"He's incredibly busy," Starla pouted. "Does he even know I'm back?"
"He knows," Yardley said, catching her disappointment. "The situation these past two days has been a bit exceptional." It was his way of explaining their father's absence.
"Oh," she replied.
Yardley shifted the topic. "How was your training with Reba today?"
Starla instinctively glanced back at Reba, who was standing there radiating an aura of absolute, unapproachable ice. She didn't know what to say. The truth was, she was terrified. Despite her bravery in Marina City, the sheer force and deafening crack of the firearms had left her aching and shaken.
When she didn't answer, Yardley raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
"I just don't understand why you're making me learn this," Starla admitted, her voice tight. It felt like he was preparing her for a life surrounded by violence, and that terrified her. She didn't want her world to become like that.
A flicker of gloom passed through Yardley's eyes.
"Starla," he began softly. "After all this time, do you still not understand what the Hoggart family truly is?"
"I do," she said. Since her last visit, she had pieced it together. On the surface, they controlled vast economic empires. But in the shadows? No one truly knew the scale of the underground arms empire they commanded.
"If you know, then why ask such a naive question?"
Starla remained silent.

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