CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO

"Jake is here." That's all William heard from Charles.

The door immediately opened. Felix was still here, and he couldn't believe that he had entered the mansion so effortlessly.

He looked at it and just shook his head. Jake immediately appeared before them with a serious expression, followed closely by Jenny and Mikaela.

Ericka is also here, before leaving for her new place. The group was no longer surprised, because they knew the plan behind why they were there now.

"Brother, we need to leave now; Isabel might get suspicious about where we came from." Thalia said to her brother.

"I'll give you a valid alibi. This is important, Thalia."

Thalia didn't answer anymore and just sat down, letting out a sigh. He just smiled; if only his youngest sister were alive, he knew she would have become friends with them.

He simply clenched his palm. He heard a cough then; they needed to start because tomorrow or the day after, they didn't know what would happen. 

He asked the young women who survived back then how they managed to escape. Someone helped them, but it wasn't a person; rather, it was a soul.

Fernan is guiding them into Charles's basement.

He believes it because you can't easily escape the warehouse if you don't know the ins and outs of it. Another thing is that the keys to each room suddenly went missing.

Until now, Fernan has been helping us.  He just sighed. Consider it carefully.

That's why they are here now. He looked at the calendar on his phone. 

It's almost been eight months since Fernan, as well as the siblings, passed away. Eight months, which, for me, feels like it just happened yesterday. 

"What?" That's what he heard now. 

"It is true, Jake. Even if you ask the young women we saved, they'll say the same thing." Zenne sighed deeply.

Jake just shook his head and processed what they were discussing now.

"How can you explain to me that child will be affected?" he asked, pointing to Thalia's group.

"They know the truth." That's all Vince said.

"Know the truth?" Jake asked them. "We're adults; we shouldn't involve the youth in this."

"Youth? Don't you know why Tricia and Isabel are here?" Zenne asked Jake.

"Tricia Soccoro?" he asked.

"Yeah." He simply nodded in response. He immediately shared what he knew. He pressed the button under his desk, and all the information automatically appeared.

"What does this mean?" Jake asked, shaking his head.

That's why they met with Jake, because they didn't want him to get hurt either.

"Weren't you suspicious when some young people suddenly went missing during your camping trip two months ago?" Zenne asked him.

It was evident from his expression.

"W--- Wait, are you saying that it's their fault what happened at another school where women went missing?" he asked them.

"You need to accept the truth, Jake. Could you please clarify how you would account for what happened to Jasmin at that time, when she did not return while she was with Thalia? Vince asked him.

"Do you have proof?" he asked them.

"Proof, you say? Ask Gerald about that time. You asked me that time when Jasmin went missing, didn't you? Your school lost students, and they avoided targeting them due to the risk of being easily recognized, so they hunt in other schools."

"Impossible, how could they act like that, with monitoring happening, and they are just in their tent?" He paused in his speech and swallowed hard before continuing.

"Don't tell me they're tracking devices. That time, they were just in their tent every night." 

"Yeah, you're right; to make it seem like they didn't go out, they leave the tracking device behind so they can't be traced." Felix said while nodding.

"Jasmin told me back then," they heard Ericka's voice trembling. "When she came out of the restroom, she was waiting for Thalia and Chesca when she saw the shadow of two women." 

"Jasmin thought someone else was using the restroom and that Thalia and Chesca had left her, but when she got closer to those two shadows, suddenly two men appeared behind her and made her smell a sedative." Ericka commented on what happened.

"Here it is, Jake," Vince said.

"Sometimes, they befriend the victim; usually, the victims they befriend are those women who go home alone. The woman who returns home at night is the target. Occasionally, they stalked them, like what happened to Jasmin before, which is why they got many women, because they couldn't be traced anymore. Jasmin was really lucky because someone helped her". Gerald said.

Jake sighed upon hearing this. He sat down, pondering what his next move would be.

He observed the behavior of Felix's siblings.

"Felix, don't you feel sorry for your siblings who are here? The chaos nearly engulfed them. You have another brother, Felix." He even said that.

"I will leave Greg with Vince, and besides, I'm responsible for why my siblings are here. I told you before, I will do whatever I can to protect them." Felix replied to Jake's question.

"Yeah, whatever, I don't even know what to say anymore; I'm losing it." Jake said.

He tapped Jake. "Don't be; we still have a lot to prepare and discuss. I understand you." Again, he patted him on the shoulder to keep him from losing heart.

The important meetings continued. Examining the other CCTV footage, he smirked, realizing that their enemies had already taken the bait they had prepared.