Danielle Hayes

"Hey Danielle! Hello Logan!" Crystal greeted as soon as she entered the office.

"Hey Crystal!" Mr. Prescott greeted, stepping out of the bathroom as he rolled up the sleeves of his new crisp white shirt.

His glossy voluminous hair fell slightly onto his forehead as he nodded at Crystal, beckoned her to sit the other side.

"Hey! Check this unannounced prototype." I gave her Oliver's laptop.

"Beautiful. It's Oliver's laptop."

"Yeah! There's an encrypted folder you need to crack."

She smirked. "Challenge accepted." As she typed. "I really like this. It's so light."

"Yeah!" I shrugged. "Easy to run with, with bad guys on tail in the middle of the night."

"You had a fun evening." She smirked again.

She typed something so fast making us damn anticipated but at last, her face fell.

"Encryption's not really my speciality. You need police's help."

"I guess it's not a good idea until we know there isn't something against our client. I don't want Noah get pushed further." Mr. Prescott said, drumming his fingers on the desk.

"How's Noah?" I asked her.

"Not great. I told him not to call me or text."

"What's going on with you guys?"

"I don't know." She sniffled. "Maybe it's because of shim that we fell in love or maybe I felt he could me from his dad."

We remained silent.

She searched through the Dark web and handed me over the cracker utility.

"Thank you! Do you want to check it?"

"Nah! Please tell Noah goodbye. I am flying home. To Austria." She sighed. Her eyes filled with unshed tears.

"It's over? Just like that?"

"I thought about what you said. About him not introducing me to his friends or family and moreover, I don't want to be else's little secret anymore."

"I think... You guys deserve a second chance. Start anew."

"I'll think about it."

"Till then, it's advisable to away from him."

She thought about it before offering me a smile.

"Okay!"

"Crystal, do you want us to pay for your time here?"

"Nah Logan! I know you are a gentleman but, that's not necessary. I am happy to help, especially if it can build our friendship." Smiling widely, she said. "Treat her well, she deserves it. I do hope you will understand her fully despite everything."

Mr. Prescott raised his eyebrows.

Crystal stepped out of the office soon after checking her messages.

I locked the door and trudged to the laptop.

"Do you know what she meant?" He questioned.

"No. I don't."

Maybe she was talking about the reason behind my name change.

"Shall we crack it?" I asked Mr. Prescott as I sat in the chair, taking the laptop onto my lap. He soon took a seat beside me.

I hadn't done this anytime but...

"Will you do it?" He nodded.

The program churned as the folder reordered, dinging at the last. He flipped through the uncompressed folder.

There were many recordings, screenshots, transcripts, invoices and at the heart of that all was The drug.

He took it awfully lot, testing it on himself as well as on Leah's pets.

"I would've definitely killed him for that." I snapped in anger.

That mad man poisoned her animals.

"Calm down Danielle." He whispered.

Oliver confirmed that if Shim taken on high levels definitely destroys the mind and soon after, a video played.

"I'm going down. That's it. My mind isn't under my control anymore. When I came to know that Noah, my only son got addicted to Shim, I knew I had to stop it."

Who was the source of shim? Atlas, Anastasia or Crystal?

Might be Anastasia.

"Anastasia. She got it from her clubs and tried it on me, to stay competitive. I gave it to Crystal but that bitch used it to seduce my son. We need to save my son."

But he didn't care about Crystal. Damn him!

"So, Anastasia knows Black Ops family." I said, glancing sideways at him. He nodded.

"Anastasia is the part of Black ops. They first hook CEOs up and later blackmail them. They take over the company. Anastasia does it. I have a proof."

The data on the laptop got backed up into the cloud.

"I have times and dates, except the few loose ends. Logan, you can give it to Detective Ashford. Take the credit but leave me and my family out.if Anastasia finds out, she will kill me. I am sure if it."

Mr. Prescott shuts the laptop with a thud.

"Wh—"

A man jumped in through the window, clattering the glass.

I moved out of the way, as Mr. Prescott took out his revolver from the drawer. I took a trophy and smashed it into his head. Mr. Prescott fired two rounds, one pierced through his shoulder and other embedded in the wall.

He immediately pulled me, barricading himself from Mr. Prescott. I twisted his arm and spin out, kicking him in the shin. I felt a bullet proof vest under his green shirt.

He was soon enough to plunge his knife into my right thigh.

Mr. Prescott fired again and this time, it hit him straight in his neck, causing the guy to fall down.

I pulled out the knife and charged at him.

"Stop!" He yelled. "Stop okay?"

Mr. Prescott pinned him to the ground.

"I'm dying, man. I give up." He groaned out.

"Who sent you?" I asked, ignoring the pain that shot up.

"Anastasia. She—" he passed out.

I pulled his mask off but his face was unlike someone I knew before.

