Chapter 18. Past Life
I still couldn't get over what happened. From defeating Jonah to teaming up with our parents. I wonder what are parents were doing whilst we were happily eating. Except for Karolina who was still upset over the loss of Jonah. But Nico only acted on what she had to do. As it got later in the day I could hear Old Lace growling. I went to Chase and I's room. "How are you doing?" I asked Nico as I saw her last through, she entered my room.
"I don't even know. I just wish Karolina wasn't mad at me." She said to me I looked at her.
"You did what you had to. You saved us all, if Karolina doesn't see that then. I don't know what you can do but just give her some time." I said to her while walking over to her.
"I hope your right." She said to me, when Alex and Chase came home we started cooking.
"We should've gotten more urban-scavenging tips from Topher." Molly said to us, we could've had cupcakes every night.
"Yeah, he was a bit of a loose cannon, but the guy knew how to make a three-course meal out of a good dumpster dive." Gert said, when I turned around I saw Karolina.
"If nobody else is gonna say it, I will. What happened at the dig site was awful." She said to us, she lost her dad. I couldn't imagine how she was feeling.
"Yeah. We, uh, we get that." Chase said to her.
"Is there anything you need? Anything we can do?" Gert asked her, I dont think there was much.
"We could have another funeral. Maybe not a Wiccan one this time." Molly said while looking at Nico.
"Thanks, Molly. All I really need is just a day off." Karolina said to us.
"Off of..." Gert said to her.
"Off of everything. I don't care what mission-y crap goes on today. I'm out." She said to us, that was fine with us.
"Well, what's your plan?" Chase asked her.
"Maybe take the bus to the beach. Hike the canyon. I haven't decided yet." She said to us, that sounded relaxing. I could do with that.
"Maybe that's what we all need- -a day off. What? You were just telling me how it's getting all claustrophobic in here." Alex said while looking at Chase. Didn't realize he felt like that.
"Thanks for that, man." Chase said to him, I guess it was meant to be a secret.
"No, but you're right. We could all use a break, a day off. You know, just- -and then tomorrow we can decide what's next." Alex said to us, I liked the sound of that.
"Wilder, what are you gonna do with a day off?" Chase asked him, I saw Alex get a phone out.
"I'm gonna find out if I still have a girlfriend." He said while walking out. Chase and I were going on a date together,
"It's been a while since we were able to do something like this." He said as we walked down the street hand in hand.
"I missed doing this. Now it's all mission this and mission that." I said to him before he opened the door to my favorite café. "You remembered." I said to him as we went to the counter.
"How could I forget? This is where we went on our first date kind of." He said to me I never thought he'd remember. It had 5 years since that day.
"And that kind of first day was the best." I said to him with a smile. When we ordered we got what we usually did before all of this and sat at the window seat. Our date was cut short as we had to go to meet Alex somewhere. I was confused why we were in a neighborhood. We were meeting in the garage.
"Livvie, prepare yourself for your first ever Alex Wilder insert-trademark-symbol-here mission." Alex said to the new girl. This must've been the girl Alex likes.
"So can I bail right now, or- -" Livvie started making Molly and I laugh.
"Or help us take down Darius's real killer, Geoffrey Wilder. Now, we know that Darius was killed at the Gordon Hotel, so if I can hack into the surveillance system there and prove it, then we can send my dad to jail for good and clear Darius's name once and for all." Alex said to us, he was willing to send his own father to jail. That took guts.
"You would send your own dad to jail?" Livvie asked him.
"My dad's a murderer. He deserves to rot in a cell for the rest of his life." Alex said to us, all of our parents did. If I could have my parents arrested I would. I just had to wait for the right moment. All we had to do is come up with a plan. We got in the car and went to the hotel Darius was killed at.
