Inside an Ice-Cream Parlour, a pair of identical twins with honey-blonde hair and amber eyes sat at a table, sharing a parfait in silence. Their eyes were a little vacant, and it was because their minds were still drifting off to the dreadful event they had just witnessed earlier.
The older of the two, Amira, sneakily glanced at the handsome young man sitting across them, and she found him enjoying his ice cream as he went through his cell phone.
There was no hint of unease, guilt, or sullenness in his expressions. It was as if he felt nothing over killing so many people under the watchful eyes of various witnesses.
At that time, she was very shaken, and she was just grateful for being saved. But now that she recalled everything again, she was a little fearful of the young man whom she had met a few weeks ago when he visited their house to talk to her Grandfather and Father.
Amira knew that her apprehensions were shared by her twin as well, after all, they could always understand what was running in each other's minds. And she knew that the best decision right now was to stay silent and not ask any questions.
However, this sentiment was not shared by the fourth person at the table with them.
"Keith..." Zoey finally could not bear the silence and called out to him.
"Yes?"
"They... you..." She did not know how to phrase her question, but after taking a deep breath and taking a good look around to make sure that no one was listening to them, she looked him into his eyes. "Will there be any problems?"
"No." He simply shook his head and put his phone aside.
"There were so many witnesses, and shops had cameras..."
"The Police can not arrest me." He shook his head. "They don't have the authority. Also, the witnesses will be briefed by the Police to keep the matter to themselves. You won't be questioned." He smiled at her before looking at Amira and Reina, who were both keeping their eyes on their parfait, pretending that they were not listening to their conversation. "And they won't bother the two of you either."
His words caused them both to freeze, and Reina raised her eyes to meet his gaze.
"Did you have to kill them?" She lightly asked and immediately lowered her head after her question.
"Well, a message needed to be sent to the people who tried to kidnap you. But no, there was not really any need to kill them." He told her, and then looked at her twin. "Yes?"
"Won't it hinder the investigation?" Amira frowned and asked.
"No." Keith shook his head. "The Police do not need to know who was behind it. I know who it was, and they will be dealt with outside the law."
"Who was it?" She asked again.
"Some of your Family's old enemies and some new. The very same that were responsible for harming your business and plunging you into crisis."
Keith did not give her a name, but Amira had her guesses and simply nodded her head before continuing to eat her parfait.
"Where did you learn to fight?" Zoey curiously asked after she felt a lot better knowing that there would not be any problems.
"My mother's Shadow. And at a few other places and from several other people." He answered her.
"Where?" She curiously asked.
"Secret." He grinned at her and it made her pout. "Why? Do you want to learn too?"
She was not thinking about it, but now that he brought it up, she felt tempted to learn how to fight.
"You will be teaching me?"
"I can." He nodded his head.
"Okay then!" She brightly smiled and then sipped on her Ice-Cream shake.
"And how will you be paying me for those lessons, dear Zoey?" He playfully asked as he looked into her green eyes.
"What do you want?" She subconsciously asked, but even before he replied to her, her cheeks had started warming up.
"We will talk about it once we start with the lessons." He chuckled and then looked at the twins again, who had just finished eating. "Do you want more?"
"No," Amira spoke, but both shook their heads at the same time in the same way.
It was quite fascinating how they behaved so identically. Yes, they were twins, but their bond seemed a little special.
"What were those bouquets for?" Keith curiously asked, and smiled as he saw their eyes widen in realisation.
"Oh no..." Reina seemed a little depressed now.
"Our English Professor is leaving for Japan in a few days. She is settling there with her husband, and it was her last day at school."
"But now she should be heading back to her parent's place in Welritch City, and we did not even wish her well for her future." Reina continued after her sister stopped talking.
"You seem very fond of her." Zoey smiled and asked.
"She's a nice person and was our homeroom teacher in Middle-School too," Reina informed her. "We are her favourite students!" She happily said, and her smile made both Keith and Zoey smile too.
