Riley marched towards the computer room as soon as she entered her work place.
Casey had sounded anxious when she spoke to her the day before, which made Riley curious as to what she had found. Was it about the brothels? Her biological parents?
Riley would much rather prefer it to be about the brothels, is she was being honest. She didn't want anything more to do with her biological parents.
She stayed up all night thinking how to break the news to them, should she just ghost them? It didn't seem right. Laura might be devastated if she learns her daughter had ghosted her.
Grrr. Riley groaned in annoyance. Why did she even care about how Laura feels?
Her conversation with Zach made her wonder if Vincent was neglectful with Max too. But it wouldn't make sense. They seem close the two times she saw them together. And considering how Vincent had told him that Riley was pretending to have lost her memories, it was easy to push that thought aside.
But would Laura really just brush it off? If she said what happened to Lillian?
She couldn't see that happening- but she couldn't see Laura divorcing her husband either. The edges of her upper lip curled up in aversion.
Or maybe it was easier to picture her in a bad light since Riley didn't want to feel guilty for 'abandoning' the one that gave birth to her.
"Casey's not here yet?" Riley asked Sean- who was in the room- looking around the room for the familiar face.
"No. It's surprising, she left quite early yesterday." Sean replied, with a frown.
Riley nodded in response. Riley had a bad feeling about it. Casey hadn't been late even a single day ever since she had joined the FBI, though it was like her to leave work early when she had nothing to do- but her call yesterday, begged to differ.
"Did we manage to find the girl?" Riley asked, sitting on in one of the revolving chairs in the room.
"I think you left your brain at home, we already know her location, since the Instagram post was linked with the brothel's location." Sean said before jogging a stack of papers against the table top, to create a perfect alignment amongst them.
Riley thinned her lips when she heard him. Why did she feel like she had just been dissed?
She maintained that expression as she watched him leave the room, before rolling her eyes and leaning against the chair.
She wondered when Casey would come? Riley had been tossing and turning all night, trying to arrive to a conclusion why Casey would call her last night. The conversation just felt weird.
As Riley was deep in her thoughts, the door of the room was slammed open by Casey- startling Riley.
"You're here." Casey panted out, seeing Riley with her back stiffened.
"Breathe."
Casey followed Riley's instruction and took a few deep breaths. She overslept after staying awake half the night trying to dig more information about Riley's biological family.
"You won't believe this." Casey stated with a serious look- that was starting to freak Riley out.
Riley looked worried. What was it about? She thought in anticipation. But she couldn't help but be a little concerned too. She had never seen Casey be so horrified of something.
"Your biological family used to run an illegal human experimentation program."
Riley blinked once. Trying to process the information. Twice. Wondering it was a joke. Thrice. Not finding it funny.
Alright, Vincent may not be the best person in the world, but this?! This was not true. At all! Riley couldn't imagine Vincent playing with human lives so carelessly!
Casey chewed her lower lip as she looked at her friend, nervously.
"What?" Riley asked, trying to confirm if what she heard was true.
It most certainly can't be! Vincent, running a human experiment program? Haha, yea right! He had gotta be one of the most law abiding citizens, if you don't take into consideration how he was towards Lillian.
"Your grandfather to be more specific." Casey said in a cautious tone. This must be a hard pill for anyone to digest.
Riley heaved a sigh of relief. Atleast Vincent didn't have anything to do with it...
"What about Vincent? Was he- in any way- connected to it?" Riley asked nervously. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she received an affirmation.
"Not to my knowledge." Casey admitted, shaking her head. "He put a stop to it about 38 years ago, after his father passed away." She informed her, fishing out her phone to show Riley the article she found.
Riley took Casey's phone and read the article. How Vincent managed to kick out the major powers in the company and gain the trust of his subordinates by effectively managing the company and stopping his late father's illegal activities.
The company suffered major losses for two consecutive years, while Vincent was just in his early 20s, before it slowly recovered. Vincent's intellect surely helped in preventing the company from going bankrupt.
It talked about how he somehow managed to convince one of the most influential person at the time to take a risk and invest in his company, leading to it's even faster growth.
The person that invested in the once failing now thriving company was Carl's father- Vincent's late best friend and business partner.
It made Riley wonder whether Carl was actually Vincent's friend, or if he did it as a favor to Carl's father.
