Days later...

Things came and went, and life in the neighborhood returned to its usual rhythm. The routine everyone had grown used to quietly resumed, though security remained high.

Primo’s schooling continued as usual — him still watching his classmates with quiet patience as they chattered away and helped themselves to pieces of his snacks. Lucian still drove the boy to school before heading to the office.

As for Ashley, she had her own business to catch up on, having recently signed a lease for a building to use as her office.

The maids — posing as neighbors — still came to the house to clean. The chefs still prepared meals for everyone in their lodging. And her bum neighbors were still idling across from the couple’s home, waiting for her to do something — anything.

"Please. For the love of God!" Rum turned to Ashley, who was seated on the front steps of their door with them. "Don’t you have something to do? Nothing at all?"

Ashley rested her arms on her knees, one hand cupping her cheek. Her injury had healed well enough, though it was still there.

"Madam, are we really just going to sit here?" Gin, seated on her other side, leaned in. "You are the great Madam of Dominion. I’m sure you have better things to do than slump on our front steps."

Rum and Vodka nodded vigorously.

"Come on," Rum poked her shoulder. "Do something. Fix our lives."

"Or at least invite us over to your place," Vodka whispered, crouching right beside Gin with his head turned toward her. "You have AC in the living room. It’s so hot out here."

"That’s because you’re not paying your electricity bill," she muttered, leaning back. She looked to her left, where Rum sat, and then to her right, where Gin and Vodka were crouched.

"Goodness! If you don’t know what to do with yourselves, why don’t you find jobs?!"

Their faces twitched.

"We have a job, and that job is to make sure you stay alive," Rum leaned forward, nodding at her and stressing every word.

Vodka chimed in, "And that job also requires us to appear unemployed as a cover."

"Gosh." Ashley clicked her tongue, hugging her knees and looking away. "Stop talking to me for now."

"How can we when you came over here and just sat down?!"

That was fair.

Just moments ago, the three of them had been idling inside with the front door propped open for ventilation. Red and Tank had stepped out briefly to pick up her recruits, leaving the trio waiting around. So when they spotted Ashley stepping out of her house, they were quick on their feet and rushed to the doorway. To their dismay, she walked through the gates, climbed the short steps to their front door, and sat down.

That was it.

Now here they all were — them urging her to go back home and sort through whatever was bothering her in the comfort of her own space. Not here.

Ashley sighed and shook her head. "I’m here because I want to welcome your new housemates," she said, earning a loud snort from the trio.

"Also... I feel like Lucian has been acting strange lately," she said aloud, then turned to them. "You’ve worked with Lucian for years. Haven’t you noticed anything?"

The trio furrowed their brows and looked up, but all they could picture was Lucian leaving with Primo in the morning, then coming back around the same time as usual.

"He doesn’t look strange to me," Gin said, shaking his head, and the other two nodded. "He looks... the same."

"Actually, he’s been acting strange since he agreed to move into this neighborhood just because the Young Master was starting at a new school," Rum corrected, and the other two nodded along. "Dominion setting up here is already strange in itself."

Ashley opened her mouth, then shut it. Her expression soured slightly. "You guys make sense," she admitted.

"Why do you look so bitter having to admit we’re right?" Vodka blurted out, but she ignored him. "Hey, don’t just brush me off."

"Never mind. What do you know anyway?" She tilted her head. "I’ll just wait for Tank." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Huh?" They furrowed their brows. "Why are you waiting for Tank?"

"Because! We’re going to the airport—"

"We’re going!" they said in unison before she could even finish. "Should we pack now?"

"Should I just deploy you to an actual battlefield?" she wondered aloud, looking at them. "You know Lucian has new political allies. They might need some real help over there."

Their faces soured as she regarded them so openly.

*

*

*

Meanwhile, a car rolled down the street with Red behind the wheel. Tank sat in the passenger seat while the four new guys — Khan, Nelek, Warriyo, and Rus — were squeezed into the back.

Silence filled the car. None of them said a word, though the four in the back couldn’t help but look around at the neighborhood as they passed through it.

"What?" Red said sarcastically, eyes on the road. "Don’t tell me you guys already scoped this place out before you took her."

The four glanced toward the driver’s seat. Khan answered politely, "We surveyed it, but we never actually dared to come inside."

Red snorted. "Of course, you won’t."

Then his eyes flicked up, and he furrowed his brows when he spotted Ashley sitting inside the low fence of the house they were heading toward, surrounded by Vodka, Gin, and Rum, whose faces were crumpled with what appeared to be genuine suffering.

Ashley’s expression was just as sour. The whole lot of them looked like they were chewing lemons.

"What the hell are they doing over there?" he muttered, and Tank looked over.

Tank furrowed his brows and shrugged.

Rather than parking where the car was supposed to go, Red pulled up right beside the house. Tank unbuckled and stepped out. The four in the back exchanged looks before following.

As they approached the gate, they already caught the tail end of the ongoing argument.

"We’re not going to some stranger’s country — who cares?!" Rum harrumphed.

"If you were going to be there, maybe we’d think about it," Gin added, and Vodka followed up with,

"What are you even going to do at the airport?"

Ashley sighed heavily. "Don’t you remember—" she trailed off as she looked toward the gate, catching Red, Tank, and the four new arrivals standing outside, all staring at the scene in utter confusion.

"What’s going on here?" Red asked, directing the question not just at Ashley, but at his colleagues too. "Why are you all out here with her?"

"Oh, you’re here!" Ashley jumped to her feet and swung the gate open as though it were her own home.

Her smile stretched from ear to ear. "Good job, Red." She turned to the four. "And welcome!"

The four tried to smile. What came out was something awkward. They glanced at her, then at the house behind her.

"Is this where we’ll be staying?" Nelek asked, only for Rum to appear at his elbow.

Rum leaned an arm over the fence with a grin that was somehow warmer than any of them had expected. "Yep," he nodded. "And your first task as part of the initiation process is... pay for our electricity bill."

"And an air conditioning," Vodka whispered in the back.

"Huh?" The four blinked, and Red tilted his head back.

"It’s not a house!" Ashley laughed heartily. "It’s a club!"

Without a trace of enthusiasm, Red said, "Welcome to the Unemployment Club."