"So you made all of us to skip our classes for this?" I quizzically looked at Zack who shrugged.
"You want her back or nah?" Zack looked at me and I nodded. "Of course."
"Listen, this is the only way we can get her back." Zack said while glancing at Liam.
The four of us- me, Max, Zack and Liam are sitting in a corner in the library, discussing how to get Charlotte back.
"What's the plan again?" Liam asked.
"We just need to get something against her father which we can use to blackmail him for." Zack said in a serious tone.
"And how are we gonna go that?" Max enquired.
"We just need to break into their house, specifically in Ruth's father's office. I am sure that man is not all clean. There must be something dirty in his business and if we get our hands on that, we'll use it to blackmail him and get Ruth back."
"So.. We will break into their house?" I asked.
He literally just said that.
What's wrong in confirming?
"Yes, Jennifer. Remember last time we went inside the house through Ruth's bedroom window. That's what we'll do this time too. So, we would also require her help in this. Liam and I would go inside and find evidences against him." Zack said, looking all confident in himself.
"But I am sure her father must have increased the security around their house. How will you get inside?" Max asked.
Zack smirked at him before answering. "That's what you two are here for."
My eyes widened.
Oh heck no.
"You want us to distract them while you go inside the house through Charlotte's bedroom window using a ladder and then find her father's office to find evidence against him that you'll use to blackmail him in sending Charlotte with us?" I asked, staring blankly at Zack.
"That's right, babe." He winked at me and my cheeks flushed. Max coughed and Zack came back to his serious self again. "We'll do this tonight." He said and walked off.
The three of us were gaping at each other.
It has been more than a week since they had taken her and I was missing Char so much.
Her straightforwardness and blunt responses are something I absolutely love.
"Aren't we involving Damien in this?" Max asked.
"I'd rather him not. He will tell about this to Celine for sure and she has completely lost my trust. I just want my Char back so I don't want to take any risks." Liam said and started walking towards his class leaving only Max and me alone.
"So.. Wanna hear a cat joke?"
***
"Those men look scary." I whispered to Max who was probably thinking the same judging by the expressions of his face.
We are standing outside Charlotte's mansion at 12 at midnight like ghosts.
"Oh c'mon.. I know you both can do this.. Hopefully." Zack muttered the last word to himself but both Max and I heard him.
"Of course we can." Max held his chin up high and put his hands on his hips.
"C'mon, Jen. Let's do this." He said and started dragging me towards the security.
Before I could protest or even breathe, Max had already called for their attention.
"Hey guys! Come here for a minute, please." he yelled and all the guards pointed their guns at us.
I shivered in fright.
Oh god. I don't want to die so young. I haven't even had my first kiss yet.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" One of the guards yelled back, coming closer to us. I tried to hide behind Max but he started moving closer to them.
What the hell was this boy doing?!
"I don't think you guys know about that." Max said and dramatically sighed, shaking his head in overdramatic disappointment.
No clue what he's doing.
"Know about what?" the other guard said.
By now, all five guards were surrounding us.
"About the ghosts of this mansion, what else." Max stated in a 'duh' tone.
What ghosts?
No idea. Let him do his work. I just want to make it out alive.
"G-ghosts?"
Are they seriously buying this?
Humans are such weird creatures.
"Yes. Before the current owners of this house, the family that used to live here was very ruthless. They were so cruel that they used to kill people just for fun. And do you know? They had two twin kids who were equally cruel. They used to kill animals and decorate the house with their chopped off heads."
What a story Max!
"W-what?"
"S-so.. What happened then?"
One of the guards was sweating and this other one was shivering and hiding behind another guard.
"So, for obvious reasons, the family had a lot of enemies so they had hired.. 1,2,3..5.." Max lowly counted. "5 guards! They had hired 5 security guards to protect them."
I slowly looked around to see what Liam and Zack were doing and saw that they were slowly tiptoeing towards Charlotte's window.
