บท 28: Chapter 28

Davien P. O. V.

We sat in silence at the waiting room for about five minutes, until the woman I presumed to be Valerie approached us. She was a brunette with tanned skin, and the moment she laid eyes on me, I could hear her heart skip a beat.

However I wasn't the only one who heard it.

She rearranged her neck tie and sat at the chair next to me, "Hi. I'm Valerie, and you are?" She stretched her tattooed hand out to me, I smiled and returned the handshake.

"Davien."

She stared at my face, "I feel like I've seen you somewhere, are you a model or something?" She asked, still latching onto my hand in a shake, sharing her moistness to mine.

I parted my lips to say something, but a dry cough from my side drew our attention to Kian.

"If you're both done transferring bacteria, can we move on to the purpose of this visit?" Kian asked in a tone that suggested he wasn't asking.

Withdrawing my hand first, I said, "This right here is Kian."

Valerie chuckled, "Hi Kian. Are you here with your big brother?" Valerie's cooing tone mixed with the misconception that Kian was my brother almost made me laugh.

Kian let out a sigh, "Can you drop the pretense? I have a meeting at nine pm." Kian suddenly announced, levelling his eyes at Valerie.

The woman contorted her expression into a nervous one, with wobbly lips she asked, "What on Earth are you…"

"You must know we're here about the land, so can you get straight to the point instead of trying to deflect the conversation?" Kian's outright question made her gasp.

I rolled my eyes at him and said, "You have no clue whatsoever on how to squeeze the truth out of someone."

"I rather not waste my time, time is wasting with every second we spend her chatting idly away." Kian retorted, then tossed a glance at Valerie, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

The friendly smile I flashed her faded and in it's place was a stoic expression, "Valerie Perkins, we can all stop pretending now. You recognized me as Davien Moore the second you laid eyes on me. And like my partner just said, you must know why we're here." I told her, on cue, a stench of fear mixed in worry seeped out of her.

Just like Kian might've guessed, her heart skipped a beat the second she saw me. However, along with that heartbeat was the stench of worry laced in it.

Even when she took my hand and shaked it, I could feel her palms sweaty from hearing who I was, as though her doubts were confirmed.

"It isn't unusual that you kept tabs on that land, it must've been important to your family. And as such, I take it you were aware of some of the buyers pining for that plot, if I'm not mistaken." I said, bringing to light my deduction of the situation.

Valirie abruptly stood up, causing some heads to turn our way. "If it's the land you're here for, I advise you forget about it. Please leave now." She announced with her back turned to us.

Standing up as well, Kian replied, "You heard the lady, let's be on our way."

This was ridiculous, I didn't come all this way just to go back without achieving anything.

"Valerie, can we talk in private?" I got on my feet, but she didn't budge, "There is nothing I want to say to you…" she told me as her feet glided towards the direction she came from.

"What about the deed?" I asked, she stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. Her widened eyes and lowered jaw were a clear indicator that I was right on the mark.

Kian stood next to me, "You're going to show your hands so soon?" He asked in a somewhat whisper. I turned my head to him, he had a look of zero interest, I could tell that Kian wouldn't interfere in my decision.

After all, I was the one who insisted we save Silvia, so it only made sense I had to see things through to the end. Kian already did more than enough by bringing me to Valerie, I'd have to give him a nice reward when we get back.

Valerie's eyes carried an uncertainty in them, she looked at my arms as though I carried the damn thing with me. Shrugging her shoulders, she said then gestured me to follow.

"Come with me, there's a cafe nearby, I know the owner we can talk there."

The owner was a man about father's age, he had his hands pensively folded and spared no second to stare down Kian and I, as we walked into the backroom.

Her father's best friend. Ivan.

"The deed, where is it?" Was the first thing Valerie asked, she sat on the counter next to the lined up coffee machines.

I gestured Kian for his phone, he reluctantly passed it to me, "I'm going outside, you two talk." He announced and turned to leave, I held him by the arm, and leaned in.

"Where are you going?" A part of me was still feeling unresolved about the whole meeting with Oliver business he still hadn't explained clearly.

"I'm more interested in the man outside who isn't short on death glares. Don't mind me and focus on what you came here for." He stole a glance at Valerie.

"She's known all this while her family owns that land and not Ceaser, but hasn't once come clean, she may not be all that innocent." Kian said peeling my hands off his arm.

"But…" I tried to protest, but closed my mouth immediately after, I didn't know when it started, but I had started to feel like Kian was a person I could depend on.

As Alpha, that was an abnormal way of thinking. Sucking up these stupid feelings, I patted him on the shoulder, "I'll be back in a minute, let me take care of this."

