The Tulip Club was one of the Malick family's businesses, used to host Washington's high-society elites.
Simply put, any kind of entertainnt you could find in the city was available in this club.
Even if you wanted to sleep with a top Hollywood actress, as long as you could get into the club and pay the price, they would make it happen.
At the sa ti, the club was also a secret base for the political faction—one of HYDRA's four major branches.
Whenever the political faction had sothing important to discuss, they usually t here.
It was the perfect cover. Even if soone saw you going in, they'd just smile knowingly and never suspect anything serious.
–
Today, after receiving a notice, the senior mbers of the political faction gathered there once again.
When Gideon walked into the eting room, almost everyone was already there, waiting for him.
Without thinking much, he walked to the main seat and sat down with a smile. "What's so important that you had to call a sudden eting? Got good news for ?"
Hearing this, many people in the room looked a bit confused.
Finally, a loyal old subordinate nad Simon, sitting to his left, quietly asked, "Wasn't it you who called us here?"
"Don't joke around. When did I tell you to co?" Gideon waved his hand.
But seeing that everyone else had the sa confused reaction as Simon, Gideon finally sensed sothing was wrong.
"You're saying… I was the one who called this eting?" Gideon asked more seriously.
"Wasn't it?" Simon also noticed that Malick didn't seem to be joking and his face grew serious too.
"I never gave that order," Malick said firmly. "I ca here because I was told soone among you was holding an ergency eting to report sothing important to …"
As soon as they heard that, everyone's face changed!
These were high-ranking mbers of the political faction—powerful figures in the North Arican governnt. They were used to trouble and could easily sense how serious this was.
If soone faked the order, that ant there was a traitor at the top—and that traitor might be planning to reveal themselves today!
They all knew what that could an.
Soone imdiately pulled out their phone, only to find the signal was already blocked.
"What the hell is going on!" one hot-headed man shouted and pulled out his gun, eyes full of suspicion.
"Put the gun down!"
Another high-ranking mber sitting across from him also drew his gun and aid it back.
"Why should I put it down? You put yours down first! I can tell just by your face that you're hiding sothing!" the first man shouted back, pointing his gun.
It was chaos. Total chaos.
Everyone was looking at each other with doubt in their eyes, treating everyone else like they might be the traitor.
Only Gideon stayed calm. He slamd the table and shouted, "Everyone calm down! Put your guns down!"
Hearing his voice, the two with their guns raised didn't lower them imdiately. They looked hesitant.
"What? You think I'm the traitor? Use your heads! Who would I betray? Would I betray myself?!" Gideon roared in anger.
"No, no, that's not what we ant." The two finally put their guns down and quickly apologized.
Indeed, if there was one person in the room who could not be the traitor, it was Gideon.
The political faction was the largest branch of HYDRA, and Gideon was its leader—one of HYDRA's top figures. If anyone wasn't going to betray them, it was him.
If he really wanted to eliminate soone, he wouldn't need such tricks. A single order could start a full purge.
"I want to know who told you I was holding this eting…" Gideon asked coldly.
"No need to ask, Dad. I was the one who told them." The door to the eting room suddenly opened, and Stephanie walked in wearing a black leather outfit, her figure graceful and confident.
Behind her stood two strange n in black trench coats, each coat embroidered with red clouds.
They looked odd because they didn't seem entirely human.
The short-haired man on the left looked mostly normal, except for his strange blood-red eyes.
But the long-haired man on the right had eyes like a wild beast, his skin was pale like a corpse, and his whole appearance gave off a creepy vibe.
As everyone stared at him, he even licked his lips with his tongue.
That alone would've been strange enough—But his tongue was forked.
With those beast-like eyes, he looked like a venomous snake in human form.
Still, Gideon didn't care about how strange the two n looked. What mattered more to him was why his only daughter would do sothing like this.
"Why?" he asked, locking eyes with Stephanie.
Seeing the pain in her father's eyes, Stephanie felt a bit uneasy.
But then she thought of her current boss—his mysterious power—and the two terrifying n he had sent to help her. Her heart hardened.
She couldn't let her father go against that man. Doing so would an certain death.
With that thought, she calmly said, "Why? No reason really… I just think it's ti you retired, Dad. You don't need to be this busy anymore."
"Did they force you?!" Gideon pointed at the two strange n behind her.
"You know , Dad. If anyone tried to force to hurt you, I'd rather die than agree." Stephanie shook her head.
Knowing his daughter well, Gideon could tell she wasn't being forced.
And that made it even harder for him to accept. "If you wanted power, why didn't you just talk to ? Did it really have to co to this? Answer !"
"Because I know you too well, Dad. Until you find that so-called 'Hive,' you'll never stop. Even if I begged you on my knees, you'd never let go." Stephanie sighed softly.
Gideon fell silent.
He knew she was right. The Hive had been his life's obsession. Unless he died, nothing would stop him.
Not even his daughter.
--
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