Conflict of Interest

45: Transport

(A/N) The photo above is of Aaron who will be introduced in this chapter. ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ This chapter contains situations that may be triggering to some individuals involving explosions.

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @MorganGiglioBooks OR JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER (LINK IN BIO) FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND UPDATES!

***

Mr. North had yet to have any form of an update when we came back in and since there was only one computer there wasn't really much we could do to help. Parker and I had snuck into the room I had slept in last night to lay down for a bit before the transport arrived to take us to the next location. As I lay there with my head on her chest, my body draped over hers in the darkness, I felt more peaceful than I had since that awful day they attacked West towers.

"Hey Parker?" I whispered

"Yes?"

"That day, the explosions and everything, did everyone, you know, make it out?"

She fell silent a second before mumbling out in a shaky voice "No, and honestly we still aren't even a hundred percent sure who did and who didn't with everyone getting scattered into different protective custodies."

"Have you heard from anyone?"

"Just Jane, she's at the safe house we're going to next and she's the one who organized everything to get Luna and your family. She was with me when it all happened."

I smiled to myself "She's the best person I can think of to be put in charge of that." I paused a minute, shifting slightly on the bed "So how did you manage to get out that day?"

She fell silent a moment, her arms tightening around me "Jane and I had just run down to the thirty second floor to speak with one of the marketing coordinators about something when the first explosion went off. Everyone just stopped, at first we all didn't even know what was happening and then came the second and the whole building shook." She let out a shaky breathe "I grabbed Janes hand and dragged her to the east stairwell and we started just running. Everyone else started piling in too and it was so loud snd smoky and crowded. We made it to the third floor and ran out to my car and that's when I saw you and Dave. You were flying by so fast I barely caught you out of the corner of my eye." Her voice cracked slightly "If I had known I would've raced after you, I would've done something, anything but I just, I thought Dave was on our side and that I'd see you once I got to the safe house."

"Parker it's okay you can't beat yourself up over what ifs, like you always say, there's no point in worrying about it if you can't change it." I stated running my fingers through her hair "I wish I had seen you though, I genuinely didn't even know if you were alive until the day you saved me and that was more torturous than anything she could've done to me."

She looked back at me and gently ran her fingertips along my cheek "What did she do to you?"

I froze a silence settling over us, neither of us even do much as moving a muscle

"Girls I've got something!" Mr. North yelled from the next room over causing both of us to jump

Parker let out a low sigh as I climbed off her and then stood on the warped floor. She followed suit and then we headed out to the dining room where Mr. North was hardcore focused on the screen in front of him.

"You're not gonna believe this." He stated still looking at the screen "So, Sam Holland didn't even exist up until a couple years ago. I kept focusing on trying to find information on her and it just kept coming up blank and then I realized that if our theory is true, then what if she's literally related closer than we thought? What if she's related to the Genovese family? So I ran with that and I was looking into Eddy and Lana Genovese and I found something interesting. Eddy and Lana had a daughter and do you wanna guess her name?"

"Sam." Parker whispered out shaking her head "But the lie detector, she was telling the truth about her last name."

"Legally she changed her last name to Holland so it wasn't a lie." Mr. North stated looking up at her "Parker she's the daughter of the people your parents locked away for life."

"Fuck," Parker mumbled out crossing her arms over her chest "and she knows who I am."

BEEP BEEP

All three of us jumped about a foot, freezing a second before Parker went over to the window and peeked out.

"Transports here." She stated before running over and gathered all the papers into a pile and handing them over to Mr. North

She then went over to the filing cabinet and pulled out a gun, cocking it back before tucking it into the waistband of her jeans. As I looked her over I realized that the white t shirt and ripped skinny jeans were something completely out of character for her to be wearing.

I shook the thoughts from my head trying to regain focus on the problem at hand as Parker grabbed the gun from earlier from table and handed it over to me "Ready?"

I took it nervously and struggled to get it into my waistband, the cool metal giving me shivers "I mean yeah but these people are on our side right."

"I hope so." Parker shrugged and turned to Mr. North "Let's go."

"You hope so?" I countered

She let out a sigh "Look we don't have time for this just stay alert okay? I think they're on our side but we can really never know at this point."

A knock at the door caused all three of to look up as Mr. North tucked everything into a briefcase and then closed it before rolling the spin lock on the side.

We walked over to the door together and Parker opened it just a crack so we could see a man smiling back at us "Parker long time no see."

I turned to her and she was smiling "You as well Aaron, didn't know you had gotten involved in all this."

She pulled the door open completely and we stepped out onto the porch, Mr. North shutting it behind us.

"Well when I heard you were calling in favors, I uh, thought you might be in a bit of trouble which it would seem I was correct judging by the news." He stated pursing his lips before shrugging "Regardless I'm here to help and we don't have time to catch up so let's get going."

He turned and headed towards a transport truck with the little Debbie logo on the side.

This is our transport vehicle?

He went to the back undoing the latch before opening it up for us. Boxes were stacked all the way yo the top leaving not an inch of space.

"Sir all due respect but where exactly are we supposed to sit?" I asked looking up at him

He smirked and then pressed into the side of one of the boxes. Three rows of them seemingly swung open, a flashback to the parking garage that had yet to be explained filling my head.

He pulled it open completely revealing a hidden space with seats on both sides of the wall, two men with large guns sitting on either side "Will this work?"

I nodded and he laughed slightly, him and Parker sharing a look. I glared at him before following Parker and Mr. North into the back.

"Alright buckle up, it's gonna be a long ride." He stated before sealing us in

***

(A/N) Hope you guys enjoyed the surprise updates and are excited for the final five chapters of book 1! You guys are what inspire me to keep writing and working so hard to get the updates out so quickly so thank you all so much for your continued support! Happy reading and writing everyone!

Please don't forget to like, comment, and follow! It really does help and I appreciate you all so much! ❤️