Chapter 112


    Suspicions Did I know what I was signing for? Most likely, no. Had I imagined a life without Aren?


    Definitely not. Was it insane? Absolutely, yes. Certainly, it didn’t mean that I was willing to forget the way


    Aren acted in front of me, but I was giving him another chance. No, scratch that – I was giving us a


    chance. Was it a rational thing to do? No, it surely wasn’t. I was painfully aware that it had nothing to do


    with having a forgiving heart, but more with my current inability to give up on him. Call me foolish and


    masochistic, but perhaps I wasn’t ready to leave him and still hoped that he wouldn’t screw up again…


    The consolidating fact was that he felt guilty as if he was genuinely honest when he imed that he


    didn’t want me to leave him. Again, was I interpreting his behavior in a way it could ease my mind? Of


    course, I was, but it didn’t mean that I was doing something wrong, right? I was walking on cloud no. 9


    whenever he held my hand, and believe me, it’s hard to make logical decisions while you are inside your


    freaking pink paradise. It turned out that after Jack and Chris had given Aren an hour-long lecture, they


    finally told him everything they knew about that night of the attack at the clinic. That made Aren admit


    that the fact that he saw someone confusingly resembling Lanfen at the party could not be a


    coincidence. They were all in agreement that we needed to meet and discuss everything I had seen and


    heard in the hotel.


    I guess they had to be more than eager to hear my story since it was Saturday morning and Aren and I


    were going to meet at Jack’s ce in Brooklyn. When we arrived, Chris was already inside, drinking


    coffee while sitting on the sofa in Jack’s hall-sh-dining room, which opened up to a small kitchen


    space. It was obvious that a single man lived there. There were no flowers or warm essories, and


    most of the floor in the apartment was filled with boxes of documents.


    “Come inside,” Jack invited us, grinning. “Mi casa es su casa-make yourself at home.”


    “Thank you, Jack,” I said, entering first and sitting on the sofa next to Chris.


    I could see that Aren’s jaw tensed as I sat next to his friend, but he didn’t say anything. He just followed


    me to the three-piece suite and sat in an armchair next to the sofa.


    Jack narrowed his eyes at us. “Are you guys still fighting?” “No,” I replied, smirking. “But forgiving doesn’t


    mean forgetting.” Chris barely stifled augh, seeing that Aren was having a hard time swallowing the


    bitter pill. Jack decided not to fuel the fire and darted to the kitchen area to make us all a cup of coffee.


    As soon as the source of caffeine had been fairly distributed, Chris straightened up in his seat and


    locked his eyes on me. “So, Cora, why don’t you tell us what happened yesterday?” I put down my empty


    coffee cup on the table and took a deep breath. “First, let me tell you the most important part: Max is


    alive and well, and the guy who kidnapped me and wanted Aren


    dead coborates with Mr. C.”


    Chris cursed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I seriously wish for this fucker to end up dead in the


    depths of the ocean.”


    “Have you seen his face?” Aren asked me with a smug smirk.


    “No, I saw only the back of his head. Why?”


    “I made a nasty cut on his face with a wire I grabbed when we struggled under the water. Then the


    current threw us away on the rocks. That’s when I hit my head.” he exined.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    Jack clicked his tongue. “Bastards are always immune to dying, aren’t they? I bet that the fucker didn’t


    spend hisst weeks in aa.”


    “Well, he sounded as annoying as before, so I guess he didn’t, but he wasn’t the main problem, ” I said


    with a crooked smile. “Those guys are nning something big, and they aim to bring down Aren and the


    wholepany…” I told them about everything I heard, trying not to skip anything since everything could


    be important at some point. When I finished, Chris leaned forward, frowning. “What was that guy’s


    name again?” he asked, ncing at me. “Haskett,” I replied.


    “It sounds familiar, but I can’t find where I’ve heard it.” He sighed and scratched his head.


    “I do not recall anypany owner with that name.” Aren shook his head before looking at me. “Are you


    sure that you heard it right?”


    I red at him. “Yes, I’m sure. Max repeated the name a few times, but he was oddly emphasizing it.”


    “Maybe it’s not a real name but a nickname?” Jack suggested.


    “It could be,” Aren agreed. “I keep good track of the recent yers on the market, and I’m sure that


    there’s no Haskett among them.” A sound of frustration left my throat. “Great… Just when I thought that I


    had found something useful…”


    Jack gave me a warm smile. “Don’t think that way. At least we know that this guy owns apany, and


    he is most likely Aren’s businesspetitor. We also know that those guys are working together.”


