Chapter 5

“It’s some minutes to eight, Auden.” Tristan mumbled quietly, reminding me immediately of the incoming call from Xobra.

“Talked to the guards?” I inquired, reminding myself to have a word with them tonight. 

“Yeah, I did that already. And the alarms didn’t fucking go off or we’d have all been alerted of their breakage. They probably had someone hack into it, I just don’t know...” Tristan trailed off as he lifted his head from the glass and faced me, his eyes blown wide open.

I stared into his eyes for a few more seconds before shaking my head in slowly before asking what Tristan was silently contemplating. “Think the alarms got hacked from inside by one of our men?”

“Fuck, I didn’t even think of that.” Tristan gushed out right before he rapt his fingers on the glass of the window.

“We’d deal with that tonight, let’s focus on the goddamn call for now, yeah?” I threw the rest of the whiskey into my mouth, ice and all before swallowing in one go as I pushed away from the window. A glance at my wrist watch showed that it was only five minutes until 08:00.

Discarding the glass cup on the table, I loosened my tie as well as the first three buttons of my shirt. I’ve discarded my suit jacket hours to Lucas and gotten right into work the minute I got back from the gym without Nicolas. 

I need a fucking cold shower, I need to run the sizzling energy pricking underneath my skin, I need to lay my rage upon a punching bag until it breaks, I need to fucking burn this energy.

I climbed up the stairs with Tristan a few steps behind me as I made my way into the workroom to take the call from Xobra, let’s get this done and over with.

Gadgets and tons of camera controllers lined up almost the whole space in the wide room. Flat screens in different sizes occupied the walls of the room. Our computer wizard which were three  in numbers was situated before a laptop taping away while a few flat screens showed different scenes in different parts of the penthouse which we were currently situated in.

“Good evening, boss.” Esther greeted me by sighting my appearance. I nodded my head in reply as I stopped behind her chair and glanced towards her computer screen. Different images showed on and off along with digits I didn’t have a clue of what they meant.

Anything concerning coding and computers were Nicolas’s main area. He was already a pro at coding and hacking into almost everything at the age of sixteen.

“Take a sit, boss.” Our second hacker, Daven, stood up from his seat after setting up the devices we’d be using to converse with the Xobra gang. Daven had been living with us since he was little, he was eighteen years and two years older than the twins. I slid into the vacated spot and fiddled with the mic until it was positioned before my lips. I glanced towards Esther’s spot before the computer and she gave me a thumbs zup, indicating the already incoming call. 

A few seconds later the call came through. A quick glance at my wrist showed just how punctual the Xobra gang are, how nice. I glanced beside me at Daven who was hunched over another laptop, tapping away. He glanced at me and nodded his head. Which means the whole call was ready to be recorded so that I could track where it’s coming from immediately. 

I accepted the call and meet with silence for a few seconds before a deep but quiet unrecognizable voice  resonated in the room in just one word, “Auden.”

I waited a few heartbeats, forcing my body to slow down and controlling my mouth from screaming; where the fuck is my brother, you assholes! But instead, my voice came forth in a calm “Hello.”

“You know who this is,” The stranger continued.

“I don’t.” I replied immediately.

“I meant you know who we are,” The stranger tried saying again.

“We? I’m only hearing one voice at the moment, so I’m afraid not.” I pointed out.

“Shut up fucker, don’t try acting smart with me right now.” The stranger barked, obviously riled up.

“Oh, we both know I don’t act smart. I’m naturally smart on a normal day. Unlike some people who think they’re acting smart with the stupid game they’re currently playing at.” I went on without missing a beat.

“Now, now, remember, I have your stupid brother with me. Watch your mouth or he dies.” The stranger warned.

I refused the strong urge to snort, we both know he couldn’t kill my brother, but there’s no use telling him that.

“Cut this shit out. What do you want?” I demanded, all traces of patience missing from my voice.

“I ask the questions, you give the answers, bitch.” The stranger barked out again. 

