seven souls seven sins - Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Xander's pov:
"Nice try Nat, but you're coming with us." Chase demands and takes her hand.
"She's not going anywhere." Bumble bee's abnormally British accent shines through.
I'm immediately taken back by Goldilocks's audacity to speak back to Chase like that. Nat just hovers behind him, silently observing the scenario infront of her. "I'm Chase Morales and you don't get to speak to me like that young man." Chase points a finger with a death glare that's staring Blondie down.
"I don't give two flying fucks who you are mate." Bumble bee scoffs and smiles at Nat who looks as pale as a ghost.
"Tash, let's go." He returns back to meet her gaze and begins tossing her a helmet. "Uh I think the fuck not." I stand in between them. "Pardon me bud, but we've got places to be." He sarcastically smirks at me whilst clasping on Nat's helmet. "Nat are you seriously not going to speak up about this?" I question her in disbelief.
Her eyes reach mine as she flashes me a sympathetic look.
"I'm ready Seb." She softly announces and sits on the backseat, ignoring us in the process. "No you're not." I warn and pick her up off the bike to set her down. "Tash can speak for herself." Seb folds his arms after buckling his helmet closed. "Nat, explain now." Xavier's deep voice echoes across the silent carpark.
"Nat doesn't have to explain anything to yous." Seb bites back.
"Watch the tone Goldilocks, and as far as I'm concerned, Nat can speak for herself." I quote him whilst humbling him all within the same sentence. He slowly steps up to me, and leans into my ear. "If you weren't her biological brother, I would've already had you on the ground by now. I suggest that you back away before things get bloody, and you don't want to cause a scene, now do you?" He whispers a threat into my ear.
He pats my back and helps Nat back on the bike.
"Speak to me like that again, and I'll slash your precious tires." I warn and take out my trusty switchblade. "Xander, not now." Xavier tries to discreetly hide away the weapon. "You'll have to catch up to me first mate." He laughs at me and gets on the bike. All within the blink of an eye he speeds off into the distance.
"Did you just let that prick get away?" Chase barks at me.
I look down to the blade in my hand. "I did," I sigh out loud. "But I'm not going to follow them, and neither should you." I shove the knife back into my pocket and turn to face them. "What on earth are you talking about? Let's go catch them." Xavier shoves his hands in the air and begins jogging back to Chase's car.
"Xavier! There's no use!" I catch up to him and turn him around, with Chase following close behind me.
"There is! We can track her phone and-" I stop him in his tracks. "Firstly, that's an invasion of her privacy. Secondly, it's wrong. Your morals are wrong." I plead with him. "What appears to be her bestfriend, had just shown up after not seeing her for two whole weeks. Trust me I know he's an asshole, but just let them be." I stand by my decision.
"In her opinion, he's her brother. Let. Them. Be." I grit out.
Xavier pants whilst looking between Chase and I. "Are you seriously going to let her go just like that? We need to fight for her." Xavier shakes his head. Chase reaches his hand out. "No we don't. Xander's right, leave them be. That kid just flew across the Atlantic to be with her. He's a pain in the ass for sure, but he loves her just as much as we do." Chase clarifies as we walk to the car.
I haven't seen Xavier get this worked up before, it's unusual for him.
"You don't even know what time she's coming back at. Or even if she's coming back." Xavier slams open the car door and gets in. I flick Chase a worried glance but all he does is usher me to get in the car. "I'll text her about her arrival later, but for now I don't want Vincent to be informed of the incident. He already has a lot on his plate and this will just add to the pile." Chase turns on the car.
"She's in good hands Xav, don't worry about it." I try to assure him.
"You don't even know the guy, how do you know if she's in good hands or not hm?" Xavier frustratingly bites back. "I'm no advocate for the guy, but he was there for her whilst we weren't. As much as I hate to say it, she was raised with him. If she trusts him, then I do too." I summarise my feelings into a couple of sentences.
