I sat with my legs cradled against my chest, my knees stained with the continuous stream of tears that fell from my eyes. It had gotten to the point in which I no longer had the energy to wipe them away, so instead I allowed them to tickle every inch of the skin along my cheeks, an area that alike the rest of my body had become indescribably numb.
It was the morning after having fled from the agonising sight of Luke breaking down before my very eyes, and I found myself huddled in the corner of my room, simply letting my thoughts bicker among themselves as I tried to process everything that I had discovered in the past twelve hours.
It wasn't clear what hurt most, the fact that the entirety of mine and Luke's relationship had been built upon lies, or that the only person that could fully relieve the agony I was under was also the one at the root of all of my problems.
My head rolled back on my neck, falling gently against the wall behind me as I surveyed my room. My eyes fought against the severity of the darkness in the area, searching for something to focus my attention on, to fill the void of disinterest with anything aside Luke in my mind.
My mind veered to the Legrenzi end of the spectrum in our current situation. My feelings of indescribable distaste toward the man forced my mind to rally through every piece of information surrounding him in search for a loop hole that we could target.
We needed to get him to pay for everything that he'd done. He deserved everything that came his way, and I wasn't going to stand by and let him walk over us, let him have the upper hand. That was not how this should have worked. We had the ability to bring him down, we just needed to give up on waiting around for his next move. We needed to be the ones making the next move. But Legrenzi was a man that always made sure any lose ends were seen to, meaning that the chances of finding a single lose threads were minimal, but that couldn't stop us using what we already had, or more so who we already had.
My knees straightened out, my body being pulled hastily from the floor as my mind came to the conclusion that I couldn't sit around impassively for any longer. So, after whipping my eyes with the sleeve of my wrinkled up jumper, I paced out of my room, throwing my legs heavily against the solid flooring of the stairs as I continued my pursuit.
I gave myself very little time to comprehend my actions, and it wasn't long until my fist was gripping firmly onto the door handle of my dad's office, my body pushing the wood forward a moment later, utterly void from hesitation.
"We need to work around that, he'll be sure to monitor-" my father halted any further words from falling through his lips at my abrupt entrance, his head snapping in my direction, an action that was replicated by the other ten or so men in the room. They sat hunched around the desk in the centre of the room, the wood unperceivable under the mass of paper scattered across the table.
My father was silent for a moment or two, scanning my appearance briefly as if trying to astatine my current mental state before he rose from his seat. "Adelaide? Is everything okay?" He requested hesitantly.
The tension between us was clear in the air that suffocated my lungs. Everyone in the room could feel the uneasiness between the two of us, and considering the fact we hadn't spoken properly for weeks following our previous exchange, or more so dispute, it wasn't surprising.
"I just needed to talk to you," I replied quietly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under the intense, not so discrete, stares being directed my way.
"Well could it wait? We're going through something rather important right now."
My jaw clenched tightly, my agitation being evident as I edged my feet further into the room. "No. I don't think it can wait actually. This needs to be said now."
"Then I suppose you best take a seat?" My father suggested, motioning to a space aside Ed, whose presence I hadn't noted previously.
He smiled encouragingly as I approached him, a veneer of confidence casting over my movements. My strides were lengthy, landing my body in the chair in a few painless moments while everyone else in the room watched with inquisitive anticipation. "Is this something you want to privately discuss?"
I scanned my eyes briefly around the room, "No, they're okay being in here," I said honestly. "Might be helpful to have their opinion on things-"
"-Boss, we don't have any copies of those files out here," at the first intonation of the hoarse voice, my eyes were immediately drawn to the doorway. I hadn't needed to glance that way to know exactly who it was. The desperation that had haunted me for the past twelve hours to simple hear that voice was heightened instantly at the sound of one, simple syllable.
His face wore the facade that I'd seen a few too many times, but the little detailings etched almost undetectably across his face, such as the wrinkles indenting deeply under his mouth, told me that his mental state was far from the outward appearance he was upholding.
