"South Carolina"

August 6th, 2025

Kawasaki Mansion - 8:36 PM

The drawer clicked shut with finality.

Lionel slipped the Glock into the holster on his hip, his movements precise and unhurried.

His cold eyes swept across the room, ensuring nothing looked out of place. He pulled the cabinet door closed, concealing the deadly tool that now nestled just inches from his pulse.

The tension in the air was heavy, and it thickened even more when he turned around.

Kira...

Ruth's younger sister.

Kira stood at the doorway.

Arms crossed. Her posture casual, yet laced with something sharp. Her long dark hair was tucked behind one ear, revealing an unreadable face framed in cold indifference.

"I've heard what happened. Shame," she said flatly, her voice slicing through the silence like glass across tile.

Lionel didn't respond.

He only stared, his body still, his eyes dark.

Kira stepped further into the room, her heels clicking softly against the wooden floor. "Leo can do better," she said. "My sister has standards higher than the heavens. He was always a pet project to her."

Still no reaction.

Lionel's silence spoke volumes, and Kira smirked at the unnerving energy between them.

"What do you want, little girl?" Lionel growled, low and dangerous.

"Little?" Kira raised an eyebrow. "I'm the one bringing you useful information. I know who Ruth's affair partner could be."

"There's only one man I know. Ruth would burn the world so that they can live together happily."

Lionel's eyes narrowed, but his tone remained flat. "You're late to the party, Kira."

Kira's smirk deepened. "But I know him better than any of you."

That made Lionel tilt his head slightly.

Kira continued. "He ain't from Tokyo.

If he's not here in Tokyo, he's probably in South Carolina. That's where he grew up. Heard it from Ruth herself back when they used to talk. She once told me he was an orphan."

Lionel blinked slowly.

"South Carolina?"

Kira nodded. "A quiet little state for someone with that much effect on people. Especially my sister. You should've seen how she was deeply inlove with him."

She took a few more steps closer, voice dropping low.

"He's....a pest, Lionel. A pest that you couldn't remove even if you want to. Ruth never looked at Leo the way she looked at him. I saw the photo that Leo sent. That wasn't just college nostalgia. That was something deeper."

Lionel's jaw clenched. His knuckles whitened as his fist twitched involuntarily.

"So? What's your angle, Kira?" he asked darkly.

"Simple." Her smile twisted. "Let Leo and Ruth divorce. Burn it to the ground if you have to. And once it all collapses - kill that man for me."

Her words dropped like ice into the furnace of Lionel's temper.

"You want him dead too?" he said, voice like embers.

"I want him erased," she said. "What he did to my sister. He changed her, not for the better, but for the worse. He stole my sister, Ruth, from me. And if you kill him, we all move forward."

She turned and walked out the door, pausing only to add:

"Don't forget to thank me someday."

She vanished down the corridor, leaving Lionel alone with the silence.

He stared at the door long after it closed, his thoughts echoing inside his skull.

South Carolina.

That was where the target lay.

He walked slowly back to the chair, sat down, and folded his hands. The gears in his mind were turning. Ruth's cheating and betrayal, Leo's heartbreak, Kira's venomous coldness - all roads pointed to one man.

Ian Everhart.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel - 9:15 PM

The elevator doors slid open with a quiet chime, and Madison stepped out first, heels clicking confidently against the sleek marble floor of their private penthouse.

She tossed her purse onto the luxurious chaise lounge near the window, collapsing with a soft sigh.

Isabelle followed her in, calm, poised, her presence regal as always.

The view of Tokyo sprawled beyond the glass, dazzling in the late-night haze. It was beautiful, but empty.

"Now that your performance's done... we leaving this city or what?" Madison asked, stretching out, her long legs brushing over the silk throw pillows.

"Mm-hmm," Isabelle hummed, already peeling off her blazer. Her makeup was still pristine despite the grueling day, but her eyes were elsewhere.

"Where to next?" Madison asked. "I'm free until next month. Europe? Bali? Or we going back to New York?"

Isabelle turned to her with a slight smile.

"South Carolina."

Madison blinked. "What?"

Isabelle's smile grew a little more mysterious.

"We go to South Carolina." Isabelle repeated. Her smile became...unsettling to see.

Madison sat up, brow furrowed. "Does this have anything to do with what happened earlier? With that weird vibe you gave off after the show?"

Isabelle didn't answer directly. She walked to the window, hands behind her back, gazing out into the horizon like a queen looking over her kingdom.

Madison said nothing for a long moment. Then she stood, walked over to her fiancee.

"Why? You have something to take care in there?"

Isabelle's eyes flickered. "Yes."

She didn't elaborate. She didn't want to.

The name wasn't said. But the air was thick with it.

Madison, ever the loyal one, gave a half-hearted sigh and smirked. "Fine. I'm coming with you. It's been a while since I visited South Carolina."

Isabelle smiled faintly.

The city below buzzed with life. But far across the ocean, in a orphanage nestled in the Southern state, the real storm was about to begin.