"So what happened then?" the tallest guard asked Max while biting his nails.
"But those guards betrayed them for money that was offered by the family's enemies and killed them all. After that, they stole all the possessions the family had and rumour has it that the family's twin kids, a boy and a girl, roam around the house at night to guard the house. They still haven't accepted their deaths and think that they are protecting their parents from their enemies. And.. " Max looked down and grabbed my hand.
Now that I observe it, I understand why Max told me to wear a white dress. He was wearing a white T-shirt too.
Oh so you guys are the twin ghosts.
Seems like it.
Damn, he's smart.
I know right, never expected Max to be this smart.
"And..?"
"They kill all the other people who try to guard this house in the most brutal way possible because they think that they'll betray them again." Max tried to speak in a deep and rough voice.
"W-what?" I saw that all the guards were standing so close to each other, their guns long forgotten about.
"So.. They are still roaming here around us... Right now?" The shortest guard asked.
Max creepily started laughing and I, not knowing what to do, joined in the creepy laughter too.
The looks of horror on the guards' faces were priceless.
"Don't you see?...... We are the twins." Max said as he creepily tilted his head to one side while grinning at them. I did the same, but while widening my eyes at them for more scary effect.
Two of the guards fainted and one just ran away from there.
The two guards who were left were staring at us while shaking profusely.
I saw that Zack and Liam were no where to be seen.
Which means..
Our work is done.
Max grabbed my hand and we slowly and creepily walked away from there.
When we were away from them, Max led out a heavy sigh as he turned to look at me.
"Those people were such morons. I myself didn't believe my story when I was practising this in front of the mirror." Max said and I giggled.
"Hey.. Giggle louder.. Let's scare them more." Max said and creepily started chuckling.
"No need. Our work is done why do you want to scare them for life?" I said as I nudged him to stop.
"It was fun though."
"It was."
Zack's POV:
I don't know what Max was telling to those guards but it was successful in distracting them.
Liam got the ladder and immediately started climbing it. I joined him too.
He knocked on the window and Ruth pushed away the curtains after a few minutes. Her eyes widened and were filled with tears as soon as she saw Liam. She quickly opened the window and pulled us in.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked us as she hastily closed the window again.
Liam just hugged her tightly and Ruth started crying as she hugged him back.
Bro.. We aren't here for this.
"How have you been, Char?" Liam asked as he cupped her cheeks and stared at her in affection.
This boy is whipped.
You are saying as if you aren't whipped.
Why would I be whipped for Ruth?
I am not talking about Ruth.
Then?
Jennifer.
Um.. Well.... It isn't my fault. She's just so lovely.. I-
Okay. Shut up. I got it.
The two of them started talking to each other while I laid down on Ruth's bed.
"Why are you here?" Ruth asked.
"To get you back, Char." Liam replied.
"But how did you even manage to come up here? Aren't the security-"
"Two names." I cut her off while I showed two of my fingers to her.
"Jennifer and Max." Liam completed for me.
Ruth's eyes lit up on hearing their names. "They're here too?" she asked and Liam nodded.
"I missed Jennifer so much. How has she been while I was gone?" Ruth asked with teary eyes.
"Not fine, Char. It wasn't her who had called the police-"
"I know, Liam. I know it wasn't her." Ruth said with the same confidence as Max when he had said that while supporting Jennifer when Liam was blaming her.
"Well guys.. You can talk all you want once we take her back. For now, can we actually start what we wanted to?"
Let's just get this done with as fast as possible.
Liam explained everything to Ruth and she offered to help us too.
Ruth took us to her father's office which was surprisingly not locked, much to our luck.
We immediately started digging all the drawers and cupboards for something useful.
20 minutes had passed and we still weren't able to find anything. I was growing impatient by each passing second and Liam was getting more and more hopeless but none of us gave up.
"Finally!" I whisper yelled. Liam and Ruth looked at me and I showed them the document.
"Your father sells and imports illegal drugs, Ruth." I smirked at her while she rolled her eyes.
