Gorgeous blue eyes with an unsettling darkness behind them glared at Iganashi with fierce determination.

"You got the wrong blonde." Cereza Monami's lips curled up into a wicked smile.

Iganashi took a cautious step back as his lackeys all reached for their guns. "W-who…?"

Cereza scoffed and sheepishly held out her hand for him to shake, speaking in her natural English accent contrary to the convincing Russian one she was flaunting before. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. How rude of me." She leaned forward to his face and smirked wildly at the pitiful man before her. "I am Cereza Monami."

Soryu stood across the room from her in utter shock and disbelief. Ten years. It had been ten years since he last saw or heard from his best friend, but… there she was. There was no mistaking it, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that the woman standing there was indeed Cereza Monami. She… looked good. She grew up well, and regardless of the flashy entrance she made, she seemed like she was doing well with… well, whatever she was doing.

"I'll be taking my little sister back now." Cereza's eyes fell on Claudia, who was still on her knees and bound at the wrists and ankles.

"Cereza, I…" Claudia failed to meet her sister's gaze and disappointedly looked down at the cold hard ground she knelt on.

"We'll talk later." Cereza coldly interjected as she motioned to take a step forward to her sister. Iganashi's men drew their weapons and stood in her way. "Ah ah ah," she teasingly shook her finger back and forth. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Soryu and the others did nothing but watch what was about to unfold in confusion. They all had too many questions about what was going on, and not nearly enough answers.

Iganashi seemed to have finally snapped out of whatever shocked state he was in and angrily barked at Cereza. "What is the meaning of all this!? I demand to know what is going on!"

Cereza malevolently looked over her shoulder at the pathetic excuse of a man with her eyes narrowed, and she spoke in an even tone. "You, sir, have made the worst mistake of your life." She turned around to face him and menacingly stepped closer. "From what I understand, your plan was initially to abduct me to use as some sort of leverage against Soryu over there, right?" She pointed at the Hong Kong mobster across the way. "Do you have any idea what or who you have messed with?"

"I, uh…" Iganashi trailed off as the terrifying woman began to close in on him.

"I am the Red Queen." Cereza glared at the scumbag and came to a hard stop. "No one, and I mean NO ONE fucks with my family."

"Cereza…" Claudia sheepishly spoke up, trying to calm her sister before she completely lost her cool.

The Red Queen: also known as one of the most fearsome con artists and hackers on Interpol's most wanted list. True identity to the public was unknown, because anyone who has ever met her have given different descriptions of what she looked like, as well as a unique name to go with it. The Red Queen was only known by her signature queen of hearts playing cards she left behind on whatever she hacks to let her victims know it was her. The Red Queen, and her partner the Black Jack, are so notorious for destroying people who get in their way that even the world's most dangerous dictators know not to get on their bad side.

And Iganashi was about to truly understand the gravity of the situation he had created.

Across the room where Soryu and the others stood, they were all quietly whispering to each other.

"The Red Queen?"

"...she can't mean that hacker wanted by Interpol, right?"

"I think she does…"

"Isn't she and the Black Jack on the top ten of Interpol's most wanted list?"

"Soryu, you know her!?"

"Well, I…"

"Man, she's a real cutie, isn't she?"

"Baba..."

"What…? I know we're all thinking about it… I just said it."

Iganashi struggled to muster the courage to speak. He had no way of knowing that some random English woman by the name Cereza Monami was the infamous Red Queen, but now that he did know, he feared the hell he was about to pay. "Y-you… you have no right to storm in here and treat me this way!" He snapped at his henchmen and pointed to her. "Guards!"

Cereza didn't even flinch as she stared Iganashi down. "If you value what is left of your miserable life, you will order them to disarm and stand down."

"What?" Iganashi stared at the terrifying woman incredulously.

Cereza without saying a word began to fiddle with her smart watch. All of a sudden, the image of the flaming queen of hearts card on the big TV screen disappeared, and a live reporting of the channel 5 news took its place.

"Right now we are reporting from outside of well-known business tycoon Makoto Iganashi's main office as the police carry out dozens of file boxes, and from the sounds of it, they have so far found not only evidence of tax evasion, but illegal arms dealing as well!"

"WHAT!?" Iganashi eyed the big screen in horror as Soryu couldn't help but smirk. He turned to face Cereza with an absolutely dumbfounded, angry look on his face. "How is this possible!? I have never left any evidence to let anything be tied back to me, I..."

"Oh, do shut up…" Cereza rolled her eyes in absolute boredom.

Soryu couldn't help but smirk with pride as even Eisuke let out a small chuckle at this exchange.

Cereza placed one hand on her hip as she held the other one up by her face. "You can't hide anything from me. If it exists, I will find it, and I will use it to bury you." She leaned in closely to his face as she uttered that threat.

The gravity of the situation seemed to finally be sinking in for Iganashi as he began to panic.

Cereza wore a devilishly cute grin on her face as she gladly took the lead in this conversation. "It was hilarious that you had an email sent to me claiming to be some private investigator looking for my parents." She looked over her shoulder and down at Claudia. "I knew it was an obvious trap, so I paid no attention to it, but my sister on the other hand…" Cereza redirected her gaze away from her sulking sibling and back to Iganashi. "Well, she's not in the family business, so she didn't know any better to be suspicious."

Cereza began to pace back and forth with her arms crossed over her chest. "Naturally, when I had discovered my credit card missing, and a charge for a flight to Tokyo, I knew my impulsive sister must have checked my email and taken the bait." She came to a hard stop and turned on her heel. "I didn't even break a sweat uncovering the real identity of the person behind that email. Hacking you was child's play." She huffed in disappointment.

