Under The Veil of Night

Forcefully awakening one’s talent would bring them pain when they failed. Rather than killing him swiftly, she wished to see him in pain and died like that. It was her revenge because he had taken everything from her.

’It’s over.’

The one who harmed her in the past and forced her to live a harsh life was no longer here. The place where she experienced countless despair in the past was no longer existed. A sense of relief washed over her as she walked towards the crowd, searching for her little sister.

"Sis!" Laura saw Kanae came out and immediately ran to the girl, hugging the other party tightly.

"Laura, are you alright?" Kanae asked back as she hugged the other party too. Her eyes noticed that Jason was standing not far from them, ordering the people around to disperse and let the firefighter in.

Laura nodded her head repeatedly. From the moment the building was destroyed, she was already worried about what might happen to her sister. As fear and worry washed her entire body, she hoped that nothing would happen to her sister as she didn’t want to lose her.

"Don’t you do something so reckless again!" Laura pleaded as she still hugged her sister tightly. "I don’t want to lose you!"

Caressing Laura’s head, Kanae could only smile wryly. For the past few years, she didn’t know how many times she had placed herself in danger. There was no way she could count it anymore as they were simply too many. However, there was no need for Laura to know all of that. She didn’t want to make this little girl worried about her.

"I’m fine as you can see. Now, can you let me go?"

"No!" Laura retorted.

Kanae sighed and let Laura stayed in her arms. She ignored the surrounding people as she knew that Laura needed this for now. From the communication device she had, she listened to Shiro giving order to the men.

After a while, Laura collected herself and pushed herself slightly farther from Kanae. Wiping her tears, she tried to make herself looked more presentable. Her messed makeup caused her face to look weird, but after a bit tampering, it became bearable.

"Laura, you’re now the family head, don’t you have something to say?" Kanae pointed to the elders behind them.

For a few minutes, they have been standing there, waiting patiently. It was partially their fault to let the men from Frank’s side came in and messed up the party. This caused them to feel guilt. When they saw Laura got close to Kanae, they didn’t try to stop her even though they hated Kanae so much.

Laura nodded and turned around. She eyed the surrounding people as she felt pressure dawned on her shoulder. It was scary to think that she had to speak in front of them all.

"You can do it," Kanae whispered softly as she patted her sister’s back lightly, showing her support.

From the side, Jason also smiled brightly, encouraging Laura to speak. These two’s presence gave her the courage she needed.

Taking a deep breath, Laura started to speak. "Everyone, the problem that occur in this place happen because of our family, Nali Family, fault. We cannot predict our previous family head’s action, allowing him to land a huge blow to us. As a prestigious family, we will not back down from the responsibility.

For every people death, we will reimburse their family member as a sign of apology. We know that it can never replace the presence of the person, but this is the least we can do. I and my family wish to help them because it is our family fault that this can happen.

If you want to blame us, freely do so as we have nothing to say in our defense aside from sincere apology. After all, it was our negligence that allows this incident to happen today."

At the end of the speech, Laura bowed down to show her sincere feeling. The surrounding people have mixed feeling for her. Many of them knew that it was not this girl’s fault, but she still bore the brunt as the family head.

"Please rise, Miss Laura," one of them spoke out. "It’s not really your fault, but more like the elders. However, we will accept your apology."

"Me too," another one spoke up.

"Yeah, it’s not like a little girl like you can predict something like this."

Many of them supported her decision and forgive the Nali Family because they were only wounded. With some money, they would just stay silent and didn’t think about the matter too deeply. However, some of them were unable to accept the death of their family member, turning their hate to Laura as a way to vent their emotion.

"Have you checked the one who death and wounded?" Kanae approached Jason. Her sister was dealing with the things very well; there was no need for her to worry so much about her.

"I have," Jason nodded his head. "More than 90% come from the Aida Family. It seems, Frank is determined to bring down Nali and Aida Family."

Kanae’s eyebrows shot up. She only ordered her men to protect Nali Family because she knew that Frank would surely target them. Seeing how they also targeted the Aida Family, she wondered what the Aida Family did to Frank.

"The one behind Sakura’s death is Vena Aida," Jason whispered. "This is made known to the higher ups, but hidden from the people because it’s simply too big."

"Vena Aida?" Kanae’s eyes grew larger in surprise. She knew that the two girls were cooperating with one another, but this was the first time she knew that they also stabbed each other on the back. "She’s truly outrageous."

"She disappeared a few days ago. No one knew about her location anymore," Jason shrugged.

"I see," Kanae nodded her head. She didn’t really have any interest towards Vena, but the disappearance of this young woman would surely cause upset in Aida Family. It seemed that she had missed a lot of things.

"Also, the Aida Family has a large debt to Nali Family," Jason recalled something.

Kanae smirked. "Then, we should expect them to pay us, and help easing the rage of their branch families."

"You’re truly cunning."

"You know me quite well. Now, help me tell the men to gather. We’re going to have a hearty talk later."

Jason laughed. "Aye, Captain."

...

Not far from the crowds, several people were standing, watching in the dark without any intention to join in. They were watching the news as it reported how several cars suddenly exploded in the middle of the street, causing additional chaos aside from the one in the building.

"The bomb detonates perfectly," one of them, Mike, said calmly.

On his side, Neo nodded his head calmly. "It’s good."

"Kanae has also got out of the building."

"Any longer and we’ll alrady send some men to check," Neo rubbed his forehead. He didn’t understand why that little lass took so long inside the building. As the cameras inside were all destroyed, he was unable to take a look, making him worried.

"Should we help out with the rest?"

"No, Boss orders us to only eliminate the reinforcement for Frank in dark and make sure that Kanae get out safely. We can’t let Kanae know about our assistance," Neo smiled. He closed the laptop that he held. "Our job is finished. Let’s go back."

"Alright," Mike cast another glance to the crowd behind them before walking away. He didn’t understand why Kevin didn’t want to let Kanae knew that he helped them a little bit as this was still his territory. However, whatever his Boss told him to do, he would do it.