    It wasn’t a big constion, but it was something. Our meeting with Chris and Jack also brought


    something else: I forced Aren to agree to my further training with Chris and Jack. I knew that he wouldn’t


    say no after the way he had messed up the night before, but I also couldn’t miss his warning re at


    Chris, telling him to minimize the physical contact during our sessions


    When we left Jack’s apartment, I couldn’t help the feeling that we were missing something important. A


    weird kind of anxiety flooded me when Aren and I were on our way back to the penthouse


    “Um


    could we go to thepany?” I finally asked.


    Aren raised his eyebrows. “It’s Saturday. Why would you want to go there?


    “I just I need to check something.” I smiled nervously. I couldn’t exin why, but I felt that I had to be


    there


    Aren sighed. “Fine We’ll go to thepany.”


    I went to the office I shared with n and Norton, while Aren decided to make up for what he


    missed when he was in aa, working in his office upstairs. Strangely, I was less restless as soon as I


    sat alone in front of myputer. As I logged into thepany’s system, I finally felt that I was in


    control. I’d been out of myfort zone for so long that entering my security software felt like the most


    soothing and rxing thing I’d been doing in weeks. Researching all possible Hasketts was the first thing


    I did. Fortunately, it wasn’t a verymon name so I initially thought that this task wouldn’t be that hard,


    but not knowing the first name made the research nearly impossible. I groaned angrily, having zero


    probable matches after two hours of searching the. Moreover, I couldn’t find any Haskett that owned


    apany that could possiblypete against Lan Diamond Corporation.


    “Maybe it was only a nickname…” I muttered, discouraged while staring at the screen.


    The fact that I couldn’t find anything about my kidnapper filled me with a new kind of frustration. I was


    angry at myself, thinking that I could have used my opportunity better. I should have slipped my hand


    with a phone through that crack in the door and snapped a few photos. If I had at least a partial image, I


    could have found him using the right kind of browser in no time.


    Then I remembered that those people were also nning to attack Aren’spany. I couldn’t tell what


    kind of attack it would be, but I knew that we couldn’t afford to lower our guards for even a second. To


    ease my newly developed paranoia, I made a few adjustments to the system as a precaution. Of course,


    I didn’t have to wait for n and Norton’s reactions as they were the main parts of those adjustments.


    They both called me on the video chat almost simultaneously.


    “Mind telling, why have you just plugged our privateputers into Lan Diamond Corporation’s system


    and given us administrator rights?” n asked, raising one eyebrow. “Guys, I know that it is the


    weekend, but I have a feeling that something’s up. Remember the bait we set for the hackers some time


    ago? No one has made a move since then, but ording to the rumors we spread, the game should be


    almost finished by now, and ready to steal or corrupt. Please, just don’t turn off your notifications… Could


    you do it for me, please?” I smiled nervously and blinked my eyes.


    “Cora is right. The weekend might be a good time to attack. We should stay prepared.” Norton nodded,


    raising his fighter’s fist to the screen.


    n sighed. “Well, I don’t know, Cora… I have a date tonight.”


    I smirked. “That means you’ll be online anyway, and in case something happens, your otome princesses


    can wait.”


    “Hey! I wasn’t talking about otome games!” n growled. I chuckled. “Oh, so you switched to porn?”


    Norton corrected, “Actually, he now ys porn otome.” “Fine!” n snapped. “I won’t turn off the


    notifications! Happy?!” “Yes, thank you.” I gave them both a wide grin.


    I felt a little better after tightening the system’s security, but I couldn’t get rid of my anxiety. Even after


    Aren and I got back to the penthouse, my mind constantly drifted away as I processed all the possible


    scenarios. I acted ording to my instincts and far-fetched assumptions, wondering if I wasn’t losing my


    mind while trying to figure out what was going


    to happen next. I didn’t even want to tell Aren about my suspicions. Knowing how he had reacted when I


    told him about Lanfen, I wasn’t too eager to share another one of my theories with him. After supper, I


    indifferently tossed that I was tired, and I went upstairs to my bedroom. I checked the entire system twice


    and finally fell asleep. The sharp beeping sound woke me up at 3 AM.


    “A breach in the system…” I mumbled half-conscious, getting up and pulling theputer onto myp.


    As I pulled up the screen, it shed in a fiery red. The hacker had just attacked.