"Honey, are you truly okay?"Carol, a middle-aged woman wearing luxury clothes and wearing expensive jewelry in her wrists, neck, and fingers, worriedly asked her bandaged husband. She learned of his condition only this morning so she rushed to the hospital only to find him secretly leaving in a car. As she saw her husband"s pitiful state, she was both angry and surprised as it"s the first time this has ever happened. He was a congressman and is loved by many, moreover, he constantly protected by guards so a situation like this is confusing, to say the least.
"It"s nothing."
Hayden waved his hand to indicate he was fine before taking his phone to call someone only to pause at the last second. He looked at his worried wife and asked:
"Has Rika gone back home yesterday?"
Carol shook her head and replied: "No, her friend called and said she"ll be staying there for some time. As it"ll help her socialize more, I agreed."
"I see… that is for the best, I guess."
His body trembled momentarily as he remembered Melissa"s warning. The blond girl who"s usually kind and likable had shown her true side to him yesterday and as Rika"s friend and a person hailing from a very influential and dangerous family, Hayden didn"t dare act rashly, at least not until he a.s.sessed the situation.
Although he doesn"t dare go act against Melissa, Bin was a whole different matter. Not only did he sneak into the house, he also attacked him and saw the bas.e.m.e.nt, which enough of a reason to eliminate him. All politicians were greedy and corrupt and it"s not the first time Hayden was planning to kill someone. If he had just been beaten, he would just press charges but the truth about that bas.e.m.e.nt cannot be disclosed to anyone.
If Carol were to learn a whiff of this, his family would go downhill and he would kiss his career goodbye, after all, his father-in-law was the one supporting him on his campaign, financially and politically.
…
"Did you do what I ordered?"
Once he was alone in his office, Hayden called his secretary and sternly asked.
The young female secretary apologetically bowed and said: "My apologies but the recordings were deleted."
There were several CCTVs around and inside his house and Bin wasn"t an expert so his face should have been caught. Hayden thought he"ll be able to get him with that but the answer he received greatly displeased him. The man angrily banged his fist on the table, though the secretary didn"t even flinch as her head remained bowed and her face expressionless.
"What do you mean deleted?!"
"It seems someone got to them before us."
"Someone?"
Hayden instinctively thought of Melissa, but even so, she shouldn"t have been able to act so quickly. Nevertheless, these unfavorable results would make it even harder for him to identify Bin but since he clearly remembers the latter"s face, it shouldn"t take that long to find him.
"He identified himself as Miss" new servant but it was only a ruse to enter the manor."-Secretary
"I don"t care what you do! Just get me his ident.i.ty before the day ends!"
"Yes, sir."
***
It was a shabby one-story building, dirty and seemed about to collapse at any second. On the front, there was a sign saying "Alpha Constructions". This was but an insignificant small branch situated at a secluded area near the rural part of the city, it was also not that far from the infamous and unvisited slums.
Inside the building, precisely in an office filled with old and new papers, a place that smelled of cigarettes, two people faced each other. One was sitting on behind a small wooden desk while the other was standing before the former, he wore black clothes and a hood that covered his face.
One of the two was a thin man called Bert Pontaris, the same man who visited Scarlet some time ago.
"Bin still hasn"t gone back to his apartment, he may have sensed our presence."
The black-clothed man spoke with a croaky, unpleasant voice.
Bert leaned against the chair and gazed at the standing man without saying anything. A wide smile was plastered on his suspicious face, by force of habit, he cracked his knuckles and stated:
"Bin is still missing and the girl escaped Italy, possibly heading here. It would be bad if the two met… very bad, don"t you think?"
Although he was saying, the creepy smile never left his face, in fact, it seemed as if he was enjoying whatever was happening.
"Our forces in M-nation are more numerous and spread than in Italy, why would she come here?"
The subordinate was curious so he ended up voicing his thoughts, to which Bert chuckled.
"That is right, she"s walking right into our net. She"s much more obvious than him and soon, she"ll lead us to our secondary target. We"ll get two birds with one stone, how nice is that? Hehehe"
****
Jasmine, Melissa, and Cara left for school, leaving Bin and Rika alone and therefore turning the atmosphere awkward and making it uncomfortable for Bin, possibly also Rika, who was still holding that coffee cup and absent-mindedly looking at the wall.
Only after a while did she look at Bin, who was sitting on a sofa a distance away, half-asleep and uncaring about this situation. When he heard the sound of footsteps, he opened his eyes and looked at the short-haired girl, who was walking toward him.
"You okay?"
"…"
She gave no response as she stopped right in front of him, her brown pupils staring at him so intently.
"Why did you do it?"
Hearing that, Bin knitted his brows and retorted: "Are you still asking that?"
"What else would I ask then?" She rebuked with a slightly louder tone.
"It matters not why I did that. You are safe and that is what matters."
"You need to leave…" Her voice became a bit shaky as she continued: "Leave the city today!"
"And why would I ever do that?"
"You don"t know what my father is capable of. He won"t rest until you"re dead!"
"Again, that is none of your concern."
Bin stood up and left the living room, leaving Rika alone and dumbfounded. She clenched her fists and chased after him, unwilling to give up.