"My name is Carolina York."
Chloe looks at me with a look of pure shock on her face.
"I'm sorry, what?" She asks me, probably still trying to string together her thoughts.
"My name is Carolina York, I was born in New York, and my parents were murdered twelve years ago when I was six."
"I got that part. These threats that are showing up around town, they are for you?"
"Yeah."
"And Blake, he isn't your cousin?"
"No. He also didn't kill Millie."
"Yeah, I didn't kill Millie. The people who are responsible for the Yorks' deaths are. They framed me and we now have to prove it." That is how Blake decided to make his grand entrance into my room.
"Oh, hey Blake," Chloe says, quietly, as she turns to face him. "Can you give me more details, or is this not allowed?"
"I'll tell you now that I'm an agent for witness protection, and that I'm here to make sure Cara stays safe. I can also say that you are a potential suspect."
"Okay, so how do I clear myself."
"I'll decide if you're cleared. I need communications between you and your family members. Also their communications between themselves and others."
"Okay, I can give you that. But be warned that a lot of Ryan's messages to Sasha are all lovey-dovey and gross." She then goes on to give Ryan all the passwords to the various modes of communication the Lewis Family uses. "Just don't change anything, mom and dad are really good figuring out if someone is on their servers."
"Well, duh. I also love how you think I'll be the one reading them." He says before he leaves to go make a few calls.
For the next couple of hours, we just sit in my room talking about anything and everything. I don't tell her much about the case because she hasn't been cleared yet. Finally, Blake comes in with the verdict.
"You're good to go." I visibly exhale when he says those words. The rest of the afternoon goes by with Blake and I explaining, in detail, things about the case. I also finally get to reveal some fun things from my many different identities.
She leaves in the early evening, just so that her parents won't get suspicious. They set a curfew for her, a fact I will not be telling Maggie and Albert.
Right before I go to bed, Blake comes into my room and tells me that we would be gong to HQ this coming weekend and that if I wanted Chloe to come with me I would need to let him know as soon as possible. I promised to talk to her at school in the morning.
************************************
On Sunday, Chloe, Blake, Maggie, Alert and I all go to the witness protection headquarters. I honestly thought they were going to drug me before we went there, as that is what had happened every single other time I went there. But, luckily for Chloe and I, they didn't deem it necessary.
Both of us were very shocked when we got to the witness protection building. It looks just like any other building. I would have never guessed that it was government-owned. Based on the expression on her face, Chloe thought the same thing.
The first thing we do once we get into the building is go through security. I swear all I've been doing the last few days is go through security. What has my life become? But after that, we get to meet the famous Alan.
I've only ever heard bits and pieces about the mysterious head of witness protection. If Alan Rogerman has earned the respect of Margaret and Albert Summers, then I respect and trust him. I'm also terrified of meeting him because I've only ever heard the 'funny' stories of hardened criminals running away from him.
His secretary is waiting for us as we exit the elevator. She takes us to his office.
I have no idea what I'm expecting when the door opens but it's certainly not this. To me, Alan is an incredibly tall, muscular man with a kind smile. I am now questioning whether or not the stories Maggie has told me were true.
"Hello, Agents. Ladies." He said. He then pointed to a nice seating area. "Please take a seat."
We all listened without saying a word.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, miss. York. I'm Director Alan Rogerman, you can call me Alan if you wish."
"Um, thank you, sir, um, Alan," I responded. I could see a small smile making its way onto Blake's face. I didn't realize just how nervous I was.
"And you too miss. Lewis. You're the one who helped us narrow down the list of suspects, if only by a little bit."
"You're welcome, sir." This confidence must be from years of speaking to authority figures. Her parents are deep in the business world and Chloe often finds herself at meetings. Even though she complains about it all the time, only something like that could help with the confidence she is showing here.
"Oh please, it's Alan. I quite dislike formalities." He said with a small chuckle. "Now then, shall we begin our discussion on this case. I'm going to need thoughts here."
"If it's narrowing down the possible list of suspects, I'm going to have to say that it's probably some sort of nerd who didn't like Millie. She wasn't bad personally, she wasn't exactly super bright, but the people she hung around were hated by lots of people. Around town, not only at school." Chloe suggested.
"While that is a possibility, this person must also have been connected to Cara, or else they would not have had framed me. It's also gotta be someone who has resources. Maybe money, or a mole within witness protection. Some way to know that I was a guard, not a cousin." Blake 'politely' dismisses Chloe's idea.
