Three months ago, Strong Industries and King Enterprises had come to an official agreement. As part of the agreement, Strong Industries would leave a liaison in King Enterprise Headquarters. The liaison would facilitate projects between the two companies and also help resolve any conflicts. Carl Synder was originally tapped for the position, but because Felicia absolutely refused to deal with him and he was also unwilling to subject himself to her torturing, his younger sister was put in the position instead.

His sister, Alisa Synder, was only 19 and had just finished her first year of college. Both Darius and Felicia were flabbergasted by the Synder family’s choice. What was this family thinking, pulling a college student from her studies—in Historical Paintings & Architecture no less—and giving her a job like this? Didn’t they have any competent employees over there?!

When Alisa Synder showed up on her first day of work in a skirt so short it was almost a miniskirt, high heels, wearing makeup that didn’t match her face at all and looking extremely uncomfortable, Felicia had an epiphany. The Synder’s weren’t just going for a business deal— they were trying to set the two families up!

What era did they think they were living in????

Did that mean they were originally trying to get her and Carl together? Her whole body broke out into goosebumps at the thought.

She watched Alisa wobble around in high heels, constantly pulling down her skirt, for over an hour on her first day before she couldn’t stand it anymore. Getting Carry to help her, they bought a simple, loose dress that went just over the knees and a pair of flat sandals.

Taking the girl into the women’s bathroom, Felicia handed over everything.

Alisa stared at the clothes with big eyes, “You knew?”

“I’ve never seen someone almost trip that often walking on a flat floor.”

Her cheeks burned and she looked down, “I’m so sorry.”

Felicia gave the girl a pat on the shoulder. “I know you didn’t do it willingly. You probably didn’t even want this job, am I right?”

Alisa burst out into tears, grabbing hold of Felicia’s arm with a shaking hand. “Miss King, I swear I won’t do anything to Mr. King! I never wanted to dress like this, Mom made me! I’m not— I’m not that kind of girl!”

Felicia hugged the sobbing girl and pat her back, “Sh, sh, I know. No one is blaming you.”

“I promise I'll do my job properly! I won’t screw things up!”

“You don’t have to be perfect, just do your best.” Felicia pushed her towards one of the stalls, “Go on, get changed.”

Even though the dress and sandals were a little too big, Alisa was obviously much happier in them than the outfit she came in wearing. When the employees saw her change in outfit and much happier attitude, they put two and two together and silently shook their heads. Did the Synder family have any brains? Everyone knew Darius King couldn’t be won over by flashing some flesh, otherwise he wouldn’t still be single!

Alisa was a timid person. As the Strong Industries liaison she was constantly working together with Darius and Felicia, both of which had strong personalities, making her presence even weaker. In a meeting, it was easy to forget she existed.

She didn’t have a talent for corporate work. If she hadn’t been forced into the position, she’d have likely gotten replaced. As it was, she did a mediocre job despite her best efforts. The only times she truly excelled was related to any kind of product design that came across her desk, which made sense considering her college major.

The important thing was that, unlike Carl, she never got in the way of the King’s or tried to force anything on them. She earnestly spoke up for Strong Industries when needed, but otherwise deferred to Darius and Felicia in most decisions. They got along reasonably well thanks to that.

Which was why Felicia was very surprised when an invitation came in the mail inviting her to her own brother’s surprise 21st birthday bash. The return address was Alisa’s work address, meaning the invitation came from her.

She came into work in a high temper, marching straight to Alisa’s office intending to chew the girl out. But when she went in and saw Alisa’s face was white as paper, she changed her mind.

She gave a big sigh, as if exhauling her anger and asked Alisa, “Alright, what happened?”

Alisa’s eyes watered and her lips trembled. “You got an invitation too?”

“I did.”

She covered her face with her hands and sniffled loudly. “It was Carl! I don’t know how he managed it, but he sent invitations out to everyone in upper management. Not just in King Enterprises, but Strong Industries and a whole bunch of other companies. Even movie stars and singers!”

Felicia pinched the bridge of her nose and only just managed to stop herself from grinding her teeth.

“Is your brother stupid?”

Alisa banged her fist on her desk several times, crying out in frustration, “Yes!”

