Siana

"Didn"t know the Dragon would love so."

However, his words were like a fuse that fanned the almost dying flames in Cain,

"It"s not for the likes of you to know."

It wasn"t that Jason didn"t want to apologise, however, he was the family head and each word of his represented his family. He was going to apologise to Sia but didn"t see any reason to do so to Cain. He considered Sia an independent woman and was actually thinking that Cain had lucked out by having her. No, more correctly, he though Cain didn"t deserve someone so talented and kind-hearted as her. Subsequently with Cain"s arrogant att.i.tude, his dislike towards Cain was growing by the minute.

Among the three men, it was only Mark that was trying his best to salvage the situation,

"Cain sorry for what happened to Sia. We owe her twice now and we will make sure to pay her back for everything she had done for us and everything she had gone through because of us. But now it"s not the time for the cold war. As Sia said, we have a pressing matter at hand to discuss: the matter of "Black Lily"."

By deliberately bringing Sia into his speech he wanted to force both men to quit being stubborn: he could argue that her influence on Cain was non-negotiable. On the other hand, his dad was evidently still feeling apologetic towards Sia, or else he would have long bashed out on Cain regardless of his achievements and his background.

Nevertheless, it turned out that he was slightly naive to believe that everything would be solved so easily.

"You still haven"t told the details of the incident," Cain spoke in a sharp and piercing manner. His voice was low, but it did not leave any room for argument: it wasn"t a request, it was an order.

Realising that Cain would not let go of the incident no matter what, Mark recalled the events from the moment Sia had entered the room to the moment his dad had called Cain. While Cain"s expression was turning darker with each word, Mark"s forehead was breaking into more and more sweat. By the time he was done, he didn"t dare to look at Cain anymore. However, the latter still had a grudge to hold.

"Be grateful to Sia that I won"t touch you in the hospital."

"Huh, aren"t you overestimating yourself?" Jason was equally stubborn, "It is you who requires our help not the other way around."

However, he would have never expected that his words would be used against him,

"I wonder what Herondale branch families would do to get their hands on an interesting information on the family head"s particular condition," Cain scoffed, shifting his gaze from Jason"s head down.

Knowing that he lost this time around, Jason finally chose to yield rather than to lose another verbal argument to the vicious young man in front of him. The more he thought back about the calm and knowledgeable girl the more he was convinced that she was too nice for him. Nonetheless, it sadly seemed like there was not much he could do about it: the care the two of them showed for each other would be seen even by a blind man, let alone a keen observer like him.

"This boy shouldn"t be too bad to have won her heart."

"Okay boy, you win. I am tired, so let"s talk business. What is it you want to know?"

As they started dealing with business, Cain automatically reverted back to his aloof self. Observing the old man"s expression, he knew that the man was serious about answering his questions. However, it didn"t mean he should take too much initiative and create an impression that he was too enthusiastic about the Herondale business. Though he needed their vote, they needed his help even more than that. It wasn"t a bad thing to have the Herondale family head owing you.

"Is the stolen information about your condition?" his question was straightforward without any redundant words. He was never a time waster.

Jason was similar to him in this aspect: his answer consisted only of a single syllable,

"Yes."

"What doc.u.ment?"

"My medical history."

Their question-answer session was similar to an interrogation, where Cain had an absolute power to question, and Jason had no choice but to answer. However, even though the latter could have given longer answers avoiding any questioning, he still wanted to see what kind of a person the candidate they were putting their hopes on was. Was he just a better choice than the Lion, or did he really deserve the position of the underworld emperor?

"Anything else they stole?" Cain continued in his apathetic tone. It felt like he couldn"t care less, however, in reality he did indeed care. Though he hated the man in front of him for what he had done to Sia, he was still much better than his hedonistic nephew. If he wanted to reconstruct the Underworld, he would need people like Jason.

"Some secret contracts with some families."

Jason was already feeling uneasy. Though he needed Cain"s help, he couldn"t lay all his cards on the table. If Cain asked him any further he wouldn"t be able to answer him.

However, Cain had long noticed the growing discomfort in Jason. Though he was interested in the contracts, he wouldn"t stoop so low as to stick his nose into Jason"s business. And anyways, it wasn"t like there were no other ways for him to learn more, it was enough for him to know of the existence of the contracts. On this account, he simply nodded his head in understanding.

"Anything else I need to know?"

This was his final question, and it did a good job at taking Jason by surprise. It also earned respect from Jason, though not that much of it, as remembering Cain"s rage from before was making it harder to deduce his real temperament.

"My brother might still be alive."

Yes, that was right. His younger brother, Jake, was believed to have been blown up by a bomb planted by "Black Lily". They had not found any traces of Jake"s remnants in the ruins. Though it was possible that he had burned until nothing remained, Jason didn"t believe that there wouldn"t be any traces left. Additionally, when considering who would have the most advantages with this information at hand, the answer led to Jake. In case Jason was convicted of treason to his family for lying about his sons, it would exactly be Jake and his son that would get the position of the next head. If he was truly collaborating with "Black Lily" and had simply disappeared with them to come back and s.n.a.t.c.h the family head position, this group"s reach and influence could absolutely not be undermined in future.

Though he didn"t express any of his thoughts, it wasn"t hard for Cain to guess them all. He nodded his head in understanding and stood up to leave the room without even bothering to bid them goodbye.

However, there was something that had been nagging Jason for a while, so he couldn"t help but ask,

"What is your real reason for wanting to become the Emperor?"

It was normal for him to ask this, after all, though Cain did not have all the military backing him up, he still had the support of half of it. He was also a genius businessman and to top it off, he was even a hacker. Why would he want to get involved in this b.l.o.o.d.y fight if he could have rejected it in the very beginning?

"Siana."

Though Cain"s answer gave rise to even more questions in the Herondales, even Cain"s shadow could not be seen anymore by the time they collected their thoughts.

"Why did he say it was because of her? What exactly does it mean? How is Sia connected to the Underworld?"