The Playboy's Misfortune

~ Who is Scythe? ~

The business trip was supposed to proceed without any incidents. It was supposed to be all meetings/family outings, or whatever Chelsea wanted to call it.

Even though we arrived in France two days ago, I was busy with meetings while my wife toured Paris with our rainbow cupcake. On the third day, my daughter's birthday, I was supposed to spend it with them alone.

Yet, we were in a classy French cafe with Susan sitting opposite us.

Out of all the coincidences, this was what I least predicted. She was nervous though. From the time she saw us, she had been fidgeting. Chelsea knew that something was wrong. I knew that something was wrong, but I didn't fucking care.

"Did you come here for vacation?" Chelsea finally cut the tension.

Susan looked up, momentarily glanced at me then managed a weak smile, "Yes... excuse me, I... Can we talk in private?" She turned to me.

"I was thinking the same," I sighed in relief and got up with Lucy in my arms.

"No, Mr.Xander... I want to talk to you... In private..." Susan blushed slightly.

Chelsea kept blinking her eyes at us. Even though I had no fucking clue what this woman wanted, my wife could see that.

"I swear I'll keep it short," Susan gulped.

After a lot of hesitation, my wife took our baby and walked towards the play area in the cafe. Lucy had been insisting on going there since we entered the shop.

"Why do you want to talk in private, Susan?" I frowned.

There was barely anything I knew about her. She was supposed to gossip over unnecessary things with Chelsea, not me.

"I... I have been so guilty for a long time and... If I don't get this off my chest, I don't think I'll be able to sleep well..." She mumbled.

"What is it?"

"Please, Mr.Xander... Promise me that you won't freak out and you shouldn't tell Chelsea."

"It depends on the content, young lady."

"Fair... Uh... I..." Her palms were all sweaty now and she looked everywhere but my face.

"I am Scythe."

I froze.

"The Freeze was something that I carried out with the help of Patrick's plan. I am a professional hacker for an agency. I'm afraid I can't tell you which but... I never meant to harm any of you-"

"Why would you do it?"

She sighed, "Look... Dude, you treated Chelsea like shit in the beginning and she was my closest friend. She's such a nice girl, except for certain traits but... I knew that nobody would be able to straighten you up. You were above the cops and everyone else. I had to take that authority from you to make you understand that the world doesn't always work according to you."

"She was pregnant at the time and you did nothing for her, Mr.Xander. Whenever I called her, she sounded exhausted and depressed. I was so afraid that she might end her life altogether because she cried so much while talking about you... I knew that I would be capable of initiating a scenario where you become sort of humble... But I swear to god, Patrick was the one who made it a revenge plot."

"I had found him online spreading hate and I thought that it would interesting and foolproof to include him in the plan. All I wanted was for you to be responsible for Chelsea, and your baby. When I came to your home that day, I actually wanted to see if you had improved somehow."

"And what did you find?" I scoffed.

"I had never seen Chelsea that happy before. She loves you so much. Even now... The way she looks at you... I'm so happy that you have such a lovely family," she gave me an apologetic smile.