The Ideal Deal

53

I typed in the letters that were under the tattoo into Google Translate and noticed that it was written in Latin. The words Circulus Possessionem translated to Circle Property/Possesion. I thought to myself, It can't be our Circle! Why would they even come after us? What did they want?

I left my room and walked to the living room, where Dominic was. He was busy loading guns and placing them in a black duffel bag. His eyes snapped from the guns that were scattered on the table and to me. "You good?" he questioned, his eyes laced with concern.

I sighed, "We can't stay here."

"Why?" he frowned as he continued loading guns and putting them in the duffel.

"I took a picture of the wrists of two of the men that I killed because they're tattoo had an additional piece to it," I informed. "They had writing beneath the tattoo we're familiar with, and it's Latin for Circle Property or Circle Possession. Zara was the only one I told that we had found a location for Tony, and then we were attacked. At the same time, she's been so helpful in giving us information- so why would she betray us? This is all so confusing, but I think it's best we lay low until we find out who we can and can't trust."

Dominic nodded in agreement and finished packing the duffel. He then questioned, "Do you wanna stay in a hotel?"

"I was actually thinking that we could go to the emergency cabin," I shook my head. There was a cabin nearby that my parents had owned, but only the King and Winter family knew about it. There was a time when the Kings were over and my parents got a phone call. They had everyone in the house evacuate to the cabin, and when Autumn and I asked why we hadn't known about the cabin before, they explained that it was a secret emergency cabin that they only used in case of an emergency- like an intruder trying to cause harm to us.

Dominic gave a simple nod in agreement before throwing the duffel bag on his shoulder. "Lead the way," he encouraged.

We exited the house through the back door and walked through the backyard and into the forest-like property of mine. We walked for about five minutes before we came upon the cabin. I walked to the door and punched in the secret code, and the door opened. Dominic and I entered it, and I closed the door behind him. He then rest the duffel bag on a table and walked over to a couch, where he plopped himself onto.

I walked over to my father's MacBook, which I was surprised was even in here in the first place, and unlocked it. A file immediately popped up on the screen showing an invitation to the Grand Gala, the party Dominic's and my family was heading to the day they got murdered.

"Dom?" I called out, and he stood up and walked over to me. "Were you invited to this party?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I couldn't attend because I had a business meeting in Paris already scheduled for that day and time. Were you?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but I was feeling sick that day. The invitation was sent for everyone in my family, though."

"Same with mine," he informed.

"So if we all had attended-" I got out before Dominic caught up.

Finishing my sentence, he said, "We'd all be dead." We both sat down on separate chairs facing the laptop. "So the person knew that our families were attending the party."

"How did our families end up driving together though?" I frowned. "Do you know if they planned to meet up?"

Dominic shook his head, "Not to my knowledge, no." He then pointed to the time and informed, "The invitation my dad got said the party was set to start at 7. Yours say 8."

I typed in the location from the invitation card into Google Maps and frowned when I noticed that the location of the party was at the same place where our families were assassinated.

"Okay...what?!" I frowned. "This was a set up from the jump!"

"Who the fuck sent the invites then?" Dominic frowned while pulling the invitation up again. "There's no name!"

I questioned, "Who usually sends the invites for the Grand Gala?"

Dominic answered, "The Grandes. Check your dad's email to see who it came from." I pulled up the email and searched for the invitation. I then pointed to the sender, and Dominic sighed and slapped his forehead. "That's not Roxane's email."

"Who's Roxane?" I frowned.

"Roxane Grande is the daughter of Jason and Lily Grande," Dominic answered. "I guess our fathers thought that Roxane was the one who sent the email because the Grandes always host the Grand Gala, but that's not Roxane's email."

I shrugged, "Maybe she used a different one than the one you're familiar with."

Dominic shook his head and informed, "She only has two emails, and that is neither of them. I'd know...because we used to date, and she used to work for my company. We'd communicate through her professional email for professional things and her nonprofessional email...for nonprofessional things."

I frowned, "So sext but through emails?" Shyly, Dominic nodded while looking away.

"Um...anyways, that's not her email. I think Jeff might be able to find out whose email this is with his code cracking and shit," he added.

Hesitantly, I questioned, "Do you really trust him?"

Dominic nodded and informed, "He's like a brother to me. He wouldn't ever want to see me in harm's way."

I sighed before agreeing. "If you trust him, then so do I," I nodded.

"Alright," Dominic nodded while taking out his phone. "Let's hope he can work some magic."