Chapter 67 A third party.

Chapter 67 A third party.
Ariel

I was out of my wits here. First, Kael tells me to administer some drugs to Vincent when I called him, which, to be fair, he’d actually shown me how to do. Then Vincent wakes up, asking me all the questions and looking at me like I wanted to inject him with poison – fine, he just woke up after losing quite a lot of blood; anyone would have questions – and then now, someone was at my door, hopefully Kael because I was just about done with all this anxiousness and panic that has become a part of my life.

“Stop!” Vincent said before I could take a step towards the door to confirm that it was indeed Kael. He moved his legs over the edge of the bed and attempted to stand up.

"I-I don't think you should be moving.”

“And I don't think you should be telling me what to do at all. Why the fuck did you call him?”

“Kael? Because he told me to?”

Okay, what the fuck? He really shouldn't be moving right now.

I stepped forward, alarmed, when he took one step forward and almost immediately stumbled against the wall. 

“Seriously?! I told you he should not be moving?!” We both turned to the door, surprised when Kael's voice suddenly echoed through the room.

“What…” He stormed forward and tackled a dumbfounded Vincent back into bed. “How did you get in?”

I had to give him my door code right after changing it again yesterday.

“You just had your injury restitched after stressing it enough for it to rip the first time. Are you trying to kill yourself?!”

“Not if you kill me first.”

I raised an eyebrow as Kael placed his hand on his forehead and sighed. He glanced at me. “What have you given him?”

“Uh… painkiller. I was about to inject him with some antibiotics when he woke up and stopped me.” We both stared at the syringe still in my hand when I held it up. “It fell, though, so I'm not sure if it's still safe to use.”

He sighed again and signalled for me to give him the black bag he had left behind last night as he sat beside Vincent on the bed.

“What are you doing?” Vincent asked.

“Giving you what will help your body recover.”

“You can go.” He said the minute I handed him the bag.

“I… is there anything I should do?”

He shook his head. “Just wait outside… in the living room. I'll be out with you shortly.”

“Okay.”

I hurried out of there immediately. But instead of going to the living room to wait like Kael had said, I stopped myself at the last minute and pressed my ears against the door to hear what they were saying.



Vincent

“You’re not going to say anything?” I asked after a minute of just watching Kael just prep another syringe of ‘antibiotics’ while he ignored the apparent elephant in the room.

He glanced up at me. “What do you want me to say?”

“Anything. Everything. Oh, you're wrong. I did not sell you out to the enemy for my own gain.”

“If I said that, would you believe me?”

“Maybe.” I mean, it's kind of obvious that I was wrong in some way. He hasn't tried to kill me and he has had multiple chances if what Ariel had said was right. 

“Just tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out.”

“I will, but first, let's get this inside you.” He raised up the syringe and flicked the pin before trying to grab my arm.

“Nope. Talk first.”

He sighed and brought the syringe down. “You do realise I've given you more than this in the last 24 hours, right? Antibiotics. Painkillers… if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already.”

I knew that already but still… “Talk.”

If Kael wasn't the traitor, which, to be honest, I was quite relieved about, then that means someone else close to me was selling me out and currently getting away with their betrayal.

I started going through a list in my head.



“So you found me at the cliff, took me to Valerio and were going to check out things at the factory when you got the alert that the cabin was being broken into.”

“Yes. By the time I got back to the hospital, I found out that it had gotten attacked too.”

“Did they take anything from the cabin?”

“Not before I activated the self-destruct system. It didn't really seem like they were looking for anything in particular though.”

I leant against the bed's headboard and tried to organise my scattered thoughts. Something just wasn't adding up.

“How did the accident happen, though? I was going to ask you after you woke up but then the attack happened and I thought… I thought you died in the explosion."

I glanced at him to see a sliver of emotion in his eyes. Hmm, and to think I'd considered him a robot.

“It's Derek.”

“Derek?”

“Yes. He called me right before I had the accident.”

“He called you? How? I mean why? What did he say?”

“Something about me betraying him. I don't know. He probably just needed an excuse to break our truce. The bastard. I should have gone after him the minute he tried to play both sides with Alan—”

"Wait—" I glanced up at him.

“What?”

“He said something about betraying him?”

“Yes.” 

“Oh fuck. So it's true.”

“What?”

He adjusted his body on the bed to face me properly. “The day before the accident, I heard some rumours at the dock. Something about MK Group's client list leaking.”

“What?”

“Yes. There were rumours that you had something to do with it.”

“I?”

“That wasn't all. Their systems were infiltrated just like ours and they faced a series of problems that affected sales and trust, for example, the client list leaking.”

“That was confirmed?”

“Oh yes. The rumour is that you had something to do with it. Because of the families' feud and all.”

I was even more baffled. “But…” if the same thing happened to us. “...is there a possibility that there’s someone else behind this? A third party?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. And if that's the case, then we're pretty fucked. Because for them to have been able to carry out all these, it is not just a coup or treacherous scheme.”

It's worse. 

“It's a well-thought-out operation.”