Hidden Behind the Veil (Complete)

Chapter 28

With every corner that they turned in their black van, two or three more cars would start following them until they were now travelling in a group of about ten cars, each keeping a safe distance from each other. Alex was still sitting in the van with his head bowed down in defeat. He was trapped and Violet was in danger, once again just because of him.

They were now closing in towards Alex's mansion. Time was readily sifting through his fingers like sand. He couldn't just lead them straight to it.

"If it's money that you want... just name your price and-" Alex began in a business-like tone. His hair were as bizarre as his mind.

"You only speak, when I ask you to, Alex." Stuart's voice was cold and lifeless.

"What if I lead you to the wrong place? How can you be so sure?"

Stuart chuckled humorlessly. Then suddenly, as if a spirit had taken over him, he wiped the smile clean off his face and continued in his malicious tone.

"The moment I even have the slightest bit of idea that you're trying to play games with me, Alex. The girl dies. Now it's in your hands whether you wish for her to live or not... And I know you do. Now coming back to your lame excuse, this is why I know you are not leading us to the wrong place."

Alex was lost for words. This... this wasn't a simple ambush. It was a preplanned attack. It was a well thought-out plan and Alex had a feeling that they had been under constant watch by them for a good amount of time. He cleared his mind and played out his last card, not daring to look towards Violet.

"If I lead you to the mansion...will you leave the girl?"

Stuart cocked his head upward and laughed thickly.

"Love!" He made a contemptuous noise. "What is love, Alex?"

What was he doing? He had just ambushed Alex and his as well as Violet's life hung in the balance, but Stuart seemed to be casually enjoying himself.

"We're not in some philosophy class, Stuart," It took a lot of guts from Alex's side to be bold enough to refer to Stuart by his first name. "She has nothing to do with us. She doesn't belong to this side of the world. Let her go and we can settle this like mature people."

But Stuart wasn't listening. His insane laughter grew louder with every second until he finally stopped.

"I won't leave the girl. Not until we're done. You see... for years I've been devising plans to overthrow Arthur from his position in the underworld. A huge part of my life has been used in sitting low, faking meetings, planning, calculating...but never executing. No... I could not afford to fail in an ambush against Arthur because if he'd live through it, he'll make sure that we do not, once he's back." He drew in a breath and smiled to himself.

"Everybody has a weakness, Alex. You, me, everyone. But even after years of figuring out, I just could not put my finger on Arthur's weakness. He seemed to be living on without any reason... but then one of my greatest sources came into play. It turned out that Arthur's weakness, was none other than his son. YOU, ALEX. YOU," He turned around and pointed his finger at Alex. "are his weakness. The only way to overthrow Arthur, was by using you. But you were cunning too...there was no particular way that I could use you. But then you presented yourself to me, like a deer running up to play with the lion's tail. You fell in love." Stuart began shaking with laughter as if it was the funniest joke someone could tell.

"You fell in love, and I wonder why no one ever told you that love is dependance. And dependance is weakness. You get it now, don't you? It's a chain. It's more of calculation than offence. I knew, given the inside situation that I am very well aware of, that you were not on good terms with your father any more. So I called him for a meeting. A 'decisive' meeting, was what I told him. And decisive it will be." His eyes lighted madly.