Kian in return, placed a hand on mine and replied softly in my ear, "The second I pick up on the scent on arousal from either one of you, I'm breaking your windscreen."

My chest tightened as I watched him walk out of the inner room, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. Changing my focus to Valerie, I rolled up my sleeves and unfastened a button.

"This is the deed, isn't it?" I flashed the screen before her, she didn't need to look twice to confirm it.

"How were you able to get your hands on it?! My parents…my parents…" she covered her mouth in a gasp.

"How isn't important right now, you know what I've come here for. I want the land, so let's make a deal, one that benefits us both." I offered, but Valerie didn't seem to be on the same wavelength.

"I can't," she shook her head frantically from side to side, "They're going to kill me if I try to. Just like my parents…I can't sell."

"By they, you mean Ceaser?" I asked, tucking Kian's phone into my pocket.

"Yes, so if you understand don't try and make me. He's ruthless and won't stop unless he gets what he wants." She insisted dismounting the counter.

She took some steps closer, as she drew nearer the image of Kian's scowl flashed before my mind. I reflexively took a step back, all while maintaining my composure.

"That man isn't on your level.. he's killed people." She said trying to intimidate me. I felt the urge to cage her chin and lead her against the wall, then tell her how cute her oblivion was.

Curse you Kian.

"By people, you mean…"

"My parents. Two years ago they were allegedly said to have died in a car accident. But as you can guess that wasn't what happened. They were murdered." Her voice hardened, the stench of fear she gave off was replaced swiftly by anger.

"Why were they killed?"

She looked reluctant at first to respond, with no other choice I placed a hand on her shoulder and released some of my pheromones. To humans, inhaling my pheromones could either arouse them or in some cases depending on how much I let out, calm them.

Her shaky shoulders gradually stilled, relaxing her posture she exhaled deeply. "It was over that deed. That man, Ceaser wanted the land but my parents refused to sell. I tried to warn them, that it wasn't worth going against him, but they wouldn't give in. I admired and loathed them for being so damned stubborn." She took a pause, her expression was an uneven mix of blissful reminiscence and loathe.

"The night my parents died, they had spoken to uncle Ivan, our family lawyer about the deed. He was against the idea just like I was, but agreed to help my parents since they were so insistent. For fear of my safety, I stayed at uncle Ivan's place that night, waiting for them to return. It was at exactly eleven pm, that the call came through…they had died before they even got to the location…."

********

I spotted Kian by the car, holding two cups of coffee, he passed one to me, I gave him a weak smile and reclined next to him against the car's bonnet.

The sky was no longer orange but replaced with a midnight blue light with stars scattered across. I took a sip from the coffee to discover it was plain black.

"Even your taste in coffee is like you. Straight laced." I teased, he took a sip from his, keeping his gaze on the road ahead.

"So with Valerie, did she agree to sell?" He asked getting straight to the point.

I stole a glance at the coffee shop, it was surprisingly busy at night. I learned she worked part time at Ivan's coffee shop to help around before she moved abroad for good.

Apparently, Ivan had a friend who recommended her for an art program, and he was funding the entire thing as a parting gift to her.

"She wouldn't sell. Said it's better to forget about the damned deed even existing." I replied. Then remembered he said something about taking an interest in Ivan.

"How about you?"

He quietly sipped his coffee. "Did you tell her we had the deed?" He asked.

"I showed her the picture, she naturally placed two and two together." I replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"I hate acting based on hunches, it seems like you're rubbing off on me. However, I think I figured out the reason Valerie's parents died. And why we might get attacked before we even get home." Kian stated.

"What?" I turned and faced him directly. "Explain yourself, what do you mean you've figured it out?"

Answering he said, "Though it's just a hunch, but I feel that Ceaser was able to kill her parents because he was tipped off about it from an insider, one who had no clue about the deed's location."

"An insider with no idea on the location?" I furrowed my brows.

"Think about it, if he knew the exact location of the deed, it would make sense for Ceaser to go after the deed and destroy it first. But instead he chose to kill them. He killed them so far away from the location probably because he had no idea where it was. But then, how could he have known they were on the move? Who could've tipped him off?" Kian asked with an all knowing look on his face.

"The only people who knew Valerie's parents were going to get the deed that night they were killed were Valerie herself and the lawyer…" my eyes widened in realization of just what Kian was trying to point out.

I looked sharply over my shoulder at the cafe, owned by the lawyer, Ivan. The only other person who knew about the deed, and about Valerie's parents going to get it.

That bastard had to be the fucking rat.