[Present Time]

"What does the White Serpent want?"

Silence fell over the room as all eyes turned to Lucian. Gustav and Lukas glanced at their boss’s back, then at Silvestre, who had been visibly thrown off by Lucian already knowing his name.

Gustav couldn’t help but smirk internally, nodding to himself with quiet approval.

Of course. He would never allow someone like him to get the upper hand.

Lukas felt the same; he believed in his boss just as much. Lucian wouldn’t have gotten this far, wouldn’t have brought Dominion to its peak, if someone like Silvestre could rattle him.

"Haha..." Silvestre chuckled and tapped the table. He cleared his throat, leaning forward. "That caught me off guard. I guess I don’t need to introduce myself."

He huffed and leaned back, swaying the chair lazily as he took his sweet time.

"It’s not about what the White Serpent wants, Black Dragon," he began, lifting his brows. "It’s about clearing our names."

"Recently, our organization was informed that human remains were left in territories belonging to some of our newer members," Silvestre continued. "Naturally, it alarmed our men. They only recently joined, and Dominion was seemingly provoking us. As you know, Dominion is not just any organization. Anyone, no matter how savage, would be worried."

Silvestre chuckled. "Those idiots came running to us — annoying, of course."

"..." Lucian leaned back, listening. "Get to the point."

"How do I put it... after thinking it through, our big boss sent me to find out what went wrong," Silvestre explained. "Of course, we still remember our little prank just to gauge Dominion’s reaction."

Prank, as in spiking Lucian’s drink.

"Arrogant pricks," Gustav hissed under his breath, earning a smirk from Silvestre.

"Oh, please. Don’t be angry," Silvestre said lightly, glancing at Gustav. "We didn’t do it for the sake of pranks. We did it to confirm whether or not Dominion had truly lost its mind."

Gustav and Lukas furrowed their brows. Lucian simply arched one.

"You see, some time ago, one of our main headquarters was burned to the ground," Silvestre said, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "After investigating, all signs pointed to Dominion. Now, you have to understand — the Don of the White Serpent is new, and we cannot afford to offend an organization as large as Dominion. Truth be told, the White Serpent, as it stands, wouldn’t stand a chance."

A brief flicker of surprise crossed Gustav and Lukas’s faces. Even among criminals, irrational pride and twisted ego were the norm. Yet here was Silvestre, acknowledging all of it openly.

And that was precisely what made Lukas’s eyes sharpen.

An honest man like this was far more dangerous than someone running on blind pride. Gustav, on the other hand, didn’t dwell on it. His focus had already shifted to the other details buried in Silvestre’s words.

"A lead pointing at Dominion?" Gustav repeated quietly.

But Dominion had nothing to do with the White Serpent. They ruled entirely different territories. Even in the underworld, they weren’t rivals, because Dominion had long since stepped away from those other businesses.

The White Serpent, for instance, was currently one of the largest organizations supplying the biggest cartels.

Dominion hadn’t touched that world in years.

"In other words, we used it to test Dominion’s response," Silvestre continued with a hum. "And it only confirmed our suspicion — it’s not Dominion. At least, not this Dominion."

"What are you insinuating?" Lucian’s expression darkened.

Silvestre smiled. "What I’m saying is, just as the White Serpent is being set up to take the fall for what recently happened, Dominion has been set up for the White Serpent to turn on."

"Of course, we’re not foolish enough to take that bait and get dragged into a pointless war." Silvestre’s tone grew solemn, the smile fading from his face. He reached into his suit, then paused when he noticed Gustav’s hand settle at his side.

"Relax," he said calmly. "I’m unarmed. Do you think I’d have been let inside otherwise?"

He shook his head and opened his jacket to show them the lining. "I’m just reaching for some papers."

With that, Silvestre pulled out a folded set of documents tucked inside his suit and slid them across the table toward Lucian.

"We’re aware that words alone won’t be enough to convince Dominion of our innocence," he said. "So I brought these."

Lucian glanced at the papers, then at Gustav. Gustav, without lowering his guard, stepped forward and picked them up. He unfolded them carefully — checking for any substance inside — only to find clean printed profiles and a handful of other documents.

His brows furrowed. He had already seen these profiles. They were the same ones Lucian had sent him, which he had passed along to Gin to verify.

"Master," he murmured, stepping to Lucian’s side and holding the papers open.

"Those are the profiles of the people who facilitated all of this," Silvestre continued. "And no, they weren’t the masterminds. They were simply skilled men. Mercenaries, to be exact, with ties to larger organizations and gangs in the past."

He paused, leaning back. "The leader of the three — Martin — used to belong to the White Serpent’s First Division under the previous leadership. But ever since the previous Don was ousted by his own men, the internal conflict within the White Serpent has felt endless."

Meaning the White Serpent wouldn’t be quick to pick a fight when their own house wasn’t yet in order.

"The First Division — those who blindly supported the previous Don — were the first targets the new Don’s supporters went after," Silvestre said. "They were wiped out... or so we thought. Apparently, one of them—"

He gestured toward the papers in front of Lucian.

"Martin managed to escape. We’ve been trying to track him down, but the man is slippery as hell. The moment we found out he was behind the mess that dragged Dominion into all of this, everything fell into place."

He looked at Lucian steadily.

"Dominion, we are innocent," he said without a second hesitation. "To prove that, allow us to deal with the roach... and make it right."