Alex
Simon’s assistant swiftly led Theadora to another corner deep into the building and the second Adrian and I lost sight of her, we imdiately redirected our attention to the earpieces we both had on.
Adrian had given her an earpiece earlier in the car so we could communicate and God knows I would have died from uncertainty if I actually let her in there without a way to keep tabs on her.
The soft click of a door closing filtered into our ears just before the low hum of her voice ca through.
"Thank you so much for seeing today, Mr. Hart." she began, her voice clear and completely casual.
There was a long pause before Simon’s raspy voice rattled into the earpiece. "Hmm. You must be Maddison Crane."
It wasn’t a question.
"Yes Sir." Theadora answered after a few beats.
"You know I wasn’t expecting to see a client this young today." I could almost see him clasping his hands and leaning back in his high-and-mighty leather chair.
How disgusting could a man even be? He was literally three tis her age—hell, maybe even older than that for all we know—and yet he still prowled around girls who were barely out of high school with zero self-respect.
He really was a freak.
"Yeah..." Theadora sounded breathless. Scared even. "...you see the thing is my younger brother got missing and...and I tried to report but they wouldn’t listen and I didn’t know where else to go and..."
"Slow down. Relax." Simon cut her off with a deceptively calm and reassuring tone. "There’s no need to worry. We can find your brother, just tell what happened."
There was another long pause, then a soft sniffle.
"Wow...she is a good." Adrian whispered from beside , voicing out the words I’d never say.
"Relax Adrian. She still has to transfer the file to the USB." I said cutting his mini celebration short knowing fully well that I might have fallen for her tricks if I were the one in that seat.
Theadora went on telling him the story we had already put together and how the police didn’t take her seriously after she told them her brother was out partying. And just like we planned, he fell like a house of cards in a hurricane and I couldn’t help but wonder how he even got his damn job in the first place.
Theadora was still rambling about how she couldn’t lose her brother and how he was all she had after their parents died when Simon interrupted her again.
"It’s okay Miss Maddie. Now you’ve given all the details, I can log it into our system and start so searches on our end. Don’t worry, we’ll find your brother."
"Are you sure?" Theadora sniffled again, her voice a bit shaky.
Damn. If I wasn’t aware of our plan I would’ve been certain she was crying right now.
"Yes dear." My face tightened at the endearnt. "There’s no need to worry, you’ve got us now. All I need from you now is to sit back and let us do our job." The unmistakable sound of his chair dragging against the ground followed, a sound that grated on my nerves almost as much as his patronizing tone.
"Now...what would you like to have?" My gaze flicked to the receptionist who was engrossed in her work before shifting to Adrian who was already staring at with a knowing look on his face.
I fought the eye roll that was threatening to escape before focusing my attention on Theadora’s conversation with Simon.
"I don’t understand." Theadora replied, her voice wavering perfectly.
"Well you are a guest in my office so it wouldn’t be right if I let you leave without offering you anything."
"A glass of water would be fine, thank you very much."
A few beats passed before Simon finally spoke. "I’ll get you a glass of wine."
"But I..."
"You wouldn’t want to reject my offer, now would you, Maddie?" He drawled, his voice sounding a bit more louder like he was closer now. "I can call you that right?"
"S...sure. A glass of wine would be fine." She stuttered, sounding a bit terrified and I didn’t know why but I couldn’t shake off this feeling that it was for real this ti.
"Good." I didn’t need to see his face to know he was smiling.
Adrian t my annoyed gaze with an uncertain look before we both heard the soft click of a door closing and I didn’t know which was worse—the suspense or the damn silence that followed. It felt like we we’re holding our breath while waiting for a fucking bomb to drop.
"Should we..." Adrian trailed off jerking his thumb towards the path Theadora followed earlier.
"Hey, can guys hear ?" Theadora’s whisper cut through the silence and for the first ti since I t her, I was relieved to hear her voice.
