Chapter 39 – Not The News I Wanted

William

I woke up to my phone ringing. Looking at my alarm clock, I noticed it was only 5 am. What the fuck? I couldn't help but wonder.

"Huntz," I picked up, finding it hard to speak clearly.

"Serg, you're going to want to see this,” It was Mia. My body immediately went on alert, perhaps they had finally found the location of the Diamond crew.

"I'm on my way,” I didn't need to be told twice. It was time for us to end this. It had gone on long enough and caused enough pain and stress.

Walking into the office today, I couldn't help but feel the people around me watching me. Some with sadness, others with pity. I tried to brush it off. There was no point worrying when I didn't know anything.

I decided to head to the control room knowing that was the most probable place I would find Mia.

What I wasn't expecting and what made me come to a complete stop was Harmoni's face on the big screen. What was the meaning of this? I could feel my blood running cold as different possibilities ran through my head. This couldn't be. There had to be a mistake.

"Huntz," Cayden immediately greeted me as soon as he saw me.

"Why is Harmoni on the screen?" I asked, barely noticing the two other pictures on the screen.

"Harmoni, Leica, and Melissa are on the screen because they are the only three possible targets of the Diamond Crew,” Freddy started explaining slowly.

My blood ran cold. How could this be happening? I could hear my heartbeat pulsing in my head, as the hair on my skin rose.

"How?" was all I managed to say.

"Leica's father used to buy drugs with the gang before getting clean two years ago and moving state,” Mia started explaining. "Melissa's father was part of that gang when he was a child, but he managed to get out when he was around sixteen and started a brand new life. He never looked back.”

"But Harmoni's father is well known, if he had anything to do with this gang the media would have been all over it,” I said in disbelief.

"That is true. The thing is Harmoni's mother has a rather strange life,” Mia explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, she only existed two years before her wedding with Mr. Pearson and after six years of marriage, she disappeared again. She went underground. There has been no trace of her ever since. So I took a chance and decided to use our recognition software in the area the gang was initially. It took a few days and I was about to give up when I got a hit. Harmoni's mother now lives in the same region as the Diamond crew,” she finished.

"This doesn't mean she is involved,” I denied.

"True, but we can't take the risk to rule her out. She could be the target,” Mia stated matter-of-factly. I balled my hand into a fist, trying my best to remain calm and keep my objectivism. I couldn’t let my relationship cloud my judgment and Mia was making a valid point.

"Okay. Good job Mia. Let's contact the family of the two other girls and give them a warning. I will deal with the Pearson personally.”

Heading out of the office, I went to the Pearson mansion where no doubt Harmoni was getting ready for the formal. She hadn’t mentioned it to me but Emily made sure I knew the formal was coming up in a few weeks and to make sure I did something big. Whatever that meant.

I racked my brain for days before I decided to settle on something simple. I had bought a dozen red roses, which I knew she loved, cooked mushroom risotto thanks to Selena’s recipe, and finally added some romantic music in the background. Harmoni had been happily surprised when she arrived back from school. We had sat down and enjoyed a nice dinner before I went to get the flowers. Her eyes had gone wide as I approached her and her smile grew. I was the luckiest man alive to have her by my side.

She opened the card that I had custom made to write: “Will you do me the honors of going to the formal with me, Princess?” She had jumped into my arms, kissing me feverishly.

This night turned out to be so much more than a proposal to her formal. It had led to the both of us expressing our love to one another both vocally and tangled in the sheets. For the lack of a better word, it had been perfect.

Today was a big day for her and me. I didn't want to ruin it with the stressful news I now had in my hands. I would tell her later in the evening when we would be on our way home. This way, she would still be able to enjoy the dance and this moment of normalcy before having to carry this dark cloud with her.

I had tried calling her father, but his assistant informed me he was on a long-haul flight and wouldn’t be able to pick up the phone for the upcoming nine hours. I put an alarm on my phone to remind myself to call him in the morning. This concerned his daughter's security and, well, his wife. I'm sure he would hold it against me if I withheld this kind of information any longer than necessary.

As soon as I was parked in front of the car, I placed my earpiece and got ready. We would all be wearing a suit today to not stand out too much. I gathered Benjamin and Samuel, explaining the discovery we had made this morning at HQ. We needed to be vigilant now more than ever. If my team was correct and Harmoni was actually the intended target, that would mean that they could attempt to abduct her at any moment. We were the only thing that would stop them.

Once the team was briefed, I made my way up to see the woman I had been dying to see all day. I told her she could get ready at the apartment, but she kept rambling about not having the clothes or the makeup or the shoes or, well, anything she needed. I tried to understand, but really only got that she would be getting ready at her house.

"Hey, beautiful! Almost ready?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind. She turned in my arms to face me, with a wide smile. She reached her hands up and wrapped them behind my neck, giving me my cue to lean down and kiss her. What started as a peck quickly heated to something more passionate. We just couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. I gathered as much self-control as I could muster and pulled away from her. “I would love to take you up on this offer, but we’re going to be late,” I reasoned.

“You know I wouldn’t mind,” she teased, standing up on her toes to peck my lips.

“You’re not helping,” I grumbled, detaching myself from her. The doors to the formal would close at seven-thirty, and we were already cutting it close.

“Let me grab my purse and we can go,” she said, chuckling. She knew exactly the effect she had on me and loved to play with it.

For a while, I considered calling her vixen instead of Princess but never ended up doing it.

While she gathered the rest of her belongings from her room, I could feel the excitement radiating off of her and was glad she was enjoying the last few months of her high school experience.

Although the day had started on a sour note, it seemed to be looking up. Perhaps, we would be able to get through it all unscathed. Who knows? Harmoni might not even be the target.

Oh, how wrong I had been.