"Wait." She drawled as she held her phone tightly. She looked into the distance and saw two men eyeing at her strangely. They were in dark shade sunglasses, dressed in casual jeans and jackets. They looked suspicious from what she could see. Feeling insecure, she walked closer to the main entrance of the skyscraper. "So you think that you and Ethan's father have any say in this?" She asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. You have no right to take that kid away if we are not okay with it."
"Listen, and listen carefully." Elena hissed. "This baby is mine. I'm the mother …you don't have any hand in the decisions I make about it. So don't come here telling me what to do or decide about my baby."
"Elena you need to calm down. I'm just trying to reason with you."
"I don't want you to reason with me! I don't want anything from you! You won't take away my baby, Layla please!" She muffled as she felt her eyes heavy.
"Elena… I'm not taking the baby away from you. I just want you to come back home. Where you'll be much safer with your family. Elena if you're with Lance… I need to warn you…"
"Warn me what? What Ethan warned me about him earlier on?" She asked.
"There's more to that Elena. I can only tell you in person. Where are you? Let's meet and talk. Please… let's just talk."
"Layla I don't want to see you… please stop searching for me." Elena cried out. "Ethan messed up my life. He took away everything I once held dear to him and left me with scraps. I now have this one thing that I care about and I feel like you want to take it away. It's my happiness and I'm so scared that you are even talking about this with me. I know you have the power to get what you want Layla but please don't do this to me..." Tears accompanied her statement.
"Elena, look… I'm not forcing you to do something that you're not interested in. I just want to talk. Where are you?"
"Um… Mexico City." She snuffed as she wiped away her tears. "I'm in Mexico."
"Mexico? Already?"
"Yeah. We've just arrived."
"We? As in you and Lance?"
"Yes…" she heard her sigh.
"Elena, Ethan told you something about Lance, and I'm not being diabolical about him. If you knew what was best for you, you'd leave him right now."
"I had the same conversation with your son and trust me, you are not going to convince me otherwise."
"Elena… do you really care about that baby of yours?"
"As a mother I do…"
"Then come home please."
"Mrs. Layla I'm going to hang up now," Elena told her feeling fed up by her requests.
"Okay… you want this the hard way then…" Layla growled from the other end. "I am coming for you. You will not keep my son's baby in harm's way."
"Goodbye." She said and hung up the phone. She snuffed and wiped away some stray tears. She knew that Layla and Paul were powerful enough to make her go back to the country if they were serious about it. Legal documentation from the head of a successful law firm would sure pop up that would contradict her stay in Mexico and be deported back to the country despite being a citizen of Mexico by dual citizenship if they were kind enough to deny her the chance of being extradited. Money to the Purcells wasn't a big deal and if it would take millions, they would use them in a snap. Nobody messes with the Purcells. She heard Paul say one time.
Her eyes grazed back into the long distance where she had caught those strange faces earlier on. The two men were still there and were pretending like they were not skimming at her. She had an eerie feeling when she saw them and felt goosebumps chill up her skin. Slowly walking back to the tall building, she took time to check once again if they were still looking back at her. In a whip and turn, whip and turn, whip and turn of her head towards them, she couldn't see them at last. Her eyes looked around in fear as she felt her heavy breaths coming all along. Were those guys surveying her sent by the Purcells? Who were they if not? Was she in trouble?
She quickly got back to the room, and found Lance still in the bathroom, still whistling along to a harmonic tune. She looked around the room and moved over to the next window she could land on and stare at the outside. Just your average city, filled with people in their mumbo jumbo. They were all and about their dos, taking advantage of life. She walked away from the window and stopped by Lance's large suitcase. She saw his neatly removed clothes, laptop, and some books regarding his biotechnology degree. She however landed on an envelope and curiosity filled her wild mind. She reached for it and studied it closely. There was no seal on it. The damn thing was open.
"Elena, who was that? The person you were talking to over the phone?" Lance asked from the bathroom.
"Um, no one important." She replied.
"Hmm... no one important you say? To the point that you went outside to talk with him?"
She snarled heartily. "Fine… it was Ethan's mom…"
"Mrs. Layla? What did she want?"
"Some apology for what Ethan did… that's all." She answered.
"Wow. So after all this long they finally managed to ask for forgiveness?" Lance drawled mockingly.
"Apparently. I'm still shocked that these SIM cards function down here. I need to get a new number." Her eyebrows shot up as she removed some documents from the envelope. She studied the top page briefly. THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE: ROBOTIC DRUG ADMINISTRATION. "Wow, what's this?" She asked herself as she pushed through the pages. Her eyes landed on words like a microchip, human mind, and condition. She continued perusing until when she landed on a blue sheet of folded paper that caught her attention drastically. She grabbed it and placed away the rest of the documents.
Carefully unfolding the blue sheet, she toured her eyes around at what it revealed to her. When she had opened it fully, it was too big to even hold it firmly on her hand to the point that she went and placed it gently above the table. She looked at what was written on it. Drawings, nothing but drawings. Drawings of what seemed like a microchip. The top, side, and bottom views. It took a little while before she understood that they were blueprints of the machine. There were various numbers and words naming the pieces on the five drawings that were on it. Some were hard to memorize; biology nomenclatures and numbers blew her mind away. She did not understand what was written on it.
"Lance… what are these?" She asked.
"What?"
"These drawings that look like blueprints of some biology tech thingy… is this the microchip invention of yours—"
Before she had any time to finish, she heard Lance storm out of the bathroom half-naked, as he was wrapped in a towel from his waist down. His skin was dripping wet, not to mention his golden yellow blonde hair. He quickly ran to where she was and grabbed away the blueprint in haste almost knocking her to the floor. He quickly folded the paper and put it back within the rest of the documents.
"Ho! Ho! Ho! Careful with those now." Lance drawled as he reached to her by the table. Even though he was calmer, she deciphered he was in worry.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because these papers Elena, are for my presentation and I do not want to ruin them this early." He finally turned to her, as a mocking smile drew across his face.
"Fine. What are they about though? They looked interesting."
"Uh, nothing. Some boring stuff that will make you feel like dying." He chuckled as he put the envelope back in his suitcase.
"Oh... come on, now I'm interested." Elena pouted at him. Lance answered with a slight shake of his head. "Come on, tell me… tell me. Microchip? Brain? Don't these things seem kinda mysterious to you?"
"No, they don't." He sighed as he closed his eyes. She knew too much already. "Not to me."
"Well, they are to me." Elena stepped closer to him and trailed one of her fingers on his skin. She bit her lip seductively. "So tell me, please."
"No." His eyebrows shot up.
"Why?" She frowned. "Afraid I might steal your inventions?" She looked at him longingly as she put her hands above his muscular chest. Lance caught her by her wrists and pushed her away, slightly.
"Elena… stop going through my things, okay?" He told her and suddenly, the flirty thoughts in Elena's mind evaporated. She looked at him strangely as he walked away. When he was almost entering the bathroom once again Elena went over to his suitcase and looked for the envelope.
"What's wrong with you?" The familiar voice shook her.