8. Ella

Ella was rich again, wrapped in all the types of luxury this world has ever seen. She was living in her fantasy. A world in which a single word could give life to her dreams. A world where her father was alive, his warm laughter echoing through the magnificent walls of her large mansion. Just like before, she was living happily with him and Denial.

The feeling seemed unreal. This life was where the entire universe was on its knees before her. She could have anything she could wish for. She was a princess, always embraced in plush. It felt like a dream, almost too foggy to be true.

"Wake up" someone barked, dumping her into the cured reality. She realized that it was a dream but she was fighting the urge to wake up. She wanted to live in the moment of magic for a little more "Wake up, You good for nothing!" She couldn't see anything anymore. It was blank and just then, she knew that she would have to wake up from her fantasy.

Ella opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and after a minute of focusing she was able to see clearly. She saw an annoying face "Boss" she said, rubbing her eyes. Ella was sleeping on her shift and it wasn't a good thing to be happening

"Do you fucking want me to go broke?" He almost yelled. He didn't shout at her like he normally does. His voice was kind of low but still intense. Hunk was shifting personalities and Ella didn't know how to behave with him anymore. One day he would become the kindest person to exist and the other vice versa

"I didn't realize when I fell asleep on the shift" Without the word sorry, halted by her ego, the apology sounded nothing like it should. Hunk didn't seem to care.

In the past, he would cut her pay for every mistake but now all he did was jerk his head "Focus on your work" he said and turned around.

Ella felt Hunk becoming unable to move from his place when he turned. As if he had seen a ghost. She couldn't see what he just saw because Hunk was bulky and he was hiding it.

She was just trying to check what it was when Hunk was facing her again. He smiled, a pretty big and fake smile "You can just go home and rest, I will complete your shift" his voice was greasy with sweetness. Ella looked at him, looked at him with a sight of unbelievability.

"No, Boss. I am fine with it. I will do it" she said, still startled

"It's okay with me. You can go" Ella was actually afraid of this old man acting weird. She was sure that Hunk has a multi personality syndrome or how else would she explain this "It's really okay, Boss. You should go, I can handle it" she said with a smile. Hunk didn't reply to her but moved around, nodded his head, and was gone.

Ella was looking at Hunk in shock as he walked away, revealing the person behind him. Alex.

Ella burned at the slightest glimpse of him. She remembered how she was slapped by Julie in front of everyone just because of him. She rolled her eyes and walked to the monitor.

Alex put the items from his cart on the counter. Ella was still boiling. She would have accepted Hunk's offer and let him deal with Alex's things.

She breathed, trying to not burst just now because she was in no situation to show that sick attitude.

And another thing annoying her was him shopping. Ella has never imagined Alex doing any normal thing. He was a thug and she knew all he did was beat people and get involved in all the illegal activities. But here he was, buying a pack of ice cream, and for a reason, she found it pretty decent.

The reason was that it wasn't any ice cream but an eight-box pack of Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie that was her all-time favorite ice cream. "Your total is 55.92 dollars," she said in a really rude voice, one that is not allowed with the customer

Alex handed her his card. She still did not look at his face. She was too afraid of losing control of her mind in the store. Hunk could still haunt her.

In a second, she was done and held his card to give him back. Alex didn't take it. When she looked up at him, he wasn't even looking at her but outside of the window. Without saying a word or taking his things, Alex ran out of the store. It was like a wave of wind. He was fast, his speed was remarkable. He was named, Hawk right, she thought to herself and then glitched back.

Alex was following someone that she didn't even see standing there. As the person saw him coming, he started to panic. His entire body shivered and she knew it was something to do with the Eclipse. It might be one of his tasks to handle because there was no way some normal person could recognize Hawk at first sight.

The man ran. Alex followed at a really fast speed and soon they disappeared from the front.

Ella wanted to go and check what it was about but a question suddenly entered her mind "Why the hell would I care? It's not like I don't know that he is involved with these types of things" she said, snapping her head to the side sharply and then went to her place

An hour passed by and Alex was nowhere to be found. Ella put the ice cream back in the freezer and his credit card stayed with her.

At the time, there was nothing on her head but Alex. She knew what type of person he was. He was absolutely nothing like a good person but was he really brutal enough to kill someone?

She knew how Hawk was. She knows a little too much about Eclipse that sometimes it fears her. What if someone knows what type of information she poses? She has read everything about them.

At first, it was out of curiosity but then this case developed her interest. Her father or Danial didn't know that she had read the files. She used to sneak I to their study and read all the information they have gathered.

She was never interested in that stuff before but after that day, when she saw his picture, she started to read it. Even after six months, she hasn't recalled it. She doesn't know where and how has she seen Alex or was it even real?

The thing was that she trusts her memory and she knows that it wasn't playing with her.

These things, when she thinks about it, scare her as if someone could read her brain. She has known too much about Eclipse, so much that it is enough to get her killed.

She knows about the leader who is called Prime but no one knows who he is. Even her Dad was unable to find a thing about his profile. Another person she knows is Dave, he is the secretary of Prime, Ella has seen his picture too and then there is this one figure. Eagle. He is a lawyer. Ella thought he would've been the easiest to track because he was in the same field as all of them. But he wasn't. They were all clueless when it came to him.

She fears these thoughts sometimes and that is why she doesn't think about it often. Ella twitched her head, shook it a couple of times, and then blinked. She hadn't put her brain at peace when he was back

"I'm sorry for it" he said, casually as if she had been thinking only about him for the last hour. She ignored him, walked to the freezer, and took the ice cream out.

She did not hold it for him but put it on the counter, placed his card on top and pretended to be working on the computer again.

Alex smirked audibly as if he could not believe she was showing him the attitude, his problem, she said to herself with a sneer.

Alex took his card, and the ice cream but didn't walk away "Did you steal money out of my credit card?" Alex barked, she looked at him, glaring with a fiery stare "What the hell does it mean?" She asked, already sick of it before it could even start "500 dollars are missing from my account" he said, holding his mobile phone to her, and then there was a message showing that five hundred dollars were withdrawn "Are you crazy?" She asked calmly. Her words wasn't was accompanying her tune "They were withdrawn half an hour ago and my card was with you from the entire last hour"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, huh? You could have withdrawn from a cheque or something" Alex smirked, she hates it when he does it because it is simply scary

"Are we living in the 19th century? Who uses a check for some pennies?" That felt like an insult to her. Not the card part but him labeling five hundred dollars as pennies when her total estates were twenty percent of it.

"I didn't steal your money" She doesn't shout in front of people too often but she was yelling because he was hurting her self-esteem

"Give me my money back" The attitude started to leave her body as she realized that she was in trouble because it was Alex standing in front of her