Iganashi shook his head back and forth in bewilderment. "I don't understand… how did you find me, and why did you pretend to be the Russian…?"

Cereza merely raised an eyebrow at his stupid question. "Do you really think I don't have multiple tracking devices on my impulsive sister?" Claudia groaned in response to hearing that, not at all surprised. "Natalia is an old friend of mine, so when I learned your motive was to try and cause trouble for Soryu, I gave her a call and then proceeded to pose as her when I approached you looking for a partnership deal."

Iganashi's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, the contract…!"

"Oh, you mean this one?" Cereza effortlessly held up the piece of paper and waved it back and forth. "Actually, this is the contract you signed allowing me to have primary access to all of your finances and bank accounts."

"Excuse me!?" Iganashi screamed in absolute horror.

Eisuke from across the way stifled a small chuckle. Whoever this woman was, he really didn't care, but… he had to respect her style a little.

"I didn't sign that!" Iganashi yelped as he tried to rip the document from Cereza's hand.

"Oh, but you did." Cereza menacingly jerked the document just out of his reach, and she continued to taunt the pitiful man. "The dummy contract that was sitting on top of this one was printed on transfer paper. So, when you thought you were signing a partnership agreement, your signature printed directly onto the contract below it, relinquishing all of your assets to me."

Iganashi's face grew impossibly red with anger. "You will pay for this…!"

"With what money do you now hold any power?" Cereza scoffed as she eyed Iganashi's men all lowering their weapons and looking at each other in confusion. "I only stepped outside to call your attorney to make arrangements for all of your assets to be donated to a woman's shelter."

"You can't do this!" Iganashi charged forward to motion to grab Cereza, but a gunshot from across the room stopped Iganashi in his tracks as it whizzed right by his face.

Cereza looked stunned as she locked eyes with Soryu, and she sweetly smiled when she saw the man she knew all too well holding a gun outstretched in her direction, leaving it trained specifically on Iganashi.

"What's done is done." Cereza let the contract slip from her fingers and float to the floor. "Iganashi, you are finished." She knelt down to look at the cowering man in the eye. "Your money is gone. Your power has been stripped. Your reputation as a businessman has all but been ruined. You will be going to prison for a very, very long time once the police catch up to you." She stood up and turned to look at Soryu as a small smile crept onto her face, then shut her eyes as she chuckled to herself. "You should have thought twice about fucking with me. I'm not some helpless damsel in distress."

Iganashi's forehead throbbed as a vein threatened to burst out of it, and he spotted one of the guns his lackey's had dropped on the floor near him. He angrily stood up and lunged for the gun, then began to aim it at the back of Cereza's head, when all of a sudden...

"Cereza!" Soryu cried out as he could do nothing but watch what was about to happen. She was standing right in front of that scumbag, and Soryu didn't have the shot.

The sound of a small explosion and the grinding tires of a motorcycle drew Iganashi's attention to the side of the warehouse where a young man had just come bursting in and was driving straight towards him. Iganashi's eyes widened in horror right as Stephan Monami clotheslined him and confiscated the gun, then parked his motorcycle right behind Cereza. Iganashi groaned with his back pressed to the floor as Stephan unloaded the clip from the gun in one fell swoop. Soryu and Claudia both sighed in relief.

Cereza, who didn't even blink, flinch, or turn to look at him just calmly spoke disappointedly. "You're late."

Stephan, panting from rushing to get here as fast as he could, looked at his little sister incredulously. "Seriously? That's all the thanks I get for saving your life!?"

Cereza raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Thank you for what? Doing your job?"

Stephan hung his head low dejectedly. He was disappointed that this was his sister's reply, but not surprised. She had always been like this after all.

"Go get Claudia." Cereza ordered her older brother to untie their sister as she calmly walked past the two.

"Fine, fine…" Stephan rolled his eyes as he crouched down to meet his little sister's gaze. "Are you okay, kiddo?"

Claudia frowned and stared at the floor. "Yeah… I'm sorry for the trouble."

The guys around Soryu all stared at him in anticipation as the woman named Cereza began to walk this way. She wore a neutral expression that was hard to read, as did Soryu. When Cereza got maybe ten feet away from Soryu, her face split into a huge grin, and she sprinted to close the rest of the distance between them before she laughed and jumped into his arms. Soryu caught her effortlessly and spun her around in a circle, laughing himself.

Ota and Baba had their slack jaws hit the floor, Mamoru dropped his cigarette in shock, and Eisuke stared at the sight in front of him in utter disbelief.

"Are you okay?" Cereza touched her hand to Soryu's face as she gingerly looked him in the eyes.

"I should be asking you that question." Soryu smirked devilishly as he looked the skinny, yet curvaceous woman up and down. "Long time no see."

Cereza sheepishly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she averted his gaze. "Yeah, about that…"

Soryu grabbed her wrist and gently tugged her in the direction of the front door. "Come on, let's not talk here."

"Alright." Cereza nodded her head before she turned to shout to her two siblings across the room. "Stephan, Claudia! Let's go!"

Baba and Ota watched Soryu and Cereza make their way towards the front door in utter astonishment.

"I, uh…what?" Baba closed his mouth and opened it again like a fish gasping for air. "What the hell just happened?" He turned and looked at Ota before nudging him with his elbow. "Hey, Ota, pinch me so I can confirm that this isn't some crazy dream I'm having right now."

Ota wore a mischievous grin as he locked eyes with Baba. "Sure, I can do that."

"OWW! I SAID PINCH ME, NOT SLAP ME!"