Chapter 84


    Our little investigation I knew that he said he would risk me falling in love with him, but this was all


    happening too fast. There was a thunderstorm within my heart, emotions bursting out in every possible


    way. I couldn’t pretend any longer- I was in love with Aren Lan. I felt that the way he touched me had


    be different. If there had been any boundaries between us before, they were all gone at that


    moment. I was free-falling down the rabbit hole. I only hoped that at the end of that way down, Aren


    would be there to catch me… Even though I enjoyed my kissing session with Aren, the more I tried to


    move, the more I felt that I needed to get some rest. That day was an emotional roller coaster, and I felt


    that my brain had to put everything in the right order. This time, I was the one who insisted on sleeping


    separately. I knew that I was going to wake up stiffer than my Grandma had ever been, and I didn’t need


    Aren around tough at me. Besides, my level of exhaustion made me almost certain that I would fall


    asleep in the weirdest position possible and wake up with apletely drooled pillow. Unfortunately, my


    n to restrain Aren from seeing me the second I woke up didn’t exactly work out… “Good morning,


    sunshine.” His warm and highly seductive voice forced me to open my sleepy eyes. He was sitting on my


    bed, his one hand stroking my hair gently and the other holding a cup of coffee. I lifted my head and


    realized that, as I predicted, I was glued to my drooled pillow. How embarrassing. This was the exact


    situation I wanted to avoid. “Why are you here?” I knew this wasn’t the kind of greeting he wished to hear


    from me, but if I had been more conscious at that moment, I would have been pissed.


    “I was worried about you, sunshine. I made you breakfast, and I can carry you into the shower and help


    you wash if you want me to.” I didn’t fail to hear the tone of amusement in his voice.


    I groaned painfully, trying to sit up in bed. I could feel every muscle in my body, including those I had


    never known existed. “I can manage,” I muttered.


    “I won’t force you, beautiful. Just know that it’s past seven, and unless you want to take a day off, you


    should try to get up,” he said, cing a gentle kiss on my forehead. I merely grunted a “thank you” as I


    started to dig in the breakfast he prepared and brought me to bed. I might have acted like a bitch, but I


    still thought that it was his fault that I could barely move. Of course, I could appreciate the fact that he


    was caring, but I appreciated it inwardly, leaving him to taste all of my morning grumpiness. Unlike me,


    he was more cheerful and optimistic than I had ever seen him before, which made me curious to find out


    what put him in such a good mood.


    By the time, I got into the shower cabin, I discovered another reason for my moodiness-my period,


    delightfully adding a stomachache to my stiffness and sore muscles. Yes, it was going to be a wonderful


    day… And yes, that was sarcasm. When I got to the office, I was in the perfect mood to kill everyone


    around me. That was why I decided to sit in front of myputer and focus my attention on the screen. I


    wasmitted to finding anything I could on Lester Packton, and, despite Aren’s and Jack’s warnings, I


    was


    willing to do it even if I had to choose the not-so-legal way.


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    After nearly five minutes of research, I found more than enough to know that this guy was seriously


    dangerous. He used to work as an undercover agent, infiltrating drug and weapons dealer gangs. Due to


    a personal request, he was then moved to work among the investigating squads in a few different FBI


    field offices around the country. Each time, the reason for his transfer had been marked as ssified. As


    I dug further, I found out the same information that Aren told me about. It was about the charges that


    were pressed against Lester Packton by his female colleague. She used him of a physical assault on


    her but quickly withdrew her charges for unknown reasons…


    “Son of a bitch,” I muttered under my breath.


    I bet that the woman must have been either bribed or threatened, and as I continued my research, she


    surely wasn’t the only one… Lester Packton had been used of using unnecessary violence,


    harassment, and physical assault several times throughout his career, and each time the charges


    against him were dropped. It seemed that he must have had a powerful backer-someone from the


    headquarters or someone with great political influence. The more I found out about him, the more I


    wanted to bring that bastard down.


