Thirty minutes later, he arrived at his office at the top floor of Ever Victorious building, Central Alina.

He strode into the conference room, the tolerant and compromising man was no longer present, only a cold business suit wearing magnate was.

After he took his seat, presentations from other companies started. All these people did their best to impress him and the other shareholders so that their companies could establish a business relations.h.i.+p with the Albarez. From time to time their eyes lurked to Gio to probe his reactions. Unfortunately, the man was not letting anything register on his face.

For every report though, his ever merciless mouth never failed to lash out, causing the conference to end with more than 80 percent of the proposals harshly rebuked and trashed by Gio.

"Sir, the Florence Corp hopes you reconsider their proposal."

"You mean, that mall whatever that needs a one hundred million budget? No. It's not worth it. Have you forgotten? The location mentioned is near a dumpsite."

"Sir, the Cruz representative wants to meet you."

"For what?"

"Ah, it's regarding the acquisition of the entertainment and modeling agency."

"Oh? What acquisition? We're not selling it back. Tell his boss to stop dreaming."

George cleared his throat and continued, "Victory Foods also requested us to give them another chance. There's also the..."

The secretary slash a.s.sistant slash errand boy stopped talking when he saw his boss staring at the thick stacks of doc.u.ments in front of him with knitted brows. He looked seemingly lost in thoughts.

Gio was indeed thinking about something as he remained seated on his swivel round chair, his arms folded. The mention of the Cruz reminded him of something he forgot to ask Sofony, something that sparked a bit of deja vu in his mind.

'That Cruz boy said something back then. About a so-called immoral system. But what exactly is it? And why do I always forget it whenever I want to raise the topic to Sofy?'

His brow knitted. His annoyed eyes went to George. "Do you remember what the Cruz kid told us at the underground dungeon?"

Gio frowned at his a.s.sistant's confused face.

"What did he say, young master?"

'...He can't remember?' he mused. 'Did someone cause this? Sofy?'

This made him frown, deliberating why his subordinate lost memory about that particular scene. He then shook his head and continued facing the doc.u.ments.

A couple of minutes later, a man barged into his office. It was one of his male secretaries, and in his hands, there was a small box wrapped like a gift.

"What's that, Jone?" he irritatedly inquired.

"Young master, this suddenly appeared on my table. I didn't even notice when someone put it there. But since it's there, I thought it's been sneakily left by one of the shareholders or representatives," the man dutifully answered.

George asked, "Hey, what if it's dangerous?"

"No, it's too small, you know? I think it contains a flash drive or anything light. If it's the first though, the sender must be a weirdo." While shaking his head, the 40 years old Jone put the small box on Gio's table.

In reality, none of them were truly that alarmed as this had already happened numerous times in the past. Many businessmen in the country were desperate to ride on the Albarez' coattails. Because of this, they were all more than willing to leave bribes or gifts if that would mean more chances of getting selected for cooperation.

Sure enough, when the man unwrapped it, a flash drive was there. A weird expression appeared on the three men's face as they wondered who could be so stupid.

It's a flash drive so it surely contains some files, right?

Why not just directly email it?

'Oh, wait. Maybe this person is not weird but genius. At least, the boss' interest is piqued.' George thought, remembering that his boss was p.r.o.ne to deleting seemingly useless emails without reading them.

Gio ordered the two men to go out. He was having a feeling that something odd was in the flash drive. He wondered if it was something his Baby mysteriously sent again.

However, when he plugged it to his laptop, he was surprised to see only a single file on it. When he checked, it was a sound recording sent by someone called Ms. C. He knew because the file was t.i.tled 'From Ms. C'.

His face became dark, he considered whether to punished Jone for giving him something stupid like this. However, his curiosity still acted up so he double-clicked it and let the sound play. Of course, he did this after phoning his main a.s.sistant to track where the package comes from.

Not long after, an unfamiliar feminine voice echoed within his office.

"...I'll make this message short, Mr. Albarez. I can't reach the b.i.t.c.h through normal ways. She had me blocked so I here I am, reaching out to you. Don't worry, all you have to do is tell Sofony Mendez to meet me tonight at Cryptos, at 7 pm. If you want, tag along. But if she doesn't come, I'm telling you, I'm going to declare total war against her! I'm sure you both know I'm not someone you two can deal with!"

Gio's left brow rose at her declaration. Now he was sure this girl was that Clarissa Guzman. And he doesn't like this woman's boastful tone. Her proud att.i.tude irked something badly within him.

Who was she to say he could not deal with her? A little woman wanted to declare war? On what basis? Does she even know what it means?