This sort of discussion goes around for an hour, with someone suggesting an idea, and Blake then shutting it down. He was also getting visibly frustrated. Alan finally suggested we take a break and get back to it later on.
"Blake, you are quite useless to us if you are stressed out. You aren't thinking straight." He said and sent Blake out of the room. "The rest of you are all dismissed as well. I know there are a few agents who are dying to meet you. Blake's friends. You should go meet them while you are here. Rebecca will take you."
As if on cue, his secretary, Rebecca, came into the room and escorted us out. Maggie and Albert excused themselves, saying they had to get some work done. Rebecca took me and Chloe to what she said was 'Training Room 3." Creative name.
"Ladies, I suggest you be careful, they are most likely in a full-blown spar right now. So, maybe watch where you are going." Rebecca tells us as she opens the door. I don't know whether to be excited or terrified.
Once we step into the training room there are to people, a girl and a boy, sparing in the center of the room. They aren't using any weapons, only martial arts. It looks like the girl is winning, even though the guy is at least a foot taller. Also probably heavier.
Blake is also in the room, watching the fight.
Suddenly, the girl grabs the guy by the arm with both hands and flips him over himself. He lands with his back on the mat. She then sits on him. It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
"I should've seen that coming." the guy says.
"Yep." the girl responds.
"Guys!" Blake calls out gesturing to me and Chloe. "Come, here, I want you to meet these guys."
Chloe and I look at each other. We are unsure of whether or not to go to him, for safety reasons. Blake guesses that we are nervous and says "don't worry, she won't flip you."
We walk over to him, and so do the guy and the girl.
"Cara, Chloe, this is Amelia Dale and Xavier Steel. Both are agents here at witness protection, we've all basically been together forever."
"Nice to meet you guys," Chloe says turning to them.
"The pleasure is ours," Xavier responds to her. He's good looking. Like, very good looking. I send a quick glance to Blake, he only gives me a curt nod. So this is the guy he has a crush on... interesting.
"Okay, sorry to interrupt your conversation about politics, I'm going to have to borrow Miss. York. I need to tell her the plan of her training here." Amelia tells me. This is the first time I'm hearing about this. What training?
I don't have time to ask because Xavier and Chloe resume their debate and Amelia takes my hand and takes me to the girls' change room.
"What training are we talking about Miss. Amelia." I ask her as soon as we get there.
"Firstly, you could just call me Mia, I kind of hate formalities. Second, I offered to give you some self-defence lessons. Girl on girl. No, I won't flip you like I did Zavy, and you probably won't be able to flip him once we're done with training. Unless you want to work with me for years?"
"Ummm..."
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, there is an actual reason why I dragged you here. We need to talk about darling Blake. See, me and Blake have been friends ever since we were kids. Back before my parents died. I'd do practically anything for him. Including setting him up for his own good."
"So you brought me here to make Blake go on a date? He may be my guard but he doesn't listen to me. Ever, basically."
"He listens to no one except for his parents and Alan. But the reason I'm telling you this is because Blake has been in love with Xavier since he was 15. It's been a while. You just have to say nice things about Zavy."
"But I don't even know him."
"Which is why Blake and I are going for coffee and Zavy will show you around the training area and the rest of the building.
"Ok, fine." I finally concede. I've never really meddled in my friends' love lives. I really hope everything works out towards the end. I don't want to hurt Blake, especially after everything he has done for me.
We come out of the changeroom and join the others near one of the benches in the training room. They have, apparently, finished their debate and are now discussing Chloe's family.
"How am I supposed to keep this a secret from my parents. And Ryan? We don't get along, but he's my twin brother and no matter how much I don't want to admit it, he's the one that knows me the best. Can I tell him at least?"
"No, you can't. Not yet at least. He may have been cleared but I know people and their loved ones. He'll likely spill to Sasha. And she isn't cleared yet." Blake tells her. This visibly upset her but she doesn't say anything.
"Then please check Sasha out." She asks.
"We're doing what we can. But her family uses a lot of encrypted networks and servers. That stuff is nearly impossible to crack."
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First Published July 31st, 2019.
Hi guys! I really hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, I worked really hard on it. If you think this chapter deserves it, please leave a vote and comments. 😃
As you may have noticed, this book has a new cover. It was done by the amazing @MadDragon2005 or wattpadcovers2019 on Instagram. For now, this is the cover of this book, however, I am still deciding whether or not to keep it. I might change it if that is what I feel like doing. But, for now, it stays.
Thanks for reading,
Dani💙