CHAPTER 1
Re-Introduction.
/ - Elliot POV - /
It's not as if I need to be here. Why am I wasting my time? Why didn't I get a top up from Shayla? Was this a mistake? No, I never make mistakes. There has to be something important. What was it? Why can't I remember?
Elliot blinked. Someone was saying something to him, but his thoughts were running much too savagely through his mind for him to focus. Someone waved a hand in front of his face. Was that Angela? Ollie? Oh yes, the conversation they had just had.
A couple more blinks, combined with sheer willpower, snapped him out of his reverie. His attention then zoomed in on a group of suits sauntering into the office. He skimmed through their faces, placing a name to all of them and mentally recalling all their individual flaws he had found when hacking through their accounts. They were all powerful in some way or another, and they all abused their influence.
Disgusting.
Hang on.
An odd figure captured his attention and Elliot felt his brow wrinkle in confusion. He forced his face to smooth out, lowering his head to avoid being noticed. It didn't help much but he felt safer.
There was a female in the group. She was dressed in a suit and stood just a little below the other men in terms of height. That was why he hadn't noticed her initially, she blended in so well with the group.
Why is there a girl with a bunch of suits?
Zooming in on her name badge, Elliot made a mental note to look her up. If she was here with the big-shots, she had to be important in some way. It would have been more inconspicuous if he had continued to work as Gideon led the group through the different units, but Elliot found his mind racing and his fingers frozen. The sound of voices increased as the suits moved closer to Elliot's unit, and he finally forced his fingers to move, typing slowly.
When the young man stopped behind his seat, Elliot started to panic. It was all he could do not to hyperventilate in his seat, so unsettled was his mind. As the executive spoke, somewhat arrogantly, Elliot focused in on his hair and eyebrows.
Over-grooming... This one seems like a psychopath.
"Sir. If you could stay with the group." A stern female voice jutted into both Elliot's thoughts and Tyrell's words. Or at least Elliot thought his name was Tyrell.
"Ah, yes of course. I'll be right with you Gwen. Bon Soir, Elliot," the executive said, turning swiftly on his heels and striding past the woman. Gwen met Elliot's eyes briefly and he thought he saw them soften slightly before she too turned away.
Do I know her from somewhere?
For the rest of the day, he struggled to stay focused on his mundane duties. A voice in the back of his head urged him to hurry home and delve into Gwen's background, exposing her secrets. He hated not knowing and there was a lot about Gwen that he didn't know. Why had she looked at him so familiarly? What was a girl doing with a group of suits?
/ - Gwen POV - /
Gwen tapped her gloved fingers impatiently against the steering wheel. Tyrell was taking his merry time, bidding Gideon farewell and laying down foundations of false promises and a sense of security. She wasn't an idiot. She knew he planned to take all E-corp's security systems inside. There was no use for an external source of protection, in fact, it seemed a whole lot less safe having an odd factor between the company and their security.
The door to the car clicked open and the executive slid onto the leather seats. He ran a hand slowly through his smooth hair and eyed Gwen through the mirror. His eyes seemed to pierce hers and she gripped the steering wheel tightly, forcing herself to keep the eye-contact.
It seemed as if it were an eternity before he broke off their visual exchange and glanced out the window. "Drive. I need to get home."
Gwen rolled up her side window and started the car. She hated his bluntness and knew he reveled in treating her like a slave. And perhaps it was true to an extent. Her being a slave, that is. She was like a dog on a leash, following her master who held a wad of cash in front of her nose. She needed the money and this job paid well for someone of her economic status. This dog would continue to sniff out its bone, fully aware of the collar around its neck.
As she drove past the street leading into Chinatown, her mind slipped back to Elliot, at the office. It seemed that what Darlene had told her was true. He hadn't shown any sign of recognizing her, and so she had to keep her promise. She wouldn't force anything out of him, even if it meant pretending.
After all, she was good at pretending.
/ - ? POV - /
"What's the status report?"
"All is fine, no sign of her figuring anything out, sir." The man blew out a cloud of smoke as he took the cigarette from his lips. He was perched on a seat on his balcony, viewing the people walk along the road below him. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, casting a dull white light on everything. He found that he preferred this atmosphere to a sunny day. The sun was so intrusive, he felt. Always forcing everything to seem so happy. Sometimes people just wanted to be sad.
