This is not an emotion she had experienced in a long time. Varvara had to shut down her computer for a whole day. She had greatly underestimated this hacker.
She didn't know what she had fallen into, but as far as she knew, her location was compromised. She felt so stupid for falling for this obvious trap. What was she thinking?
With anger brewing in her heart, she decided to leave the house for a while. But before she did that, she hired a housekeeper to take care of her mom. It took a lot of convincing and an extravagant amount of pay to coax the old lady to agree.
She just hated people to the core, but what could she do? As soon as it was settled, she left her house and hired a motel ten miles from her home. On her journey, she bought a cheap laptop and a burner cellphone.
After paying for two nights, she was given a room, specifically with an open window. This was to ensure her means of escape in case anything went south.
As soon as she was settled, she turned on her computer and did the necessary setup before she could use computer. She quickly restored all the data she acquired before shutting down her main computer.
All the terminals and windows popped into activity. "Alright James, let's see what you're up to", she said with interest as she did a quick check at all the hospitals to see if his name would pop up.
As if she had guessed right, James' name appeared in a hospital a mile and half away from his home. "Lost memory? Head trauma? What the hell?" Varvara read the report and her frown kept deepening.
His report also mentioned that a couple named John and Martha Hart adopted him. That was a lead. According to their Meta information, they lived in the suburbs of Boston.
She downloaded all the information and copied them to a drive. Then she shut down the computer and remove the drive, with a mind to dispose of it later.
"I'm coming for you James Smith", she thought in her mind. By the next light tomorrow, she would be taking her flight to Massachusetts. It's going to be a long flight.
----------
Time passed pretty quickly, and before James knew it, it was Thursday. Being in the festive mood, Maribel and the rest had been decorating the house with lights and ribbons.
Maribel showed her talent in decoration as she craftily spelt all of their names with the Christmas lights in their rooms. Even James couldn't help but compliment her craft.
However, James was in no mood for anything festive. He first had to go to the electronic store and buy more SSDs, then the family are all going out to eat at a fancy restaurant around the block.
He also had an appointment with Sophia. He has a lot to do today and tomorrow. Apart from the appointment, thinking about the rest of the things he would be doing was already exhausting him.
Since he couldn't sleep, he was able to finish all of his freelance work with the extra hours. So he didn't have anything to do this morning. Maybe he should play one match on his phone.
So he ran Call of Duty and joined a match. He noticed that Charles was online, so he sent him an invite to his team, which he accepted almost immediately.
"Bruh, it's been a while", Charles sent a message on the chat feed. "A while? We saw each other in school just two weeks ago", he raised his brow with a smile as he returned the message.
"It's a long time to me", Charles replied. The game then started, ending their chat.
James was in the middle of his game when he heard a creak on his door, and Josh walked in without knocking. "What do you want Josh?" James asked without looking up.
"Just f**k off. Maribel says you should get down here", he chided with a snarl. "I'm coming, please leave", James replied flatly. "And what if I don't? You'll report me to Maribel like you always do huh?" Josh growled with anger.
Since they were already leading with so many kills, James could confidently put his character in a corner, before facing the fuming Josh squarely.
"I'm not the one that wanted to implicate me with pornography Josh. You sneaked into my room and wanted the family that ain't mine to hate me, how's that fair?" James, whose emotions used to fluctuate began to heat up on his chest.
"And by the way, when did you begin watching that disgusting thing?" He added. Josh didn't reply quickly. He stared at James for ten seconds, and James refused to break the stare.
They engaged in a staring contest for a full twenty-five seconds, that was until Charles' voice sounded from his phone. "James, I'm not seeing you. Are you dead?"
James removed his eyes from Josh's face and took up his phone. "I'm still around", he replied. Then, turning to Josh, he said, "I don't want to cause any trouble, please just go", James gestured to the door.
"I'm sorry James, but you started the trouble, and trust me, you're gonna regret it", Josh smiled, but he wasn't smiling, before closing his door behind him with a loud bang.
----------
Maribel caught Josh walking down the stairs and stood in his way. "Where are you coming from young man?" She asked with a cold expression. "I went and called James over", he said dismissively and kept on walking, but Maribel stopped him.
"Did I ask you to call him?" She asked coldly. "It's just a little favour…", Josh was caught in his mid-sentence as Maribel interrupted him. "What did I tell you about going to James' room? Go to your room, and don't come out unless I asked you to!" Maribel scolded angrily and pointed at his room.
"That's what it's about, giving James all the attention and ignoring your only child. I hate you mom", Josh spat out. However, Maribel wasn't moved. "If you don't go to your room this second, you'll be grounded for three months!"
It took all her will not to slap Josh. Josh became emotional and ran to his room.