What do you want?

His right hand stayed up on his head, rubbing on the recent smoothed shaving as he stared at the screen of the laptop. His other hand made light continuous taps on the table of where he was presently seated — the dining room, as he processed the information being revealed on the white screen.

Bright lights shone inside his residence through the light bulbs on the ceiling. Through the windows, the obvious darkness from outside could be seen as it was already some hours close to midnight.

Two days had passed since he had requested that Matthew get information for him via the hacking process with the social security team. Surprisingly, a success was achieved within a short time and at the moment, he was looking at the result of the success.

Naturally, he was meant to feel excited about it but his gut feeling was discerning something out of the ordinary from the result.

The information contained the profile of a man... "...early twenties, around twenty-three or four. Works as a reporter in Tymes Network. Specializes in live reporting," But how did he get the profile of the actual person involved?

Earlier today, Matthew had discreetly shown him the progress he and the team had made at gaining easy access to the IP address of the account owner, going as far as acting smugly when explaining to him.

It was bound for Matthew to act that way, being that the hacking became successful only when he lent a hand to the social security team. That definitely proved his capability. But, was that truly a result of Matthew's handwork?

In his presence, after, Matthew went on to find the computer attached to the IP address and that was when they found a name: Stephen Ryder. They made a quick search on the web and the results of the name appeared, not suddenly, leading to the information he had with him now.

As for the reason he was discerning something out of the ordinary, he tried pinpointing how the reporter was able to relay the reports of John Ruben three times. There was no acquainting relationship with the Rubens from the information he had garnered about the reporter, not even a bit. How then was he able to achieve such feats?

"Is there someone from the inside, someone working with John Ruben, that gave out the information to the reporter?"

That was the only possibility because according to the information he has, the reporter was a low profiled individual due to the low-level position he has in his place of work. Someone was definitely feeding him information... definitely. There was no other way he could lay hands on the details asides that.

His witty mind tried working on some other possibilities and outcomes. "If my analysis is correct, then why would a low leveled reporter be needed to do the job? How also did the reporter manage to conceal his address for a long time? Or is he an undercover agent?"

But the bigger question, which he hadn't even thought of, was: How did the address finally get tracked down?

The management of SBO was due to have the information relayed to them by tomorrow morning and Ryan knew he had to act fast if he needs to achieve his aim of getting in touch with the reporter before the management did. That way, he could get more details on how the reporter got the three reports.

"Lives alone in Downtown Hill, somewhere around the capital city of San Angels. That's like a mile away from here," He lamented before he continued reading out. "In a relationship with his childhood friend, Angelina Bernet..."

This was from more concrete details about the reporter, made possible by Matthew again. But what could he do with it at the moment? How could he possibly get in touch with the reporter without drawing any attention towards himself?

With his left hand, he handled the mouse cursor on the laptop and scrolled down the page a bit. Just underneath, he could see a set of digits. The screen was made enlarged to enable him have a closer look at the digits, staring in a slight daze while contemplating.

The set of digits was actually the private line of the reporter. He mentally noted two options to pull through; one, to give the reporter a call and two, to pay him a visit.

Both options seemed unreasonable but those were the best he could think of. Over pondering had literally caused him to be mentally weak right now so he had to choose from both.

The first option sounded absurd. Wouldn't it sound weird if he just called someone from the blues, stating only God knows what? What would he even say? He definitely couldn't do that. The latter option was the only feat he could make use of.

But, what reason was he going to give for visiting?

"Argh!" He groaned in frustration.

Why can't he just think of something tangible now!?

He hit the power button to turn off the laptop and then stood up from the dining chair. He strolled into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the mini refrigerator, gulping down the whole content of the bottle immediately.

With a sigh, he leaned on the wall next to the refrigerator as he continued with his initial pondering. He was feeling much better at the moment and his brain seemed to be working faster than before and this was the result of the chilled water he consumed.

An idea suddenly popped up in his mind.

He was going to visit the reporter early tomorrow morning with a different motive. But first, he needed to initiate a plan...

.

The next day.

Ryan left home as early as 5 am, knowing fully well where he planned to journey to.

As predicted, he arrived at the reporter's residence in an hour. Right now, as he got out of his car, he was staring at a long brown-blocked apartment building with rows of houses probably numbered over thirty. This area was one of the localized vicinities in Downtown Hill, a street for the under payed.

Now, with this amount of buildings in this one building, how was he going to locate the reporter's residence?

He tucked his glove-covered hand into his pants pocket and picked out his smartphone. Unlocking the screen, he tapped into a menu and opened a document. His eyes looked for anything about the residence but didn't get any info on it.

He sighed. "Guess I have to ask around..."

Going to the nearest building on the low floor, he knocked on the green painted wooden door and waited. Few seconds after, the door slowly opened and a person was revealed, holding on to the door. He had to direct his gaze down as the person was actually much shorter than he was.

It was a little girl, looking all innocent as she casted her hazel eyes at him. She was dressed in a pullover hoodie and a fitted jean pants. Estimated, she was something around five to six years.

"Hello mister," the girl spoke up after a minute of staring, her voice coming out softly.

"Uhm," Ryan scratched on the beanie on his head. "Do you know where I can find Stephen Ryder's place?"

The girl raised her brows slightly. "Are you daddy's friend?"

Da— what? Daddy?

Ryan was confused. Did she just say daddy? He did a quick scan of the girl, eyeing her from head to toe. If he's not mistaken, the girl might actually be referring to the reporter as her father.

'Does this mean the reporter actually has a child? But there was nothing written about such in Matthew's findings,' he mentally noted. 'The reporter is not even married or something, considering his young age and low profession. How possible is this then? Or could it be he got the child out of wedlock?'

He snapped out of it and quickly replied the little girl. "No, I'm just here to see him,"

"Anna, who is at the door?"

From inside, a masculine voice came into hearing and the sound of approaching footsteps neared. A figure eventually popped up from the entrance, standing behind the girl.

Black hair, slim face, reddish brown eyes, trimmed beard, the exact features of the picture he has on the reporter. He glanced back at the little girl and suddenly realized the noticeable semblances between the two.

"Someone's here to see you, daddy." the little girl said.

"How may I help you?" the reporter uttered in a somewhat distant tone as he stared coldly at the man standing in front of his residence.

"I'm Ryan Stones," Ryan said as he held out his hand for a shake.

The reporter arched his brows questioningly, not willing to accept the handshake. "Ryan Stones? Why does your name sound familiar?"

Seeing that the man's countenance wasn't welcoming, Ryan withdrew his stretched hand and pulled out his ID card from his pocket. "It should," he said as he handed over the ID card to the reporter. "I'm the chief editor of Sky Broadcasting Organization,"

The reporter hesitated a little before grabbing the card to take a look at it, his other hand staying firm on his daughter's shoulder. He widened his eyes in surprise as he realized the truth. This was truly the chief editor of the renowned Sky Broadcasting Organization. Immediately, his reaction twitched as he became flustered.

"Sweetheart," the reporter called out to the little girl as he stared at Ryan anxiously. "Go inside. Daddy needs to talk to a friend,"

"Okay daddy," the girl said and went into the house. The reporter made sure to close the door immediately she got in. He kept on staring at Ryan, and this time he looked weary.

"W— What do you want?"

If Ryan needed any confirmation, this was it. He revealed a smile as he looked at the fidgety young reporter.

"I'm here to propose a deal..."