Frida and her sons watched things unfold through the window.

The smoke in the caffé rolled out like a confused fog creeping into the street.

"What's going on over there? Where did all this smoke come from?" Frida asked, squinting.

Caro and Caden exchanged that secret-brother look.

"I think the aliens are making a move, Caden," Carl whispered, like he didn't want the smoke to hear him.

Caden nodded. "I think so too, but we can't even see anything because of all the smoke."

Carl tapped his chin dramatically. "That's true."

Frida glanced at her children. "What are you two murmuring about?"

Both froze instantly—like she caught them stealing meat from the pot.

"Nothing, mum," they chorused, guilty as ever.

Frida sighed. "Your sisters are probably in their rooms missing this pleasant view of the competition getting taken out."

Then—

The smoke cleared.

Quietly. Almost too quietly.

Frida and her sons stared.

"Carl, what's going on? Why are the men just standing there doing nothing? Why aren't they kicking them out?" Caden asked, totally lost.

Carl shrugged. "Beats me. I have no clue."

Frida scanned the area again. "The boss is nowhere to be seen either. What's going on? Will the shop be seized or not?"

Opposite their house, the men remained there—still, eerie, like someone paused them with a remote.

Sarah smiled faintly. "The rabbit is out of its hole."

Azreal drew one slow breath.

"Plan C," he murmured, "is a success."

Aria blinked at the strange scene. "What's going on? Where is the boss?"

Shot folded his arms. "Most likely Lyra had something to do with this."

Aria's eyes widened. "Lyra?" She looked around. "That's true… I can't see Lyra anywhere either."

Nena approached Azreal, voice trembling. "What's going on? What happened? Is the caffé safe now?"

Azreal smiled like someone who already saw the ending of the story. "Let's just wait for some time and see what results we produce."

Everyone drifted to the outside chairs, settling with anxious patience.

After a moment that felt too long, the door swung open.

Lyra stepped out calmly.

Azreal nodded. "You here means everything worked out well."

Lyra nodded back. "Yes, my lord."

Azreal stood. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go inside and speak with our new friend."

Everyone looked even more confused, but Azreal and Sarah walked into the caffé behind Lyra as if this was all normal.

Cain scratched his head. "I don't get it. At all."

Laisa smiled lightly. "I bet Lord Azreal made all this possible."

Fredrick and Jack hurried forward, stepping into the caffé.

Nena, Lexi, Laisa, and Aria followed next.

Hulk, Eric, and Shot stood and walked in calmly.

Shot paused and looked back at Cain. "Instead of standing there, come in. Maybe Lord Azreal will explain everything."

Cain sighed and followed him inside.

Inside, Azreal and the boss sat face to face at one of the tables.

Lyra and Sarah stood behind Azreal like shadows loyal to him.

The boss spoke first. "I am sorry, Mr. Azreal, for my behavior with you and your family."

Everyone froze at that. No one even breathed.

Azreal smiled. "It's fine, Mr—"

"Vargas Morello," the boss said quietly.

Azreal nodded. "Mr. Morello, there's no need for apologies. We all make mistakes, we don't have control over that. Let's just say everything was a simple misunderstanding."

Morello nodded slowly. "You're too kind, Mr. Azreal."

"It's nothing," Azreal replied.

Morello glanced at Lyra. "Mr. Azreal… I would like to take Miss Lyra from you, if you permit me."

Azreal frowned. "Meaning?"

Morello cleared his throat. "I would like to employ her as my personal secretary in my company."

Silence washed the room.

"Not to worry," Morello added quickly. "I will pay her well and I won't cause her or your family any trouble or inconveniences."

Azreal's voice sharpened. "That's enough."

Morello stiffened. "Is that a no from your side?"

"Of course not," Azreal said calmly.

Mr. Morello exhaled in relief.

Azreal continued, "You can hire her to work for you. I see no problem with that. Everything depends on what Lyra wants."

He turned. "Lyra, do you want to work for Mr. Morello in his company?"

Lyra answered simply, "Yes."

Azreal nodded to Morello. "She agreed. Then she can work for you."

Mr. Morello smiled gratefully. "I really appreciate your kindness, Mr. Azreal."

Azreal leaned back. "Since Lyra is working for you, Mr. Morello, that doesn't make us strangers anymore. So I would like for us to strike a business deal."

Everyone's heads snapped toward each other.

Confusion everywhere.

Morello blinked. "Deal? What deal?"

Azreal signaled to Sarah.

She left, returned with a black file, and placed it gently into Azreal's hand.

Azreal set the file on the table in front of Morello.

Morello flipped through the pages.

Azreal spoke, "I would like the A.C.T.S and Nena's Caffé to collaborate together in business."