"Good. Stay hidden for now. I will contact you with your next assignment."
"Okay." Snapping the cell phone shut, he leaned back in his chair. Closing his eyes, the man lifted his chin up and enjoyed the peace. His ears tuned in to the sound of cars and let the bustle of people blend smoothly until it was just white noise. Complacency was an unbecoming trait, but perhaps he could allow himself time to relax every once in a while.
The front door on the first floor closed, a little louder on its frame than he would have preferred. Sighing, he opened his eyes and lifted himself up slowly. He stretched his arms above his head and turned to walk into the house. The girl in front of him placed her bags down and slipped her gloves off. She tucked her hair behind her ears and raised her gaze to meet his.
"I'm home, Chen."
"Welcome home, Gwen." He smiled and walked toward her. She allowed him to embrace her, sinking slowly into his hug. "How was work today?" He asked, laughing softly when she groaned into his shirt.
Gwen moved softly away from him and leaned back on the counter, "Tyrell was being his usual dickhead self. The group had a tour of Allsafe and I was asked to come along. The place isn't even close to the dodgy areas of the town, but Terry Colby is a coward. Insisted I come along in case anyone in Allsafe had a vendetta against them. The man doesn't realise that the people there are living off of his scraps. No sane person is going to stab their money source."
Gwen's gaze dropped to the floor and she fell silent. Chen frowned softly, knowing something was up. "Did something happen? Why are you distracted?"
"No, it's just... I ran into someone I thought I'd met a while ago. Someone I'd met before I met you."
He let her words sink in and sighed in understanding. He ran a hand through his hair, although he barely had enough hair to do so. When he had first met Gwen, she wasn't in the best state. And by that, he meant he found her lying in an alley, bleeding to death with bruises and cuts all over her body.
He had taken her home and patched her up himself. Upon finding out she had no home to go back to, he had opened the doors of his to her and they had been living in a symbiotic relationship since then. That had been nearly a year ago.
Sometimes he felt as if their relationship bordered on something closer, but it was abundantly clear that whatever that something was, Gwen was far from ready for it.
"Chen?"
"Hm?"
"Let's just have takeout tonight and watch a movie. I've got so much on my mind I just want to drown it out." Gwen moved to the bathroom, sliding off her jacket. She looked at him over her shoulder and a smile graced her lips. His heart swelled at the sight of her, knowing she was putting in an effort to cause him less worry.
"I actually have to go talk to someone for work later, but I'll pick up some food on my way home. I'll see you at seven o'clock, okay?"
Gwen murmured her agreement as she slipped into the bathroom. Chen waited until he could hear the water running in the bath before he put his coat on and left the house.
/ - Elliot POV - /
The keys of his keyboard were suffering from his onslaught. Elliot was at his wit's end with this girl. Gwen had no trace of her existence on the internet. He had run tags with her appearance and her name through many databases and nothing came up. She was like a ghost and that annoyed him to no extent.
Why is she so important, anyway?
"She's important because she looked at me weirdly!" Elliot slammed his fists on the desk beside his keyboard. His breathing had deepened and his chest heaved after his outcry. Who was he even talking to? And they were right. Just because she had looked at him weirdly he felt obligated to hack her. Perhaps she looked at everyone like that and he had misinterpreted her expression. If he couldn't remember her then surely, they'd never met before.
I need a line.
His actions were precise, hurried and a little erratic. His muscles remembered the routine as he crushed the pill, cut a line and snorted it in three swift motions. Elliot leaned back onto his couch and let the high take him. He wouldn't worry about her anymore. She was such a waste of time.
The men in black that were following him were more important, and he had to focus on that. There was no time to be worrying about some weird girl with a bunch of suits.
Suits that killed your father.
Shit. Where is my suboxone?
I need to get more.
The thoughts jumping around his head were slippery, and try as he might to focus, to grab on to any of them, his mind kept fleeing from his grasps. He grabbed his phone, dialing Shayla.
End Chapter 1.