Cruella’s Return

"You've got to be kidding me!" Aiden stood in the hallway with Derek and Mrs. Hudson. They were all staring at the door as Lyla and Spencer had just walked in. 

"Is that any way to act after seeing your Aunt and cousin again after so long?!" Lyla's shrill voice rang out with familiarity. Aiden sighed in undisguised annoyance.

"Why are you here?" Derek asked gruffly.

"Why shouldn't I be here?" Lyla flipped her hair over her shoulder and smirked. "I'm tired of staying at the hotel so we came back. After all, we're married so I have as much right to be here as anyone else." Mrs. Hudson, who couldn't stand to hear her speak any more, shook her head and sighed before walking away. 

"Shameless," Aiden mumbled. Lyla heard him and wasted no time in replying angrily.

"What did you say?" 

"I said shameless!" Aiden raised his voice and deliberately enunciated every word for clarity. He narrowed his eyes and continued, "Did you forget why you ran off to a hotel in the first place? It's because your daughter almost killed me! Her getting shipped off to boarding school was a mercy. You clearly understood at the time that continuing to live in the same house as me was a bad idea. What changed your mind?" Lyla glared at him but didn't argue.

"I already told you. I'm simply tired of living at the hotel."

"Oh please, as if I'd believe that." Her? Tired of a five star luxury hotel? As if!

"Believe what you want but we are here to stay. Deal with it." Lyla smiled and then ushered Spencer upstairs. Aiden clenched his fists and growled in anger.

"Argh! Why does she always have to ruin things?!" Derek reached over and took Aiden's hand. He led him into the living room and wrapped him in a hug. Aiden slowly felt the tension in his body fade away and he held onto Derek in return.

"Try not to worry about it. She's definitely not the smartest so we'll find out soon why she came back out of the blue."

"Mhm." Aiden nuzzled his head against Derek's chest. They stayed like that for a moment before separating. 

"I'll have someone keep an eye on her activities from now on." Just after Derek said that, Mrs. Hudson came into the room.

"You'd better! …Such a horrible woman! I'll be keeping a watch as well. I won't have Aiden get hurt anymore because of that family! No I won't!" 

"Aw!" Aiden smiled warmly and hurried over to hug her. "Don't worry Mrs. Hudson. Lyla's schemes have never held a candle to Becca's anyway." 

"Well she better not let me catch her doing anything suspicious, that's all I'm saying." 

Meanwhile upstairs, Lyla was back in her designated room and dialed a number on her cellphone. After a few rings, someone answered.

"Well?" The voice on the other end of the line asked.

"I'm back at the house. Now do you plan on telling me what exactly I'm supposed to be looking for here?" She spoke in a whisper just loud enough to be heard through the phone. The other person sighed.

"I already told you…If you can find any company information then that's great but we need to find a weakness. Anything that can be used to influence him or outright control him. There has to be some kind of information we can use, so find it."

"But that's too vague! How am I supposed to…?" Lyla was quickly interrupted.

"Think, woman! Everyone has secrets that can be used against them. I don't care if it's something as trivial as him having a habit of picking his nose in private or if it's as serious as having actual skeletons in his closet! If you want the money, find something!" Leaving no time for Lyla to respond, the call abruptly ended. 

"So rude!" She angrily tossed the phone onto her bed and glared at it while thinking back to her first encounter with the man she had just spoken to.

About a week ago, while she was visiting the bar at the hotel she was staying at, she was approached by a decent looking younger man. Naturally, she had assumed he was going to flirt with her but she was disappointed when he treated the meeting as some sort of business deal. Apparently, he was already well aware of who she was before he approached her and he made Lyla an offer she'd never refuse.

Not only was she offered a huge sum of money for any and all useful information she could find out about Derek's personal life and business but the man also promised to help her get a hold of the money her nephew would soon inherit from his dead mother. Lyla's greed and deep seated hatred towards both her deceased sister and nephew made her jump on the chance to get the money no matter how suspicious it all seemed. After all, she had taken in her nephew with the goal of getting the money anyway. It was the perfect opportunity.

The sweet talking gentleman who had approached her introduced himself as Kain and the two of them had remained in contact ever since then. He was never very specific about what it was exactly that he wanted which caused a few arguments and Lyla hated how condescending he had become after she agreed to work with him. It wasn't her fault that 'information' was too broad a target for her to understand. Couldn't he be more specific?

Elsewhere in the city, Kain was also glaring at his phone. He had known from the beginning that Lyla was an idiot and wouldn't be of much use but he gave it a try anyway. Now he was suffering the consequences. She really was incredibly troublesome to even speak with. But what choice did he have? He hadn't been making any progress on his own and approaching the one person who might prove useful, Aiden, was more difficult than he had originally anticipated. 

He needed to find the right opportunity to approach him but every time he tried something or someone got in his way. It also didn't help that Derek was strangely protective of the young man. However, that fact alone meant that Aiden was indeed the right person to use against Derek. Kain could already imagine the look on Derek's face if someone important to him was used against him. The question was, how should he do it?

Kain had sent several people to gather intel on the young man named Aiden Hale but the results were less than ideal. He didn't learn anything that couldn't easily be figured out by anybody else. The latest person he hired to gain information was his last resort and it was a desperate attempt at that. He'd spent a large amount of money to hire a man nicknamed Hyde and Seek. Despite the way it sounded as if it was two separate individuals, it really was just one man. Kain had tried to hire him once before to go after Derek but for some unknown reason, the man had refused to take the job.

He was a unique person if one was being polite. In other words, Hyde and Seek was completely insane. He used strange and erratic methods to reach his goals and it was impossible to tell what he would do next. Worst of all, his personality matched his crazy tactics. Nevertheless, no one could argue that he'd get results and that's exactly what Kain needed at the moment. No matter what it took, he needed to succeed.