An excuse for evacuation

"It seemed this orphan boy of yours is proving himself beyond expected!" Dragon uttered as he helped his Boss into his coat with a cigar lit to his lips.

"I have been meaning to ask Boss...why did you take him under your wing?

The only response to the Dragon's incessant statements was a smirk on his Boss's lips as he smoked his cigar and puffed its contents on Dragon's face.

Then he moved over to take his seat before he finally opened his mouth to speak, ever since Dragon reported about Jason's accomplishments in planting the prescribed bugs at the Superstar's residence.

"That boy is my last ticket to power, in case all my plans fail in the end. He has no idea about the immense power concerning his true identity and I am simply using it to my advantage..." The Boss stated amusingly.

"It's shocking how he changed drastically after he came to me shivering and scared about his crime... The one he repeatedly begged to be exempted three years ago regarding his attempted murder in the drug overdose case of his girlfriend. He was truely a worthy bet. And what is more amusing was the actual bet I put in place for Tylon Tycoon!!" The Boss concluded with a burst of amused laughter.

Meanwhile, Dragon's face was aghast with horror at the mention of the most Notorious Underworld lord who had the entire Underworld's control within his palm.

Formally, the mere mention of that name called for terror and fear from every underground member.

Tylon Tycoon was like the Boss of all Bosses, and none so far had ever seen his real face or know who he was, except The Big Six...

A highly reputed Big shots including politicians and respectable public figures in the Media who were secretly involved in the filthy dealings of the underground business...The dirty leaders.

But Tycoon suddenly disappeared from existence and the underground world entirely, and it's been ten years now since the rumors circulating within the Underworld reported news about his death.

Until today, everyone including Dragon believed those rumours about Tylon's death since they never heard his movements within the syndicate.

Well, ...until Dragon's Boss suddenly mentioned his name just now, which sent shivers down his spine.

"Ty..Tycoo_Tycoon is alive?!" Dragon was sweating profusely.

He really can't believe why his boss wanted to mess with Tycoon who had everyone else terrified, and how all the underworld lords remained in their shells and knew their limits since Tycoon took over as the most fearless lord of all time and his well-known brutality.

"Oh yes! How do you think I became the Boss of the Underworld at such short notice...I was his replacement! It was an offer from The Big Six, until Tycoon's return." Dragon's mouth was left agape when he realized his Boss had been hiding all this info from him all these years.

He thought he was the most closest and trustworthy to his Boss.

"But how!...Where.. had he been?" Dragon stammered from shock.

"That's a secret I struck with the Big Six, which I can't disclose to anyone...But he surely is alive!" The Boss replied with humor.

Dragon had always been his Boss's trusted right-hand man who helped him escape from their formal country to avoid the FBI, when they were almost caught for their notorious illegal acts, and their cartel was brought down to nothingness.

Since then, he and his Boss had been covering their tracks to prevent any acts of theirs from getting sniffed by this current country's cops, for the past ten years since they both settled here as the ruling syndicate of the underground world.

Over the years, the Boss's business has been booming with different clients and successfully shipping goods to and from the country without the snooping of the cops.

Unfortunately, ever since one of the Boss's most trusted allies leaked his information to cops which he paid with his dear life after getting discovered, things hadn't been going on well.

Therefore, the Boss had that traitor and his family killed for his betrayal, and still the business hadn't been lucrative.

Words spread around about the sudden sniffing of the cops in his dealings so he lost most of his clients, out of fear of getting apprehended along with the Boss in the cops' investigations, simply from mere rumours.

"That Wilby guy had surely cost me a few millions, I thought his death will bring back all the loss but he died for nothing...What a shame though!" The Boss spoke with anger building up within him.

Even after all these years, he was still furious about the guy who ruined everything for him shortly after he took over the reins of the Underworld.

"I have been meaning to ask about why you spared his Kids...I thought you ordered them killed?" Dragon asked as he hand over a glass of wine to his Boss.

"Not until I retrieved all my losses from Wilby's betrayal and what better deal but to regain it from his Kids...And I also had to test that boy...Jason, about his capabilities." The Boss took the wine to sip it, then paused to finish his statement.