Felicia sighed. “I’ll talk to Darius.”

“Miss Felicia I am so so sorry.” Alisa apologized, thoroughly ashamed of her brother. He had used her name, which represented both Strong Industries and King Enterprises. If they tried to back out of it now, the fall out would be huge.

“Not your fault.” Felicia said, her irritation at the situation causing her to be short, before leaving to find Darius.

Since it was early in the day, he’d be doing review work in his office. Without bothering to announce herself, she gave her signature two knocks on his office door and directly entered.

He only glanced up at her before returning to his work.

“Yes?”

“I got an invitation this morning.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“For your 21st birthday party.”

His body stiffened, this time he focused his attention on her.

“My what?”

She sighed, “I thought so. But I guess it did say it was a surprise party...”

Naturally his sister wouldn’t send herself a birthday invitation to his party. Or perhaps more accurately, she’d never throw a party to begin with. This meant someone went behind her back.

“Who got delusions of grandeur?”

“Carl Synder.”

“Ah.”

“He invited people both from our company and Strong Industries, as well as a bunch of bigwigs, plus some Hollywood types.”

“.......ah. Troublesome.”

“Right?”

Darius looked down, thinking. Felicia didn’t interrupt him.

When he looked back up, his expression was one of tired acceptance. “We’ll make the best of it then.”

Felicia raised her eyebrow, “Really?”

“A party like this will be good for networking.”

“That’s true. I imagine that’s part of what Carl had in mind, now that you mention it.”

Darius nodded slowly before saying, “This will be the last time.”

“Last time?”

“Carl Synder goes behind either of our backs and takes advantage of the King name.”

“Hoooooo…. Is that so? What do you plan on doing,” She joked, “break his legs?”

Darius’ eyes flashed and then narrowed, a subtle pressure seeping out of him.

He gave a single tap of his finger on his desk before saying neutrally, “Of course not.”

Felicia, who hadn’t missed a thing, raised her eyebrows slightly. Clearing her throat, she told him, “I’ll try to find out what he’s got planned and make it less… annoying for you.”

“Thank you Fee.”

They talked a little more before Felicia left. After the door had closed behind her, she asked DARS facetiously, ‘What do you think? Is Carl a deadman walking?’

[It is unlikely that Darius will kill Carl Synder.]

‘Wait, unlikely? Why not ‘definitely’?!’

[Darius would view death as the easy way out for his enemies.]

She gave a long mental whistle, ‘I thought I raised him better than that… how he’d turn out so vicious?’

[User should not blame herself. There is no timeline where Darius King is normal.]

‘True…’ She looked thoughtful, ‘Is he at least better thanks to me?’

DARS dots scrolled several times before he said, [I think… he is the most human in this timeline.]

‘Most human?????’

[The user may recall that I said he is empty on the inside?]

Felicia had to dig through her memories to find what DARS was referring to before nodding.

[The user has filled Darius with life. Though it is impossible for him to be normal, at least he is not empty.]

‘Huh…. I guess he does respond to things more naturally now. That’s… that’s something I guess...’

It took three days before Felicia could hunt down Carl. When she finally found him, he tried to act innocent but she wasn’t fooled. The sweat on his forehead and the nervous twitch in his fingers showed he had a guilty conscience.

“Carl, you weasel.”

“Miss King, there’s no reason to be upset. It’s just a birthday party.”

“Yeah? And this fist is just going to relocate onto your face.” She raised the said fist in a very threatening manner.

He took a step back, losing all his pretentiousness, and squeaked out, “There’s no need for violence!!!!”

“You think you can just pull one over on the King family and you won’t suffer for it?”

“Pull one over? It’s not like I’m trying to ruin you guys or anything! It’s just a surprise birthday party for Darius King! Can’t I do something nice for the person who saved my family’s business??”

She raised her eyebrows, “Seriously, is there anything between your ears but air? Even if you wanted it to ‘do something nice’ like a party, you need to ask for permission first— if not from Darius, then from me.”

“But you hate me!”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“If I asked you for help, you’d definitely have said no!”

“Of course I’d have said no, but not because I hate you! Darius doesn’t like parties you nitwit!!!!”

