René Alejandro leaned back on his seat and faced his brothers as he continued saying, "It does not really matter whether Liam had a hand in kidnapping and torturing Jin Chenggong or not. Jin Chenggong, his clansman, betrayed Liam. It is only natural that he would want revenge, no? Even we do worse things in our organization if one of our comrades betray us. Things such as forgiving and forgetting are unnatural dogma used by societies and religions to control people."
One of his brothers asked him, "You sound as if you like Liam?"
The dimpled Spaniard shrugged his shoulders. "I am not sure if I 'like' him. But I do know that I do not hate the man. I have met Liam several times already and I can sense that he is a reliable and responsible person. He is the type of person who gets the job done no matter what comes his way. If he were a member of our organization, I would want someone steady like him in our team."
"It is very rare for somebody else to earn such high praises from you, brother," another commented.
René Alejandro shrugged again. "I do not think that I am praising him that much, no? This is me just being honest. But do not worry, my brothers. I know my limits and how not to allow my personal opinions to taint our mission. Liam still remains our target. No matter what kind of opinions I have about the man, I will not show any mercy when it is time for us to attack."
Their conversation stopped at this point. They returned to their task.
The sun had long set outside but they didn't notice or care. Even when their stomachs began to growl, they continued working away in their investigations like busy bees.
As the team leader, it was René Alejandro's responsibility to look after his members and make sure that they were well enough to continue working. He should be ordering for some food for all of them right now but it slipped out of his mind.
Just now, he found a small clue. He wasn't sure if it would be helpful or useless but finding anything at this point was already good after fumbling without any results for more than three months. All of them were working on this tiny clue.
"Got it!" René Alejandro pumped his hand in the air.
His brothers followed his opening.
"Mr. Z? That elusive leader of the relatively new group in this country?"
René Alejandro nodded but then frowned after a few moments. "This bastard!"
"He deliberately left this clue for us to find."
"Insolent asshole," René Alejandro muttered and laughed without humour.
All of them felt played. They had been working their asses to find a clue—any clue at all—and yet what they found was a deliberate "present" left for them.
Wasn't it this a clear provocation?
'Hey, I know that you won't find any clue no matter how much you try, so I'll leave this little something for you because you're so pitiful. Then you'll give me more challenge so I won't be bored.'
René Alejandro could image the mysterious Mr. Z saying these irritating words. He continued laughing, this time from frustration.
"Well played, Mr. Z. Well fucking played!"
He glanced at his brothers and saw that they were as equally frustrated as him.
"We'll focus our investigations on this Mr. Z next," he told them. "But we eat dinner first, yes?"
###
Dragon Palace Home #10.
It was a morning like any other. Long Jinjing woke up alone in bed. The other side of the bed was already cold but she could still smell her husband's masculine scent all over the sheets.
She inhaled Lu Zihao's scent and stayed in bed for a few more minutes before getting up. Her husband must be in the training grounds again. She knew that he was very strict on his daily physical training. Knowing this, she didn't feel disappointed anymore to wake up without him lying beside her.
Besides, she woke up later in the morning ever since she took a maternity leave from work. Lu Zihao had a large appetite. She couldn't just expect him to wait for her to wake up so that they could eat breakfast together. If the man starved, his already temperamental mood would only become worse.
After freshening up and struggling into her day clothes, she was about to head out of the bedroom when she felt a rather strong contraction.
She froze.
Then nothing.
She sighed and stroked her huge belly. It had already been a few days since she started having this kind of intermittent contractions. They were nothing too painful but still made her panic at first. However, the doctor assured her that some pregnant women experienced false contractions like her.
Thinking that this was yet another false contraction, she headed out in the hallway and made her way to the informal dining area where they usually ate together.
There was nobody there when she arrived. The staff served her a simple yet nutritious breakfast. She learned that everyone else had eaten breakfast except for her younger sister. It seemed that her sister Xiulan was still sleeping after taking care of the twins during the night.
As she started with the hot soup first, she experienced another contraction. She stiffened but like before, everything seemed to be okay afterwards.
"Good morning, Big Sister," Iris greeted as she arrived to join her for breakfast.
The sisters chatted with each other while eating. Long Jinjing ate a lot. Her weight gain still continued to give her low self-esteem but she no longer obsessed about it after registering her marriage with Lu Zihao. All her friends in the girl squad also made sure to shower her with encouraging words.
After breakfast, the sisters planned to spend time the rest of the morning with Little Mochi and Little Matcha at the nursery room. Long Jinjing loved her twin nephews. They looked so adorable. Seeing the fraternal twins, she wondered if her own twins would also be fraternal or would they be identical instead.
"Excited?" Iris asked while looking at her huge belly.
Long Jinjing smiled.. "Very."
