An Agent's Love

33

33 | threat is imminent 

Four days of Asher and I spent most of our time together which meant Cato and Eli hung around the room as well whether it was doing work on their laptop or joking around with each other. We had also been informed that my father was now behind bars and his business was on lockdown and his files had been seized. As for his fiancé, Sierra, she had been brought in for questioning while my mother was going to be flown in later during the investigation seeing as she had been super busy and no one was able to reach her. I had broken down in Asher's arms for the first two days, crying for my sister who I had wished was here more than anyone in the entire world and yet, the arms of another picked up each piece that kept falling apart. 

"Are you ready, my love?" Asher questioned as he threw his backpack over his shoulder after straightening his tie and smoothed out his suit jacket. He picked up his earpiece and slightly groaned in pain when he stretched before putting it inside his ear, Eli and Cato waiting by the door. 

I had changed into his spare sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt, ditching my pencil skirt and top I had been wearing the night I had met with my father. 

Asher followed behind me as Eli handed me a pair of sunglasses on my way, giving him a smile before walking outside the hospital where I was met with a pool of paparazzi. I kept my head low as Eli and Cato acted like a barrier between me and the paparazzi while Asher followed closely behind, pushing some aggressive photographers away while they cursed at him. 

"Evelyn, what do you have to say about your father's arrest?" a paparazzi asked, screaming on top of his lungs, trying to make his voice louder than everyone else's. 

"Evelyn, do you know anything about who killed your sister?"

"Miss Carrington, is it true that your father created a concentration camp?"

"Evelyn, tell us about your sister's funeral!"

As the paparazzi overstepped their boundaries and asked me personal questions that felt like a punch to the gut, I continued to weave my way through the crowd, remembering to keep my head low just like my mother had taught me when I was a little girl. Eli opened the backseat door for me as I quickly slipped inside, Cato pushing a paparazzi away with a blank expression when they got to close to me while Asher slipped inside behind me, locking the door in the process. 

Eli slipped into the passenger's seat while Cato slipped into the driver's seat, turning on the engine as he honked at the paparazzi to move and when they didn't, Cato let out a breath of frustration before honking multiple times. 

Eli had called for backup seeing as some of the paparazzi had been following us so when their colleague's had shown up in the same exact car as us, Cato quickly swerved, allowing their colleagues to take our place before speeding into another direction. 

"Can we grab a coffee on the way home?" I questioned over the quiet music that was playing on the radio as Cato glanced at Asher in the rearview mirror. Asher nodded once before squeezing my hand in reassurance. 

When Cato pulled up to a café, Eli and Asher quickly checked the perimeters before allowing me out of the car. I walked inside the café, surprised to see this beautiful café empty as the waitress greeted me with a smile. 

"Four small caps," I ordered as she nodded before I tapped my credit card on the EFTPOS machine. I turned around, my eyes resting on a figure sitting in the corner of the booth with their head down, hat over their face. I gulped, elbowing Asher as he glanced at where I had been looking at before nodding at me, guiding me Cato who stood in front of me in a protective stance. 

Eli and Asher approached the figure, knocking their knuckles on the table but the figure didn't look up. I frowned when the figure raised their arms in surrender, their long sleeve slightly dropping as it revealed a small, familiar tattoo.

My heart got caught in my throat as I licked my dry lips, my heart racing and my head buzzing while I pushed Cato to the side, approaching the figure. I didn't want to get my hopes up but when I finally approached the figure, Asher holding onto my wrist as if ready to pull me back if anything happened, I touched the figure's wrist and twisted it to the side, my jaw-dropping when I knew where I had seen the tattoo from.

I twisted my own wrist, revealing a tattoo on the same arm as Asher caught a glance of both of our wrists, his eyes widening in disbelief. 

It was a small tattoo of the letter E, a tattoo that I had instinctively remembered getting at the age of eighteen with my sister after we graduated high school.

This couldn't be.

I bit my lips hard as I ripped the figure's cap off, my eyes widening and my feet stumbling back into Asher's arms when soft, long brunette locks were freed and the eyes that I had longed so much to meet again stared back at me with the same bewilderment. 

"Everlace," I whispered, her brown eyes widening in relief as I collapsed to the empty seat beside her and drew her into my arms. This wasn't real; it couldn't be. I pulled away from my very much alive sister, slightly pinching myself to make sure that I was living in reality. "I thought...I thought you were dead." 

A smile crossed her lips. "I'll explain but right now, we need to leave before someone sees us."

I glanced behind my shoulder to see Eli, Cato and Asher staring at Everlace, trying to drink in her features as they gulped before flinching when a familiar person with piercing blue eyes and raven black hair appeared from the door. 

"Hayden?" Eli questioned, shocked as he barely comprehended the fact that my sister was alive. 

Agent Hayden nodded as he cleared his throat before acknowledging the three men who were now trying to comprehend the fact that their colleague was standing before them. "I'll see you soon, sis." Hayden saluted the waitress who nodded before handing me my coffees in a cup tray, giving me a reassuring smile before all of us walked out of the cafe. 

Hayden and Everlace retreated to a nearby SUV that we hadn't noticed parked in the parking lot while the four of us slipped into the one we had come in. 

When we reached the home I had been staying in, for the time being, Everlace and Hayden quickly entered the house as they took off their disguises. Eli and Cato retreated to the kitchen, talking quietly with each other before showing Hayden to the bathroom.

"Everlace," I said, taking her hand and led her to the living room as we sat on the white sofa. "How are you alive?"

The doorbell rang, causing me to flinch since no one was supposed to know where I was living but Asher gave me a nod as if to say he was going to check on it. Cato had followed him, keeping his hand on his gun that was situated on his belt as both of them walked inside the security room.

Everlace smiled at me. "They knew I was going to be their target...to get to you."

"What does that mean, Eve?"

She sighed, pulling me close to her. "I found out about daddy's...arrangements. And when Hayden got too careless with his ID badge -a skill I had learnt from you by undressing a man- he had told his boss."

Asher and Cato exited the security room with blank expressions as they straightened out their suit and tie, forcing me to blink in confusion before returning my attention to my sister sitting in front of me. 

"Mom saved me," Everlace said, her eyes twinkling in admiration. 

"Who?"

Everlace realised my confusion. "Our birth mom, Jacqueline." 

I stared at her in bewilderment but before I could say anything, the sound of clicking heels sounded from behind me, I turned around to find a tall woman with sharp cheekbones that emphasised her sharp jawline and her brown eyes that held the domination in them. Her soft, brown locks were tied in a low ponytail and when Everlace was standing beside her, I realised the freckles on her nose matched the ones Everlace and I inherited. 

"Hello, sweet Evelyn," the said woman greeted me with a kind smile that almost struck me to the core. "We finally meet and I wish it was under better circumstances."