This seemed to genuinely shock Carl, “He… he doesn’t? But he attends them all the time…”

Because of Felicia’s warning, Darius had avoided all social gatherings with Carl, much to Carl’s frustration. Thus, Carl didn’t know much about Darius’ preferences.

“For business. And they are low-key parties where there’s no loud noises or people crowding around him. Have you ever seen him accept a regular party invitation?”

“But his own birthday parties…”

Carl was a year older than Felicia, and thus two years older than Darius. Though he went to the same school they did, because of the age difference they weren’t close. However, he at least knew about them because they ran in similar circles. He’d heard Darius birthday parties were lavish and opulent.

“Because my Mom planned them!” Felicia rolled her eyes. “If you attended any of them you’d know Dee only showed up long enough to blow out the candles on his cake and unwrap some presents. The rest of the party he was hiding in his room!”

“Oh.”

“Yeah genius, this is why you ask family before doing things like this!”

“But I already sent out the invitations!”

She grimaced. “I know, that’s why I’m here. Show me the venue, the entertainment, and everyone you invited.”

Carl hesitated.

“Oy,” She raised her first, “I’m still willing to give you a fist relocation.”

He immediately scrambled to get the information. After a year of being harassed by her at every opportunity, he didn’t take any threat she made lightly.

After looking at what he had planned, she felt the need to go home and lie down. It’s like he picked every single thing Darius would hate. A nightclub by the name of Jesterall with a live DJ, enough alcohol to fill a pool, and so many people it was almost a fire hazard to have them all in one location.

“I see the nightclub has private rooms. Are they sound proof?”

Carl nodded.

“Alright, that’s where Darius is staying for most of this party. By himself.”

“But—”

“Or do you not want him to attend at all?”

He immediately stopped objecting.

“Hm… it looks like it’s got three levels and an open dance floor all the levels can look down into.” Felicia had the advertising booklet open for Jesterall. “Before any of the music starts, Darius can stand on the third floor and say a little speech to welcome everybody and tell them to have a good time. Good?”

He was in the middle of nodding when he stopped, “But if he has a speech it won’t be a surprise?”

“What surprise? I already told him about this four days ago!”

“Oh.” There was a slight pout on his face at his plans getting destroyed.

“Let’s see…” She began putting checkmarks next to certain guests' names on the list he’d provided, “...these people will get to see Diarus personally, they can’t come into the room in groups bigger than 3 though.”

Carl’s mouth fell open, speechless. Didn’t that mean the majority of people there wouldn’t get more than a glimpse of him?! The whole point of him doing this was for everyone to see him, Carl Synder, with Darius King! That way he could mooch off of Darius’ reputation!

“As for presents…. Nothing living and it needs to be something small enough to carry…”

“But...”

“...a simple card is also acceptable for those who can’t think of anything.”

“Just a card?!”

“Puzzles and math problems… well, anything on the science end of things will make for the best gifts.”

“Puzzles? Math? You can’t be serious...”

“Hey, is this party for you or for my brother?” She glared at him, annoyed.

Carl looked away and grumbled, clearly unhappy. In fact, this party was supposed to benefit him!

“Also…” She took the list of available foods and drinks. “...no hard liquors—”

“WHAT!?”

“—wine and beer is fine though. Limit is three glasses per guest.”

“But he’s turning 21, if no one gets sloshed—”

“If no one gets sloshed, it means no one gets into trouble.”

“...what are you, his mother?”

Felicia ignored him, “What’s more, no gifting alcohol to him.”

“Guests can’t gift him alcohol!? On his 21st birthday?!!?!?!?!”

“And I’ll pick the alcohol and bring the glasses for him to drink for the party.”

This confused Carl, “What? Why?”

“Because,” Felicia leaned back and narrowed her eyes, “it’s not safe.”

“I’m not going to poison him!”

“Maybe you won’t, but you’ve invited all kinds of people who are not as, hah, pure as you.”

“Exactly what do you think is going to happen…?” Carl muttered, feeling like an innocent person accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

“Do you know how many people hate my brother right now? You invited all these bigwigs, half of which would love to see him drop dead just as much as cozy up to him.” She scowled at Carl and rubbed her forehead. “Speaking of threats, send me a list of all the employees who will be working that night.”

