Back in Hannah's apartment, the three siblings were gathering around the dining table, as Jake was turning on his computer. The sounds of multiple devices made it sound like they were in an office. Lilly peeked over Jake's shoulder, looking curious.
Jake cracked his knuckles then shook his fingers before sitting closer to the table.
"Are you two ready now?" Jake asked.
Hannah and Lilly took out their phones. Hannah bit her lower lip, looking a bit unsure, in comparison to Lilly who seemed much more enthusiastic.
"And you sure he won't suspect a thing? He won't know we are trying to hack him?" Hannah asked.
Jake smiled, sipping his coffee, which will help him stay awake. "Nope, he won't know, I will make sure of it. You two just try to hack his cloud. Meanwhile I will try hack his security system, based on the location provided by Poke. This will be more difficult, which is why I will do the task."
Lilly examined her screen. "Wow and this is how Lia hacked Hannah's cloud? It's actually fun," she moved her finger along on the screen, decrypting the cloud storage, using the tool Jake provided.
"Yeah..." Hannah didn't seemed to thrilled when she got reminded that Lia and Jake had access to her cloud for quite a while. Not that she had anything to hide, and she was still grateful for the amount of effort those two went through to help her, but hacking her cloud wasn't something she was thrilled about.
She hasn't forget about them hacking also her phone. Oh well, it was water under the bridge now, Hannah thought.
Now she is trying to hack a notorious ringleader. The thought of that also doesn't sit well with her. Unlike her, this man does has a lot to hide, and she bet those weren't good things. This immediately made her worried as she glanced towards Lilly, who was now having so much fun with the cloud hack tool.
"Ehm Jake, what are we supposed to find? You do realize that this man is a criminal. We might find something that is... very bad to look at," Hannah's words caught Jake's attention, as he stopped typing and looked back at her.
"You are right, I was careless to forget about that. I suggest you two do not open any of the files or data you decrypt in his cloud storage. Immediately send it to me. I will take care of it, in this way, you won't find anything inappropriate that could scar you."
Lilly furrowed her brows while still being glued to her screen, her fingers kept moving and Hannah saw that she got quite far with the decryption. "What do you mean Jake?"
Jake paused for a second before answering. "To make it short, there could be pictures of beaten up people, kidnapped people, or worse, a dead body."
Lilly's eyes went wide, and her phone slipped from her fingers.
"No!" she tried to grab it, but it fell on the ground, the decryption got ruined and she had to start over again.
"No, I was so close," she mumbled in annoyance. "Damn it, now I have to start all over again."
Jake smiled seeing her reaction, and his mind wandered of, as he remembered how Lia would often complain to him that some levels were too difficult for her to pass, but he would always encourage her to continue and try again.
Lia: If only sometimes I have an extra move or didn't had to wait until the system restarts, I could also have more fun with it
Jake: You can do it. I have full confidence in you. Little miss detective :)
Lia: Well you can't get far without me, so I can't stop now can I? 😉
Jake: I won't deny that.
Lia: I'm happy to hear that 🤭
Jake: You seem quite easily to get happy around me.
Lia: Am I that obvious?
Jake: No, sometimes you are a mystery, but I like finding out more about you.
Lia: And I want to find out more about you too... for example...
Jake: Yes Lia?
Lia: Sorry, I wasn't sure if I could ask this question about you
Jake: Ask me anyway.
Lia: Well
Jake had dreamy look on his face, remembering the small conversations he shared with Lia, when he realized, his sisters were both now looking at him, snickering a little.
"I suggest we continue with our tasks," he cleared his throat. His sisters continued with the decryption, the corners of their mouths still upwards.
Jakes fingers typed fast on his keyboard, while trying hard to focus. The only other effect his memories with Lia had on him, has made him painfully aware that he misses her very much. He already missed her before she was kidnapped, but now he misses her even more, accompanied with loads of worries and fears about her safety and wellbeing. He admitted to himself that it was not a good combination, and he already felt the effects weighing down on his mental and physical health, despite having a longer sleep earlier.