He didn't know why he was having this feeling, but Gio could actually not sense any fear against this kind of person. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that he had already killed one, but he was confident that people like Floyd and Sofony, though mysterious and unpredictable, are people he could still kill if he wanted. After all, even if they have superpowers, all of them were still human, right? And no human is unkillable. So where is she getting her confidence from?

When this thought came to mind, Gio got annoyed.

But the recording still had a few dozen of seconds on it so he went back to listening.

"...Alright, that's the most important message. Your b.i.t.c.h even masks your personal info so I have no choice but send it like this. By the way, before this file vanished into nothingness, let me remind you something."

"If you are thinking you become connected to Sofony Mendez due to some sort of coincidence, then you better cross out that idea now from your mind."

"It's not fate that sent you to her or her to you, but ---, oops, I can't say the term, sorry. Still, I want to tell you that you are influenced, no, controlled by something. If not, how could you possibly fall in love that easily with a girl that came out of nowhere? Why are you so easily influenced to cater to her every whim and request? You're controlled, Mr. Monster. Otherwise, you would have killed her at first s.e.x, oops, I mean, sight."

The man's face immediately darkened. Probably because he's been provoked by her words, the temperature of the room seemingly cooled down below normal.

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"If you are not under some influence, you would not have been drugged," the voice continued. He inferred she must be referring to when he first met Sofony.

"I'm telling you, in this world, there's something that could easily manipulate fate, coincidences, and future events! I'm not allowed to say its name. But it definitely exists! Mr. Albarez, you better wake up. If not, you'll find yourself kneeling before someone you won't even consider if you're on your right mind. Remember, you should not be a person easily controlled by your lower half, but just a few days of s.e.x made you so captivated by her. Is that normal? Are you somebody like that? No? Then you finally get my point!"

The recording finished after the woman repeated her original goal which was to make Sofony go to the specified location. After that, the file and the storage vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of its existence whatsoever.

For some reason, Gio acted unfazed even though he just witnessed something only seen in some sci-fi movies. The man only continued staring at the now blank monitor, his thoughts unknown. However, the atmosphere around him remained dark and chilly.

A minute later, a reaction finally came from him. It was a laugh. An unrestrained and joyous one. He started laughing as if he just saw or experienced something very funny. If his a.s.sistants saw him like this, they would probably wonder if the gift he received was that good.

In reality, Gio was laughing because he couldn't believe that somebody just threatened him with a so-called war. This daring person also kindheartedly reminded him of something he had long considered.

It was just so funny. And stupid.

What controlled? What influenced?

If he ever did something not out of his profiteering interest, it could only be because he was truly moved. Otherwise, was he, Gio Albarez, one who could be easily manipulated? A man who only relied on luck and some smart to reach his current position? If so, how come he was still alive? An individual who relied on luck or others was someone who would not survive the harshness of the military or the business world.

And as far as he knows, he's not like that.

His lips curled up into a grin.

"So interesting," he said. "I wonder if this woman thinks I'm someone who can easily be swayed by words. She wants me to doubt my Baby? Does she know that her words are malicious? If it's a man with lesser resolve, he would've wondered by now if he's really been manipulated or used."

He shook his head as he recalled how he met his girl. Sofony was a person who would not even consider changing her naive views if not forced by extreme circ.u.mstances. Yet this woman was suggesting their meeting was something directed by Sofony? Or if not by her, then by a force unseen or beyond comprehension?

He laughed and thought, so what? He would even thank this whatever for letting him meet his Baby.

"So, in the end, what's her goal?"

"To make me doubt Sofony and distance myself from her as I weigh things out?"

"Or make me do some extreme actions as retaliation for being 'controlled'?"

At this thought, Gio began laughing again. A long time pa.s.sed before he stopped, and when he did, he was already in the middle of deciding how to reciprocate the 'gift'.

'I don't know why you told me that. But at least I know you're an enemy. Whatever you are, if you think that just anybody can threaten or make a Giovan Albarez doubt whoever you want me to, then my job is to educate you that having this whatever power, mafia influence, or immoral system doesn't make you immortal or invincible!'

Not even a quarter of a minute pa.s.sed after he called George in. He said a few words while ignoring the confusion that crossed the other's face. When the a.s.sistant walked off to do what he commanded, Gio went back to work and began signing all doc.u.ments that needed approval.

When afternoon came, he left the building and drove towards the shooting range. He, of course, planned to tell his girl the message that irritating Clarissa wanted him to relay. He would even personally escort Sofony to the designated place.

However, when that time comes, he hopes this daring woman, who annoyed him with threats and fake words of concern, would not find his gift boring!