"Whatever. Let's just go eat." He shrugs it off and looks down to his shoes.
I know that Xavier hates being in the wrong, it's one of his many pet peeves. I scoot closer towards him and I swing one arm around his broad shoulders. "Wanna talk about it over lunch?" I question. "I would like that, thanks." He replies back. I have all afternoon to turn that frown upside down.
It's time to get to work.
Vincent's pov:
"Mr.Morales, Mr.Harper has arrived." My secretary buts into my work office. "Send him in." I respond, my eyes not leaving the paperwork infront of me. I've been at the headquarters for hours and I'm supposed to be going home for dinner soon. The glass door opens and in comes an older looking man, around his 50s, with greying hair and muscular shoulders.
"Charles, it's a pleasure to meet with you. Take a seat." I gesture towards the expensive linen chair.
"The pleasure is all mine." The man leans back into the cushion, crossing his leg in the process. "How was the flight?" I question as I clear my desk. I'm not the best at small talk. "It was alright, per say." I forge a smile at his basic response. "Did you meet with Nico yet?" I reach for my beverage tray.
"Not yet, I just need a quick check in with him on the progress of my current project, nothing out of the sorts."
"Whiskey?" I offer after pouring myself a glass of scotch. "You know me well." He states. "We're merging partners, I'm supposed to." I shrug off his response. After handing him the glass, I sit back down and hand him the contract. "I have nothing left to hide, everything is in the terms and conditions." I confidently declare.
Charles leans down to sign his name but my deep voice halts his hand.
"But before you agree, I want you to wipe the video." My eyebrow twitches at the mention. His grassy eyes meet mine. A moment of silence passes by before he leans back to sign. "Charles." My voice grows and my posture hitches. "If you want this merger, then you have to discard the video. I will not merge with a man who has blackmail against me." I bring my hands together on the table.
He pauses for a bit and leans back into the chair.
"Of course. I'll remove it from our system when I touch down tomorrow." He fakes a smile at me. I'm not buying that, the Americans are known to be shady to trust. "I'm not as gullible as you make me out to be, Charles. Destroy the video or you won't have this merger. Your youngest son has already threatened to show my sister the video and if I ever find out that she saw it, you can kiss your mafia bye bye." I warn with a harsh tone.
"You shouldn't speak to your new partner like that." He critiques and signs his name on the dotted line.
"I'll speak to you however the hell I want to." I stand up and balance myself on the table using my two hands. "Just a friendly reminder, you came to me about this merger. So you don't get to come into my office to tell me how to act. Do I make myself clear?" I tilt my clenched jaw.
"Have it your way. I always knew you were a strong leader." He tries to change the subject.
I clear my throat to speak up again. "I'm not someone that you can just butter up. I want to remind you that we're only merging because we share a common enemy." "The British." We say in unison. "Precisely. They've been sending us jarring messages about our sister and it's getting out of control. Merging with you should hopefully bring us more protection for her overall safety." I voice my concern aloud.
"You're in good hands with the Americans, don't you worry." Charles offers his hand for me to shake.
I reach out and thank him. "On another note, I've heard about the little setback yesterday at the weaponry warehouse." He brings up what I did not want to talk about. "Ah yes, that too. The British Donna payed us a visit and just so happened to steal majority of our equipment supply." I elucidate in an annoyed tone.
"I believe that the incident should've been disclosed earlier." Charles folds his arms whilst raising a brow.
"It seemed to have slipped my mind." I excuse the embarrassing fact that we got our ass handed to us by an irritating little girl with an overinflated ego. I'm still pissed about it and it hasn't left my mind since. "Switching the subject back onto your beloved sister," He begins which intrigues me more.
"What is the plan for her protection? I'm assuming that she's on the weaker side and that the threats aren't going to stop." Charles inquiries.
"My sister isn't considered weak, but she is fragile and needs protection. If the threats continue, more enforcement will be necessary. For example, bodyguards by her side and constant security arrangements will be in measure. If I'm being completely honest, I'm expecting the threats to pick up around September."