“Miss King, Jesterall does background checks for—”

“I’m sure they do, send me the information anyway.” She pursed her lips. “This is what happens when you try to plan things behind our backs. Don’t think I’m unaware that this party was thrown for your benefit more than Dee’s enjoyment. And don’t think he isn’t aware either.”

Carl’s expression was extremely gloomy as he said, “You’re both misunderstanding me then, I really did this out of the goodness of my heart.”

“If you know what’s good for you, in the future you’ll keep your goodness locked deep deep inside that heart of yours.”

“Miss King… I really—”

“Carl, stop with the lies. First of all, I’m not stupid enough to believe them no matter how many times you repeat them. And secondly, I’m not the one you need to appease. It’s Darius.”

Carl gulped and began to panic. He absolutely couldn’t lose Darius’ favor! “He’s not… It can’t be that he's upset? This party is thrown in his honor, it’s no insult to him even if he doesn’t want to attend!”

She gave a light laugh.

“Carl, you really do have air between your ears. You’ve always been scared of me but I’m the lesser of two evils. I at least say to your face I hate you. But my brother…. You’ll never know you made him angry until you’re lying dead on the ground with a knife in your back.”

He paled noticeably.

She then stood up, ready to leave.

“Do what I said without argument and maybe, just maybe, Darius will consider showing you some mercy.”

Felicia left to the sound of Carl insisting it was just a party and it was all in good fun and to please, please put in a good word for him.

Time passed and “The King’s 21st Birthday Bash” arrived. Felicia really felt like it came too quickly. Why was it always the things she looked forward to the least seemed to jump forward on her calendar? Ugh.

Due to the amount of people arriving later in the day, Darius and Felicia made sure they arrived at least 30 minutes before the crowd. She walked around and sighed deeply. There were two kinds of nightclubs: fancy, lavish ones that were more about drinking fine wine and listening to things like jazz, and modern ones with dim lighting, lasers, large dance floors and loud music with a lot of bass. Jesterall was the second sort.

This was possibly the strongest indication that Carl Synder had air for brains AND didn’t set this up for Darius. Some of the people he’d invited were in their 40s and would find this kind of atmosphere offputting. And of course Darius wouldn’t like it at all.

As they walked through the building, she saw his brow furrow slightly and she knew he was unhappy. She gave him two solid pats on the back.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you in a soundproof room upstairs. And who can visit you will be limited.”

His forehead smoothed at her words but she could still faintly detect his annoyance.

Jesterall had private rooms lining the east and west sides of the building. All the rooms looked down into the main dance floor. The closer to the bottom floor, the less sound proof they were, with the bottom floors having large privacy tinted windows, allowing those inside to look out but no one to look in. The rooms on the top floor had no large windows, only a single narrow privacy tinted window on the door.

Inside their room there were comfortable looking sofas that lined the wall. Small tables were placed in front of them, with a large round table in the center. The center table was where the cake would be placed, it already had all the plates and utensils.

Unlike the rest of the building, which was painted primarily black with neon colored lines here and there, this room was white and silver themed. The lighting above them was a modern version of a crystal chandelier. She noted that the light switch was a circular nob, which she guessed meant the lighting could fade in and out, rather than a straight on and off.

Her general impression was that the room was decent enough.

Darius didn’t do more than take a single glance before immediately sitting down on one of the sofas. He had his briefcase with him, which he opened after sitting down. He began pulling out thick files and placing them next to him.

Felicia was busy taking her bottle of wine and two wine cups and placing them on the big center table.

She saw what he was doing and asked in surprise, “You’re not going to work during your birthday party?”

“I don’t view this as a birthday party, just a loud business party. Since I’m here for work anyway, I might as well go all the way.”

“Dee… I know you were looking forward to a quiet night at home but come on...”

He sighed and put the files back, only to take out a book.

“What’s the book?”

“Theorems of the 20th Century.”

She made a face at him and didn’t dare ask anymore.

About five minutes before the party was supposed to start she heard a chime. Her whole body went rigid at the sound. Unlike before, where it started slow, the chime was already insistent. She didn’t dare look at the necklace to check the color.