Hours went by, and the Donfort girls have been encrypting quite some data now from Mike's cloud. Every data was sent to Jake's chat immediately, and Jake took some time analyzing them. Some data were irrelevant to their investigation, but two data has been proven to be more than interesting. First was a map leading to the location in which Lia is held captive, the other was a photo.
"This is interesting," Jake said after Lilly has sent him the photo. Both the girls looked up from their phones.
Jake waved to them to get closer, he showed his monitor to them. There was a picture of woman who was crossing the street, looking to her left.
"That's the sister of Mike, she looks older now, so I guess this was taken not so long ago. Apparently this was taken from quite a distance, and it looks like she was unaware of the person who took this picture," Jake assumed.
"You think Mike took that picture without his sisters' knowledge?" Hannah asked.
"That's highly possible," Jake leaned back. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, Hannah and Lilly both exchanged looks.
"I guess, we can discern three things out from this: one, Mike and his sister are still not in contact with each other, two Mike can't let go of the past, which is proven by his secretive behavior-"
"You mean stalkerish," Lilly added.
"Three, this clearly has something to do with Lia's kidnapping. Meaning not only does he want to use me as a financial source, but he wants to take revenge on me," Jake puts his hands together, looking more serious now.
"Wasn't that obvious before? I mean based on your story, he blamed you for losing the only family member he was close with. I had a feeling the end had vengeful vibes, after you told us the story," Hannah asked.
"I was still not sure back then, but now, I can say Lia is being used to take revenge on me. Which makes this matter even more personal than I thought," Jake replied.
"Poor Lia," Lilly said. Hannah looked at the picture.
"Then all the more reason to move forward with the plan as fast as possible," she said, with a determined look on her face.
Lilly nodded and they both went back to their tasks. Jake went back on typing commands on his computer, when Lilly whispered something to Hannah.
"Boy am I glad we have a brother like Jake, and not like Mike," she nudged her sister.
Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I am very glad indeed."
A couple of hours later, the church bell of Duskwood can be heard, striking two times. Hannah put down her phone, stretched a little, then declared that she was going to cook some lunch for the three of them. Jake nodded and Lilly cheerfully agreed.
Not long after, Hannah came back and prepared the living room table, as the dining table was still full of Jake's electrical equipment. After everything was done, Hannah called Lilly and Jake for lunch, and they all sat on the couch as Hannah gave them plates full of pasta.
"Here, I'm not that great with cooking but I think I'm not bad when it comes with cooking pasta," she beamed.
"It's actually good, I am not a fan of olives, but you managed to make it taste good with this tomato sauce," Jake smiled after trying it.
"Just wait until you try her lasagne! Best lasagne ever!" Lilly chimed in.
"Sure, I can make it whenever you want Jake," Hannah offered. "Once we rescued Lia, I will cook it for the both of you."
Jake nodded, his eyes shadowed with a hint of sadness. He wondered what Lia was eating today. Has she eaten today? Jake hoped with all of his heart.
"And me?" Lilly asked dumbfounded.
"You too of course. It will be a special dinner just for the Donforts."
"Eh, Lia is not a Donfort," Lilly corrected her sister before taking another bite of pasta.
"For now," Hannah said, and she winked at her brother. Jake coughed a little and his cheeks looked as red as Hannah's tomato sauce, as Lilly let out a giggle.
After having lunch (Hannah looked pleased that her skinny brother even took a second portion, but looked sad when Jake commented that it has been years since he eat home cooked meals) and honey melon for desserts, the three went back to continue with their work.
It has been a while when Jake suddenly let out a triumphantly chuckle, which startled his sisters.
"I made it," he said and leaned back as he let out a deep breath.
His sisters got up and ran towards him. The three are now looking on the monitors screen. Multiple live feed cameras showed the insides and outside of some building that resembled a warehouse.
