Capítulo 2: Late Night Meeting
On a moonless night, a sleek black car drove along a quiet stretch of road. As dark as the car was, it still stood out against the road that was designed and maintained to leave no shadows for surprises to lurk within. It was deemed a necessary measure to have in the neighbourhood that comprised of the top wealthy families in the Capulet Syndicate's territory.
Besides the low hum of the engine, the road was silent at this time of the night. It was even quieter in the car. There was only the chauffeur and a lone passenger in the back seat. The dim light from the phone illuminated Audrey's face, making her pale face look paler than usual. The abrupt ringing of the phone pierced through the silence and stopped when Audrey answered the call.
“Has my baby eaten yet?” A pleasant voice floated through the speaker.
“No, Dad, an unexpected surprise came up at work so there wasn’t time to eat.”
“Oh? Must be a pleasant surprise.”
Audrey’s flattened lips raised into a smile as she mused, “rather than pleasant, amusing would be more accurate.”
Audrey looked up briefly into the rearview mirror and met the eyes of her chauffeur before continuing, “I’ll be home in 15 minutes.”
The chauffeur nodded after receiving her instructions and silently sped up.
“Do you want to share the news at the dining table or at the study?”
“Dining table. I’ll share the news while I eat.”
Her father clicked his tongue and began to chide Audrey, “how many times have I told you that it’s bad for your health? You’re still young, but you can’t keep up this bad habit. You won’t feel it now but-”
Audrey closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat, obediently listening to her father’s exasperated nagging of her bad habits and its long-term consequences.
Only after pulling a promise out of her mouth to eat first and share the news after, did he finally end the call. Silence returned in the car and neither of the 2 occupants sought to change that. Audrey kept her eyes closed for the remainder of the ride home.
-..-*..-..-*..-..*-..-..-*..-..-*..-..*-..-..-*..-..-*..-
Back in the Capulet’s house, after Noah ended the call, he directed the housekeeper to inform the family chef to cook a light meal for Audrey.
As the housekeeper made his way to the kitchen, Noah got off the couch to look for his youngest daughter, Juliet, first.
Noah knocked twice on the closed door before calling out, “Juliet dear, may I come in?”
“Sure dad.” Came Juliet’s muffled response.
No sooner had Juliet given permission, the door clicked open. However, Noah remained at the doorway to speak.
“Darling, Audrey has news to share at the dining table. Could you do me a favour and help fetch Briar for me and gather in 10 minutes?”
Juliet chuckled lightly and teased her father, “why not find her yourself, Mr Noah? You know where she is.”
Noah lightly ruffled his hair with a sheepish look on his face as he replied helplessly, “you know your third sister. You’re the only one who can get her attention once she’s fixated on her project.”
Juliet grinned upon seeing her father’s expression, then swivelled her chair to face her computer again.
“We'll be a little late.”
Noah beamed and dropped a thanks before gently closing her door. Then, he went on his merry way to look for his wife, while sending a text message to his 2nd daughter to inform her of the family gathering.
Juliet stayed on her computer and tapped away at the keyboard. The screen turned black and reflected Juliet’s figure as she got up from the chair after completing her report. She grabbed the access card in the hidden compartment by the side of her wardrobe, then left her room to look for Briar.
Although everyone calls Briar's research space a room, any normal person who saw it would complain that the term was an understatement. The entire 4th basement floor belongs to Briar and is fully equipped with all the top grade research equipment. Due to the worth and influence of the projects inside, the Capulet family also put in a security system where only they were allowed access to it. Though it was intended to be a strict security system to protect Briar from extremists, Briar turned her entire research lab into her exclusive hamster hole. She disdained leaving it. If anyone needed to drag Briar out, they had to enlist Juliet’s help to lure her out.
Juliet returned the greetings of the servants that she passed by, with a carefree smile, completely unconcerned about the time constraint. She walked into the elevator and patiently waited for the doors to close. After it closed, she walked to the back and touched the empty wall in a practiced manner. An almost imperceptible beep sounded and a small area of the wall, at eye-level, slid open soundlessly to reveal a retinal scanner. After the system confirmed Juliet’s identity, the elevator began to move down. The doors opened and a stretch of long spotless white corridor spanned before Juliet with a huge closed double door at the end of it.
Juliet walked down the corridor, taking steps of equal length, only to stop suddenly and face another blank wall. She held up her access card to that wall for 3 seconds. Then, a part of the wall slid open without warning. The echo of her footsteps announced her arrival in the hidden research laboratory.
