Just ten miles north of the castle is the metropolitan city of Aron made of metal and glass, concrete and asphalt. Lacey Evans wouldn't have even known that there was an old castle almost at the outskirts of town if not for Aidas.
After she talked with Aidas in the Red Room, he let her go. Giving her time to absorb the information and figure out what to do. Lacey had been determined to turn down the offer. In fact, every bone in her body was begging her to and it was only common sense to turn down an offer from the King of the infamous Night Court himself but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not with her father lying on his hospital bed with his cancer flaring up again. She didn't need anymore convincing and contacted Oscar like he had asked her to the next day.
After that, she had been taken by a petite woman named Imelda. She claimed to be Aidas's personal assistant and she didn't give Lacey enough information as they both drove to the stone castle later in the evening.
Lacey had never been in a castle before. So she didn't know what to expect as she walked in through the castle door following Imelda closely behind.
Through the heavy oak doors of the imposing keep there was a large near empty chamber filled with rows and rows of statues of guards in ceremonial colours and swords, they almost distracted her from the modernity and opulence of the Castle.
The light from the tear dropped shaped window reflected off the large room. Lacey closely followed Imelda's lead as they began climbing the stairs to what seemed to be the right wing of the castle.
While climbing, they ran into a woman in a white uniform who bowed lowly seeing Imelda. Her arms were covered in red angry scars and Lacey wondered where she got them from. When she noticed Lacey was looking at her, she hurried away without looking back.
Finally, they reached the front of a room and Imelda led Lacey in.
"Wait here."
She said in a dismissive tone as she slammed the door in Lacey's face.
Lacey slowly examined the room.
It looked next to empty and it seemed to be a former dressing room turned waiting room. The walls were covered in an exquisite white and gold wallpaper that added a nice touch to the general theme in the room.
There were no personal effects in the room. At least none she could see. Everything so far looked plain and ordinary. And Lacey was very nervous. As she should. She knew Aidas had mentioned the name Hunt Adler. But she had no idea why he would want to bring a man like Hunt down. Hunt was the City's sweetheart. He ran most of Aron's city corporate world and his family was old money. His father was once on the City Council and everything that had to the with the City always had the Adlers involved. They were the perfect golden family.
Even if Aidas wanted to take Hunt down. Lacey still had no idea how she was coming into the mix. She was just a simple girl, who really knew nothing about everything that was going on.
"I'm glad you're here."
Aidas said as he walked in with the same charcoal black coats, similar to what he had on the first time they met but this time more prominent.
"Come. Let me take you on a tour while I fill you in on our agreement."
Lacey nodded as she followed closely behind him.
"So, when will you tell me what all this is about? Take down Hunt Adler?"
Aidas nodded.
"Exactly."
"Well, can you tell me more? If you really want to take him down then I suggest you give me more information."
Lacey added and Aidas didn't reply as they walked along the long dark corridor. He was a very broody quiet type, Lacey noted as she watched him walk right in front of her. She studied the painting on the walls and grimaced a bit, most of them were really old and grotesque looking.
"You have really bad taste in art."
She commented and Aidas turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Why thank you."
"Not meant to be a compliment..." she murmured under her breath but Aidas seemed to catch that as he slowed down a bit.
"You are a bit chattier than I expected."
"Well, I really want to know what all this is about. Will you or will you not tell me?"
"I will."
Aidas replied with a reassuring nod as they began the descent down the stairs.
"Hunt Adler is my sworn enemy. And has it so happens we've both been elected by the City Council to run for Mayor. And between you and I everyone thinks Hunt is a better candidate than I am."
Lacey raised her eyebrow. He was a better candidate. Everyone didn't only think about it, they knew it too. Lacey had never heard anything bad about the man. But she couldn't say the same for Aidas since he was the infamous King of the Night Court.
"Well, I know very well that he has a lot of skeletons in his cupboard. He's just better at hiding it than I am. That's where you come in."
Aidas said as he finally turned to look into Lacey's eyes. His eyes looked like a strange mixture of brown and gold. Lacey's eyes widened. That was weird, she could have sworn that he had blue eyes. Hmm, maybe he wore contacts.
"What do I have to do here?"
Lacey asked impatiently and Aidas nodded.
"Good question. You happen to have a striking resemblance to his ex girlfriend Lila. It's very unusual."
Aidas commented as he shrugged.
"And Hunt's girlfriend died about a year ago and he has been supposedly devastated since then. You're the perfect distraction."
He answered with a smile and Lacey raised her eyebrow.
"Do I really look like her? How?"
Aidas sighed and brought out his phone. He pointed his phone to Lacey's face showing her a picture.
"This is Lila."
Lacey squinted at the picture. It was unbelievable.
Lila looked exactly like her.
Except for her eyes, they were blue. Lacey had hazel eyes.
Lila looked refined and elegant, from her styled dark brown hair in a low elegant bun to her black turtleneck and mauve lipstick. There were only slight differences between the two of them. Like the fact that Lacey had more defined cheekbones and pouty lips unlike Lila's.
"This is unbelievable! She looks exactly like me!!"
Lacey exclaimed and Aidas nodded as he withdrew his phone.
"Yes, you two could have easily passed as twins or something."
"Moving on, your job is to spy on Hunt Adler. I want you to monitor and report his every movement. I want to know where he goes, what he does and more importantly the people he meets."
"How am I going to do that?"
Aidas smiled.
"Good question. Intel reaching me tells me Hunt's personal assistant is leaving the company and moving to Winslow City. Hunt is looking for a new personal assistant and he's going to be personally conducting the interviews."
"Now, it was very hard but I was able to get you a slot under the name Candy Holmes."
"Candy Holmes??"
Lacey asked laughing. That was the most ridiculous name she had ever heard.
"We can't risk using your real name. Knowing Hunt he's probably going to be digging through your records to know who you are. But I got all that covered."
"Wow. This all seems very intense."
Lacey commented and Hunt nodded.
"Yes, you're right. It is."
"And regards that we have a lot of work to do."
"But in the meantime. Some good news for you... Your father's hospital bills have been paid off. And here are the keys to your new apartment and your new car."
Aidas said as he handed her two pair of keys. Lacey's jaw dropped. She had expected it but she didn't expect it all to be so fast.
"Oh My God! Are you serious?"
"Yes. I am. You have a new bank account under the name Candy Holmes with a substantial amount of money in it."
"And oh, before I forget. Your new ID and Driver's license "
He added as he gave her the cards.
Lacey accepted the ID cards with a bewildered look on her face.
Where the hell did they get her picture?
Wow!!!
She thought as her jaw dropped. She only used to hear about people being able to create totally different identities but she didn't know it was completely possible. She was also aware that it cost a lot of money to make.
The picture on the passport looked similar to the one she had on her work ID for Ecstasy. So she was sure it was the one they used.
Everything was still new and unbelievable to her. A few days ago she was neck deep in debts worrying about her father's treatment but now everything was different. She had a new ID and all her debts seemed to have magically disappeared.
"Do you want to see the new apartment now?"
Aidas asked and Lacey shook her head. She didn't really care about having a new apartment. She just wanted to see her Dad and know how he was doing.
"Can I see my Dad first?"
She asked and Aidas looked taken aback but he nodded his head slowly.
"Sure you can. I'll have Imelda drop you off at the hospital and we'll see tomorrow."
Lacey smiled.
"Thank you."