Alessia gripped the file so tight in her sweaty hand that the paper started to crumple. What type of look did she have on her face? She didn't know and she didn't want to know either.
She refused to look up so the other members of the team wouldn't notice.
'Are–are we going to kill him?! But he's… he's–'
Alessia tried to take a deep breath and calm herself but nothing was working, her heart still thumped like she had just run a hundred miles.
Kiera took a glimpse at her reaction and quickly opened her own copy, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head when she saw who their new target was. She swallowed.
'Well… shit…' She cursed.
There was no way this could have been easy for Alessia to swallow.
She reached out a hand and clasped her friend's already stiff shoulder gently.
Alessia let out a small breath before mustering the courage to look up. "Are… we supposed to kill him?" She asked, trying not to make the quiver in her voice too obvious.
"Unfortunately not." Vince stated. "We're just supposed to steal something from him apparently."
'What the hell do you mean by 'Unfortunately'?!' Alessia wanted to yell but after all that tension earlier, she felt like she could finally breathe easy.
She pursed her lips, glancing at Coyle from the corner of her eye to see if he was watching her, but he wasn't. All his attention was fixed on the file that was given to him.
A small sigh escaped her. 'He didn't notice my reaction… thank goodness…'
Everyone had to watch what they said or did whenever Coyle was in their midst. He was the most observant and intelligent of the group.
"What exactly are we supposed to steal from him?" Kiera asked, gently taking Alessia's hand and walking to a seat closest to them to settle down. "Money?"
Vince shrugged his shoulders. "It's a bit complicated."
Kiera shot him an irritated look. "We're supposed to take something, just say what it is! What's so complicated about it?" She then paused, seemingly in thought. "Oh right, it might be complicated for you because you're quite slow in the head..."
Alessia bit her lip and her eyes fluttered shut as she struggled to hide a grin. 'Ah… there she goes again…'
Vince stiffened for a moment before his face went red with rage. "You'd better watch your mouth…"
"Kiera…" Coyle called in warning.
"What?" Kiera asked, feigning innocence. "I just told the truth."
Walter could only roll his eyes and sigh in exasperation. It was like he found just being in the same room with all of them suffocating.
A vein popped at Vince's temple and he attempted to take a threatening step forward when Coyle hurriedly stood up and placed a calming hand on his broad chest.
"Don't." He said simply. "What exactly are we supposed to take from Salviati? Just tell us and ignore her. She's deliberately trying to provoke you."
Kiera scoffed, almost disappointed as she watched them, her chin resting on her hand. "Lucky guy, aren't you?" She told Vince. "You at least have a sense of reason beside you since you don't own one… not every dumb person is that privileged."
"Kiera…" Alessia called softly, her lips nearly twitching into a smile now. "You can stop now, I'm fine."
"Hmph! You're obviously not fine but I'll stop since you asked me to." Kiera huffed, deciding to back down for the time being.
It was true she wasn't fine, but Kiera's outrage brought her some satisfaction.
'This mission is a risky one…' Alessia thought. 'Dervan is already on his guard because of what happened to Evie. If we mess this up even a little bit, we might all be in trouble…'
"Ahem." Walter cleared his throat. It seemed he was trying his best not to laugh too. "Please carry on, Vince. Some of us have places to be."
'Huh? what is this one going on about now?' Kiera mused as she glanced at Walter.
Vince closed his eyes and took a few minutes in silence, like he was trying to calm himself.
"I don't know what we're supposed to steal yet." He continued. "Our client just believes that the contract deal with the Alrosas' should be in Dervan's possession."
Coyle nodded thoughtfully. "That… makes a lot of sense. The Alrosas should be with a copy at least, but it'll make more sense for Salviati to be with the original document since he's the bigger of the two of them."
"So what? We're supposed to ransack his house and take every document in sight?" Walter asked in disbelief.
"His apartment." Vince corrected. "He's currently staying in San Monicio for the time being. I think he has business here."
"We know that but still, searching the whole apartment would be too inconvenient." Coyle added. "If we only knew where he keeps all his important documents…"
"I… could probably find out." Alessia finally spoke up.
Walter raised a skeptical brow. "How? Do you plan on sneaking into his apartment alone? That's not going to work unless we work together. It's said in the file that the complex is a death trap for thieves."
Alessia only nodded. "I see…"
It wasn't like she didn't know it would be next to impossible to sneak into a billionaire's heavily guarded apartment complex alone, she just wanted to make a contribution to avoid looking suspiciously quiet.
Though she did have a way of visiting Dervan's living space without arousing any suspicion from him, she wasn't about to tell her team that.
Vince sighed. "One way or another we have to find out where the contract is before we attempt to steal it." He said, rubbing his head. "This is our last operation here before we go back to base."
Alessia felt her stomach drop and her mouth go dry. "We… we're going back to base?"
Vince scratched the back of his head. "Yes, Sir Xandro said we should return. He mentioned that we needed to rest for a while and honestly I'm not against it… it's already been three years since we left that place."
Alessia took in a shaky breath as cold sweat slid down her back. She began to shake slightly and her ears started to ring. 'Bullsh*t… he just wants me to come back!'
'But why? What exactly does he want from me this time?!' She couldn't even begin to wrap her head around this sudden request to return "home".
Kiera rushed to rest a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Come to think of it, Alessia." She Started. "Didn't you say you spoke to Dervan at the masked party that night? You said something about him asking you to meet with him, right…?"
Walter blinked, taken aback. "He did?!"
The space between Vince's eyebrows scrunched. "What…?"
Coyle leaned forward in his chair in interest. "What was it about?"
Alessia stiffened and stared at her friend in shock, her eyes literally asking, 'What do you think you're doing?!'
Kiera subtly glanced back at her, rubbing her back meaningfully. 'Just play along, will you? I know exactly what I'm doing.'
Alessia was doubtful of the look in her friend's eyes but she decided to do as she suggested anyway… only because she trusted her that much.
"...Yes, I did speak to him at the party." She agreed with a tight lipped smile. "He told me to come see him when I had the chance."