And yet... this wasn’t his client.
The entire setup, the whole arrangent of this store display, the hidden surveillance, the toy selections it hadn’t co from Raymond directly. It had co from above.
From the boss of the mall, a man who had only left one instruction:
"Prepare it exactly like this. A friend is coming. Do not ss it up."
At that mont the director forced a respectful smile. "We do have it... but not in this location," he said carefully. "It’s kept in our VIP reserve unit."
He glanced briefly at Raymond, then back at Luca and Valentina.
"Please, just give twenty minutes. I’ll bring both masks the red and the silver."
Imdiately Valentina smiled. "That’s fine. Thank you."
Then Luca nodded casually, like a young emperor granting permission.
"Cool," he said. "I’ll wait."
Without wasting another second, the director turned and walked out of the store but as soon as he crossed the threshold, his brisk walk turned into a full sprint. If there was one thing he knew, it was this: when a client like that is involved, you don’t delay. You impress.
Inside the store, Raymond stood still, watching the door close behind him.
He glanced at Luca, the boy was now quietly observing the Iron Man figurine on display. No excitent. Just calm, thoughtful attention. Almost like... assessnt.
Then Raymond’s eyes narrowed.
He leaned slightly toward Valentina and whispered, "I still don’t get this Luca."
She turned to him with a light smile.
Raymond didn’t blink. His voice was flat.
"He looks like a child... but he thinks like a man."
From what Raymond had just seen the way Luca had spoken, chosen his words with care, rejected every typical child’s delight, and requested not one, but two highly specific, rare Iron Man masks it didn’t feel like the whim of a child.
It felt calculated, asured.
Like soone who already knew exactly what he wanted before ever stepping into the store.
Again Raymond stood a little back, watching Luca with a steady, unreadable gaze, To anyone else, he seed relaxed, hands folded calmly in front of him. But inside, his thoughts churned.
He looks like a child, Raymond thought again, but he thinks like a man.
And that kind of person... those were the dangerous ones.
The ones who smiled innocently, who spoke politely, who wrapped themselves in trust and warmth all while playing a far deeper ga beneath the surface.
What if all this friendship he has with Valentina is just a trick? Raymond’s mind whispered. A setup? what if all that sweetness the holding of her hand, the complints, the cheerful hugs are just part of the performance? A carefully crafted image to make Valentina feel safe, adored, unthreatened.
What if... that’s exactly what soone wants her to feel?
His thoughts grew darker.
What if this isn’t Luca’s idea at all? what if Maria told him to do it? what if everything the charm, the loyalty, the smiles is just manipulation wrapped in a child’s skin? Raymond clenched his jaw slightly, his fists curling in his pockets.
He didn’t want to suspect a child.
But he didn’t have the luxury of doubt.
Not anymore, not when Valentina’s life was on the line.
That’s why the mask the one with the embedded cara needed to be delivered today.
That’s why he was willing to invade Luca’s privacy.
It wasn’t about trust anymore. It was about assurance.
He didn’t care if it made him seem heartless, he didn’t care if people called him paranoid, he’d already lost Valentina too many tis before because he waited too long to act, this ti?
He wasn’t waiting for answers, he was watching for them, Closely.
Without wasting any more ti, exactly twenty minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the entrance of the toy store. The director returned slightly out of breath but composed holding two sleek, well-sealed cartons in his arms.
The boxes weren’t flashy, but they radiated prestige. Matte black with the unmistakable insignia of StarkTech collectibles subtly embossed on the front not the typical children’s rchandise, but premium, high-grade collector’s items. Serious hardware.
And Luca knew it.
The mont the director stepped in, Luca’s eyes imdiately locked onto the boxes. He didn’t need to ask. He didn’t need to guess. He knew what was inside. His fingers twitched with a mixture of excitent and reverence.
Imdiately the director placed the boxes carefully on the counter, standing upright like treasures being presented at a royal court. One was marked with a fine red trim. The other, with silver.
Imdiately Valentina raised a brow.
"Are those...?"
Luca stepped forward, wide-eyed but composed, like soone who had just been handed the keys to a secret vault.