With the info we had on Simon, it would be no surprise if he actually tried sothing stupid just to satisfy his twisted little urges.
"Ugh I should have tested this freaking device again before coming in here. Hello? Are you guys there? Don’t tell you abandoned with this fucking pervert."
Okay I take it back. The silence was much more preferable.
"It’s okay we’re here." Adrian replied softly so he wouldn’t draw the receptionist’s attention. "Where’s Simon is he gone?"
"Yes he is." She hissed. "He left his laptop open so I’m going to plug in the USB."
I suppressed a scoff. It was surprisingly funny and annoying how n could be so damn careless around won.
Apparently this ti it was to my advantage so I guess I can’t complain.
"Good job. Just make it quick so you can leave before he gets back." Adrian quickly added.
"Sure." The rapid tap of keys echoed through the earpiece. "Why isn’t Liam saying anything?" I could hear the suspicion in her tone. "Is he dumbfounded by my incredible acting sk..." she paused suddenly and I would have been scouring through my mind for a good retort if I hadn’t heard her mutter a curse.
I sighed. "What have you done now?"
"What have I done? How does this have anything to do with ?"
"Theadora forget about Alex and tell what happened." Impatience crept into Adrian’s tone. "Simon will be back any mont now."
"Ugh...I don’t know." She murmured. "The system’s asking for a passcode. You guys didn’t say anything about a passcode!" She whispered, her tone laced with panic and annoyance.
"Oh shoot," Adrian muttered.
I whipped my head towards him equally frustrated. "What?"
"I had a feeling this would happen," he said, scrubbing a hand over his face before his gaze flicked to the front desk making do the sa. "It was my mistake for thinking Simon was going to make this an easy one."
"Oh fuck. So now what?"
"His PC is encrypted Alex which ans the only way we’re going to be able to get that file is if I hack it myself."
"What?" Theadora’s voice ca from the other end.
"Are you serious right now?"
"Dead serious. Unless you don’t want to find out the truth?" He quirked a brow in question.
"Of course I want to find out the truth." I huffed.
"Then that leaves us no choice." Adrian shrugged his shoulders slightly before reaching for his earpiece. "Theadora, I need you to do a favour."
"Well whatever you’re asking you better make it quick cause that lunatic is on his way." She bit out.
"Yeah, that’s the thing, Thea. I’m going to need you to distract him. I’m not sure whatever corner he crawled into to get you that drink but I’m going to need you to keep him there."
"Are you for real right now?! That bastard is going to..."
"Thea please." The words slipped out before I could stop them earning a half surprised half smug look from Adrian. "Just distract him for a few minutes or seconds even."
Christ. I can’t even rember the last ti I begged soone or sounded this desperate.
"Fine." She huffed before the soft echo of footsteps filled our ears. I had to admit, I was bit surprised she didn’t say anything about pleading with her.
I guess she finally understood the situation we were in.
With Theadora taken care of, I imdiately turned to Adrian who now had a smile on his face. I didn’t have it in to deal with him, especially not right now so I just ignored him.
"So you’re going in right?"
"Sure." He drawled, his grin widening and I imdiately knew that I wasn’t going to like what he was going to say next. "You’re just going to have to distract her while I’m gone." He nodded towards the receptionist who was so focused on typing the contents of her book into the laptop in front of her.
She wasn’t exactly paying attention to us, but there was no way Adrian was going to get up without being spotted by her which ant I had to keep her distracted.
"Don’t tell you want to...."
"Flirt with her." Adrian finished, lifting a brow as a smirk played on his lips. "You’re not exactly hideous, Alex. I’m sure you can keep a woman interested for just a few minutes."
I groaned, already feeling the oncoming headache throb behind my eyes.
"Fine," I muttered. "But you owe for this."
"Sure." Adrian drawled as he leaned back. "That’s what friends are for, isn’t it?"
My words were laced with annoyance as I replied. "Certainly."
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