Chương 57: Chapter 57
What finally broke the dream like image of the couple, as well as the two families themselves, was when eight of the ten people sat at the table suddenly perked up and pulled out their phones. The curiosity brought on by this collective action was a whole other conversation.
Henry and Joshua seemed oblivious to the message, already blind to their family acting weird. It took a sharp kick from Archer to his brother's angle followed by Samuel point at his phone for the pair to finally realise what was going on. In terms of security updates, Ramy and Haerin were told to send anything they thought was noteworthy to the joint family group chat. What had not been accounted for was that Henry and Joshua both still had the aforementioned group chat muted, something that was rarely an issue since the respective PA's had started to send them anything important separately.
The contents of the message was more than worrying. According to the triad members – which said a lot for the situation itself – they had caught wind of more than a few suspicious individuals in the neighbourhood. Security had been put on high alert and the triad had blocked the roads, all on the lookout for someone shifty trying to enter the venue. Haerin was currently co-ordinating from the security room to keep the family up to date, Ramy making sure that all the staff and guests were accounted for. Gin, who had started messaging Henry and Joshua, was using his surveillance to identify any unknown persons.
"We are going to go and call our friend, he is currently watching the situation too," Joshua said, him and Henry the first ones to show signs of getting up. Even if it would bring a lot of attention of those two left the table so suddenly, seeing as they had been the ones to organise the various security measures, unfortunately the most logical troubleshooting was what would bring them the most attention. Following suit, Meera also stood up. "I will go help Haerin."
"Then I will drop you off before meeting with Ramy," Archer announced, also getting up.
Samuel also stood up, moving over to sit next to Penelope. "Well then, us two will keep communication open. The parents can hold fort." He raised a fist to the teenager, her grinning and bumping her own fist in return. Despite the urgent situation, the young girl could not help but find it all a little exciting. She had never seen her family working together like this before, let alone being involved in it.
The parents watched as their children divvied roles between them and then quietly moved out. Suddenly their hearts were at ease, it seemed that their children were all capable of handling the situation together.
Hanna put her phone down, screen up so she could keep an eye on the chat, reaching for her wine glass. "I think watching your family working against those hackers had quite the effect on our sons."
"True," John agreed, leaning back in his chair. "There is no doubt in Archer and Joshua's capability, but they would never have fallen into such an impromptu, near silent plan before we started working together."
"You are giving us too much praise. They were fine before too. The only real thing it shows is that our kids already work well as a whole family unit. And they are more dependable than we like to think." The Lore couple nodded at Caroline's words, not denying it.
Unbeknownst to the four, however, was that they all had exactly the same thought at heart. Marcus was the one to come out and say it.
"And, if they really are not able to handle it, we can pick up the slack."
Samuel and Penelope shared a look between them, having heard what Marcus said very clearly. It was almost as if they were silently asking each other 'do they trust us or not?'.
Henry and Joshua were currently stood outside, at the side entrance, talking to the triad's spokesperson, Gin on loudspeaker. The triad member was explaining the intel they had. "They seem to be using an amateur gang that is loosely affiliated with the groups main syndicate. Personally, it does not look like they are aiming for anything big, perhaps a bit of a warning and bad press."
"He's right. I managed to cross ref some faces, the sub-group in question have been causing them some issues recently. Looks like they plan to cut them off while using them to stir shit at the engagement."
"What's the main risk?" Joshua asked, wanting to calculate the risk in his head to figure out the best course of action.
"The inner group. Most of them are no good delinquents, but the four at the centre are tricky. Despite being outsmarted by the Q Group this time, it looks like they were only planning to use them as a steppingstone. They're all enrolled into higher education and have built clean networks as well. One is even vying to get a voluntary internship at your company." Even as Gin was speaking, he knew the incredulous face his friends would have on their face.