He didn’t squeal or jump but the happiness on his face was unmistakable, His smile stretched from ear to ear, and his hands trembled just slightly as he brushed them over the top of the red-trimd box.
"This is it," he whispered. "The limited edition..."
He glanced up at Raymond. "The face scanner... the internal HUD display... voice modulation... even the suit hologram function."
Raymond didn’t flinch, but he quietly watched Luca’s awe like a scientist observing a test subject.
Valentina was surprised. "Wait, it does all that?"
"It does more," Luca said, almost in a trance. "Only fifty of these were released globally."
He turned, slowly, looking at Raymond with a softness that hadn’t been there earlier the walls he usually kept up, ever so slightly down now.
"Thank you," he said simply.
No dramatic reaction. No over-the-top excitent. Just a sincere, grounded gratitude that sounded too mature for soone his age.
"I’m really happy," he added. "This ans a lot to ."
And from the look in his eyes, he ant it.
Raymond watched as Luca continued to admire the boxes, running his fingers over the tallic sheen like he was handling a priceless artifact. The boy’s face glowed with sothing rare, a quiet, intense satisfaction that couldn’t be faked.
He really does like it, Raymond thought. This... this was the key.
And that told him sothing even more important, Luca had been waiting for sothing like this. The mask wasn’t just a toy to him. It was sothing deeper. Sothing that seed to... fit him.
Which only made Raymond more wary.
Still, he kept his expression neutral as Luca placed the red box under one arm and nodded in approval, already imagining how it would feel once he got ho and tried it on.
A mont later, Valentina stepped closer to Raymond, curiosity written across her face.
She leaned in slightly and lowered her voice. "This thing he’s so obsessed with... how much did it cost?"
Raymond shrugged slightly, keeping his voice casual, even though he knew the answer. "I’m not sure," he said. "But from the specs, rarity, and where it ca from... I’d say no more than four hundred thousand. Five hundred, at most."
At that mont Valentina’s smile instantly faded.
Her eyes widened.
"What?" she half-whispered, half-hissed, pulling him a step away from Luca, who remained happily focused on unboxing one side of the silver mask now.
"Raymond," she said sharply, "You paid half a million dollars for a toy?"
Raymond blinked, unbothered. "It’s not just a toy."
"That’s not the point!" Valentina said in a harsh whisper. "He’s a child. What in the world makes you think a kid should be holding a gift worth that much?"
Again Raymond’s lips curled into a faint smirk.
"It made him happy," he said simply.
Then Valentina stared at him in disbelief.
"Seriously?" she muttered. "That’s your defense? Happy?"
But deep down, Raymond wasn’t defending the price.
Raymond turned to Valentina calmly, his expression cool and unreadable as always. But this ti, there was a note of amusent playing at the edge of his lips.
"Relax," he said softly, just loud enough for her to hear. "This isn’t just any ordinary toy."
Again Valentina’s eyes narrowed, still visibly annoyed, but she listened.
Raymond gestured subtly toward the mask Luca now held like a prized possession. "This is a fully engineered collector’s piece. Face sensors, internal HUD interface, motion-tracking. It’s voice-responsive. Do you know what that does for a boy his age? It doesn’t just entertain him. It imrses him."
He glanced at Luca, who was already fiddling with the panel, a curious sparkle dancing in his eyes.
Raymond added smoothly, "It makes him feel like Iron Man."
Valentina folded her arms, clearly unimpressed. "So now we’re paying almost half a million dollars to give a child a superhero complex?"
Raymond chuckled under his breath. "He already has one," he muttered.
"What was that?" Valentina asked.
"Nothing," he replied, brushing past it with ease. "Look, Valentina, I get it. It’s expensive. But think of it like this the mask makes him happy. You wanted today to be special for him. It is."
Imdiately she sighed but said nothing else, still thinking about the price tag with disbelief in her eyes.
But inside Raymond’s mind, another thought was forming cold, unshakable.
’If it takes ten million dollars... or even a billion... to find out what this boy is really up to, if he’s truly connected to any of this then I’ll pay it.’
He looked at Luca once more, his expression unreadable.
’I’ll do whatever it takes.’
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