Eli stared at Ethan in utter disbelief. She couldn't believe that all this time, the same man that helped her and her friends take down the crime syndicate, was the very same person who heartlessly walked out on her family two decades ago. In a single action, he tore apart her life and shredded any piece of innocence she had left, yet, he acted as if nothing had ever happened. She was astounded, but more importantly, she was furious at the person who was kneeling in front of her now.
"Shocking, I know." Venus said, "This cold-blooded asshole deserted his own daughters and wife to join forces with my boss, only to betray him afterwards. All because of a friend who was killed by the crime syndicate. Such a loyal guy."
She then smirked at Esther, "How does it feel to have your worst fear come true? You're always so arrogant, thinking you can crush the crime syndicate with your 'plan' while concealing your real identity. You really thought you can keep your daughter in the dark forever. Finally, I'm able to make you shut the fuck up today. Look at how disappointed she is."
He lifted his head up and saw Eli looking daggers at him. He knew he had screwed up, and wanted to explain the whole situation to her. However, he has to find a way to get out of Venus's grasp.
"What a failure you are, both as a person and a father." Venus continued, "You are merely suffering the consequences of your own actions. It's what you deserve."
"Let. Him. Go." Eli maintained her stance from earlier with a stern look on her face.
"You're still defending this beast?" Venus widened her eyes in surprise, "Even when you know who he is and what he has done?" Esther knew Venus wanted to get a strong reaction out of Eli to get her to turn against him. Nonetheless, Eli's calm demeanor had left Venus flabbergasted. Knowing Venus, she would continue to try and taunt Eli. He could use this opportunity to push a distracted Venus away from him.
He scanned his surroundings to see if he could find anything of use. He saw a book lying on the floor near him. He slowly reached out his hand and gripped it. He then pushed the book through the knife. The moment Venus knew what he had done, he elbowed her neck and turned his head around to poke her eyes. She stumbled back and fell down on the floor, dropping the knife.
Eli fired off a bullet at Venus's left leg, but the latter managed to skim it in the nick of time. Esther rushed forward and jump-kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fly back to the wall. As she was about to retaliate, Umi and Maki came into the room.
Seeing that she was outnumbered, Venus ran towards the office desk and hid under it. The four of them directed their gazes towards the table. When Maki and Umi caught sight of Anthony's dead body, they were taken aback.
"It looks like we're a bit too late, aren't we?" Maki asked, "Your prediction was spot on."
"Venus's a smart woman." Umi responded, "She won't let us beat her at her games." Meanwhile, Eli was thinking of reasons why Venus would run to hide under the table, but she couldn't make up one. That couldn't possibly be a good hiding spot, can it?
"Stay here." Eli voiced out to the others, "I'm going to see if Venus is still under the table. She definitely has something up her sleeve."
She slowly crept to the desk, holding the pistol in her hands. When she reached there, she breathed in and out before she closed her eyes, crouched, and pointed her gun in front of her. For a few seconds, she did not hear anything. She gradually opened her eyes and realized there was nothing but a trapdoor on the floor.
"What did you find?" Maki questioned, "Venus is not there, right?"
"It's a trapdoor." Eli replied, "Venus must've used this to escape us. We could try to…"
"I know what you're about to say. Don't bother trying to chase her." Umi reasoned, "If she knew that this trapdoor is here, that means she also knows how to get in and out of here in the fastest and shortest way possible. We won't be able to catch up to her, as much as we want to put her in her place."
Eli ran her hands through her hair in frustration before sighing, "You're right. For now, let's go back to the basement and think of more solutions. She glared at Esther before walking out of the room. Maki and Umi turned to him and were shocked to see his face for the first time. Esther quietly walked past them and went after Eli.
"Did you see the way Eli looked at Esther earlier?" Umi asked Maki.
"I saw that too." Maki uttered, "Honestly, I don't have an idea of what's going on between them. We'll probably know once we return to the basement."
In the superintendent's office, Kanan bowed down in front of the superintendent, followed by Zi Yang. Once the both of them got back up, Kanan took out a file from her bag and passed it to the superintendent.
"I assume this is the finished report about the attack at the lawmakers' office building and Jeff Connor's death." The superintendent flipped the file open to glance through its contents before closing it, "Looks pretty good. Good job, Inspector Matsuura. I know I could count on you to do the job."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
"Also, you told me over the phone that you wanted to discuss something. Let me hear it."
