CHAPTER 2 - Agent

The sound of her phone ringing woke Ashley up as she rolled on the floor until her back hit the edge of the center table, and she felt a sharp pain.

Immediately, her eyes opened, and she groaned loudly.

“Gawd, my back,” She groaned and stood up. Her room was exactly the way she left it yesterday, which means she slept for a long time.

Ashley walked towards her phone, which was ringing. She unplugged it as she picked up the call.

She placed the phone on her ear. “Good morning,” Ashley mumbled out, and she glanced at her phone screen to check the caller ID.

It was Kim, her mom's personal assistant.

“Morning, Ms. Ashley Valencia,”

“Did my mom ask you to deliver a message to me?” Ashley asked, biting her lower lip. She sat on the bed, stroking her thigh gently. This is something she always does when she is nervous.

“Mrs. Valencia wants to attend a charity gala. It's tonight, and the whole family will be there, so she wants you to be there.”

“Time of the event and location?” Ashley asked.

“I will send it to you now as a text message, and your dress will be delivered to the house later in the afternoon. Mrs. Valencia wants you to portray a strong Valencia woman, her replica.”.

Ashley nodded as if Kim could see her.

“I will portray it well, my dear." The call disconnected, and Ashley dropped her phone on the bed.

“She did not bother to give me the chance to land well before ending the call,” she mumbled to herself.

It has always been like this with Gwen Valencia; she never contacts Ashley directly and only contacts her through Kim.

Ashley’s phone chimed, distracting her from her thoughts, and she picked up her phone to see a text message from Kim.

She saw the time and location of the address. She read the message and left it there without replying to her.

Kim was a woman of little words, just like her, which was why they got along so well, and she knew better than to reply to her.

Ashley stood up from the bed as she walked towards the washroom. She took her bath, and after bathing, she stepped out with a red towel wrapped around her naked, wet body.

She dried the water off her wet body and hair before proceeding to her closet.

Ashley brought out three-quarter shorts with a white top and a bra. She wore her clothes, then walked towards her mirror.

She applied hair treatment to her hair before proceeding to the door. As soon as she opened, she saw a maid at the door, who bowed at her immediately.

“Good morning, Ms. Ashley,”

“Is breakfast ready?” Ashley asked.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm here because of that.”

“I want to have my breakfast upstairs,” Ashley said, and the maid nodded before leaving.

Ashley went inside her room and shut the door behind her. She was towards her laptop and switched it.

The hacking she was doing appeared on the screen, and her mind flashed back to the charity that she would be attending tonight.

“I hate parties; I don't like going out, but now I have to go out and display the strong side of Ms. Ashley Valencia,” she muttered to herself.

Her parents and siblings are not abusive towards her; just that all of them have a single lifestyle that has to follow, which is mind your business. I love you, but don't expect me to express it because it's a weakness. Money is there, so I believe there's happiness for you all.

Sometimes she feels as if she doesn't exist whenever she's with the whole family, but she can't complain since they took her in when they did not plan to.

Ashley heard a knock and went to the door. She opened it and collected her tray of food from the maid before locking the door.

She walked towards the center table and placed the tray of food on it.

“I have to go to that party. I wonder what the party is all about.” Ashley walked towards her laptop and started writing a code for an app that she was developing.

The app was something she had been working on for a while. She was working on it when she received a call from Jacob. Her handler is from the CIA.

She picked up the call immediately. He has been off the rig for a while, and even though the two of them pretend to have a handler-asset relationship, they really care about each other.

She had been worried about him and didn’t know how to contact him whenever he was on missions.

“Ashy, I want you to trace someone for me urgently,” Jacob said, and Ashley immediately picked up the call.

“That’s the first thing you are going to say—not I miss you or how have you been,” Ashley said, teasing him.

“You know I am not that nice, Ashy.”

“I really need you to trace this person for me, though; it’s a matter of life and death.”

“Let me try. Whose phone am I hacking this time around?” She asked as she opened a site.

“Geoffrey Black,”

She was about to ask for more details when she received a text from Jacob. She smiled, looking at the details he sent.

“I will get to it now,” Ashley replied, and she disconnected the call.

She immediately got to work and spent the next few minutes gathering everything she could on him and finding his current location.

With the information Jacob had given her, she knew just what she had to do. It was in moments like this that she loved the fact that her parents didn’t want her to be in the spotlight like her siblings.

Ashley went downstairs to see her younger siblings eating.

“Good morning,” she said to them, but they all just looked at her and went back to their food.

She was used to getting cold shoulders from them, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.

What is even worse is that no matter how hard she tries to resent them, she actually understands why they were acting like that with her.

She was just a stranger that their parents brought home and had to share the same surname with.

Deciding to just go about her day without thinking about her family, she walked and flagged down a cab. Ashley got inside the cab and headed towards Geoffrey's last location.

Soon, Ashley got there. She hopped out and entered the hall. She took off her face cap and hung her bag properly with one shoulder, then wore a smile.

Ashley saw Geoffrey walking towards the lobby she was in. She doesn’t know how a criminal like him could just walk around without a care in the world.

Going for the classic move, she decided that all she needed to do was catch his attention, because according to Jacob and her finding, he is such a man whore and can’t say no to a beautiful woman.

Pretending as if she were rushing somewhere, she bumped into him and intentionally dropped her phone.