<RECAP>

I gripped the knob harder as I took in another intake of air and then flung the door open with my revolver held high, only to freeze at the sight before me.

"Welcome"

The familiar husky voice belonging to Cayden echoed loudly. He was sitting on a black sofa smirking at me with his eyes shining in amusement.

That was not what caught my attention. It was something beside him.

Rather someone.

President Alexander Benjamin was sitting beside him, leisurely sipping a cup of tea making us all freeze in shock with our weapons remaining unfocused in air.
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I stared at the sight before me, completely dumbfounded. I felt numb. I tried to move my hands but the shock was too overwhelming, paralysing me temporarily.

Why is the President here? He definitely doesn't look like as if he was abducted.

Is the President's presence a co-incidence?

My eyes watched him drink his tea with his eyes zeroed on us.

Something tells me otherwise.

Then why-

My thoughts came in to a rumbling tumbling stop making my eyes take the size of a huge saucer. I could feel the blood gushing in to my face slowly as my paralyzed heart now started beating faintly.

Wait. Please don't tell me-

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Please don't tell me that it was his plan to kill the previous President.

That he's the master mind behind all these chaos.

The vision infront of me blurred and I suddenly felt dizzy. More sweat beads ran down the length of my face finally dropping on to my collar bone. The rapid increase in my heart beat and the sudden unexpected turn of events was taking the toll on me.

"Ehem", someone cleared his throat loudly making me snap back to reality.

The sudden shuffling from behind indicated that the others were wide awake too. I shook my head clear and focused on the President to watch him slowly arise from the sofa as Cayden followed suit.

My eyes made sure to focus on the President while they watched Cayden from the corner.

The President stepped forward and scanned our faces one by one with his slit like scrutinizing eyes. His gaze fell on me and I could feel his black beads rolling and staring at me intently from behind those halfway narrowed lids.

I gritted my teeth and gripped the butt of my gun with so much force that I'm surprised it didn't snap in to two already. Fortunately for me, it wasn't a toy and unfortunately this wasn't a movie.

For if it was a movie, I wouldn't have the need to fret for I would know that my side would definitely win in the end.

I looked straight at him in the eye and glared back at him with full outrageous force. If looks could kill, he would have already turned in to poop by now. His lips slightly twitched mockingly but it soon set back in to a grim line making me think that it was just my imagination.

He straightened his posture and looked at Director Williams.

"You must be Director Williams", the President spoke in a professional tone and gave him a firm nod.

"Yes sir", was Director Williams' not-so-happy reply.

The President nodded again and then sighed.

"Well, why don't we take a seat-"

"Oh no! Hell, we aren't going to sir!", I interrupted and pointed my gun at him.

Anger exploded within me like a volcano. My blood boiled like lava and my hands were shaking out of pure rage.

Everything made sense now.

"You are with him, aren't you", I spat venomously as I jerked my head towards Cayden and clutched my weapon tightly with my sweaty and slippery hands.

"That is why you wanted to close the case on my parents' murder!", I then continued while pinning him with a deathly glare.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes.

Son of a bitch!

"Woah! Calm down young lady! You don't want to go to prison for attempted royal murder, or do you?", he cockily asked me with his eyebrow raised.

I glared at him stubbornly refusing to put my gun down.

"Emma, this is our place. You are surrounded from all sides", I heard an amused voice say from somewhere behind the President.

I didn't need to look to know who the voice belonged to.

"It's Miss. Parker for you!", I snapped my head towards his direction and snarled back at him. His blue orbs turned dark, but it soon turned back to its cold empty stoicness in a blink of an eye.

Someone nudged me from beside.

"You need to calm down or we are all dead", Martin's panicked voice breathed in to my ear with a tinge of desperateness laced in them.

I gritted my teeth in frustration.

"He's right Emma", my inner voice echoed softly trying to not trigger my anger further.

I took in huge gulps of air.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in-

I kept inhaling and exhaling for I don't know how long and then slowly lowered my gun. My hands reluctantly fell on my either sides, refusing to let go of the butt of my revolver.

"As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted-", the President paused and shot me a nasty look.

"The IAE headtable members and Miss. Parker are welcomed to have a cup of tea with me. Or I would rather add, you've got no choice", he stated, giving me a stern look.

I heard fading footsteps belonging to the other members of our crew as they hurriedly walked out of the room leaving the seven of us behind. The President walked back to the sofa and took his seat. Cayden followed and sat beside him.

Director Williams stepped forward first and then followed Isaac and Mary. I stood still, having an inner conflict with myself when I felt someone elbow me. I snapped my head towards the side to see Martin nod his head encouragingly at me.

