Operation: One percent

Chapter 20

Ace

This was now a second attempt at my life, and I wasn't about to stick around for a third. 

I immediately looked for third-party security to hire and pulled all of my assets into several offshore accounts in case I needed to escape the country.

I decided to delay the search for the final person I needed to pull off my plan.

Perplexed by Margaret's actions, I couldn't figure out what to think of her motives. If she wanted me dead, she would have just let the person that wanted to kill me finish the job. Or maybe, Alin's orders were to keep me safe? Doubtful, but possible. Maybe the assassin was actually from him.

Besides, if Alin sent one person already, why would he send another? 

Maybe I have misjudged her?

Every document that could possibly explain this mess was restricted and needed higher-level access. If only I had reached Cobra , I could have passed all the levels by now and enabled myself to the Matriarch room where Lilith was.

 I kept asking myself how did I not hear or see the person hiding because they were so close to me.

"Knock knock."

I jumped a bit, noticing a figure of my father with 3 men.

"How is my dearest boy?"

How convenient. He was the last person I wanted to see. 

"Hello Alin, how can I help you?"

"Tsk-tsk. Why do you always think I want something from you ." He smiled mischievously. I never understood why he didn't replace the eye that I took from him. Instead, he wore a similar-colored robotic one, but I knew very well that he could have gotten his doctors to engineer him a real one. 

"Because you usually do just that."

"I always wondered where did you get that crudeness from because you didn't get it from me. Oh well. Anyways, I came to ask you about the safety of Lilith. Word is on the street that there are some people, and very powerful ones at that, that are going to try and mess with her."

He fucking knows.

"Lilith is well protected and fine. I am sure that Benezia is working hard on that."

"She would have if you agreed to marry her."

"Perhaps you should discontinue your collaboration with K3 then if they are not doing their job properly. "

His face changed from a fake-cheerful one to fury, closing the space between us and grabbing my collar. The boy in me was frightened, but the shell that I have constructed only stared him down, acting like the boy's shield. It was only then that I noticed the thinning hair on his scalp and several wrinkles that weren't there when I saw him last. 

"Since when do you get to tell me what to do?"

His voice was now low and intimidating, a complete shift in his personality. His men equally sharpened their stances, moving towards me, but he stopped them. 

"I wish you could see the potential I see in you, but sometimes, the potential is all that remains."

He clicked his tongue, and no matter how much I wanted to differentiate myself from him, he would do the gesture of waving me off as if to say "forget it" or "I am disappointed in you", the move was just like mine. Or maybe I was the one imitating him. 

With that, he left. What did Alin try to do? Issue a warning? Intimidate me?

My mind was spinning and I had to exit this goddamn office. If there was ever a point in my life that I felt as if I have stumbled upon the quicksand it was now. 

Inhaling chilling air, the frost cutting through my nostrils. it was like a slap in my face. 

As much as I wanted to run, I realized everything that I have done so far would be all for nothing. Cobra is still somewhere close, and they never left the country-was what the people on forums spoke about.  

I steadied my feet and took out a cigarette, losing myself in the herd of humanity on the busy street. Sometimes, I liked observing people passing by. Among the crowd, was a woman wearing a neutral-toned coat, holding a child by her hand. The little girl was as tall as her knees, her cheeks pink as they were pinched by the frost. She was wearing a sunflower yellow dress, covered by a peppermint green jacket, and smiling at her mother. The splash of color in a homogenous crowd was the only reason I noticed her. She looked like a flower in a bleak lifeless desert.

At times, I envied them for the sole reason that they knew exactly when their lives would be in danger, which was only when the government posted news. For me, I had no such indication. 

However, giving up my power and status seemed like a steep price to pay for a normal life.

My mother didn't give birth to a coward. 

My phone rang from an unknown number.