Lydia followed her gaze and nodded. "Him? Yeah, I know who he is. That's the former Demon King of Bay City. You absolutely do not want to cross him. Seriously, stay far away."
"Got it. Come on, let's go."
It didn't matter. She had the leverage she needed on Stella now. She just had to wait for the perfect moment to make her pay.
Stella, of course, was completely oblivious.
Yvonne had been standing around a corner, far enough away that Stella never noticed the clandestine photoshoot.
Kyson was equally clueless, fully engrossed in catching up with his friend.
"You haven't been to Bay City in ages! I tried to get you out here for the annual gala, but your phone was off and you ghosted my texts. Things got crazy after the holidays, so I couldn't track you down. What the hell have you been up to?"
Kyson looked every bit the successful CEO now, sharp and handsome in a tailored suit, entirely shedding the street-thug aesthetic he used to parade around in.
"Nothing much. I took a trip to North Myanor for a bit. Did a little good deed."
Kyson's eyes widened. "You went to North Myanor? Wait, those massive anti-fraud docuseries that have been airing everywhere lately... did you have something to do with that?"
Over the past few weeks, prime-time television and top streaming platforms had been saturated with investigative documentaries exposing the brutal overseas fraud and trafficking rings based in North Myanor.
The entire country was currently swept up in a massive cybersecurity and anti-trafficking awareness campaign. From corporate professionals down to elementary schoolers, everyone was being educated on how to spot scams.
The warnings were everywhere, heavily funded by the government in a desperate bid to reduce the number of victims falling prey to false job offers and elaborate romance scams.


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