Still Drakes POV
My eyes widened in shock when I heard her say those words, I pushed her aside and I jumped down the stairs in one swift move, then I flung the laptop far away from us.
“Hit that red button on the wall, then go up to the room and shut the door, I need to sort this out.” I instructed her fiercely. She seems to be in a trance, but she complied with my instructions. She hit the alarm button to alert everyone in the building of a probable danger, then she went back into the room and shut the door. I didn’t turn back until I heard the lock click shut, then I picked up my phone and got ready for business.
I’m sure that everyone in this house got the memo, they know exactly what to do in situations like this. Even the maids and other domestic staff were duly informed. I guess it’s only Mia that is still left in the dark, that is why I needed to yell out instructions to her again. Once this alarm goes off, every one of them, I mean all domestic staffers is expected to go into their rooms and shut the door firmly. Only the guards and security personnel are allowed to be out here.
I can see some of them running around the perimeter searching for an intruder, while a few were running into the house to find out why the alarm button was pushed. Now I’m glad that I never accused Mia of anything. I would have looked so stupid if I had accused her wrongly. She would not have forgiven me easily, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself either.
“Get an explosive detector in here, right now!
That laptop belongs to my brother and I have no idea what it is doing in my fucking house. I need it checked thoroughly for any explosives, make sure you check it properly, the dude works with the Russians, there is no telling what they can or can not do.
Get it out of here, and get it done!
And while you are at it, make sure you don’t tamper with anything else in there. I need it intact, my tech expert is on his way already.” I instructed them firmly. They looked a bit shaken by my revelation, I still can’t believe that Riley had played me this way, when did he become so smart and tricky?
He outsmarted me, I have to commend him for that. My mind keep trying to replay everything that happened today, I tried to recall when he had switched her laptop, but I couldn’t recall such a tricky move ever happening in my presence. I would have picked up his hand movement, if it happened in front of me, I would have seen him doing it. I’m guessing that it happened before I got there. And now again, my jealousy is beginning to resurface as I wondered what they were doing when he had it switched.
“Where the fuck are you, Liam?
I fucking need you here!
Where is the tech expert I requested for, I need him here as well. Get your ass down here!” I yelled into the receiver, not waiting for him to respond to any of my questions. I can’t believe that I was sitting with this same laptop a few minutes ago. What if it was rigged to explode?
I would have been dead already!
What the hell is wrong with me, when did I become so sloppy, why on earth did I let these clumsy amateurs outsmart me?
It is Riley…
He knows me better than most people around me, he knows I’m a sucker for love. He had mentioned Mia to me on purpose because he knows that I will be easily distracted by thoughts of her. And I stupidly fell for it, I let myself get distracted by stupid things that should never have come to my mind in the first place. Instead of focusing on the important stuff, I let my personal issues come in the way, and I let them slip past my watchful eyes. I need to find a way to sort out this trust issue between Mia and I, she needs to let me in, she needs to tell me everything there is to know about her, that is the only way that I can trust her.
“It’s clean boss, the detector could not detect any explosives on the laptop, it looks clean. We think it’s a false alarm.” The guard let out confidently as he placed the laptop on the table in front of me. I nodded in response, and he left me with the laptop and turned around to leave.
I didn’t bother to touch the laptop, I just sat there and waited for Liam to show up with the tech guy. There is no need to tamper with the laptop anymore, I could mistakenly wipe off any evidence that could be of help to us. As I sat there, I kept thinking hard about it, I kept wondering why Riley would send his laptop to my house, what could he be playing at, and what is he up to.
I wanted to pick up my phone and call him, but I heard a car pulling up in my driveway and I know that it has to be Liam. So I put off every other task and waited for them to come in. I should get a little more information before contacting him. For his sake, I hope this is just a big misunderstanding. If I find out that he planned all this just to hurt me, I’ll make sure he pays for putting me through all this stress.
“Get on it, I want you to salvage everything there is to salvage from this laptop. I want to know what this laptop has been for, and where it has been for the past six months, get me locations and get me details of every file that was wiped out of it.” I instructed the tech expert pointing the laptop on the table for him. I wrote down the password for him and I let him get to work, while I pulled Liam aside for a little chitchat.
