Briana's sanity threatened to leave her, or maybe it was already gone because she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Big fat hot wet tears flooded her eyes and cheeks.
Gasping for air, she tried to calm down, but all she could do is sob and tremble.
It was so suffocating, she could barely breathe.
She heard the loud knocking from the people outside her door, but she had no strength to walk to them and open it.
'Are you still unwilling to show me your generosity?' A note stated, making her sob harder.
"WHO?"
Enemies.... what enemies has she not gotten rid of yet?
She had been living such a peaceful life these years because she got rid of every single person who might pose a threat to her.
If her parents' secrets were exposed, her life would crumble. Society would no longer look at the daughter raised from a perfect, humble home. An example of a confident, dignified woman.
What would be of her?
How could her parents put her in such a cruel situation?
How could they do this to their happy family?
Were they even a family at all?
One had an underaged lover on the side, the other had a completely different family who knows where and how she had to carry the burden!
Hearing the servants trying to knock the door down, she placed all the images under her comforter and tried to bring the ones still stuck on her ceiling down.
When finished, she ran to the bathroom and clean up her face, calming down she walked back to the door and opened it.
"What are you doing?" She asked, grumpily.
"Uh, miss, are you okay? We heard a scream."
"I slipped and fell, I'm fine." She answered nonchalantly.
"Is that all?"
They looked at her with confusion and did not dare comment on her red eyes or her ugly expression.
They all shook their heads, and the next thing they saw was the door being slammed on their faces.
After looking at the door, Briana heard another knock.
Taking a deep breath in she opened it again.
"Miss, you received a-"
Looking at the pink tiger lilies, and a white, elegant looking box on the maid's hand, she snatched it and once against slammed the door on their faces.
She threw the two things on her bed and paced around her room in frustration.
Looking once again at the odd placing of the label on the box, she swallowed hard.
She smashed the lilies across the room, despite them being her favorite, and she opened the box in a hurry.
A simple recording device appeared inside.
She frowned and played it.
The worst she heard next made her anger rise.
Just when she thought things were going great, all of this had to happen.
Her useless calls to the anonymous sender started once again.
******
Mr.Brooklyn paced around his study room and waited for Adriana to answer his call.
Since Adriana didn't have Hope's cousin to pretend to be her, she used a voice changer instead.
"Hello-" Before Mr.Brooklyn could say anything an unfamiliar voice interrupted him.
"Mr.Brooklyn please tell me the engagement was successful."
He gulped and answered. "I-.....unfortunately the Preston's son refused to accept the engagement, even my daughter agreed she does not want this engagement. Please reconsider our deal. I can give you other-"
"I asked for a simple engagement, nothing else. It isn't too hard to do, but now since you didn't do your end of the bargain I have no choice but to-"
Adriana held a frown on her face. She could not understand why her plan failed. Did she miscalculate something? Why would Briana reject such a golden opportunity to marry her obsession?
"Wait! I'm sure I have something that might interest you!"
Adriana raised an eyebrow.
"And what might that be?" She asked.
"One word— the Novaks!"
The familiar surname picked up Adriana's interest.
What might one businessman who's about to fall from his glory, know about such a powerful family as the Novaks?
And why does he think this may interest her?
Adriana chuckled.
This would be interesting, especially since Caroline Novak is none other than her half-sister.
And the Novaks are her blood family.
*****
"Miss Caroline!"
Snapping her head to the urgent tone of the voice calling her, Caroline furrowed her eyebrows.
"We have a problem." The young woman reported, showing her the iPad.
As soon as Caroline had time to process what was happening, the screen went blank, and so did every screen inside the room.
The rows of people on desks with the best technology in the world panicked.
The biggest screen at the end of the room, displaying anything regarding their line of work was the only remaining working piece of technology.
Unfortunately, what it displayed was not good at all.
"Miss Caroline!" They all looked at her for instructions.
"Fight it. We cannot risk our agent's information to get on the hacker's hands." She ordered.
Everyone imminently nodded and got to work, to fight the virus.
"Miss Caroline, we have a bigger problem!" A young man walked up to her and reported.
"Bigger than this?" She asked, already dialing her superior's phone number to report this incident.
"It's attacking one person in specific." The man nervously pointed towards their big screen.
"Who..." When Caroline looked at the ID number on it, she gulped.
Instead of calling her superior, she dialed Adriana's number.
"We have a situation." She reported in a small voice.
"You didn't jump off the mountain, did you?" Adriana questioned, she had just finished her phone call with Briana's father and was in good mood.
After all, what he told her was indeed interesting.
"No, but I think I will when I finish fighting the hacker trying to get your information." Caroline shut her eyes slightly, waiting for Adriana's reaction.
"Is that so?" Adriana hummed calmly.
"Send me the details, I'll help you. It's not the first time it's happened it should be fine."