The paper also mentioned how the two Black's weren't close and how his father would leave him alone all the time to go on business trips, and in return Vincent didn't attend his father's funeral.
Vincent received hate for that decision with one person going as far as to say 'he should've just attend the funeral. It was his father, the one who fed and clothed him all these years! If I had such an ungrateful son like him, it wouldn't be a surprise why I died an early death.' Clearly everyone forgot about the late Black's illegal activities as soon as his death.
Vincent's father was famous for his intellect and generous nature, and hence had a lot of supporters. So when the news of his human experimentation program got leaked, the people were divided. There were people who either didn't belive it or assumed he did it for medical purposes or that people were spreading rumors to destroy theur reputation- which Vincent used to his advantage.
He destroyed the experimentation lab, but it was done in private and he didn't clarify what happened behind closed doors- leading many people to belive that it was just a rumor since Vincent destroyed all evidence of it's existence in the newspaper and after a few years, everyone forgot it even happened.
Although the company WAS effected seriously, it managed to stay afloat for two years before recovering completely.
Riley frowned, when she read the last paragraph.
Guess someone didn't have the best childhood either....
"How did you manage to find it?" Riley asked in a quiet tone.
"Internet." Casey said, with a guilty look on her face.
"You used the dark web, didn't you?" Riley accused her, glaring at her and knew her assumption was right when Casey gave her a sheepish look. "You promised, you'd stay away from it."
Hacking is Casey's speciality, and she had been hacking since she was 15 years old. First it was for money, then it became more serious. She started messing with dangerous people just for the fun of it when she was 23. It's a wonder she had managed to survive for so long!
She was thrown in the prison after someone managed to track her down, but the FBI definitely had use for someone with a skill like hers- and that's how she became a government worker. Provided she never uses her knowledge the wrong way again.
"I just needed to check it's authenticity." Casey explained, defensive.
"And there was no other way?"
"No."
Riley narrowed her eyes at Casey.
"Why are you showing me this?" She asked. This had nothing to do with the case anyways, so why was Casey wasting her time to look into these things?
"Remember the scar faced man? I found some dirt on him, his elder brother used to work in the illegal experimentation." Casey said, pulling a chair from the side and sitting in front of Riley.
"...so he kidnapped me as revenge?" Riley wondered out loud, furrowing her eyebrows together in confusion. But it didn't make sense. Why wait 14 years to get revenge? He could've easily kidnapped Max, after all he was born 4 years after Vincent put an end to the research operations.
"His brother was in jail for a decade, and was released early due to good behavior." She informed Riley- who simply nodded trying to find connection between everything.
That'd explain why he didn't go for Max. And how old was Scarface when this all happened? In the clear picture she had of him, he was most likely in his late 30s or mid 40s. He kidnapped her when he was in his teens?
Her insides churned at the assumption.
Was he a pawn? His brother was behind everything?
"Did you find his brother's picture?"
Casey nodded her head in response. She believed Scarface was using a different name, hence why she couldn't find him but she managed to get her hands on his real identity and family background.
"It's no use. He died two years after his release. That's around the time we lost track of Mr. Scarface."
Wheels turned in Riley's head.
"It's not a coincidence, but I can't find a reason behind his brother's death. Police believed his death was related to gang activity." Casey stated what was in Riley's mind and what she found about him on dark web. She had a friend there who gave her information about people in least amount of time.
"A teenager can't have enough power to kidnap a newborn from the hospital." Riley stated, placing a finger against her chin. "What about his parents?"
"Their mother's dead body was found a week after you were born." Casey said, shaking her head. His parents definitely weren't the ones that helped him.
"Father?" Riley nodded her head at the new information and nodded.
"Not in the picture."
"Vincent's enemies?"
"That seems more likely. But he has dozens of them. It isn't enough to pinpoint who is the actual perpetrator."
So they had to find someone who hates Vincent and knew of Scarface. But why him specifically? It'd make a lot of sense if the enemy was someone from the illegal human experiment program.
"Maybe.." Casey started with a grim look. "We should ask Vincent?" She suggested, hesitantly, scratching the back of her head.
Riley swiftly shot the suggestion down. That wasn't even an option!
But if they were to play the guessing game or find dirt on every single one of them then it will take months if not years!
"I will ask Lillian." Riley said, after thinking it through.
Of course, she wouldn't tell Vincent that he had twins but... just something that will give them a clue on who the actual mastermind behind the kidnapper was.
