What kind of person was Elleard?
This question had been on Elena's mind for a long time, ever since the man had asked her to marry him at the cafe. Initially, Elena didn't really pay attention to her curiosity because she didn't think Elleard was serious with his proposal.
Well, how could she take it seriously that a rich man like him wanted Elena to be his wife? Elleard and Elena were from very different worlds and had only known each other for a short time.
She didn't dwell on her curiosity about who Elleard really was. However, after Elleard came with a lot of money to 'buy' her, the girl finally understood that Elleard was serious about what he said.
And then, all of a sudden Elena had moved into this huge mansion. She tried to guess who Elleard was and why he wanted to marry her, but she couldn't get the answer either from Elleard or the people in the mansion.
Greta, whom she thought was going to tell her the information she knew about Elleard, didn't want to talk at all. This made Elena even more curious.
She wanted to ask Elleard a lot of things but wasn't sure how she could get her question across without offending the man.
Was Elleard sick or had an accident that left him paralyzed? Why didn't Xavier live in this mansion with Elleard when the relationship between the two of them seemed very good? Xavier preferred to live in his own house which was nothing compared to this magnificent mansion.
Oh, and by the way.. how did their parents die? Elena had worked in the flower shop near the cemetery for several years before she met Elleard for the first time, but she had never seen the man and Xavier come to visit their parents' graves until several months ago.
Were they living abroad for years and couldn't visit the cemetery?
Elena frowned as her eyes caught sight of the cellphone in her hand. Ahh.. why was she so dumb?
It didn't even occur to her to find out information about Elleard from the internet search engine. For some reason, she naively thought that only famous people like celebrities or politicians could be searched on the internet so she didn't think about investigating her future husband through a Google search.
She should have tried and seen what she could find on Google. Wasn't that clever? The thing was she didn't get anything at all by asking Elleard and the residents of the mansion.
Finally, out of curiosity, Elena typed the name Elleard Osbart in the search engine application. As her phone screen showed the various information she was looking for, Elena pursed her lips, surprised by what she found.
On the very top of the page was the photo of Elleard's family that Elena had seen on the walls of this mansion, on the first floor. Elena was getting more and more intrigued to find out more about who Elleard's family was. Elena kept scrolling her phone screen down.
She found several articles about the Osbarts. It was said that the Osbart family were businessmen that had important portfolios in the property and pharmaceutical fields. Elena also found articles from unofficial sources stating that the family was connected to the mafia.
"Ahh…" Elena frowned in surprise. In one of those articles, she read information about the massacre of the Osbart couple, on their wedding anniversary.
There were rumors that the massacre was ordered by Elleard's father's, Marco Osbart, business partner. Elena pursed her lips and sighed.
She remembered that this news had caused an uproar on TV several years ago. She was still very young at the time and she didn't know the Osbarts either, so the news just passed and she didn't pay much attention to it.
Now she realized that the reason why Elleard and Xavier had only started visiting the cemetery a few months ago was that Elleard had been injured in the attack and fell into a coma. He probably just woke up a few months ago and then started visiting his parents' graves.
Elena was deep in thoughts. She had also lost both her parents almost ten years ago. It had been such a long time. She was now used to living without her father and mother.
However, for Elleard, of course the incident seemed to have happened only a few months ago because he slept for quite a long time.
Imagining the man's sad face every time he talked about his family, Elena couldn't help but sigh. Her sympathy grew even greater for Elleard.
There was some more news on the bottom of her phone screen. One of them contained a picture of Elleard standing with his arm wrapped around a very beautiful girl with brown hair and brilliant blue eyes.
DING!
However, before Elena had the chance to check on the news, she was suddenly surprised by the sound of an incoming message from Elleard.
[You haven't slept, Baby? Is there something you want to ask me?]
Elena swallowed. Why did Elleard suddenly send her this message? It was as if they were so connected that he knew she was thinking about him. This thought brought a smile on Elena's face.
She immediately typed a message reply to Ellerad. [I'm going to sleep soon]
Not long after, she could hear his reply enter her phone. [All right, good night, baby. Go to sleep, you need your rest.]
Elena smiled shyly as she read the 'baby' nickname that Elleard had addressed to her. She was already used to the word now but that didn't mean she wasn't blushing whenever she heard it. Nobody had ever called her 'baby' before.
Elena put her phone on the nightstand beside the bed and closed her eyes. Elena didn't know that the cell phone that Elleard gave her was tapped. Her husband-to-be could see whatever activities she did on her phone.
Elleard was satisfied with Elena's attitude. She was not nosy nor greedy. All her activities were monitored via her cellphone and the observations of the maids and bodyguards assigned to take care of her. Actually, Elleard had been waiting for when Elena started to wonder about his background.
It turned out that the girl was not so nosy and insisted on anyone to open up to her. She was just asking and trying to get answers from Elleard himself and his people.
It was only today that he saw Elena's curiosity begin to peak until the girl finally searched information about him online. It's about time, he thought to himself.
That's why Elleard immediately sent the message earlier to Elena. He wanted her to ask him directly what she wanted to know.
***
Elleard put away his cell phone and looked up at the events unfolding in front of him. Under Xavier's foot right now was a man's neck that would be broken if he pressed it with his foot one more time.
This was one of the members of the assassin group that was captured after hiding for three years. This man repeatedly claimed that he did not know Carlos Marquez who was the mastermind of the massacre even though Xavier had been torturing him since the afternoon.
"Where's Carlos?" Xavier asked again in his deep voice. He sounded as cold as ice as he spoke and his shoe continued to press against the back of the man's neck. The man's face was already covered in blood from his torn temple. "This is your last chance to save your family. You know what to do."
"I already said I don't know who he was, we were just doing our job. He called me and I only get all the instructions by phone," The man said in a choked voice.
"Fine, if that's what you want. Apparently, you don't care about your young brother. Very well!" Xavier drew his gun, then aimed it at the back of the man's head.
BANG!
The man's blood and brain matter splattered lightly on Elleard's trousers and his wheelchair. He watched the whole thing without blinking an eye.
"Find his brother," Xavier said without turning to look at Simon who was standing beside him. The assistant nodded.
***