Yana sat on the sofa of the apartment Luka had rented for the children. Seli, Melinda were out with the children while Yana stayed at home. Her attention was on the laptop in front of her. Two windows. One ran in the background, replaying the public announcement over and over again while in the other Yana looked through the headlines.
A week has passed since the three managers publicly confessed at a press conference dragging not only themselves down to prison but also the reputation of the three respective companies.
The stocks of the companies fell rapidly and the public merciless tore them down. The media on the other side did what they did best. Dig through more dirt, throw a gallon of oil into the fire and ignite a whole spectacle of headlines with all the offences the companies did that were swept under the rugs.
Seli, after receiving some counselling for the traumatic experience she went through, was now better and could continue taking care of the children. Meanwhile, Yana was busy during the week. After talking to the police for evading them, Yana also refused to do any speech or give interviews to the public and media.
All of this was handled by Luka's PR team while Yana and Luka finalised the plans of the orphanage and had it built as quickly as possible.
It was set to be finished in a few months maximum. It would be bigger and could house more orphans in need, thus they were also going to recruit more staff. The more the orphanage expanded, the more it had to be made sure that nothing was out of sorts and that the safety of the children wasn't threatened.
All in all, Yana's job here was done. Since the orphanage now officially belonged to M.M. and it was obvious that the public held their eye on it, the other companies had to give up on it. But there were still many unanswered questions and Yana felt that a lot of the events, methods, moves and reasons didn't make sense-
If they really wanted to build a money-laundering factory, 'they' wouldn't resort to such unconventional methods. 'They' had enough authority and power to take the project from M.M or just buy the ownership of it, without doing something as complicated and stupid as using managers to sabotage a little naïve girl.
Especially not having kidnapping and arson involved. So what was their real purpose? Yana felt that they do want the project but they didn't want it enough to claim it theirs in an instant or else they wouldn't have set all of this up and –
No, there was another reason Yana couldn't figure it out.
They had a motive behind this chaotic mess regarding the orphanage- Yana's eyes widened and she jumped up- it didn't matter!
From the beginning, they were confident it would end up in their hands!
So whatever Yana did, whatever they put Yana through, it didn't faze them. But why?
Why bother doing all of this when their goal was already within their hands?
Could it be-
Yana shuddered. No way, could it be it had something to do with her?
The orphanage was there for a long while and only after Yana worked there for a while did it become desired, no, after Yana met Luka and he took over it and bought it.
Although there were traces about them in the City, Yana's original mission was to assume a mediocre job and scout to find out plans but it still took them too long to act.
Then were Yana's assumptions about Luka right? She had doubts about his motives but then again they waited at least half a year before targeting the orphanage. It couldn't be a coincidence, there must be something to it. Yana spaced up and down in the room while the confession still rolled in the background.
Maybe all the companies have been set up and this was just mere entertainment but for what?
Did they want this? Could they predict the outcome of three major companies going down like this?
Yana's head started to hurt. She felt like she was close but still far away. The old thread dangled in front of her, but each time she wanted to grab it, it further got away. Yana's mission wasn't over yet. It seemed like there was something bigger to all of this. Yana had to continue to stay and find out.
And her first target was Luka. It all started with him. She had to find out how and why he found her. Try to lure out everything she wanted to know from him. Not even Marie could find out about how Luka became a CEO in such a short amount of time and under dubious circumstances. Yana needed to know how Luka answered.
Based on that she strived forward. Yana picked up her phone and called Roy to tell him that she had to continue to stay here. After a while, Roy's heavy voice echoed through, "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Roy sighed, then harsh words rained down on Yana, "Yana, I actually planned to pull you out the second you revealed yourself to the public. You have done everything wrong that could've gone wrong. This mission was chaotic. Not only did you take way too long but you also drew plenty of unnecessary attention."
Yana bit her lip. Roy was completely right, so she couldn't refuse, "We have to clean up your mess. You should know, how many times have I drilled into you the most important lesson? What does it mean to be part of the EF?"
"To become a ghost. To not reveal myself to anyone. To finish the missions as if there was no one from the beginning, to leave no traces behind. To become invisible and not become a lasting memory."
"Yet?"
"I completely disregarded that," Yana was a small child reprimanded by her teacher.
"You drew all the public's attention as well as those of some important people. In a bad way. You should know that they'll target you."
"Yes, I know," Yana felt helpless. Yana disappeared for 5 years to erase her existence but now because of her mistakes, she just straight out announced it to the whole world, worse than that to their enemies. The existence of the EF and that she was part of it should never come to light.
"But you still want to continue?" Roy's words sounded like Yana's fate was already sealed but she still tried her luck, "Yes, there's something strange about this and I've got a clue already," Yana blabbered some more proof until Roy sighed again.
"A month, two months maximum, then you'll come back. I've got another mission for you."
Yana suppressed her joy and said, "Thanks Roy, I'll use it wisely."
Roy hung up.
Yana took a deep breath to calm her nerves and gather everything she knew. She thought she wouldn't see Luka anymore and have nothing to do with him but now Yana had to stick to him as closely as possible to figure out his background.
The display on her phone showed a message from this morning.
Luka wanted to celebrate after everything's settled and invited her to dinner.
Yana planned not to answer him but now she typed, "Sure I'd love to."
Not even a few seconds later, Luka's reply came with the time and that he'd pick her up.