Chapter 12

"I'm hungry!" Alden yelled from the back seat like an annoying toddler who mother doesn't give him the sweets that he wanted. 

"Would you piped it down, I'm trying to find nearby cafes that are still open at this hour." Luca yelled back. 

It wasn't in the original plan that they were stuck at the wrong side of the road. Luca somehow made a wrong turn, trying to avoid traffics at the late evening hours. Besides, like he justifies, people make mistakes all the time. 

The younger made a turn heading to the real outskirts of the city. Before they know it, they are all hungry and trying to find any decent cafes or restaurant available around this hour of the night. 

Unlike the sleepless bright city of Caralina, the outskirts are more dimmed and less populated. There were much more less choices of foods to think of and a curfew that town people like them had to follow. 

The clock on the screen showed 9.00pm and no signs of restaurant that lit up at that hour. Everything closed like they were in some kind of another alternate world.

Alden keeps being an annoying brat at the back seat while Seora and Luca had to work together to find a decent place to eat. Both were scanning the area like vultures seeking dead meat.

"What's that?" Alden was the one who pointed them out. An alley with a few pedestrian walking in and out. 

"Looks like a bar or something." Luca added. 

"Bars normally has foods right?" Seora asked again but the other two says nothing. Luca made a quick stop right there. There weren't much of time or space before everyone could explode for the lack of meal in their stomach.

"Only one way to find out." Alden lead the way. 

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The low light and the slow jazz song from the radio ignites the environment of the restaurant. Its a bar but thankfully there were real foods served as well. There weren't much people and the three of them do stand out the most, looking exactly like where they were from.

There is a huge gap in the appearance of the towns people with people like the rest of them. Though none of these three ever cared since they are practically starving to death.

The waitress finally taken their order and its another section of the time to wait until they were served with local foods.

Caralina is the main city of the north region in the country. It was well known for its high technology and transportation that foods are kind of a rare stuff there. Even in the middle of the city, hardly to find any food that sells at low prices due to lack of resources unlike the other three region. The only thing that keeps Caralina as the main port for everyone was the high demanded jobs that pays well.

The foods there are nothing big or feisty like the others but Caralina citizens have a knack to invent and introduce changes to its environment. 

"Fuck, I'm tired. And its only been the first day." Alden sighed out loud. Luca and Seora watched him deadpanned. He's barely do most of the thing and yet he has the audacity to complain.

"These jobs would probably take months. Damn, I miss my office." Alden closes his eyes as he remembers the sheer happiness of the job he had to put on hold.

Seora watch the guy like a cat's eyes filled with curiosity. 

"What kind of job you do?" Alden perked up looking surprised.

"Nicholas didn't tell you about us?" She shook her head. There weren't much she had asked him because mostly she wanted to know directly from the bastard Nathan.

"Wow. I thought he already told you about us." Seora shrugged off. "I don't know. I never had thoughts about knowing you guys that much except for some reasons. Well I don't even knew your names." She continues sarcastically.

Alden suddenly lost his will to respond. He stops smiling after feeling a little offended by her remarks. Luca on the other hand, ignored the other two while looked up for a game to play in his smartphone.

"So you basically, don't know who we are, what we do for a living, and so on?" Seora proudly shook her head. Alden scoffed as he found her amusing.

"Woah. You are something." As if its a cue, the waitress arrived and put down their drinks on the table. Alden leaned in closer and lowered his tone. 

"Okay, let me tell you since the three of us will be doing a lot of job together." 

They are called LIEN.

An underground gang that is famous for their production of powerful and marketable drugs as well as its trafficking. The name that most of the underground organisations fear and respect. Nobody actually knows the exact numbers of the members and not just anyone could be recruited that easily.

LIEN is not just any rookie group. Like the Maverick Empire, LIEN plunged into the underground market with confidence and consistent performance yearly. There were many other groups had gone against them but none survived except for a few who bowed as to be one of their underlings or as a formidable ally.

Nathan Maverick was the one who initiated the group. In their world, he was well known as Leo, the leader of LIEN. Not just anybody gets to meet with him and only selected few who actually knew how he looks like. Nathan has been keeping his identity hidden for as long as the group stands firm in that world. They could only know him by his notions but not the face. Everyone knew how he's a genius by born and had all the skills many would die to have. He was respected and feared in their world.

The leader rarely talks about his family and he was trained from such a young age as the sole heir to the family's business. Even in the real world, he had so many followers and people who look up to him. One thing about Nathan Maverick. He would live and die for the Maverick name as well as LIEN. No doubt.

"So he's like the leader of a secret society slash a hot CEO?" Seora grabs a bite of the food she ordered.

"Hot? You think Nathan's hot?" Alden asked her with a look while Luca suddenly stopped his games.

"Well, some times." Seora shrugged off again but she could care less after a food appears right under her nose. Alden look at her with judgey eyes.

Elliot Maverick is the wealthiest among them. His family alone owns a fortune that would last for decades. Elliot and Nathan are second cousins to each other. Unlike Nathan's grandfather who choose to build his own empire, Elliot grandparents inherit the real Maverick heirlooms. The White Pearl Hospital and other franchises ranging from F&B, logistics and as well as entertainment. Beside his luxurious identity, Elliot's quite a normal person. He attended and graduated med school like any other doctors and pursue doctorates, become a specialist just like any other physicians. He enjoys being normal.

Elliot and Nathan are friends since they were little. Their families are closed to one another and its not awkward to see them always sticking with each other. Unlike Nathan whose interest in the black market, Elliot was kept away from it. Nathan had make sure that nobody would notice how his cousin would involved in their activity directly or indirectly. He is the only person in the gang, that has zero crime status for as long as the group was created, although he learnt firing guns a few times with Kaysen.