"September? Why September?" He licks his cracked lips.
"It's Nat's birth month, she'll be seventeen this year." I try my best to not let a smile loose at the thought of spending a birthday with her. "Good to know." He looks at me weirdly but I dismiss it and I decide to change the subject. "Rumour has it that Damien is getting out, right?" I lean back into my leather office chair.
"Plans are being made and arrangements are in progress. If everything goes to plan, he gets out next month." He adds whilst circling the liquor in his glass. "March, how convenient." I mutter as I take a sip of my scotch. "Indeed it is." He peers into my eyes. We take a moment of silence before I speak up again.
"So I'll be seeing the whole family at the mafia charity ball then?" I let the curiosity consume me.
"Nico won't be able to make it but rest assured, Damien and I will be there. Hopefully we could be able to meet little Natasha, face to face." He offers. "I think that's a wonderful idea Charles. Apparently the British mafia won't even bother to show up this year." I tsk with a fake disappointed laugh.
"I bet that they'll show up next year, I'm counting on it." He remarks out of the bloom.
"They're pussies if they don't show up. We've been hosting the event for decades and now that I know their Donna is here, she has no excuse to back out. Besides, it's for charity. It's a good cause and is the only night when mafias can't kill each other." I gulp down the rest of my scotch.
"Has Natasha picked out a dress yet?" He questions randomly.
An eery feeling lingers in my gut. Why is he always trying to change the subject to Nat? I shrug it off and answer his question. I can't leave my new partner hanging. "Not yet no." I reply nonchalantly. "She's lucky, red is a gorgeous colour for her. We're stuck with white." He chuckles and takes the last sip of his beverage.
There's another empty moment of silence before Charles stands up, leaving his glass on my desk.
"Before you leave, there's one more issue on the table that I'd like to discuss with you Mr.Harper." He turns to face me. "I'm all ears." He sits back down and I join him. "On the more personal issue, about Nico and-" He tilts his head back with a knowing grin plastered over his face. "Natasha." He finishes my sentence for me.
"Let me guess, you don't want the two to hook up?" He reads my mind like a book.
"So you knew." I fold my arms and sigh with realisation. "I'm Charles Harper, I know everything about everybody. Especially my own son." He laughs it off. "I see why you have a reason to not approve of their- how do I say it? Their relationship but I don't see a problem with it. They're teenagers at the end of the day. Let them live a little." He shrugs it off and begins walking towards the door.
"It's been a good chit chat Charles." I wave him off.
"Till we meet again Mr.Morales." He bows down with a sly smirk on his face. As I watch his lean body disappears behind the wall, I retreat back into my office. "Mr.Morales, your personal cellphone has a call." My secretary barges into my room. God, what now? "Can't a man just have 5 minutes to himself." I frustratingly mutter as my secretary hands me my phone.
"Who is it?" My irritated voice barks out.
"It's Adrien. Nat said that she would be home by dinner and she's still not here." He states in a worried tone. "Speaking of that, you're supposed to be home too." He adds on with a curious manner. "The meeting with Charles took longer than expected and had dragged on. I'm just going to leave now." I respond with the phone jammed between my shoulder and my ear as I pack up my briefcase.
"That's one less plate in the bin." His defeated tone hurts me. "Did you track Nat's location?" I switch the subject. "Not yet, I wanted to wait for your approval." Adrien answers. I step out of my office and into the elevator. "Check it and go to her. Pick her up and bring her back home. I know that she's going to protest but it's for the better."
"But what if she hates me?" Adrien's anxiety shines through.
"Playing Good Cop everyday isn't going to bring our sister home, now is it?" I try to motivate him. "You're right V, I need to put on a thicker helmet. I'll be home in 20." He signs off. The elevator dings and I step out into the garage. I walk up to my car and begin my commute home.
Hopefully when I reach there, Nat will be home sweet home.