Cain immediately dragged Sarah aside. The others crowded around her like gossiping chickens.

"Is this your plan?" Cain whispered.

Sarah shook her head. "No, it's all Lord Azreal's plan. I simply went with his orders."

"But what is he going for with this plan?" Fredrick asked.

Sarah sighed. "There's no need to break your heads trying to understand Lord Azreal. Let him strike the deal, and you'll all understand soon."

She returned to Azreal's side, leaving them more confused than before.

Azreal spoke again. "Although the two enterprises will collaborate, the caffé will still belong to us, and its name remains Nena's Caffé. The job of the A.C.T.S is simply to provide the caffé with their goods. The caffé will bloom and be well known thanks to the influence of the A.C.T.S."

Morello closed the file with a soft thud. "The conditions you laid out are understandable, but they favor your caffé only. What's in it for A.C.T.S? You see, we may be friends now, but I don't mix business with my personal life. When striking a deal, we look at our profits and our losses."

Azreal nodded calmly. "Of course, Mr. Morello. I wouldn't strike a deal that only benefits the caffé, now would I? That would make me a bad businessman."

Morello stayed silent.

Azreal continued, "Let me list the benefits A.C.T.S gains from this deal."

Morello folded his arms. "Go on."

Azreal leaned forward.

"First, Nena's Caffé becomes the official flagship shop where your company's products are showcased first before they hit the general market.

I'm certain there are goods your company has that aren't visible to the people yet—but Nena's Caffé can give them that visibility."

Morello's eyes flickered with interest.

"Second," Azreal continued, "it creates instant public trust because customers see a popular caffé like ours using your goods.

You must have seen our growth. You can't deny that our shop has the potential A.C.T.S requires."

"That's true," Morello admitted. "Your caffé does have business potential."

Azreal smiled. "Nice to hear that from you, Mr. Morello. Now, moving on.

In other words, your products gain a trusted home. A spotlight. A place where the world tastes A.C.T.S before anywhere else."

He didn't stop.

"Third. Your company gets a cut of the profit from every product sold by the caffé. You gain passive income.

In simpler terms, you supply the goods, we sell the magic. Every cup we sell fills your pocket too."

He paused.

"What do you say, Mr. Morello? Not a bad deal, right?"

Morello thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I love your proposal, Mr. Azreal. And it shows you're a very good businessman."

Azreal smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Morello."

The others just stood in one corner, dumbfounded, mouths hanging open.

Morello cleared his throat. "Your last point… about A.C.T.S getting a cut from your profit. So you have a fixed percentage?"

Azreal nodded. "You get 15% of the collaboration profits. That's fair. You get your cut, we get the edge. Everybody wins."

Morello's eyes softened. Then he nodded. "This isn't a bad deal, Mr. Azreal. I accept."

Azreal let a small smile slip. "That's… nice to hear, Mr. Morello."

Morello nodded, standing slowly. Azreal followed, shifting his weight a little, like he wasn't used to standing still after so long.

"I guess… this makes us business partners," Azreal said, his voice soft, almost hesitant, but steady.

Morello cleared his throat. "I'll come by tomorrow with the documents. We can get the signing done then."

Azreal gave a short nod. "Sure. That works."

Morello glanced around, then turned slightly. "I… shall take my leave now."

He walked off without hurry, but not without presence, like someone who knows the room still remembers him after he leaves.

Azreal exhaled, just a quiet puff of air. "Alright… that's done."

Azreal, Lyra, and Sarah walked Morello out of the caffé, the door clicking shut behind them like a breath finally letting go.

Outside, Lyra just… snapped her fingers. A soft, almost lazy gesture.

And the men—those rigid statues from earlier—suddenly jolted awake. Their eyes flickered around, confused, like people who had fallen asleep with their eyes open and were only now realizing it.

The moment they spotted Morello, panic sparked in them.

They rushed to him.

Morello walked forward with the faint heaviness of someone who just returned from a strange dream.

One of the men spoke quickly, almost on instinct.

"Give your orders and we will seize the shop."

Morello said, calm but with a strange softness in his tone,

"There's no need for that. We're now business partners."

The men froze like his words slapped the breath out of them.

"Business… partners?" one of them whispered, stunned.

Morello didn't wait for them to digest it.

He turned, already walking toward the car.

"Let's go back."

His men scrambled after him. Some opened the car door for him like guilty dogs hoping to redeem themselves. He stepped in. The bodyguards climbed into their own cars, the rest into their vans.

Engines growled.

Tires rolled.

And just like that—they were gone.

Across the street, Frida had been staring the whole time, her confusion practically dripping off her face.

"Huh? They just… left? Without doing anything?" she muttered.