[User—]

‘I know, I know! Where is she?!’

[A moment.] DARS circumference faded for a moment and then brightened. [Downstairs.]

‘Why is she even here!’

[She appears to be one of the servers for a night, a temporary higher.]

‘How?!?!?! I specifically checked for anyone named Janice or Jenny!!!!!’

[Janice did steal her own twin sister’s identity after all, she wouldn’t have problems stealing strangers identities.]

‘Guh!’ Felicia hadn’t thought of that, but now that it was mentioned it made perfect sense. ‘No wonder she stalked Dee around so well originally—”

“Something wrong?” Darius had glanced up and noticed his sister was frozen, staring off into the distance.

Felicia looked down at him, sitting there reading his math book, so innocent and pure and not realizing his world destroying crazy stalker had just entered the premises, and felt panic well up inside her.

[User calm down. Tell him you are going to the bathroom.]

‘Ah?!’

[Tell the bodyguard by the door when you leave not to let any women in, no matter what excuse they give.]

Thinking this was a solid plan, she calmed down. After thinking a moment, she clutched her stomach.

“Arg,” She bent over slightly, pretending to be in pain. “My gut hurts. Was it lunch? Wow, it’s running through my intestines like a herd of cows.”

Darius stared at her and she stared at him.

After hesitating a moment, he said, “...then go to the bathroom???”

She snapped her finger, smiling awkwardly. “Guess I’ll do that. You stay safe up here, I’ll be back.”

“Ok.”

She walked to the door and paused, turning to Darius, she said a little anxiously, “Don’t leave the room.”

“Ok.”

“Don’t let anyone in until I get back.”

“Why?”

She blinked. “Too many strange people here, who knows what they’ll try to do?”

“Since when did you become so paranoid?”

“Just don’t let anyone in until I come back.”

“...”

“...well?”

“I thought you were having a cow problem?”

“Oh right.” She bent over again and groaned as if she were in pain.

Darius raised an eyebrow while DARS’ face turned into a single dot.

Feeling judged, she made a hasty retreat. On the way out, she sternly instructed the bodyguard not to let any women in. It was only when he started looking offended did she leave.

[User, why did you do that?] DARS asked as she rushed towards the emergency stairs.

‘Do what?’

[Act as though you had diarrhea.]

‘You told me to say I needed to use the bathroom!’

[...User, such theatrics were not required...]

‘You mean I made a fool out of myself for nothing?!’

[...]

‘Be more specific next time, jeesh!’

A # appeared on DARS’ round face but Felicia was too busy scrambling downstairs to notice.

Because it was right before guests would be arriving, the staff was out in full force. They were all wearing black uniforms. Some were standing in a particular place, some were milling around, others were speeding to and fro frantically.

Panting heavily from going full speed down the stairs, Felicia stared blankly at the mass of people.

‘Which one…?’

[I will go find Janice for the user.] DARS said and then floated up and away. He invisibly hovered back and forth over people, until finally he came to a stop. [She is over here.]

Felicia immediately made her way over to where DARS was hovering. Underneath him was a petite woman with short bright blond hair that was heavily hairsprayed to add body. She was a little too thin, but her round face with its permanently chubby cheeks gave the illusion of being healthy and young. Unfortunately she’d gone with the popular make up of the time, heavy neon eyeshadow and bright lipstick. The overall combination made Felicia’s eyes twitch.

The fact that Janice had a big bust did not go unnoticed by Felicia. If this girl wasn’t horrendously made up, wouldn’t she be exactly the type her brother likes?

Because Felicia King was one of the main guests, the staff took note of her standing there and intently staring at one of their own. The ones who were standing at their stations couldn’t help but look over and the ones who were supposed to be doing something couldn’t help slow down curiously.

What on earth was THE Felicia King doing down here? And why was she just standing there?

‘DARS, what do I do to get rid of her???’

[Fire her.]

‘..what? Just like that? Don’t I need some kind of excuse???’

[She falsified her identity to get this job, which is illegal.]

‘You know that, I know that, she knows that, but no one else does… how would I prove it?’

