Chapter 68 Bait.

Chapter 68 Bait.
Vincent

“What are we going to do?” Kael asked after a moment of silence. "Well… am I going to do? You need absolute rest right now, so no moving around for you.”

I winced at the sudden wave of pain that seemed to agree with him when I tried to adjust myself on the bed.

“Who else knows I'm here?”

“No one. I figured you didn't want anyone to know where you were after that blackout you gave Frank.”

Right.

“Well, it’s obvious what we have to do. Set a bait. What has been the discourse around my absence?”

“Nothing much. For one, I told the necessary teams and people that you were out of town, so Gabriel stood in with the other executives for the visit from the external audit team.”

Oh fuck, right. I totally forgot about that. Not that I would have remembered while trying to fight for my life.

“As for the factory, things have been going smoothly; Diego has been doing a great job and only one or two clients asked for you personally. As I said, I told them you were out of the country taking care of some business.”

“So no suspicious activities at all?”

“Not since the hospital attack. They're probably waiting for a signal or waiting for things to settle down.”

“Hmm…” I tried to adjust my body again due to the growing discomfort.

“You should tell everyone I was in an accident.”

“Everyone?”

“Well, the managers and executives first. If we're able to plan the bait properly, we should have a fish on our hook soon enough.”

Kael looked like he was about to protest but nodded at the last minute. “What should I do?"

“First, get me out of here. Ariel said this is her apartment.” 

He nodded. “Yes.”

“How… did that even happen?”

"Well, she found you, and I was sceptical about using any of the safe houses because I wasn't sure which of them might be compromised, so I asked her to bring you here. It's like hiding in plain sight. No one would ever think that you might be here.”

“You do realise she probably has the most animosity towards us, right?”

“But also fear. She barely even put up a fight.”

“Still… I don’t like the idea.”

“Think about it. This is the best place you could take cover, at least until you get better and we set the bait. You need to be alive if this is going to work at all.”

I marinated the idea in my head. He was right but still… this was weirdly uncomfortable. 

“Okay, till I get better.”

“Now back to the plan. What should I do? And can I please give you this already?”

He raised the syringe again. 

“Fine.” I let him grab my arm. “And you can start with telling everyone about the accident, like I said. Then keep Alex and a few others on standby.”

He pulled out the syringe after injecting the fluids and immediately dabbed it with some wet cotton. “Should I let Alex in on the plan, though? You trust her, right?”

"No," I said after a thought. “Don't even tell Marco yet. We need absolute secrecy if this is going to work.

“Okay.”

“Right, I forgot to mention. Iris is back in rotation. Should I put her on standby too?”



Ariel

I was in the living room when Kael walked out finally about thirty minutes later. I'd barely heard or understood anything from their conversation through the guestroom door and eventually gave up after a few minutes of just hearing random words thrown around.

“Accident…”

“...idea…”

“Apartment.”

“Bait.”

“Is he okay?” I asked as he went past my kitchen counter and straight to my fridge, where he grabbed a bottle of water.

“Yes.” He turned to face me when he got to the kitchen counter again. “Can you get me two clean towels?”

“Tow—yes. Why?”

“I'm going to give him a bath.”

“Oh okay.”

“It's okay to use the guestroom bathroom, right?”

“Uh… yes.” Seriously? He was asking permission for that when they had basically barged their way into my apartment just yesterday.

“Good. The towels.”

“Right.” I headed straight for my bathroom and handed it to him a few seconds later.

About an hour or so after that, I was in the living room, trying to keep my eyes open with a book when Kael came out of the guest room yet again.

He sat down on the couch opposite me. “Did you hear from Felix?”

“Yes. Uh… about what?”

“The scandal.”

“Wait…” So I was right. “That was you.”

“Yes. Did you talk to your sister?”

“Yes…” that sounded more like a question than a definite answer. I mean, our talk definitely didn't end on a good note and she still wasn't picking my calls.

“Are you sure? Because I got this last night.”

He pulled out a phone from his pocket and tapped on it a few times before turning the screen to face me.

“Oh God.” I watched the playing video in horror as a lady who was obviously Chloe climbed over an iron fence that had the sign 'Private Property' boldly written on it.

“Did your talk include trespassing private property?”

“No. No. I…” I should have known she would do this. “Is that the hospital?”

“Yes. Though it's quite understandable why she would go back," he tucked the phone back into his pocket.

“S-she’s okay, right?”

“Oh yes. She left after an hour of looking around the property.”

“And… my mom?”

He raised his hand like he got an idea. “Right. I was getting around to that.” He dipped his hand into his pocket again and slipped me a paper across the coffee table.

There was an address scribbled across it. “You can come around anytime you're ready.”

“My mom… is there?”

He nodded. “You should bring your sister around too. That'll probably help in keeping her mind at ease.”

True. Or not. To be honest, I had no idea what Chloe was planning to do. I know exactly what she's capable of doing and that… that was what was scaring me the most, among other things.

“So… want to tell me what you heard during your little eavesdropping session.”

My heart skipped a beat. “W-what?”

He took out his phone again to show me, this time pressing my ear against the guestroom door. “Y-you installed a camera?”

“I mean, it's not like I can exactly trust you." He wiggled the video evidence as proof.

What the fuck?

When did he do that? And oh God, did he install it everywhere in the house?!