"I sent him to befriend and later convince Wilby's son into serving me...for my bigger plan to escape the FBI for good!." The Boss took sips of his wine with a convincing smirk on his face, at his well-laid plots to dump all his crimes on Wilby with the help of his son...Sam Wilby.

Over the years, since the Boss's escape from his formal country and settled in this current place, he had used the Wilby Corporation's for his dirty dealings, until Trent Wilby figured it out from ongoing suspicions and joined him as a spy under the FBI, for a sting operation, so the Boss had to finish him off.

However, the Boss didn't realize Trent Wilby had already leaked all his secret information about his actual identity to the cops.

He had fought all these years to acquire a permanent disguise, away from all suspicions, only to lose it at the expense of Trent Wilby.

Everything was going on well, then suddenly, he had to run from the cops once more...thanks to that Wilby.

Nevertheless, another permanent disguise was what he desperately needed now to avoid blowing his cover, and to save what was left of his business dealings.

That was why he needed to gain control of the CCF foundation and turn it into a permanent base for his illegal transactions.

A trusted and reputable organization like the CCF was what he needed. But it seemed that CEO was still hard-headed in providing the information about the real owners of the organization.

The thorough investigation the Boss had carried out to seek the real owners led him to the White Entertainment Industry's CEO Todd Carter.

However, it was later revealed Todd was only a borrowed name used to hide the real administrators of the foundation.

It turns out Jason's hit on the CEO's son Tom Carter, got Todd talking... and he revealed the Superstar Eric Kurt and his Brother Evans Kurt as the real founders and administrators of the foundation. They built it in memory of their deceased mother... Caroline Kurt, and even name it after her...Caroline Charity Foundation (CCF).

The foundation offers care and attention to orphan kids who lost their parents in childhood just like them.

However, Eric Kurt borrowed the name of his CEO Todd Carter, and disguised him as their foundation's administrator. He even wiped out any lead to his name ever since he accepted to become a Superstar three years ago.

Both Brothers wanted their ownership of the foundation to be anonymous, and the reason for that didn't matter to the Boss now.

All he needed was the rights to the highly reputable foundation to secure and manage his illegal transactions without the snooping of the cops, and if in any case It was found out, he would have a good cover to escape getting involved or reprimanded by the law.

"So you sent Jason with the bugs to get the information you might use to threaten the Superstar into submission and grant you CCF's ownership?" Dragon asked.

"Well, Dragon..There is nothing a Superstar fears more than a tainted reputation and the curse of his once allies called fans, haunting him for an immoral act...What better blackmail than to use his perfect image to our advantage." The Boss responded, sounding intrigued by the plots he placed ahead to damage White Entertainment along with the Superstar, if Todd fails to keep the end of the bargain by transferring the foundation's ownership and allowing him to secure his illegal transactions without any trace.

"What if we don't get anything on him? like you said, 'His perfect image'!" Dragon curiously asked his Boss.

"Fool! The bugs aren't there for nothing...if there is nothing then we have to make something up of course. Everything is already in place. Let Jason handle it while you handle Travis Walker!" The Boss reprimanded.

Dragon vehemently nodded at his Boss's order and moved to continue his twenty-seven surveillance of Travis Walker.

One of the sons of the reputable Walker Multi-billion Empire who had been in a Coma for the past ten years, in the unfaithful incident of his niece's kidnapping case.

Travis was rumored to have awakened from his coma and the Boss wanted to confirm those rumours.

Hence, he placed Dragon to monitor every movement of Travis if it was indeed true that he had woken up, which was kept unknown to the media, and report back to him to the tiniest detail about everything he discovers concerning the matter, an errand Dragon left to obey immediately.

***

Back at Eric's Mansion,

Eric clicked a spoon to his glass to bring an end to his guests' whisperings about their silly assumptions.

The main reason he stood there was to thank all of them for coming on such short notice, then calmly evacuate all of them back to their various homes.

As soon as Eric brought their attention to himself, he finally made the announcement.

"I am sorry guys...But I need to get ready for tonight's party. I hate to say this, but this brings us to an end to this get-together. However, I am inviting all of you to the grand party tonight! It was nice getting acquainted with you all. Let's reconnect tonight! Cheers!!" Eric raised his glass to propose the final toast of the night.

Henry Harper, one of Eric's closest friends and also the private detective who was currently helping Eric to track down on a long-term family grudge, was also present among the guests.