~~~
"You're home early." Riley noticed when she found Lillian sitting on the dining chair with her laptop on the table, surprise evident in her tone.
"We didn't have much work to do." Lillian said in brief as she analyzed the data of a company she wanted to invest in on the computer.
"Right." Riley breathed out, walking towards the table and sitting across her doppelganger.
Lillian looked at Riley through the corner of her eyes as she sat across her, detecting she was going to say something.
She went back to looking at the data before her when Riley didn't say what was on her mind, bugging her. Maybe she wanted some time...
Was it about Vincent? She wondered.
She has almost never seen Riley riled up or looking guilty and hesitant unless it was connected with Vincent.
"Did you know Vincent's father used to run an illegal human experimentation program?" Riley rushed out in one breath as soon as she gathered enough courage to do so and tried to gauge Lillian's expression.
She didn't even know why she still bothered to read Lillian's expression, since she had never once succeeded. Maybe it was her detective self coming to the surface. Or her nosy self.
Lillian thought about it for a couple seconds before shaking her head.
Now that she recalled, she had never met her father's family. Or her mother's- though she had heard of them occasionally when she used to live with them.
Her mother was a twin too- if she wasn't wrong. She had a twin brother, who passed away due to overdose.
Apparently he went into debt to finance his addiction and caused a chaos in his sister's house- making Laura settle his debt for him, although reluctantly so as to not stress Vincent out.
This led to him getting the idea of creating a scene in front of the house and giving interviews to the press about how distant she had been as soon as she married a rich man, whenever he needed money.
Laura ended up paying for his lifestyle just to shut him up- annoyed with his behavior, but she didn't want him to ruin Vincent's reputation either. And she felt really guilty when he ended up overdosing.
Her mother all but abandoned her after his death. And her father still visited them- but Lillian wasn't too sure about it.....
"How bad was it?" Lillian asked, moving the laptop away from her.
Why would anyone even experiment on human beings? That's.... not nice.
"Really bad." Riley grimaced as she recalled a couple photos Casey managed to pull out of the dark web.
So gruesome. So bloody.
Riley shuddered thinking about it, the hair on her body rising up as she felt a wave of cool breeze hit her sensitive skin.
"The brother of the man who kidnapped me used to work in that program."
Lillian nodded her head, indicating she was listening as Riley continued
"He was sent to prison and died 2 years later. And we can't find any information on Mr. Scarface after that." She succinctly narrated the story.
"He killed his brother?" Lillian asked, tilting her head to the side.
Riley wondered about the possibility for a moment. Right, they had never thought of it. But if it was true then why didn't the police find any clue? False witness?
"We are not really sure of that..." Riley trailed off as she wondered, trying to find any reason it couldn't have been him. Teenagers can be vicious creatures, at times...
"Well, there's a chance that there is someone behind him. And he may be one of Vincent's enemies- who also used to work in those operations."
"You're asking me if I know him?" Lillian asked, pointing towards herself, feeling humor bubble inside her.
She can hardly remember who she is related too, and Riley expects her to know who this stranger is! It felt funny to her.
"No." Riley repeatedly said, shaking her head violently with a funny face. Goodness gracious no.
Vincent has plenty of enemies, how will Lillian know all of them?
"I just wanted to ask, if there was any way I can find out who used to work in the illegal experimentation?" Riley asked, biting her lower lip and pulling her long sleeves to her wrist, feeling awkward all of a sudden.
As much as Riley liked to deny Lillian even knew Vincent, she did spend 16 years of her life with him. She must've picked something about him that might be useful in her quest.
Truth is, Lillian did know of a way. But she wasn't sure she wanted to tell Riley that.
It might destroy even the little relationship Riley managed to build with Vincent- if not the whole family. Well maybe except Laura, as she highly doubted Vincent would tell her what she had in mind.
"You do know a way!" Riley exclaimed, excited but warily.
Lillian rested her chin on her knuckles as she assessed Riley. Should she tell her or not? She asked herself.
Vincent was very paranoid and didn't trust people easily, hence why Lillian highly doubted he'd even belive Riley if she used the rape as a excuse to extract informations from him. But he definitely wouldn't want Laura to know, if it did, indeed, turn out to be true. So if they used it as a threat Vincent will provide Riley with the information she needed.
