“Girls, what are your plans for today?” Laura asked while making breakfast.
“I am busy today. I will spend the day with Ashton. He needs my help with something that he won’t mention,” Aaliyah changed the channel on the TV before looking at her sister’s goofy face.
It has been two days since they came back from the trip, and Katherine had been acting like that since the trip. For the entire trip, it felt like Bryce and her sister were not even on the ship. They could be barely spotted. She doesn’t even want to imagine what must’ve gone between Bryce and her behind those closed doors for seven days and nights. Aaliyah shuddered, her thoughts shifting to Mr. Volkov.
That night and the subsequent nights, they didn’t get any chance to be with each other. After Sandra left, his elder brother came to greet him and stayed till later that night. During the day, she was swamped with either Sandra or his father. In the little time they could sneak, the most they did was hold each other’s hands or hug briefly.
She had a feeling his family was doing it deliberately, but she didn’t mind it too much since she was enjoying the trip nonetheless.
“Come on, Aaliyah. What could be this important? You guys came after seven days. Can’t you spare your mother some time?” Laura pouted, and Aaliyah tilted her head before smiling.
“You will be free at night, right? Let’s go clubbing. Just you and me. What’s say, sweetheart?” Aaliyah mimicked the voice of a flirtatious man, and Laura chuckled.
“Fine, let’s go to a restaurant and dine. It’s been so long since we guys had dinner outside, no?” Laura mumbled, and Aaliyah ate breakfast before exiting the house.
Honestly, she lied to her mother, but this was the only way to stop her from getting suspicious of where she was going.
Aaliyah didn’t want her mother to know she was meeting that man, or she knew Laura would throw a fit or probably lock her inside.
“Matthew, is he already at the venue?” Aaliyah called her brother, and the latter hummed.
Ending the call without waiting for a further reply, she went straight to the venue.
Meanwhile, Dominic stood out of the Joseph group base, which was right above the restaurant.
Today they were supposed to have one of the most important meetings for the gang in this place. Thus, Benjamin was with him while Nathan was supervising it from their HQ in New York.
“Is he here?” Dominic asked.
“Not yet. Let’s go inside. His subordinate is here. I heard that a new person from their gang might also make his presence known,” Benjamin said, and Dominic hummed, looking at the building suspiciously.
“Are you sure this is safe? The public is still allowed to use it, and the rush in the restaurant is no joke,” Dominic said, and Benjamin nodded.
“We have got everything in control,” Benjamin said as they entered.
After ten minutes, the subordinate arrived, and everyone straightened.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Dominic and Mr. Benjamin,” the subordinate shook hands with them.
“Our boss will arrive after most of the terms are discussed and it’s time to sign the deal. I hope you know that he is careful about his identity and doesn’t want to make it known if the deal doesn’t work,” the subordinate said, and Dominic nodded.
“Fair enough. It was already surprising that he agreed to meet us when he didn’t meet anyone till now for any gang collaboration,” Benjamin said, and Dominic leaned back in his chair.
“From my point of view, your boss is taking the Python gang too lightly. I hope you know who we are,” Dominic said, and Benjamin wanted to interrupt him to not try this method here, but he also knew that interrupting him would mean havoc either way.
“We are well aware of that. That’s the reason we agreed to meet you guys. Don’t think that we don’t have any Intel on you guys. How was your cruise trip?” The subordinate asked with a neutral expression, and Dominic was impressed by a gang for the first time.
“I see. You are called the secret eagles for a reason,” Dominic said, remembering his girl for a brief second, who is obsessed with eagles too.
“Let’s go inside to discuss things,” Dominic said, and everyone nodded.
Aaliyah, who arrived at the same restaurant with Matthew after some time, scrunched her brows when two security guards denied them access to the second floor.
“As far as we know, it’s a public place. How can you guys close it just because someone is having a meeting? We have a deal here and need to meet someone urgently,” Matthew crossed his arms over his chest.
“I am sorry, sir. We have strict orders to only allow people identified from inside,” The guards said, and Matthew gritted his teeth.
He really didn’t want to take the help of the gang’s name to enter because he knows their father won’t like it.
If they retreat now, Aaliyah will become angry. That’s the last thing anyone in their family would want because when she gets angry, she becomes irrational and leave it to her to barge into any place uninvited and get into trouble.
“Is this enough?” Aaliyah brought out the eagle keychain from inside her keychain, and Matthew widened his eyes when the security guards nodded and let them in, pointing at the keychain in shock.
“How did you get your hands on something so precious?” He looked at her, petrified.
“Dad gave me,” Aaliyah shrugged like it was a toy and not the rarest limited edition eagle.
“What? He gave you this thing when you were just a schoolgirl and not to me?” Mathew pouted his lips, and Aaliyah rolled her eyes.
“Don’t pout, big boy. You should know dad trusts me more to get into trouble than you. This is a key to getting out of most troubles,”
“And get into one too,” Matthew whispered, and Aaliyah grinned before nodding.
“Anyway, let’s just go already,” Aaliyah said before she walked towards the conference hall, pushing the door open without a care in the world, shocking almost everyone in the room as they went into alert mode.
