Oxygen

Ughhh, finally. It all came out perfectly. I was actually a little skeptical at first, but it seems like I read Ralph immaculately.

The way Ralph reacted, makes me feel like he has no surveillance for Elias either, at least currently.

Lucian stretched his hands and then quickly went for his phone, which was lying on the table, left by Ralph at the last moment.

So should I call Elias now? That would be stupid. What if Ralph just put on an act? What if he is still monitoring Elias in some way? I can't take reckless decisions now. I'll wait till Elias calls me, or maybe at least a day.

Lucian took the phone and went under the blanket on his bed. As the phone turned on, the screen light lit the darkness inside the blanket.

He scrolled through his messages, contacts, and every detail. 

Huh? So Ralph did call the 'Mom' & 'Mom 2' contacts. But why would he leave it, instead of deleting them? I get it. He acted to be uncareful, so I wouldn't suspect anything, as seeing nothing new in the contacts would seem suspicious to me, knowing that Ralph took my phone for something at least.

But none of that matters, as the Mom 2 contact is just a phone I placed in a random area of Clorida, and it has my phone's number as blocked.

And the 'Mom' contact is Elias's hidden phone, which he doesn't use normally. But I wonder, why didn't Ralph go to the very extreme? Like, searching for every detail in Luther's apartment if needed? Is he playing some kind of long game? No, I can't be this wrong, the way he reacted a few minutes ago, that was fully genuine. 

So, is he restricted by something?

Lucian kept staring at his screen, his eyes drowning in the screen light. The blanket stopped the oxygen from getting inside, gradually making Lucian's lungs explode.

All of a sudden, Lucian took off the blanket as his phone rang, finally moving his eyes from the screen and taking a deep breath.

"Hello?", Lucian asked immediately after a long breath, he showed no nervousness or intense reaction.

"Hello. Is this Luke I'm talking with?", Elias also reciprocated the carefulness. 

"Right. Yes, this is me. So, Elias, did someone come to you in order to keep watch over you, or Luther maybe?", Lucian didn't even complete his sentence and Elias replied.

"Yes yes! They did! The way you sent me the message was something I never heard before, what do you even think about those? Anyways, tell me what should be done next.", Elias curiously asked.

"Look. First make sure there is no one around you related to those investigators, or even security cameras. You can't trust them easily!", Lucian suggested, trying to explain further.

"I already did all of those. There is no one here, I ensure you. Now we should continue where we left, right?", Elias looked around before speaking.

Right. He was about to tell me about his enemies. His never-ending passion for revenge never fails to impress me.

"Yes, please do", Lucian replied.

"My enemy is, that devil. The one I heard back then. The voice I hate the most. I want to kill that devil in the same way it killed my wife.", Elias became silent for a moment.

Lucian was waiting for him to speak again, and he did, after a few seconds.

??, 2018,

"Are you ready yet, Evie?", Elias was putting on a black suit, "We need to dress nice this time!"

Evie came out of the other room in a beautiful black dress. After coming out, she instantly went towards Elias. She got close to him and started buttoning his suit.

"You are gonna be successful in no time, I can already see it!", she whispered. Her face was not only pretty, but radiating an innocent positivity.

"With you by my side, we'll establish Vespera in no time!", Elias said with a smile, "I'll just have to wait till I get the investment!"

In around 20 minutes, they reached their destination. A medium sized, yellow building, with 3 floors. Elias and Evie took the lift and went to the topmost floor.

As they entered the room, they saw a man in white T-Shirt sitting on one of the four chairs surrounding a table. He smiled as he saw Elias and welcomed them.

Both Elias & Evie sat on the chairs, and the other man started the conversation with, "So, Elias Blackwood, I'm happy to let you know that I'm interested in investing."

Elias's ears were waiting for these words for days, since the day the investor contacted him and offered him investment, and so, a bright smile appeared on Elias's face.

"So what procedure do I have to follow now?", Elias instantly asked.

"I came here all prepared, don't worry.", he took out some papers from the bag lying on the ground, "Please put your signature down here, so I can legally invest in your business."

Elias had a pen in his pocket, he quickly took it out and read the papers.

"I-I can't understand the language. Can you describe it, please?", Elias asked quietly.

Evie was sitting there quietly, also taking a look at those papers, seeming confused.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not from this country, and the office from where I'm from is located in another country as well. So that's the reason it is in another language. They are just basic legal permissions and notices, you can sign it.", he took out another paper, "This is a duplicate version written in english, if you want you can read it."

Elias just hovered his eyes on that duplicate paper, and quickly signed the original one. 

"I signed it. I have seen these notices before, I don't need to read all of it."

"By this evening, all the money should be transferred to your business account. It was a nice meeting, Mr.Blackwood! Sorry for not staying longer, but I'm a little busy today", he just quickly packed his bag and went out of the room, following him, Elias & Evie also went out.

2 days Later,

The same thing could be seen again, Elias & Evie in those same clothes. But there was a huge difference. Their faces told that they were devastated, afraid and in huge agony.

"Elias! Do we have to do this?", Evie's hands were shaking as she held Elias's hands.

Elias turned towards Evie and looked deeply in her eyes, unable to answer anything. He was silent and remained so.

They again went out and after around 35 minutes, they reached their destination. This time, it was a much bigger building with multiple rooms on each floor, gray in color.

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs.Blackwood! I've been waiting for you.", that guy was standing there this time, with the same white T-Shirt.

"Please, please save us! Tell us how we can get out of this!", Elias sat down on the floor on knees, almost crying out. Evie's face was full of fear, standing beside him.

"Don't do this. I'll do what I promised.", the guy took out a device from his pocket and clicked the button on it.

The last thing Elias saw there was that a white gas was spreading in the room, coming from certain pipes attached in the walls. 

And the second time he opened his eyes, his & Evie's hands were tied. And he could slowly hear Evie's voice.

"Wake Up, Elias!", that's what he heard.

After coming into consciousness and making sure Evie is there with him, he saw that same guy standing there with some blindfolds in his hands. 

Then everything he observed was from his ears. The car transporting them to a far away place, possibly driven by that same guy. 

And the next thing he had to witness, was the last thing he would want to.

Current Time,

"That guy deceived us with those investment papers", Elias's voice was much quieter than just a few moments ago, "The paper said to return the profits in just 2 days, but in a foreign language. I made a mistake by not clarifying it but he didn't warn me either. But then I understood that's exactly what he wanted, to kidnap me and my wife, in the name of debt!", Elias ended his explanation.

"I understand. Hearing all those things you and your wife went through really makes me sad.", Lucian reciprocated the feelings, but instantly curiosity took over him and he asked, "But who was this guy? That investigator? And where did they take you?"

"Right. That's the most important part. You would be surprised to know that the fake investigator was.....Zeph Loxley. But he obviously used a different name back then.", Elias's words cleared some confusions that Lucian had till the point of time.

That's why he killed Gary's father?! That makes complete sense. I get it now. I can completely simulate his point of view.

"That's truly shocking! But when you killed Zeph, I kind of did suspect something like this.", Lucian gave a slightly surprising voice.

"Well, what about that building they took you to? You said you were in a car as per you heard stuff and you both were taken there, right?", Lucian was genuinely curious.

"After I escaped that place, I took a look at the building from outside before they made me unconscious again and took me in the car. It was too huge. With more than 1000 rooms at least. Seemed like that group made an entire civilization there. And I know the name of that group as well.", Elias was about to continue.

"What was the name?", Lucian asked.

"O3"....