The Two Families

Chapter Twenty-Six

Luka's POV:

Sofia stood paralysed, with her phone in her hand. My mouth hung open in shock and confusion. What did they do to Laura to make her switch like that?  Eventually, Sofia came to her senses.

"No, impossible," she breathed.

"Sofia-" I started.

"No!" Sofia yelled, "Laura said vlákas."

"So?" I asked.

"Don't you remember vlákas was a code word established in case any of us were in trouble, but we couldn't say anything?" Sofia explained.

I wracked my brain, trying to recall this. I remembered the four of us's discussion that we should have a word that could indicate danger and the remaining people should devise a plan if required. Relief flowed through my body, finally letting go of the breath I was holding in. Immediately, my brain starting thinking of ways to get Laura out of there with minimum damage.

"You're thinking of something, aren't you? I know that look," Sofia smiled.

I furrowed my brow, nodding slightly. Sofia grinned, "that's the brother, I know."

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Aarina insisted that she'd take an Uber home, not letting me drop her. The moment we reached home, Sofia and I ran up the stairs, barging into Marcus's room. Sofia jumped straight onto Marcus, who groaned, throwing her onto the floor. I laughed as Sofia sat on the floor, looking offended.

"Laura is okay!" Sofia screamed.

Marcus stared at her, confused and dazed before registering the information. He shot up, "what?!"

I could hear slow footsteps behind me. I turned around to see our parents standing at the doorway, half asleep. 

"What is all the noise about?" My mother asked, forcing her eyes open. Sofia jolted up, running towards our parents and throwing her arms around them, "Laura is okay! Well kind of!"

"Wait, how do you know?" Our father asked.

"She called," I informed.

"What?!" Marcus yelled again.

Sofia explained everything in detail to the rest of our family, who listened in silence. Once Sofia finished, everyone was stunned. Not wanting to waste time, I began explaining my plan to them, hoping they would help me fill the holes in my plan.

"We are finally getting her back," Sofia beamed, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Yes we are, baby," our mother replied, rubbing Sofia's arm.

Everyone dispersed, going back into their rooms. I didn't feel sleepy at all, so I made my way downstairs, sitting outside on the house's stairs. I took a deep breath in. We are finally getting Laura back. I laughed. A cold blast of wind attacked me, rippling my clothes. Shivering, I stood up, making my way back inside the house, going up the stairs into my room. 

I took off my clothes, throwing on grey sweatpants, not bothered to search for a shirt. I crawled into bed, wishing I could speed up time to make it Thursday. It was only Sunday. Laura needed to survive a few more days; then everything would go back to normal. Something in me told me that things would not be going back to normal any time soon.

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"Sir, we are losing sales rapidly," Aiza informed, panic evident in her voice. She walked beside me as I made my way across the lobby of Marino Investors. She kept handing me files that showed our decrease in stocks and investors. I swore under my breath. 

"That's not the worst part sir," She said, handing me another file. I looked at her before taking the file. I opened it, reading its contents. I stopped in my tracks looking at Aiza, "no..."

"They threatened the public," She said, "they said they need to see her; otherwise they'll close down Zika's for good. That would definitely tank our business as well."

"Laura told her workers that if she was gone for three days without any word, they should announce that Zika's is closing," I rubbed my eyes.

"She's smart," Aiza sighed.

"Too smart. Do you think Hideo saw the video they released?" I asked.

"I can get our IT experts to track all the IP addresses that viewed the video," she said.

"How long?" 

"Two hours, sir."

"Make it one."

Aiza called our technical analysts down at IT and told them to start working on hacking the servers immediately. 

"I know their networks are secure, bypass it, or you'll lose your jobs," Aiza yelled at the phone, "I don't care how strong the firewalls are, get me the information."

Laura had bragged about how she hired the best security team and that nobody would be able to hack into her systems. Aiza kept yelling at the phone, threatening them with their jobs. Eventually, she ended the call, huffing and mumbling about useless people. Aiza followed me upstairs to my office, explaining the decrease in sales and the increase in sales for the Japanese Mafia.

"Get Aarina here," I told Sienna, our receptionist. I held the door open to the meeting room, only to be greeted by Sofia and Marcus. I nodded, pulling a chair for Aiza.

"Such a gentleman," Sofia teased. She laughed when I rolled my eyes.

"All our shipments are being called back," Marcus said.

"How come?" Sofia asked.

"No idea...our sales plummeted, and the Japanese's skyrocketed," Aiza replied.

"You don't think Laura..." Marcus started.

"No! Impossible. She would never," Sofia interrupted.

"It could be a survival tactic," I added.

Aiza got a message that made her eyes widened, "look at this."

Aiza connected her phone to the projector, showing a video of Laura smiling, informing her staff that everything was okay and not to shut down Zika's. She looked completely fine to an outsider, but I could clearly see the light in her eyes died. Her smile wasn't genuine; it was forced. She looked tired despite her clear face. The same eyes that once twinkled with happiness and excitement now were dim and broken.

"No...No, this isn't my Laura," Sofia shook her head, "this isn't her." Tears began to form in her eyes, "what did they do to her?"