New rules

As soon as Haven departed from the warehouse, her silhouette blending into the rainy night with a stormy-eyed Theo by her side, an inexplicable shift washed over Zei's entire being, transforming his aura in a matter of mere seconds.

Was it just them or had it grown colder?

The men gulped. Was this their last day on Earth?

Zixin swallowed hard and leaped to the ground, beginning to kowtow while his men watched wide-eyed for a moment before hurrying forward to join him in the act. Their foreheads were bright red by the time Zei's dark voice echoed around the walls.

"Why did you bring her here?"

Zixin glanced up and shuddered seeing lightning crackling above his Boss's head. Oh, why hadn't he researched beforehand that Lady Boss was Boss's woman, not Joker's!

"Boss I didn't know she was yours!" he cried out, banging his head on the floor once again. "If I had known I would never have kidnapped her. I thought she was Joker's woman and that's why brought you to her so that you could kill Joker yourself! I deserve to die, Boss!"

Silence, thick and palpable, reverberated through the desolate expanse of the abandoned warehouse as if it had swallowed all other sounds, leaving only the rhythmic and gentle pattering of raindrops on the dilapidated roof.

The men's eyes darted upward and they almost let their jaws drop to the floor once again. B-Boss— W-W-Why was Boss smiling!?

H-How was Boss smiling?!

Zixin stared at him, dumbfounded. Did Boss think he was joking? But Boss never smiled! Not once in their decades of serving him had he ever let his lips curve up!!!

"She's... mine?" Zei looked down at him while Zixin couldn't figure out if it was a question or a statement he was supposed to agree to.

"Y-Yes Boss! She's yours. No other man could ever come near her apart from you! She's your woman Boss!" the men nodded furiously in agreement.

Zei's smile only widened. The men backed up. Was Boss planning to give them a heart attack?! They were going to die from his handsomeness if he didn't stop smiling!

'!!!'

'Such a cruel fate yet such a beautiful death...'

'I'll happily die from Boss's smile! *sob*'

'Am I gay or straight?!'

"Stand up," he said and the men glanced at each other in hope before slowly getting up to their feet and straightening up.

"From now on, there are a few rules that will have to be followed in each and every one of the bases. Write them down on something and the next time I visit, they should be on every single warehouse. Got it?"

Zixin shook his head up and down hurriedly. Boss— Boss was letting this slip!? Maybe Boss hit his head somewhere? Or Lady Boss enchanted him just like she had enchanted us?

"Rule #1: Nobody will ever harm Haven in any way possible or they will find themselves cut up into pieces and being fed to Kuai."

Zixin's hand shook as he wrote the sentence, mentally imagining how it would feel like to be fed to that beast. Oh, why had Boss not bought a small, cute little animal like Master Yang had done!?

Zei continued on, unconscious of the thoughts his men were having internally.

"Rule #2: I am Joker, so no one is allowed to kidnap anyone who belongs to or meets Joker unless I say so."

Zixin's grip on the pen loosened as his mouth fell open at the sudden revelation. W-What!? This had to be a joke of some sort...

The men, their jaws dropping and eyes widening, stood frozen in their tracks, their faces etched with disbelief and astonishment, as they gaped at their Boss with a mixture of shock and surprise.

"W-What do you mean, Boss?" he asked, and Zei blinked his eyes, tilting his head to a side as if he was wondering why his subordinates looked so bewildered all of a sudden.

"Sebastian had his eyes on Ezekiel Wei but not on Joker." his eyes glittered in the dark. "It was a method of carrying out some activities that couldn't be done under my father's eye."

Zixin gazed at his Boss as if he was looking at him properly for the first time. B-Boss was so clever! What good had he done in the past to get such a mind-blowing Boss?!

"Rule #3: Whenever you see Haven in trouble or being hurt, you'll instantly help her and then call me the very next second."

Lady Boss was extremely important, the men noted down in their heads.

If she was important to Boss, then she was important to them too!

"Rule #4: Anything she wants, is hers. No matter what she asks you to do, you'll do it without uttering another word."

His lips curved up slightly. "Rule #5: Let everybody know, that she's mine and nobody is allowed to touch her unless the situation calls for it. If anybody does, they'll have me to deal with."

He turned around to look at them, his brow raised. "Got it?"

"Yes, Boss!" they kowtowed once again and Zei nodded, satisfied after letting his rules known to everyone in his empire.

As Zei's car vanished into the depths of darkness, the group of men, their anxiety dissipating like a wisp of smoke, visibly relaxed. With a collective sigh of relief, their shoulders sagged down wearily.

One of them, overwhelmed by the intensity of the situation, slumped down to the cold, hard floor, his trembling body finding solace in the release of tension, as he exhaled a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

They were all still alive!

All hail, Lady Boss!