17 Solutions by Carl

ALEX

While there was a literal fire in the James household, Alex wanted to know why Ryan had Called him and what he had on Amelia. Carl was just seated there, bored and recording the conversation on the private messaging group that Damien had created.

At least this time, no one was interested in unlocking his phone. He couldn't have an incident similar to what had happened with Jill during Dylan's burial. He missed his brother, though.

"what do you have on my baby," Alex asked as Carl internally cringed. He was never going to get used to Alex babying Lia.

Of course, he would do the same, but he was doing it with too much affection. Carl didn't even know why he was complaining to himself, but at that moment, his jealousy and internal whines felt appropriate.

"something popped up on my system today. Her name is Amelia j. I don't know what the j stands for, but someone messed with the name way too many times. They literally processed all the names that start with J, and it was a long list.

The fucken thing jumbles up every few seconds, so it's hard to know what the j in her name means. It's just so suspicious for a woman so harmless like her." Ryan said, and Carl wanted to scoff.

He knew his baby sister was the devil reincarnate when she wanted to be, but he wouldn't do that. To make sure they didn't suspect him, he summoned his Spanish accent and joined the conversation.

"Dios Mio, she is way too harmless. She has gone through so much. Maybe the person who did that wanted to mess with Alex. Remember, the bombs were planted on both your sister and girlfriend to send you a message.

Maybe they want to create a rift between the two of you. But if she's hiding anything, we can find it our anyways. She's just your former secretary, and she looked way too scared when everything happened.

This shit just doesn't add up. Someone is truly messing with you." Carl said in his most convincing voice, hoping that they believed him. Of course, they had no reason to distrust him. After all, they had been friends for a while now.

"I agree with Carlito. Lia doesn't seem like the type of girl to hide anything. We did a background search on her, remember? And we came up empty because she literally didn't exist." Ryan said, and that got Carl's attention.

"what do you mean didn't exist? Isn't she over eighteen? She should be in the system," he asked Alex, who didn't hesitate to tell him that she was an orphan who didn't have anyone. However, Carl wasn't convinced, not yet.

"but Alexander, dint you say you first met her in one of the weirdest circumstances?"

"yeah"

"what if she's a spy?" Carl needed to explore their reasoning; this was the only way for him to know what they thought of his sister.

This would also give him and his siblings the upper hand considering they rarely hung out with Jill. But Jill could maximize her friendship with Lexi, and Jenny would probably be forced to talk to Mia, though that was not advisable at the moment.

"she can't be. If she was, she couldn't have played dead with me or even taken me to her grandparents' home in Russia. It is just impossible. Though I heard her on a call today, and she sounded furious.

She literally threatened someone over the phone, and I quote, "the distance between your head and your shoulders will be reduced real quick." I'm just confused. Maybe I was overthinking because when I got in the room, she was fast asleep," Alex said as Ryan and Carl just looked at him like he was crazy.

"you know how crazy that sounds, right? The girl can't even harm a fly, and now you're saying she will decapitate someone? Damn. What were you on because I really need such strong drinks for my mind, bro" Ryan laughed as Carl joined in teasing Alex.

Deep inside, he knew that was a close call. That could also explain why Lia wanted to murder Nik in the Carl. There was literally no room for mistakes in their lives, and they couldn't afford it right now.

"Hey Alex, how about you ask her what her last name is. That will help you know. Remember you said she has never told you her last name, so just ask her, and we shall see if she lies or she tells the truth. This is the first step to knowing if she is a spy or not," Carl suggested.

This was to prove to them that his sister wasn't really dangerous even when she truly threatened them.

He would do anything to make sure they didn't suspect his sister. Meanwhile, he was silently hoping Lia had finished bugging the house because it seemed like Alex was done and ready to go on a mini-mission of axing Lia what her last name was.

On the other side of the world they shared, the girl in question was already psychologically prepared.

All she needed to top all of this was just a nice sob story of how she didn't know what her last name really was and how she had chosen Jacob because it sounded more divine and closer to the God she worshipped.

This was going to be fun, but keeping Lia safe was a priority no matter what happened. Damien had insisted that they would pull her out of the darn house if they had to because his sister was not getting trapped anywhere again.

He was not going to let her go through the same shit, and that was something they all agreed on. Hopefully, this mission would be done fast so they could focus on more important issues.

Carl had also heard of the Ivanovs just like Nik, but he wasn't about to risk his family's safety, not until he knew what these people wanted and why they were in town. One thing was sure, though, wherever the Ivanovs went, there was either bloodshed or war.