Another week. Another Tuesday. Another day at Trexon Empire with the devil incarnate.

I was just finishing up my long hours when Gregory told me Devon had summoned me in his office.

A tired sigh escaped my lips as I rose from my counter. Yeah, a counter. Devon was kind enough to place me in a counter outside Gregory's cabin so that I wouldn't miss the showroom and could 'feel at home,' according to his words.

I honestly didn't mind, though. Because this way I stayed far away from his office and I didn't even have to endure working inside my previous workplace which now belonged to Gregory. It might have wound up some serious trauma memories for me otherwise.

By the time I entered Devon's room, I was already counting the minutes before I could get out and which shareholder to put on today's chopping block.

You see, ever since I started working here again, Devon called for me before my end of the shift every night to let him know about each shareholder's details. It was an inevitable part of our deal that I dreaded but had to endure to keep Sawyer safe.

My heart ached at the thought of him as I stood before the Devil.

"Which one will it be tonight?" he asked, clasping his hands together below his chin.

"The Strafords."

"No. Tell about the Winters tonight."

My heart jumped.

"Why Winters?" I tried to keep my voice steady.

"Because..."He leaned forward, resting his arms on the glass table. "You've been avoiding them for a long time now. So, spill."

I gulped. "I wasn't avoiding them."

He raised his brows. "Really? Tell me what you."

I shrugged. "If you must hear the boring details. They run a family business in a Dallas countryside."

"And?"

"A cafe business. A cat cafe to be precise."

"Mirasol."

"Hayes."

"The dirty deeds, Mirasol."

I gritted my teeth. "They have nothing interesting."

"Nothing? Not when Sawyer was involved."

My palms felt clammy all of a sudden. I could never tell him about Sawyer signing that two-week contract with them in exchange for the shares and letting Devon use it to blackmail them in the future. Not if I could help it.

"I told you it looked clean to me when I was there. Sawyer had no secret meetings or stuff with the Winters as far as I'm concerned."

"Then how did he manage to convince them to give up their shares."

"He helped them with their business in exchange for their shares," This much I could tell him. "And nothing else.

Devon scoffed. "Sawyer signing a deal without deception? Hah."

"Not everyone chooses deception as the first-hand trick to get their job done, sir."

Devon stilled, clenching his jaw.

"Anything else or can I leave?"

His fists curled. "Get on with those Strafords."

I released a low breath of relief and cleared my throat.

"Strafords have a beer business. They have an illegal wing on the side to deal in the black market and..."

***

The night was silent as I drove through the streets. Well, at least silent enough to let the monotony of the horns and traffic to slid in the back of the mind and let thoughts run free. And run free they did, ranging from my rumbling stomach to the mental image of smashing Devon's face in a cow dung to shaking Sawyer by his shirt and bitch slap him for abandoning me while I wanted nothing more than to hold his hand through all this.

I breathed through my nose to calm my shit and saw the lane of China Town coming right up on the road.

I swerved the steering wheel in that direction and allowed the bright, busy streets to numb my violent thoughts. They could haunt me later. Right now, I needed to slave over my angry stomach first.

I parked the car near the entrance and got out after fetching my purse.

After rushing through the buzzing crowd for a while, I spotted a familiar head sitting in an open food corner on the side of a street. My feet turned on their own as I pushed past a rowdy group of teen girls giggling over fried crickets and walked in that direction.

He jumped as I slumped my ass on a steel chair beside him.

"Warn a guy before jumping in, why don'tcha?" he mumbled before getting back to his egg ramen.

"Detectives get scared too?" Olive gave me a long look as I smirked. "What are you eating?"

"You can see," he said before slurping up the noodly soup from the bowl.

"Looks delish. Halmoni!" I waved at the old Korean lady behind the cooking stove at the back of the shop. "Can I get a shrimp ramen and sushi, please?"

She nodded with a smile.

I grinned. "Thank you."

