Chapter 17: Jason Riley

"At exactly 12:46 PM, I officially adjourned the meeting. You may all now leave" Sean announced as he stood up from his seat, and exited the conference room. Albert, with his bag, and papers in his hand, joined Sean. They both entered the elevator that is only exclusive for the Gwenu family, Chen family, and his secretary. Sean is not the type of person who wants to emphasize that he is the boss, and should always be treated as a VIP. Actually, he rarely rides their exclusive elevator–because he rarely shows up at their company. Sean would only use the exclusive elevator whenever there's a confidential matter that has to be discussed, and that day is one of the days today, or if he's just not in the mood to be with other humans.

Albert was busy flipping through the papers, while Sean was having a phone call. After ending the conversation, the man put his phone back to his pocket

"Do I still have any business matters for today?" Sean asked while waiting for the elevator to reach the parking ground of the building

"That was the last, sir. If you want we can move on to the organization matters. But I suggest you eat lunch first, it's almost 1 PM" the secretary said as he checked the time from his wrist watch. Sean took a quick glance to his secretary before releasing a sigh

"Let's have a drive thru. For now, call the person you have assigned to look after the injured stranger. Ask him if he has regained his consciousness" Sean ordered as he grabbed the papers from his secretary hands without his eyes leaving from the elevator's door. Albert did as he was told, and called one of their men. The conversation didn't take too long and ended right away. 

"He hasn't woken up yet, sir. He's currently having a fever dream" Albert reported. Sean nodded as a response as he handed the papers back to his secretary

"Then let's go straight to the headquarters after grabbing lunch" A ding was heard and the door of the elevator opened, revealing the parking lot of the building. Sean stepped out of the elevator first, and headed to where their car is. Albert, who prepared the car key, immediately opened the car to let Sean enter already. Right after the two got in the car, Albert checked his boss first through the mirror. Seeing Sean has closed his eyes already, he decided not to bother him, and just make his own decision on where and what food they'll have for lunch. 

Fortunately, they were able to pass by a Starbucks that allows drive thru. Albert ordered a coffee and pastries for both of them, and paid for it using Sean's money. Albert has been working, and a servant to Sean since he was a kid, thus he has all access to the possessions of Gwenu family, especially Sean's accounts. The secretary is not a different person to the Gwenus anymore, he is the only person who knows everything when it comes to Gwenus. Others might see it as ridiculous, but for the Gwenus, there's nothing to lose in letting one of their servants on the loose. Furthermore, Albert acts like a robot, his actions seem to be programmed already, hence they are careless when it comes to him.

After receiving their order, and going back to their track, Albert honks the car loudly making Sean almost jump from his seat. Seeing his boss have woken up, the secretary handed his lunch to him while his eyes were fixed on the road, wearing a poker face. Although he was annoyed because of what his secretary did, Sean just snatched the food from Albert's hand, and thanked him sarcastically. The secretary didn't even give him any response, adding to the frustration he felt. Despite being the boss between the two of them, Sean couldn't help but to feel inferior. Albert is already like an older brother to him, his parents literally put Albert in charge and control instead of him not just to their company but also in life decision making.

"Quick lunch. We are 20 minutes away from the headquarters"

"Noted, boss" Sean responded sarcastically as he rolled his eyes while baring his teeth

Upon arriving at the entrance of their destination, Sean and Albert fixed themselves first to look more presentable in front of everyone. Once they were satisfied with how they looked, they both got out of the car at the same time. Albert gave the car key to one of the men to park it properly. On the way to the main door, a group of men were lining up, and standing firmly. Before Sean and Albert walked their way to the main door, the men bowed their heads as they all greeted their boss. None of them get back to standing up until their boss enters the door. 

Sean put his right hand to the sensor of the door to let it identify his identity. When the sensor recognizes him, a keypad password will emerge for him to enter the passcode before getting inside the headquarters. When Sean was finally out of sight of the men, all of them got back into standing straight, and became even more alert to their surroundings.

"How are the things I asked you to prepare?" Sean asked as soon as they rode the elevator. Albert knitted his brow and had a thought for seconds, trying to remember the details of the specific order that Sean gave him. 

'It seems I appointed too much to him' Sean said in his mind while waiting for the response of his secretary 

"Oh! Yes, sir. I have already prepared everything for you. The men are also ready" Sean hmm as he nodded. Feeling guilty towards his secretary again he can't help but to secretly scold himself. Albert has been with him since he was a kid. The guy already sacrificed and helped him a lot, thus as much as possible he doesn't want Albert to be stressed and still carries a heavy burden because of him. He is not a child anymore, as the boss he should be more responsible instead of relying everything to the people around him

"Great! Then, you could leave me alone now" Sean said excitedly and left right after the elevator opened. Albert was caught off guard that he wasn't able to react right away. He hurriedly went after to his boss when a thought suddenly crossed in his mind

'Is he firing me?!!'