"Ma'am, I do hope you would consider allowing Inspector Huang to come back to the force and work by my side." She said, "I would really appreciate having someone to help me in the trio case." The superintendent was instantly bewildered by the words that came out of Kanan's mouth. She looked at Zi Yang with disgust before turning back to Kanan.
"You've brought this rebellious, useless, hot-headed guy here, and you want to seek my approval to assign him as your assistant." The superintendent raised her eyebrows, "I trust you, Inspector Matsuura, but what about him? He never follows his own higher-up's instructions, and can't even complete a simple task. How am I supposed to allow him to join you? He might drag you down, for all you know."
"You got nothing to worry about, Ma'am." Kanan replied, "Under my watch, he will be under control. He will do what I tell him to."
"But…"
"Besides, wouldn't it be better for more people to help us solve the murder cases?" Kanan continued, "That way, we could not only finish it as quickly as possible, but also help assure the public that they are safe from danger." The superintendent leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms as she thought about it for a while. A few seconds later, she came to a decision.
"Alright." The superintendent nodded her head, "However, he will only be reinstated as a temporary officer. He will not be in charge of investigating anything. Once we're done with the cases, he will be out of here ASAP. Since he's helping you, I expect a superb quality of work from you guys. Do you understand, Inspector Matsuura?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Kanan saluted the superintendent, "Thank you, Ma'am! I will not let you down!" Zi Yang bowed down again, but he was clenching his fists this time.
A few minutes later, in the cafeteria, Kanan brought two cups of coffee to Zi Yang's table. She sat beside him and gave one cup to him.
"Thank you for helping me in part one of my plan." He said, "Hopefully, this plan works out, so I can put this bitch back in her place."
"I'm sure it will." Kanan grinned, "I believe in you, and I'll be helping you along the way. The girls would be happy if they were to know about this."
"Let's not assume that so early. I'm sure they still have some hatred towards me. Anyways, I owe you a favor. Tonight's dinner and drinks are on me."
"Don't need to be so courteous, Zi Yang. We're friends after all."
"I insist, Kanan." He looked at her with eyes of determination. Seeing that look of his made her smile.
"Alright, I'll take the offer." She answered, "Actually, I'm pretty interested in the history between you and Jeff. Would you mind telling me over dinner?"
"Sure, I will. But first, let's finish our cup of coffee, and then we can get to work. We wouldn't want to waste any precious time slacking, would we?"
"Sure." Kanan smirked. She was happy, though, to finally see Zi Yang returning to his old, natural self. He was no longer the cold, arrogant, stubborn guy he used to be. He was once again the kind, friendly, caring man who had helped her through her tough times in the police force and stuck with her through thick and thin. And for that, she was proud of him.
Back in Jeff's basement, Eli sat down on a chair in front of the laptop, while Esther and Maki were seated on the sofa. Umi came into the room, holding a tray with four glasses of water. She gave one glass each to the other three before taking the last one. She then sat beside Maki.
Nobody had spoken to each other for a solid half an hour. Not even on the way back. It was just silence from the nightclub to the house. Nonetheless, Esther had been trying to think of what to say to his daughter throughout this period of time to cool her down and make her understand his situation. Once he had collected his thoughts, he stood up and turned towards her.
"Look, Eli, I know you're mad at me for not telling you the truth." He voiced out, "I can explain…"
"What can you explain?" She glared at him, "Are there things I still don't know? How much more are you hiding from me?"
"I get that you want answers to the questions you've always wondered for years, so I'll start from the beginning." He took a deep breath before continuing, "Twenty years ago, me and my colleague went to the shopping mall for lunch. My colleague wanted to take a breather from our work. The client that day was very unreasonable to him, and he got insulted by her too. Even when he tried his best to accede to her requests, she wasn't satisfied with it, and that made our company lose a million dollar deal. He was frustrated, so I suggested that we go to my favorite ramen store to help him relax.
"The moment we stepped into the shopping mall, we heard sounds of gunshots, followed by people screaming at the top of their lungs. When we looked up at the second floor, we saw some masked men aiming their guns at cashiers in stores, demanding for their money, before shooting them dead. We went to take shelter behind the water fountain. That was our very first encounter with the crime syndicate, and it was the last for my colleague.
"He saw some of the masked men trying to rob an old lady. He stood up against them by pushing them away from her. They chased after him. In the end, the old lady was able to escape, but he got shot in the head right before my eyes. Even when the police arrived, they couldn't do shit except marking my friend and other dead people in the mall as victims of a shooting.
