Good afternoon, sir." The woman greeted. "Sir, someone is here to see you."The man didn't reply; he was still engrossed in his phone for the next three to ten minutes, which made Luca wonder if he was deaf or probably dumb.He finally took a condescending glance at Luca before replying, "Young man, how can I help you?"Luca quickly cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, sir. I came from Grand Royal Europa Hotels to survey the club. I was asked to meet you before going further.""Okay, so the new survey man from Grand Royal Europa Hotels? That's good!" He said. "Go with her; she will show you your office!"With that, Luca bowed out and quickly followed the lady to the office she was taking him to. The lady took him through the stairs, and after some stroll, they got to one office that was partly furnished. She pointed into the office. "Mr. Luca, this will be your new office for the six months of the survey you will be staying. My name is Bridget, and I will be your personal assistant. Y

"We all want to see you today, not just you calling the shots. We also call shots too when it's needed, Lord Ercole," Rosa stated, making Luca even more confused.He contemplated why they wanted to see him, and he didn't think of anything. Or do they want to introduce him to a new elder of the group?"We will love to see you by 5:00 pm at Geroge's hotel. We will be in his private suite waiting for you," she said before hanging up the call. Luca slowly slipped his phone back into his pocket, but the reason why his elders wanted to see him made him even more curious.He glanced at his watch, and it was already 4:22 pm. It's just a few more minutes before he got there, so he quickly hailed a cab back to the club. After some minutes, he pulled in front of the club and made his way in. When he got to his office, he noticed that Bridget and her colleague had already dropped the files he had asked for. Merely looking at it, he didn't know where to start from. The stack of files was much, and

"What do you mean you've never seen them before and you're about to let them track my whereabouts?" Luca's brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow this so-called Shadow Ops to track my every move. Are they spirits?"George glanced at Giovanni before heaving a deep sigh. The truth was, he had never actually seen any members of the Shadow Ops - the only people who had were his late boss and wife. But the rumor was that the Shadow Ops weren't just normal people; most of them had become generals and warlords from different plains,and aside from Luca, who was the Ercole now, no one else could see them.Giovanni stepped closer to Luca. "Look, Luk, none of us have seen the Shadow Ops, but I can swear on my life that they're real. It's not some kind of fallacy!" He tried to convince Luca, but Luca scoffed."What if it's just assumptions or even delusions? How have you never seen one of them, and yet you believe they exist to protect me?" He narrowed his gaze at Giovanni. "I

On the other end of the call, Blue's face was plastered with a deep frown as she announced, "I'm very sorry, Miss Rose Edward, but your exclusive contract with Lord Ercole has been revoked with immediate effect!"Gasps ripped through everyone's lips, except Luca's. The room fell into a heavy silence, as if everyone was holding their breath in collective surprise. It felt like the world had stopped for Rose - the words hit her like a lightning bolt."Wh-wh-what do you mean?" she stammered, her voice laced with disbelief. "That can't be! That can't happen! Why would he want to revoke it barely twenty-four hours after I signed the contract?""I'm sorry, ma'am, but I just got orders that your contract should be revoked with immediate effect!"Rose glanced around, blinking rapidly, as if trying to bring the world back to focus after the unexpected revelation. "What do you mean by that? Why would my contract be revoked? What did I do wrong?""I'm sorry, Miss Rose, but I'm not privy to that

At Apple's club.About three hours later, Sara was standing in her office at Apple's Club. Her staff were all standing in front of her, their faces buried to the floor, and no one dared to speak while she yelled at them."What do we call this?" she shouted, her voice laced with venom. "Just a night that I didn't come to the club, and you all turned my club into something else! I am utterly disappointed in all of you!" She snarled, her eyes wandering around each and every one of them, from the half-naked male dancers to the female strippers who were only clad in bikini outfits that showed more of their bodies.She looked at her PA and let out a deep, disappointed sigh. "How could you let this happen?""Madam!" her PA tried to give an explanation, but Sara rudely interrupted her. "Shut it up!" she yelled."What do you want to say, bitch? What is it that you want to say that would justify what happened here? How will you allow two of them to fight to the extent that the cops had to come