Ch.30: Theatrics

Nicholas let out a long, quiet breath. He relaxed his shoulders, forcing his posture to look laid-back and unguarded.

"Who's Julian?" Nicholas said, innocently looking around the room, exactly the way he remembered Julian once did. "I'm Lian."

The guard sighed. "Lian. Move."

Nicholas could've cried in relief again.

He'd been worried talking would blow his cover, but apparently his calm voice was unrecognisable, thanks to the way he shouted and spoke with an angry edge 90% of the time.

The perks of anger issues, apparently.

Still, he needed to try not to talk much, just in case someone could point out the difference despite his effort to sound similar to Julian.

"Thank you!" Nicholas said, maintaining a little enthusiastic tone to his levelled voice. "Anyway, before we leave! Look, I tied Nicholas for you!" Taking a step towards the bed, Nicholas lifted the sheets just enough to show them the ropes that wound around Julian's legs, then he set them down again. "Hmm. You know what? Get me tape too."

The guard frowned. "Why?"

Nicholas tutted. "No questions! Get me the tape! And get me my gun too!"

"You're not getting the gun back, Lian," the guard said. "Sasha herself took it. I'll fetch some tape."

Damn it, Nicholas thought. He'd expected they wouldn't give Julian his weapon back, but it was worth a try.

The guard left and came back with tape. Nicholas took it from him, ripped a small rectangle, and then smoothed it over Julian's mouth. As Nicholas straightened again, taking in Julian's sleeping face, something horrible swelled in his chest.

My parents used to accuse me of stuff all the time too.

Wasn't relating to a psychopath just great?

"I'm so smart, hahaha…" Nicholas turned to the guard. "Now if Nicholas wakes up and gets angry for some reason, you can just ignore him! Let him fight and struggle until he gets tired! Don't mind him."

"The last thing I'm worried about is Nicholas," the guard said. "Even if he's not tied up, what's the worst he can do? Scratch the walls?"

Valentino snickered.

Nicholas gave Valentino a tight-lipped smile, seething on the inside. Then he reached over and smacked his head.

Valentino's amused expression fell, replaced by cold displeasure. He'd managed not to flinch, sadly.

"Don't make fun of my second favorite, okay?" Nicholas said.

Valentino could only roll his eyes like the brat he was.

"Anyway!" Nicholas spun towards the guard again. "Let's go." He gestured Milo and Albert to move, but the guard held up a hand.

"Calm down. You and Valentino are coming. Albert and Milo are staying here."

Nicholas shook his head. "I want them to come with me."

"Sasha said they're staying."

Nicholas stared into the guard's soul with the most clueless expression he could muster. "Okay." He nodded, pursing his lips. "Tell Sasha thanks for her opinion. Thankfully I don't care about it! Bye!"

Nicholas stood between Milo and Albert, took their hands, and towed them behind as he hurried past the doorway into the corridor. The guard grabbed Nicholas's arm right over a wound. Pain exploded along the area, throbbing all the way up to his shoulder. Nicholas desperately suppressed a groan.

Valentino wrenched Nicholas's arm free, smiling at the man in a ridiculously condescending way.

"Since when do you make any decisions?" Valentino asked the guard. "If I don't take Albert and Milo, I'm gonna mess the meeting up. And Sasha's gonna be angry. Do you wanna deal with that?"

"Valentino. There's no way on earth she's going to let all of you—"

Another man stepped into the discussion, but this time Nicholas could tell who he was: the one who'd helped Julian with his plan and captured Milo and Valentino! The one with the forgettable face. Thankfully it hadn't been long enough for his appearance to completely slip Nicholas's mind again.

Perking up, Nicholas waved at the man. "Oh, hiii!" 

The man exhaled. He wore the same exhausted-parent expression that Sasha had on while talking to Julian, which was fair, because Julian really was a handful.

"Lian. What's going on?"

Nicholas pointed at the guard. "He's wasting our time."

The guard shook his head and told the man, "Julian wants to take Albert and Milo with him to the meeting. Sasha already said that won't happen."

The man pondered for a second. "Then it's Sasha's problem. Let her solve it," he said, waving his wrist at Nicholas and the rest. His voice was resigned, like the poor guy was too used to Julian disregarding orders. "She's waiting for you and Valentino outside. Talk to her."

"Thanks!" Nicholas dragged Milo and Albert along and hurried past the startled guard. Valentino followed. They passed by a few more guards and men as they went downstairs and crossed the corridor.

Nicholas knew he'd have to fight a little more to bring Albert and Milo along, but he wanted to do that outside where it was dark and gloomy, and the chances of someone recognizing him were much, much lower.

