"You're not asleep, yet?" Chris asked the moment he saw Sera still awake with her laptop on the bed.

"No."

"I thought you would sleep?"

"I can't."

"May I know why?" He wanted to know if she was willing to tell him why.

"That man thought he could still manipulate me." Sera's eyes were glued to her laptop. "Bad move."

"Edward Fu…"

'Without him, Zhang Ying would be helpless." Sera said, her fingers weren't showing any signs of slowing down. "Edward is… someone ruthless." He was someone like her, except he had more experience. She stopped typing and stared at him, wondering how would he react.

Surely Chris knew about her first love, right? Or maybe first obsession?

"I know." He nodded. His lips were thin, eyes devoid of any expression. "And I don't think he is someone worth your attention. If it makes you feel better, I already withdraw everything that I have with the Fu Family."

"And you did it for me."

He nodded, wondering if she would feel offended. However, Chris wasn't planning to hide this from her. As someone who could manipulate information using computers, he knew that Sera could easily obtain this information if she wanted to.

"I understand," Sera said. She then lowered her head and started typing again. "I'm not angry," she clarified. "But I feel uncomfortable that you would involve, hundreds of millions just because of my personal matters." At least he was mature enough to talk about this now.

"Our…"

"Hm?"

"Our matter. The moment he showed up at that police station, it became our problem." He sat on the edge of the bed and slowly massaged one of her feet. His hand seamlessly slid from her ankles to her toes. "The Fu Family is influential in this part of the region. And even in Cone lands. But they are business owners, their money is out there somewhere. All we needed to do is damaged their investments. It wasn't really a big deal and a few millions don't matter to me."

Chris continued, "The Zhang Family is one thing. The reason why I am not touching them is that it is your personal matter. I have my own vendetta against them, but I am not planning to do anything without your permission. However, Mr. Fu is different."

To his surprise, Sera just kept on staring at him without saying anything. "You—You are not–"he gulped. "Are you angry?"

"No. But the fact that you are willing to miss a few hundred millions for me is rather… astonishing." And surprising. Especially knowing that she wouldn't be able to pay that hundreds of millions.

"You're not thinking of paying me back, right?"

She cleared her throat before awkwardly avoiding his gaze. "Mr. Edward Fu had received a lot of complaints since he became the CEO of Fu Group. One of which is actually murder. A hit-and-run case which was acquitted because the medical examiner said that the man was dead or dying when he hit him. They said there was already damaged in the man's brain before the accident. He was cleared because of this claim."

"So, you are saying that Edward paid the medical examiner."

"I don't know, yet. Medical Examiners work for the state. For someone to be able to pay… If someone would do that, it wasn't Edward. It would be his mother, Miss Liliana Montez - Fu. She's not a native."

"Montez…"

"Yes, the councilwoman. She is very influential among her peers and is considered the Queen in this City." Sera started typing, hoping it would somehow change the awkward atmosphere around them and maybe ease the fluttery feeling inside her stomach.

She really should control her urge around this man.

"A councilwoman…"

"She is just like a bird, swooping down to save her son, every time that he does something wrong," she said. "Of course, I don't blame her. Mothers can be very protective. Especially if the child is as promising as Mr. Fu."

"You said… every time?"

"This wasn't the first time that she intervened to save her beloved son. When Edward was in college, he threw some acid on another student's face. It was ruled out as self-defense."

"Where did you see all this? Even I— "

"You are underestimating the power of technology. Everything that you put in the computer using the internet can be acquired even if you already deleted it. Pictures, documents, secrets. Everything out there is already floating waiting for someone to just pluck them down and use it."

"So you're just plucking them down… from the tree."

"Exactly," Sera said. "There is this space. It's called the dark web. Everyone in this place is basically anonymous. You can gain some weird friends there and you can easily ask them to obtain some information for you. For a price, of course. No one would care where the info came from or… how they obtain it. Once the ends are met, you can pay using crypto. Everything is untraceable."

"That—I have heard about the dark web. It's a breeding place for ped*philes and people with some different kinks. I too have used it before to obtain some information." Chris said. "No one is really safe out there… huh." Ordinary people don't really know anything about this stuff. They post images on social media not knowing that a simple image could be used to track down their information, even their location.

Someone malicious could easily track someone these days.

"What are you doing now?" he moved closer to her.

"I'm using Mrs. Fu's computer."

"You— "

"Hacking sounds illegal. I prefer to use 'borrowing'."

"What are you looking for?"

"I also sent the video of Zhang Xin trying to frame me to Mrs. Fu. I was trying to see if she already sent some emails condoning this behavior or… maybe even saying that it was false. However, she did nothing. She must have been watching everything unfold right now. My guess is… she never liked Zhang Ying and was using this opportunity to let Edward realized that Zhang Ying is a manipulative b."

"You know... hearing you speak like this is just different."

"Different?"

"It's hot."

"Excuse me?" she looked at him. "What's hot?"

Instead of answering her, he reached out towards her cheek and pulled her for a quick kiss. Almost immediately, she felt an acute tension of desire building inside her.

But the kiss ended quickly—something that she didn't expect. She blinked at him, her brain could only focus on the fact that they were close and this made her thighs quiver in anticipation.

He said nothing as his hands started tracing her collarbone. The familiar longing inside her intensified. She wanted to feel him against her naked skin. She wanted his hands to fondle her breast, then play with her already damped sex.

She wanted him to kiss all the deep dives and curves of her body. She wanted him to stretch her, fill her up and make her convulsed in a consuming climax.

But she couldn't say anything.

She just stared at him and waited for him to kiss her again.

And he did.

But this time, it only lasted a few seconds. He leaned back and smiled. "I will take a bath."

He didn't even wait for her to respond as he removed his shirt and started walking towards the bathroom.

Sera felt her throat turned dry as she watched his back disappear from her sight. She didn't even realize how her heart was already beating so fast, it was the only thing that she could hear now that he was gone.

She touched her fevered skin and shivered. The fierce flare of yearning overtook her senses. It made her want to run towards the bathroom and just—

*DING*

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard an email notification. She was on Mrs. Fu's computer, so she would also receive everything that Mrs. Fu received.

She watched as Mrs. Fu opened an email. Then her eyes widened. A sudden coldness hits her core. The fluttery feeling inside her stomach turned heavy as she read the files about… her.

Sera Zhang.

It contained an image of her and some information that someone could easily obtain. Her school, course, friends, friend's background, and her new net worth after inheriting everything from the old man.

It seems that Mrs. Fu had been busy.

Then she saw the woman print the information and quickly delete the files. Obviously, before she could even delete the files, Sera was already tracking down the people who sent the files.

And there it was.

The IP came from the Zhang Mansion. Her first guess was Zhang Xin, but it could be Zhang Ying too. Sera sighed before she closed the network between them and started checking out Zhang Xin's phone. As expected, the woman had been calling her friends after the video was spread.

However, it seems that there was only one person who answered Zhang Xin, and that was Mrs. Fu. The rest is really no brainer.

Zhang Xin must have said that Sera edited the videos.

Sera swallowed before she smiled. It turns out that she was right. Being able to hack into almost everything felt very empowering.