She fingered the sealed envelope Lavina had handed her back at the meeting. She had not dared to open it but curiosity was getting the best of her.

The last words she had spoken to the elder woman must have been a blow for her no doubt but that did not get rid of the intrigue she had regarding that envelope. Lavina would not have come in person to give it to her if it wasn't very significant.

Ever since she had asked Calvin Rose about the Gray Son, she had noticed something was off about him. And by keeping watch over him, she had figured out that he was one of Lavina's men, probably ordered by her to stick close to her.

But Calvin had never interrupted any of her decisions so far and had only helped her out exactly as she had wanted him to. Almost as if he was loyal to her rather than Lavina.

And at first, Samantha could not understand why the man was such a paradox but later on, she came to a very noteworthy realization about him.

His only rule was not to let the Gray Son get hurt. And ever since he had been serving Samantha, she had never taken any decision that could directly hurt Richard. That was why he had never interfered with her doings and kept following her each command.

She had started to see that the second she would give him an order to go against the Gray Son, he would retaliate. Even his indifference at discussing that very topic was strongly defiant; a barrier that he kept up so that she wouldn't probe further.

And for any other person, it would have worked effectively. But she had learned to see past facades and could very well see through him by then.

So she had used that hunch regarding Calvin Rose in order to throw Lavina off guard and by seeing her shocked reaction, it had worked.

For a second, Samantha thought as if the game was already over and it wouldn't take long for Lavina Vikander to back off. But in thinking that, she had been wrong because no matter what the circumstances, Lavina never refrained from facing her battles head-on.

"We'll see about that when the time comes," had been her last words to Samantha right before she had left. And ever since then those words were ringing in Samantha's head, driving her to frustration at never being able to defeat her.

Some way or other, she always had the upper hand.

Sighing wearily, Samantha sat down on her chair and placed that envelope on her desk. She prodded it a few times as if expecting something dangerous to erupt from it but nothing happened.

Cautiously she tore off the seal and took out the papers enclosed within.

However, as the contents fell out, her eyes widened in alarm. If what she had suspected them to be was true then Lavina had made such a move on her chessboard that could never be reversed.

"Shit..." She cursed under her breath, eyes skimming over each and every document in alarm, "she's totally lost her mind!"

Standing up immediately, she put all those documents in the envelope in haste and grabbed her bag. She couldn't waste even a second after that because she feared that the worst had been put into action already.

She left her office in a hurry and took her car, leaving the chauffeur behind. Taking her phone, she searched for Lavina's contact and called her but there was no answer.

"Damn it," she slammed the brakes at a red light, visibly agitated at the traffic in front of her, "Bruce... I have got to call Bruce. He might be the only one to stop her madness."

But it turned out that she didn't have his number. And even if she had, he would not have answered her call.

Using the minimum time she had as the red light was yet to turn green, she contacted Wayne Enterprises instead to somehow get a word through to Bruce Wayne.

"I'm sorry, Mister Wayne is out of city," his secretary answered and that seemed to be the last straw for Samantha.

"Is there any way I can contact him? It's urgent."

"I can't do anything else for you, Ma'am. He will be back in a few days, I can keep your number and inform you then..."

She did not wait to hear the rest of her words as she cut the call furiously.

Lavina truly was a master of timing, she had to give her that much. But that perfectly timed planning of hers could probably disintegrate each and everything the Court stood for.

And as Head of the Court, Samantha could not let it reach completion.

***

He couldn't believe his ears when Jason told him about how his day went which did include him mentioning Laurie's new friend and his connection to the one person Richard never wanted to hear from again.

"You're saying that she has a son?"

Jason shook his head, "no. He calls her Aunt Vinnie. Probably a relative, I guess. Or adopted, perhaps. He's a good kid, a bit too shy but harmless... Kinda like Tim in a sense."

The last sentence was spoken in a muted hush as Jason wasn't sure how Richard would react upon hearing that. They did not talk about Tim anymore because it always left them sorrowful. But upon meeting Lucas, that was the first thought that had come to Jason's mind; the boy was a lot like Timothy Drake.

On the other hand, Richard knew of one such person who was connected to Lavina but he wasn't sure whether it was the same boy he had met years ago, "and what's his name again?"

"Lucas Wilson. Laurie calls him Luke."

The words were settling in and he was coming to the realization that Lucas was the same boy he had met back when he had once accompanied Lavina to a rehab center. If that was true, then that Lucas who Laurie and Jason had made friends with was Slade Wilson's son.

There was one question that was still bothering him though.

"And how does Laurie fit into all of this? If Lucas is really in Lavina's care, she would not let just anyone meet him and she would definitely not allow him to go out in public like that."

Jason shrugged, "I hadn't known this earlier but Laurie's grandfather works for her. He is their family butler."

Those words seemed to have pushed him to silence and his icy blue eyes glazed over in a thoughtful expression. If Laurie's grandfather was the Vikander family's butler, there could be no way that he wasn't involved with the Court already.

And whether or not Laurie was a pawn on that vast chessboard was still uncertain but his grandfather must certainly have a very significant part to play.

"Dickie, you're making me worried," Jason remarked, seeing him not respond at all for quite a long time.

He looked up, "do you know how Laurie's father died?"

"No, I never asked."

"I think I know," he stood up, "you better tell Laurie never to go to that Mansion again, understand?"

He was quite confused at the sudden outburst, "hey, are you even going to tell me what happened?"

"No time for that. I have to go," he left his room in a hurry but paused at the gate, turning to face his younger brother who looked rather worried. "Oh and one more thing, don't tell Babs anything about this. Let me handle it first then I'll tell her myself."

"But where exactly are you going? Dickie!"

"Lock the door and don't wait for me at dinner."

And before Jason could stop him, he had left, the door slamming shut behind him. 

Jason had no idea what had just made him react so bad and although he had forbidden him to tell Barbara about it, he hadn't said anything about Helena.

So taking out his phone, he did the only logical thing he could think of at the moment.

He called Helena to tell her everything.

***