His voice quietened as his mind suddenly took notice of the uneasy atmosphere in the room. It was clear that everyone was more than aware of what had happened between Luke and I, considering our argument certainly hadn't been on the quiet side, not to mention his declaration for his love, something that I couldn't quite stop repeating in my mind.
Blake coughed not so subtly from his seat across the table, causing Luke's eyes to wander around the room, before they inevitable fell upon my own. He kept his face impassive, but I didn't miss the slight parting of his lips as he watched me.
He rubbed his palm across the back of his neck in discomfort before I tore my gaze away, setting it sharply toward my father as I spoke defiantly, "I want us to attack Legrenzi."
"Don't we all Adelaide," my father sighed, slumping down in his plush chair.
"I'm serious," I defended instantly. "I'm sick are tired of running from him, waiting for his next move. We have the resources to attack, we know where he is, so why can't we?"
"Adelaide, look I know that you're a little sensitive right now-"
"That has nothing to do with this. So don't even think about bringing it up. You have no right to either," I asserted, feeling the heat of Luke's gaze on the side of my face, though I refrained from fluctuating my eye line away from my father.
"You're certainly not thinking rationally. Yes, we know where he is, but we can't just rock up and raid his house. None of us would make it out of there. We have no idea how many more men he's recruited, his resources, his knowledge on us. Nothing, we practically have nothing on the guy."
"You can stop right there. Either you're playing me for a fool or you are the fool here," I accused forcefully as I leaned forward, resting my elbows onto the table. "I don't know how much more running I can do. All of this, I dread to think how long it's been going on. From my discharge, well that's six months alone, and I'm certain that it was going on a whole lot earlier than that. How much longer will this have to carry on before Legrenzi gets tired? That's if he ever does tire out, which is beyond unrealistic. I don't want to live the rest of my life running, this will only get worse. How many more people have to die or get hurt before this all ends? I don't even want to know how many men we've already lost, not to mention everyone that is still here and the lives they've left behind, and for what? To save me? I don't even want to be saved anymore, not if this is the life that I'll have to carry on living. I don't know how much more I can take, mentally and physically. We need to stop letting Legrenzi walk all over us."
My father went to interrupt, but I knew for certain what he was going to say, so I prevented him before the words could even accumulate in his mind, "Don't you dare feed me any more bullshit about us having nothing on him, that couldn't be any further from the truth and everyone here knows that. His son is stood over there for crying out loud-"
"-His son is the reason we're all here," Luke mumbled coldly under his breath, but it was loud enough for us all to hear, loud and clear.
"His son is also one of the main reasons that we're all still alive," I let the words toil from my throat in a rather snide tone, but the underlying message of my comment was oddly a compliment.
"You're point Adelaide?" my father prompted somewhat politely. "We've always had Luke on our side, that doesn't change anything as far as I'm concerned. We still can't raid Legrenzi, not when he's got the upper hand, it's too dangerous."
"Are you guys blind?" I scoffed, sweeping my eye line briefly passed everyone's dumbfound expressions, aside from Luke, who I was certain already knew what I was getting at. He remained silent nevertheless. "Legrenzi only has the upper hand because you've been too busy trying to run from him, to distance ourselves from him when in reality you should be drawing him in."
"And you propose we do so how exactly Adelaide?" my father said impatiently, sighing as he leaned back in his chair.
"As of yesterday, we have something that Legrenzi can only wish to get back."
"Ed," Luke concluded after a moment, noting that no-one else was going to fill the void.
"Ed?" My father repeated, averting his gaze to Ed, who sat perplexed aside me. "There is no chance Legrenzi will want him back after what he's done."
"But Legrenzi doesn't actually know what he's done, does he? For all we know, he could have no idea where Ed is right now, never mind here."
"What are you trying to say Adelaide?"