"That made me realize that the law is unjust. All these poor innocent civilians murdered got no justice for their deaths. Their families even can't seek redress for them because the police are useless, and they don't have the power nor ability to do anything at all. Then I thought of our family. You, Alisa, Melissa. You three are my loved ones. What happens if you're caught up in the crimes of the syndicate one day? What if I were to lose you girls? I wouldn't want to know, and I couldn't bear to let that happen. I'm sure that if I feel devastated losing the ones I love, then the families of the dead would've definitely felt the same way, or worse.
"That's why there must be someone else to seek justice for them, so that they can get the closure they deserve. I also want to prevent the crime syndicate from harming any more people, especially my family, and if possible, bring it down. Thus, I decided to work with Mr Brocker, whom I met in an anti-crime convention, to work together with me.
"His plan was to get me to join the crime syndicate so that I would get to know their ins-and-outs and then attack them at their weak point. After all, to know your enemy, you must become your enemy. I had to do a lot of stuff for five years to get the attention of Regis's father so I could join his syndicate. However, getting involved in a crime syndicate means implicating my own family, and I didn't want to do that, so I had no choice but to leave you guys. I know it sounds ridiculous and an asshole move, but…I'm sorry."
"20 years of absence and all you can muster out is a long ass shitty story and a sorry?" Eli asked angrily, "All that talk about the crime syndicate. Where were you when we needed you the most? You could've just stayed with us and protected us. We don't need this bullshit of killing this crime syndicate to prevent us from getting harmed and all that other shit. All we wanted was a loving family. I longed for a doting father who would pamper me and Alisa, spend time with us, playing with us, encouraging us on the sidelines in what we do. Instead, my deadbeat father only appeared two decades later while I'm fighting alongside him on the quest that made him leave his own family! How could you even think of leaving your own family that you claim to love?"
"I know…"
"You don't know fucking shit!" Eli screamed at him, "To hell with your knowledge! When Mom had a heart attack because of your departure and passed away, you weren't there. When Alisa got a big break in her singing career, you weren't there. When I graduated from university, you weren't there either. You didn't know any of this, and you didn't bother to, because you were so into your fucking stupid mission to bring the crime syndicate down! Because of you, our family was fucked up and broken!" Another round of silence ensued before she marched up to Esther.
"I'll not let personal matters ruin the working relationship we have now." Eli bellowed, "The crime syndicate is still a threat to Japan, and we need to take it out. But once we're done with this, I want you to disappear out of my sight. I never want to see you ever again." She then stormed out of the room.
Esther sighed. He expected his daughter to have the kind of reaction she had. After all, who wouldn't be angry? He knew he was to blame for making the choice to leave his own family for their own good without thinking of what they truly wanted. He needed to reflect on himself.
"I'll take my leave first." He told Maki and Umi, who were sipping their water, "I'll call you girls next time I get a clue about the crime syndicate." With that, he went out of the basement. Once the two girls were sure he left the house, they placed their cups on the table and looked at each other.
"That was intense, to say the least." Umi said, "I've never seen Eli this mad at all. Not even during our high school days."
"That plot twist though." Maki commented, "I did not expect Esther to be Eli's biological father. It sounds like we're in some drama."
"Surreal." Umi added on.
"They both even have the same motive; to take down the crime syndicate to seek justice for the victims and their families." Maki remarked, "Like father, like daughter. The phrase cannot be more true." Umi nodded her head in response, agreeing with Maki.
In Regis's office, Venus reported to her boss that Jordan was killed, but she had also exposed Esther's identity to Eli. Regis clapped his hands upon hearing that.
"你做得好 (You did well)." He smiled, "现在那个王八蛋不会有时间打扰我了, 因为他要安慰他自己的女儿. 他真的是咎由自取 (Now that bastard wouldn't have time to come after me as he's busy consoling his own daughter. He brought it upon himself)."
"你说的对, 老板 (You are right, Boss)." Venus responded, "接下来, 你有什么打算? (What's your plan after this?)"
"我必须要去香港做一些事情 (I need to travel to Hong Kong to settle some business)." Regis replied, "你应该知道你要做什么, 不是吗? (You know what to do, yes?)"
Venus bowed down, "是的, 老板. 那三女人就包在我身上. 我会好好处理她们 (Yes, Boss. Leave the three girls to me. I'll take care of them)."