Chapter 16 – A Sudden Visit

“Hmm. How about in these folders?” Tyrone pointed to one folder named ‘Murder’ with labeled years; there were some in 2010-2015, then some from 2016-2019. The hacker in front of the monitor, Ryker, widened his eyes and looked incredulously at Tyrone, who was leaning in to the monitor, looking dead serious.

“Why— Why would we even check those folders?!”

Tyrone stared down at him. “Well, why not? I’m considering everything here.”

“You think she’s a murderer?!”

“No!” He strongly denied. “I was just considering the probability—”

“You’re insane,” Ryker repeatedly shook his head. “She doesn’t even look like one!”

“I know that, but looks are deceiving—”

“Oh come on, bud—”

The two were interrupted in their argument when they heard the door opening. Instantly, Tyrone pulled out his gun and aimed at the intruder, instantly putting it down when he recognized who it was. Axel looked so unfazed, he didn’t even flinch when the gun was pointed directly at his head.

“Why are the two of you so loud in the middle of the night?” He irritatedly glared at the two, then his gaze dropped to the laptop in front of Ryker. When he squinted, he saw confidential files with a hacking program running in the background. “What are you doing?”

He stepped forward to read the folder names, and the two reluctantly let him. When he saw what they were at, he simultaneously smacked the two on the back of their heads.

They grunted, but didn’t fight back.

Axel glared at Ryker. “You hacked the Ministry’s archives?”

“Nah, man!” He immediately denied, sounding very defensive. “This is the NYPD’s files!”

He frowned and looked back at the drive they somehow accessed. It was named: E: Convicts.

“Why?”

“Well, see, w-we were curious about her...” Tyrone spoke, softly rubbing the back of his head to somehow ease the pain.

“Of Leal?”

“Oh, so her name’s Leal,” Tyrone whispered to Ryker.

Axel snickered.

“You didn’t even know her name. You two are airheads.”

“We saw her once in person, and numerous times on the news! That’s enough!”

Axel furrowed his brows. “On the news?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know? She’s a waitress, right?” He nodded when Ryker asked. She is. Why would a waitress be in the news several times?

Ryker took his laptop again and began typing random things for a while, until he turned the monitor so he could see. It was a replay of the news. He silently watched, his teeth gritting at the sight.

He knew the women, every single one of them. They were all so bad at acting because it was so obvious they were trying to bump into her, with his innocent little mate being so preoccupied with the orders and not noticing their obvious motives. They were all so cruel to her, which made his jaw clench and unclench repeatedly.

“Actually, we saw her in the news again just a few moments ago,” Ryker broke the silence. He remained staring at the now blank monitor, as the video had already ended.

“What do you want us to do, Alpha?” Tyrone asked, addressing him formally. He knows how hard it is for his Alpha to see his beloved mate being treated poorly and shamed publicly, as he also had a few of those times with his own mate. At this time, he could barely imagine the fire burning in his Alpha’s eyes.

“Organize a secret meeting with our top Upsilons,” was all he muttered before leaving the room. The Upsilons are the pack reapers, and all those who do the dirty work for the pack. They’re trained assassins who serve the Alpha and are ready to get their hands dirty.

When Axel left, they looked at each other.

“I’ll organize the meeting, you continue and investigate until we find something about her,” muttered Tyrone while dialing someone on his phone.

Meanwhile, Axel made his way to his office on the top floor of the pack mansion, where he usually stays. He was about to go to his personal mansion in the subdivision, but he heard his Beta’s and Delta’s arguing voices in the security room, so he thought to pay a visit. He clearly didn’t know what he was entering, but he was grateful to the two for telling him of her recent difficulties.

He never watches the news, which made him think that he should start watching the news.

He went over to his personal phone and browsed the net to look for the condominium building where he dropped Leal off. He memorized their contact number and dialed it. It took him a while for the receptionist to let him call the room; he had to woo her for a bit and use his name, and finally, the receptionist gave in.

It was silent at first; he wanted to hear her steady breathing, letting him know she was fine.

“Are you okay?”

He saw how blood dripped from her fingers to the floor, and how she ignored it. She just kept apologizing and picking up the broken pieces. That was what she kept doing every time a woman bumped into her.

[Why wouldn’t I be?]

