Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 709: Coffee, cookies and small talk.

She stretched her hand out and grabbed his. With firmness, she pulled him up, "Come on, follow me. I cannot reverse time, but I can freeze the air for a while."

"I am not sure that is a wise thing to do," he mumbled, allowing himself to be dragged off anyway. He didn’t care where she wanted to take him, just as long as he could forget for a moment.

Like everyone in the family, he had long been expecting this day. In fact, his grandfather had lived longer than they expected him to. None the less, hearing doctors declare his condition hopeless still hurt.

He would have pushed Sunshine to find some kind of cure for old age in those other worlds, but she had bigger problems like the rifts and learning how to storm bind. A natural death was not another battle to add to her to-do list. Besides, his grandfather was not willing to live on.

The old man wanted to go, as nature had intended. In his own words, this new world was not for him.

She took him to the edge of the rooftop and made him sit down. Their legs dangled over the side as they watched the artificial moon glow with a soft, pale light. The air was cool, carrying the faint scent of azaleas that had been recently planted in the rooftop garden.

Sunshine leaned back, resting her head against Hades’ broad chest, listening to the steady, rhythmic thud of his heart. This place was their sanctuary_ the only place where the weight of leading a fortress and all their personal problems felt a little lighter.

She raised her hand, and waved her hand, producing coffee.

Hades took a cup and immediately took a sip, the steam curling around his sharp features. "I saw her today," he said suddenly, his voice vibrating through the air. "Amber. I was over in Westbrook checking the ongoing construction work. She walked right past me, Suni. Didn’t even look up. She acted like I was a ghost or a piece of particularly uninteresting furniture. I have never been so happy and relieved at the same time."

Sunshine didn’t even try to hide it. A bubbly, mischievous laugh escaped her lips, echoing off the rooftop vents. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Hades pulled back slightly, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wait a minute. I know that laugh. That’s your ’I did something bad but I’m proud of it’ laugh." He paused, a memory clicking into place. "The restaurant. You talked to her weeks ago, didn’t you? I never asked what was said, but seeing her jump like she’d seen a demon today... what did you two talk about?"

Sunshine grinned, tucking an unruly strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh, you know me. I just had a very polite, very firm chat. I might have mentioned that her welcome was overstayed and reminded her of the shardlings." Honestly, she didn’t think the talk would frighten the woman as much as it had done. The trip to the lake had not stopped her in the past.

Maybe, something else had happened. Something in her home, they were not aware of. Whatever the reason was, Sunshine was just happy that Amber was out of their lives.

Of course, if she asked a certain talking parrot, it would mention that Carson and Hadrian had once visited Amber. When they left, she was more scared that she had been at Shardling lake.

Hades shook his head, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You got the viper off my back. Thank you, Sweetheart. Truly. She was... exhausting to deal with."

"You’re very welcome, my love," she replied, patting his hand. "Besides, Amber has bigger fish to fry now. Or rather, a bigger shark chasing her. Vicente has made it his personal mission to make her life a living hell. He’s convinced she crossed him after she collected that bounty on Fifi. She’s too busy looking over her shoulder for him and Victoria to bother looking at you."

Sunshine let out a long, triumphant sigh, the kind that comes after a job well done. "She won’t be a problem for us anymore." With a playful wave of her hand, she reached into her space_ a shimmer in the air_ and pulled out a plate of almond cookies and dried fruit. "Snacks?"

"Have I told you how much I love that space?" Hades joked, grabbing a cookie.

They sat in silence for a moment, munching on the treats, when a burst of raucous laughter drifted up from the training grounds below. They leaned over the railing to see a group of residents dragging colorful banners and wooden planks.

"The carnival preparations are getting intense," Sunshine noted. "I haven’t seen people this excited since... well, since before the world ended."

"It’s a good distraction; Lisha takes the credit for this one. Not all her ideas are scary." Hades agreed. But then his expression clouded, the light in his eyes dimming. The shift in his mood was almost physical.

Sunshine felt it immediately. She nudged him gently. "You’re thinking about your grandfather or Emmet and his stories about Peter."

"Emmet." Hades answered

Sunshine hesitated, then asked the question that had been hovering over them like a dark cloud. "Do you really believe him? Do you think Peter Strauss is actually alive?"

Hades set his coffee mug down on the concrete. He stared out at the horizon, where the artificial light met the darkness of the wasted land. "The boy described him too perfectly, Suni. The way he stands, the way he taps his ring when he’s thinking... there’s no way Emmet was lying. He’s seen him."

He let out a short, sharp laugh. It wasn’t a sound of joy; it was a jagged, ugly sound filled with disbelief and a deep, simmering disgust. "I can’t believe it. I was completely fooled. For years, I thought he was gone. I mourned him, in my own way."

"You mean you mourned the missing company funds, and the money Cassius stole as well." Sunshine whispered, connecting the dots.

"Exactly," Hades said, his voice dropping an octave. "All those offshore accounts, the money going missing at Quinn’s group... we traced them back to Cassius, but I couldn’t figure out the ’why and how.’ Now? It makes sense. It was Peter. It was always Peter. He’s been sitting in the shadows, feeding off me like a parasite."

Sunshine reached up and ruffled his dark hair, a small gesture to ground him. She could hear the cracks in his voice. It wasn’t just anger; it was the sound of a man who had been betrayed by a father figure. Peter hadn’t just been a partner; he had been the one who taught Hades how to survive.

"He’s coming for the fortress, isn’t he?" she asked softly.

Hades nodded. "He’s calculative. If he managed to fake his death and stay hidden for this long, he doesn’t move unless he knows he can win. He’s not a gambler; he’s a chess player."

"Well," Sunshine said, her eyes narrowing with a sudden spark of protective fire. "He hasn’t played against me yet. And he’s clearly forgotten who you are and how you become a wolf in the business world. We are the hunters, Hades, now and forever."