Chapter 8

“Miss de Santis is satisfied with the preparations so far, Lady K. She just requested about adding a participant for the cage fight and wants the identity to be confidential”, Awasis reported.

Orianne stayed at the living room while Amos retired to bed early. 

“Who might that be?”, she murmured to herself. “As long as that person is no threat, Miss Awasis.” 

“Miss de Santis said that she’ll take responsibility if things get out of hand.”

“Okay, then. Have the invitation sent out 48 hours before the opening, as usual. I will soon tell you when I’ll be returning.”

“Copy that, Lady K.”

Orianne closed her laptop before going to the counter to drink some water. She became alert after hearing some clanks somewhere. She left the glass of water on the counter top before following the sound. The whole hotel was secure, especially her room which made her wonder. Amos was asleep and room service would make themselves known before proceeding to work.

She heaved a sigh after nearing a certain room. On the other side of the glass wall, she can see Amos doing some lat pull-downs. And here she thought he was asleep. 

“Thought you were tired, mister?”

Amos continued doing his pull-downs without answering her. Basing from the amount of sweat on his body and hair, he had been here for some time. She raised an eyebrow when he didn’t respond after some minutes. And that’s when she noticed his phone on one of the benches. She saw that he was listening to some EDM playlist.

“So you listen to Alan Walker?”, she said to herself while looking at the title and artist of the music recently playing.

She faced her husband who was still not aware of her presence in the room. His grey hoodie was wet and some sweat were running down his hair. “How long had he been at it?”

She paused the music and seconds later Amos looked at where she was, his mouth slightly open, and gasping for air. He let go of the row bar and used his sleeve to wipe his face. He remained seated until Orianne went beside him.

“You know what? You do have different ways of doing things. Sleeping is exercising, having fun is almost shooting a woman. Do I have to look out for more?”, she sarcastically asked. 

She watched him removed his air pods and his hood over his head. 

“You’re done?”

Orianne can’t really get this man’s attitude. He just suddenly blushes sometimes and now he’s this serious.

“Hmm, yeah.” And sometimes, he just ignores her question.

“Why are you working out this late?”

“Can’t sleep without being physically tired.” And sometimes, he just answers briefly and says no more.

“Hmm, okay.”

“I’ll go ahead and sleep. You should freshen up before sleeping”, she said and headed for the room’s door. “And one more thing, are you leaving with your men tomorrow?”

Amos was confused with her question. How about their honeymoon? Of course he didn’t have the guts to ask that and bring shame to himself.

“I…yes. We’ll be returning to the headquarters to prepare for the next shipment.” He actually planned to extend his vacation but it seems that his wife is saying otherwise.

“Oh, is that so? Then, feel free to wake me up tomorrow if I fail to  before your departure.”

“No need for that, miss. You surely need rest so I’ll just leave a note or something.”

“Whatever suits with you. Good night.”

“Good night, miss.”

He looked up to the ceiling when Orianne left. “Hah, thinking that we’ll sleep together tonight? Collect your shit, Amos.” He shook his head before deciding to shower and stop his overthinking.

The next day, his men were indeed early. They were now putting their things in the helicopter when Amos arrived at the heliport. He had his sunglasses on his eyes while holding his duffel bag. Andros puffed smoke when he noticed Amos coming towards them.

“Thought you were going to stay”, Andros started. 

“I thought so, too”, Amos bluntly answered and passed him by, shoving his duffel bag onto Andros’ chest. He watched Amos as he climbed up the pilot’s seat, obviously pissed.

“Is he returning with us?”, Vlad asked after jogging his way towards Andros. 

“Seems so”, he answered and puffed another smoke. Andros noticed someone standing at one of the hotel’s porch. He also witnessed how this person shook their head before heading inside. He looked at his half-smoked cigarette before dropping and stepping on it. 

“Down bad, aren’t we?”, Vlad teased him. 

“Fvck off, and take this with you”, he said and gave him Amos’ bag. Everybody was settled and Andros was in front, together with Amos. 

“Hope we’re going to arrive at the HQ in one piece”, Andros teased. 

True to his words, Amos left a note at the counter top and Orianne was reading it while eating her late lunch. She woke up around 12 and knew that she missed Amos’ departure. Today, she’ll also be heading in their group’s HQ together with Hiraya. 

“Hope you rested well, moya missis. See you in Italy.” 

She put the paper down and held her tea cup. She heard Hiraya came in when she set her eyes outside.