[Why is the user worried? As one of the richest women in the country, does the user need to prove anything on the spot?]

‘....huuuuu… just like that? Seems a bit like bullying...’

[User!] Several ### appeared on his face.

‘Urk, sorry, I’m just nervous...’

[User is a King, channel that name.]

‘Ok, ok, ok—’ Lifting her chin, straightening her back, and rearranging her facial features to be the most snobby she could manage, she pointed at Janice, “You.”

Janice, who had by then noticed she was the object of a big client's attention, jumped.

“Me?”

“Get your manager.” Felicia snapped her fingers. “Now.”

Janice blanked for a moment before one of her coworkers elbowed her into action. While they all waited, Felicia tapped her foot impatiently.

[User might also consider calling the police.]

‘What? Why?’

[Janice is heavily involved with illegal drugs. Not only does she take them, she also helps move them around….]

‘You want me to fire her AND get her thrown in jail?’

[She will definitely avoid the Kings at all cost if the user gets her put into jail.]

Felicia made a face and then turned to a random staff member, “Get me the police.”

The unlucky employee paled noticeably, “Ma’am, is there something—?”

“Tell them I’ve got someone involved in drug dealing I need them to pick up.”

Every staff member who was within earshot froze. The person she selected turned on their heel and quickly left to do as told. There was already a police escort outside because of how big this event would be so it wouldn’t take them long to get someone.

As they were leaving, the manager of the nightclub had come back with Janice. They hadn’t heard what she said and were thus completely unaware.

“Miss King? I was told you wanted to talk to me?” The manager had a smile on his face but she could tell by his posture he was worried.

Pointing to Janice, she said firmly, “I want her fired.”

Again everyone froze.

“May I ask what my employee did to offend you?” The manager spoke slowly.

She tilted her head and looked at Janice with a piercing glare.

“Woman, what’s your name?”

Janice's expression noticeably tightened then relaxed. It was clear she was afraid she’d been found out and then immediately told herself there was no way that anyone, much less Felicia King, would know.

“My name is Caroline Elser.”

Felicia raised an eyebrow, “Is that so? You sure it’s not Janice?”

This time Janice blanched noticeably.

“Miss King, what are you implying?” The manager was glancing between the two of them.

“She falsified her identity to get this job.”

“I didn’t!” Janice immediately objected.

“You did.”

“Boss, I really didn’t! I have no idea what this crazy bi—”

“Watch yourself.” Felicia’s expression was cold as ice.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about!”

The manager hesitated before saying, “Miss King, we do very careful background checks on all our employees.”

“I’m sure you do, but Janice here is a temporary hire, isn’t she? You depend on the temp agency to do the background check for you. How do you know they did a good job?”

The manager gaped at her. It wasn’t surprising that she knew they’d used a temp agency but that she knew this specific person wasn’t part of the regular staff was highly unusual. He squinted at Caroline, or Janice, whoever she was, and wondered what this woman had done to get on Felicia King’s bad side.

At that moment, a policeman walked over. Janice, who’d been insisting on her innocence, noticeably began to panic at the sight of him. Felicia gave an internal snort. She dabbles in crime but she’s not clever enough to hide her guilty conscience.

“Miss King,” The police officer spoke respectfully, “I heard there was a problem?”

Felicia felt a flash of prickling sense of guilt. Until this point, Janice was more like a character in a story, not a real person. Now that the woman was in front of her... She’d never sent someone to jail before and Janice hadn’t hurt her in any way. Janice drug addiction didn’t hurt Felicia, only Janice. More than anger or fear, she just felt pity.

She wished… she wished it didn’t have to be this way. She wished she could help Janice.

[User. Do not forget that this timeline’s existence is at stake.] DARS reminded her when he saw she wasn’t taking immediate action.

She blinked. Right. Though how that all worked was still very much a mystery, Felicia would rather deal with the guilt of one person’s life being ruined than the lives of an entire world.

Taking a small, steadying breath, she spoke confidently, “Good evening officer. Were you informed why I’d called you over?”

He nodded.

Felicia pointed at Janice, “This woman falsified her identity to get this job, she uses drugs AND helps deliver them.”

