Lucian was staring at Nicolo's sleeping body while typing something on his phone simultaneously.
"I'm going to put on an act, don't be confused. I'll be saying and asking stuff. Respond just how you would naturally, I'll be saying things in a way to confuse my surrounding people. Just listen and respond. And the most important thing, don't show this conversation to anyone, not even to Luther! And also, don't speak when we go on video calling mode" - the message from Lucian, to Elias.
"Video Calling?", Elias was online, he read the message in a matter of seconds, he didn't reply though, most probably because of the suddenness of the situation Luke created.
Lucian quickly called Elias, having the sound of his phone on a very low level. Elias received it.
Lucian's eyes quickly wettened. He started weeping even.
"Mom! Today you'll have to tell me about everything! You are going through your pain all on your own! It is not fair!", as soon as Lucian's weeping voice hit Elias, he was confused, really confused.
"He said he'll act, so I'll assume he is replacing my name with…with Mom I guess? So is this about my pain? Is he talking about my enemies? He was always curious about it anyways.", Elias thought but didn't respond, trying to understand the current one-sided conversation.
"Listen Mom, I know you are doing this for my sake, or maybe not. But don't hide anything from me. I want to trust you. For the first time, I'll have to trust. So please, tell me about your goals, what are you exactly wanting to do?", Luke asked.
"Luke, are you asking about my enemies?", Elias finally responded.
"Yes", Lucian said.
"I have something to tell as well. I agree with you, I want to trust you as well, in fact I have already started taking steps towards that. If you really want to trust me….", Elias stopped mid-sentence.
"I get it. You want me to tell you about myself in order to do that, right Mom?", Lucian said, stopping his weeps.
"That is what I was thinking. Having Aria as a hostage would have been enough, but….", Elias was hesitating a bit.
"Don't worry Mom, I get it. I'm also willing to do this. I want to see you too, I'm video calling you, then you can see me, to see that I'm fully fine.", Lucian clicked on the video call option.
Elias's hands were shaking, as he was the first one ever to see what the Ghost looks like, probably the first one. Everything was happening way too suddenly for Elias.
Elias's eyes widened and his face was full of shock as he witnessed Lucian Cole on his mobile screen.
"Wha-what?! Th-This is 'The Ghost'?!", Elias was speechless, as he was supposed to be. After all this time, he finally witnessed the face of the person the world knows as the Ghost!
"Lucian Cole?! The famous artist, is also the ghost who steals art? How can this be?!", Elias couldn't speak, because he was not allowed to, as the call was now on a video call mode, the speaker was on loud, and Elias had to stay silent for that bit.
Lucian was smiling at the screen, smiling for his Mom.
"See Mom? I'm fine. Now tell me about yourself, your problems!", just after this he quickly turned off the speaker and video, going for normal calling.
"B-But, why did you do this? You know right, I can r-reveal your identity at any moment?", Elias stuttered, out of confusion and excitement.
"I know that very well. It's because I chose to trust you." - Lucian's words echoed inside Elias's brain.
He became silent for a moment, just physically silent, as his head was full of questions that were already answered.
"Why would he unnecessarily reveal this much info to me? Who am I? A random person who has his partner as hostage? Why? Why me?", a second thought crossed Elias's mind just then, "What if this is a fake? If he is just fooling me?"
Elias spoke up again, "What if this video call you just did was a fake? How can I believe that this was you, still?"
Lucian smiled a little and said, "Mom, if you don't want to trust me, then it's alright. But know this, I trust you fully, and whatever I say, is the truth!"
"He is right. I have given him nothing that can make him trust me, but still he has lost a lot of things because of me. I have his partner as hostage, and now his identity as well, considering it is true. No! I'll have to believe it, afterall he has nothing to gain in this situation. He deserves to know the truth.", Elias was deep in his thoughts.
"Look Mom. I don't care about myself, this is also about you. Remember those days father was in pain?", as soon as Lucian pronounced those words, Elias understood what Lucian was talking about. Despite not knowing anything about Elias's wife's death, except its persistence, Lucian still hit the spot Elias was weak at.
"Lucian Cole, Luke, you can believe me. I'm telling you about everything, everything about my goal, in text right?", Elias finally spoke the words Lucian was waiting for.
"Yes, thanks Mom. I guess I'll have to cut the call now. Some investigators suspected me for The Ghost Case, and I found a way to talk with you in secret, don't worry Mom, we'll talk again", Lucian immediately cut the call, and stared at the screen of his phone, with a bittersweet emotion in his eyes.
Lucian then laid on his bed, his hands behind his head.
15 minutes ago,
Lucian went to the kitchen, to prepare the pancakes.
Where are the sleeping pills, I'm pretty sure it was in one of these cabinets.
His hands went for the 3rd cabinet. He opened it and took a small glass bottle full of sleeping pills, in fact it was written on the bottle itself.
Just after he placed the bottle on the table, he 'accidently' dropped the bottle. And it created a loud sound, loud enough to reach Nicolo's ears in the room beside.
The story of Nicolo's book broke as soon as he heard a loud sound coming from the kitchen, "What was that sound?"
He quickly remembered something from his own experience. Once Ralph told him, "Don't eat anything that Lucian or any other suspect makes with their own hands. Never."
Nicolo tip-toed his way to the door of the kitchen and took a peek. He saw Lucian sitting on the floor facing the opposite side, so he was unable to see Nicolo behind him, or that's what it seemed like.
There was a small mirror in front of Lucian on the kitchen wall which helped him see Nicolo behind him, but he just acted the way he should.
Nicolo was shocked to see the 'sleeping pills' bottle in Lucian's hands.
"Ralph was right then! And here I was trusting Mr.Cole, how stupid am I?", Nicolo quickly went back to his position in his chair in the other room.
"I guess I should follow Ralph's suggestions now. I'll have to act like I didn't see anything. This will reveal what Mr.Cole is trying to do.", Nicolo thought.
After around 3 minutes, Lucian came with the pancakes.
Lucian started eating his portion while looking out his window, giving Nicolo the chance to do something with his pancakes, other than eating them of course.
Nicolo quickly put on of the pancakes in the dustbin beside him, and said, "These are delicious Mr.Cole!"
Lucian turned his head to Nicolo and responded with thanks.
He turned again to the window. Upon looking towards Nicolo again after around 5 minutes, he saw him sleeping.
He is now in my hands. He truly is just like how I predicted. He'll now act like this for some time, showing me that he is sleeping. He expects me to reveal something in front of him, thinking that he is asleep.
But, I have planned even further, let's see.
Current time,
That was all perfect.
Nicolo will now sympathize with me after I manipulate him further into thinking that I have a deceased mother with family problems.
completed two tasks by one approach. I won both Nicolo and Elias's
trust. Though it's different with Elias.
Now I'll just have to wait for the results, and Elias's messages…..