He cheered and whistled when Eric invited all of them to his bigger party tonight. And the rest of the audience followed suit with cheers and applause despite their soiled mood about bringing their brief party to an unexpected halt.

In any case, they were excited to be personally invited by the Superstar himself to his grand party later.

"Cheers!!" The guests responded to Eric's cheers.

Upon hearing the unexpected end to the party, Jason returned his phone back to his pocket after his texts to Dragon and joined the toast.

They all gulped down their drinks and finally prepared to leave.

Within a few minutes, every guest was long gone except for Sophia who was still glued to her seat, as if she never had any plans to move.

It's like she was already at home in Eric's Mansion.

"Sofia...Shouldn't you be off to get ready for tonight's party?" Eric asked when he noticed Sofia wasn't moving from her seat.

"Of course I do...I wanted to stay a little longer." Sofia replied.

She was a little tipsy from all the drinks she consumed so far and worn out from all her giggles from her fun time.

Meanwhile, Eric urged her to leave with the excuse of wanting to get himself prepared for his party.

But Sofia's sudden request was to kindly drop her home, which made Eric pause in his tracks. He was surprised at how she cunningly found a way to continue her clinginess till the last second.

Eric nearly screamed his frustrations aloud, but controlled himself at the last minute.

His earnest hope was to complete the drama they were currently shooting together, so Sophia wouldn't find any excuse to meet him, and he wouldn't be bound to tolerate or entertain her advances any longer.

Nevertheless, Eric agreed to drop her home. But before that, he texted Jeffrey with an SOS message as he escorted Sophia towards the parking lot.

He opened the back door for Sophia to get in. But instead, she hurriedly took the front seat with a smile on her face.

That was when Eric realized Sofia intended to sit next to him since she was assuming he was the one driving her home.

Heroically, Jeff appeared out of nowhere and took the wheels of the car to send her home, to Eric's relief.

Times like these were when Eric loved Jeff for his quick wits. He was able to understand his situation with just an SOS message.

Whereas, Sofia's shocked expression from the turn of events was truly priceless.

There was a fit of anger lurking around her fake smile as Eric intentionally apologized to her to allow Jeff to drop her home instead, to avoid a scandal outbreak from unknown snooping reporters.

Since it could end up creating another huge mess for their highly-rated television series, and all sorts of stress from the Media, a situation they had already been through after their rumored dating in the past.

This second time could prove fatal for them since Eric wouldn't be able to deny it, and Sophia would only continue to pester him going forward.

"See you at the Party...tonight! Bye!" Eric waved at Sophia as her car moved.

Finally! and end to her clinginess.

On their drive home, Sofia screamed her frustrations in the car. She took out all her anger on poor Jeff for not taking a hint about her crush on Eric all this while.

"How could you do this!" Sofia questioned angrily.

"Eric texted me to drive you home because he said he needed to get ready for his party, time was running out. That was why I came. I am so sorry if it upsets you!" Jeff answered to calm Sophia's temper and it worked.

As if realizing her mistake in yelling and getting angry, Sofia calmed herself to make sense of Jeff's explanation.

"I am sorry about that...I thought you were trying to keep me away from Eric. You tried that many times before." Sophia defended her rude reaction a while ago.

"Yes, I did! But that was before. I never wanted Eric to be involved in any scandals, or anything ruining his image. But it's different now! He is now famous worldwide, so I wouldn't mind if he found himself a companion. And a worthy one at that!" Jeff proudly stated.

"So I am not worthy of him? You know I have liked him for like a century." Sofia confessed exaggerating.

"I know...And I would be glad if Eric felt the same way about you, but I keep having my doubts." Jeff explained.

"He will...he surely will! If you help me. So, can I count on you.....please!" This was Sophia's sorrowful plea.

Jeff turned to look at Sofia's pleading eyes, filled with pity. He didn't know how she did it, but before he could think, he found himself nodding in agreement.

What?! did she cast a spell on me or what!.

Anyway, It won't hurt to ship Sophia and Eric together. Eric wasn't interested in anyone at the moment, so it's best if Sofia tried her luck. It's now or never!

Jeff returned Sofia's smile as she happily hugged him in gratitude for accepting to help her get Eric's love.

"Thanks, Jeff!