Dervan sat in his personal office with a mug of black coffee in his hand as he leisurely scanned the files and papers that were scattered on his desk when he heard a series of light knocks on his door.
He looked up from his messy table toward the door. "Is that you, Dante?" He asked. "Come in."
The door swung open and his assistant, Dante, walked in holding a pile of documents. The moment he reached the front of Dervan's desk, he dropped them with a light thud.
Dervan scanned the heap in front of him, visibly displeased as he pursed his lips. "Am I supposed to review all of these?"
"Yes, Sir." Dante answered without a shift in expression. "You've been putting them off for a while and now I'm afraid that is no longer possible. Some of them are due as early as tomorrow morning."
Dervan rubbed his forehead in exhaustion, letting out a dejected sigh, before downing the remaining coffee in his mug and handing the empty cup to his assistant. "Get me a refill."
Dante eyed his outstretched hand warily. "Too much of everything is bad, master." He chided in a flat tone. "You've already exhausted your daily intake, I can't get you any more."
Dervan raised a brow. "I need more fuel if I'm going to finish all this work by the end of today. Cut me some slack."
"You already have more than enough energy." Dante told him. "You don't need something as measly as coffee to replenish what you already have an abundance of. But, of course, if you need to be more alert, I can get you the red wine instead."
Dervan withdrew his hand, kept his mug on the desk and clicked his tongue. "You're no fun."
Dante shrugged, then pulled out a fancy card from his breast pocket and handed it to Dervan. "This is for you."
Dervan eyed the invitation in his hand suspiciously. "Who is it from?"
His assistant shook his head. "I sincerely have no idea."
Dervan gingerly took it and pried it open. After a moment of going through it, he tossed it aside with an irritated look on his face. "Burn it."
Dante didn't question as he picked up the discarded invitation. "As you wish."
"I give you permission to check all invitations that are sent to me." Dervan started. "If there's anyone with the Reigner's seal on it, dispose of it before I lay eyes on it."
Dante bowed. "Of course–"
"Also," Dervan continued. "Reach out to the civil affairs bureau for me. I want to get married."
Dante's head snapped up immediately, his eyes wide. "Pardon?!"
* * *
Alessia could only let out a nervous laugh as she followed behind Kiera like a puppy.
Beads of sweat formed at her forehead. 'What do I do now? Kiera's going to make trouble with Vince…'
After a moment of thought, she let out a sigh and shrugged. Oh well, it wasn't like Vince was going to have any proof to counter what Kiera was going to throw at him anyway.
It was about time he was confronted too, he'd been harassing her for a while now.
Soon, they got to an apartment complex that overlooked several small buildings at the side. It didn't look like a place where rich people lived, but it was enough to be comfortable for the upper middle class.
Vince's living space was somewhere in it. As they got out of the elevator and walked through the long hall, it was a lot familiar to them because they had been here plenty of times before.
This was where all their strategy meetings took place.
The moment they both got to the front of his unit, Kiera didn't even bother knocking. She kicked open the door with so much force that it hit the wall on the inside.
'So much lack of courtesy…' Alessia couldn't help but lament inwardly.
"Hey!" Vince barked as he sprang up from the couch he was sitting on, every other person in the room looked taken aback. "You're going to pay for that door if you break it! I'll make sure to squeeze out of you every little bit of money you're worth!"
"Shut up, you shameless b*stard!" Kiera spat. "Even if your door costs a million dollars I'll pay it back a hundred times but no amount of money would fix the damages you've caused!"
"What?" Vince's brows furrowed in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh, so you want to play it that way, huh?" Kiera accused, visibly fuming. "How dare you try to take advantage of my Lessie again?"
"Kiera…" Alessia called softly, trying to calm her down. "That's enough now, you know he won't listen..."
Despite all the fuss her friend was raising, Alessia didn't feel guilty about it one bit. Even if she had lied about Vince the previous night, she felt he deserved all of Kiera's ire and more.
He'd tried to assault her a number of times before too. She had only managed to escape by the skin of her teeth each time. It was because of him she had to regularly switch side jobs.
"No, it's not enough!" Kiera barked. "This male b*tch–"
Vince's face scrunched up in an ugly manner. "What… did you call me?"
Kiera smirked in a provoking manner. "A b*tch." She repeated. "What are you gonna do about it? Try to take advantage of me too, hmm? You scum!"
"Why you–"
"Hey!" Another voice suddenly cut in. "Quit it, you two. This isn't what we're here for." It was a member of their group, Coyle. He sat leisurely on one of the chairs in the living room, one leg over the other.
Walter merely stood beside him and watched everything in silence with his arms crossed.
Vince's nostrils flared and his fists clenched and unclenched for a few seconds before he let out an exasperated sigh, deciding to back down.
He gave Alessia a piercing look for a few lingering moments, she sharply turned her head away to avoid his eyes, making a vein pop at his temple.
He let out a breath… this wasn't the time to confront her. He decided to carry on with the topic that brought them all here before raising any other argument.
"We have a new target." He stated flatly as he took several files from the center table and handed one to each of them.
Curious, Alessia immediately flipped open the flimsy cover to see a very clear picture of a very familiar face.
Her heart instantly fell to her stomach.
It was Dervan Salviati!