The machinery in the room was well-organised and neat. White light reflected off the surfaces of the machinery, which were huge enough to make Juliet feel small. However, the room didn’t feel small or cramped. Instead, all these machinery of the highest technology made the place look majestic and luxurious.
As Juliet turned a corner, a small figure with short messy hair hunched over the table that was littered with diagrams and notes greeted her. The familiar sight evoked a warmth that spread in Juliet’s chest. Indulgence and tenderness filled her eyes.
Juliet leaned against the cabinet behind her and silently watched her older sister work zealously. The sight of Briar’s single-minded devotion to pull her ideas into reality never failed to amaze Juliet. After a moment of appreciation for her sister, Juliet moved regretfully to disrupt Briar’s intense concentration.
Maneuvering her way across the floor with barely any walking space, Juliet made it to the empty spot by Briar. Juliet leaned towards Briar’s ear and softly whispered, “when the world crashes and burns…”
“It should go out with a big bang!”
Juliet winced at how fast Briar snapped her head up and wondered if Briar’s neck was alright.
Although Briar responded enthusiastically, her eyes were still a little dazed. She had not completely extricated herself from her train of thoughts. Juliet started tapping Briar’s left arm lightly, in a slow rhythm, as if guiding Briar’s wandering mind back to reality. It took a while before Briar’s awareness of her surroundings returned and she noticed Juliet waiting by her side silently.
Briar’s eyes and smile lit up her small face as she pounced on Juliet and shouted passionately, “Juju! You’re here!”
Juliet caught Briar flying at her with ease, then brought out the bad news that she came with, while sorting out Briar’s messy hair.
“Audrey has news to share with us at the dining table.”
Briar pouted upon learning she was required to leave her research behind even if it was only for a moment. She fidgeted in place with a conflicted expression on her face, before drawing out a long sigh and moved dejectedly to clean up her work while muttering under her breath. “What’s more important than my research? I don’t need to be there, it’s not like I’ll understand anything. I wouldn’t even be useful there. I could’ve used this time more efficiently-”
Juliet had no desire to interrupt Briar’s ramblings or to rush her. She only looked on helplessly at the figure shuffling around with her shoulders slumped. Briar was rarely dragged out of her hamster hole, but each time she was, even Juliet could not soothe the ire of her older sister.
By the time Briar was done organising her desk, Juliet deduced that Audrey should have finished her dinner already.
“Let’s go king, you can demand compensation from queen later.” Juliet joked.
As they made their way to the dining room, Briar suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! That’s right! Juju, how’s your whip? Does it need any adjustments? Any discomfort? Anything you need tweaking?”
Juliet replied unperturbed by Briar’s sudden outburst, “It could use a little more weight. Also I think it would be good if the barbs are retractable, it was a huge inconvenience to carry it around with the barbs sticking out. The grip is perfect, fits my hand like a glove. Even when I sweat it doesn’t affect my grip at all. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to see if blood would affect it.”
Briar hummed as she took in Juliet’s feedback and suggestions seriously, before chiming in, “I understand. Retractable barbs, now that’s an idea. Since we’re on the track of retractable barbs, why not go a step further and include electric shocks? Just like in manga and anime, I could also-”
As Briar sunk further into the development and improvement of Juliet’s exclusive whip, her talking regressed into slurred mumbles, and her feet started to drag across the floor. Juliet matched her pace accordingly while helplessness filled her eyes. She smoothly took Briar by the hand and acted as her guide, ensuring that Briar doesn’t run into or trip over something. Like this, one sleepwalker and one guardian made their way to the dining room together.
Lively chatter could be heard as they neared the dining room. As the words became more distinct, Juliet lightly squeezed Briar’s hand. It brought Briar’s attention back just as they reached the entrance.
“Ah, my 2 baby darlings are here.” Noah dragged out the last syllable in a sticky sweet manner as his tender smile shone brightly.
Audrey and Evangeline smiled in response to their father’s behaviour, while Felix ignored her husband and beckoned to her 2 daughters to quickly take a seat.
“Hi, Audrey, hope we aren’t too late?”
“Hey queen~ So, what could possibly be more important than my research?”
Juliet and Briar called out as they took their seats, after hugging their mother.
“You’re right on time. I’ll get straight to the point, I’ve accepted the deal sent by the Aldrich Organization for a cooperation between the Capulet’s and Aldrich’s.”
