"Are you okay?"

Ashley’s brows rose at Raka’s abrupt question. Not just her, but Julius and the other parents who were shaking hands with the opposing team also turned toward the duo.

Most of them already knew Raka since their children had attended the school together since kindergarten. Over the years, they had become acquainted with him. Some got along with him, while others—like Julius—simply couldn’t tolerate someone like Raka.

The man was egotistical and had a twisted way of thinking.

Raka was not the type to worry about others. In his world, his son always came first. So hearing such a question from him was enough to catch everyone’s attention.

Lucian, meanwhile, stared at the man before him with an unreadable expression.

"I am fine," Lucian answered, one brow lifting slightly. "We won... are you?"

Raka’s face twisted as he let go of Lucian’s hand. He clicked his tongue irritably. Losing didn’t feel nearly as demoralizing today, but Lucian’s roundabout jab still left an unpleasant feeling in his chest.

"Never mind," he scoffed, looking away.

Ashley quietly chuckled as Lucian gave her a subtle knowing glance.

"So he does know how to be petty," she whispered to herself before offering another parent a bright smile while shaking their hand. "That was an awesome game."

The other parent laughed. "Yes, it was. You were amazing."

*****

"I can’t believe I got too invested in this kind of game," Red murmured, finally calming down in his seat.

Rum tilted his head. "Wow. That was nerve-racking."

"Feels like watching a major league," Vodka remarked. "Who would’ve thought something like this could actually be interesting?"

Khan and his group, along with the ever-quiet Tank, nodded in agreement.

At first, they thought they were only there to cheer for the young master. Then the games involved the parents as well, so naturally, they started cheering for the people signing their paychecks.

But before they realized it, they were already shouting, screaming, and roaring just as intensely as everyone else.

"I still can’t believe it, though," Rus muttered, his blank expression making it seem as though he was only now processing everything.

His words earned curious looks from everyone seated in their row.

Rus cleared his throat while sitting between his own group and the original Dominion crew under Ashley.

"I mean... look at them," he said, pointing toward Ashley and Lucian. "We’re new here, but are they always like that?"

He didn’t elaborate, but everyone understood what he meant.

Were Ashley and Lucian always this normal?

No matter what, it didn’t change the fact that Lucian was the head of Dominion. Ashley was his wife, the Madam of Dominion.

Both of them carried responsibilities far beyond what they openly showed.

Not to mention, the world they lived in had nothing to do with harmless school games. The games Lucian usually played involved life-and-death stakes.

"If we weren’t here to witness this ourselves, I wouldn’t believe it if someone told me," Rus admitted honestly, earning nods from his group. "This just... doesn’t fit the image of the Black Dragon."

Hearing that, Khan, Nelek, and Warriyo glanced toward the original crew. However, each of the five men wore different expressions, making them impossible to read.

"Honestly..." Gin exhaled as he leaned back in his seat. "It’s complicated."

That answer alone made the others nod.

"As he said earlier, you guys are lucky," Red remarked, pointing toward Rum. "Not just because of the young master, but because the boss... well, even that woman wasn’t like this before either."

"What does that mean?" Nelek blurted out.

"He means—ugh, it’s complicated," Rum groaned, rolling his eyes. "It’s stressful."

"We didn’t get along with her either," Vodka added. "Honestly, I’m surprised she hasn’t asked the boss to kick us out yet."

Khan, Nelek, Rus, and Warriyo blinked at him.

Then Khan asked before he could stop himself, "Why would she want you guys kicked out?"

The question immediately made Red, Rum, Vodka, Gin, and Tank fall silent.

Why?

The five men looked upward as unpleasant memories resurfaced. They never really thought much about it before, but Vodka had just reminded them.

Their expressions twisted as they recalled how harshly they used to treat Ashley.

Back when she constantly tried to escape, they had always dragged her back without hesitation. They never respected her, not even before meeting her properly.

Whenever she escaped, they didn’t simply stop her.

They dragged her back, shoved her into a car trunk, sedated her, and locked her away. At one point, they had even joked about pretending not to find her and burying her in cement just so they would never have to chase her again.

Hence, their reaction when she said they never truly hurt her. Deep down, they knew they did. Not just physically, but they did their best to give her a life akin to hell.

"Damn it..." Rum winced as he remembered kicking her in the stomach once after she started developing resistance to the sedatives. "Why did I have to remember that now?"

Slowly, all of them turned toward Vodka and glared at him.

"Is this because you mostly worked on the other side of the job?" they asked in unison.

After all, dragging Ashley back usually fell to Red, Rum, and Tank. Though most of the time, Tank merely drove.

As for Vodka and Gin, they handled cleanup duty, while Gin made decisions regarding Ashley until Lucian arrived.

"Are you guys okay?" Nelek asked carefully, noticing how conflicted they suddenly looked.

Gin sighed heavily before turning toward them. "Just... think of it as us getting off easy."

The others huffed quietly and nodded in agreement.

Nelek, Khan, Warriyo, and Rus exchanged confused looks. As people who had only recently met Ashley and the original Dominion crew, they had no idea about the history between them.

Still, they chose not to pry further and instead shifted their attention back toward the court, where everyone had already begun dispersing.

Ashley, Lucian, Primo, Elliot, and Julius had already returned to the audience stands to rest now that the games were over.

Then Lucian suddenly stood and walked away after quietly telling Ashley something.

"Should someone follow him?" Khan asked, keeping his eyes on Lucian.

The rest watched their boss walk off before exchanging glances.

But before anyone could decide who would tail Lucian, they noticed Ashley rise from her seat with a bottle of water in hand, heading in the same direction.

"I’ll go," Red said as he pushed himself to his feet. "Just in case."

It wasn’t that they expected danger or thought someone would dare attack Lucian on school grounds. No one expected that at all. This wasn’t like the amusement park incident.

There were simply too many important people present at the school right now.

What none of them considered, however, was that the worst threats often didn’t come from outside forces.

And that Dominion was about to face its greatest crisis yet.