"Ok, this is where Darius was killed. If anyone knows their way around a five-star hotel, it's us. For once, our old lives are actually gonna help us. Here's the deal. Hotel valets are the biggest gossips. They know what you keep in your car and could give a damn about discretion. They'd definitely notice a seventies Rolls drift in, so we leave the car parked in the street away from prying eyes, and preferably...avoid a parking ticket. The concierge is the worst. Bosses the employees, but still an employee themselves, which means a lot of control issues, something to prove. We steer clear of him, or- -I feel Gert's eyes boring into the back of my head- -her. We took the service entrance." Alex asked said to us, the service entrance was our best bet. We all chipped on to pay for the monitor before waiting to sneak into the service entrance door all the way to the elevator.
"If we're trying to stay low-key, why are we heading to the penthouse floor?" Livvie asked us, I had no idea actually.
"Security system's on a closed circuit. I have to hardwire in to gain access to the footage, which means I need to get inside one of the rooms." Alex said to us, we could pose as staff.
"And how exactly are we getting into said penthouse?" Nico asked, I had no idea. We went straight to that penthouse when the elevator stopped.
"We use a variation of the Brocious method with an Arduino and we're in. Statically speaking, the penthouse is the least likely to be occupied." Alex said to us before we went to the penthouse. "Moment of truth." He said before opening the door. When we walked in I saw little chocolate hearts.
"Oh, the honeymoon suite." Livvie said to us, I then saw chocolate strawberries.
"All right, don't get too comfortable, all right? We got a lot of work to do." Alex said to us all.
"You could throw a sick party here." Chase said to us, I had other ideas about what you could do in this room.
"It's a great place for a douchebag." Gert said to us.
"What's a pillow menu?" Molly asked, I had no idea. She then started jumping on the bed.
"If only we were here alone." I said to Chase in a whisper, I saw him blush a little.
"Ok, out." Alex said to Molly.
"Says who?" She asked him.
"Come on, you can jump on the bed when we're at the house." Alex said to her, I walked back into the main room and started eating the chocolate covered strawberries.
"It's not jumping when it's choreographed, dude. Respect the art." Molly said to him.
"Tell him, Molly." I said before eating my second strawberry.
"Yeah, I know." Alex said to her. She came into the main area and started playing music on the TV. I finished my strawberry and started dancing with her.
"Hey, um, where you going? Um, I wanna come. Can I come?" Molly asked before putting her shoes back on.
"Well, could you be, like 60% less chipper?" Nico asked her, I started looking for champagne.
"No." Molly answered.
"Fine." Nico said before her and Molly left. I popped open the champagne and started drinking out the bottle .
"Do you think anyone would notice if I took this home with us?" Gert asked while wearing the sliders. I saw Chase had my chocolate strawberries.
"Lace will tear 'em up in a heartbeat." Chase said to us, she probably.
"Oh, just cause she chewed a little bit on your boot does- -what are you doing?" Gert asked him, I picked up my bag and went to put some strawberries and some chocolate in there.
"Using your bag for our stash. I don't really wanna see what happens when chocolate-fondued fruit gets mixed in with a Fistigons." Chase said to us, I held up two bottles of wine.
"They won't miss these right?" I asked Chase.
"They won't but when I don't have to worry about you smoking I have to worry about your drinking now." He said to me and I put the bottles in my bag.
"Oh, no, no. I- -I have stuff in there." Gert said to us before Chase pulled out an envelope. I put the music back on and started drinking the rest of the champagne and dancing. "Hi. I was gonna tell you about that. Probably. I'm applying to colleges. The school of my dreams. Et cetera." Gert said to us, I looked at her.
"Congratulations, I hope you get in." I said before drinking more champagne, I saw Chase staring at me.
"And you didn't say anything?" He asked Gert.
"I- -haven't really said anything to you lately. You haven't- -you've barely spoken to me since the hospital." She said to him, there was about to be an argument.
"Yeah, because I was pissed. You kept something huge from me, and here we are again." Chase said to her, I was too busy dancing to care, I heard the door open. "Come on." Chase said to us. I turned the TV off and went inside the bedroom. I don't know where Chase and Gert went.
"Y/n, do I even want to know where the champagne came from?" Alex asked me while looking up.
"I got wine as well." I said to him with a smile.
"To share or for you?" He asked me, I looked at him.
