99 You underestimate me

A few minutes earlier:

"Did you find him?" Adriana asked, walking up the stairs.

She had arrived home and was about to check up on her children to see if they were still sleeping, but Caroline's call interrupted her.

Caroline closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, "Nothing. He's gone."

She heard silence from the other end of the call.

Adriana walked up the stairs to check up on her kids and shook her head. Disappointment filled her face.

This was the first time Caroline and her team in New York failed her. All the time before this one, they were perfect with their mission and results.

How could she not be?

Especially when it includes her identity and all her details!

"What did you get from him?" She asked, her voice void of any emotion.

Caroline exhaled nervously, and she walked up to a notepad on the fridge. "We have cell phone numbers, but none important. Weston Roman, no friends, no family, an orphan. Though it might be a fake identity, he's extremely clean. Mediocre grades throughout kinder to university."

"He lives off designing logos for companies and stuff. He's clean.. too clean." Caroline explained.

"So basically, you let him slip right through your fingers and you got absolutely nothing useless from him?" Adriana asked.

"..." Caroline glanced around at her team, which was completely quiet.

They too were nervous and stiff.

She swallowed, "I have a number, but it's from his neighbor. We're not sure if it's reliable."

"Have them searched the area. Maintain secrecy at all costs and don't let anyone get suspicious. Preferably, act as civilians. He couldn't have gotten too far. I want you to check police records, maintain eyes on the bridges, anyone that goes in and out of the country. The usual procedure." Adriana told her.

She sighed and said, "Send me the number."

Caroline nodded firmly, and after the call, she sent Adriana a message with the number.

As soon as she received it, Adriana walked down the stairs and entered her study room.

Taking a seat, she dialed the number as she logged into her computer and prepared herself to track it.

"H-hello?" She heard a deep voice respond to her call.

Her slender fingers danced through the keyboard of her computer as the tracking started. All she needed to do was a stall.

But obviously, this hacker would not be easy to track, and so she had a better idea. She would not track his current location but leave a trace of herself in his phone. From then on, she could know an accurate estimate of his location.

Before she captured him, it would be better if she knew how he works and why he's investigating her.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to speak to you, Weston Roman."

"I'm sorry, who is this? Do I know you?" He responded, playing dumb.

Adriana snorted, pulling out his information in a different tab as her program did its job.

She poured herself a drink and put the phone down on the desk and on speaker.

"We don't know each other personally, but I think we know about each other. For example, that you're in a cafe... or maybe a restaurant eating your stress away. Or am I wrong?" She asked as her eyes read all the words in the report she pulled up.

He could hide from anyone in the world, even Caroline, who shouldn't be underestimated. Unfortunately, that did not apply to Adriana.

She could find anything about anyone in seconds, and that's what she had done.

She passed through all of his records as Weston and found connections that led to his real identity.

Meanwhile, Weston reluctantly continued the conversation under Noah's pressure.

He took a deep breath in and got his act together, just like Noah instructed.

With a chuckle, he said, "And you, Miss Price? Tracking my number, drinking, as you try to pull up all my information. Where? In your little fortress in Paris?"

Adriana paused, and her lips curled upwards.

"Strawberry banana smoothie, 3 burgers, hmm what else waffles? Bacon egg and cheese sandwich as you try to act like everything is under your control?" Adriana countered.

Looked at all the food on his table, Weston gulped.

"Weston... or would you prefer Dylan?" She added.

Weston stood up from his chair, sending Noah daggers.

This was too dangerous!

Noah only laughed inwardly and signaled him to continue.

This side of Adriana was extremely alluring.

It seems a certain little kitten had sharpened and poisoned her claws.

The more she and Weston 'argued' the more he would learn about who she's become, and how much she knows.

"I didn't think someone as smart as you would have all your fake identities share something in common. For example, sending monthly donations to the same patient in California's number one hospital UCLA Medical Center." Adriana continued to expose him.

Weston gritted his teeth and sat back down.

"T-this is a misunderstanding."

"Is it? Would you care to explain yourself? Why did you suddenly feel the need to retrieve my information? Or are you still sour about our previous encounter?" Adriana asked and stopped typing on her computer when she noticed his signature moves during hacking.

The way he did things was way too similar to her.

Noah's eyes snapped to Weston, asking him to explain.

Watson picked up his laptop and quickly typed something in it.

[A few years ago I tried hacking the Intelligence agency so I could find out when they would capture a Mafia boss that had me hostage. I failed because of her.]

Noah nodded his head.

So Weston was so afraid because of that. He almost lost his life. He had mentioned how he was almost captured along with that Mafia boss.

Suddenly things made sense.

Adriana was working for the government. Capturing criminals for their protection. And it seems she had excelled at the job, giving her special treatment.

This was a theory, but Noah hoped to prove it wrong or right soon enough.

"I never meant to target you. As I mentioned, this is a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to touch your information, I destroyed everything I found out and will reveal nothing. As long as you promise to leave me alone, I won't speak."

"Are you trying to bargain with me? Am I supposed to trust your words?"

"You have to." Weston insisted. "Or your little fortress won't be as protected as it is. Your security system will fail in 20 seconds, and the technology on the wall surrounding the perimeter will send a signal to the people who are looking for you. It's your choice."

Adriana was quiet, but she pulled up the reports of the security system around her villa.

She then looked at Ralf's text message with a frown.

"Right… except I'm not in my 'fortress' at the moment. And I have nothing valuable inside it. So do as you please, but know the people after you and your mother will receive an email in three two on—"

"Wait!" Weston clenched his fists. A copy of the email landed in his inbox, and he immediately stopped one of his programs, which were designed to decode any kind of security system, including Adriana's.

Noah frowned and remained quiet.

[Ask her what she wants.] He typed and Weston nodded.

"What do you want?"

"Run," Adriana uttered.

Weston furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

As he did this, he countered Adriana's plan to leave a trace of her program on his phone. He was as fast as he could and put a stop to it.

He sighed in relief when he was in the clear.

"Run, but I will find you. So, tell the person to your right, or maybe that person is on your left and maybe in front of you. I don't care, tell them I will find them." She then hung up.

Having read his every action, the tone of his voice, and the background noise, she had figured he was not alone. And by how rehearsed his words sounded, someone was telling him what to say.

Weston was a hacker, not a negotiator, not a businessman. Whatever he did, he did it behind a screen and that was both his strength and weakness.

A conversation with someone as smart as Adriana could reveal a lot of things from him.

.....

"This... this ends now. I will never help you out again!" Weston declared and started packing his laptop.

"Sit down," Noah ordered. The calmness remained in him.

"She won't find me or you. I'm sure of it."

"What makes you so confident?" Weston asked, he was still not sure if he could trust in Noah's words after this.

"Because out of all people, she won't think it's me. Remember when I told you to check up on Joshua?"

Weston nodded.

"She had him under her, reporting everything I asked him to find regarding her. So, she thinks I'm receiving information from Joshua. And so, she can't possibly connect us both." Noah explained.

When Adriana arrived back in New York, he could already tell something was up.

A few hours before he had seen her meet up with Kimberly, he had received news from Weston that Joshua was reporting information to someone else.

It was too coincidental that all of what he reported had to do with her.

And so Noah had been playing Joshua and having Adriana believe his investigations would lead nowhere.

"I will continue. I have enough to investigate more, but I need your protection and your resources." Weston proposed.

"Of course." Noah nodded.

'You underestimate me, love.'