“N—no, no, no, no.” Janice was shaking her head, a sheen of sweat already visible on her forehead.

[Janice came here in a rusted 1974 Ford Pinto, pea green. There are drugs in her gloverbox.]

‘How did you…’

[I checked while you were talking.]

‘How stupid does she have to be to bring them along with her….’ She mentally sighed.

“Check her car, I think it’s a Ford… some kind of old sadan… an ugly green color.” Felicia didn’t dare get too specific, otherwise they might think she was setting Janice up. “When I came in, I saw her putting something suspicious in the glove box.”

A swell of terror filled Janice. How did she know? How did Felicia King know what kind of car she drove or where her drugs were located? Janice hadn’t touched those drugs before getting here, intending on using them afterward. And Felicia hadn’t been anywhere near the employee parking lot when Janice arrived for work— she’d have noticed if she had been! Felicia King wasn’t some random person off the street, her bright red hair and expensive clothes made her stand out!

“I don’t— I didn’t—” Janice began denying. When she saw the cop take a step towards her, the last shred of rationality left her and she began shouting frantically, “It’s not my car! I came in a friend's car! None of that stuff is mine! I’m innocent!”

The police officer hadn’t immediately believed Felicia King’s words. No matter how rich and influential she was he wouldn’t handcuff someone without some kind of evidence. His step towards Janice had been a move to get between the two women, not to intimidate anyone. But Janice’s words made him change his mind.

It wasn’t just the police officer who became suspicious. The manager’s expression was getting uglier and uglier the more Janice babbled.

Felicia raised her eyebrow at Janice's overreaction. If she’d kept her cool, there’s a real chance she could have gotten away, but now…

“Miss King, what on earth is going on here?” Carl, who had been at the front door waiting for people to enter and greet them, had heard something amiss inside and came to find out what was going on. Everything had to go perfectly tonight or his life was ruined.

Felicia held up her hand, indicating Carl needed to wait.

Turning to the manager, she said coldly, “You don’t have to take my word for it, you can check. But either way, this woman isn’t staying. I want her escorted off the premises. I don’t want to see even a wisp of her during or after the party, understand? Otherwise this dinky little nightclub of yours will find itself out of business very, very soon.”

The manager shook in his shoes, knowing that Miss King wasn’t speaking empty threats, and immediately agreed.

Seeing she’d been completely abandoned, Janice made a run for it. The cop, who’d just decided he’d take her to the side and quietly question her, was forced to give chase. His original intention of keeping everything low key immediately vanished. If he was going to play cat and mouse, someone was definitely going to get arrested!

Felicia watched for a few seconds before deciding she wouldn’t be any help. She told the manager to inform her when Janice was caught and then left.

Carl trailed behind her and only said something when they were in the elevator.

“What was all that about?”

“Just getting rid of the riff raff.” She frowned and glared at him, “Why are you following me?”

“I just wanted to know what the trouble was…”

“Now you know,” The elevator door opened and she stepped out. Turning to him, she made shoo-shoo motion. “Away with you, back down stairs you go.”

The elevator doors closed and Felicia could faintly hear Carl cursing on the way down. She smiled pleasantly. At least she got to irritate Carl, always a good use of her time.

Darius hadn’t moved from where he was sitting. Because the room was sound proof, he likely didn’t know anything had happened downstairs.

Seeing his sister returned, he asked, “Feeling better?”

“What?” She looked at him with confusion.

“...the herd of rampaging cows in your intestines, remember?”

“Oh. Oh…..” She smiled cheerfully. “Yep, much better.”

With some pep in her step she walked over to where he was sitting and dropped herself lazily onto the sofa. The chime was getting fainter and fainter.

DARS floated through the door and announced: [Janice has been handcuffed and is being taken away in a police car.]

“Hehehe.” She couldn’t stop herself from snickering out loud while saying a mental ‘YEEEEES!’

Darius blinked, his eyebrows raising slightly at her odd behavior, but didn’t ask because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Why did it seem that ever since Carl Synder walked into their lives, his sister’s behavior had become unstable and unfathomable? He definitely needed to make sure that guy didn’t appear in the future. He wasn’t good for her mental health.