"There's more here." She said while taking out some documents from in between some hidden files in one of the drawers.
"These are the documents of some illegally aquired property from poor people." I said after reading the contents of the document.
"Hey, Zack! Look at this." Liam gave me some more files.
Well, this was interesting. I smirked to myself while they both stared at me, waiting for me to speak.
"Human trafficking. Your father is a big dirty fish, Ruth." I grinned.
"I always knew he was a monster." Ruth said through gritted teeth.
"What's happening here?!"
All three of us turned around to see none other than the monster himself. I looked over at Liam and nodded. He nodded back and the two of us immediately attacked him.
Liam took out the knife he was carrying and placed it at Colin's neck. Poor man looked scared for his life.
"Get some ropes." I told Ruth and started thrashing Colin with my punches until he was getting closer to becoming unconscious.
We tied Colin on a chair while he kept cursing insults at us.
As if we cared. Idiot.
"What the fuck do you want from me?!" he snapped.
"Listen here. We have all the proofs against all of your colorful doings. Just let Ruth come with us and stop bothering her... Or else..." I inched closer to him and grabbed his face in between my fingers and thumb and glared at him. "We'll send all this to the media and police and you will loose all your money, reputation and properties, plus, a long sentence to serve in prison."
He seemed to think about this. Well he can take his time because either way, I was sending these proofs to the media. He's ruined many lives and deserves to be punished.
"Okay, you can take Ruth with you."
"Yeah.. We will. But before that, just sign on this." I handed him a pen and the documents.
"What is this?" he asked. Ruth and Liam were also looking at me in question.
"You are giving up your guardianship for Ruth." I said and they all stared at me. "Zack.. When did you even-" Liam started.
"Do you think I just got this idea today and executed it. I have been planning all this since the last few days." I smirked at them feeling proud of myself.
I am so smart. But no one appreciates me.
After a few more beatings and threatening, Colin finally signed the papers.
I took the documents containing all information about his wonderful doings with me as the three of us started walking out.
"Wait.. Leave those documents here and untie me!" Colin yelled but we just ignored him.
Jennifer's POV:
I saw Zack coming towards us with a smug look on his face. He was carrying some documents with him, running his other hand through his hair, messing them up.
As soon as he saw us, he winked at me, making my heart flutter.
Behind him, I saw them.
Liam and... Charlotte.
As soon as she came closer to us, I ran towards her with full force and jumped on her, engulfing her in a big hug.
"I missed you Char!" I yelled and she chuckled.
"I missed you too, Jen." she smiled at me.
"You.. Aren't mad at me?" I asked looking down at my shoes as I let go of her.
"No silly. Of course not." Charlotte said and hugged me again.
"It's so good to see you again." I said with teary eyes.
"Aw. Don't cry, Jen. I am here and I am not going anywhere again." she said but I saw her eyes shining. She was crying too.
"Hey, Charlotte! You look just like before." Max said as he hugged her.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte's giggled.
"People don't change in a week's time, Max." Liam said while shaking his head in disappointment at his friend.
***
"You guys didn't even tell me anything about this." Damien said after we told him all about our plan. He sounded hurt and I felt so guilty.
As soon as we reached home, Damien and Celine stared at Charlotte in shock.
Celine looked like she had been slapped across the face and both Charlotte and me smirked at her.
"I am sorry Da-" Zack apologised but Damien cut him off. "It's Okay. I understand if you don't trust me anymore." Damien said and walked out of the house.
Zack sighed and followed him out. Max and even Liam looked sad. They have been friends for so long and now he thinks that they don't trust him anymore. But who will tell him that it's Celine we don't trust.
"I am going after them too." Max said and followed after Zack.
Charlotte went towards Celine and smirked at her stupid face.
"I am back." She said and Celine's face immediately fell.
"And you will pay for what you did." Liam said as he went towards Celine and wrapped his arms around Charlotte's waist.