Involvement

Work at the office was busy as always and Lucien barely had time to eat or rest during the day. He attended meetings after meetings and then more meetings until it was late into the evening. The time to meet Edward was fast approaching and he felt horrible. His fever and headache had gotten worst.

Although he tried his best to hide it, his wonderful colleague and wife figured it out in no time.

“Lucien, you’re sweating so much, and you look so pale. It’s like you can faint any moment now. What about I get one of the drivers to drive you home?” Rosia suggested with concern as her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“That won’t be necessary. You head home first before me. I have something to do…” Lucien said as he tried to fight off his headache.

The fever had not subsided, and his headache was fast turning into a full-fledged migraine. Lucien massaged his temple as his vision started to blur.

“Oh my…Lucien you need to go to the hospital. You’re burning up and you can barely stay standing. Sit down,” Rosia said as she felt Lucien’s burning forehead.

“Rosia…I’m fine,” Lucien protested weakly.

“No, you’re not! I’m calling the driver to drive you to the hospital…or do you want me to call the family doctor?” Rosia continued in a panic.

“…I have somewhere I have to be. So…please, just go home, ok?” Lucien said as he leaned on the side of his worktable for support.

“Where do you have to go?” Rosia asked with concern.

“Can you stop nagging me, Madame,” Lucien said without further explanation. His headache just got worst. He glanced at his watch and realized that he had to leave immediately to make it on time to meet Edward.

Suddenly as if on cue, Lucien’s mobile phone rang.

“Shit…” Lucien muttered as he looked at his brother’s name on the screen.

“Who is it? Edward?” Rosia said as she took a peek at Lucien’s phone.

“It’s nothing. Go home,” Lucien said dismissively before answering the call.

“Where are you? Are you on the way?” Edward’s voice almost shouted and could be heard from where Rosia was standing.

“I’m…about to leave the office,” Lucien replied, trying to sound normal.

“Are you sick? You don’t sound…so good,” Edward asked skeptically.

“No, I’m fine,” Lucien replied.

“No! He’s not fine! Edward, your brother has a fever and can barely stand,” Rosia shouted.

“Oh shit...you’re sick now of all times? Can you make it?” Edward asked with a chuckle.

“He needs to go to the hospital, Edward,” Rosia spoke up loudly so that Edward could here on the other end of the call.

“Stop talking to my brother through my phone call!” Lucien yelled in annoyance.

“You can’t be late. I need those documents before my flight,” Edward said sternly.

“Lucien can’t go. I…I’ll go!” Rosia suggested desperately.

“No…I can still…drive,” Lucien protested but it was clear from the state that he’s in that he can no longer stand.

“I’m ok with Rosia delivering the documents. They belong to her ex-husband anyways…” Edward said lazily.

“The documents belong to David?” Rosia asked excitedly when her ex-husband was mentioned.

“Yup…which is why I can sort of trust you to deliver them. No peeking though. Lucien, what do you say?” Edward spoke through the phone.

“Seems like we don’t have any…other choice. Take…my car,” Lucien said in between labored pants.

“Ok…I’ll send a car around to take you to the hospital,” Rosia said as she grabbed the document in question off Lucien’s desk.

“Lucien, tell her the location. Oh…please don’t be late. See you soon…” Edward said before hanging up.

…

“Thank you for calling Roma Fancy Pizzas. How can I help you?”

The recording of an overly enthusiastic young woman chirped through the phone.

“Black Ink,” a tall man with red hair and piercing blue eyes spoke clearly yet emotionlessly.

“Please state your password,” the recording replied as programmed.

“My voice is my password,” he said.

“Password verified. You will be connected soon. Please hold,” the recording replied.

After a few seconds of silence, the line was successfully forwarded.

The man on the other end of the line stated some seemingly random numbers before ending the short call with a “good luck”.

The red-haired man jotted down the number and then rearranged them before inputting them into an application on his mobile phone to pinpoint a location on the map. The numbers had been arranged into a specific latitude and longitude.

The man was on the move immediately towards that location. After arriving at his destinated, the red hair man was immediately able to identify what he came here for.

He let out a sigh as he slowly unrolled a small piece of paper. On it were instructions for his mission.

As always, the mission details were arranged in a particular order. However, this mission did not disclose the identity of the target. Target name was filled with ‘to follow the instructions’. The instructions were simple enough. To kill the driver of a particular car and disguise it as a car accident.

The man took out a lighter and lit his cigarette before lighting up the piece of paper, burning it to ashes.

…

“Your mother died in my place,” Lucien said sadly. His face contorted into a mask of sadness and guilt.

I honestly thought that he was going to start crying and was thankful that he didn’t. I felt like crying myself and didn’t know how I would handle Lucien if he cried too.

“Your car was targeted? Someone wanted to murder you?” I asked in pure shock.

I wasn’t sure what sinister explanation I expected but what Lucien just told me was on a completely different level. My mother died in Lucien’s place because she happened to be driving his car…

“Exactly. In a sense your mother’s death was really an unfortunate accident. If I wasn’t sick that day. If Edward didn’t need the documents that day. If Reiner was told of his target’s identity for that day. Then maybe…your mother would still be alive today,” Lucien said as he hung his head low.

--To be continued…

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