Chapter 65

"How did you find us here?"

"Well, you have known me since school. I've been good at sniffing out hiding places, Im like a trained dog on a leash."

Thats quite a term to use, Marcus thought.

Rogan had this smile when he smiled understandingly, much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance that you may come across four or five times in life.

It faced –or seemed to face– the eternal world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. He was commonplace in complexion, features, manners, and voice. He was tall and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe.

"So, will you tell us how you found it?" Angela crossed her arms.

With his long shoulder length curly hair, Rogan walked over to the fridge. Opening it, "your brother dropped me."

"Jack, we are looking for him. He went missing."

"He's not missing. He was over by my place."

"Over by your place? Where is he now, and why didn't he say anything?"

"He should be here any minute." Rogan bite into the green apple he was holding, "I've always liked them sweet."

Angela faintly smiled. Rogan and Jack were close friends, and they met shortly after they moved into the new neighborhood; at the age of twelve, they lost contact with eachother but always kept in contact once in a while. When Rogan heard about what had happened to Jack's mom, he flew down from China. He had started a new life in China after playing online poker at sixteen. He had a twin sister Jessica, who could pass for Angela's twin. At age eighteen, Rogan and Jessica learned they had a wealthy uncle; he was staying in China. He owned most businesses there and was well respected soon after Jessica moved there to stay with Rogan after her mother had run off with another man and their dad had died in Iraq. Their uncle made contact with them, was aware of their situation, and learned they were in China. Soon Rogan got a Nickname bullet after running most of the family's business. They called him bullet because when people owed them money, there was no dodging Rogan.

Jessica and Jack had a close friendship; they kept in contact secretively through the post, not to be traced. Jessica ran the shanghai restaurant, which was popular in the underworld. Jessica and Rogan were brilliant and knew someday their uncle's businesses would seize because of how he ran things. Even though Rogan had warned him that people were lying to him, he never believed Rogan. Uncle Joe, who became uncle Jhoa, loved the twins like his own, but he had his ways of doing business.

Three years had passed, and the twins were telling the truth. His uncle Jhoa who returned to being uncle Joe dried his tears with bottles of cheap alcohol. Shanghai had a new owner, and the people who uncle Joe owed were now after family blood as a repayment of the debt. His uncle was caught and beaten to death most unimaginably. Rogan and Jessica made a narrow escape when moving to hong kong and hitting the Jackpot, repaying all the debt his uncle had owed. Courtesy of the dark lord, Mr. Wong had spared their lives and allowed them to stay. Mr. Wong had insisted that the twins take over the business, and he would entrust him with their soldiers and the underworld warlords. No one can ever touch them for as long as his surname lives.

People had feared Bullet, but soon, the twins were under Mr. Wong's protection. They never understood why Mr. Wong had done this nor approved of it. After paying the half-billion-dollar debt, Mr. Wong had respect for them.

The twins turned Mr. Wong's millions into billions. Mr. Wong had never seen this much cash, and the more they made, the more greedy he became. Little did he know he was chewing more than he could. The billions he owned were nothing but paper and ink, and the money he saw in his account was nothing but edited statements. He was signing away his money whenever he signed, too fat to stand up and move around. Mr. Wong spent his days running up a credit card that belonged to a higher under lord, who never picked up the transactions until he could no longer use the card because the thirty billion CAD limit had been reached.

The under lord kills first and asks questions later. That was his biggest mistake when killing Mr. Wong. He killed the obese man by the jacuzzi, in a gold and black rope barely covering his belly. With a cigar in his mouth, Rogan and Jessica had pocketed billions by then. They had moved from Hong kong to Europe, where they lay low till the dust settled. When Rogan heard Jack and Angela were in trouble, he and Jessica took the next flight out.

"Hey, there you guys are," it was Jack and Jessica.

Nicole had never met Jessica. Angela had spoken about her a few times, and she never took much note. Jessica was this confident, beautiful woman. She had this appearance of sophistication, wearing tight blue jeans with a red blazer jacket and red woolie cap; her lips were painted red she looked like she had just gotten out of a magazine photo shoot.

Given everything they heard of the twins, Rogan seemed friendly and down to earth, and Jessica had this confident appearance that could make anyone feel small beside her.

Angela walked up to her brother and hugged him, "damn, dude, I thought you died. I wish you had told us you were safe."

"I tried but had no way of telling you. I had to make sure the coast was clear before coming here, and thanks to Rogan and Jessica, they called me and let me know they were in town and came to get me."

"What about the cell they kept us locked up in?"

Jessica's eyes grew big, "they kept you locked up in the cell? Those fuckers, who did this to you, Jack?"

Jessica walked over to Jack, leaned in, and stared him in the eyes for a few seconds. It was like light striking a piece of metal that sparked that connection and shock as both their hearts raced. Angela cleared her throat.

Jack broke eye contact and smiled, "well, we have four rooms here. My sister and Nicole are sharing one. Jessica, you have your own room, Rogan and I will share a room, and Marcus has his own room."

"Actually, man, as much as I would love to share, I snore loudly. I will stay in the lounge."

Angela glanced at Rogan, his voice grew thicker, and his hair grew longer, she looked down, and he was wearing brown boots, shoelaces untied.

"Are you sure? You guys are all guests. We can improvise and give you room for yourself. Marcus and Nicole could share a room, or Marcus and Jack can share a room?"

Roman pulled out a knife and threw it into the wood next to the refrigerator, "got you, asshole."

He just killed a mosquito with a knife. Who would have thought that's even possible?

Angela was impressed, "Jack, would you mind me moving my stuff to the room?"

"I will do it. I am sure Jack must be tired, right brother." Marcus patted his shoulder, "don't we have a true gentleman here," Jessica grinned.

"Yeah, Marcus gentleman, never his just impressing you." Nicole Joked.

Jessica turned to Nicole, "if I remember, you guys are siblings, right?"

Nicole smiled, "yes, we are, and Jack and I."

"Let's get settled," Angela said, cutting her off.

Angela knew what Nicole was about to say, and their last need was jealousy. Jessica frowned at Nicole, walking up to her, "are you okay? You seem tense."

Nicole straightened her, "yes, I am fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just asking."

Jessica followed Angela to her room while Nicole stopped with her arms folded, then looked over at her brother, who was staring at Jessica from behind. Her perfectly talked, curved body made anyone seem underdressed around her. "You guys are such idiots."

Marcus ignored her and walked over to Jack, "does she have a boyfriend?" He spilled out without thinking. Jack lowered his right eyebrow, "why not ask her how would I know this stuff?"

Nicole walked over to Jack, "till when are they here?"

"That's a question I would not ask them."

"Why is that?"

"Because they just got here."

"I can ask." Nicole volunteered, "No need. They can stay for as long as they wish to."

Roman had settled in his room, opened his Macbook pro, and started programming into various systems. Within minutes he could identify who Jack was and what had happened to Nicole. He was surprised to see that Jack's net worth was as much as his, but some files were encrypted, like the database for Jack's parents had been deleted, and also who in particular of the 2500 men was Jack's, right-hand man. It goes without saying, "Always keep your enemies closer."