"Wait, he's the only guy who is clean?" Seora asked immediately and Luca answered right after.

"Yes. All of us except him, including Nicholas, who obviously have done plenty of it." Seora remained silent and put another small piece of food into her mouth.

Even if Elliot got pulled into some political schemes, the Maverick won't let that happened to one of their main heirs. Leaving Elliot being an eminent being.

Kaysen however, the literal opposite. He has the most criminal records and cold cases among the rest of the group. The man did crimes like he was born with it. In the last fifteen years, Kaysen has been a fugitive, living in the shadows. Despite his death tolls and multiple bounties, not once the authorities were able to catch him. Apart from Leo, the leader of LIEN, Kaysen was also feared for his name. Nobody really dare to dive into his history without having to bear the consequences. He's not a fan of people and especially the government.

"It's best if you know less about this dude. Even that emotionless Nathan found him a little scary." Alden said out of the blue.

"Why?" 

"Like I said, I won't share it. Some things are meant to be kept a secret." Alden sighed. The other six guys knew the true story but they never goes against their words. They can't risk Kaysen getting involved with people who had wronged him the most in his life. Besides, when he's not in his right mind, you hardly ever survives.

Kaysen has his own crew and turf before Nathan invited him over to the group. They met each other in some auction in Rudgeria, the main city in the south part of the country. They got into a really good fight over some fancy item but somehow that meet up turns out better than anyone could guess. Since then, they were allies in the underground and Nathan proposed him a position in his group. It all started with just drugs and before them both knew it, the business got expanded and then they met with Nicholas.

Seora felt a little sour in her food she just consumed. Upon hearing Nicholas's name, she begins to worry.

Nathan created battle rings all over the country. Every cities, every districts has to have one. The ring is a place where people fights for their life and sold themselves to the ones who gambled money to watch them tearing each other apart. The good ones were then scouted into different gangs and the bad ones normally didn't made it out alive. Nicholas was one of those fighters and due to his consistency, he won every battles he participated. He was scouted easily by some gang in his hometown before he grew stronger and ruled over. Later it turns out, he was getting revenge.

Seora suddenly remembered the days back in her school years where she often met the guy walking around in the middle of the night with bunch of other guys. If she remembers correctly, they did drifted more after that. 

Upon knowing this, Seora learnt about the reasons of his behaviour at the time. 'So he was doing something like that back then.'

The gang he lead got a lot more coverage and his named even got the attention of Nathan in Caralina. However, one day he suddenly disappeared and went silence for months. Nobody actually knew what he was doing or whether if he was still alive. Some said he was not at his best self and prefer to leave him alone.

'I know.' Seora thought. 'He was having a family crisis. I was there. The whole week before he decided to work in Caralina all of the sudden when he barely finished high school.'

"Then, out of the blue, he was recruited personally by Nathan." Alden concluded.

He turns his head towards Luca. "This kid over here is also another fighter but with a slightly different background." The said guy remained nonchalant and focus on his smartphone.

Luca was a smart kid. He studies well and always shows up with great exam results. He can do sports, part time duties, art classes and even cooking. The guy basically a jack of all trade. He can do almost everything perfectly. But there was one thing he can't help it no matter how much he tries.

Luca's father, the only family he had left, was diagnosed with a liver cancer and although it was still at early stages, the hospital bills were a bit too much for a middle school kid to cover. Despite him doing almost every work an adult should be doing, the money still couldn't add up. Elliot was the first to notice him being the usual in his hospital. His father's case got into the elder's attention before he offered a deal to the young guy.

Elliot would cover all his father's expenses as long as he would finishes his high school in full colours and make his old man proud. Luca was not that naïve and he reject the offer multiple times. The only reason he accepts them was because Nathan had a role in it. The deal was sealed and even when his father didn't survive the illness, Luca still remained loyal to the group after he graduated. He said they were nice.

Seora steal a few glances towards the younger. He's still focus on his screen despite both of them were conversing about him out loud. 'Everybody has his own stories, huh.'

Hugh used to be a freelancer and a notorious hacker. He would hack multiple companies for money and sometimes got paid for it at such a high price. Once, he was caught red handed by Luca when he tried to hack all the way into Nathan's security system. To be precise, someone paid Hugh to exposed Nathan's secret life and Luca who knew some maths about hackings (after being forced by the elders to go through college), managed to track down the hacker guy. Something Hugh found to be annoying. Instead of busted him as they always do, Nathan offered him a far more bigger opportunities and privilege. To add, the leader was smart to choose him out of many since Hugh has a niche for techs and he's a one clever chemist. Its not a lie that Hugh is the one the keeps the gang moves all these years.

"How about you?" Seora asked Alden out of the blue. 

"Me? What about me?" He nervously looked away.

"What are your stories? You told me about the others, but you left yourself out?"

"You wouldn't want to hear it or you might get uncomfortable with me." Suddenly Alden acts all humbly, different from how he used to be. Luca who silently becoming the listener, rolled his eyes. "This small guy right here, he.."

A quick death glare from Alden hold Luca by his tongue. Luca scoffed at the elder's attitude. The tension subsided when a phone call by the leader through Alden's smartphone. He immediately answered them and move a little away from the other two.

"Yow, Nathan. What's up?"

"What is it about that Alden guy?" Seora mumbled the question and it made Luca stopped and stared her. He was contemplating whether to tell her or to play dumb.

"You wouldn't want to know this. And you would not like it one bit."

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yuuki