Lucy had never felt more powerful in her whole life. Everything was going her way right now; Natsu wasn't mad at her, Don was doing all of the dirty work for her. Now all she had to do was make it back home so she could freak out about how well everything was going. She felt like a boss.

Around the corner Alyssa Cobeson and Natsu in the fiercest stare-off she'd ever seen. Neither of them looked all that threatening, but Lucy saw that Natsu was coiled up like a spring, ready to go at one wrong move by Alyssa; who, for her part, did not look too concerned that the most dangerous man in Hargeon was glaring at her.

Lucy leaned on the wall next to Natsu, who didn't move an inch. "Hello… Alyssa." Lucy hit send on her text before pocketing her phone and looking up. Alyssa looked offended at Lucy's entrance. "While we wait, let's play a little 20 Questions." Natsu finally moved from his spot to behind her. He slid the scrunchy off her wrist and stuck his fingers in her hair, and Lucy rolled her eyes fondly. Of course he would do something this silly in the middle of this tense moment.

Alyssa noticed this. "Is he…braiding your hair?"

"Trying to, yes. But I meant that I would be asking you some questions." Alyssa bristled at Lucy's attitude. Honestly, Lucy was a little shocked at her behavior, too, but she was rolling with it. She didn't get this confident very often.

Lucy contemplated what she should ask this woman; the woman who had apparently been ruining her life from behind closed doors for the past ten years. It was like she was employed by the universe to make Lucy's life a living hell. First she grows up determined to be alone, then her mother dies, then suddenly this business tycoon shows up right after just to…

Lucy's train of thought flew off the rails. 'That can't be a coincidence,' her mind whispered. She tried to ignore it, but she kept thinking without her consent. Layla dies, leaving husband and daughter bereaved. Then suddenly, it just so happens that a bloodsucking woman with an agenda comes to conveniently dominate the Heartfilia business.

Praying she was wrong, she asked her first question. "How did you come to work with my father?" Alyssa scrunched up her eyebrows at the question.

"You think you have me completely at your mercy, and you want to know that?" she sneered. But she shrugged and answered, which was all Lucy really wanted. "I started working with him around the summer of—"

"No, Mrs. Cobeson. How did you get to that point?" Lucy tried to keep her voice under control, but Natsu tugged on her hair questioningly. She must not be doing as well as she wanted.

"Ah. I see." The woman had an air of understanding about her now. "You've figured me out, have you? Yes, I did go to your father not soon after your mother died. I'd been eyeing his assets for years, but he never wanted to cooperate; he still thought he could be successful and a family man. But, well, you know how that turned out the most, right? He was all over the papers about his rather… interesting relationship with his daughter. She was always showing up to school with these bruises—"

"Shut up," Lucy said, a little too quickly. She'd put it behind her, as had everyone else in the world. But Natsu's hands completely stilled in her hair, and Lucy refused to look at him. "That's a low blow, Alyssa."

Alyssa Cobeson laughed humorlessly. "It's all in the job description, honey. And I really wish you would call me by my proper title, it's respectful."

"If you were worth my respect you'd be hearing it."

Her cool composure cracked slightly, but she played it off well enough. "You've got a sharp tongue; I don't blame Jude."

The wall splintered behind her, and Lucy turned to see Natsu's hand bleeding from punching a hole through the wall. He was breathing heavily, and Lucy saw now that he was angry. When he looked up, she saw that he was angry at her.

"Uh, Na—"

"What the fuck, Lucy." She flinched back a little at the pure rage in his voice. "He…You… You never told me—"

"What would you have done?" Natsu froze at that. "It was years ago. He only stopped after she came in, I'm assuming. Right?" Lucy looked back at Alyssa, who smiled secretively. "You must have gotten him to agree to the contract to stop the media from digging. Because my dad needs an heir more than anything else. If I was taken—"

"His fortune would go to my son, and he refused to concede on that point, despite the fact that Jacob has more training in business than most graduate students. He's actually helped me and your father handle things for years, since he was thirteen. But Jude still kept you on a pedestal. But as soon as I tell him that you were here with that boy right there, you'll be out of the picture."

Lucy laughed under her breath. "Can't wait for that, really. But the one thing I don't understand is what your end goal is, Alyssa."

Alyssa sighed in a very motherly way, almost like she had told Lucy the same thing thousands of times before. "I want what I've always wanted, and what I'm about to get when I go talk to that bartender in that office. Total industry domination and monopoly."

"Over illegally concentrated alcohol?" Lucy asked, hiding a smile.

"Yes, you stupid brat. I've secured the exports in practically every port in Hargeon; the Keeper's Pub is the last establishment in the entire city that isn't under my jurisdiction." Lucy realized that that was what the faded sign out front must say. 'Huh, so this place actually has a name.' "Soon, though, every purchase in the black market will be mine, and I'll be living comfortably for the rest of my life. So move out of my way."

Lucy couldn't keep it in anymore. She busted out laughing, so hard she doubled over. Alyssa's face was priceless, too, which made her laugh even harder. The stress, the pressure, all of it came out as she sniggered. Finally, she straightened, wiping a tear from her bottom lid. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Did you get all of that, Capricorn?"

Capricorn's muffled voice echoed from her jeans pocket. "Yes, Miss Lucy. Did the Salamander ever finish that braid?"

Lucy reached a hand back, running a hand down the smooth rope. "Yup. Can you send your friend over now? Leo, was it?"

"Of course, Miss Lucy." There was a pause, and he spoke again, "His ETA is ten minutes. The task force I dispatched earlier is already surrounding the area waiting for detainment."

"Thank you, Capricorn. And the estate police?"

"They have already wrapped up, and your father is on the way to the city police department right now, along with the young Cobeson."

"What?" Alyssa asked, the horror on her face almost doubling Lucy over again. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Yeah, Luce, what's goin' on?" Natsu whispered behind her.

Lucy smiled. "Oh, nothing much. But you basically just confessed to a decade's worth of illegal activity alongside my father, and apparently your son, too. There has to be a law about that. My phone's been recording this whole time, with a very talented legal PI on the other end. My father may be able to get out of it, but you? I'm thinking no." Natsu whistled from behind her.

Alyssa looked shell-shocked, but quickly regained her composure. "And what makes you think that I won't incriminate your father? I have loads of friends—"

"Yes, but my two are far more important than your loads. Don," Lucy jabbed her thumb to the office behind her, "has the same friends you do, who all have a lot of dirt on you according to his sources. The only difference is," Lucy paused, and pointed her finger next at Natsu, who she saw bear his teeth out of the corner of his eye, "people are a lot more scared of him than they are of you."

Alyssa chortled then, and Lucy blanched. She and Capricorn had thought of everything; no string had been left out of their web. Why was Alyssa laughing? "My dear, I have my own." Lucy blanked, Alyssa's meaning going straight over her head. The woman chuckled again at her expression. "You naive thing. No one succeeds in this world we're in without someone like him." She clapped loudly, and the door at the end of the hallway flew open.

Even Natsu flinched back when the Captain stepped through the door.