"She will be staying in Welritch for the next few days?" Keith asked.
"Yes." Amira nodded to him and curiously watched him pick up his phone.
"What's her name?"
"Gwendolyn Reeves," Reina replied to him.
The girls curiously watched Keith send someone a message, and half a minute later, he received a reply.
"Gwendolyn Reeves, daughter of Pierce Norman and Samantha Norman." He smiled. "Her parents live at Atlas Street, Hill Town, Welritch. I have their address now."
"Really?!" Reina surprisedly asked.
"Yes. Do you want to go see her there today?" He smiled at her. "It is only an hour-long drive."
"Wouldn't we be intruding..." Amira showed some reluctance.
"Maybe." Zoey shrugged. "But since you are her favourite students, I think she would be happy to see you come over just to wish her well for the future."
"We can pick up a gift and a bouquet on the way," Keith suggested, and the Twins nodded their heads in unison.
"I will inform Father that we will be late tonight." Reina immediately got up and excused herself.
She returned a minute later with all smiles.
And then the four of them left together to head toward Welritch City.
On their way, the girls happily chatted with each other, and then they excitedly screamed when Keith picked up speed after they stepped on the highway.
The adrenaline rush made them forget about everything else, and they just enjoyed the moment as they experienced the true thrill of fast cars for the first time in their lives.
It was Friday evening, and tonight, there was supposed to be a racing event organised by Zoey and Javier's friends. However, in light of the afternoon's events, the news of which had travelled to all the Major Families in the city, the event was postponed since Keith and Zoey were not going to attend it.
The two of them did not really care about it, but a certain someone, who was currently lying in a hospital bed with drowsy eyes was glad that the event had been postponed.
After all, he had been shot in his right shoulder, and though it was not serious, it would have hindered his driving skills had the race been held tonight.
No one had invited him to it, but it was an event that Mathew did not want to miss. It was another opportunity for him to display his skills and impress his targets.
Just as he was about to close his eyes to get some rest, the door of his ward opened and in walked a couple of Police Officers.
"We are glad that you are awake, Mr Frost." One of them immediately spoke, catching his attention.
"Yes?" Mathew frowned and asked.
"We would like to talk to you about today's incident." The middle-aged man with a well-kept moustache smiled at him.
"I thought my men answered your queries."
"They did. But we would like to talk to you too." The bald officer politely smiled.
"Please sit." Mathew nodded them.
"We are fine." The man with the moustache shook his head. "Mr. Frost, my name is Hector, and I am a senior Officer at the Downtown Police Station. Kindly tell me what happened today at Flower Street."
For the next few minutes, Mathew gave his account, and after he was done, the bald officer smiled at him.
"Thank you for your report, Mr. Frost. Your account of events almost align with the evidence we have found." He informed him. "And as we have briefed the rest of the witnesses, we would like to ask you to keep the incident to yourself since it involves a very sensitive and high-profile person. You are requested to not speak about this matter to anyone." He meaningfully said.
"The official report will not include Mr. Demiliore's name, and it will be reported in the media by the Mystich Police department that a soldier, whose identity can not be revealed, happened to be present at the time of the incident and saved the girls of the Goldsmith Family from an assassination attempt," Hector informed Mathew.
"It was a kidnapping attempt."
"It was an assassination attempt, Mr. Frost. That's what our investigation has found and the evidence suggests." The blad man seriously said, and Mathew finally understood that strings had already been pulled.
"Please be mindful of what you speak about this incident in the future." The man with the moustache said with a smile.
"I understand." He lightly smiled and nodded. "I will not say anything that contradicts the official report."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Frost. Get well soon!" Hector smiled at him and then left the ward with his partner.
As soon as the two officers left the ward, Mathew narrowed his eyes. He had already given the order to circulate the footage on social media and asked his men to take every precaution so that it could not be traced back to them.
It was already too late now to stop his men, and he just hoped that things would turn out as planned and he would be able to watch a fun show from the sidelines.