Chapter 02

Genevieve felt her head spin. Descendants of the magic cultivators? It seemed like a crazy story.

She watched her sister move towards the building of Silver Inc., her brisk walk exuding her gracefulness and elegance. Genevieve had always been jealous of her sister's prideful stance; one look from her and people steered clear away. Nevertheless, Irene had often reminded her of her own strengths which made her feel satisfied that she could be of great use to her sister. That's all she had ever wanted.

A ping from her phone indicated a text message which Genevieve noticed was from Irene. It read, 'back gate.' Pocketing her phone, Genevieve slowly drove the car towards the back entrance of the building. This gate was used only by Karl, the CEO and other VIP guests like businessmen. It was an advantage, no one would notice the suspicious activities of the sisters.

Before leaving the house, Irene had to make a visit to Karl's office to pick up, or rather steal, some important documents. Genevieve made sure the security cameras were on a video loop for at least fifteen minutes till Irene did her job and escaped.

She soon noticed a figure walking towards the car from the rearview mirror and she let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was Irene. She came empty-handed though, making Genevieve feel puzzled.

"Where are the documents?" Genevieve asked the moment Irene sat down next to her and closed the door.

The latter didn't reply. She was frowning, her eyebrows creased together as she thought about many different things at once. Genevieve knew that face, it meant she shouldn't prod any further and leave the matter be. Despite knowing that, she couldn't help herself from wanting to know more. All these years Irene had only given her the tasks that didn't put her in any sort of danger. Genevieve was tired of being treated like a baby, someone Irene had to constantly protect.

"Irene?" She asked, testing her luck, "what happened?"

Irene sighed. "This is more complicated than I thought."

Genevieve raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner, urging her to go on.

"I thought Karl found the Crown of Fire," She sucked in a breath, "in reality, the crown has been stolen."

"What?" Genevieve exclaimed, slamming a hand against the steering wheel.

Irene nodded gravely. "I fear that if the crown falls into wrong hands, it will be very dangerous for the entire human existence."

She placed her elbows on the dashboard and leaned on it. "We need to find the family urgently. Our family is somewhere responsible for this too."

"How?"

"I found grandmother's old letters in a secret drawer that not even Karl knows about. All of them were addressed to me but I wasn't aware of their existence until today." She opened her purse and Genevieve found a bunch of papers in them, "I took all the letters, I still need to analyze them properly. All I am sure of is that this is the conspiracy Grandmother had warned me about before she passed away. It makes sense now."

Genevieve let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She had more questions too but from the look on Irene's face, she knew better than to disturb her while she was thinking something.

There was one thing that troubled her the most. Why did Irene know so much about the entire conspiracy and why did their grandmother entrust only her with such confidential information?

Genevieve sighed. Somewhere, she knew the answers to her questions are related to the history of their family. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she started the car and drove to the airport to catch their flight to New York.

----------

After a long flight, Genevieve wanted nothing to do but sleep in the luxurious bed of the hotel they were supposed to be staying in. She looked around as she walked, her eyes flitting aimlessly at the activity on the busy airport. Irene, on the other hand, was constantly checking her phone, something Genevieve knew she never did. Knowing Irene won't answer her questions now, she let them rest and tried to spot the person who was supposed to pick them up.

She spotted a placard among the masses that read 'Pierce' in bold letters, causing her to cringe at the extremely messy handwriting. She tugged on Irene's arm who lifted her head in the direction she was pointing.

"Let's go," She said and they rolled their luggage towards the man.

Upon reaching him, he smiled and that instantly sent alarm bells ringing in Genevieve's head. The man was short, slightly balding and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt paired with light brown shorts. To Genevieve, he looked like a tour guide but something about the way his facial expressions were guarded and his hands constantly touching his front left pocket made her feel unsettled.

"Hello, ladies. My name is Max and I'll take you to your hotel." He smiled, showing his yellow teeth. Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed their luggage and turned around, walking ahead of them.

"Irene, he--" Genevieve started but Irene shushed her, her eyes settled on the man as he walked with his head down.

"I know," She said. "Let's follow him for now."

They did follow him, passing various other vehicles as they walked and finally to his small car, settling themselves in the backseat.

The moment they made it out of the airport, Genevieve pulled out her phone and opened Irene's contact, sending her a quick text.

Irene glanced at her phone and read the text.

'Let's converse like this, this man is hella shady.' Genevieve's message read.

'I know. Good thinking.' Irene typed back.

'I don't think he's the man who was supposed to pick us up, right?'

'Right. It looks like this guy works for someone who knows about us and the family.'

'Do you want me to extract the information from him?'

'Don't be too hasty now, let's wait for the right moment. We still don't know for sure.'

'Okay.'

With the last text, Genevieve deleted all the messages as Irene did the same. It was safer that way, after all, they were after the truth of something that puts their lives in danger. None of the sisters wanted to risk anything before analyzing the situation properly.

No one spoke a word during the entire ride. About half an hour later, Max stopped the car in front of the hotel and the sisters climbed out of it, feeling the cool wind relax their sore muscles.

"Your luggage," Max said as he pulled them out of the trunk and handed it to them.

"Thank you," Irene said politely and almost turned around to walk before Max's expression changed into that of urgency, making the sisters stop.

He placed a finger over his mouth as moved his shirt slightly to reveal a device in his front left pocket, something that Genevieve recognized was like a microphone that transmitted audio. She looked at the man with a frown.

Max pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, as silently as he could, from his other pocket and handed it to Irene. Without saying another word, he quickly opened the door to his car and drove off, leaving the sisters confused.

"What does it say?" Genevieve asked as Irene unfolded the piece of paper in her hands.

Only one word was scribbled in messy handwriting on that paper.

"River," Irene mumbled, "Is this a clue?"

Genevieve shook her head. "Let's go in first. We'll think about it later."

Irene hummed in agreement and the two of them walked into the hotel. Irene moved towards the reception to check-in while Genevieve decided to sit on the sofa while she waited. The entire lobby of the hotel screamed luxury, the contemporary design of the interiors instantly pleasing Genevieve. As she looked at her surroundings, her eyes finally settled on the large LED Tv that rested on one of the walls, showing the news.

She couldn't hear the anchor, as the Tv was muted for convenience, but she could understand what he was speaking; Irene had taught her the skill of lip reading which came in handy in many situations.

The anchor was speaking something about the Jiang family, the richest family in the world whose business was in technology. Genevieve had heard about the family a lot, she had long admired the current CEO, Ezekiel Jiang, for his technique of managing such a huge business.

She shifted her attention to Irene who was still talking to the receptionist before pulling out her phone and searching up the young businessman's name on Google to kill time.

She scrolled through the webpage, her eyes skimming through the news titles before she found something that shocked her and her eyes widened in response.

She stood up abruptly from her place and turned around to run to Irene but the latter was already next to her, her attention focused on the news on Tv and her expression turning into the one of an epiphany.

The sisters stared at the news before focusing on each other, their eyes doing all the communication as realization dawned on both of them, the puzzle pieces fitting together.

"The surname Jiang," Genevieve let out a shaky breath, "it means river, doesn't it?"

Irene nodded gravely. "It seems the answers to our questions are with the Jiang family."

"Is this the family we're looking for?"

"Possibly but this feels strange. The moment we arrive in New York, we already know the truth of a secret that has been guarded for many years. It feels like someone purposely wanted us to know this information."

"Do you mean--"

"Someone knows a lot about us and the Jiang family, and this cannot be good."