Lilly's mouth hung open, and Hannah hugged her brother. "You did it Jake! I know I have said it before so many times, but you are a genius!"
"You actually managed to hack into Mike's cameras. That's amazing," Lilly examined each live feed.
"And now... let's see if we can find Lia," Jake said in a more serious tone.
They all went silent as they watched the live feed with full attention. The cameras switched to other live feeds every couple of seconds. Then Jake's eyes went wide and he immediately had to stand up, making his chair fell backwards.
In one of the live feeds, Lia could be seen being pushed by Mike towards a door.
Lilly let out a tearful sigh of relief. Hannah rubbed Jake's shoulder.
"She is alive and looking alright," she whispered. Her words only reached Jake halfway, as his eyes started to water.
Lia looked defeated, disheveled, her legs seemed to be weak as she kept stumbling, but other than that she looked alright. Jake was overwhelmed by his urge to reach out to her and take her away from Mike and all other harms that separate them. Mike opened the door, leading out of the hallway and the camera switched to somewhere else.
"Oh come on!" Lilly shouted. Jake quickly clicked his mouse and the camera now showed the insides of the warehouse in which Lia was being led to a shed with a barred door as an entrance, forcing Lia to get in by pushing her. Jake clenched his fists.
Of course there was a camera inside the shed, so Jake, Lilly and Hannah were able to see how Lia looked around her new prison, Mike said something, and Lia replied back, but there were no sounds.
"Do the cameras don't pick any sounds?" Lilly asked.
"Give me a moment," Jake went back on typing a couple of commands.
Just as when Mike locked the barred door, the three could hear him saying, "Then I will just sell you."
They all looked at the screen in shock, when Lia looked visibly shaken by his words. When he left, Lia covered her face.
"Oh my God..." was all Hannah could say.
"Did he mean it? That he could go and sell Lia, just like that?" Lilly asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Jake said trough his gritted teeth. "But I won't let that happen."
"Nor won't I!" Lilly exclaimed. "Even if I have to decrypt every single file on his God damn cloud!" and with that she went to the couch and furiously continued with her hacking tool.
Hannah examined her brother who was now slumped on his chair, his eyes glued on the screen where Lia was now visibly sobbing and looking around her prison in despair. He traced his fingers on the screen as if he was trying to comfort her. It was in vain, as Lia fell on her floor, crying.
Hannah wanted to say a few encouraging words, wanting to tell Jake that she and the others will do absolutely everything necessary to rescue her. That he can put his faith in them and Lia to survive this ordeal. That everything will be okay and that she will be the first to wanting to see the two reunite. But her brother seemed so crushed, that she could not say anything, so instead she gripped Jake's shoulder, squeezing it tightly, then went to join Lilly.
Jake stared at the screen and he felt as if a knife was plunged deep into his heart. Seeing Lia suffering was agony that almost drove him to madness. He felt guilty as he failed to protect her from the harms caused by his existence.
Jake closed his eyes.
He may have failed to protect her, but he cannot and absolutely won't fail to save her.
And with that he felt a new determination in his heart. He rose from his seat and his eyes were filled with an intense rage. The same rage and determination he felt when he first fought against the government. Back then, he crossed a line he could never retract from. And just as back then, he became a completely different person.
"Alright, you asked for this Mike, I won't hold back myself anymore. This is now between you and me. You should have never touched Lia," Jake whispered coldly as he saw Mike smoking outside the shed, close to the barred window, where he could listen to Lia crying. A menacing smile was plastered on his face as he exhaled smoke from his cigarette.
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A.N.: Hey everyone, thanks for reading this far. Because of personal reasons, I may not be uploading as consistant as before, but I will still try my best. If I wasn't able to upload on time, I will compensate it with a longer chapter.
Also, for anyone who is interested, chapter 4 of Lacrimosa has just been uploaded as well. Happy weekend! :)