Chapter 8

Artemis Thaleia's Perspective 

[Flashback]

"Is she your new chic?"  A man asked as soon as Lorcan and I got off from his Maserati.

"Crimson's," Lorcan said in a calm voice.

The stranger's eyes roamed through my body before I saw him suppress a smirk, making my brows arch.

"Why did you bring me here?"  I asked when we got inside the mansion.  

Lorcan didn't answer me and instead kept walking and stopped as we reached a golden-coated double door at the end of the hallway.

Everyone in that room immediately scrutinized me.

A woman, whom I guess was about my age, stood up from her seat and eyed me and Lorcan.

"Did you seriously delay this meeting to pick up a whore, Lorcan?"  She snarled.  My eyebrows lifted. Lorcan ignored her by walking to his designated seat.

"Everyone, this is Dr. Artemis Thaleia Belmont. She'll be the one to come up with the plan that'll help us rescue Sin."  

I look at Lorcan confusedly.

"Do you have a brilliant plan now, Doctor?" Someone from the opposite table asked and flashed a playful smile. His forehead furrowed as if he suddenly thought or remembered something.

"Are you related to that Detective?"  He paused talking and gazed at Lorcan, whose attention was on me as well.

"What's his name again?... Detective Isaiah Belmont, that's it, right?"  I breathed deeply and nodded. The expression on his face changed and darkened.

"He's my father-" Lorcan stood up to stop the same man after he pulled out his pistol.

"Are you out of your mind? Did you bring the Detective's daughter here? What if they managed to follow you here?"  

"These are all Crimson's ideas," Lorcan answered, murmured, and sat again.  

The man and I continued to stare at each other as he kept his pistol pointed at me.

"Put the gun down, Conrad. Sin wouldn't like the idea of you pointing a gun at that girl."  Lorcan said meaningfully.

"You and Sin better make sure that this woman won't bring us harm, Lorcan. Suppose this escape plan goes awry because of that woman. You knew that you were dragging Mallory in this shithole, right?" Conrad said. 

Lorcan's eyes darkened in oblivion but quickly hid the changes in his expression after he poured wine into his glass.

Lorcan gave Conrad a deadpan, "I know."

Conrad sat himself and put his gun down on the table.

The silence between us and the tension intensified.

"The floor is yours, Doctor,"  Conrad said bluntly.

"We're waiting," says another figure at the table. 

"The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy so that he cannot fathom our real intent," I said. I stared at each of them and saw a man with dirty blonde hair and glasses hiding a faint smile.

"Art of war, hmm?"  He muttered.  He folded his hand and placed his elbow on the table as if I had gotten his entire interest because of what I said.

"Let's not put sugar-coated words on the plan," the same woman whom I wish to know her name cut me off.

"That is not a sugar-coated word, baby girl, but techniques that only those who have an intelligence quotient above average can understand, and I think you're excluded from the list."  I composed myself after that and tapped her shoulder before I continued.

"The authorities expected the miscreant to wait on the roads where the conveyance will pass on their way to the courtroom. I'm sure they have already deployed snipers around said roads."  I sat on the empty seat in the middle of the long table. It looked like this chair belonged to Sin.

"Let's not meet their expectation and surpass it rather,"  I mumbled.

The man with glasses clearly had an idea of my plan. 

I pointed to Conrad, "I want you to kidnap those who'll watch Sin's trial tomorrow. You can find a way to identify who they are, right? It would be better if you'd do that tomorrow while they are on their way to court. If we do it now and their families pile a missing report, it's over for us. The only option that we have was to do it on the same day."

"With the help of prosthetics. Miscreant men will replace them. Another thing, the officers guarding the door of the courtroom need to be replaced by someone from Miscreant."

I reached for the crystal-like glass container of whiskey and poured a liquor for myself.

I turned to the man who was wearing an eyeglasses.  He stopped playing with his wineglass and stared back at me as he felt my eyes.

"You look genius to me, a computer geek maybe?" He grinned and nodded for confirmation.

I softly applauded because of that.

"It's up to you to hack the security system of the entire courtroom as well as the security devices of the NBI agents and the police so that they can't ask for backup at the time of the attack," I said 

Just like Conrad, he nodded to me and then drained the wine from his glass in one gulp.

"Do we have someone here who's capable of stealing the court's blueprint? We need to get that and look at it so we can identify our way in case we need to hide when something goes wrong with the plan."  Everyone looks at the man on the corner who is engrossed with his cellphone

He looked up at us and smiled.

"Can you?"  I asked him.

He shrugs his shoulder and smiles triumphantly.

"Stealing? That's an Eul thing. Name anything, and I'll steal it for you," he said with his complacent voice. 

"I can't believe it. Miscreant Mafia are like groups of bad people who are experts with different fields of crime and wrongdoing, ruled by Sin Cruorem," I muttered to myself.

"Lorcan, you'll take care of the remaining officers scattered outside the courtroom and in the area near the building itself." I wetted my lower lip.

"I'll give you your time to plan for your assigned mission so you can execute it well. Remember that all of you can't fail," I added and stood up, but before I could get out, the same woman spoke again.

"How about me? What will I do?" She asked.

"You can go fuck yourself or prepare hell for Sin's homecoming." 

I had already taken a few steps when Lorcan caught up with me.

"Where are you going?"  I turned to face him. 

"At the Salon? I look so out of place here,"  I uttered and smiled.  I also pointed to the hallway.

"This is where the devil resides, and I look so innocent for this place and him. I needed to do something about it." I shoo Lorcan with my hand.

[Flashback Ends]