"It is true," the Triad representative confirmed. Our young lady went to high school with the leader of their subgroup. Despite being instantly recognised, all she did was act as if she was a normal, if a little ambitious, teenager. That is the reason we have so much information on them, to make sure they were not a threat to the young lady or any of our sponsored students. It is quite a loss honestly that they were unable to break off from the Q Group."
Henry may not have known how the triad works, but he did know headhunting when he saw it, Samuel was like this ever since he could remember. Even the new receptionist, Claire, had been whisked away from the apartment complex into the heir's inner secretarial circle. "Your group wanted to poach them?"
"Poach is a strong word, Boss wants to put their skills to better use. They were wasting away as a low-level subsidiary gang for the Q Group."
"Then why don't you do that now then?"
The middle-aged man turned to Joshua in shock. Henry just nodded along, glad that the other had understood what he meant by asking the question.
"If they are as self-sufficient as you say, chances are the biggest issue would come down to convincing them to defect to your group rather than them using their own contacts to stand on their feet. Them being cut off and sacrificed like this is the perfect opportunity to pull them under you. And if they are that big a possible asset, why let them get caught by the police?"
"Gin, how useful is their network?" Joshua asked suddenly. The red head wasted no time in replying with what they wanted to hear.
"Between the four of them, they fill in all the gaps you and Henry do. Rather than people in high places, they have a decent influence on the mob."
"So, if we have them defect to the triad instead of holding them accountable for the rest of the people under them, they would prove to be useful?"
"Between your families and you two, if you put a bit of effort and money into it, you guys could probably have a near global effect. It would definitely give you at least a fighting chance against the Q Group."
The triad member looked between the couple in shock. If his boss had been here now, he would have wanted both of them working under him, no, with him. Suddenly, he was grateful that his group had managed to form a connection with the pair, they would have been a frightening enemy even without their family backing.
"I will call the boss."
Henry handed Joshua his phone, swapping devices silently. He held other's phone up to their face to unlock it. The interaction was so smooth that it seemed almost natural.
"Gin, are you alright to do the correspondence?" Joshua asked in response as Henry update the family group chat on their plan of action.
"Yeah, that's cool. I got my girl watching the screens, just let the guy know I'll be calling him in five. You wanna let 'em in, right?"
"You know it. We will leave the rest to you, just keep us updated and send us the full plan so we can forward it to our side."
"Leave it to me man. You guys might wanna head back to the venue though, your parents are about to talk about the merger."
Joshua and Henry did not need telling twice, ending the call with a quick bye and nodding at the triad member now occupied with his phone before returning to the hall as if nothing happened. They were sat next to Penelope just as their parents were getting up.
Caroline did pause as they came over, giving both men a pointed look. "As impressed as I am with you boys, I think we need to have a good discussion on who we network with. I think breakfast tomorrow will be fun." They responded by sheepishly looking away in sync, making both mothers sigh before they went off to talk.
Thankfully, the night ended on a quiet, anti-climactic note, so much so that no one would have known about what was really happening outside than a few gossip reporters. Of course, neither the Lore's nor Reyes were fussed over the possibility, after such an embarrassing loss, the Q Group would supress it themselves.
And it goes without saying that the two's plan went ahead without a hitch.
All that there was really left at the end of the night was the families own little after party at the Reyes' residence, where all except the PA's and Penelope found them passed out drunk. It would be safe to assume that, much to the second sons' fortune, breakfast would be slept through by all of them.
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Aeriya0411
Aeriya0411 (doing a bit of maintenance, so lots of chapters being reuploaded)
Where have I been, it's been a long time (´∀｀*)
m(__)m
m(._.)m
Sorry about the wait (and for shamelessly being caught being VERY active in the comment section of other novels... oops) but I finally update
I really wanted a cute chapter to give you all, or at least one with a bit more interaction between the two, but we needed to wrap up the engagement party first. But don't worry, the next chapter will have more of that.
thanks for the support despite me being MIA and hopefully i won't disappoint again
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