CHAPTER 19

~~~ AIDEN ~~~

It turned out that Alex had gone further than freezing one of our important offshore bank accounts. She practically created several fake cases of money laundering and tax evasion as well, and now we were being monitored by the federal agents.

Wow!

That was a huge mess. It was not the kind we couldn't deal with, but it was still a huge mess and pretty annoying. It would quickly eat away months of our time to clear such a mess.

"This means one thing," I stated, “She knows we are here and looking for her. And she doesn't like it. She wants to keep up distracted and busy.”

"Of course, she doesn't,” Damian gritted, looking through the documents. I studied him for a couple of seconds to ensure he was alright. Even though he didn't show it on the exterior, I knew my brother was still shocked and hurt to discover that Isabelle had forged her information.

If anything, this made me think more about her.

Even though it was a wild guess, I felt that Isabelle had some connection with Alex. The timing of the events seemed a bit too accurate to be a mere coincidence. Additionally, every piece of information we had found about Isabelle so far was false. Maybe Isabelle wasn't even her real name. There was no way to be sure about it yet.

For now, I had two separate incidents, and if I could somehow verify that they were connected, it'd give us a strong lead. We'd finally have something more to work with, and maybe we could also find out about Isabelle.

I kept thinking about it while my brother discussed with others how they would deal with the false cases. The cases were so well fabricated that they even looked genuine. Alex, indeed had a talent for fucking people up. I had to give her that, at least.

This made me more determined to find out about her but for now, Isabelle’s case needed to be settled. I had to bump her up on the priority list because of my brother. He looked pretty miserable without her already.

If we somehow managed to find her, my brother would be at peace, and I could finally figure out if she had to do something with Alex or if all the things happening were mere coincidences.

However, I didn't believe in coincidences.

Coincidence happened only once. Anything more than that was planning, and that I could already see. After our meeting, I decided to sit down with Jules.

"Look, I know she's Damian’s mate. I have nothing serious going on with her," He clarified immediately.

"Just stay away from him for a few days," I chuckled darkly. Jules looked frightened enough, already saying Isabelle’s name. Whoever that she-wolf was, she knew how to leave a long-lasting impression.

"You don't have to say twice," He muttered

"How did you meet her?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I was out on the first day and spotted her at a beach by herself. She looked pretty, so I asked her out," He shrugged. "She told me she was a local, so I asked her a few things. She was the one who gave me all the basic information.”

"Did she tell you anything about herself? Where does she live?" I asked him.

"No, she mostly avoided talking about herself. I asked her where she lived, and she brushed it off, too. I met her twice after our first meeting, and that was usually in front of a cafe near the sea.”

"Do you have her number?" I asked, scratching my jaw. This didn't seem to be going anywhere, and frustration slowly started to seep into me.

"Yes," He answered, and immediately my eyes lit up.

"I exchanged numbers with her. I forgot about it until now.”

"Send it to me now. I'll have the cyber team look at it," I said, feeling hopeful again. We could track her location through her number. “What else?" I asked.

"There's not much I have right now but I'm thinking of going down to where we usually hung out and find out about her," Jules offered.

"Of course," I nodded, getting oddly excited about this. "Call me immediately if you meet her.”

"I should leave now. She's there usually around this time," He said, so I took her number and let him go. I contemplated calling but then sent it to the cyber team to see what they'd find out about her.

With Jules on the road again and our cyber team looking at her number, all I had to do was wait.

However, waiting was often the hardest and the most angsty part. I hated it very much- one of the reasons why I was so impulsive with everything.

I didn't have anything to do, and that made it worse. I had no distractions, and my mind was back to that restlessness that drove me crazy. I took my phone out and stared at Isabelle’s number.

My fingers itched. I needed to do something, so I did what I felt like doing the most- I called her number. I had never felt so anxious waiting for someone to answer my call.

I remained silent, waiting even though I wasn't expecting her to answer the call.

My heart skipped a beat when the phone started ringing. For some reason, my mouth started going dry. I wasn't expecting this, but I wasn't complaining either. But I felt strange as I waited for her to pick up her phone.

As the phone rang, I felt my heart trying to beat itself out of my chest. The restlessness was back, and it was now worse than ever. It felt like I was crossing an invisible line for some reason, but it gave me a thrill I had never felt before.

It made me sick with anticipation. I wanted her to pick up the phone, but at the same time, I didn't want her to pick it up. It didn't make any sense to me. Why was I feeling so edgy suddenly?

It felt like I was ascending through smoke and going somewhere forbidden. Somewhere, I'd regret going soon enough. I had been so paralysed by my chaotic thoughts and all-consuming senses that I almost missed it.

"Hello.”