I sighed.

I hesitantly trudged towards the single sofa available. The moment I settled myself down, I heard a throat clear. I looked up to see that it was Cayden this time. He was looking at me with an unreadable expression. I ignored him and focused my attention on the President.

"Well, before we talk in depth, let me appreciate you all for the excellent work that you all have put in. Especially you, Miss. Parker. You have impressed me quite alot", the President stated looking at me with a smile stretching on his wrinkled face.

I looked at him confused.

Why the hell is he smiling at me as if he was proud of me?

"But unfortunately you have tracked the wrong group tonight", he then continued before I could glare back at him.

All the schemes that I've been mentally sketching to escape this place, paused mid way abruptly.

Wait!

WHAT?

Did I hear that right?

Silence descended upon everyone after the President's shocking revelation.

"Liar!", the word sprung out of my lips coldly, slashing through the thick silence like a sword.

Everyone visibly jerked out of their thoughts as my cold voice rang out in the air. The President slowly turned his head towards me with a sad smile etched on his face.

"Liar!", I hissed repeating again as I glared daggers at him.

"We have evidence. It's them! The dragon tattoo says it all!", I spat coldly and pinned him with an unblinking stare.

The sad smile slowly deflated from the President's face, gradually settling back in to a thin grim line. He looked at me in the eye for a full whole minute and then sighed.

"Yes, you've got evidence. I agree Miss. Parker", the President replied hastily.

A smug smile tugged the edges of my lips.

"But the question is whether you have evidence for every crime?", the President quickly added again as I opened my mouth to say something witty.

My lips tugged downwards simultaneously.

"He has got a point", my inner voice echoed, stating the obvious.

"But- but- the way of assault has been the same at every instance", I replied, completely baffled.

"It has?", the President raised his eyebrow questioningly with a small smile playing on his lips.

Images of documents flashed through my mind. Then my mind caught a glimpse of the whiteboard hanging at the wall of my house making me freeze on the spot.

Shit!

Everything made sense now!

The unfitting pieces that I've been trying to solve all these times clicked at the right places. Yet, I felt a gaping hole staring back at me from somewhere.

"So there have been two groups all these times. One- the human trafficking and sexual assault group or as the media calls it- the Mafia group. Two- the shooting for no reason group", I ticked off my fingers as I voiced out my thoughts aloud.

A faint sound of applauding reached my ears just as I finished talking. I looked up to see the President applauding with a faint smile on his lips.

"Accurate", the President stated with a nod and then beamed at me.

A few 'ahh' sounds came from the rest of my crew as they nodded their head in understanding.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

So what is he trying to say?

"Yet, they are still criminals", I shrugged and jerked my head towards Cayden who was silently watching everything.

The President looked at me and smiled. He then shook his head in denial.

"No, they aren't", he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Anger resurfaced again this time.

Is this guy crazy?

I opened my mouth to give him a good piece of my mind when he silenced me with his hand.

"Mr. Martinez is the best of all intelligence officers that our country has got. I appointed him as the leader of the team of which I assigned myself. The dragon tattooed people who you claim to be criminals who shoot people for no reason are the very same team which I assigned myself. They were assigned to execute criminals who carry on their dirty work under disguise without leaving any trace of evidence. And the people they've shot so far are the big shots who are in contact with the Mafia group", the President stated in one go.

I looked at him in disbelief.

"So you say that my parents were criminals too?", I spluttered out in a whisper.

"No", the President replied hesitantly.

I sighed in relief. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders.

"But your adopted parents are", the President revealed with a sigh.

WHAT!

Did I hear that right?

I was adopted?

The surrounding muted and all that I could hear was the sound of my whole world crumbling in to pieces. My eyes were literally popping out of my sockets and all that covered my blurry vision was the sight of the yellow wall which was standing opposite to me.

I didn't know what to think, my mind was pretty much blank and empty right now.

The pretty blue orbs of my dad and the beautiful face of my mum was forever embedded in my mind.

Then came the images of Bella and her brother's murder scene. How come two beautiful and wonderful people like my mum and dad of whom I trusted from the bottom of my heart, help torture and kill beautiful innocent children like them.

Then floated the images of dad giving me a piggy back ride and mum swinging me back and forth in air, blurring my vision further.

No!

He's lying!

My parents were innocent.

Anger, betrayal, pain and a mix of body numbing emotions ravelled inside my mind. My fists clenched in to a tight ball.

He's lying.

He's lying.

HE'S LYING!

My subconscious mind screamed back at me making my head throb and writhe in pain.

I caught my head with my hands trying to stop the churning. I clutched it harder and shook it to get rid of the images, emotions and flashbacks pounding and echoing with in the walls of my mind.