"So, what's the update?" Olive asked swirling his remaining noodles in the soup.

"Devon asked for the Winters tonight."

"What did you say?"

"That I don't know shit."

"Honest truth?" He glanced up at me before twirling noodles in his chopsticks and gobbling them up.

"As honest as you approaching me weeks ago because you couldn't get enough of me."

He shrugged. "Well, you raised some valid points back then. I needed to know more."

I smirked. "And now you're stuck with me."

"I'm the same one who suggested you begin working at Devon," he pointed a chopstick at me. "I had a hunch this Devon wasn't what he looked like and I was right."

"So, can we file a case against him now?" I rested my elbows on the table.

"Nuh huh. Not yet. We need something concrete against him. Maybe getting him in action would give us a good ground."

I frowned. "Meaning?"

"Tell him about the Winters."

My back straightened. "Impossible!"

"Hear me out," he slurped the rest of the ramen and put down the bowl and chopsticks on the table before leaning forward. "We need to get Devon caught in the act and Winters are the best bet because they know you and Sawyer and they might be ready to help since you saved their business."

"And what if they don't? I know Lui will oppose the idea of compromising their reputation after the way they faced that social shun-out earlier. Laura may not be too keen on it too. They just got back their footing. You think they'd jeopardize it for the sake of some share buyers?"

"They will be helping the law."

"Which again is none of their business."

"You make them sound selfish."

I sighed. "It's not selfish, Olive. It's self-defense. If I had gotten my cafe back after a lot of struggle, I'd do anything to keep it floating even if I had to refuse helping a friend who could risk my social-standing ship. Thank you, Halmoni. I've been dying for this."

I offered a strained smile at the old lady and grabbed my bowl closer, immediately stuffing my face with warm savory noodles.

Olive watched me eat in silence. His gaze never wavered from mine as I gulped down one mouthful of ramen after another.

"No, you wouldn't."

I stopped mid-slurp of my soup and continued again.

Olive hummed. "That's right. You'd have jumped in to save your friend even if you had to risk your career over that. In fact, you are currently doing the very thing. Sawyer, remember?"

I took my sweet time to finish the ramen before popping a semi-cold sushi in my mouth.

"Well?"

I raised a finger and finished chewing before downing a few gulps of water.

"Well, Winters are not Hayes," I said, sinking my teeth into another sushi.

He snorted. "That's it? That's your grand punch line? Come on, Hayes. You can do better."

"What? It's true. Besides, I don't even want them to risk themselves even if they agree to it."

"There!" Olive punched the table, making both Halmoni and me jump. "That's the real reason you are chickening out."

"I am not chickening out, Olive," I hissed, "And stop speaking so loud. We're in public. There could be eyes."

"Not over the infamous loud buzz of China Town and our whispers. Even your Halmoni can't hear us, look."

Indeed, Halmoni was busy chattering with a pair of new Korean customers, not giving us any mind.

"But they can see. And there will be questions if they see a detective with an office worker."

"Who says I'm a detective?" He leaned back, rubbing his fake dark beard, and grinned.

"Still, we're keeping Winters out of it. Period."

He sighed. "Okay, fine. We're crossing out Winters. But do you have any better alternatives ready, because we're running out of time and Sawyer is still not completely off the hook. They may have bailed him out but the case is still active in the court and don't forget the attempt to murder case over his father. That too is hanging over his head."

I knew it. God, I so knew it. But what else could I do? I couldn't just let Winters take the burn for us, not even if they agreed to it on the off chance. I also needed someone willing to help us frame Devon for good. Who would do that for us?

I chewed my lips, thinking over the names when one struck hard in my mind.

My gaze snapped to the waiting ones of the detective.

"There is one, Olive. But he's a wild card."

He shrugged. "A wild card is better than no card. Who is it?"

I looked down at my half-empty plate of sushi and pursed my lips.

"Trevor Goodwill, the shareholder with the highest percentage in the company."