RUVÉE DIDN'T CARE AT ALL whether or not I was comfortable with her decision when she decided to make sure to leave Travis and I alone in the same room, unsupervised. She said that the two of us should work out our differences before actually getting to work because holding personal feelings will be even more difficult in getting the job done.
There was no way I could go against the order of my boss so I did stay but at least Travis could've left with them, having to see that he's the client and not me. But instead, he sat down right after shaking hands with Ruvée, Alex, and the other agents.
I tried to get Alex to stay but he just shrugged, giving me a kiss on the cheek before leaving. That action was intentional, making sure that I'd be in question by Travis about that.
Fuck.
"So, who's Gabriel?" His brow was raised, hands playing with the folder in front of him.
He must think he's crazy if he's ever going to make me talk about my life to him ever again.
I chuckled humorlessly, shaking my head. He merely stared at me, his eyes in recognition that I wasn't the same as he left. "This is not happening. My boss wants us to set aside our differences for this job. Okay, I'll make sure there will be no fighting in my part just as long as you agree to never question anything about my life because this, Mr. Mason, is work and this is how I do it. Without getting personal to the clients, it'll be easier to finish and we can all put this behind. So, tomorrow night at eight-thirty in the evening, I will meet you at Pino's, I'll make a reservation under your name, we'll have the table by the window, be sure to be earlier than I am. Other agents will be there to pick you up, is this understood?"
Still silent, he nodded.
"Good," I stood up, taking the folder I was given. "Make sure to leave where you came from, your bodyguards will be standing by the other side and will take you back where you should be right now. Continue as if you've never been here. Goodbye, Mr. Mason."
Never looking back, I walked out of the room, making sure to shut the door quickly so that no other agents could see who was inside.
Alex was sitting at my chair when I came inside my office. I flipped him off and he laughed. "That took shorter than I thought. Did you hurt him again? Because if you did, my mom, our boss, would definitely not be happy."
"Unfortunately, no," I answered. "I just talked about how we shouldn't try and be friends. I'm an agent and this is a job—one I'd like to finally close by putting a bullet in between Stein's eyes."
"So did he ask about Gabriel?" My blank look that I gave him was enough answer. "And you decided to unleash the coldness of Agent Alexander, huh?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't even know what I was thinking—immediately talking about Gabriel like that. Sure, each one inside the room except for Travis and his bodyguards knew that I have a son and I have nothing to worry but I'd rather have Travis not wonder who he is and that was extremely unprofessional."
Alex shrugged, waving dismissively about it like I had nothing to worry about. "I talked to mom right after we left you guys inside. She said that since you will be exposed and paparazzi will try to go after your family too, Gabriel could stay with Ruvée for the meantime, and as for your brother, his wife, and her sister, she said that you should talk to them and if they don't want to go through the risks, tell them that they'll have to consume different identities for a while, live out of town too."
Nodding, I decided to sit at the chair in front of my table. "Catalina's safe. She decided to shift to another college for her second year, farther than the one that she used to go to. But, I'll have Adri call her and talk about it when I tell the couple after work. Now, can we please go to the training room and shoot some targets?"
Alex stood up, walking towards me, and holding out his hand. "Come on then, Agent Alexander."
I took it. "With pleasure, Agent Ferris."
We ended up spending about three hours at the training room and then we decided to call in a meeting with Henry, Polly, and Edward, to discuss about the plan.
"So, I made plans already for tomorrow night, a date to get the paparazzi capturing us," I stated, observing each one of them. "And since you guys are going to be his bodyguards, I told him that you'll know where to go which is Pino's. I was also planning—"
"Lucky," Polly, with her bright blue eyes, rolled them at me. She was fixing up her blonde hair up in a ponytail when she said, "you get to act like a girlfriend around with the man who was voted as Hunk of the Year. I mean, did you guys really date?"
My brows furrowed. "Since when did our meetings become a gossip line?"
"Well, did you?" Henry asked the same thing, staring intently at me. "There's nothing wrong with answering a simple question. Besides, if we're all going to work with one another, we know that secrets won't make us work and will fuck us up. So, answer the question, Sam."
Scoffing, I looked to Alex for help but instead, he agreed, gesturing for me to tell them. Rolling my eyes like what Polly did, I nodded. "Yes, we dated in our senior high. It ended badly that's why I decided to knee him in the gut, which you probably figured out."
"Wow, a billionaire," Edward, soon, joined in. He was never much a talker except when we would work with him, but now, this was a different side. He's getting in on it. "I guess you now have regrets on not locking it down with him after high school huh?"
They snickered, as if I was the one who lost. Before I can even pass them a snide comment, Alex was already doing it for me. "You all have had your fun. Now, shut the fuck up because we all know that if one of us lose our shit, it's going to get ugly. Remember, the two of us have higher ranking than the three of you so fucking focus on the assignment—to protect Mr. Mason and catch Jason Stein."
No one said another word for a few minutes. The three of them merely stared down at the table, unable to look one of us in the eyes. I don't blame them; Alex could be frightening if he wanted to which is rare but when it involved me, there was nothing holding him back except for me. Of course, I don't let him fight my battles all the time. If I did, I wouldn't be in the same ranking as he was.