    “Guys… I might have to do something illegal now…” I said, shifting my eyes from Norton to n and


    back to Norton.


    They knew exactly what I meant and knew that I would need their backup. n stood up and locked the


    door to our office. No one would be able to see us hacking into the Department of Justice… even if we


    were about to breach the light-level security. n and Norton were supposed to create a distraction, just


    in case, the system detected my breach. Using our code breaker that we’d designed for fun a few years


    ago, I got to the information about the cases against Lester Packton. It was easy to find one thing in


    common with all those cases-they had all been handled by the same prosecutor from the Department of


    Justice, Francis Marshall. “Cora… you should get out of there, the system detected our presence,” n


    informed, nervously typingmands on hisputer.


    “It’s OK,” I said, a wicked smirk crossing my lips. “I have all I needed to know.”


    Fortunately, our team was exquisite in terms of erasing our tracks. It could take months before someone


    discovered which files were copied, not to mention that there was no chance that anyone could track us


    back. I could bluntly say that they could have found us only if they had security software as good as the


    one we created, yet ours was one of a kind.


    “Let’s find everything we can on Francis Marshall, and what is his connection to Lester Packton, shall


    we?” I chuckled, ncing at the boys. We were all fired up, searching for anything that we could. After


    another hour of research, we could proudly call Aren and Neil to present what we had found. “I thought I


    told you not to do anything risky!” Aren roared as soon as he realized that I had to break into the


    Department of Justice to get the files he had just read.


    “Handsome, don’t be mad. Without this knowledge, we found, we would only run around in circles,” I


    said, innocently blinking my eyes at him. “Don’t worry, Mr. Lan. We are way too good to be traced.” n


    chuckled, but that only earned


    him Aren’s re.


    He cupped my cheeks and looked at me, frowning. “Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.”


    My eyes darkened. “I’m warning you, husband. I’m on my period, which makes me twice as dangerous.


    Ignore the fact that I hacked the national department and just appreciate what we found.” Neil barely


    stifled augh. I could see him turning red as his cheeks pouted to restrain a chuckle. “Neil?” Aren’s


    voice carried an undeniable threat. He cleared his throat. “I agree with Mr. Lan, Mrs. Lan…” he muttered


    hesitantly until he faced my glower. “But of course, the evidence you found can be crucial for the


    investigation.” When Aren finally sighed with his hands gesturing his surrender, n and I could proceed


    with exining what we had found. I drew the diagram of the connection on the whiteboard and then


    started my lecture. “Francis Marshall and Lester Packton studied the same year at Princeton University.


    They were also members of the same fraternity, so I’m guessing this is how they met. Marshall’s father is


    a member of the Republican Party, and he was always known to be an influential politician in the state of


    Massachusetts. There are rumors that he has the entire state judiciary in his pocket. It also isn’t a secret


    that he has connections to a few wealthy weapon manufacturers, while he himself is against restricting


    ess to guns. And now for the best part…” I paused to clear my throat before turning my phone screen


    toward Aren and Neil. “We found a few photos of those businessmen posing with Marshall’s father and…


    Lester Packton. Surprising, isn’t it? What could possibly be the reason for the FBI agent, who used to


    infiltrate gun dealer gangs, a local politician, and businessmen selling guns to appear in one ce?” I


    asked, grinning proudly. n carried on. “This case could be huge. Remember that this guy who wanted


    to kill Mr. Lan and organized Cora’s kidnapping had his own private army? We guess that it is all


    connected, and the whole case with Can’s death was also orchestrated by Packton and the Marshalls


    family…”


    I took a deep breath and stepped forward. “And now for the best part: Jack Collins’s usation and


    suspension are the work of Robert Fabel, who is Francis Marshall’s protégé and his dear friend. We also


    found one more interesting detail… There was only one guard around Can’s prison cell that night, and


    that guard turned out to be Nn Marshall, Francis Marshall’s nephew.”