The Established Siblings of the Pack

Kingsley scratched the back of his head, prevaricating, “Uh, well, he’s a brother of my comrade’s, and

he was just going along with my act.”

His sisters knew that he had been a soldier in the army before this, and in times like these when lying

was a necessity, he credited his imaginary comrades for his behavior.

“A brother of your comrade’s?” Serena frowned as she eyed him skeptically. “And what about the thirty

belts you just splurged on? Pretty sure you just racked up a two-million-something credit card bill back

there.”

He blinked and stammered, “Oh, um, he… he might be a luxury boutique manager, but he secretly sells

counterfeit goods on the side. The belts I bought are all fake, and they’re not worth more than eight

hundred.”

“Fake?!” Serena’s eyes widened. “Are you seriously asking me to hand out these counterfeits to my

friends from the dōjō? These are people who have been all over the world, and believe me when I say

they can spot a counterfeit from a mile away!”

“Don’t worry about it, Serena. We’re talking about high-quality counterfeits here, and I promise you,

they won’t be able to tell it apart from the real stuff!” He changed the topic before she could argue with

him any further on this. “Anyway, would you have killed Noah if I hadn’t held you back just now?”

A cheeky smile tugged on her lips. “Nah, I don’t go around killing people for free, you know.” She had

let the matter drop after Kingsley interjected.

It wasn’t so much that she let the matter drop as it was that she chose to believe Kingsley like how

Reene had. She was sure that he would never lie, and that even if he did, it was with good intentions.

“Hey, Kingsley, why don’t you come as my plus-one to the reunion? I figured you haven’t eaten yet,”

Serena offered.

He hummed in response as he considered the fact that he truly hadn’t eaten and that he didn’t want

Noah to stir up trouble for his sister, then nodded and he said, “Okay.”

The Paradise Mall was close by the Bayou, which was merely a ten-minute walk away.

Presently, in Carolina Court, about twenty young men and women were gathered around a long

banquet table as they chattered among themselves.

“My, my, Nancy, aren’t you just gorgeous?” Emory said to a woman who looked ordinary at best. “I

haven’t seen you in years and you show up looking even more stunning than the Two Muses had ever

looked!”

Nancy Stewart clapped her hand over her mouth and giggled abashedly as she said, “It’s all thanks to

the expensive beauty treatments I get every now and then. Looking young sure comes with a price,

right?”

Emory chuckled awkwardly at this and his eyes swiveled to the man next to her, then asked, “And this

handsome gentleman over here must be your fiancé, am I right?”

“Why, yes.” Nancy leaned into the man’s embrace and announced happily, “Tyler and I are getting

married next month!”

Upon hearing this, those around the couple did not waste time in offering their blessings.

“Congratulations!”

“The both of you are a match made in heaven!”

Everyone was well aware of the fact that Tyler was the heir to Spearhead Group and that he had a net

worth of more than ten million. If they could be so lucky as to get acquainted with him, then they were

set for the high life.

Emory’s eyes practically twinkled as he attempted to curry favor with the man. “So, Mr. Jovovich, the

economy has taken quite the downturn these days, and I just don’t think my current job is paying well

enough. Do you think you could—”

He broke off when the door to the private dining room swung open, and in walked Serena and Kingsley.

“One of the Two Muses has made it here! Everyone, please give a warm round of applause!” someone

cheered, and the guests in the room clapped their hands in good spirit.

Serena had always been beautiful, and though she had no pedigree like the others here, she was still

treated like a star back at the dōjō. Now that she was here at the reunion, the men who had not seen

for years were looking at her with interest.

However, malice flashed in Emory’s eyes. He had been so close to making Tyler’s acquaintance, which

would be of great help to his intelligence-gathering endeavors, but Serena just had to come in and ruin

things for him. The golden opportunity had slipped right through his fingers!

Serena led Kingsley to their seats and smiled as she greeted, “Hey, guys. Gosh, I haven’t seen all of

you in ages.”

She had become the center of attention the moment she walked in. Even Tyler was staring at her with

his mouth slightly open, dazed by her beauty.

Next to him, Nancy was seething with rage. She snorted and drawled sarcastically, “Last I heard, you

went into some nondescript company after you left the dōjō. Are you even getting paid well?” She

couldn’t hope to compete with Serena when it came to beauty and charm, so her wealth was the only

thing she could lord over the latter’s head right now.

Serena merely smirked as she answered, “We work on commission at Orion Tech; there’s no fixed

remuneration there.”

There was nothing wrong with the way she said it, at least not on the surface, but Kingsley understood

what she was implying. Orion Tech was probably just a cover for the Mercenary Commission she

worked for, and the ‘commission’ she was talking about was the bounty that came with every

assassination she carried out.

Nancy scoffed and rolled her eyes, then pointed out disdainfully, “I don’t know what company that is,

but it sounds downright crappy.”

She had never liked Serena, not since their childhood days. She hated how Serena had managed to

win over every boy just because of her pretty face even though she was just a lowly orphan. Whenever

Serena was around, Nancy would always be invisible and cast away to the sidelines.

She was insanely jealous of Serena, and she wanted to crush the girl by walking all over her. She

wanted to tell everyone that she was better.

When Emory saw how stormy Nancy looked, Emory quickly interjected, “Yeah, Serena, what kind of a

crap company doesn’t even have an established portfolio of its own? I can’t believe you’d bring it up

without dying of embarrassment!”

Much like Nancy, the other women at the table were rather hostile toward Serena and her pretty face,

either. When they heard the taunts and mockery thrown her way, they couldn’t help snickering, too.

Meanwhile, the men, though enamored with Serena’s beauty, were so afraid of getting on Nancy and

Tyler’s bad side that they decided to join in the mocking as well.

“You know, maybe Serena is just a pretty face. She certainly isn’t as capable as Nancy.”

“Tell me about it. It’s bad enough that she has a flimsy background, but she just has to ride around on

her high horse, too. At this rate, she’ll be stuck as a bottom-feeder.”

Nancy was ecstatic to hear everyone standing on her side. She narrowed her eyes at Serena

imperiously, as though she was looking at some pest, and pointed out venomously, “You might as well

become a call girl or something if you’re going to spend your life making pittance at some run-down

company. Why waste that pretty face of yours when you can get paid well for it, right? At least you’ll get

to go home and put dinner on the table for your family.” Then, she pretended to be apologetic as she

gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that you’re an orphan and that you have

no family to feed. Guess there’s no need for you to moonlight as a prostitute, then!” Triumphant giggles

followed this scathing insult.