government is already asking questions. Do you understand the trouble we’re in?”

“ I know father but we can’t waste time suspecting this good for nothing….”

“ You have a point …”

Noah whispered, “I’m sorry if you think i caused trouble… but I didn’t do anything.”

“ Just shut up already …you’re being pathetic “ Tara said pushing him slightly, Noah staggered backwards and hid in a corner , putting on his timid face .

“ You are disgusting …” She added and turned to her father .

The man paced back and forth, pulling at his hair. “The regulators froze half our accounts. They’re demanding explanations we can’t give. They say someone leaked internal files , files only a handful of us have access to!”

Noah said nothing. His expression stayed neutral, Fear? Anger ? Anxiety? he felt none of that

Tara’s father glared at him again. “If I find out you were involved… even by accident… you’re done. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” Noah said. “I hear you.”

The older man stormed out, slamming a door behind him.

Tara walked closer, staring at Noah like he had shit all over .

“Honestly… you’re becoming a curse in this house.”

He offered a small smile. “I seem to hear that a lot but i am trying my best to be the perfect in law “

She sneered, annoyed that he even spoke. “Just stay out of the way. Everything is bad enough without you breathing around us.”

She left him standing alone in the living room.

Noah’s face stayed calm . His heartbeat didn’t rise, even when the card buzzed lightly in his pocket, confirming the Lewis empire was burning from the inside.

Later, when the mansion grew quieter, Noah walked upstairs slowly, holding a box of files Tara asked him to move. As he approached her bedroom, he heard her voice through the slightly open door.

“I’m telling you, he’s becoming a liability,” she whispered sharply. “He’s always around when something goes wrong. My father is suspicious.”

A man’s voice answered her, it was a familiar voice , he had heard it before .

“He won’t matter for long. You just need to push the divorce soon. Then we’ll finish what we started.”

Noah froze outside the door. His grip tightened on the box, but his face stayed blank.

Tara sighed loudly. “I should’ve left him months ago. He’s so pathetic he doesn’t even realize what’s happening around him.”

The man chuckled softly.

“That’s why he’s useful.”

Noah tilted his head. Useful?j

The card in his pocket vibrated sharply, like it sensed danger. A faint electric pulse ran up his arm. Noah pulled the card out slightly, keeping it hidden.

The card scanned the lover’s face through the small gap in the door.

For a second, the surface of the card flickered, lines of data forming and dissolving.

A name surfaced with a symbol belonging to one of the Mega 7 families.

“ He is one of them ? Intresting…”

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

“Tara,” the man said inside, “your family is under surveillance. You know this. That’s why I’m here.”

Noah closed the card slowly, sliding it back into his pocket.

So Tara wasn’t cheating only for pleasure.

She was being handled.

“ This is bigger than i thought ….” Noah nodded

And Noah had never mattered not even enough to betray properly. He was simply the harmless husband who wouldn’t notice anything.

Like a Collateral.

Tara laughed lightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle Noah. He won’t cause trouble.”

“Good,” the lover replied. “Just divorce and discard him …Once the investigation hits harder, we move to phase two.”

Noah stepped back silently, the box steady in his hands. Not a single emotion showed on his face.

He whispered under his breath, “So that’s your real face.”

Downstairs, his phone buzzed. It was the card.

A new message appeared across the screen:

“TARGET IDENTIFIED: SILAS VULTON : operative of Mega Family #3.”