Capítulo 3: Preparation
Silence was the only response Audrey received, although it was only Briar who was shocked into silence. The others were merely waiting for Audrey to continue.
“Since when was there talk about the possible cooperation between the Capulet’s and Aldrich’s?” Briar sounded out dumbfoundedly after finding her voice.
“During the time you were cooped up in your research room, Briar.” Evangeline smiled tenderly and her eyes curved together with her smile.
“Shush angel, I can catch up on old news. My research on the other hand can’t wait.”
Evangeline shot down Briar’s paper-thin defence, “even mother, who isn’t involved or in contact with anyone in the syndicate, was aware of the possibility of cooperation with the Aldrich’s.”
Briar wilted into her chair and pouted, as she weakly tried to defend herself from her older sister’s admonishment of her unhealthy lifestyle.
While Juliet didn’t say anything and simply waited for Audrey’s instructions, she was making rearrangements to her schedule in her mind, in preparation for the upcoming cooperation.
Felix acted like it wasn’t her business. She was someone from an ordinary background. She married into the Capulet family and thus had no say or influence in the upper management of the syndicate. She didn’t have any interest in getting involved with the affairs of the syndicate either, she only cared about the safety of her family.
“The offer must be excellent to accept a deal to cooperate with our sworn enemy?” Noah leaned back into his seat and folded his arms over his chest, with the same unchanged gentle smile on his face. With his simple action, the atmosphere in the room turned more serious, and all eyes turned to Audrey.
Audrey felt no pressure from her father’s questioning. Instead, she saw the anticipation in his eyes. In response to it, a smirk slowly bloomed on Audrey’s face and a mocking laugh escaped her lips.
“Romeo Aldrich has promised to hand over the ownership to the Garden of Eden at the end of our cooperation.”
A loud thump was interrupted by Briar’s loud and piercing screech, “HUH?! THE GARDEN OF EDEN?!”
Briar stood up so abruptly that her chair got knocked over. Shocked still with both hands slapped on the table, Briar’s face completed the comical sight. Her eyes rounded into perfect circles and her mouth hung wide open.
Juliet ignored the ringing in her ears and reached over to help Briar close her mouth.
Noah ignored Briar’s outburst and calmly continued his questioning, “why?”
His one word carried multiple implications. It was Noah’s unique way of testing her, to see how much she had grown without his guidance and shelter. She had been given the freedom to run the syndicate without his interference.
Despite Noah’s serious attitude and his eyes never leaving Audrey, his hands were busy massaging Felix’s ear. However, no one paid any attention to his public display of affection. They had long grown used to their father’s tendency to show his love for their mother regardless of the time, place, and occasion.
Audrey steadily explained, “there’s a high risk that they’ve laid a trap for us in the operation. After all, if we die or can’t keep our end of the deal, then there’s no need for them to follow through with their word.
The Aldrich’s will definitely use this chance to, at the very least, weaken our forces. Even if they succeeded in taking over the power overseas, they would be too busy stabilising their position there and that’ll be our chance.
We can stall for time during our cooperation to assimilate the smaller clans in our territory and consolidate our power here. We’ll attack them while their forces and attention is scattered.
If we don’t act and miss this timing, they will definitely attack us brazenly, to wipe us out and snatch back the Garden of Eden. With their newfound power, even if we avoid getting eliminated, it’s likely we’ll get crippled with no chance of recovery. ”
“And you still accepted the deal?”
With a slight tilt of Audrey’s head and a sharp glint in her eyes, she resembled a queen that small tricks like this were beneath her notice.
“Although we have smaller manpower, we have stronger firepower. Not to mention our more advanced technology that we never brought out, and our financial power is slowly extending out of their reach. I don’t see why we’ll lose.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed as he asked once more, “so confident?”
Audrey’s only response to his provocation was a tiny smile gracing the corner of her lips.
Noah could only sigh at Audrey’s overflowing confidence and her guts to walk into a trap, but in no way was he against her decision.
Though it may come across as blind arrogance to most, Audrey is the daughter he had personally groomed to take over his position. He was the one who best understood Audrey’s capabilities. Because of this knowledge, he could only admit that Audrey does possess the abilities and qualities to be this arrogant. He only lamented that she had learnt her overbearing ways from him.
Seeing that her father had no objections, Audrey turned to Juliet and dished out instructions.