Her quiet voice replied from the other line, sounding like a melody in his ears. He would love to hear that voice every day, from when he wakes up to when he sleeps.

“I saw the news. I knew it was you, again.”

He’s very worried. What if she’s crying alone right now? But her voice didn’t sound croaky, though. He hopes she’s doing fine. He’ll take care of those women’s careers and lives tomorrow. She’s his top priority, so he’ll tend to her first.

[I got fired already. You don’t have to worry about seeing me in the news again.]

She sounded as if it wasn’t a big deal when it is! He feels like he’s more infuriated than she, who was the one who got fired! How dare her manager throw away a gem like her?

But that’s somehow good news for him, because then she’ll consider his offer. He’s sure there’s no other company that’ll offer her those incentives and bonuses, plus the tripled salary.

“My offer still stands. You’re welcome in my company, Leal.” He’ll shoot his shot. He decides on very risky things when it’s about her. She didn’t reply right away, which made him anxious about her reply, so he added, “You can come in anytime you want. I’m free.”

That was a lie. He’s always busy. He’s the CEO of a big company! Of course, he’s always busy! But for Leal, he can make time.

[I have one question.] Finally, she spoke.

“What is it?” He’s feeling her nearly accepting the offer.

[Are you not doing this to fool me? To trap me? Because the last time I fell, I was ridiculed.]

Axel frowned. Whoever did that to her surely did damage. He surely had the guts to fool and ridicule Leal, who was the kindest and most fragile woman he’s ever met. Just thinking of Leal crying over a man—no, a boy—infuriates him.

“By who?” You can hear the curiosity in his voice.

[By you.]

He froze as his squared shoulders went rigid. He did that to her? When? He swears they just met, and he would never do that to her. She’s his mate! Although confused, he still managed to mumble out a reply, “I’m not fooling you, Leal.”

[Fine, I accept your offer. I’ll be your personal assistant.]

He wasn’t kidding. That reply literally gave him the chills and made the f u cking insects in his tummy flutter around and go crazy. He didn’t know Leal had this much of an effect on him. Which makes her statement earlier about him fooling and ridiculing her sound so absurd. But he wouldn’t want to doubt her. He would never.

“S-Sure, you can start tomorrow.” He can’t believe he stuttered.

Leal ended the call, but Axel was still tightly gripping his phone and biting his lower lip, hiding a smile. He felt like he was on cloud nine, imagining the days they would spend together. That was, until a f u cking prick interrupted. Ryker was heaving as he loudly opened the door of his office.

“We found something about her!”

But his news was of significance. Instantly, Axel rose from his swivel chair and followed Ryker outside with big, long strides. They returned to the security room, with Tyrone already reading the information on the monitor.

“Let me see.” He tilted the screen away from Tyrone’s face and toward his.

On the screen was a mugshot of a familiar face. After reading the name and case of the convict, his brows furrowed more.

“You might be wondering what connection he has with her, but here..” Ryker switched to another window, pulling up the information sheet of that convict.

“That’s why his surname was familiar, he was a Miragia! One of the last clans of Lycans!”

The person on the mugshot was Griam Miragia, a serial killer that has had hundreds of victims before submitting to the police. The Ministry of Wolves exiled him, and he was the last to survive after his race, the lycans, were slaughtered. When he died in prison, his race came to an end. Thus, announcing lycans as an extinct race.

“What has he got to do with Leal?”

“Well, they came from the same neighborhood in Queens.”

Axel stayed silent, processing all the information. Leal was in the same neighborhood as an infamous serial killer?

“She wasn’t alive when he was going on a rampage, though. She was born twelve years after he was imprisoned. Just like what it said on her bio-data. It was still weird, though,” added Ryker.

Before he could form an assumption, his phone rang. The ringing tone reverberated around the silent security room as he fished it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. It’s midnight! Who would call at this time of the night? Of course, it had to be Riye.

[Sir, I’m sorry for waking you up. But this is urgent.] Greeted a worried Riye from the other line.

“What is it, Riye?” He asked, looking at the two as they continued looking for more information about Leal. He really can’t stop these two curious morons from fishing out more information.

[I was just notified of one of the company’s business jets asking permission to land in our main headquarters’ helipad at 8 A.M. sharp, Sir. It seems like the chairman is paying an unannounced visit.]

F*ck.