Chicago, USA
18:00
The late afternoon approaching evening is the busiest time for traffic in Chicago. Amidst the city's congestion, a woman nervously sits in a taxi. She repeatedly glances at the watch on her wrist, then looks out the taxi window, hoping the cars in front will start moving in the middle of the traffic jam.
But ten minutes have passed, and there seems to be no progress. The taxi she's in has only moved a meter. The woman clicks her tongue in frustration—she can't be late. If she stays in the cab and waits patiently, it might take another thirty minutes or more. Ultimately, the woman takes money from her jacket pocket and hands it to the taxi driver.
"I'll get out here," the woman, Starley, says. Without waiting for a response from the driver, Starley opens the taxi door and steps out.
Once on the sidewalk, she ties her hair. Then, without paying attention to the many curious eyes on her, she starts running. After thirteen minutes, Starley finally arrives in front of a luxury apartment building. Out of breath, she enters the lobby of the luxury apartment with her worn-out sneakers.
As she enters, many eyes look at her with disgust. Starley, wearing old shoes, an oversized jacket, baggy sweatpants, and a messy hair tie, is not dressed for such a place.
They probably think she's from a lower class and doesn't belong in such a luxury apartment. They can't see her face because she's wearing a black cap. Her appearance is not her best, but she's deliberately dressed this way.
Her gaze meets that of the security guard, who looks at her curiously, but Starley ignores him. She heads straight to the reception, where a man who looks familiar greets her warmly.
"Hello, Miss, how can I help you?"
"I need the penthouse key, Derek," Starley says. The man blinks for a moment, looking confused. Finally, Starley lifts her head, and the man instantly recognizes her. It seems that Derek is also surprised by Starley's appearance, which makes her look homeless.
"Miss Starley, I wasn't informed that your young master would be expecting you," Derek says.
"Of course he didn't tell you. I'm here quietly. I want to surprise him, so please don't tell him I'm here," Starley lies. Derek looks uncertain, but since he has no strong reason to refuse her request, he eventually hands her the key.
"Shall I escort you, Miss?"
"No need, I can go by myself. But please call me if you see him coming, thank you, Derek."
Without waiting for Derek's response, Starley heads to the private elevator for the penthouse. She enters the elevator with the access key Derek gave her.
Upon reaching the penthouse, Starley enters quietly, hoping not to run into anyone. After ensuring no servants or other people are around, she heads straight for the main bedroom.
The room is spacious, minimalist, and masculine, with a dominant navy blue color—the man's favorite color. It also has a massive window with a city view of Chicago. Starley searches for the safe in the usual location where the man hides it. When she finds the safe beside the bed, she quickly opens it using the code the man usually uses.
And it works. Starley's eyes light up, thinking how silly she was to use his old code still. But as she opens the safe, the sparkle in her eyes fades. The item she was looking for was outside. The safe only contains a few gold bars, cash reserves, and other valuable documents. Starley is disappointed and closes the safe again.
'Where else could he be hiding it?' Starley thinks to herself.
'Could it be in his office?'
Starley leaves the main bedroom and searches for the office without wasting any more time. When she finds the office, she quickly looks for a safe or a locked drawer.
But after almost ten minutes, Starley still hasn't found anything. She begins to get frustrated and looks around again. Eventually, her gaze falls on a painting of a blonde woman. For some reason, it seems oddly familiar.
But Starley notices that the painting could be more perfectly fixed to the wall. Curious, she approaches it. And indeed, behind the painting, a safe is hidden and embedded in the wall.
However, when she tries to open the safe using the previous code, it doesn't work. This safe uses a different code. Starley grows more anxious and checks the time.
'Damn, he'll be home soon.'
But Starley doesn't want to give up just yet. She examines the safe in front of her. The buttons on this safe appear to be made of a material that doesn't leave fingerprints, so using the old method of looking for fingerprints would be a waste of time.
Finally, she grabs a laptop that's idle in the office and connects it to the safe in front of her. Starley begins trying to hack into the safe. But hacking this safe is more complicated than usual. After who knows how long, suddenly, Starley's phone vibrates, signaling an incoming call.
"Hello?" Starley answers.
"Miss Starley, the young master has entered the lobby," says Derek on the other end of the line. Starley's body tense up, and she starts to panic.
