"They broke the wrong parts of me.

They broke my wings

and forgot I had claws."

C H A P T E R 3 1

L U C I A N A

"How did it go?" Alex asked.

I plopped myself down on the couch next to him and leaned against him. He responded by throwing his arm around me and pulling me closer. 

"It went okay, I guess. It took me a while to settle on a topic on which I could manipulate him, but the one I decided on worked just fine, Aria can stay." I answered.

"That's really amazing, being able to manipulate the head of IAO like that. I can imagine the number of advantages you must have, being Marcello's favorite and all." he whined.

I slapped him on the chest and rolled my eyes at him. "Being his favorite also means that I have to be ready for a mission at any given time, even in the middle of the night, because his first choice would be me. Would you be ready to sacrifice your sleep like that?"

He had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well, when you put it that way..." he trailed off.

A smile made it's way onto my face. Spending time with Alex was the highlight of any day that I was with him. His playful and childish attitude never ceased to amaze me.

I was pulled out of my train of thought by my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and realize that it was a message from Miranda. 

Get here ASAP. Ben's gone.

I reply within an instant, I'm on my way.

"Who is it?" Alex frowned.

I passed the phone to him so that he could see for himself. His eyes slid over the screen and his expression hardened. He got off the couch and put on a jacket. I walked out of his room and wait for him outside. 

Once he was out, we started on the path we had become so familiar with in the past few weeks.

The way out of IAO.

~~~~~~~~

"What happened here?" I asked Miranda as I pressed a wet cloth over the cut on her forehead.

She winced when I put pressure over the tender cut. "I know you don't trust me completely yet but I told you everything I know. It was mid-night, a few people broke in, knocked me out and took Ben. I called you soon after I regained my consciousness."

"And you didn't get a good look on anyone?" Alex asked.

Miranda shrugged. "They were wearing masks."

I took a seat opposite to her. "You're an assassin, you know how to defend yourself. Even if it was five opponents against one assassin, I'm pretty sure the assassin would hold their ground. You even had a gun, why did you make it easy for them to take on you?"

She didn't meet my eyes. I continued. "Miranda, I gave you a second chance. Even after everyone told me not to, I did. Tell me why you chose to let it go to waste."

Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "I swear I didn't mean to, Luce. It's just that, I-I-I can't shoot a gun. It takes me a while to get used to the feeling of holding a gun and make up my mind to shoot someone. I wasn't a field agent at IAO. I worked with the tech department. I only know the basics of shooting and I'm not really good at that either." 

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to yell at her. "Did you not feel like this was important enough to be mentioned earlier?"

"I-It was but I was afraid that you wouldn't let me be stay here if I'd told you that." she said, biting her lip.

I slammed my hand on the coffee table. "Damn right, you had to be afraid of that! If I'd have known, you wouldn't be sitting here right now, you'd be tied up like Ben! But thanks to you we lost Ben!"

Alex puts a hand on my shoulder. "Luce, what's done is done. Let's figure out what to do next, alright?" he asked wearily, not wanting to aggravate me further.

I took a deep breath and nod slowly. No point in wasting time taking my anger out on Miranda.

What to do now?

I thought about how Ben wasn't a professional stalker. Whoever wanted me followed was planning something big, but didn't want us to know exactly how much power he or she has. That was why they decided to send one of their lackeys aka Ben. They wanted to test and see if I could take on him and try to judge how many people would they need to put me down.

"We have to look through the entire house. This incident confirms one thing. Ben was not just an ordinary stalker and him following me that day was not a coincidence. This whole thing was planned so whoever took him must have left a message." I mused out loud.

Alex nodded at this. "But if they did leave a message then won't it be obvious? Like a freaking welcome banner in front of the house?"

I shook my head. "No, I feel like the person we're dealing with is a professional. And you know professionals, they like to be subtle and they like to drag it out. I feel certain about it because they waited for so long before taking Ben back. Why wait so long when you could get it over with whenever you wanted? It's not like we had top security here or anything."

Alex let out a low whistle. "I hadn't thought of that. Alright, I get your point."

"Shall we get started then? I want to finish this and get back to IAO so that we can tell Nate and Amber." I said, getting to my feet.

Alex began to head towards the kitchen and Miranda got up as well.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Who said you had to do anything? You are going to sit here while Alex and I comb though the house. I prefer not to work with people who lie about important stuff."

She didn't question me and got back to her previous position.

I walked around and head to my old bedroom, deciding to start looking there. 

After looking through the entire house and ending up with nothing, Alex and I flopped down on the couch. 

"Maybe I went a tad bit too far with my theory . . ." I sighed.

"No shit." Alex grumbled.

"I'm feeling thirsty, I'm gonna get something to drink. You want anything?" I asked Alex.

"A soda would be nice."

I nodded and made my way to the fridge. Placing a hand on the handle, I pulled the refrigerator door open. As I put my hand in to pull out two soda bottles, I saw an envelope with my name written across it in cursive. I was a hundred percent sure this wasn't here before.

A smirk formed on my face. "Hey Alex? Maybe I should stop doubting my theories."

"Why?" he asked, entering the kitchen.

I held up the envelope for him to see.

His eyes narrowed at it. "What does it say?"

I opened it, pulling out a sheet of paper from inside, I read it.

Miss me?

I'm pretty sure we will be meeting very soon Luciana. I personally can't wait.

I'm sorry if taking Ben might have inconvenienced you, but I needed my errand boy back ; )

How's the arm? I see that you and your little friend have recovered from my gift.

Remember that truck? The one that smashed the driver's side of your precious car?

Surprise, surprise, that was from me!

I'll be sending out a few more presents your way, so be on the lookout.

With love,

Your old friend.

~~~~~~~~

I'm back on my regular schedule!!

That's awesome right?

I mean it is for me....

I know you guys are mad at me right now but I'm going to make it up to you :)

Expect a few twists in the following chapters!!

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