He was in this much longer than I did and Ruvée did agree that we would be partners but not right away. I had to be at the same ranking as him first, that way, there were no favorites and I would prove my worth to her. That meant that before him, I had dozens of partners at first, and it's either they would abuse me into making their lackey or I would have enough of them and start using my fists to talk. Constant situations like this led to Ruvée sending me to HR, and suspended a lot of times.
But eventually, I rose up, made sure not to punch the next guy who I was partnered with, and soon, I was surpassing them. I worked along for a little while before I was finally given the chance to work with Alex. It worked, and I was thankful for Ruvée for making me work for it.
"Look, let's just get through this day and plan everything we need for tomorrow because we don't really know how long we have to do this," I sighed. "Before the setup date tomorrow night, we have to do something for the free day. But before we do that, I'm going to need all of you to change each of your looks. We can't risk having people see your true faces."
After that, we've spent hours and hours planning for tomorrow, making sure every step is right. Then, Edward was the one who got in contact with Travis with a secured call, telling him how he should act tomorrow.
* * * *
GABRIEL WAS MAD at me and I wouldn't really blame him. I was about ten minutes late in picking him up. He always had a problem with not being on time, and I believe he got that trait also from me. But when we got home, he wasn't so much as mad at all right when he saw Sean and Adri inside the house, running towards them, and giving them huge hugs.
"Are you staying over?" Gabe asked, his beautiful brown eyes staring at them with hope. His hands clasped, and he begged, "Please, please, tell me you are!"
Chuckling, I ruffled his hair. "They're just here for dinner. Now, go upstairs, clean up, and when you finish, you can go down and hangout with your aunt and uncle before we have dinner."
Nodding enthusiastically, he practically ran upstairs, definitely excited to start washing up so that he'll be able to play with them. He always loved the two of them, since they were always there to give him whatever he wanted and play all day long. Well, again, Sean was the one who spoiled him.
As soon as I heard his door close, I immediately turned to my brother and best friend, a serious look on my faces. "We really have to talk about something."
I made sure not to beat around the bush. Of course, they didn't take it lightly when I told them that Travis was back home and I was going to work for him, but, soon, our attention wasn't to him but it was to their safety. "Look, I really would rather have the two of you in a safe house but I know that I can't just control your lives. You've got jobs and if you go into this, I don't even know for how long, you might not find it pleasant. So, it's your choice and you've got to do it now because we're starting tomorrow."
Sean and Adri gazed at one another for a long time—other than fear and concern in their eyes, I could see their love for one another, how they're feelings are in a deep synchronicity, and I felt content for them, knowing that they would take care of one another, till death do them apart.
It was Adri who faced me first, a small smile in her face. "It's okay, Sam. This is important for you, we both know, so, we'll be there to support you which means we're staying here."
My brows furrowed. "You do know that Jason Stein might—"
"Yes," Sean cut me off before I could continue in warning them. "We know. We both love you and remember how we discussed about this with dad and Misty?"
"It's dangerous, and yes, I did agree too without haste," I said, facing them. "but I can take another job if you guys don't want me to. It's not just me at risk, it's you guys too when I start working as an agent."
Dad shook his head, so did Misty but it was him who spoke first. "It's okay, Sam. I can't actually imagine you sitting at a desk somewhere, doing boring jobs. You're different than us, you're more interesting and I want you to follow where you want to go. If this is it—we'll be there."
"Yeah," Sean nodded, holding Adri's hand. "Go call Ruvée and say that you're going to work tomorrow."
"But what about Gabe?" Adri asked, her eyes filled with concern for the kid. "Is he living with you or with us?"
I shook my head. "I'll have him stay with Ruvée for protection. He'll be safer and he'll be away from the spotlight throughout the process."
"But I don't want to be there anymore!"
We all turned around facing my son in his pajamas, brows knitted, eyes narrowed, and arms crossed in anger. "I don't want you to be gone for a long time, Mama."
Approaching him, I knelt down to face him eye-to-eye. "Don't you like at Ruvée's, sweetie?"
He shook his little head. "No, I like it there. I'll just miss you again. How long will you be gone this time?"
My smile wavered as I did it, my hands on his arms, pulling them apart. "You need to be safe, Gabe. Other than that, I'll make sure to visit you as frequent as I could. And we have to change schools again, is it okay?"
"As long as you visit me," he answered, his thin, pink lips pulling up into a small smile. "Where do I study this time?"
My lips pressed to his forehead. That's Gabe for you. Always so understanding. Sometimes—most of the time, I get worried that when he grows up, he'll be too tired in always changing school, and always staying with Ruvée and not seeing me for a long time.
"Ruvée will fix it for us," I whispered to him. "What do you want for dinner?"
"Spaghetti!" He puts his hands up in the air in excitement, giving me a toothy smile. "Can we also have cookies n' cream ice cream after dinner?"
"Anything for you," I said, my heart in soar for this little kid.
It's amazing how one tiny human can make you love so much that it feels like your heart is going to explode.