"Please help distract him for five minutes, Derek. Keep him in the lobby for five minutes or more."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm not done setting up the surprise. Please, help me, Derek," Starley says urgently.
"But, Miss, how am I supposed to distract him?" Derek's voice lowers, sounding increasingly panicked.
"Do something, you must have plenty of ideas," Starley says. Without waiting for Derek's response, she hangs up the call. Starley takes a deep breath—she can finish this. There's nothing she can't hack. Starley gets back into focus mode.
After about four minutes, Starley is almost finished, with one digit left. But suddenly, her phone vibrates again. Starley clicks her tongue in annoyance at the interruption but still picks up the call. Before Starley can speak, Derek's voice is already on the line.
"Miss, sorry, I couldn't hold him any longer, he's already entered the elevator," Derek whispers. Starley panics, hangs up the call, and quickly refocuses on the laptop screen before her.
In the blink of an eye, she cracked the last number. Once all the codes were entered, Starley pressed the code into the safe. She felt an overwhelming sense of relief when the code worked.
Starley opened the safe and found the item she had been looking for. Just at that moment, she heard the sound of a phone ringing outside the office door. It wasn't Starley's phone—hers was in her pocket. Starley stared at the closed office door.
'He's here!' Starley thought to herself.
.
.
.
A few minutes earlier, inside the private penthouse elevator, "I'm sorry, you must come to my penthouse because I forgot to bring the documents," said Nathan Bellamy. The man beside Nathan glanced briefly at him from the corner of his eye before staring at the closed elevator door.
"Don't worry, I'm not that busy tonight," the man replied. Nathan squinted at the response.
"I'm a little surprised to hear you, the workaholic, say that you're not that busy," Nathan replied suspiciously.
"Actually, I was supposed to have dinner with business partners, but it's been postponed until next week."
"As I expected, Raul Blackwell could never be 'not that busy.' If you read the news, it says you're too busy to save the world," Nathan joked. Raul rolled his eyes at that.
"Stupid news," Raul muttered. Nathan chuckled. Then, the elevator door opened, and they reached the penthouse floor. Nathan walked ahead of Raul. As they entered the penthouse, the lights inside automatically turned on.
"Would you like something to drink?" Nathan asked.
"No, thank you. Once I grab the documents, I'll leave right away," Raul replied.
"Then let's go to my office, the documents are there," As they were almost at the office door, suddenly, Nathan's phone rang. Nathan checked the caller ID, and it was his father. He had to answer this call.
"Raul, please go ahead into my office, I need to take this call," Nathan said. Raul nodded in understanding and headed straight for the large office door. As his hand was on the door handle, suddenly Raul caught a scent—a woman's perfume. Was it Nathan's perfume? Raul glanced toward Nathan, who had disappeared, presumably to take the call.
Raul looked back at the door he hadn't opened. Was there someone inside? He held his gun, still tucked in his jacket pocket. Slowly, he opened the office door. Once it was wide enough, Raul stepped in, carefully scanning the room. But there was no one inside.
Raul entered, glancing left and right. Was he being too cautious? His work always kept him on high alert 24/7. He relaxed his grip on the gun in his jacket, then sat in the luxurious leather chair in Nathan's office.
On the other side, Starley closed her mouth, afraid her breath would give her away. Now, Starley was hiding in a small closet beneath the bookshelf. Luckily, her small frame allowed her to crouch in the empty closet.
Was it Nathan? But somehow, she felt it wasn't Nathan. The important thing was that Starley couldn't make a sound. She just had to wait a few more minutes until the person left, and then she would find a chance to escape from the penthouse without being seen.
But suddenly, she heard a deep voice say, "You know, you don't need to hide."
Starley froze at the sound. Who was that? Was he talking to her? There was no way he knew she was here, right?
"I'll teach you one thing: if you want to stay undetected, next time don't wear perfume that reveals your identity. My sense of smell is sharp, and your perfume isn't the one Nathan usually wears," the man said in a relaxed tone.
Starley's heart pounded faster, but she wasn't wearing any perfume. She tried sniffing her clothes. Ah, yes, they smelled like fabric softeners. But was his sense of smell really that sharp?
