Chapter 651: Chapter 651

651 He Was Too Late

He could not fight them, Marcel knew that. Not without reinforcement, that would be a suicide mission. Even if he did have reinforcement, it would only end up causing a gang war which would only end up bloody.

So Marcel requested instead, “Can I see her?”

It was the only way to make sure that Winters was not hurt and that they were treating her well. As far as he knows, the girl did nothing wrong and they were the ones who refused to believe him. Fine, they could do whatever they wanted in the name of investigation, but no harm was to come to Winters, else it would be a full-blown war.

Winters was merely an associate, but to Marcel, she was family and part of the gang. Anyone that touched her was indirectly disrespecting him at the same time. He sighed, no wonder his father said he was weak – he worked with the sentiment. But then, Marcel refused to believe that empathy for the right people was foolishness.

A leader never leaves his followers behind. He would do everything to get Winters out of this mess he got her into. That was the kind of Mafia Don Marcel was. He was passionate about his people.

“The girl should stay behind,” Isabella suddenly suggested, earning a deadly glare from Marcel.

“That’s not going to happen, she’s staying by her side. Have any problem with that?” He dared her to separate them.

Chloe was not going anywhere, not after he worked so hard to get her back. It was not going to happen.

“Fine, do whatever you want. Well, with your kind of father, it’s not surprising that she’s been exposed to certain levels of violence, ”

.....

Although Isabella’s words were cutting, it kind of made sense. Chloe was too young to be exposed to these kinds of lifestyles, and they were going to visit Winters wherever they placed her, most likely, in a holding cell. But it was too late for that.

He was a Mafia Don and Chloe had seen all there is to see about their world. She was not as innocent as Isabella presumed her to be. Moreover, Marcel would not leave Chloe behind where any of them could snatch her from him – especially Reina. He still doesn’t trust the woman wouldn’t try to take Chloe from him.

Also, Marcel doesn’t see himself coming out from his father’s shadow anytime soon. Not while the man was still alive. Daniel’s past was too ugly to be wiped away that easily and as his son, people were quick to assume the worst and he didn’t blame him. Like father, like son, the adage was quite potent.

So they all went to see Winters in her cell, but on their way there, they were stopped by a soldier who pointed breathlessly in the direction of the cell, looking ruffled – and beaten.

“They’re gone,” He said.

“They?” Marcel’s brows furrowed at that pronoun. It was only Winters. How could there be two of them?

However, Isabella was the first to run into the cell and he followed after her when they got into the room, it was empty. There was no trace of Winters.

Isabella ran her hand through her hair while Marcel began to search the room desperately including under the bed as if she were hiding there even though it was obvious that there was no one in the room.

He whipped around to Isabella, his eyes blazing, “Where is she?” He growled at her. If this was some sort of joke, it better stop now.

“I don’t know! She was supposed to be here!” Isabella was confused. She looked around for the guard to throw more light on what happened here. However, Marcel was impatient.

He warned her, “I don’t care what you do or how you do it, but if you don’t find Winters whom your family took from me, then you would have a war on your hands and not me, but Daniel would be the one leading it.” Marcel didn’t care about the consequences at the moment.

“I knew having you here was bad luck,” Niklaus said this time.

“It hasn’t gotten to this point,” Reina said, “We should all calm down.”

“Cameras are usually not installed inside the house, but I ordered them to be placed against the party for safety’s sake. We will find out what happened there.” Emerald was still speaking when the soldier who was supposed to be in charge of taking care of Winters arrived.

“Where is she?” Marcel asked him with a grave tone and perhaps if there wasn’t an audience, he would have hitched him up against the wall by now, “Where is Winters?”

“I don’t know!” He confessed, “Honestly, I was just doing my job when someone sneaked up on me from behind and hit me on the back of the head and I passed out. That’s all I remember.”

“Convenient excuse to skip responsibility, don’t you think so?” Marcel sneered and was ready to lunge at the bastard when Sakuzi reminded him,

“Cameras?”

And that’s how everyone found themselves in the control room the next moment, going through the recordings and it didn’t even take long for them to stumble on the truth which left everyone dumbfounded.

“Akim?!”

“Who is he?” Marcel was the only one who wasn’t in the know.

“Winters’ boyfriend? Didn’t you know?” Chloe asked innocently, looking at him as if he was supposed to know about it.

“W-what?” Marcel suffered the second attack of the night, “Boyfriend?!”

When did Winters even get a boyfriend? He thought that she was in love with her computers. Moreover, what’s with children nowadays? Keeping critical secrets like this from him? First, it was Chloe, and now Winters. They were partners. He thought the both of them didn’t keep anything from each other.

“Great!” Niklaus threw his hands in the air. “What’s happening to my family?” His accusing look was on Marcel. All of this happened after he and his barged into his life and now both families were entangled in a relationship none of them wanted.

“We should track them down,” Niklaus decided, “They wouldn’t have gone far. With our resources, we can catch the hacker before she ruins Akim’s life,”

“That hacker has a name and if there’s anyone I should be worried about, it’s your nephew. I’m Winters’ guardian and from the looks of things in the camera, he’s the one who took her away.”

“Are you kidding me?” Niklaus sneered, “Who do you think seduced him enough to make such a decision? Akim has always been a good boy until that girl arrived!”

“Oh really? You’re really defending a horny young adult who’s thinking through his tiny penis and not his head.”

Niklaus was greatly offended by that comment, and he said, “Oh please, I can assure you that none of the Spencers has a tiny penis? Perhaps you’re just alluding to yourself!”

“I might be young but I’m an honorable person and I don’t boast of what I don’t have!”

Marcel and Niklaus bantered back and forth while the remaining audience in the room stared at one another in confusion, were they arguing about that right now?

“Alright, that’s enough!” Emerald, the giant broke them apart, “This is not the time to defend your male ego or fight, two kids are missing for crying out loud and we haven’t decided how to find them.”

“We are not going after them,” Isabella announced all of a sudden, stunning everyone.

“What do you mean by that?” Niklaus thought that she was on his side.

“Take a look at the camera, these are just frightened kids trying to get away from our adult problem.” She turned to Marcel, “I guess we would have to take his word that she had no other ulterior motive in coming here. Any opposition to that?” Isabella waited for any of them to speak up but when no response came, she took that as a yes.

“Now that the case is settled, I would love to retreat for the night with my children and perhaps if there’s still time, have one or two rounds with my husband Pedro. ,”

“That is too much information, Isabella,” Niklaus complained, eyeing her. Not that Isabella cared. It was a good thing that Pedro was with the kids, else the both of them would have had a man-to-man conversation tonight.

Isabella ignored the old man and said to Marcel, “Perhaps now, you can leave my family alone to recover from the havoc your unexpected presence has caused us. Any other issue would be resolved afterward.” She hinted at the Winters and Akim issue.

“Fine, we will take our leave.” Marcel grabbed Chloe’s hand tightly, “Thank you nonetheless for keeping my sister safe. Till we meet again.”

And just like that, Marcel left the residence with his sister, walking hand in hand. His driver Festus was released and it wasn’t until Marcel stepped in that he remembered something important.

Arianna.

He had been so carried away by the dramas with the Spencers that he had forgotten he had a more pressing issue. And now, fear like no other gripped him because he had an inkling that he was too late.