Thanks to his paranoia, Lillian had learnt when she was a child that he maintained a diary with everyone's information he interacted with. Or the ones he mainly knows of.
She accidentally stumbled on it when she went to visit him in his office but didn't find him there, instead she managed to find a diary. As a curious child she flipped across the pages, that was filled with photos of unfamiliar people and with writings below it, till she managed to find a photo of hers in there.
It only contained her name and age, hence Lillian isn't sure whether it'd be of any help to Riley or not.
Riley can simply ask Vincent, but she highly doubted she'd do it. Riley simply liked taking the high road.
"It's not a good one." Lillian simply stated.
"Tell me. Please." Riley asked in a broken tone, making her appear pitiful and miserable.
Lillian thought about it for a second. It was a difficult choice to make. Her mind is definitely the workshop of the devil. How can someone even think of this vile idea?
"You might ruin your relationship with Vincent." Lillian said in a monotone, which she hoped sounded like she was warning her.
Riley scoffed when she heard that.
There was no relationship to break! Did Lillian think that she still wanted to be part of their family. Shame and guilt prickled her insides.
"I don't want to be their daughter." Riley stated, sulking as she looked down at her lap. Too embarrassed to look at her sister.
Well, Lillian wasn't expecting that. But it still felt wrong taking advantage of Vincent's past carelessness to threaten him.
"Why?" All of a sudden. Lillian could've sworn she desired to be part of their family. Did something happen?
Riley shrugged in response. What was she supposed to say? That she finally opened her eyes and saw how much it'd hurt everyone around her?
Though she had lingering mixed feelings about Laura, she didn't want to waste anymore of her feelings on her.
It wasn't fair, but life isn't fair.
"You know father asked, if everything was OK when I was a kid. I just didn't say anything. And it isn't his fault he trusted the wrong people to work for him." Lillian said. She didn't want Riley to regret it because of her. Any reason would be better than that.
Though it wasn't the entire story, he did asked if everything was OK the last time she entered his office as a kid.
"I don't care. It just isn't because of you. I.... we are not really that close. Me and Vincent. And Laura, she is like a high school friend. And I am not in touch with any of my high school friends.
You're.. just supposed to say goodbye to some people in your life sometimes." Though she felt a strange sort of connection to Laura, it wasn't hard to pretend it didn't exist. And it's only a matter of time she even forgets she had any feelings for Laura.
"Do you want too?" Lillian asked.
"Hmmm. Maybe?" Riley said in an unsure tone and pursed her lips. "Now, you tell me how should I convince Vincent to help me."
"I'm not sure of convincing. My way is through threatening him." Lillian stated nonchalantly.
Riley's eyes sparkled.
"Even better." This way she can ensure that Vincent will try his best to prevent Laura from communicating with her in the future. Well, perhaps except the civil interactions she'd need have when she was with Alex.
"Threaten Vincent that you'll tell Laura that I was raped."
That caught Riley off guard and she almost fell from the chair.
She coughed, hoping she heard her wrong. It's wasn't the most ethical or morally right method. Riley really didn't have any other options to choose from. She was backed into a corner since she didn't want to explicitly ask Vincent for help or state the real reason why she wanted informations.
When she was a cop and had to deal with sexual assault victims, there were 3 categories- 1) who didn't want anyone to know what they were forced to go through, 2) those who wanted revenge and 3) those who didn't care about anything, indifferent to their surroundings- probably still in shock after what they went through.
"You serious?" Riley asked, bewildered. Although she wanted Vincent to know of the consequences Lillian had to suffer because of his actions, she wasn't sure whether this was the right way.
And it felt like a private matter that she had no business disclosing to anyone.
Lillian nodded. If she wasn't sure she wouldn't have suggested. Maybe it was wrong...
"Try asking him whether he will give you the data of the people who used to work there first."
The thought of Riley barging into his office to threaten him to give her the information.... yea, that just seems bad overall. And certainly not like she had been actually raped, just a means of threat to get her way.
"He might have the data? Like with him?" Riley asked. She had thought that he'd have to ask someone to look into it before providing her with it.
"Yea."
Vincent never trusted others to keep classified informations with someone else. Though she was oblivious, she did know a few things about Vincent.
But if he didn't have any information about those people who used to work there... she wasn't sure if anyone else would.
~~~~
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I just want to ask how the story is so far since I personally feel like this story is dragging a little now 😅. What are your thoughts?