Hundreds of terrible thoughts flashed in Zi Han’s mind as he kept staring at his cell phone.‘Who was that man on the other end of the line?’‘Where was Miranda?’‘Had someone stolen her phone?’‘Did she have a friend over?’Zi Han’s heart raced inside his chest as a cold feeling gnawed at his gut, making his legs tremble. The cold night air nipped at his skin, and all he could do was wrap his tattered jacket tighter around him. But the buttons had come undone many months ago, and he hadn’t had the time to sew them back on.“No, I’m just overthinking. It must have been a cross-connection,” Zi Han mumbled, trying to overcome his palpitations. “I should just trust her.”Taking a deep breath, Zi Han dialed his girlfriend’s number again, and this time to his great relief, she picked up.“Hey...Han. Aren’t you supposed to be working now?” she enquired in a tepid voice.“I...am just taking a break,” Zi Han lied before clearing his throat and getting to the issue that had been bothering him

The following day, Zi Han opened his eyes to the gentle twittering of birds. As he looked around, he was surprised to see that he was lying on a king-sized mahogany bed with spotless black bed sheets and satin-cloaked pillows.Everything about this room looked elegant and beautiful, and there wasn’t a single speck of dust on the white marble floor. “Where the hell...am I?” Zi Han mumbled groggily. “Did someone pick me up last night?”Zi Han wasn’t friends with any wealthy kids, and the only rich people he had ever rubbed shoulders with were the guests visiting the restaurant where he used to work. However, it was highly unlikely one of them would have cared to save him from those thugs.As Zi Han took a few deep breaths, he realized there was something sticky on his face. Someone had plastered his broken nose and treated all his wounds. He was about to get down from the bed to find out more when the doorknob turned, and a maid dressed in a black dress with a white trim entered the r

Surrounded by his loyalists, Zi Han finally had a chance to experience the warmth of being with a loving and caring family. However, the problem was that he had never even committed the simplest of crimes and was utterly clueless about leading a gang of mobsters.To add to his surprise and confusion, he had just discovered that he could make the elements obey his will. A part of him was still skeptical about the tales woven around him, but after seeing and hearing everything, he knew there was no going back. That face on the painting was his, even though he had lost his regal air.Right now, Zi Han’s first goal was to mend his present condition before trying to figure out his past. Since he had just lost his job and been kicked out of his house, he needed a new place to stay and a fresh source of income.Although the Black Dragons had accepted Zi Han as their new leader, he knew it would take a lot more than an appeal to past allegiance to command them. In order to maintain his powe

In the last fifteen years, Mrs. Clayton had never once agreed to any of Zi Han’s requests, and on any other occasion, she would have never even listened to his demands. But since their apartment was at stake, she tried to make herself agreeable for a change and put on a meek appearance. “What could you possibly want from us?” she asked, forcing a smile on her wrinkled face.“How about the spare keys to the apartment for starters?” Zi Han put his hand out and stared at her with a stony expression. “Since I am clearing off the mortgage payments, it would only be right that I have unrestricted access to this apartment whenever I wish. Don’t you agree?”Mrs. Clayton turned around and looked at her husband, her desperate eyes pleading for intervention. But Mr. Clayton felt boxed in from all sides.Instead of arguing with Zi Han, he reached into his pocket and took out a bunch of keys attached to a rusty keyring. “Here you go, son. This is your home as well. Don’t mind my harsh words. I wa

The driver obeyed at once and changed gears. Stepping on the accelerator, he switched lanes and took a sharp turn that veered the car straight into oncoming traffic.“What the hell are you doing? Watch it!” Zhen Lee thundered from behind as the SUV screeched across the road, narrowly missing the paint on a white sedan. “Keep your eyes on the road, you idiot!”The driver steered sharply to his right and took the exit lane on the west, disappearing on the other side of a large grey truck carrying bottled soda.Soon, the blaring sirens faded into distant whistles as the cop cruisers were left far behind.“We are sorry, boss. It was our mistake,” Suzuki apologized, bowing to Zi Han. “I should never have questioned your wisdom.”Zi Han shook his head and took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “It’s alright. Just listen to me next time.”Even though Zi Han was trying his best to act tough on the outside, he had already imagined the worst-case scenarios. Luckily, for now, they had lost