"What do you mean, sir? Did I perhaps offend you? Was my performance lately disappointing?" Albert asked worriedly. Sean froze for a while after seeing the expressions of his secretary. After how many years ever since that incident happened, this is the first that Albert showed many expressions and emotions just like how humans should. 

Remember that he wanted to become responsible as the boss, instead of getting distracted Sean shook off the thoughts in his head. There are a lot of things that's currently going on, he should be focusing on the present and forget about the past.

"What? No, you're doing good. What's the matter?"

"Why are you firing me?"

"Firing you? When did I do that?"

"A while ago, at the elevator. You said I could finally leave you alone"

"What?! That's not what I mean. I just want you to take a vacation. Where the h*ll did you get that idea?"

The two stared at each other confusedly until someone cleared his throat to get their attention. That's when they realized that they have already reached the facility room, and the people in there are watching them in confusion. 

'I guess we were too loud' he thought

"I have already prepared the report you asked for, sir. Should we discuss it right now?" a woman with a bored expression, wearing a casual all in black outfit, has messy hair, and thick black glasses called out Sean. She was standing near the door at the corner, not too far from where they are currently standing, holding the three folders like it's not an important and confidential file. For some reason, he felt thankful towards the girl. He just planned to become a more responsible and mature leader a while ago but miserably failed right away.

Sean gave a 'we will talk later' look to his secretary before he started walking with the girl. On the way to his office, he carefully checked the pocket of his pants. After making sure that Hanlon's phone was still with him, he took a deep breath, and came back to his normal composed self. 

Upon arriving into his office, the girl directly handed him the files, and watched him go through it. With knitted brows, Sean took a glance at the girl in front of him. The content of the files has the information of the people that made him fly from his mainland to abroad. For some reason, he finds the situation weird. They've been trying to track down the rat that's been pestering their life, and suddenly it came to him on its own, and on top of that, the rats are just his people. 

'Was I too careless these days?'

Closing the folder, Sean looks up to the girl. He examined her quietly

"I know you're great when it comes to this kind of job, but is this information reliable? How can I be so sure that you're not part of the gang?" Sean asked, as cold as ice. These days, he noticed a lot of changes in his behavior that lead to a lot of conflicts in his life, business, and even in the organization. He is acting too immature, being negligent 

"That wasn't from me" the girl simply said while opening the wrap of a lollipop

"What?" Confused Sean brought his brows even closer

"I don't know where that came from, it was just sent to me through a coded convo. This person was able to reach me, that means I must know who sent it. I'll leave the decision to you on what to do with that information. Confirming its reliability isn't my job. I still want to investigate who sent that to me, so bother me no more. Hope not to see you again" after reciting such a line without letting Sean to even react, the girl bid her farewell and exited the office directly. Aside from Albert, only Rhianon can treat her boss in a terrible manner—they are cousins

After Rhianon closed the door, Sean stared at the files on his hands for a while. Feeling his head aching again, he went on to his chair to take a break. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes for 10 seconds.

He actually expected that some viruses and rats had entered his den but he didn't expect for them to be this good in hiding, and digging informations. Basing the files in his hands, these people were not even high rankers nor did they work for the organization. They are just normal citizens, an employee in their company. How come they were able to get such informations? Unless they are highly skilled or someone is working behind the curtains. Another thing, who is the person that reached Rhiannon? The possibility that by accepting the contents inside of the folders, he will become an actor that acts on the stage set-up for him. 

Setting aside his inside issue, Sean took out Hanlon's phone from his pocket. He watched the video that the young last recorded before he went missing. The first clip showed Hanlon filming inside the room of his hotel

"Currently bored, might as well film some vlog like an INFLUENCER" Hanlon said the last word in english language. He made some silly moves in front of the camera. Later on, Hanlon is filming his room like he was having a hotel room tour. He also went on filming the window of his room. Everything was normal in the video not until Sean noticed something strange. He immediately rewound the video, and there he saw a figure on the right side of the building. Although the figure was wearing all black and the face can't be seen, the physique and how the person stood didn't escape in Sean's eyes. 

Sean rewinds the video once again, and that's when he confirmed his suspicion. Hanlon keeps on repeating the word INFLUENCER in english. The figure in Hanlon's clip is Jason Riley, a famous vlogger in Europe. He is known for his artistry clips, and was associated with Sean once when he bought a painting from Jason. The influencer was such a delicate person and is very warm to be with that made him and Sean become friends. The two often meet before to talk about arts as Sean is also an artist, that's why he became familiar with his physique that no matter how hard Jason will disguise himself, Sean can still see through him.

He continued watching the video. In the clip, Hanlon and Luca are already in the camera. The two were currently having a conversation casually like they are some kind of friends, until the conflict began.

"Luca" a familiar voice called out the name of the kid in the clip

"Oh! My brother is finally here" 

Brother? Are they blood related?