"That we have the potential to have the upper hand for once. Look just hear me out okay? Legrenzi doesn't know why Ed left, yes he may have jumped to the conclusion that it was join our side, but he can't know for sure. So, Ed we send you back to Legrenzi, to tell him that you've found us, you tell him where we are-"
"Are you out of your mind Adelaide?" my father scoffed in disbelief.
"Boss, let her speak. It'll make sense in a minute," Luke asserted sharply, folding his arms over his chest as his faced remained cold.
"When Ed goes back to Legrenzi, that's when we gain the control. Ed can tell Legrenzi that he's gotten on our inside and we're letting him work with us, so Legrenzi will think that Ed's working undercover here. Ed then makes it clear that we're planning to attack Legrenzi's place, like big time. We're putting all of our resources and people into it and plan to wipe him out completely. We make Legrenzi believe all this, and then he'll realise that if everyone is out on the field raiding him, then they'd be very little protection around me. Perfect target. That's how we draw him in. He'll send his team out here, to the house, after having Ed assure him that it'll be empty but I'll still be here. In reality though, we ambush them. They won't be expecting it, they'll think that you are all in Morocco, so we'll be able to plan, which in my eyes is far better than sitting around waiting for them to find us and attack at any given time. I don't want to run the risk. I don't think any of us do, so we need to use what we have now."
"Adelaide. I appreciate you trying to help, and it's a good idea but-"
"But nothing Boss," Blake interjected, straightening himself up from his seat in the corner "That plan is better than anything all of us could have come up with together. Adelaide's right, we've been going at this from the complete wrong angle this whole time, and well you can see where that has gotten us."
"It's a big risk," my father argued in aggravation. "Legrenzi may not even come here himself for Adelaide, then we'd be back to the drawing board again and-"
"Legrenzi wouldn't pass up on the opportunity to get Adelaide himself if he's certain that we'll all be preoccupied. After the failure of the last raid, he'll want to get it right this time, and the only way to ensure that is doing it himself," Luke informed, casting everyone's eyes in his direction. "Boss, if you just stop being so stubborn, and listen to what your daughters saying, then you may actually realise how right she is. She's got this planned to the bone in that pretty little head of hers, and it's a damn good plan, so bloody listen would you?"
Luke's hostile words came from his throat in a steady flow, silencing my father and his dismissive thoughts instantly. Everyone else in the room to sat uncomfortably, simply waiting for my father to retaliate, but Luke didn't give him the opportunity to do so. Instead, he swung his body around and fled from the room in an infuriated manner.
My father sighed heavily, turning his body back to face me again. "So we send Ed to back to Legrenzi, convince him Ed is trusted by us but is actually still on his side. We then give him a false story and tell him that we're attacking his place so he'll think ours will be empty, but instead we ambush him?"
"Yes," I confirmed, biting the inside of my cheek.
"Lads, your opinions?"
"I think you'd be damn foolish if you were to turn away from this idea Boss. You should be questioning why you haven't enlisted Adelaide's help before," Blake commented. "She's adopted Luke's thought process, and if that doesn't tell you it'll work then I don't know what will."
"I couldn't agree more," Ed added. "I'm up for playing my part. If we do this right, we could end it all. I've only been here a day or two, and I can already see what this mess has done, is doing, to people. We need to act soon."
My father sighed again, dropping his head into his palms as he let his thoughts circle internally for a few minutes. "Adelaide," he directed sternly. "You need to promise me that you won't take any further involvement in this. I need to ensure your safety and I can't do that if you're getting involved with the field, that's what everyone else is here for."
"It isn't just a case of getting me out alive, I've told you that. This is about getting everyone out alive, and if I can contribute to that by being an extra pair of hands or a brain at the table, then I will. I'm not scared anymore. I'm tired. I have people that I want to save, and I'm ready to take on whatever Legrenzi throws our way, not sit on the sidelines."
"No, Adelaide, you're not-"
I rose from my seat, the legs of my chair scraping across the floor to create a hostile screech that split my father's words into silence.
"Ed," I said forcefully. "Make the call."