"Master!" Several men from The Dark Night rushed into the kitchen, following an alarm they received from the ring on Knight's forefinger.

"Catch her! Punish her for what she did!" He ordered, casting an evil smile at Lucy. Whether or not he died, she would never be able to live peacefully after what she did to him.

To his dismay, they didn't capture Lucy, but instead, bowed to her.

"Master, how should we handle him?" Asked the top mercenary, Knight's right hand man. He went on one knee and kissed the back of Lucy's hand.

Lucy smiled, returning an evil glance at Knight, whose skin was paler from losing too much blood. "Did you not understand what I said, Knight? Oh, perhaps you were pretending to be dumb."

She smiled down at her new subordinates. "He threatened not only the life of a little girl, but that of an unborn baby too. Although we are called The Dark Night, we cannot resort to such lowly schemes. Else, how will we be able to lift our heads in the presence of other organisations?"

"I will take good care of him, master." Knight's former right-hand man vowed. Of course, there wasn't much to take care of since the jerk was already on his last breath. It was just thrilling to see his reaction when his most loyal lap dog turned against him.

"The rest is for Zaria to handle when she grows up." She sighed, referring to her family. After all, they were the cause of all this. If it wasn't because of their selfishness and utter stubbornness, Zaria's life would never be in danger.

___

Lucy furrowed her brows.

"I thought Zaria would become part of The Dark Night once she is old enough. I didn't expect the situation to be so different." She gently caressed the ring on her forefinger, which she had snatched from Knight years ago. "The biggest problem is that she despises the underworld. If I bring it up to her, not only will she oppose the idea, but she might also drift away from me."

Zeus thought hard about it. "I don't have a way to convince her either. We can simply protect her from behind the scenes." He scratched his chin. "But how will we keep your family away from her if we are no longer in Olphire? I thought they would never strike but here they are."

According to his investigation, it would only make sense if Theodore's fiasco was caused by her family. They must have found out that Lucy was back.

"I didn't expect them to strike again either." She chuckled in ridicule. "Let's be real… I did expect them to strike again, but I thought they would directly target Zaria."

"Zaria has Desmond's protection. This must be a roundabout way of harming her—using the person she cares the most about." Zeus guessed.

"Do you think they have investigated Zaria's identity yet?" Lucy asked, hoping they would soon fall into the trap she set years ago.

Zeus shrugged. "They don't have a reason."

"Leak the information I told you before. Let everyone in all the organizations know that Theodore's accident was caused by me." She instructed.

Zeus was taken aback by the idea, then a reason hit him. He smiled brilliantly. "Mother, you are smart."

By making her family find out that she tried to hurt Theodore and Zaria, she was pushing them to have doubts about Zaria. If they started investigating, they would naturally get caught by the web that had been woven and was waiting for them all along.

Lucy huffed over her shoulders. "Get rid of these little fishes. I'll start with your grandfather."

___

Desmond's mansion, the next evening.

"You have not been eating enough. Have some fruit." Desmond brought Zaria a platter of diced fruits in the living room.

She let him place it on the coffee table. "Thank you."

"Skeleton managed to trace the caller." He gave the good news as he sat next to her, picking a piece of fruit with a fork to feed her.

"Really? That's great!" She finally cheered up.

"What do you want to do, call them?" He asked.

When she thought about it, she shook her head. "We can't let them discover my identity as soon as I call. Skeleton should do it. He can prevent the call from getting hacked."

"Okay, leave it to me." He promised to deal with it. "Your mother had a talk with Leo's wife."

"And?" She tilted her head curiously.

"They made a bet. If your mother is unable to prove your father's innocence within a few days, then she will have to give up Twilight." He explained, making her eyes widen with shock.

"What? How could Shera do that?!" Her anger calmed in the next instant. "Wait. The point is, why is mother willing to make such a grand bet?"

"I can't make a guess." He left it to her even though he knew the reason already.

"No matter what her reason is, I have to thank her." She could finally confirm that Lucy had nothing against Theodore. Just as she wondered whether to give her a call or thank her in the office on Monday, her phone rang.

"It's Ximena. Crap. I forgot to call her back." She bit her lip guiltily and answered the call.

"Zaria, how are you doing?" Ximena sounded a bit worried.

"Everything is fine. I'm sorry I had to ditch you. Let's have lunch tomorrow, okay?" She suggested.

"I was just about to ask you out for lunch tomorrow. See you at Lumiere Dix, then."

"Sure."

"Are you going to ditch me tomorrow?" Desmond complained, reminding her that they had planned to go out the following day since it was the weekend.

She slapped her forehead. "I'm so sorry. I already agreed to go with Ximena and it would be awkward to cancel it now. Let's go out after my lunch date with Ximena, okay?" She pecked his lips to pacify him.

"Are you going to pacify me with just a kiss?" He retorted.

She grabbed his collar and kissed him a little longer. "I'll make it up to you all night. How about that?"

"Fair enough."

___

The following day, at Lumiere Dix.

Ximena hadn't had a single bite of her food since it was served, sighing endlessly instead.

Zaria was worried at her lack of appetite. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm sorry. I thought I would feel much better if I went out for fun." Ximena couldn't hold it anymore. "I think I need a mega cup of double espresso."

"What's going on?" Zaria looked at her suspiciously, finally realizing how tired her friend looked. She guessed that if the latter were to wipe off her makeup, there would be dark circles around her eyes. Hadn't she been having enough rest?

"Things aren't going too well at Morel Beauty. It was alright at first but the situation doesn't look so promising anymore."

Zaria frowned. "What's the exact situation? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Right. You have been a CEO's assistant so you might be able to help." Ximena realized that such an important detail had slipped her mind. In the past, she had half-joked about wanting to own a large cosmetics company and having Zaria as her co-founder. However, their dreams turned out to be different and she had long forgotten about it. But now that she thought about it, Zaria might still offer help from a business woman's point of view. "I'm in need of investors. However, no matter how good my proposals are, no company wants to collaborate with me. Instead, they want to buy out Morel Beauty with the excuse that I still have a long way to go. Do you have any recommendations?"

Zaria cursed. "Those damned profiteers."

"I expected this." Ximena sighed. This must be a result of the Morel family secretly meddling in her business.

"Overconfidence is your weakness, Xim." She reminded her friend.

"Huh? Am I…" Ximena was about to ask if she was being too confident when it dawned on her. "You are right. I aimed too high when I saw the ratings soar."

"I suggest you deal with individuals instead of companies." Zaria stated after thinking about it. "At your current level, larger companies are bound to take advantage of you. Forget about them and aim for those tycoons who have nothing better to spend their money on. As long as the profit looks promising for both parties, there shouldn't be a problem. I will send you a list of potential investors as soon as I compile it. After that, it's up to you to meet up with them and convince them."

"You are a lifesaver." Ximena hugged her gratefully.