The Hacker

"Weren't you at the event? He's the new CEO," (17)

Kai smiled through the pain as he was punched for the fifth time in just five minutes of being interrogated. He could taste the blood pooling in his mouth and fought the urge to spit it back into the face of his accuser. Within seconds of entering the room, he was punched in the stomach and pushed into a chair where his hands were bound.

They asked him a few questions; all of them ending with Kai getting hit in the face. If he had known what the hell the man was talking about, maybe then he would consider telling him but Kai literally didn't know a thing.

"Alright, maybe we got off on the wrong foot, yeah?" The man flashed his wrist just after hitting him. "The name's Rick," he rested his hand on Kai's shoulder. "Now that we're acquainted, let me get to the point: why don't you tell me where the bomber is?"

Kai's head immediately snapped up. "The what?"

"Don't play dumb. We know you've been snooping around the place —places we've been watching... places the bomber has targeted. You know who it is, don't you?"

What the fuck?  Kai's mind was completely —for a lack of a better term— blown.

"Wait, wait, wait... if you think I'm involved with a bomber then I'm not being held by the FBI, am I?" Kai exhaled. He knew then that he was being held by the MI6 and that honestly scared him. It scared him because if they were watching him... then they were watching Amira too.

_______________________

"Family first?" Amira felt sick.

"Cousins, actually,"

"So that's why you were looking for me... you wanted to find your cousin's killer," she scoffed. Amira couldn't believe she walked right into this trap.

"Yes, I wanted to find his killer but that's not the main reason why I sought you out. When Tom came to London for the first time ten years ago, he visited my father about taking someone out and making it look like an accident. After hearing his entire plan, my father knew immediately he was Alistair Jr.'s son.

"I was told to look after him because he was family... and also because my father had been searching for him ever since Alistair Jr.'s death. As the years passed, he grew eager to get revenge but some friend of his kept telling him to wait until everything was in place,"

Amira's eyes filled with tears. "Did you help him?"

"I had my own business to run," he gestured around him. "I don't murder people— despite the rumors. Tom changed as those years passed. We went from best friends to strangers just before he left for America. I knew you'd come here, especially after hearing that you were alive after the warehouse incident. I knew I had to meet you because only then would I understand what Tom had to sacrifice for his revenge."

"He told you about me?"

PJ nodded. "Everything,"

Amira exhaled a shaky breath and held her head in her hands. "Why would he do that?"

"He cared for you, Amira but he didn't regret leaving. However, that didn't stop him from talking about you whenever he got the chance."

Nothing Tom did made any sense to her now. She thought she could predict his thoughts or at least assume what he would or wouldn't do. She thought for sure that he would never hurt her. She was wrong. She knew for sure that he loved her but then he married someone else.

—but then he spoke about her to his cousin, the only real family he had left. He opened that gallery that they spoke about so many years ago...

"The gallery... why were you chasing me at the gallery?"  Her head was starting to hurt.