Location: The Strokes Mansion

In a wide modern office, themed with coffee brown furniture, a red-haired man was sitting there, seemingly lost in the work present in front of him. From the deceiving young look on his face, this 34-year-old man was often mistaken for a guy in his early 20s. And more often than not, he would be busy with one business deal or another, barely having time for anything else in his life.

He was Garfield Stroke, the current owner of the Stroke family's business.

Reading the dozens of files on his table, Garfield Stroke, the eldest son, and the newest boss of the Stroke business, sighed before massaging his head a little. Between the drug dealings and the transportation, and their face business of shopping mart managing everything at once was slowly becoming a burden for him.

Still, if he were to get success in his endeavours, it also meant that their growth would skyrocket, exponentially increasing their net income by a dozen times at least. Hence, despite the not so pleasurable hours of work he was putting in, the hope of uncountable wealth was enough to motivate him to work for a few extra hours per day. A few extra days per week.

-Tring! Tring!

In between the work hours, the landline rang. An ancient communication device in times of smartphones, used only for emergencies or specific news that more often than not carried bad omens.

Garfield looked at the phone with narrowed gaze. If he had the choice, he would have avoided this call, which reeked of bad news, at any cost possible.

Yet, there was a reason this call line existed. One that he cannot afford not to pick up.

-Click!

"What is it?" Picking up the phone, Garfield asked.

-Boss. The high-school kids were caught. The police are on site.

Garfield took a few minutes to breathe. Then, silently cursed a couple of times before taking a few more deep breaths.

-Boss?

"Hide the drugs. Cut off all connections we have with them. And make sure to tie any loose ends. Also, check for the reasons they were caught."

-Already on it, Boss. Though I called you to inform you that the Vincents were on site before we could reach. Vincent's younger kid took all the drugs before we could recollect.

Garfield's brows furrowed as his eyes narrowed at the empty space in front of him. He tried recalling a couple of crucial pieces of information he had on the Vincents before a puzzled expression appeared on his face.

"Why would the Vincents come for the drugs? Their main business is…" his words paused at the end, before he then focused on the phone and spoke in a commanding tone,

"Find out what is going on. Though if it gets too complicated, just erase all the traces. This might be a blessing in disguise. Even if we are caught, we can just blame it all on the Vincents."

-Okay Boss. I will also try to find out more about the incident. Honestly, it feels way too fishy.

Garfield could also sense that. Despite how obvious the whole thing was, somehow it didn't seem like it was a simple incident.

"Inform me if anything comes up," Garfield said, as he nodded before putting the phone down.

-Click!

For a few seconds, silence covered the entire room.

Garfield, in a deep thought, tried to figure out the complexity of the problem and the amount of effort he should put into it.

Despite the problem itself making things hard for the business, it was nothing great to worry about. Incidents like these, more often than not, were common in this line of business. In fact, he had dealt with more pressing issues in the last week itself.

But still…

Why do I feel so uneasy? Garfield couldn't shake the heavy feeling that something was very wrong. Something like a bad omen was approaching him. Something he must be careful of.

He contemplated and mulled over this feeling. Then with slight irritation, took out a silver coin from his pocket before tossing it up in the air. The coin reached high up to the ceiling and then, back into his palm.

Catching it, he then slowly opened the fist to find the 'head' on the visible side of the coin.

Shit! He cursed before a deep sigh.

Picking up his smartphone, Garfield then dialed a specific number. It was a personal number that he had kept for extreme emergencies, something which he rarely used.

-Tring! Tring! Tring! Tring!

A few seconds, that somehow felt far longer than that, passed as the call kept ringing before it was finally picked up.

-Click!

-What is it? It better be important.

"Check out the Shirazawa High-School Incident. Can you give me a detailed report of what happened there?" Garfield spoke in a serious tone, making the other side quiet for a brief moment.

-500,000$

"It will be transferred to you within half an hour," Garfield answered, expecting it within his calculations.

-Your report will be given by midnight. Click!

The call ended, finally giving relief to Garfield. His tense expression relaxed as he breathed for a few moments before moving towards the corner cabinet.

It was a coffee-coloured cabinet in the same theme as the entire room, except there were golden-laced patterns present at the handles. And if one looked carefully, there were fingerprint sensors on that handle as well.

Garfield held the handle for a few seconds before a clicking sound came from the inside, and then he opened the upper drawer.

Searching for a file in the upper drawer, he looked through them one by one before his eyes landed on a familiar name.

Divas Vincent.

It was the file on the youngest Vincent, and a detailed activity of his hobbies, businesses, ventures and habits. It also contained a few more secrets that rarest of the people knew about, making this file somewhat of a top secret on its own.

Bringing that file to the table, Garfield placed it at the center before sitting on the chair and began thoroughly reading it.

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