ie holds her head with both of her hands. she closes her eyes and exhales. she has called some people to keep an eye on nina. some people would do anything for money. she cannot underestimate maddox. she has to find a weakness. there must be something that he
the father and son are talking outside. she sees takeshi coming through the window. they are smiling and talking about something. she can't hear them. she wants to protect these three men. if she sends yuta to school, he will be distracted. she needs him to be distracted now. if she must wage a war against maddox and dh, they must never find out that yuta was able to hack into nina's account.
she needs to distract maddox first. otherwise, nina won't get a chance to hide. she glances at the three men sitting on the porch again under the last rays of sunlight. she licks her lips. who should be the first? she sighs. it has to be done. she mumbles an apology before she types the string of code in her phone. she takes a breath again.
it's done.
the outer circle is gone. the information has been leaked to the world. she wonders how many hackers are currently being pinned down in their caves. maddox won't figure out unless she goes too far. will she go too far? she hasn't decided yet.
she leans back, feeling sick. she might have ruined some people's lives. however, a distraction is necessary to pull down maddox.
her fingers move again. she's called 'instant' for no reason. why leave the enemy with more time to strike back? she could have done this a long time ago. law is one of the oldest surviving members of dh. there's yuan bo. she won't take care of them all on the same day, but she will leave a gift for maddox and yuan bo.
in the next few seconds, the wall is broken and law's system has been undermined. she leaks the data to the dark web, just like she did it with the outer circle. yuta only broke nina's defence and stole the data. but, she is revealing it to the world including their real identities and location information. there's yuan bo. she sends a worm in each of their systems and it's done. sigma's mask is broken. next is maddox. she places the phone on the table. if she destroys him now, what is the price that she must pay?
she hears kiyohira scolding takeshi. yuta is shaking his head and laughing. the boy doesn't even pretend to be a kid. takeshi is getting used to seeing him this way. rie closes her eyes. what is the price that she can pay?
there's nothing that she can't pay as long as she can keep her family safe. she must let yuta have a normal life this time. there's kiyohira. she's not worried anymore. if she's gone fighting to keep her son and husband safe, it is still worth it.
once the decision is taken, there's no going back.
the final string of codes disappears in the string. the series of information appears on the screen. she purses her lips when she reads it. there's nothing about maddox kang that can be used against him. he doesn't even exist in the world. his identity is fake. maddox kang does not exist in the world. there's nothing in his background. it's like he has suddenly born out of nowhere.
however, maddox kang can never be madhatter again. the dark hacker has been broken from the inside and turned to pieces.
he will know that it's her.
she opens a message from maddox. it's a simple smiling emoticon.
"you know that you are fucked," she murmurs, she will wait and see how he plans to screw with her. he destroyed her son's life once. if she doesn't do the same to him in this lifetime, she won't be able to rest. but, first, she must find out who maddox kang is. she might have destroyed dh within fifteen minutes, but maddox can make the second dh anytime he wants. she's sure that he won't do it now. there's a big mess for him to take care of.
she has revealed all the client's information who have requested dh's services and the assignments. except for nina's and her identity, everyone's identity has been revealed to the authority. she wonders if maddox will let law or yuan bo tell the world who she is. she doesn't know who maddox is, but she has been keeping watch on madhatter since she came to the dh.
a reply has been sent.
***
"brother, you can't force me to leave," takeshi argues with his brother. "it's only for a few days."
he has a few things to do. also, he wants to be around them for a while. why can only his brother have a vacation?
"who will take care of the work?" kiyohira raises his brow. "go back. i will handle everything here."
"there's something that..." takeshi wants to speak about yuki to his brother, but yuta's presence stops him from speaking further. "nephew, where did you run off earlier?"
yuta shrugs. "i won't tell uncle until uncle gets me an aunty."
kiyohira laughs when he hears his son's grumpy words. he can guess what his son is trying to do.
"i only asked where you went to." takeshi frowns at his nephew. "why do you need an aunty when you have me?"
"what will i do with you?" yuta smirks at his uncle. "i want a pretty aunty who can give me pretty cousin sisters."
"you are rather keen on having sisters." kiyohira smiles at his son. "why you do not want brothers?"
"sisters are cute." yuta has a tinge of redness on his face. he wants to be the only big brother of his sisters. is it too much to ask?
"you heard him." kiyohira turns his head toward takeshi. "go back and find a woman. you have to give him cousin sisters."
takeshi scoffs at them. even if he can find a woman, can he control whether the child will be a girl or a boy? "nephew, you can't be partial to sisters only. brothers are good too."
"sisters are better." that's all yuta says before he gets up. "i miss mother. i am going back inside."
it's been too quiet since his father brought him outside. he has to hear what happened to ren. the silence in the house has been bothering him.
"is there something you want to tell me?" kiyohira asks after yuta left.
takeshi exhales. he has been disturbed since he saw yuki's mother and her son earlier. "i met yuki's mother. she doesn't seem normal to me, but i might be wrong. i heard a few things about yuki and his family. his grandfather might not be a sane person. i am afraid that the child is being abused."
kiyohira becomes quiet. yuki is important to his son. he is interested to know who that child is. that child was his son's lover. whether he's a female or a male, that is also a question.
"go back." kiyohira pats his brother's arms. "look into the child's background. i want to know everything about his family. meanwhile, i will keep an eye on him and his mother."
his brother just wants him to leave. takeshi stares at his brother. "are you ever going to tell me what is going on with you and sister-in-law? you never told me that she survived the fire. where was she living all these years? why didn't she ever speak to you about yuta?"
kiyohira's lips curl into a pensive smile. "it's in the past. what matters is that she and my son are beside me right now."
there was a life which she was killed by someone and he died without ever knowing about yuta. just thinking about that kind of future freezes his blood.
takeshi tells his brother, "don't try to do it all by yourself. you can rely on me."
seeing his grave expression, kiyohira chuckles. "takeshi, i need you to take care of the kamiyama group."
"i will do as you wish, brother," takeshi says with a quiet voice.
perhaps, he can help his brother by not getting in the way.