Till the end of time

Chapter 3

The silence that followed was thick, encompassing all three figures. Albert, frozen and trembling at the same time, Lia with her chin up, standing tall and fierce and Ronan, eyes widened in utter disbelief, his thoughts visibly flowing through the vein on his forehead.

"Lia", Albert said, finally breaking the silence. "Long time no see."

"Not nearly long enough."

"You look good."

Lia gave him a sparing glance before shifting her focus around the room.

"So, what have you been up to?", Albert asked.

Lia smirked.

"Wouldn't you like to know? And you? Still in the sleazy business, I see. Sitting on your rug all high and mighty, like some fallen Emperor. Trading information for information. You should probably go out  you know, get a tan. Starting to look pretty pasty there."

"I might be pale, but I can pull it off"

"If you say so", Lia sang.

"So you're on the run from The Periculus again?"

"Well actually I-"

"HOW THE FUCK DO YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER?!?!"

Ronan hadn't meant to shout but hello?! They were just casually covering, completely ignoring him and pretending he wasn't even there. It wasn't normal. Why did Lia know Albert, the Master of the underground network and Keeper of all secrets? And more importantly, WHY had she called him uncle? They couldn't be related. She was too pure and beautiful. Or was she? Ronan's fascination with this Lia was beginning to turn into suspicion.

"She hasn't told you?", Albert asked incredulously.

"Well I wouldn't be asking if she did, would I?"

Ronan was fuming. He wasn't used to being uninformed and he didn't like it one bit. He raised his eyes at Lia, then at Albert, waiting for an answer. Albert opened his mouth, meaning to speak but then Lia gave an imperceptible shake of her head. Albert shut his mouth and gulped, keeping whatever information trapped within him. There was something much deeper going on with Lia, an unspeakable secret, a dark mystery.

"Well", Albert started, clapping his palms and rubbing them together. "I'd love to stay and chat but I need to go. Lots of work to do." He looked to and fro between Ronan and Lia.

Sighing, he said, "Listen, I have a restaurant underground and I expect to see both of you there promptly at eight o' clock."

Lia began to object but Albert saw it coming. He raised his hand and spoke, authority booming in his voice.

"Lia, you're coming. You have no excuse not to. And 'I don't want to' is not an excuse. Neither is 'I'm too lazy'", he said, snorting.

"But I don't even have appropriate clothes", Lia protested.

"Don't worry about that", he said, looking both Lia and Ronan over. "I'll arrange for garments. See you at eight."

And with that, Albert turned and left the room, going deeper into what seemed to be the never-ending cave behind the shelves of alcohol.

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Ronan wished he could hate the suit given to him by Albert but damn! The black Armani was practically made for him, clinging to his body in the most enticing way. It featured seven diamond buttons and a pair of sapphire encrusted platinum cuff-links. Clearly whatever business Albert did, it was lucrative. Ronan was really not in mood for dinner. But Ronan also knew that as a rule, Albert did not take no for answer. It wasn't exactly the dinner he wasn't looking forward to per say, it was more to do with the company. Well it was more to do with her. Ronan was not looking forward to being introduced to more secretiveness. Nevertheless, this was perhaps an opportunity for Ronan to find about this girl, Lia.