“Are you sure about it?” Ashton asked Aaliyah for the umpteenth time, and Lily rolled her eyes.
“Seriously, you are supposed to be the man here. You are even worse than Aaliyah. Where is the guy who was fun-loving and would do anything just for a moment of adrenaline rush? Who tamed this bull, huh? Don’t tell me you have turned into a good boy now.” Lily rolled her eyes.
“Look, I won’t force you. Aaliyah, will you be able to do it?” Lily asked Aaliyah, knowing all too well that she would say yes, and seeing Aaliyah was joining, Ashton would eventually agree to it.
“If it’s important for dad, I will do it without a doubt,” Aaliyah said, and Lily nodded before looking at Ashton, who sighed.
“Do I even have a choice?” Ashton spoke, and Lily snuggled closer to them as she told them the plan.
The plan was simple. Today a departmental meeting and celebration were being held in one of the famous restaurants here, and they have invited Lily as a senior cop and chief guest. Since it was a once-in-a-while party, almost everyone would be joining. So, while everybody would be busy with that stuff, Ashton and Aaliyah had to go and bring a copy of a file from the chief database of the chief commissioner’s main office.
According to Lily, it was the case she and Aaliyah’s dad were handling, but before they could act on what they found out, the case was transferred. They wanted to know why it happened like that.
Of course, Lily was making up the facts just to get Aaliyah to work for her and not think too much about things, but she wasn’t completely hiding the truth. It was indeed something that involved Aaliyah’s dad.
“I am not chickening out again, but are you sure it’s okay? What if we get caught?” Ashton asked, feeling worried for Aaliyah.
“When will I be of use? Do you think I would let my favorite niece stay in jail?” Lily scoffed, and Aaliyah placed her hands on Ashton’s.
“We got this,”
That was all the motivation Ashton needed as he stood with his shades and gloves.
“Fine. Let’s get this over with,” Aaliyah cracked her knuckles.
“The man outside will drive you there. He will park the car in the forest one km from the station. Copy the file to this pen drive if you aren’t able to make a hard copy. This paper here contains the passwords of the computer, the main directory, and the file you need to copy. It’s a high-end database, so make sure you touch nothing that would raise suspicions. Use your intelligence to come out of it neatly, ” Lily patted both of their shoulders, and they nodded before leaving.
“All the best,” Lily stood from her seat before nodding and leaving for the meeting.
Once outside the police station, Ashton peeked inside sneakily before making an okay sign at Aaliyah, who entered the station from the other side.
The cop that handles the security footage was already tipped by Lily, so he will delete the footage of this particular time, but as long as they don’t make any ruckus and misplace anything, the cops won’t feel the need to check the security footage in the first place and everyone will come out of it unharmed.
One man was sitting at the front desk, playing games, and the other one was in the middle, facing the window, kinky talking with some girl. These two were the least of the problems.
The main issue was with the one sitting right outside the cabin and the one sitting inside the cabin from where they needed to steal the file.
Judging from the kind of security they have for this particular file, Aaliyah could see it was a high-profile case. No wonder her dad and aunt were adamant about looking into it.
As Lily had described, there were four people in the station.
She bent down and walked quickly to hide from the first one. Since the second one was facing against her, passing him was not difficult.
Once she reached the side of the cabin, she hid behind the wall before sending an okay message to Ashton.
After getting Aaliyah’s signal, Ashton lit the firecrackers and ran behind the bush.
The sound of something bursting and car sirens echoed in the silent environment, and the four of them rushed out of the police station to see who played such a prank on them.
Getting the chance, Aaliyah went inside the office before looking at the file with the name BHD. This was the file that they needed to steal.
Quickly copying the file into the Pendrive, Aaliyah didn’t bother to make a hard copy and turned off the computer before rushing outside.
However, as she was rushing outside, the police officer sitting inside the cabin came back while talking to someone over the phone, making her hide in the storeroom.
“Yes, sir. It is in the storeroom under the T section. I will get it,” The officer spoke, and Aaliyah quickly slipped out of the storeroom, cursing her luck when her leg collided with an empty trash can, alerting the officer.
“Who is there? Look, if you are thinking of stealing something from the police station, you better understand that these things will have severe consequences.
Seeing that she was about to get caught, Aaliyah panicked and placed her hand on the knife to knock him, but before she could do anything, someone placed his hand on her mouth before pulling her to a different area.
“Aaliyah? What the hell are you doing here?” She heard a whisper, and her body froze.
She was wearing a half-mask, but the person still recognized her because of her eyes and body.
Seeing a rat running away from where the empty can was, the officer briefly looked around before sighing and leaving.
“Mr. Troy?” Aaliyah turned and looked at the man, wide-eyed, who placed his hand back on her mouth before pulling her.
As they walked towards the back exit, the footsteps of two security guards echoed in the silent area, making Aaliyah grumble when she realized Dimitri had no intentions of leaving her anytime soon.
“Leave me alone. I can run. What are you doing ruining my plans like that?” Aaliyah hissed through her teeth, her eyes blazing with the animosity that shocked Dimitri. However, he was soon to gain his composure.
“That’s not going to happen on my watch, pretty lady. What kind of gentleman would I be, leaving you alone?” Dimitri smirked.