Meanwhile, Dominic, who asked the subordinate to display the plan, paused when he felt something weird.
“Is everything okay?” The subordinate asked, and Dominic nodded.
“Yes, go ahead,” Dominic nodded before shaking his head at Benjamin.
“This is our goal. I hope everyone knows that our identity is precious to us. The hidden eagle eye gang is known for its secrecy, and I hope you guys won’t jeopardize and leak it. Most of the gangs don’t even know we exist, and I am sure you didn’t find out about it until later,” The subordinate said before pausing when he received a message from his boss.
“Does this collaboration work for you? I want to say one more thing. Anything directly or indirectly tainting our identity and any disclosure of this contract will lead to the direct nullifying of collaboration and turn you into our enemies. Of course, we will deal with things like whose fault it was,” the subordinate said, and Dominic looked at Benjamin.
“Give us some time to think,” Dominic stood with Benjamin before walking to the balcony of the room, closing the door behind them at the same time when Aaliyah entered with Matthew, shocking Bryce, Dimitri, Shane, and Samantha all at once, who were standing in the corner, away from direct eyes contact with anyone.
Since both sides were divided by a thin partition to ensure the safety of the parties and the gang members don’t indulge in close combats, Aaliyah was oblivious to anyone on the other side of the partition.
“Well, I hope I am not too late,” Aaliyah’s gaze immediately found the subordinate, not even bothering with the other people in the room, who immediately bowed their heads.
Meanwhile, Nathan, watching the meeting live from his home, paused before placing his coffee down.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” Aaliyah asked before looking at Matthew, who pressed his lips into a thin line.
“Seriously?” Mathew asked, and Aaliyah nodded.
“Do you think I am joking?” Aaliyah asked before Matthew sighed and brought out his gun, pointing it straight at the subordinate, who looked into Aaliyah’s eyes with a hint of fear.
He was more afraid of Aaliyah’s glare than Matthew’s gun pointing at him.
“Wait. What’s happening here? Isn’t this girl the same schoolgirl from the trip? The one that Dominic likes? What is she doing here?” Nathan asked Samantha through the Bluetooth call, and the latter only sighed.
“We don’t have any idea ourselves. It’s an unexpected turn of events. Let’s just wait for Dominic and Benjamin to return,” Samantha said, and Nathan hummed.
“Well, well, well, is this sweat, Mr. Hudson? Why? I didn’t even do anything,” Aaliyah touched his forehead like a predator, and everyone in the room held their breath.
The people from the eagle eye gang who knew her didn’t know what to do, while the others from the python gang hadn’t seen Aaliyah like this ever.
“Miss Lia,” the subordinate said, and Dimitri raised his brows.
“Is this her real name?” Dimitri whispered to Samantha, who stomped her foot on his to keep his mouth shut.
“Yes, Mr. Hudson. What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you are scared of us now. I mean, he is just a real estate businessman, and I am a mere schoolgirl. What can go wrong here?” Aaliyah brought out her dagger before leaning closer to him, placing it on his neck swiftly.
“Give me your phone,” Aaliyah asked, and he immediately complied.
Checking the messages, Aaliyah smiled brightly before grinning.
“So he is already coming here? Why didn’t you say so earlier? Could’ve saved us some drama,” Aaliyah smiled before sitting close to him, swinging her hand around his shoulder.
“So, how is life going for you? Is your family alright?” Aaliyah asked with a smile, but anyone from the eagle eye gang could see how angry she was right now.
“I -It’s going good, Miss Lea,” the subordinate stuttered, and Matthew rolled his eyes.
“That’s enough, Lea. You can stop it,” Mathew said, but to everyone’s shock, she kicked his hand, which was holding the gun, making it fly into the sky before she caught it like a pro.
“You don’t tell me what I should do, brother. You don’t make the rules here,” Aaliyah smiled politely, but her eyes were saying a different story.
Meanwhile, Dominic and Benjamin, who discussed the contract and the clauses they needed to change, opened the door, making a clicking sound, and Aaliyah finally looked up towards the partition, standing from her place.
“Who are you meeting with?” Aaliyah asked before she leaned closer to the partition that was turned off from the other side.
Turning to her side, she was about to go around the room to the other side from the door when the partition opened, and she heard a familiar voice.
“We need a few changes before we can decide something,” She heard and widened her eyes immediately.
Mr. Dominic was here? Does that mean Mr. Hudson was meeting the python gang? Damn it! Aaliyah bit her lips before she signaled Hudson to close the partition from their side.
Once it was up, she looked at the other side, her eyes widening even more when she saw the familiar faces. Does that mean they saw what happened in this room? Aaliyah thought before clenching her fists.
She needed to leave, but if she left now, she won’t be able to meet with this man for a few months at least. This was her only chance. She is really in a tough spot. Taking a deep breath, she sat in the corner letting Hudson continue the meeting.
“What are the clauses?” Hudson asked, and Dominic could feel the change in his demeanor.
The earlier confidence that he had on his face was nowhere to be seen now. Did something happen when he wasn’t here? He thought before looking at the man on his side who was alerted too.
Something was up, and he need to find it out before he sign the contract.