Chapter 91 - An awakened demon

At about 10:00 am, Shen woke up from his slumber.

He looked around to check the time and noticed the blanket that covered him. He knew he had fallen asleep without it, so it must have been Lina who put it there.

Shen got up immediately to go look for his wife. He wanted to be close with her the previous night but the phone call and all the work had taken up his night.

All he wanted now was to hold her and kiss her good morning.

But she wasn't in the bedroom. In fact, she had cleaned up and made the bed. There was still the fresh sent of shower gel and perfume.

She was here not too long ago.

He quickly rushed downstairs, hoping to find her at the table having breakfast.

With his hair dishevelled, and his light stubble, he burst into the dining room.

The only person looking up at him with surprise with a cup of tea in her hand, was his mother, reading the morning paper.

"What's wrong, son? You look very...agitated."

Rika chose her words carefully. She knew this look on his face very well.

He looked like this only when he wanted something very badly and couldn't find or get it. He was going to throw a fit.

He had been a demon child in this mood. He was now a demon a.d.u.l.t.

But Rika suspected what he was looking for.

"Where's Lina?" he bellowed.

The question was aimed at all the staff present, including his mother.

She sighed, and the servants backed away, glad the old Madam was still staying over as a buffer.

"She's gone to work, son." Rika said calmly.

The only way to deal with the great devil at this time, was to remain calm.

"WHAT? Why didn't I know about this?" he exploded, again.

"Does she have to inform you of every single activity?" his mother reasoned, calmly.

"When it's a matter of her safety and recovery, then yes, absolutely!" Shen retorted.

He was furious. He knew Lina wouldn't want to wake him, but the others in the house should have! It was their responsibility to look out for their madam by keeping him informed.

"Son, she just went to her office. You can't spoon-feed her everything! You'll suffocate her. She's a strong woman."

"Will you take responsibility the next time she almost dies?!"

Shen couldn't be pacified this time. He ran his hand through his dishevelled hair. His heart was beating fast.

He hadn't let her out of his supervision since she'd woken up, and the one time she was on her own, that troublesome Victor Tachibana had almost stuck a deadly knife in her back and filled her head with lies!

Only he understood the panic of losing her again.

He picked up his cellphone and dialled her number. It ran four times before it disconnected.

She was unreachable.

He called three more times. And yet, she didn't pick up.

The only other contact he had inside her office was Mei.

He rang Mei's cellphone. She didn't pick up either. He tried her a few more times before he smashed his phone to the ground.

His mother sighed.

Her youngest son was a meticulous, planned, control freak. Everything he held dear to him, he clutched tightly to his chest, in fear of his enemies.

His position as CEO, his parents, and now his wife.

"I can't even go to her office! People will ask questions about our relationship or about me. Nobody can know about us or they will use her to hurt me! Everyone is out to get me!" Shen roared on.

The lack of sleep and paranoia was driving him crazy. The stress with the mole at Moshi Corp, investigating Lina's attackers, Victor Tachibana and business with the Lim clan was making him tick like a time bomb.

"Son," he heard his mother's calm, yet firm tone next to him, as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "your judgment is clouded. Breathe, calm down, and then think of what you want to do next."

The demon finally took a breath in between his rant.

A mother had her way of disciplining her son.

And Rika was no exception. She had three troublesome boys. Two sons had already been drunk on power and ambition. She wouldn't fail with her third, and most precious child.

Just then, Shen's phone dinged with a text message.

He dove immediately to pick the phone up from the floor.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his beloved wife's name pop up on the screen.

*I'm at work, in a meeting! See you soon and have a nice day, hubby!*

A string of kisses at the end of the text message made him smile.

She was safe, untouched, unscathed.

That was enough for him. For now.

*********

It was late afternoon, and Shen still wasn't at work. Ayu was still sitting right next to James watching his every move as he worked on both her investigations simultaneously.

However, it was the facial recognition software tracking Tachi that beeped first.

James' eyes darted towards the computer screen. But Ayu quickly turned the computer screen away towards herself.

"You focus on the surveillance cams" she snapped at him.

He glared at her, as he turned back to tracking Shao Moshi.

Ayu quickly assessed the picture of Tachi snapped. It was in Country A. It was from twenty years ago. The quality wasn't great.

But there was a younger man in the photo, walking next to a slightly older man. The older man was thin, and stern looking. He seemed like he was in his twenties, yet his grave expression betrayed an air of danger.

The younger man bore a striking resemblance to Victor Tachibana. There was youth on his face, but a slight expression of fear and anxiety shrouded his eyes.

They were walking by a crowded restaurant and were captured in the CCTV footage of the restaurant.

The city surveillance systems weren't advanced twenty years ago. Finding this clip was a major breakthrough.

"What were you doing in Country A twenty years ago, Mr. Tachibana...." Ayu whispered to herself, determined to sniff out this perpetrator and investigate his motives.

She wouldn't let him hurt her madam.