The exhibit ended, and Leon was about to leave the campus. He was walking to his car in the quiet parking lot. However, someone did not let him. "Hal!" It was his enemy asking for blood as he marched up to him.

The CEO reluctantly shifted to him with an unimpressed expression. "It's Leon, and can I help you?"

"Drop the act, Hal. You're not fooling anyone."

"Well. You are pretty hard to fool. Long time no see, Adrian."

The furious man marched up to him with his face all twisted and also poking Leon aggressively on his chest. "How dare you come here and humiliate me in front of my son?!"

"Don't touch me." The man in the fancy suit slapped his hand away. "And it was a joke."

"You should've lost your license when you're in prison. How are you able to open a firm?"

"Why should I explain myself to you?" Leon scoffed.

Adrian became paranoid. "Why are you even here? What are you up to?"

"For the exhibit," Leon answered as if it was obvious. "I'm searching for hard-working architect students who want interns in my firm. Is that all you want to know?"

"Cut the bullcrap, you son of a bitch."

"Language, Mr. Munro. Are you done, because I want to go home now?"

"You are not going anywhere until you answer me. Why are you here?"

Leon gave him a mischievous expression. "I'm out to get you."

"What?" Adrian gulped.

The CEO laughed. "Chill, I'm not doing anything," he told him. "If I am up to something, I would've done it now."

"Stay away from my son!"

"Why? I could use his style of work in my company, or are you afraid that I might tell him that his mother was my wife?" Leon snickered. "And that you..."

"Shut up!" Adrian was about to punch him in the face.

Luckily, Leon was able to counter his attack by taking his hand and pulling it on his back, then holding him down on the hood of his car. "I am not scared of you, remember that. I fought death and the baddest inmate in prison, which, by the way, thanks to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't be so humble, Adrian." Leon squeezed his enemy's face on the hood of his car. "Take a pretty good look at yourself, and imagine what I can do to you right here, right now. Oh! and I also learned this in prison." The successful architect reached into his pocket and took out a Swiss army knife.

Adrian saw it as he was struggling to escape from his clutches that he became afraid and helpless. "Don't," he begged.

"I can't hear you."

"Let go!"

Leon released Adrian by pushing him down to the ground. After that, he bent down to his level while the pathetic man gazed up at him. "Look at you now, I can crush you like a bug with my Giorgio Armani shoes." Then he stood up and fixed his suit a bit. "Great talk, Mr. Munro. I'll see you around. Bye."

Adrian watched him get back inside the Mercedes and drove away. He felt very defeated knowing that his rival was stronger than ever. "Damn it."

----

Back in the events hall, everyone was packing and talking about the firm they wanted to apply. Gage checked out a couple of pamphlets, and one of them was Magnum Tradings. He just stared at him as he remembered the comments the CEO told him.

The architect student recalled his father's words to not trust Leon, which made him conflicted. "Hey, Honey." His mother went to him.

"Hi, Mom," Gage said to her.

"So how is it? How are you feeling?"

"Great, I get to talk to the people from CASAS tonight. They liked my model."

"That's wonderful, I'm so proud of you." Marie hugged her son.

"Thanks, Mom. Where's Dad?" he asked.

"I don't know, I saw him getting some food from the buffet table a while ago." After that, she noticed one of the pamphlets that her child was holding. "Oh, are you planning to apply to Magnum Holdings? Well, they have been very popular in the architect field lately."

Gage shook his head. "Uhm... no, I'm just checking it out, that's all. Dad sort of warned me about them."

Marie got worried and was also afraid of what her son must have known. "Warned you? Warned you about what?"

"That he's Hal Jacoby," he whispered. "The man that embezzled money when he was working in Ebony Estate. I thought he was in prison. He must be out for good behavior."

His mother sighed in relief, though now she felt concerned over her son's thoughts about her ex-husband. "Probably, so let's not talk about him that way, Gage. He didn't do anything to us."

"Right. Sorry, Mom. He did give me good feedback."

"That's good."

"But Dad told me I shouldn't listen to him."

Marie became pissed at her husband's telling their son to do that. "Honey, if you want to intern in his firm, don't let your father stop you."

"I just don't want to disappoint him. Besides, I want to intern in CASAS anyway."

The mother held her kid's face. "You can never disappoint us. Well, I need to find your father now, so we can go home. I have an early meeting tomorrow."

"Okay, Mom. Thanks for coming." Gage hugged her.

"Of course. Anything for my boy." She pinched his cheeks, which made her son feel embarrassed that some people near them began to look.

"Moooom."

Marie giggled. "Bye, sweetie. And please let me know when the play is."

"Sure, Mom."

Later, Gage got out of the events hall, carrying his building model. He passed by the campus garden. and that was where Felix saw him. "Gage!" he called out to him

"Hey, man," the architect student said to him as they headed to the dorm together.

"So how was it?"

"Awesome. The firm, I wanted, checked out my design," Gage explained excitedly.