“You’ll be in charge of this operation. However, on the surface, Humphrey will act as your stand-in leader. While attention is directed onto Humphrey, your task is to gather and assimilate the smaller scattered forces into our force. Unless an emergency arises, keep your involvement in this operation to a minimum. To aid you in responding quickly to an emergency, I allow you to bring your exclusive weapons. However, use them only when you need to.”
Audrey then turned to Briar only to notice she still had her head in the clouds. Audrey knocked on Briar’s head to get her attention.
“Ah! What? What did I miss?” Though it wasn’t painful, Briar rubbed her head out of reflex, further messing up the bird’s-nest on her head.
“Was this important enough to excuse me for the crime of dragging you out of your hole?” Audrey teased with cunningness prevalent in her eyes.
The sight of Audrey staring at her like a predator toying with its prey highly alarmed Briar. A shiver ran down her spine and the fine hairs on her body stood on its ends. It was only bad news for Briar whenever Audrey stared at her like this.
Briar braced her arms in front of her body and squeaked. “Sure, it is, but I could’ve learnt about it later anyway. It wouldn’t have made much of a difference.”
Her shifty eyes roamed everywhere, stubbornly refusing to meet Audrey’s.
Audrey sighed loudly, causing Briar to jump in her chair.
“Stop attacking me mentally like that! I’m telling you, I’m not putting aside my current project for any reason!”
Before Briar could take off after shouting her piece, Audrey's voice pulled her to a stop.
“Not even for our Juju?”
A constipated expression painted on Briar’s face, it was deathly unpleasant to be forced to eat back her own words right after declaring so.
Briar’s head slowly creaked like a robot and finally met Audrey’s eyes, before crying out. “A king truly has a lower standing than a queen… How frustrating. Spit it out, what do you need from me?”
Audrey’s relaxed expression immediately turned solemn, emphasising the weight behind her following words.
“That whip that’s still in its live testing phase, I need it complete within 3 months.
The research for those contacts you pushed aside 6 months ago needs to be resumed immediately. Run it at the same time as the whip project and complete it in 5 months. I only require you to produce 1 pair of samples safe enough to use on the field. If you’re able to, you can directly customize it for Juliet’s use.
For all the materials and cost required for both projects, as long as it’s reasonable, run it directly to me and I’ll personally approve them immediately.”
Briar was overwhelmed just from imagining all the work of running the 2 projects simultaneously on such a tight schedule.
However, her success and failure could be the fine line between life and death for her beloved younger sister. In that case, failure is no longer an option. She can only succeed. It didn’t matter if she landed in the hospital again from exhaustion, it was no stranger to Briar.
As the resolve in Briar’s eyes congealed together with her determination, she threw out orders to her sisters like a commander on the battlefield.
“Juju, I’ll have your whip ready in 1 month and the contacts in 4. That way you’ll have more time to personally experience and practice using them.
Queen, keep your phone available at all times. 24/7.
Angel, no more needles. Please.”
After throwing down her orders, she flew back to her lab with her white robes flying behind her.
Juliet’s eyelids lowered slightly as she looked down, mentally rearranging her schedule and tasks again as she asked Audrey. “Do we let Humphrey know about my secret task?”
“Yes, he’ll serve as a diversion for you. The Aldrich should’ve already guessed that we’ll be aware and ready for whatever they have in store for us. It’ll be beneficial for you by giving them 1 more person to keep a close lookout for.”
“Understood. Then I’ll take my leave first to make early preparations.”
Juliet stood up after receiving Audrey’s nod, then made her way to find Briar in her lab.
Audrey still felt worried about Juliet’s safety even though she was well aware of Juliet’s combat ability. Juliet’s position as the leader of the Capulet Syndicate’s Team 1 was a testament to that.
Audrey’s eyes made contact with Evangeline’s. She hesitated about outrightly requesting her younger sister to prepare for the worst.
Though Evangeline had little participation in the meeting, she was able to deduce, by herself, that their current situation is only the calm before the storm. She’ll have to prepare for an influx of patients in the upcoming future. However, this is not something Audrey would need to check with her. So, Audrey’s hesitation must be regarding the safety of their youngest sister. Just like that, Evangeline understood the meaning of Audrey’s gaze. Audrey must be afraid that it would be an ominous sign should she voice out her concern.
Evangeline gave her signature soothing smile and indicated she had her area covered with a slight nod.
Audrey’s worries eased a little with Evangeline’s assurance.
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