When Nicholas arrived at his office, he handed Alex the broken pieces of Ava's phone. "Can you recover the memory?" he asked.
Alex looked down at the broken remnants in his hands, hesitation flickering across his face. Could he say no?
He nodded curtly. "Let me try."
"No, you must recover it," Nicholas commanded, his sharp tone leaving no room for questions.
Alex swallowed, squaring his shoulders. "I'll do my best."
"Cool." Leaning back in his seat, Nicholas commanded yet again, "Bring Brian back. He needs to learn a hard lesson."
Alex's face crumpled like a crushed paper, shadows of frustration and guilt crossing his features. He had been on Brian's trail as soon as the informant tipped him off about the attempted escape, but a few unknown men had taken him already before he could reach there.
"En…we lost him," Alex stammered, feeling his heart sinking.