Lord, if I lay my hands on these people, this one’s going to suffer the most, this stupid fucker.

“But you weren’t asking any questions.” I reminded him.

“I was about to, now shut up.” The stranger demanded again.

“Get on with it already.” 

“So, I’m guessing you know what I want, yeah?” The stranger continued.

“I don’t,” I replied, wishing the fool can just get to the main point already.

“I want the diamond you stole from us back.” 

“Which?” I drawled out.

“The Lily, you fucker. Y’all came in and fucking stole my dad’s diamond. I want it back, in exchange for your dumb brother.” 

“The diamond belongs to my father, your dumb fuck of a father stole it from mine. I took back what’s rightfully mine.” I reminded him.

“My father took it from your father because your father was such a pussy. Which means it’s rightfully ours. You don’t own it any longer so return my diamond to me if you wanna see your brother.”

The diamond was a fine piece worth over $100 million in the black market. My father got ownership of the diamond at a young age of 16 from his father. The Xobra gang was a long time enemy of my family right from when they murdered my parents and stole his diamond. 

I, of course, made sure I took revenge for my father’s death by killing The Xobra gang’s lord one night in a club while he was getting ridden by a stripper, he didn’t even see it coming.

The same night I ended the Xobra lord’s life, my brother, Tristan and his men broke into his house after my brother, Nicolas who was aged fifteen back then, hacked into their security cameras and alarms to make the job easier.

At the end of that night, we celebrated our revenge and also the getting back of our father’s diamond.

But if this fucker wants it in exchange for my brother’s life, I’ll give it to him. Too bad I’ll be going back for it in under ten hours of getting my brother back.

“Let me hear my brother’s voice.” I demanded.

“No way, the diamond first.”

“How do I know he’s still alive?” I demanded angrily.

There was shuffling and a little unclear noise in the background before the fucker came back to the mic.

“Don’t try anything fishy.” The stranger who, after connecting twos and twos, turned out to be the son of the gang lord I killed some months ago.

“Nicolas?” I said into the mic.

“Yeah?” His voice came through quietly.

I dropped my head into my hands as a surge of relief rushed through my whole body. I’ve been seriously worried about him the whole day which was why I’ve been silently hoping the fucker that abducted him didn’t harm him more than necessary. 

He’s still fucking sixteen for heaven’s sake, so help me lord when I’ll get my hand on those bastards.

“How hurt are you?” I asked after regaining my voice since I know we don’t have much time left because the dumb fuck decided the time’s up.

“Not so bad, just my head. But it’s stitched up now.”

A relieved sigh drifted into my ear, I glanced beside me and my eyes locked with Tristan’s whom I didn’t know was standing beside me until a few minutes ago.

“Give it to us.” I said quietly.

“3 15 13 5 - 23 9 20 8 - 1 - 12 14 20 - 15 6 - 7 21 1 18 4 19. 9 12 25.”

“The fuck is that? The fuck you just said to your brother? A code or something?” The stranger roared angrily at my brother but we’ve already taken note of everything he said.

“I seriously hope this man doesn’t hurt our brother tonight.” Tristan whispered into my ear.

“He won’t, he’s scared of me no matter how hard he tries to hide it.” I whispered back, hoping to God that I was a hundred percent right.

“We’d call you tomorrow morning by 08:00, I’ll tell you how you’re going to get the diamond to me. And don’t-“ The fucker started to say again but I ended the call with the aid of the red button.

I leaned my head against the chair just as tiredness swamped my whole body. The call I just ended ranged out clearly again.

I raised my head from its relaxed posture and accepted the call.

“What?” I barked into the mic.

“The fuck you ended the call for?” The man demanded, his voice coming out harder than it did on the last call, which showed how pissed he was.

“Because we’re done.” I informed him.

“We were not done, I say when we’re done or not.” He informed me.

“Alright.” 

“Now don’t try anything stupid.” The man continued. “We’re done.”

“Don’t make any stupid move too.” I echoed after him.

“You bitch.” He muttered quietly just as he ended the call himself this time.