"The cameras are set and ready."
Rex glanced at the man in front of him and then shifted his gaze to the screen within which Lilian could be seen jumping out of excitement for gaining this mysterious information about Lucas.
"Good. Thank you for your help, Wilian."
The taller man nodded, clicking away from his computer, making sure that all of the monitors in the room would be filled with footage of the Chus' secretive operations.
"Great work, Wilian! This time, this little bitch won't be getting out of our sight."
Wilian laughed, while Stellar cast a side-eye glare at Lilian's creepy expression as she reviewed all the information she had gathered.
"Do you think she will take the bait? Like the entire bait?"
Wilian turned to Ezekiel, intrigued. "Well, she has already taken the first one. Chances are that she will take the next one as well."
Ezekiel furrowed his brows at him with confusion. "No, I am not talking about Lilian, dude. I know her capabilities won't go beyond critical thinking. I am talking about Audrey."
Wilian laughed at Ezekiel's comment about Lilian but sighed when the man mentioned it was Audrey, he was talking about.
"Well, I get that she is definitely the smartest of the two girls and she might even get suspicious about all of this, but let's not lose hope with this. We still have one more pawn inside the house. We just need to make sure that he doesn't fuck up."
Ezekiel sighed and nodded, "Well, yeah, if."
Rex shrugged.
He had confidence in Joshua's capabilities and was better than anyone else since he had seen the latter train for everything since he was a little tot.
"He won't. I know him too well to fuck things up."
Both Wilian and Ezekiel exchanged surprised looks. This was the first time that they heard Rex vouch for someone with such assurance.
"Well, if you say so, Mr. Lin," Wilian replied.
"I will put my trust in your word for that. However, for more reassurance, I will send him a message to make sure that he puts all of his acting skills into this operation."
"Do what you have to, Wilian. Just make sure there won't be any hitch."
Wilian nodded at the CEO while he watched Rex walk out of the room while Ezekiel lingered by his side.
"You aren't going?"
Ezekiel shook his head and focused on all the camera feeds, wondering why Joshua seemed to be limping.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the several camera feeds and couldn't help but wonder to himself.
Wilian then grabbed his phone to message Joshua, making sure that it was non-threatening.
[Great job, Joshua. She took the bait.]
Wilian watched as Joshua went out of the room and out to the front gate to throw the USB drive into a pile of trash. He then saw him looking to his side, nodded, and received a notification on his second phone.
[All done here, boss.]
He smiled and replied: [Great job, boys. I'll take it from here.]
Wilian then turned to look back at the feed from the camera to track where Joshua had gone and stared at his phone for a response.
Joshua did not.
Wilian sent another response while looking at the camera in Joshua's room and watched as Joshua cussed under his breath and cursed out towards Lilian.
Both men inside the room chuckled as Joshua flopped himself to his bed and closed his eyes.
As time passed and Joshua looked like he was already sleeping peacefully, Ezekiel decided to call it a night and leave the room.
He bid his farewell to Wilian and left for his own room.
Now, only Wilian was left in the room, keeping an eye on all the scenes that unfolded on the screens and taking some notes that looked weird on his end.
"Hm. Looks like things have already settled down."
He leaned back in his chair and was about to close his eyes, when another man entered Joshua's room, covered in bruises and bite marks.
Wilian zoomed in on the man's body as he approached Joshua and tapped him awake. Joshua opened his eyes and looked at the man with a grimace evident on his face.
"Shit, Zeno. Again? What did you get into this time?" He heard Joshua say while the man covered in bruises just smiled at him painfully and shook his head.
"Don't worry your pretty little brain about it. I am still alive. How's your leg?"
Joshua gave him an exasperated sigh as he sat up from his bed and stood up, limping to demonstrate his condition.
"Oh wow, looks like he hit you pretty hard, huh?"
Joshua nodded, unable to muster out any nice words as his gaze drifted hopingly to the camera hidden in plain sight.
Wilian noticed it.
He saw his eyes, crying in pain and begging for help. Yet, he couldn't and knew that there was nothing he could do—no one could.
"Hey, everything's going to be fine. After this, you might be able to find a new employer."
"Me? Why only me, Zeno? You'll leave with me."
Zeno shook his head and held Joshua's hand tightly.
"I don't think I can leave the family, Joshua. No one would employ someone as broken as me."
"What? No! You can't stay! He might kill you if you do."
Zeno only shook his head and slowly pulled Joshua into a slow hug and whispered something in his ear. Something that even the best CCTV cameras couldn't catch.
Wilian cussed under his breath as he watched the man covered in bruises and Joshua limping.
Whoever did this to them fueled his anger more than ever.
"No one deserves this kind of treatment. Especially from a family who already had nothing to prove to the world and is already on the brink of bankruptcy."
Joshua helped his friend lay down on his bed and tucked him in gently. He bid him good night and limped back to his bed, grabbing his phone while trying hard not to shed a tear.
He opened the messaging app and texted the one person he knew was watching everything.
[I am sorry you had to see that. Just turn a blind eye on it, please.]