“You look tense, what the hell is going on, and whose laptop is that?” he inquired curiously, making me glare at him for even asking me that stupid question. He is supposed to be my personal assistant and head of security. He should have been the one pointing out all these threats to me, and not the other way round. How could he let this happen?
“I’m not tensed, Liam. I’m angry!
I’m so damn pissed!
Where the fuck have you been and why didn’t you know about this trick that Riley is playing on me?
For fucks sake, this is your job!
Do you want me to do your job for you?
Get out of this place, and find out how Riley’s laptop found its way into my fucking house. Find that son of a bitch and bring him right here to me!
Leave now!” I yelled in his face, pouring my anger on him. He wanted to say something to me, but I didn’t give him a chance to explain himself. I needed someone to blame for my negligence, so I simply heaped all the blame on him, besides, he is to blame for this mistake as well. He needs to tighten up our security and he needs to get his head in the fucking game.
“Why do I feel like you have something to hide, are you blaming me because you think it’s my fault, or maybe you are just trying to use me to clear the guilt you feel in your heart?
You could have picked this up before I did, you have a good eye, just like I do. What the hell am I even saying?
You are better off than I am, you are the Capo, the godfather. You could have seen this coming if your judgment wasn’t clouded by sentiment. I guess you don’t want to admit to yourself that this only happened because you are going up against your brother.
If Riley and Mia were not involved, then none of this would be happening because nothing gets past your watchful eyes. So if you are looking for someone to blame for all this, why don’t you look at the damn mirror!” Liam fired back at me. He is never one to keep shut and sulk within. He says it as it is, and sometimes, it hurts to hear him say it.
“There is enough blame to go around, you can stand there and throw shades at me, or you can save us the stress by going down to the office and conducting an investigation to find out how he managed to switch the laptops, and…”
“That won’t be necessary boss. I’ve hacked into the company’s security cameras. You guys need to see this,” he informed us urgently. We moved over to where he sat in front of the computer, watching footage from the security camera in Mia’s office. It shows when Riley walked into the office, glaring daggers at Mia and warning her to leave the office before he hurts her. He walked up to her, distracting her with his nasty talk, and while she was trying to evade him, she did not notice that her laptop was switched by Riley’s girlfriend, Loretta.
From the eye signals they were giving each other, it’s easy to tell that they had both planned it together. I was still trying to figure out what they were both up to, but Larry was already one step ahead of me. He showed us all the files that have been deleted from the laptop. It’s sad to see that my brother has been dealing illegally with Austin Foster all this while.
The documents contained manifesto and agreements between a drug lord and his trusted partner. The documents are incriminating, they could ruin the said drug lord and whoever his partner might be. There are many documents that show that Riley controls some of the warehouses, and he also involves in the trafficking of humans and drugs.
There is much information on this laptop, Larry recovered over ninety percent of the deleted file. He was still working on the laptop, u wanted to sit down and go through everything on that laptop, but Larry is still trying to recover the remaining file, so I let him get on with it. After all, I’ll still have enough time to browse through the contents of this laptop.
I’m glad that I did!
When the document was recovered fully, we got to find out that all these incriminating documents have been edited and transferred to another laptop. Larry saw the transfer details and he let me have a look so I can confirm if it belongs to me or anyone I know. When I set my eyes on the transfer details, the only thing that came to my mind is,
“Mia’s laptop!”
Holy Fuck!
How could I be so stupid, why didn’t I see this coming?
No,
Wait,
I’m asking the wrong questions, what I should be asking is, what the hell is wrong with Riley how could he be so heartless and wicked?
This could destroy our families, it could send her to jail for a very long time, it would break her father’s heart and it could even kill him.
Not to mention the fact that the Osbornes and the Remingtons have signed a contract to merge our companies. So now, whatever affects them would invariably affect us as well. Our companies would be destroyed, my marriage would be destroyed before it even begins.
What the hell is wrong with him, why would he play such tricks on me, has he gone mad?