Chapter 12: Conspiracy

Alena Fleur

"So where are we right now?" I asked, looking around the lounge area of a fancy apartment complex.

"Somewhere safe," Elian replied and walked towards the elevator.

I followed after him without question.

We had managed to get rid of the police cars which had been chasing us, and after that, we were right now at this unknown place. I was sure this wasn't where Elian lived. I had been to his mansion once before.

We reached the top floor of the building and got out of the elevator.

Elian rang the doorbell of the only unit there, and soon, the door opened up to reveal a familiar figure.

"Hello, brother," Lance greeted with a welcoming smile. When his eyes trailed towards me, he added curtly, "And his employee."

"Hello," I mumbled, still not sure why we were here.

"Hey, thanks for letting us crash," Elian said and entered without hesitation.

"Anytime, Elian," Lance said. "Aren't you coming in?" he asked me.

"Um, yeah. Thanks," I said and stepped inside the luxurious duplex penthouse.

For some reason, everything felt so family—the layout, the decorations, the furniture. Did a movie shoot take place here? Maybe that's where I saw it.

"You guys make yourself comfortable. There's food on the counter and fridge if you want. There's a spare key in the top drawer of the TV cabinet," Lance informed. "And Elian, give a call to Mom as soon as you can. She's been worried sick ever since she saw the news," he added, and it reminded me that I had to give my mom a call as well.

"Will do," Elian replied while making his way to the open kitchen.

"Okay, I'm going out for a bit now. I will be back before midnight." With that, Lance left.

As soon as Lance closed the door behind him, I exploded, "Okay, now explain to me. What the fuck is going on, Mr. Storm? Why are we at your brother's penthouse?"

"Calm down, Ms. Fleur. Have something to drink first," Elian said, motioning at the juice he just poured into two glasses.

I huffed and went near him to the kitchen counter to grab the glass. I chugged down the juice, which honestly gave me relief, and asked, "Okay, now explain from the beginning, and don't cut out small details."

He sighed, leaning his back against the counter, and started, "You know the military assignment which you were in charge of?" I nodded curtly. "Someone from your team screwed us up."

"No, I don't believe that," I said firmly.

"Well, money can make people do many unbelievable things," he responded. "One of them exposed the time the trucks left the manufacturing facility, and that's how a few of them were hijacked on the way."

"No, what if it was one of the workers at the manufacturing facility? What if one of them exposed it? You know how suspicious they were acting." Now that I remembered one of them was even misplacing a box of firearms.

"That could be it as well. The workers are definitely involved, especially their in charge, Mr. Jeremy. The firearms would never malfunction if they had it tested, which I'm sure they skipped and misreported us."

I nodded in agreement.

"Also, the firearms trucks which did reach the military facilities, a few of them had illegal explosives in them, and one of them exploded, which resulted in heavy casualties."

"Casualties like?" I asked, my heartbeat fastening in fear.

"A few of the soldiers lost their lives, and a dozen of them were injured in the explosion."

I gasped. "Oh, my God." Someone was hurt by the products we sent. Of course, the police were after our lives like mad dogs. "This is obviously a conspiracy."

"We know that, but they don't. In their eyes, we are terrorists now. We apparently planned to blow up the military facilities, but we failed. That's why they are now looking for every person involved in the assignment, which obviously includes you and me."

"What about everyone else in the company?"

"Everyone has been escorted to safe locations, such as hotels owned by my family. They are all safe, don't worry. Their families have been asked to stay quiet."

"What about our office?"

"It's been seized."

"Oh, God." I clutched my head at the massive stress that was now looming over our lives.

"You should probably sit down."

I nodded, but I didn't know where to sit just then.

He shook his head and grabbed my waist to effortlessly lift me up and made me sit on the counter.

I let out a squeak and grabbed his shoulders. "Warn me before you do something like that."

He rolled his eyes in response.

Something occurred to me. "Hey, if everyone from our company is in hotels and such, why am I here in your brother's penthouse?" I questioned.

"Because you're a beau—a young, unmarried woman, and you will be safe here."

I arched an eyebrow. "As far as I know, there are other women like that in our company."

"And they are all in safe hands as well," he assured.

I hummed, still not totally convinced. "So who do you think is behind this conspiracy?"

"Could be one of our rivaling companies. Now that we are taken out of business temporarily, they get to take all of our clients and orders. They bought our employees with a large sum of money."

"Would people actually stoop so low for that?"

"They definitely would."

I nodded in understanding. It really was so cruel. People died in that explosion, and now, we were all wanted fugitives.

"Hey," I mumbled in fear.

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do now?"

"Prove ourselves innocent, duh," Elian said as if it was going to be a walk in the park.

I shot him a glare and said, "But how? We are in hiding."

"We will figure out something."

"You are way too chill about this," I pointed out.

"I have been prepared for something like this my entire life, but I never imagined it would be for an office situation," he said with an ironic chuckle.

"What were you prepared for exactly?" I asked curiously.

"For being chased by another mafia gang."

"So you are in the mafia then?" I asked. Since Elian was already telling and there was nothing else that could risk my life more than it was now, I might as well just know a little bit more about him.

"Not just in it, but I'm the leader."

I gasped. "For real?"

He nodded.

I tried to digest the information. So... my boss was in the mafia? No, just in it. He was the leader of a mafia gang. Wow.

"Does your brother know about it?"

"Yeah, my whole family knows about it."

"And they support it?" My mom would have thrown me a slipper if I so much as committed a small crime, let alone kill people and run an illegal business.

"Not just that, they are all involved in it. You could say it's our family's hidden business," he said as if that was the most common business to ever have.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded.

"How long have you been doing this?"

"Ever since I turned twenty, so I guess six years."

"That's a long time. How many people have you killed?"

He chuckled and walked over to the food on the counter. "With my own hands, not many. I usually let my men do the work."

"Oh," I let out. It would have been nice if he had zero kill counts, but that was impossible since I had seen him murder with my own eyes. But it was just who he was, and I could do nothing but roll with it.

I started wondering about the videos and photos I took at the manufacturing facility. The photo of the firearms registry could prove that we sent the perfect amount of firearms and there was no cheating in it. Whoever conspired against us must have stolen my phone to get rid of that evidence.

"If only I had my phone with me..." My eyes brightened up at a realization. I hopped down from the counter and said, "Elian, I think I just found the solution to our problem."

"Which is?"

"Remember the photos and videos I took at the manufacturing facility?"

"And your phone got stolen after that," Elian responded.

"Yes, but I always mail myself whatever I think is important!"