"For me. Why would I share?" I asked while drinking more champagne, I was halfway into the bottle.
"How much have you drank? Do I need to get Nico to take the bottle from you?" He said to me, I looked at him.
"I'll be fine, now you get back to that computer thing." I said to him before walking out the bedroom, I made sure the coast was clear first. I saw Chase and wrapped my arms around him.
"What's all this about?" He asked me with a smile.
"Because I love you." I said to him, he looked at me.
"Your tipsy, but I love you too." He said before kissing my alcohol covered lips. I kinda deepened the kiss.
"Guys, I'm in!. Hey! I'm in." Alex said to us, I sighed.
"Wilder had to ruin the mood." I said to him, Chase looked at me.
"That's probably a good thing." He said to me before giving me a Mrs robe. I looked at it.
"Are we married now? Am I the new Mrs. Stein? We didn't have a wedding though." I said to him as we went to the bedroom.
"We'll have a wedding day another day." He said to me, making me smile.
"Did you just propose to me?" I asked him while wrapping my arm around me.
"I think I did." He said to me with a smile.
"Well, I accept. It's a yes." I said before kissing him.
"Someone got comfortable." Livvie said while looking at us.
"Trust me, it was necessary for the mission. Otherwise- -" Chase started before looking at Gert.
"Do you want me to throw something of yours into the chocolate? I hear Fistigons pair very nicely." Gert said to him, some fighting talk.
"Oh, wait, there. Play it. It's Darius." Livvie said to him, Chase took his arm back that was wrapped around me and went over to them.
"Let me see." Chase said, I went over and sat on his lap. We then watched the video but it glitched.
"No. No, it can't be gone." Alex said to us, of course it was erased.
"Of course PRIDE would Nixon the shit out of this. No, there's gotta be another feed, ok? Something. There's gotta be another way to prove that my dad was here." Alex said to us, maybe a member of staff.
"What about the other cameras? There are boutiques downstairs. Anyone who came in would have to go through the lobby, so they probably- -" Livvie started before Alex cut her off with a kiss.
"Get it, Wilder." I said while putting my hand up.
"They have their own cameras. Yes!" Alex said with a smile.
"Wow, way to steal the credit right out of the girls mouth. The man-terruption phenomenon in action." Gert said to us.
"No, they exchanged the answer through the kiss." I said to her, she was being stupid.
"Or he was just being cute and finishing her- -" Chase started before Gert cut her off.
"Don't start with me." She said to him, I glared at her.
"Ok, here we go. All right, anyone walking through the lobby will have had ti have passed through this window." Alex said before rewinding the feed. "Detective Flores- -the cop on PRIDE's payroll." Alex said to us.
"And AWOL- -the guy who shot at us today." Livvie said to us, I felt bad about that.
"Looks like they're waiting for someone." Gert said to us, but who. Darius?
"Yeah, my dad. Let's make sure we got it on tape, then we can go." Alex said but his Mom appeared in screen.
"Holy shit. Alex." Gert said to him.
"It wasn't your dad." Chase said to him.
"It was your mom." Gert said to him.
"Dun-dun-dun, the twist that wasn't expected." I said to them, Chase looked at me.
"Not the time, Y/n." He said to me, I looked down. It wasn't my fault. I went to drink some more. "Enough of that. You can drink the rest tomorrow." He said to me before placing a kiss on my nose. It wasn't long until Nico and Molly came in.
"What are you still doing here?" Nico asked us, we were looking at the footage.
"Didn't you get, like, our ten texts? We gotta go now!" Molly shouted at us, but why.
"Come on!" Nico said, we all stood up, I grabbed the bottle and my bag.
"Alex, come on!" Chase shouted before we went to the elevator. Where we saw guards.
"Stairs! Go!" Chase shouted at us, we went to the stairs. "I'm not risking anything when it comes to you and stays." He said before picking me up.
"Molly, come on." Gert said to her.
"Go! I'll meet you at the Rolls. Go!" Molly shouted back. I hoped she was going to be ok. When Molly didn't return to the Rolls I thought it was all part of the plan but oh boy was I wrong.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top