Nearly a week had passed since his father had placed him under house arrest, waiting for the investigation to run its course and for things to quiet down.
It had led nowhere. The gang, their underlings, and their target had vanished without a trace, no bodies, no witnesses, no thread worth pulling. The whole affair had settled into a kind of quiet, unsettling mystery that no one seemed particularly eager to disturb.
Technically, the investigation was still ongoing, but the urgency had faded. More importantly, he was no longer forced to hide at home like a rat.
That was enough for him.
He was finally free to go out.
The evening air felt good after days spent indoors. Nicolas walked at the center of his small escort, four men assigned by his father to keep him out of trouble. All of them were E-rank, two at the peak.