“Sweet of him to leave a note”, Hiraya said. “Here’s your ice cream.” 

She sat across Orianne before grabbing her own bowl of ice cream. 

“Yeah, sweet of him”, she responded with no emotion, either on her voice or on her face. She just stared outside.

“Enough of that. So what’s your next engagement after returning to the HQ?”

“Fly to Italy. You know, about the de Santis.” 

“Oh, it’ll be the party of the year. It’s going to be her debut in the illegal business.”

Illegal, huh? Orianne placed her cup of tea down and started eating the ice cream. It was cold, the good kind of cold and sweet. She’d been living in this so-called illegal world for many years now that she doesn’t seem to care the existence of the words ‘right’ and ‘just’. It was cold, the bad kind of cold and definitely not sweet. 

“You’re done packing up?”, she instead asked, diverting the topic.

“Uh-huh.”

“Great. We’ll be leaving after you eat your ice cream.”

“One more thing, lola called me instead since she knew you wouldn’t pick up.”

Orianne bit the teaspoon in her mouth before taking out.

“And what did she say?”

“She asked if you finally know how to cook caldereta and adobo. You would be a disappointment if your husband can’t take a bite of Filipino dishes you cooked.” She raised an eyebrow after Hiraya spoke. Those traditional foods, really?

“Come on, Hiraya. What did she actually say?”

“You don’t believe me?”

Orianne just stared at her, dead serious. 

“Fine. Somehow someway, the news of you getting married reached her table of gossips. She just said that she’s long been ready to become a great grandmother.”

“That’s right. She’s long been ready so you must hurry up and find a partner.”

“You’re hopeless.”

Their conversation didn’t last any longer since an emergency from the HQ required Hiraya’s immediate presence. 

“Report”, Orianne ordered her secretary when they landed. Hiraya was already out of the scene as she’s in the lab. 

“Igor Zami, a senior pharmaceutical scientist ran off with their team’s papers and blew up the lab, had connections making him hard to track. It’s been three hours since his last sighting at the entrance.”

Both just entered the main building and each person she passed by gave her a slight bow. 

“Number of dead people?”, she asked instead when they entered the elevator.

“Two seniors and two juniors, so four in all.” 

The elevator dinged and both got out. They walked the only hallway until they reached a heavy metal door. She used her eye for the retinal scan and the door opened.

“What a mess he left.” 

One corner of the lab were black from the explosion but it was controlled since the glass were made to stand a certain level of explosion. 

“How come he escaped?”, she asked as she went near the scene. Hiraya was in her protective equipment as she and her team tried to inspect the room for any leakage. 

“He was an aspiring actor before his parents forced him to do take pharmaceuticals.” 

They stopped on their tracks.

“Okay. Possible people he might have connections with?”

“The Minister of Justice; Maxim Orlov, the actor; Dmitri Campbell and his brother; Pavel Zami. It was narrowed down to this three and men were already deployed to monitor their actions.”

“An actor, huh? Big time or beginner?”

“Big time, Lady K. He’s famous and respected in the industry.”

“Any reports from the monitoring team?”

Her secretary flipped through her clipboard and fixed her glasses. It truly is going to her death working under the boss’ younger sister.

“Actually, forget that one”, Orianne said and they watched together how Hiraya and her team exited the room. She dismissed her secretary and followed Hiraya to the changing room.

“You think the project was complete?”

“Most likely. They’ve been working for it for about a year now and considering Sir Igor’s expertise, it’s far from being unsuccessful”, Hiraya answered as she changed into her formal attire. She hang the stethoscope around her shoulders before wearing her glasses. 

“A completed party drug formula. Who has the highest possibility of wanting it?”,

“Come on, Lady K. Everybody would want that. Can we continue this in my office please?”

Orianne nodded. Upon their exit from the elevator, Orianne’s secretary immediately went to them. 

“The person Sir Igor’s been working with has been identified, Lady K. Dmitri Campbell possesses the papers and still being monitored. He is under a deputy minister’s protection so we cannot order an immediate attack

Orianne rolled her eyes. That man really believes that having a deputy minister by his side can keep her and her team from harming him. 

“Ugh! Ajax better come home. You still have your honeymoon scheduled for the rest of the year”, Hiraya spouted that made the secretary beside them still and just stare at them.

“Ilya, you haven’t heard anything from a while ago”, Orianne said that made her secretary jerk a little. 

“I’ll tell you the tea once we’re done with this stupid actor, okay?”

“Copy that, Lady K.”