Please stop!

I heard myself whimper mentally.

Please stop!

Please st-

"Emma! Emma! Emma!", someone shook me hard, bringing me back to reality.

"Huh?", my lips unknowingly muttered as I looked up to see who it was.

Martin's and Director Williams' worried faces peered down at me in concern. I blinked at them, completely clueless and that's when the reality hit me again. Only this time it hit harder, shaking me to the core.

I shook my head and wet my now dry lips. My tongue was greeted with a salt taste. I quickly touched my face and that was when I realized that I was crying. Tears were cascading down my now rosy cheeks silently. I quickly wiped my wet cheeks and rubbed my teary eyes.

Once I was done, I looked up at the President and glared.

"Do you have proof?", I whisper-spat venomously.

He gave me a sad smile and then nodded at Cayden.

"Ehem", Cayden cleared his throat and managed to divert my attention towards him.

"Your biological parents were killed in a car crash when you were five months old. When you were around seven months the couple adopted you from an orphanage. These are the documents to prove that you were adopted. And the documents to prove that they were guilty are included in there too", Cayden stated as he handed me a thick blue file.

"Your adopted parents were both top surgeons. They were involved in helping the mafia group with organs and they were one of the big shots. Each and every person we shot had good reputed jobs who pretended to live normal lives. Many of them had adopted kids as a cover. Your parents adopted you for the very same reason", Cayden continued, his face etched with concern.

I stared expressionlessly in to his worried blue eyes. I continued staring and couldn't help but space out in between. I mentally chuckled at my situation. I just figured out that my twenty six years of existence had been a complete dramatic lie.

Wow! The irony of life never ceases to amaze me.

Tears blurred my vision again.

"Don't give up until you find facts to prove them right", my inner voice echoed softly, almost inaudible to my now numb ears.

"Why didn't you inform us before? Why now?", Director Williams' voice jerked my mind back to reality again even though my eyes looked spaced out.

I heard the President sigh.

I couldn't move my head or my eyes as they were in a complete immobile trans. Nor did I try to. All that was working right now were my ears. Even my mouth was tongue-tied.

"Before Miss. Parker's parents murder, a little girl named Emily Benjamin was kidnapped and assaulted in a similar way to the recent victims. That girl was none other than my own daughter-"

My eyes widened in realization and an involuntary gasp escaped my lips. The images of a red star marked infront of the said name on my whiteboard appeared immediately infront of my vision.

"But- but- reports say that she was an orphan", the words escaped my lips before I could even decipher.

The President looked at me in surprise and then gave me a sad smile.

"I made the reports say so. I didn't want rumours to spread and I wanted to find the mega mind behind this. So I made sure to assign a secret team unknown to anyone- including the previous President. And now, I don't regret it because he himself was a big shot who was involved. That is why he asked to close your parents' murder file because he didn't want to get caught", the President heaved a huge sigh after explaining.

I searched my mind and the gaping hole wasn't there anymore. The pieces clicked perfectly.

"I didn't inform you sooner because I underestimated the IAE as the Police failed in their job. I apologize for my mistake", the President continued.

"But now that you've proved your efficiency, my team would join hands with the IAE in solving this case", the President stated cheerfully.

I froze on the spot.

Wait!

That also means working with Cayden.

Oh God!

"And I appoint both Mr. Martinez and Miss. Parker in-charge of this case", the President's voice rang out through the million thoughts running in my head.

My eyes widened in horror.

OH HELL NO!

__________________________________________________________________
Hey guys!

I'm extremely sorry for not keeping my promise. I know that I have no excuse for keeping you all hanging for so long. And that all so when the previous chapter ended in a nail-biting cliffhanger.

So let me apologize a million times and make it up to you guys.

I will be publishing three chapters in a go. I hope this would make up for all those 'hanging' moments 🙈

And coming to the chapter. Here are the questions-
1) Did you ever predict this twist?? Did you?? Please tell me 😉
2) Seems like Cayden isn't the bad guy after all. Then who is??? Any ideas??
3) And Emma's parents. Did you ever think that they might be one of the villains?? 😱
4) And forget about the villain part, what about the adopted part?? Did you guess?? 😱

Too many surprising revelations in this chapter I guess. Told you that you might need to hold on to your seats tightly 😝

And for those who had been trying to chop my head off because of making Cayden the bad guy, hope you guys are happy now? 😂😂😂😂😂

And oh! This is just the beginning of the climax. There's more to come. Keep reading!!!! 😊

And don't forget to vote, comment & share too!!! ❤️

Love,

Ranna