Meeting

Prince gave the Chinese restaurant pass to the receptionist. He had a meeting with the members of the execution team, and it's his duty to give any updates about Aria. As the receptionist gave a receipt back, Prince bowed his head down and found the room number.

He knocked first before sliding the door, and there they were.

Mr. Rob and Bryce Fajardo were already present. Justin Gucci, the head of his team, was there, too. Along with them was a woman who Bryce recruited from the law firm Avery worked at a few years ago. Her name is Bea Gray.

All of them stood up from their seats, but Prince shook his hand, assuring, "It's not of any use. Just sit down and relax."

Prince locked the sliding door, and wore off his shoes. Bryce and Mr. Rob chinked glasses. Bea and Justin enjoyed the cuisine and the crab meat as the side dishes. Prince took a seat down on the front of the table, facing all of them, asking, "So… how far the four of you have observed? Let's start with Bea."

Bea swallowed the crab meat for a while, tucked in her white hair behind her ear, and put down the chopsticks. "I'm always tailing the two of you, and from what I've seen in Aria's face, she must have trusted you a lot now, Mr. Gomez."

Bea was always there. On the hospital, on the park, and even following them around to the gasoline station, Prince had to spread them wide, and it's working well. Prince praised, "You have done a great job, Bea. Keep tailing us and see what deviates."

She nodded, and turned to Justin. Prince smiled at him. "It's been a while, Justin. Thank you for producing arson and not letting you get caught. I promise to take care of it when a charge landed on my desk."

Justin laughed, along with Bea and Mr. Rob. Bryce isn't happy about it at all. It isn't the plan he expected to show off to. Justin smiled, saying, "I'm honored to start the fire and let the police take care of the mess. We covered the tracks right away. We're dealing about the personal information in the system…"

"Wait…" Prince remembered the charges Aria wanted. Justin trailed off for what he had to say.

"I don't know how I should say this, but Bryce Fajardo, Aria's loathing your existence now, and I witness how much she badmouthed you," Prince revealed. Everyone turned to him, who was munching on with some mashed potatoes, and swallowed.

"What?" Bryce wasn't that all surprised.

"Okay, since I'm not into relying messages from one person to another, I'll just give out the link to my application so that you can listen to her, too. I finally installed the recorders Mr. Rob suggested to me, and its working fine. Right now, everyone can listen to her words," Prince confessed.

Bryce had known Prince resisted on saying something that should be in private. He has been there since day one, even witnessing the love leading them to fallout. Bryce doesn't have anything to offer to Aria anymore, but Prince had everything.

"Here, everyone, dig in." He placed a large bag in front of him and let Bea take care of it.

With that opportunity to go out, Prince gave that look on Bryce. He gave that smile already, indicating he had to talk to him in private. Rob, Bea, and Justin wouldn't mind as long as it doesn't concern their job.

"Bea, take care of it for a while. I need to say something to Bryce," Prince permitted.

…

"Aria wanted to push the charge through. I don't know how I should deal with it. It's something I don't know if I can turn down, because she's making me promise even though she didn't ask me to, Bryce."

Prince must be having a hard time dealing with it. Aria was the kind of woman who would let the man to fall in love with her unknowingly. It's the kind of deal Prince doesn't want at all. Falling in love was the last thing to exist in his mind.

"I warned you, Prince. Aria isn't like Avery at all. She's not close to her, even in the words she articulate. Aria is someone you would fall in love with…"

"Can we please not say anything about love, Bryce? It's a piece of sh*t. It's the least worries I've got. With Avery as my girlfriend, I didn't feel anything about her. I don't have anything to do with her at all but to kill her."

Prince had no conscience. It was the real him. He might be a prince, but he's cruel. He's dealing with a lot of people, charging the defendants, but overall, Prince might let himself faced a lot of verdict in the past.

"Are you sure you're not going to fall in love with Aria at all? I couldn't resist it anymore, Prince. That time, I was controlling myself. But Aria's different. I can give a thousand reasons I can't name of falling in love with Aria and even having a child with her," Bryce pointed out.

Prince held onto his hips, hissing in between his teeth. It's too tiring to explain that everything was just a plan, and there was no personal connection in it. He treated it as a community job needed to be fulfilled, and nothing close to building a family with Aria.

Prince doesn't want that to happen. He'd do everything for it not to happen.

"Do you think you'd be able to disagree with Aria pressing charges on me? You wouldn't, Prince. The way she cries, the way she asked, the way she said those words, all of them were sincere. And there's nothing more pure than an honest action," Bryce remarked. He pointed at Prince, who didn't seem unfazed with Bryce's statements. It doesn't touch his heart for now, but later on, he'd be crying.

"Aria is the purest and nicest person I've ever met. She's too kind to even hit up. When I did it to her, I wanted to beg for her forgiveness, knowing that if I slap her once, she'd never come back to me. She's pure, but will loath you when you've wronged her," Bryce stated.

Prince shook his head, turning to the hallway, wondering if there was someone watching them from afar. It's nothing new, but their words will end there, because Prince will shoot them to dead.

"She seemed adamant about the charges. Like what you said, what are you going to do with me? You're going to arrest me like any prosecutor will do?" Bryce lifted an eyebrow, challenging Prince for the court-to-court battle.

"If I do that, I need evidence before you became a defendant. It's going to take up a lot of time before it happened. Evidences got ruined in the hospital, and there was no witness of your scene inside the house. It's pretty a groundless claim," Prince explained. Bryce shrugged, knowing something might help them if someone actually turned to the other side.

"Look at your colleagues, Prince, and the ones working in your mansion. Someone there might blow the whistle, we have to be careful about those people," Bryce muttered.

Prince nodded, taking in his advice.

"I'd retrieve a recording device, too, so that I can listen to everything Aria says."