The little sneak (2)

Noah lowered his voice, he would rather not appear unhinged or even bothered by the fact that Ari was missing in front of his family. Because if he were to show his agitation on his face, his mother would start crying and screaming. Something she had been doing for the past couple of days, Noah knew that his mother was worried about his grandfather. 

Once Old Master Nelson was to find out that Ari has gone missing, he will surely be upset with Noah and the rest of the family. The worst possible outcome was him selling away those shares that were supposed to be handed to Noah. 

And if his sister were to find out, then she would scoff at him and tell Noah that he was being a fool. 

Neither of the two things sounded attractive to Noah. Thus, when he heard the voice of his sister, he suppressed his anger as he was worried about Glynn hearing him. And in case his mother was also with her, then he would have to face another round of waterworks. 

"You can leave and let Glynn know she can come inside," Noah said to Edward, who nodded and turned on his feet. He walked out of the room where he met with Glynn, who was standing outside the office. In her hands, she was clutching a thick stack of papers. 

When Edward saw this, his brows furrowed instinctively. He was sharper than the rest of the people and thus knew that there was something weird about Glynn turning up with a bundle of paper. However, when Edward thought about how Ari had suffered at the hands of this family, he decided to keep his thoughts to himself.

That was right. Even though Edward could have long found Ariana, he deliberately slowed down his pace as he wanted to give Ari the time to escape. 

He still remembered the time when Ari had helped him by taking care of his injuries. 

Two years ago, 

It was raining cats and dogs. With rain pouring down on their heads, Edward and his teammates who were caught by Nicolai's men while trying to get their hands on the De Luca family's secret as per their boss's order, were driving back home after escaping from the De Luca's territory. 

"F*ck that man really shot you, Edward," Josh who was Edward's right-hand man exclaimed when he saw blood flowing down from Edward's forearm. 

Edward sat at the back of the car while trying to collect his bearings. He also knew that he was seriously injured, but with them running for their lives, Edward did not have the opportunity to care about his injuries. He turned his head slightly to his left and saw the wound on his forearm. 

It was bleeding profusely, causing his black shirt to be stained with a dark red liquid. 

"Nicolai De Luca is crazy," Heather said from the passenger's seat, she was staring at Edward with a frown while Josh panicked in the driver's seat. "He didn't even stop to ask for whom we work, he straight up shot you." 

"That's because he is the kind of guy who kills first and then asks questions from the corpse later on!" Josh stated with a terrified expression that was yet to ease up. "I swear to God, I thought that he was going to fill our bodies with bullets." 

The three of them along with the rest of the team were sneaking around the warehouse of the De Lucas. They only needed to get the evidence of their firearms and drug smuggling. However, their plan went down the drain when Nicolai turned up in the warehouse and smiled at them like an unhinged clown, who killed children in his underground bunker. 

"He wouldn't have done that," though Edward's head was dizzy with pain and blood loss, he still felt the need to clear the entire thing to his subordinates. "Nicolai wants Mister Nelson to know the consequences of his actions. Thus he would want us to return alive to relay everything to Mister Nelson." 

Josh, who was covered with panic, eased down a little when he heard Edward's words. 

"Does that mean he is not chasing after us?" Josh questioned as he looked back. When he saw that there were indeed no cars driving behind them apart from their team's, he heaved a sigh of relief. 

"We should still return to the Nelson's mansion first," Heather remarked from the side. "I know that you require immediate medical care, Ed but——"

"But Mister Nelson will be upset if we were to make a quick stop, I know Heather," Edward was well aware of the temper of the man for whom he worked. That man did not even have the slightest bit of pity for the woman who married him, much less him, who was just a subordinate. 

To make matters worse, Edward failed in his task. 

Noah was destined to throw a fit. 

****

"You failed?" Noah questioned as he raised his head from the documents in front of him. His face was filled with more annoyance than sympathy for his subordinates, who seemed like they escaped from death. Especially, Edward, whose arm was bleeding. "Did I not tell you three how important this task was? I had to risk my life to get information on the De Lucas, and you all came back without any evidence regarding their involvement with smuggling?" 

"We apologize," Edward stated with a hoarse voice. 

Noah banged his fist on the table before questioning harshly, "Will an apology bring justice to my grandmother? Get lost! You useless bunch!" 

Though every word that came from Noah's mouth was gruff and rude, neither of the three dared to say anything against him. Edward lowered his head in front of Noah and muttered a quick apology before taking his leave along with his colleagues. 

However, because of the blood loss, his head was throbbing and woozy. 

"You don't seem to be feeling too good, Ed. I think we should go to the hospital," he heard Heather say from somewhere.

Josh chimed up as well, "I will drive." 

"That's——"

That was when Edward lost all his consciousness.