The heart of Cleopatra

The plan

Chapter nineteen

A new found respect had be formed between Charlie and Cleopatra. Her disappearing acts and unanswered messages had become less of a drama now Charlie had more insight as to why.

'The base tonight, operation take down!' Cleo typed just seconds before Charlie walked back into her bedroom. They decided to study together since Cleo hadn't been the most punctual student the last few days.

"Something wrong?" He asked reading her intense expression.

Cleo shook her head and lightly threw her phone back onto the bed. "No, just Arcane stuff."

He nodded with a half-hearted smile. He hated being cut off from that side of Cleo, but what he hated more was that Kai got to share that side of her. "Kai stuff?" He asked coldly.

Cleo laughed at his question that was purely driven by jealously. "Someone's a little bitter." She teased with a grin.

"I just don't like the guy." He replied before taking a sip of his canned Coke.

Cleo smirked. "Well, not a lot of people like him so you aren't alone."

"You obviously do." He muttered.

Cleo's features immediately furrowed. "Have you lost your mind? I hate him more than anyone."

"So why are you working with him?"

She rolled her eyes, Zeus had also questioned this multiple times. "Because he had something I needed. See, everyone in my team has a certain role, and for this part Kai happened to fit, but it's for my benefit. I know where my loyalties lie, and it's definitely not with Malakai West." Charlie seemed to find some comfort in her words, yet he couldn't entirely believe that she didn't care about him deep down. "Now are we doing study or not because I don't care either way."

The two teenagers worked well together, they revised more than most and despised it less than expected when meeting their full potential. Cleo was slowly getting used to having Charlie around, he wasn't just the annoying cocky kid who thought himself to be different from the rest of the snobs anymore, he was slowly becoming a friend.

"So I know you'll probably say no." Charlie said breaking the silence.

"That's unfair!" Cleo replied with feist even though she was clueless as to what was following his statement.

He smirked at her defensive attitude. "Let me finish. I was going to ask you to come with me to the Friday night school escape room."

"Oh yeah, you're right. That's definitely a no." She laughed.

Charlie rolled his big brown eyes that Cleo had become fond of. "Come on. It's one of the last events of the term."

Cleo looked at the boy who was doing his best to contain his hope. "Fine." She groaned. "An escape room. What's not to love?" She sarcastically said finishing their conversation.

Nine pm struck and Charlie finally took the hint that Cleo needed to be somewhere. He politely excused himself and departed from her secret hide out. Swapping studying for scheming she jumped into her car and sped off to the base.

***

"I'm here." Cleo called as she walked into the main room where her family awaited her arrival. They greeted her with smiles and nods. "Where's Kai?" She asked noticing the absence of the pain in her arse.

Zeus shook his head. "No clue. Maybe he took the hint to sling his hook." Cleo rolled her eyes.

"What's the plan anyway?" Jax asked while playing with his butterfly knife, Cleo and him shared the same habit of toying with them.

Cleo has spent the last day thinking over and over about the most efficient way to make progress and gain dominance in their war and it came to one conclusion. Drawing attention to themselves. For months Cleo has done the complete opposite so the irony is almost amusing.

"We need to make a statement. Racing was one thing, but we need something bigger." She explained.

"So what are we talking exactly?" Zeus asked getting more intrigued by his sister's plan by the second.

Cleo grinned. "Where is the one place that always gets spoken of around here?"

The three deadly teens looked among each other before saying. "The hollow!"

The wide smirked grew even bigger on Cleo's face. "Bingo!"

"We have company." Lola called out a few minutes after they started bouncing ideas off each other. Cleo, Zeus and Jax all pulled their weapons of choice out in anticipation of a raid. "Not that type of company." Lola sighed. She turned the surveillance monitor around, Kai stood aimlessly at the garage door. Cleo groaned and walked to the wall and unlocking the entry points.

"Zeus chill. It's only Kai." Cleo said as she noticed his gun still raised to the door.

He smiled in a patronising manner. "Exactly." She rolled her eyes at his clear hatred towards their new ally.

Kai stumbled into the room to see the Valencia team gathered around the table. "Late as usual." Cleo said leaning on the cold metal.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're just early." He smirked walking in as if he owned the place. "Some of us have lives you know Valencia." He whispered into Cleo's ear as he past.

Cleo chuckled at his pathetic ego. "Clearly, and you have the marks to move it." She replied regarding the ripe purple love bites covering his neck. "Real classy." She finished already being bothered by his cocky and play boy attitude.

"Move over there." Zeus shouted pushing Kai away from him, it's safe to say they won't be working in close proximity.

"Enough! We have a job to do." Cleo shouted as she rolled a blue print of the Hallow club Lola sourced.

"I'm going to need a run down." Kai interrupted making everyone's tolerance even lower.

Cleo sighed and slammed both palms onto the table. "We need to draw attention to ourselves. Hallow is packed 24/7."

"The nightclub?" He asked with confusion as to how this is a master plan.

Cleo rolled her eyes. "Wherever we go, they follow. Now shut up!" The others laughed at her bluntness, her character had been truly missed around here.

"Okay, the main stage is here." Cleo said pointed to the largest area on the map. "The bar is by the door and the DJ is at the front. A balcony all around, we'll split to have eyes above, Lola and I will do our thing at the bottom. Zeus and Jax, follow your judgment." She looked up to see her two leading men nodding at her plan. "As for you Malakai you follow my command."

"No way!" He shouted.

Cleo laughed. "It's not a request. You're lucky you're even coming."

"Oh what was your boyfriend not available?" He sarcastically bit back.

Cleo leaned forward. "Careful Malakai you're acting as if you're jealous." Her sarcastic words laced with a seductive tone struck a chord with Kai. He sighed and stepped back suddenly losing the over confident attitude he entered with.

The Valencia's had many skills and one of Cleo's specialties was stripping anyone down to their breaking point. There is no room for Kai's weakness, not if he wants to make it out alive.

"Friday eleven pm." Cleo stated. "Be there or walk alone."