"Except the fact that unlike the other times, our whole headquarters is under attack by an unfamiliar virus. And out of all our information, your information is the only one being downloaded into someone else's computer." Caroline rambled, trying to get a hold of herself.
"..." Adriana opened her laptop, her finger stunning through the keyboards calmly.
"I'm sure you WILL handle it." She told Caroline and hung up.
The calm before the storm!
If there was one word to describe Adriana's anger would be— the calamity
*****
An hour later:
"Ralf."
At the call of his name, Ralf turned around and listened for her orders with extreme precaution. He steadied his breaths and prepared to memorize her every word.
"Send our New York team with Caroline. Tell them I want success and nothing else." Adriana ordered, her tone lacking any warmth or patience.
Her information was on the line here!
Ralf swallowed nervously and picked up his phone to pass on her orders.
He then continued driving towards their destination.
It was currently 1 am in Paris, June 1st.
After putting her kids to bed, Adriana had gone out to run some errands and try to help Caroline with the situation in New York.
She was extremely agitated. How could such a heavy lock on the information be removed so easily? She could not accept it.
If it could, what was the point of exhausting herself after all these years?
'Some information, yes, but not all of it. Not that quickly.' Adriana thought. Besides, her information was extremely classified, and so she had easily gotten through all the fake IP addresses and locations installed.
She never found the IP address, but she found the location and she wanted Caroline to get to the person trying to get her information ASAP.
She could not allow such a talented person to get away. This person could be of use or danger. And so she would offer them a chance to be useful, and if not, she would get rid of them.
Simple.
....
Meanwhile, it was 7:30 pm in New York.
"We have a problem."
"What's wrong?" Noah asked the other person who had just called him.
"They are after me. I- meet me in the cafe we always meet. Hurry! I will destroy what I discovered and after transferring it to a flash drive. I have little time, please hurry."
Noah frowned when Weston Roman hung upon him.
He turned to his driver and said, "Queens, flushing." He ordered, and the driver nodded.
They were already heading to Queens anyway, so it would not take him long to reach Weston's location.
When Noah entered the cafe in his casual clothes, he looked around until he saw Weston nervously eating his food.
Weston, a childhood friend, a genius hacker, and a stress eater.
He sat down in front of him.
The cafe was half empty, so they didn't catch too much attention.
Wiping his mouth and gulping down half of his smoothie, Weston sent him a glare.
"This is all your fault. I couldn't even get past the government's wall and they were already at my door."
"Calm down and explain what happened," Noah told him.
Weston pulled out his laptop and typed something in it. He then passed it to Noah and continued eating.
He was extremely jittery, and Noah noticed it.
He looked at the laptop which displayed the security cameras in Weston's building. A frown emerged on his face when he recognized Caroline's face.
She was suited up in her black bodysuit and a bulletproof vest. She signaled the men behind her to enter the building casually.
Then they knocked down Weston's apartment door and tried to find everything they could, but he had left it completely empty.
It was always empty, but looking at Weston's unusually packed back, he realized he had brought whatever important belongings he needed.
Weston must have chosen this cafe because of his tactics of going against logic. Right now, they would expect him to be running away not eating in a cafe.
Nervously looking around the cafe, Weston leaned in and whispered yelled.
"You told me to investigate your ex-wife, not a government official!" Weston had the urge to curse Noah to his death.
"They have my name, they have my entire identity — fake identity, but still!"
Noah was quiet.
Government official? That made little sense at all.
And if it were a government official, Weston wouldn't be this scared. He had dug up the dirtiest secrets from the most powerful politicians in the world. A simple government official was nothing.
Thus, meaning Adriana was not simple at all.
"Government official? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"I don't know, but what I know is that there are only 3 known people who can access this person's information. Herself, the president of this country, and whoever is a big boss in the intelligence agency."
"And you too, I suppose," Noah added.
"Not the point!"
Noah narrowed his eyes as he watched them turn Walson's apartment upside down.
Now, he was extremely curious. What the hell was Caroline doing there? It can't be a coincidence. And It so happens that the person Walson was investigating is Adriana Price.
This was definitely not a coincidence.
Looking at how scared Weston was, Noah realized Adriana was much more than just a designer, definitely not simple.
"Other than me, what other ways can a person gain the government's protection?" Noah asked him.
Weston paused and looked up at him.
"Well…. there are a few other ways. Now that I think about it-" Weston shut his mouth immediately when his phone started ringing.
He cautiously read the unknown number, and he trembled.
"What's wrong."
"That's Adriana Price's personal phone number. One thing I memorized when I was investigating her…." Weston's breath hitched, and he closed his eyes.
He would NEVER work for Noah again.
His eyes turned wide when he heard Noah's next order.
"Answer," Noah ordered.
____
Mass release goal:
Chapters: 6
Power Stones: 200+
COMPLETED