The Glitch

LIA

When Alex left, Lia was left with her thoughts. She couldn't reach Nik, and the leader of the second decade had called her earlier. She only hoped her acting was perfect, and she hadn't spooked Alex.

She couldn't have his suspecting her. She couldn't afford that, not when the plan to trap Ryan and get their justice was forming. She needed everything to be flawless, so she called Nik when she was sure Alex had left.

"Nikolai Orlov, where the fuck are you and why the fuck would the second decade be Carling my direct line and don't you give me shit about not knowing" Lia began, and Nik knew this was not the time to be cracking jokes. She was clearly pissed off about something.

"someone leaked your last name, but I changed it to Jacob. I've been working on it all night…" Nik started but was cut off by Lia.

Her last name was never supposed to be released to anyone. No one was supposed to know because if they did, they would tie her to Jill and the accident, and that was way too soon. That would ruin the plan she had worked on for so many years.

This was not happening. What the fuck was Nik doing while people were unearthing shit about her? Damien had buried that shit under loads of firewalls, and it was supposed to be impossible unless there was a glitch in the database.

Fuck.

"wait a minute…all night? Why the fuck wouldn't you Carl me and tell me about that?"

"because I'm still your second in command, and it's my duty to make sure the problem never reaches you", Nik argued, and Lia knew he was right.

He had always valued his position in Lia's life and always worked toward making her dream come true. He wanted her to get justice for the death of her parents. He wanted her to be okay. Maybe after all this, he was hoping she could have a normal life.

Hopefully.

Nik knew the Ivanovs had shown up in the city, but he didn't want to tell her that. He also knew there was a chance they were the ones behind the leak, but he also didn't want to tell her that. The Ivanovs was a Russian mafia notorious in Russia, and it seemed like they were either interested in Jay's gang or the almanac.

He didn't want to worry her even more. So he kept quiet about it as she ranted his ears off about how he was supposed to take care of himself and that he was the best ad needed to let the system do its job while he took a rest because he was not a robot.

Lia was ranting his ears off, and the more she continued, the more the rant shifted from that of a boss to a subordinate to that of a sister who was worried about her brother. So Nik just sat there listening to her.

At least she was okay, and he didn't have to worry about where he would bury Alex's body in case he caused her any harm. He had already contemplated the James residence, but that would technically be admitting that he saw Alex as family and they were supposed to be enemies.

"Lia…I'm okay, now can we stop worrying about me and think of what we need to do? If they figure this shit out, then the plan is as good as dead. I'll add the others on the Carl so they aren't caught off-guard though Damien will probably kill me before Carl and Jill do. Hey, I'm hoping Jenny will understand."

"Nik, you're rambling. Just add them already. I'm working on borrowed time. I need to go back to my apartment, but I need to plant the cameras and microphones around this house so I can be in the loop all the time," Lia said as Nik added their siblings.

It was not going to be easy explaining this shit, but they were in it together. Upon being told what had happened, the siblings were furious.

"The fuck, you mean there was a fucking glitch in the system? What in the fuck were you doing, Nikolai, when that happened?" Jill asked, and it almost sounded like she was Damien.

On the other hand, Damien was only able to listen to them without giving a response, but the rate at which he was typing in the chatbox was enough to show that he was pissed as hell.

"you all realize that is eight years of work that will be down the drain if that happens, right?"

"of all the fucking times for shit to happen. Of all the times for this to blow up, did it just have to be now when I was busy listening to Ryan and Alex?" Carl complained.

He knew the two friends were up to something, and he knew he had to be there to know everything. So he told his siblings he would be texting just like Damien. That left them with Jenny and Jill.

"that's not supposed to happen. I didn't stay hidden so she could be exposed in this manner. It is just unacceptable," Jenny said as the clutter around her was heard.

She was definitely at work, but she seemed more stressed about this than she was bout the nurses waiting on her. She gestured to the nurses to continue without her since she couldn't concentrate on two things at ago and right now, their sister was more important.

"will you all listen? You're freaking the poor guy out. He said it was a glitch, and he fixed it. Give him a break, and I know he wouldn't let that slip intentionally. You all know that."

Lia said to her siblings, who seemed ready to Nik's hangmen.

These siblings were scary.

"We need a way to ensure the last hack isn't traced to Nik's location. Damien could you intercept it along with any hacks that Ryan and Alex may be trying at the moment, please" she said to her brother, who simply told her she had already blocked all information on her and they just needed to be careful.