After Zhong Feng returned to Australia the following day, Hu Lei received the call that she had been expecting for a while. She felt both anticipation and fear as she picked her phone.

"What news do you have for me, Vlad?" She asked as soon as she answered.

"Oh, now I am Vlad once again." The Russian laughed.

"Other names come to mind. I can use them if you wish." She said with irritation.

"No, no, I am pleased that we are friends again, Jane darling."

Hu Lei did not correct his address. It was not like he would listen anyway.

"So, what do you have for me?"

"Have you told your husband about your plans? By the way, thank you for the invite to the wedding."

"There has been no wedding yet. Keep wasting my time, and I really won't invite you to the wedding."

"He might kill me if he finds out that I helped you if things go wrong. He is not the man he used to be a few years ago." Vladimir said with a wistful tone as he remembered the conversation he and that man had had.

"And I will kill you if you don't tell me what I want to know."

"With friends like you… I have found very little information about Global Volunteer Doctors. It seems like someone went to a lot of trouble to hide everything. The records are sparse and unavailable in modern media. Of course, you should already know that. Or your husband would have already hacked the world and found the information."

"What about the other matter?"

"I have handled that too. The package has already been prepared. It shouldn't be hard to use."

"What do you want in return?"

"Is our friendship that cold to you?"

Hu Lei waited.

"Well, it's nothing too difficult. You know my little sunshine has always felt so bad about what happened years ago. All I ask is that you host him for a few days, indulge his sense of adventure and let him know that bygones are bygones, alright? Then, we will call it even."

Hu Lei frowned. The request was simple enough, but she knew to Vladimir it really was a fair trade. After all, his little sunshine was worth to him more than any amount of money. She did not mind the request, but she was also not enthusiastic about it.

She liked Pierre just fine because he was a perfectly alright person. She would even call him a friend. Unfortunately, he also symbolised the beginning of her descent into darkness. It was not his fault, but his lack of culpability also made her dissatisfied.

"Alright." She agreed.

"Great. Pick him up tomorrow at the airport. He will have everything you need. You should have time to entertain him since your husband is not around."

"Don't make it sound so tawdry." She rolled her eyes.

"It is a pleasure doing business with you once again, Jane darling."

Hu Lei put her phone down with a sigh. Pierre…

He was just as Vladimir described him: sunshine. He had the delicate face framed by a halo of golden curly hair. He was essentially a bright flower, especially in the crime-infested territory ruled by Vladimir and his goons.

Perhaps this is what had drawn the mobster to Pierre. From what Hu Lei had learned, the Russian had planned to use him as leverage for some business he had been doing in Western Europe. The pretty boy had seemed like a good bargaining chip for getting the permits he needed.

However, he had not counted on two things. The first, the delicate flower with an artistic soul and a guileless heart had won him over. Instead of treating him like a hostage, he had ended up drawn to him and being tied up in a passionate affair straight from a cheap erotic novel.

Second, he had underestimated the callousness of aristocratic families. While Pierre's family had some uses for the young man, they did not negotiate, and they did not like threats and blackmail. After all, if there was no Pierre, there was still Jacques and Jean and countless other siblings and cousins.

It had been a shock when a lot of contract killers had been sent to eliminate the helpless Pierre. The leadership of the family did not want Pierre to be used as a hostage and bargaining chip by anyone. And they were willing to kill him to ensure that it did not happen. The other assassins were sent by the countless cousins who were hoping to take up the spot vacated by Pierre.

Luckily for Pierre, Vladimir had a special card to play: a seemingly harmless girl with skills that rivalled his best goons. And more importantly, he had the means to control her. When he had discovered her abilities, he had found out everything there was to know about her.

And then, he had spoken to her father, the mad scientist, and he knew that he could keep him as a willing hostage. The man had single-minded focus on unconventional medicine, and Vlad knew a lot of unconventional labs with enough research to blow his mind.

As long as he had the father, the girl would do anything he ordered, and his sunshine would be safe.

This is how Hu Lei had found herself using the deadly skills that she had always thought she would never have to use for the first time. It was to keep Pierre safe. Not only did she eliminate the people who would have killed him, she had also ensured that his family received the message that Pierre was under Vlad's protection. Then, she had helped him clean up his illegal operations, leaving him with only mostly legal businesses.

In spite of everything, she did not hate Vlad and Pierre. It was not because she forgave them because the entire debacle was about protecting a loved one. She was not an angel, and she was not naïve or stupid.

She could not hate them because she knew that the person who had really brought her downfall was her father. She could have gotten them out without ever having to kill anyone. Those goons under Vlad's employ had been completely useless in her presence.

But she had never anticipated one thing: her father was a willing hostage without any intention to leave.

There was nothing she could do but follow Vlad's plans, especially at the behest of her cheap dad.

There was another reason she could not loathe Pierre and Vlad in spite of everything.

When she was not out poisoning or otherwise eliminating people, she had lived with Vlad and Pierre for a while in their home. Apparently, Vlad was completely ok with an underage girl killing people for him, but he drew the line at her living alone. The world was a dangerous place for a lone girl, he had said.

In the end, they had developed twisted bonds of a strange little family.

So, like with her father, she could never hate Vlad or Pierre.