Once they made it to the front door, Nicholas opened it and stepped out into the cold wind. Valentino held onto his hat, and Milo tilted his face away. Albert remained beside Nicholas as they headed out towards the metal gates; two cars were parked behind it, inside the yard, and one was already outside.

Midnight darkness shadowed the universe. Nicholas could barely even make out the few men dotting the place, and eventually he noticed Sasha standing tall by one car, her arms crossed.

"What are Milo and Albert doing here?" she asked.

"I'm taking them with me," Valentino said. "Or I'm not going to that meeting."

"Me too!" Nicholas said, moving closer to Albert and Milo.

Sasha glared in Nicholas's direction. "And why do you want them too now?"

"'Cause Albert's my favorite!" Nicholas smiled up at Albert, all blissful and happy and trusting. "I feel safe around him, hahaha… Who else is gonna protect me if something bad happens? Not that selfish asshole Valentino, that's for sure!"

Valentino had clasped his hands behind his back, and he flashed Nicholas the same tight-lipped, unamused smile that Nicholas had given him earlier.

"Lian. We don't have time for this," Sasha said.  "You and Valentino, get in the car." Pointing at one of her men, she said, "Take Milo and Albert back inside. Lock them with Nicholas."

A tendril of panic curled in Nicholas's gut, and he hung onto Albert, pressing himself into his side, his other hand grabbing Milo. He thought Milo would be horrified, probably even crying at this point, but when he glanced down at him, Milo was only frowning. The annoyed type of frown.

"I'm not moving without them!" Nicholas said.

"Me neither," Valentino said.

The men around approached Valentino, one of them touching the edge of the gun in his belt as he stared Valentino down — a silent threat.

Valentino did not look threatened. He raised an unimpressed brow.

"Sasha, now you have time to listen to me. So listen," Valentino said. "If you don't let me take Milo and Albert with me, or if you hurt them the slightest bit, if you just threaten me with them, I won't attend that meeting and your boss will be pissed. And there's nothing you can do about it. You can't force me to get the meeting done. You can't put a gun to my head in front of my people now, can you?"

Valentino's unbothered, careless voice despite the serious matter made it sound like he was confident. Like he knew he'd win the argument. But Nicholas wouldn't fall for it anymore; he'd sensed the way Valentino had panicked the first time Sasha refused his request and didn't let him negotiate. But the way Valentino explained it, Nicholas realized that Sasha really didn't have the upperhand here.

"Yeah, and time is running out," Nicholas said, huffing. "And I'm tired of standing. Hurry, pleeeeease?"

Sasha was still carefully thinking it over, picking the best way to deal with this. Nicholas didn't like that she wasn't panicking, either. Hopefully she was hiding it.

Milo gave Sasha an ill-tempered look. "What are you scared of?" he asked, and the taunting tone could not have been intentional. It just couldn't have been. "So what if you take us? Just keep us in the car until the meeting ends for God's sake! How are we gonna get away from all these guards?"

Lately Nicholas had only seen Milo sleeping or crying, so this was a little disorienting. He gaped at him. This exasperation in his voice reminded him of the Milo that had told the captors he would've killed himself too if he were their son. The Milo that climbed back up the fence in the middle of gunfire and threw a stone at the male captor.

Silence dwelled after Milo's words. Leaves rustled, and the wind blew, and Sasha took a step towards Milo. Valentino approached as well, standing between them. The guard followed, this time pulling out his gun.

"Milo," Sasha said in a low voice. Barely a whisper, but it harbored contempt that rang loud enough. "You really want to come along, huh? Then come." Her lips curved into a sinister smile. "We can't waste more time, anyway. Guess it'll be a good opportunity to introduce you to the business. One day you'll join us. You know, give Valentino a rest every now and then."

Valentino certainly didn't like this. Neither did Nicholas, and he hated to admit that Sasha managed to turn this around and make them all uncomfortable instead. Especially Valentino: helooked disturbed at first, and then a little dazed and unfocused. He'd fallen into this trance a few times before, Nicholas noticed. But this time he recovered quickly.

Well, at least the plan worked.

One man opened the door to the car. "Get in."

Albert and Milo entered first. Nicholas passed by Valentino, and in the few seconds they stood beside each other, Nicholas gave him a wary look.

"Leave the rest to me," Valentino had said.

Now's your turn, Nicholas thought. Let's see if you can get us out of this.

• • •

Thank you for reading/voting/commenting, it literally makes my day better!! Hope you're still enjoying the book ❤️