Later that day, Lucian sat in the backseat of the car, deep in thought.

His eyes were fixed on the window beside him as he drew a slow breath and massaged the bridge of his nose. Gustav’s report from earlier kept replaying in his head, making it throb faintly.

"Master, our initial investigation came back clean."

"I’ve double-checked, and it doesn’t appear that anyone around us has turned on us."

"However, I did notice some unusual movements in a few of our territories. Nothing suspicious enough to confirm a betrayal, but I’m still looking into it."

Those were the words circling in Lucian’s head, almost making him nauseous.

He dropped his hand and tilted his head back, eyes sliding to the window. He reached out and pressed the button, holding it until the outside air hit his forehead.

He sat with his thoughts for a moment, retracing every step he had taken when he fully assumed control of Dominion. Those days had been a bloodbath; Lucian had eliminated every threat, every person who had openly opposed him.

But aside from Gustav’s clean report, Lucian had another problem weighing on him.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, stopping on Emma’s name. His thumb hovered over it, hesitation clear in his eyes. In the end, he scrolled past it, only to pause on another name.

[My Boo]

"..."

Lucian stared at it, reading the name over and over again, eyes drifting to the ghost emoji at the end.

Should I... ask her to look into it?

But the moment the thought crossed him, another followed: what would it cost?

Should he really pull her into something like this? Into something he should be able to fix before it could threaten everything he had built?

He turned it over in his mind, knowing Ghost’s network could help him. But before he could reach a decision, his phone lit up with an international number on the screen.

He answered, but said nothing.

"Master," came a man’s voice from the other end. "I came to check the facility you asked me to look into, but... the people you had stationed here are gone."

Lucian didn’t answer. His expression didn’t change. But his jaw tightened.

"Find them," he ordered coldly.

The man on the other end had already brought him an answer. "I’m afraid that’s not possible, Master."

He paused with a heavy exhale.

"They were found dead," the man said quietly. "From what I’ve gathered, they were dumped in a river. With no identification on them, they’ve been recorded as John Does."

Lucian drew a slow breath and pinched the bridge of his nose again.

"What else?" he asked, fingers moving to his brow.

Sure enough, there was more. "Master, the patient is gone as well. According to the facility, you ordered a transfer. But when I checked, the patient never arrived at the receiving hospital."

"We’re still looking into it," the man continued, "but the way things are moving... we may not find any clear leads."

Lucian lowered his hand and leaned back, phone pressed to his ear.

"I see," he said, his voice flat and cold. "Call me if anything changes."

"Yes, Master."

He hung up and stared at the phone. His grip on it tightened until his hand trembled slightly. His other hand reached up to loosen his tie.

"I requested a transfer?" he said to himself, a short scoff escaping him as he leaned back. "How did this not reach me in time?"

Question after question ran through his mind as the full scale of the problem came into focus. He had expected something like this. But having it confirmed, feeling his worst fears beginning to take shape, was like an invisible hand slowly closing around his throat.

His breathing had grown shorter, chest tightening by the second, when the driver’s voice cut through.

"Master, we’re here!"

With his earphones in, the driver’s voice came out nearly as a shout.

Lucian snapped his eyes toward him, then to the window. They were already in the neighborhood, and he hadn’t even noticed.

Then his gaze shifted to the windshield, and he caught Ashley standing by the entrance of Red’s house. The sight of her was enough. His breathing steadied. The tightness in his chest dissolved.

"Hah." He exhaled slowly, swallowing down the tension that had been climbing his throat.

Once he had collected himself, he stepped out of the car. The vehicle rolled away as Lucian crossed the street, heading straight for her.

Unlike Ashley — who seemed to have quiet ambitions of running for neighborhood mayor, given how comfortably she made herself at home in everyone else’s houses — Lucian rarely ventured beyond their own front door. The only other house he ever stepped into was Nolan’s.

So it was his first time, as he approached the open front door where Ashley was idling against the frame, to see the inside of the house Red’s group had been living in.

As he got closer, he heard a voice shout from inside,

"Close the door and stop wasting the air conditioning!"

Ashley was propped against the door frame, arms crossed, eyes on the supposed elite bodyguards sprawled across the floor — shamelessly soaking up the cold from their new air conditioner. The new recruits were squeezed into a corner off to the side.

"I left with Betty for a few hours, and you somehow found time to go shopping?" she said, her tone caught between awe and judgment.

Rum, who was already starting to feel the heat with the door hanging open, shot her a glare. But the moment he did, he caught sight of Lucian approaching the steps behind her.

"Ah!"

Everyone turned at Rum’s outburst. When they saw who was standing behind Ashley, they scrambled to their feet — all nine of them, new recruits included.

"Huh?" Ashley glanced back, her face lighting up as Lucian stood a step behind her. "Hubby, you’re here?"

Curiosity was plain in his eyes as he looked past her into the house, visibly surprised at how bare it was.

She quickly looped her arm through his. "Our neighbors got new recruits and apparently managed to con them out of their appliances."

"Con?" Rum’s face twitched, though he held his tongue with Lucian right there.

Meanwhile, the new recruits had gone rigid. They stood stiffly, watching Lucian’s gaze move over them. It was the first time Khan, Nelek, and Warriyo had stood face to face with the big boss of Dominion.

As for Rus, he had seen Lucian before, in the helicopter and in the water. But even so, standing here like this, he felt suffocated.

Lucian wasn’t even doing anything. He was just looking around the empty house.

Ashley pursed her lips and tugged his arm. "My boo, let’s go home, okay?" she hummed. "Don’t worry about these people."

She steered him away, and everyone watched as she led Lucian back across the street until Vodka let out a long breath of relief and patted his chest.

"I thought he was going to say we couldn’t keep the air conditioner."

Gin furrowed his brows. "Why did he look so shocked by our living conditions?"

Everyone looked at him. A beat of silence fell on them, then they all laughed it off.

"No way!"

As for the new recruits, no word from Lucian was infinitely better than hearing him issue an impossible order.

*****

Meanwhile, Ashley had gotten as far as the gate in front of their house before Lucian stopped and turned to her.

"Why is their house empty?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

Ashley smiled. "It’s part of their cover."

"..." Lucian blinked. "But their furnishings and necessities were included in the budget."

It was, but she didn’t like them much back then.

Ashley opened her mouth and then closed it. Then, she smiled until her eyes crinkled into slits, rose on her toes, and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Let’s just go inside, okay?"

Lucian touched his cheek briefly, the warmth of her lips still lingering. Then he nodded and asked nothing more.