“The kind who will get both of us in trouble,” Aaliyah stomped her foot on his angrily before dashing out of his reach.
Hiding behind the pillars swiftly like a trained spy, surprising Dimitri, she ran out of the police station, breathing a sigh of relief when she met Ashton.
“What took you so long?” Ashton asked as soon as she reached him, and Aaliyah chose to not tell him about her meet-up with Mr. Volkov’s friend as it would raise more suspicions about how she knew him in the first place, and things will go all the way back to how she was having naughty thoughts about her teacher and was probably enjoying his company more than she should.
Having her best friend look at her any differently because of the feelings that weren’t even reciprocated was the last thing she wanted to happen. Mr. Volkov was already out of her reach. She didn’t want to lose her best friend because of that.
Besides, judging from how she met Dimitri sneaking his way inside the police station, it was clear he wasn’t as decent as he looked, and if she spoke anything about him, her aunt would be the first one cross-questioning her, making things even worse. Because, in honesty, she knew nothing about them.
Dimitri, who came out after some time, looked at the back of Aaliyah and the boy with her, his eyes darkening with underlying suspicion.
“Volkov, about that girl Aaliyah, are you sure she belongs to a cop family?” Dimitri made a call to Volkov.
“It was the information found out by Bryce and Shane. Her aunt is a cop, and her sister is Bryce’s girlfriend, so I won’t question his information. He would tell me if things were any different. What happened?” Volkov made light strokes on his canvas.
“She was at the station, stealing files,” Dimitri said, and Volkov’s hand slipped, ruining the face he was drawing.
“Was it Benjamin’s file?” Volkov asked, and Dimitri sighed.
“I am not sure about that. She was outside the cabin. I have deleted the file, but if it was Benjamin’s file, I think we got a problem. It’s obvious she has no use of the file, which means someone made her do it. And if that’s the case, I think someone else knows about this deal and is behind it,” Dimitri said, and Volkov clenched his fists at Dimitri’s information, pinching the area between his brows.
The more he is trying his best to not get entangled in this mess with Aaliyah, the more she is finding ways to lure his attention, isn’t she? He wanted to keep her safe and away from this world until everything was sorted and she liked him, but she has the perfect methods to get into this trouble herself, no? Who could be the person who hired Aaliyah for such kind of work? And why the hell did she say yes in the first place?
Judging from her family, she is anything but poor. Each one of them is earning millions per year, so what could be the reason? Volkov sighed before looking at his canvas which was an image of when he met Aaliyah for the first time.
~~~~
“What the- ” Aaliyah almost shrieked, caught off guard by the mannequin in the living room before she placed her hand on her chest to calm her raging heart.
“Where are you guys coming from?” A voice sounded from the corner of the room, startling Aaliyah again.
“Jeez, can you please not scare me like this? What’s with the turned-off lights? Is the next theme of your modeling related to some horror movie?” Aaliyah switched on the lights before looking at Katherine, who looked like she was drunk.
“That’s not the answer to my question,” Katherine slurred, and Aaliyah raised her brows.
“I was out with aunt Lily,” Aaliyah sat near her, and Katherine nodded.
“In the police station when no one was there? What were you doing there? Stealing information so that you can help dad. Do you think he would appreciate it? Last time I checked, he told you to stay away from these things, didn’t he?” Katherine stood with difficulty before plopping down again, and Aaliyah hummed.
It was futile to ask Katherine how did she know all this. It would turn into an argument, and she can’t afford her telling about it to their mom.
“Last time I checked, you were not the one to get drunk. So what happened now?” Aaliyah changed the topic, and Katherine’s eyes immediately welled with tears, turning Aaliyah stiff as she didn’t expect that.
“It’s my director. He called and said he wanted to make some last-minute changes to the outfits and needed my help. I went there to help him because I was the leading model, but then he and other models forced me to go to a pub,” Katherine spoke, and Aaliyah sighed in relief.
It wasn’t new in this or any other industry. Sometimes you have to do things you are least interested in under peer pressure.
“I am glad it’s nothing serious,” Aaliyah smiled, and Katherine sniffed, making Aaliyah squint her brows.
It doesn’t look like nothing happened there. Her sister, though a little dramatic, she wasn’t the type to cry over such trivial things as a few friends forcing her to drink.
“Katherine, what exactly happened?” Aaliyah placed her hand on Katherine’s knees, her gaze flickering to her bruised elbows, a sign that something bad has happened to her.
“I am asking you a question, damn it,” Aaliyah’s words came out rashly, and Katherine trembled with fear before looking into her younger sister’s eyes that looked like she was ready to kill.
“One of the blooming actors tr -tried to feel me up. He tried to force himself on me,” Katherine looked away in shame, and Aaliyah’s hands froze on her knees.
“What were the others doing? Didn’t they try to protect you?” Aaliyah asked, barely containing her fury.
“He had me cornered, and when I told about it to the producer, he said that this is common in our industry, and I shouldn’t take it to heart. I should get used to such kinds of things by now,” Katherine said, and it was everything that Aaliyah didn’t need to hear in her moment of rage.
How could he tell a girl that she should get used to this level of humiliation just because she is in this field? Even prostitutes deserve respect when it comes to these things and they are just models for god’s sake!
No level of disrespect should be tolerated in any line of work just because you are in the lower region of the pyramid than others.