The next moment, the closet door opened quickly. The first thing Starley saw was a gun aimed at her. But what shocked her even more was the man holding the gun.
Raul Blackwell?
But Starley could tell that Raul didn't seem to recognize her. They had never met face-to-face, and besides, Starley didn't look like Nathan's little sister, the pampered one who loved glamorous things. In reality, Starley was very wild.
Raul had suspected the person hiding was a woman, but he hadn't expected the woman to be so attractive.
Raul took a moment to observe her appearance. She looked disheveled and very messy. Her brown hair was tied up haphazardly as she had just run a long distance. From how she looked, it was clear she wasn't a professional spy on a mission to come here. Raul even doubted whether this woman had any weapons to defend herself.
And also, Raul couldn't deny that the woman in front of him had her charm. Her eyes were beautiful, but what was more intriguing was her gaze. Her look wasn't fearful at all; in fact, Raul could see in her eyes that she almost seemed to be challenging him. Raul smiled slightly.
'Very interesting,' Raul thought to himself.
"Who are you?" Raul asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm a thief," Starley replied.
"All thieves have names."
"What do I get if I tell you my name?" Starley asked.
"What?" Raul looked confused.
"I want you to let me go," Starley said, ignoring Raul's confusion.
"What's in it for me if I let you go?" Raul asked, puzzled.
"You get my real name. You're Raul Blackwell, right? Just by knowing my real name, you can easily track me down."
So this woman knew who Raul was. But what she said was true—it was Raul's daily job to track people, spy on them, and gather information. If his brother, Damien, were here, he would probably say, 'Who told you to open a private intelligence agency?'
"You could be lying to me," Raul said. Starley rolled her eyes. She took something from her small bag and handed it to Raul. Raul looked at what Starley offered him— an ID card.
Raul took it and then looked at the ID. The name on it was Starley Anne Bellamy. Raul looked back at Starley and said, "You're Nathan's sister?"
"So, can you lower the gun now?" Starley asked. Raul stared at Starley for a moment but eventually lowered his gun. After that, Starley stepped out of the closet and stood up. She walked past Raul. At that moment, Raul could smell Starley's intoxicating scent.
"Then I'll go," Starley said. When she realized what she had just said, Raul immediately grabbed Starley's shoulder from behind, stopping her in her tracks.
"If you're really Starley Bellamy, you can't go anywhere until you meet Nathan."
"I won't," Starley said. Before Raul could respond, Starley sharply elbowed Raul in the stomach, catching him off guard and causing him to release his grip on her shoulder involuntarily. After that, Starley quickly moved out of Raul's reach, now standing about two to three meters away.
Starley aimed the gun at Raul. When Raul reached for his weapon, it suddenly disappeared.
"You looking for this?" Starley asked. Only then did Raul realize that the gun Starley was pointing at him was his own.
Raul hadn't expected this woman to steal his gun. After figuring out her identity, he seemed careless, thinking Nathan's sister wouldn't be well-trained enough to fight him.
But it turned out he was wrong. The woman in front of him was well-trained and very clever. She had almost cornered him. Now, he was even more intrigued by her.
"You're the first person to steal my gun from my hand," Starley didn't have time for small talk and went straight to the point.
"I've told you my name, which means now you have to let me go," Raul looked at Starley calmly. His calmness made Starley uneasy, but she didn't try to show it.
"You're not being held, cupcake," Raul said. Starley blinked momentarily when she heard Raul call her "cupcake."
"What did you call me?" Starley could see the mischievous glint in Raul's eyes.
Oh my god, she didn't have time for this. If her brother knew that Starley had stolen her passport, Nathan would have kept her in big trouble. Finally, Starley just shot Raul a sharp look.
She walked backward toward the office door, still holding the gun pointed at him. Starley opened the office door and looked both ways, ensuring Nathan wasn't around. Once she was sure it was safe, she gave Raul one last glance and said, "I hope this is the last time we meet, Mr. Blackwell," Without waiting for Raul's response, Starley quickly left.
Once Starley disappeared from his sight, Raul finally spoke up, "I'll make sure we meet again soon, Starley."
He then looked back at Starley's ID card, which was still in his hand. That was the beginning of the encounter between two people who would bring tragedy to each other's lives.
…