Carl sighed, scratching his head. "It seems even the A.C.T.S were no match for them, Caden."

Caden nodded slowly, still squinting at the empty street.

Frida turned around sharply and walked away, muttering angrily under her breath, her sons trailing behind her.

Outside the caffé, Azreal exhaled, long and tired.

"I guess that settles it."

He looked at Lyra.

"And congratulations on getting a job, Lyra."

Lyra's face didn't move.

"Work is boring."

They all headed back inside.

Everyone was already sitting, waiting, like students waiting for a teacher to start explaining the final exam.

Azreal dropped into a chair.

"You're free to ask any questions."

Nena was the first to speak.

"How did you manage to pull that off, Azreal? I mean… I thought Cain was the ace in our plan."

Azreal nodded slightly. "Yes, Cain was indeed part of my plan—but he was only for Plan B."

Everyone blinked. Shock rippled through the room.

Aria leaned forward. "I don't get it. So… there was another plan?"

"Yes." Azreal didn't hesitate. "Last night, I considered the possibility that using Cain wouldn't work. We can't place all our hopes on Cain alone."

He glanced at Cain for a moment.

"I needed another plan. That's when I thought of using Lyra as Plan C. To put it simply… Cain wasn't the ace. Lyra was. So last night I called Lyra and told her everything she needed to do."

Lyra nodded.

"I was surprised myself when Lord Azreal changed his strategy, but… I just had to work with it."

Jack crossed his arms. "I see… so the only people who knew of Lord Azreal's new plan were Lyra and Sarah."

Azreal continued, voice steady.

"I didn't want to use Lyra and Cain at first, so I tried Plan A—using the normal human method. So I asked Sarah to get the test results for our goods."

He sighed.

"But as expected, that didn't work out either."

Cain frowned.

"I don't understand one thing… if Lyra was the ace, why didn't you use her from the beginning if you knew Plan A wouldn't work?"

Azreal pointed toward the glass door.

Everyone turned to see what he meant.

He was pointing at Frida's house. Right opposite them.

"Our mission is to maintain a low profile. I couldn't let Lyra act because… I noticed our dear neighbours were watching us. After all, what A.C.T.S pulled here was quite entertaining."

Fredrick tapped his chin.

"I see… so the smoke screen was for them."

Sarah shook her head.

"No. The smoke screen served two purposes. One, as you mentioned. And two… it forced the men to gather in one place to secure Morello's safety."

Lyra added, "To avoid my blood fragrance spreading out and affecting the neighbours. We had to gather them tightly in one spot."

Everyone nodded.

Aria raised her hand.

"Wait—you said 'blood fragrance.' What does that even mean?"

Lyra lifted a hand, made a small cut on her finger.

Everyone leaned forward.

Her blood seeped out—then hissed into red steam that curled upward, soft and sweet-smelling, like some forbidden flower.

"I used this on them. When someone inhales the fragrance from my blood… they fall in love with me. They trust me completely. They… loosen themselves."

Aria made a face.

"Alright, but why were the men just standing there earlier like they were paralyzed?"

Before Lyra could answer, Laisa cut in.

"No one wants to know about that, little ant. Stop asking irrelevant questions."

Aria glared at her.

"Does Lulu want a turn asking questions?"

Laisa turned away with a small huff.

"Hmph. No need. I already understand everything."

Shot rubbed his neck.

"I still don't see why we need to collaborate with A.C.T.S. If we want a low profile… aren't we contradicting ourselves?"

Azreal shook his head.

"I thought about that. But remember what I said about building the network. Collaborating with Morello's company will help us. The A.C.T.S are the backbone of the nation. What better way to expand our information network than forming a business partnership with them? And with Lyra becoming Morello's secretary—it flows perfectly with our plans."

Lexi smiled.

"So we now have two working individuals in the family: Cain and Lyra."

Nena clapped lightly.

"This calls for a celebration. Let's go inside and celebrate saving the caffé… and Lyra's new job."

Azreal stood up, smiling faintly.

"You're right, Nena. No business today. We're taking the day off."

Nena nodded, linking arms with him as they headed to the back.

Sarah and the others followed, leaving Aria standing alone for a moment.

She walked to the door, flipped the sign to closed, then joined the rest as they all descended into the hidden passage.

—

Back inside earlier, when the deal was struck:

Azreal smiled softly.

"That's nice to hear. I guess that makes us business partners then."

Morello rose and extended his hand.

Azreal stood too and shook it—firm, steady.

They both pulled back.

"Tomorrow," Morello said, "I'll come with the documents and finalize the deal. Is that good?"

Azreal nodded.

"Sure."

Morello turned toward the door.

"I'll take my leave now."

And he did.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.