"Nice."

"Where's Courtney? Let's go out to get a burger to celebrate."

"She has this group project thing with her teammate," Felix answered.

"Forgot about that," Gage mumbled.

"Let's just get them without her or buy it, and give it to her tomorrow."

"No, let's just do it another time. It wouldn't be right, you know."

His buddy subtly rolled his eyes. "Okay," he sighed. A second later, Felix saw his crush walking out the campus gate. "Rita!"

It got the girl's attention, so she went up to them. "Hey, Felix. What are you guys up to?"

"Me, not much," the goofy lover boy replied. "But Gage here just had got out from the events hall."

"Oh, yeah, because of the exhibit thing, I heard about that. My EnSci classmate is an architect major."

Gage, on the other hand, noticed someone missing. "Where's Oddey?" he asked him.

Rita was taken aback by that. "She went home for the weekends. Me too, by the way. I was about to catch the bus."

"Why don't I walk you there?" Felix offered then looked at his buddy. "To make sure you're safe."

"Sure." The girl blushed.

"I'll see you in the dorm, Gage."

"Okay, man," the architect student responded.

-----

Meanwhile, Oddey and Eva were at a restaurant at the hotel where Leo was staying. "I'm kinda worried. Something could happen to him," the young lady said. "I hope he's okay."

"Don't be worried. Your father faced a lot worse stuff in his life. Adrian is the least of his worries," the woman assured her. "But I am wondering what's happening in the exhibit, though."

"Should we call him?"

"No, that's not necessary."

"How bad is this, Adrian?" Oddey asked.

"I think he's a greedy manipulator. He stole your father's first love, sent him to prison over something he did not do, and also attempted to kill him," Eva explained. "I don't know if bad is the word."

"Understood."

"Good thing your father survived the attack or else that bastard could get away from murder."

The girl felt disgusted at Adrian's actions. "He's a monster. Gage told me how much..."

Eva was stunned by what came out of the young lady's mouth. "Gage? Their son?" She stopped the girl from talking. "You two get to be acquainted with each other?"

Oddey paused and felt stupid that she blurted the enemy's son's name. "Uhm... sort of."

"I thought your father told you not to."

"We're just working, Mom. It doesn't mean anything," the young lady claimed. However, Eva was not convinced while she was speaking. "I volunteered to make the set for the play, and I helped him with his lines."

"Save it," the woman grunted, which made Oddey quiet. "I was your age once, Odette. I know you like him."

"Okay, I do. Should it... matter?"

"Perhaps not, but this is where we are now." Eva snapped. However, Oddey was dismayed that there was no other way except to let go of her strong feelings towards the guy she loved, so the mother figure calmed down to ease the situation. "I'm sorry, Honey. I wish I could tell you otherwise."

"I know," the young woman said softly as she looked down at her food. "Are you going to tell Dad?"

"No, I'm not. We can keep this from him as long as we can."

Oddey did not expect that from her. "Really?"

"Honey, your Dad is starting a war with Adrian by just showing his face tonight to get back at him and to get justice. So he better not know how you feel about Gage."

"Alright, I won't."

"And Gage better not find out about you too," Eva told her in a serious tone. That did not feel right with Oddey that she got speechless at first. "Do you understand, Sweetie?"

"Yes, Mom," the girl agreed reluctantly.

"I know this is hard, but you have to listen to me. If Gage knows, he could tell his father."

"What if he won't tell his Dad?"

"No," the woman insisted. "Adrian might do something to you if he knows."

"Okay, I get it," Oddey sighed.

"I'm sorry, Honey, we can not risk it

"Alright, I just can't believe someone like Gage has a father like him."

"It's possible that he has no clue what his parents did to Leon. If your father hadn't survived, they would have buried their secret in the grave."

"Gage doesn't seem to know." The girl recalled her conversation the other day with him. "He said that Adrian is the company's hero after reporting Dad embezzling money."

Eva grunted in disgust. "What a liar. But of course, what do you expect? Right?"

"It killed me too when he said that. He thinks Dad is the bad guy, not his."

"Poor boy has no idea. I can only imagine how he feels if he finds out. Especially if his son finds out that you are lying to him."

It did dawn on Oddey that she kept a huge secret from Gage, that she was not just any other girl he met in college. She was the daughter of his father's mortal enemy.

"Don't worry, Mom," she uttered, though her voice cracked and plastered a smile on her face. "It won't get any further than where we are now. I doubt that he'll feel the same way about me." After that, Oddey continued eating.

Deciding not to reply anything from that, Eva studied Oddey's face as she saw despair and heartache written all over it. She felt bad that Oddey was in the middle of a crossfire along with Gage, yet at the same time, her safety was at stake, too, and that was her main concern.

"Don't beat yourself down, Honey," Eva said. "You'll find someone. For now, just listen to what I say and keep focusing on your studies."

"Yes, Mom."