We tried to keep him alive and soon called the paramedics. Mr. Prescott rushed to take the laptop as the paramedics took me out.

"Look, I don't have time for this. We need to go." I hissed as they tried to settle me down.

"Mam, you need to calm down. Please let me do my work."

"But it's important. Where's Mr. Prescott?"

"He's outside. Please stay calm. We will have to treat your wound."

"Fine!" I sighed but soon started, remembering something. "He's wounded too. I dressed it up but please check if it got infected."

"I'll have someone do it, mam."

"Thank you."

•°•°•°•°• 💙

As soon as we reached the Bennet corp and  into the PR office, the conference was in progress.

Mr. Prescott and I joined the group of reporters as it proceeded.

Lara, Leah, Noah were there on the dais, as Lara spoke.

"I know, Oliver's death is something that hit hard."

Leah sniffled, trying to compose herself as she continued.

"And I know this too, you might be wondering who's going to lead Bennet Corp in the future?"

Noah sat there, completely silent.

"Where's Anastasia?" I whispered to Mr. Prescott.

"There." He whispered. "To the right edge."

Anastasia was going through her phone. Her expression said it all. She already got the bad news. Despite the crowd, her eyes met mine for a moment before she glanced down.

"It's Leah Bennet, the widow of Oliver Bennet."

The reporters murmured, scribbling something the news on the notepads. Some, texted out the news.

"After an appropriate mourning period, Ms. Bennet will oversee Bennet Corp. I would love for you all to talk to her. But first, let's hear from Anastasia Mackenzie, from the perspective of the share holder."

Anastasia gave her few words of sympathy and her pre written speech about her confidence on the Bennet corp.

"Do we confront her publicly or discreetly?" Asked Mr. Prescott in a hushed tone.

"Publicly. Make sure she doesn't weasel out."

My chair screeched as I stood. Her Eyes found mine.

"Why did you kill Oliver Bennet?"

"Excuse me? What?"

"My question was straight and simple. Why did you kill him?"

"I didn't." She yelled.

"How can you deny the proof on live?"

"Thank you for coming. This event is over."  She slipped out as we both followed.

A reporter just then approached me. "What proof do you have?"

"It's in the website. Log in through the mail to download it. Every single crime she dared to comit."

A limo stood out but Anastasia was soon surrounded by all the reporters. There was no way out.

"We know you supply shim."

"I have nothing to comment on these outrageous accusations."

"We have a proof against you, a video of the Hitman accusing you. You killed Oliver Bennet to silence him and save black ops." I added.

She trudged to me and whispered.

"I might be leaving now but He won't leave you. This is just the beginning of your end."

Detective Ashford handcuffed her. Reporters fought hard to shot Anastasia's perfect photo as she was escorted in police car.

•°•°•°•°• 💙

"God Crystal!! Get ready." I yelled, entering her apartment.

"No! What if he doesn't want me?" She panicked. "What if—"

"Calm down. He loves you, alright? Don't go all negative now and just get ready." I pushed her into her room.

A while later, she stepped out, dressed in her burgundy colour knee length dress. Her shiny light hair cascaded down her back, as she walked towards me.

"You look..." I thought, searching for the right word. "Awesome. He will love it."

"I wanted to tell you something." She hesitated as we entered the cab.

"Mhmm. Go on." I turned to her.

"You need to tell him." I raised my eyebrows. "From what I know, he's a good guy and I know this too, You are keeping something from him. You need to tell him before things turn worse. I have experienced it, Danielle. Trust once broken will take forever to gain and I don't want that to happen to you."

"I don't know how." I sighed. "I honestly don't know. I think I need time." I covered her hand with mine. "Don't worry. It's your day. Just forget everything and enjoy."

"Mam, we are here."

Paying him, we stepped out, right infront of the restaurant where I planned to meet them up. I asked Mr. Prescott to get Noah and I told him I would get Crystal there.

We slipped in. My eyes scanned through the crowd and rested solely on someone, who were in his casual attire.

I took my seat beside Mr. Prescott while Crystal beside Noah, as he eyed her.

Tugging her loose strand back, she gazed at him sideways. We soon ordered something as they started to talk.

Fingers crossed, I sighed.

Mr. Prescott was looking quite eager to get them back together too. His thumb brushed past all his fingers, as he kept looking them.

"Don't be a creep Mr. Prescott."

He coughed. "Sorry." His ears turned red. He kept staring anywhere but them. Sometimes his phone, sometimes the couple opposite.

They talked, cried but a while later, they smiled giving us our answer. They leaned in.

We both slipped out of the restaurant. Soon after we got onto the road, I hugged him tight.

"Oh my god! We did it Mr. Prescott." I laughed.

"Yeah! We did it." He tagged along, hugging me tight.

****

Hey you!! The case's finally completed but their story didn't. I hope y'all liked this chapter.

Love 💕

Mikaelson