"KELLY!!" Lindon’s voice cracked through the orb.

"What did you do?!! What did you DO?!!"

"Father, I..."

"Don’t speak!!" He turned back toward Tony’s side of the feed and knocked his head to the floor. "Young Master Tony!! Please!! I beg you— spare my family!! Whatever Kelly did, I will deal with her personally!! The Don family has never and will never stand against the Clark family!! Please show mercy!!"

"Mercy," Tony repeated, like he was tasting the word. "That’s an interesting request from a Russian mafia family." He paused.

"Your people play with tricks in normal people’s lives every single day, Don patriarch. Your family has operated for decades by making problems disappear— people, evidence, inconvenient truths. So tell me honestly..." he looked at the screen "Why exactly should I spare you when you wouldn’t extend the same consideration to anyone else?!"

The Don family patriarch hit the floor again, harder. "Because we were wrong!! Because we understand our mistake!! Because the Clark family is above us in every way and we accept that completely!!

Young Master, I will give everything— our resources, our strongmen, our underground connections in Russia... everything!! The Don family will serve the Clark family!! I swear it on my blood!! Please... please just spare my wife... spare my people—"

The begging continued. Every word lower than the last, more desperate, more specific— the Don family patriarch listing assets, contacts, operational territories, safe houses, everything he had spent a lifetime building, laying it at Tony’s feet without being asked to itemise it, just offering everything because everything was the only card left.

Tony listened to all of it.

Then he looked at Kelly, still kneeling at his feet, forehead to the stone.

"You know what I find interesting?!" he said with an amused smile. "When Mark Smith offered you that deal, you weighed the risk and decided the reward was worth it. You knew who my family was. You knew what opposing the Clark family meant." He crouched down again, same level, same calm. "And you took the wine glass anyway." He almost smiled. "I respect decisiveness, Kelly. I genuinely do. You just aimed it at the wrong person."

Kelly said nothing. Her shoulders were shaking.

"From tomorrow," Tony said, standing back up and addressing the orb, "Kelly Don will not set foot inside Nine Lotus Academy. Not as a disciple, not as a visitor, not as anything." He looked at the screen. "As for the rest— submit your full list of assets and operations to my family manager by the end of the night.

Every strongman, every resource, every Russian contact. You will operate under the Clark family name from this point forward." He paused. "And you will remember— for every generation that follows— what the price of this lesson was."

Lindon Don pressed his forehead to the marble floor and did not lift it. "Yes, Young Master. Yes. Understood. Thank you. Thank you for your mercy."

Tony lowered the orb and looked at the beautiful woman in the black manager’s skirt on the other end.

"Malkin," he said. "Deal with them properly. Make sure the lesson sticks— not just for this generation. For the ones after."

Malkin, Clark family manager, gave a single composed nod. "As you command, Young Master." Her voice was warm, professional.

The feed closed.

Tony tucked the orb back into his storage ring.

Kelly had not moved from the floor.

After a long moment, Tony looked down at her. "Get up," he said. "You can go."

Kelly raised her head. For one second, pure relief crossed her face— the relief of someone who had been certain they were finished and suddenly wasn’t.

"Thank you, Young Master... thank you, I -"

"Not yet, First... go to First Prince Mark Smith’s residence. Kneel outside his door until evening." He met her eyes. "That man needs to understand the cost of his failed plan in concrete terms. You’re the most concrete thing available right now. After evening, you can leave the academy."

Kelly stared at him.

"As you command, Young Master," she said quietly.

She stood. Didn’t look at Lily. Didn’t look at Hikaru. Straightened what was left of her dignity, turned, and marched.

The courtyard watched her go in complete silence.

Then Leo unfolded his arms and exhaled slowly through his nose. "Brother," he said. "When did you send the command?!"

"Last night," Tony said. "When Fatty Lin brought the information."

"You set it all up before you even walked into that emergency room this morning?!"

"Before I walked in, yes." Tony shrugged. "Hit first. Think later. Father always said it was my worst habit." He considered. "I think it’s actually my best one."

Leo stared at him for a long moment. Then he looked at the empty space where Kelly had been kneeling, at the small dark stain of blood on the courtyard stone, and then back at his brother.

Julie, who had been standing with one hand over her mouth for the last several minutes, finally lowered it. She looked at Lily.

Lily was still staring at the spot where the video feed had been— at the space where a live image of an entire family kneeling on marble floors had played out in the afternoon light. Her expression was unreadable. Somewhere between things she wasn’t ready to name yet.

"Sister," Julie said carefully. "Are you all right?!"

Lily blinked once and nodded in silence.

"You still have not answered my question," Hikaru said.

Tony looked at Lily. Then at Hikaru, who had been standing quietly through the entire Kelly scene, watching with the careful attention of someone who had learned a great deal about Tony Clark in the last ten minutes and was still processing most of it.

He opened his mouth to speak... but suddenly the system screen flashed before him.

Tony completely forgot where he was standing and stared at the system screen with a surprised look.

"What? A system quest...?!!! The reward...!!!"

Tony muttered as he read through the new system quest. Since the beginning, this was the first time the system actually gave a specific task for him.