CHAPTER 21: The Robbery

FLORIAN'S POV…

I tiptoed into the pitch-black living room, Roseline slipping in right behind me. Her heart hammered so loudly it nearly drowned out our feather-light steps, until the sudden, echoing crash of something hitting the floor shattered the silence.

“Wait here”I told her and went into a corner and brought out a gun.

There were guns and other weapons at every hidden corner of the house, Gabriel made sure of that.

They were hidden in a way that someone who hadn't been in the house for years wouldn't know where to find them.

“No I'll follow you, you can't just leave me behind”she said, her voice visibly shaking.

"Stay here. Take this." I handed her a small knife. It looked small and useless, but in the hands of someone skilled in the art of self-defense, that blade could take down ten men.

Silently, I moved into the darkness, feeling my way along the wall until my fingers found the switch. I flipped it, and light flooded the room.

Everything was still intact, nothing missing, nothing out of place.

It was just a vase in a corner that was broken.

I moved into my bedroom quickly, and went straight to my top drawer.

And just as I thought the family heirloom was gone.

It was a silver necklace my stepfather had given me a few years back, a small piece that cost a fortune. Apparently, our thief possessed remarkably high standards. Tell me why else he would completely ignore a bundle of cash sitting in plain sight, choosing instead to walk away with a priceless family heirloom.

I counted the money, it was complete, every penny intact.

Roseline’s scream cut through the quiet house, sending a jolt of panic straight to my chest. I bolted from the bedroom, nearly losing my footing as I scrambled down the stairs. I burst into the living room to find her standing frozen, a shattered vase scattered at her feet.

“What's going on?”I asked her.

“I thought I saw something but turns out it was just this large vase”she said

I rolled my eyes at her.

A few minutes later, I was on the phone with a contact at the security agency, I didn't trust the police.

I had some bad past experiences that had taught me never to trust the police with anything, especially not a robbery like this.

Soon after Gabriel arrived with the man I was on the phone with.

“So what are you saying?”

“I don't think it was a break in,”the man said.

“What do you mean?”Gabriel asked.

“The doors don't look like they were tampered with, it looks like the robbers used keys, passcode or something but they came in through the normal way”he said.

“Can you look at the security cameras, I think there are some around” I said to the man.

He nodded slowly and walked away, then I faced Gabriel.

“If truly they used a key or something that means it's someone that is familiar with this place”I said.

“But no one else knows much about this place except Me, you and….”

He turned to look at Roseline who was sitting on the couch pressing her phone.

“Are you sure you can trust her?”he asked.

I hadn’t known Roseline for long, but I trusted my instincts enough to know if she was hiding something from me. The past few weeks had pulled us incredibly close.

And soon we would be married, though not a real marriage but still I needed to develop some kind of trust for her if I wanted to convince her Dad we were happily married and in love.

“Yeah I trust her”I said and he slowly nodded though not convinced.

“I found this”the man said coming out of the kitchen with a black hand glove, he made sure to hold it with his gloves so his finger print won't show on it.

“I'll take this to my office and check it for finger prints, if I find anything I'll let you know”he said before leaving.

“Are you sure we shouldn't inform the police about this?”Gabriel asked the moment the man left.

“No I don't trust those motherfuckers”

I sat down on the chair still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.

If truly it was done by someone I knew then it meant this place wasn't safe anymore.

It was supposed to be a hideout, i was hiding from a lot of people and now it seems they have found me.

I needed to fulfill my plans here, and quickly, before time ran out.

“Sir, these are some files from the company,” Gabriel said, stepping into the room.

I shot a quick glance around to see if Roseline was still nearby. She wasn't.

“Shhh. Don't just go around blabbing about that,” I hissed.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “You're still playing this game? You know if she keeps staying here, she's eventually going to find out who you really are.”

“I'll make sure she doesn't”

He was right, she would definitely find out sooner or later that I wasn't who I claimed to be, if she doesn't know it already.

When she does, I wonder if she's going to be devastated that I had been lying to her all this while.

Well I had no other chance, apart from Gabriel no one else was supposed to find out and I would keep it that way.

“How long would she be here anyways?”he asked, flipping through the documents.

I ignored his question completely.

“Can you arrange a meeting with my lawyer tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, but why?”he asked.

“Is it because of the issue at the company, I told you I was going to handle it.

You really don't have to worry”

“I'm getting married in a few months”I blurted out.

The documents in his hand fell to the ground.

“Huh?”he looked at me confused.

“Yeah I'm getting married to Roseline” I said.

Gabriel just looked at me for a while then suddenly began to laugh.

“You're kidding right?”