Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Secrets in the Shadows
Marcus turned around and walked away with tranquility, his heavy footsteps echoing across the silent courtyard as the crowd parted before him like the Red Sea. Alexander watched the remaining students whispering among themselves, understanding Marcus’s true intention, he had intentionally staged that entire public conversation to defuse the campus rumors and keep people from asking questions.
Alexander casually walked out through the main gates, pulling his phone from his pocket to dial his cousin, Amy.
"Hey," said Alexander, leaning against a concrete pillar outside the entrance. "Do you want to go grab something to eat and help me do some shopping?"
"Yes! Please!" said Amy, her voice filled with an immediate, dramatic sigh of relief on the other end of the line. "But you seriously need to come pick me up yourself. Ever since that crazy day, my grandmother has been personally escorting me everywhere, and my mom has become paranoid too. I am literally a hostage in my own house right now."
"Oh, right, that..." said Alexander, letting out a soft chuckle. "I forgot."
"Are you serious? You actually forgot?" asked Amy, sounding deeply offended.
"Of course not," said Alexander, a smirk playing on his lips. "Who was the one who saved your ass back there anyway?"
"More than saving my ass, you ate it, didn’t you?" said Amy with a teasing, playful laugh.
"Hehehe, not yet," said Alexander, his voice dropping into a low, wicked tone. "But I could try your tight little asshole next."
"Eww, yuck! That’s so dirty!" squealed Amy, though her voice vibrated with clear excitement. "Just eat my pussy instead."
"The moment I put my tongue inside you, you’re going to love it," said Alexander.
"Shut up, you pig...!!!" shouted Amy, laughing loudly before the line went quiet for a second.
Alexander laughed softly, shifting his phone to his other ear. "I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon."
He hung up and immediately ordered another app taxi. Within minutes, a white sedan pulled up to the curb, and Alexander slid into the back seat.
A few hundred yards away, tucked safely beneath the shadow of a concrete awning, a pair of cold eyes tracked his every movement. The figure pulled out a secure mobile device, tapped the screen and sent a short, encrypted text.
The target has left the academy grounds.
Inside the moving vehicle, Alexander kept his eyes glued to the side mirrors. The intensive sensory conditioning from the TMC pods was producing results; he could feel a heavy, lingering gaze drilling into the back of his neck. He scanned the passing traffic and the crowded sidewalks, but whoever was trailing him was a professional—despite his best efforts, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location of the tracker. With no clear target to counter, he could only maintain his posture and let the ride continue.
Trying to pass the time, he pulled up his messaging app and fired off a quick text to Serena.
Is Ms. Gable still furious with me?
Her reply came almost instantly, her phone screen lighting up with a block of text.
My mother? said Serena’s message vibrating with anxious energy. She is in a total fury right now, but honestly, it’s not even because of you. She just found out about everything that happened with Aunt Aria. Did you know they actually attacked her and almost killed her?! It was a horrible situation!
Alexander simply leaned back against the headrest, letting her text and text. Serena adored gossiping, so he chose to say nothing in return, quietly analyzing the flood of incoming messages to piece together exactly what had transpired after they were evacuated by the tactical helicopter.
According to Serena’s frantic messages, both women had been severely injured during the ambush. Aria was in particularly rough shape, covered in deep lacerations and heavy bruising—Serena was convinced her aunt had been brutally tortured by her captors. Victoria, on the other hand, had miraculously emerged physically intact. Because of the lingering danger, Joseph Kingsley had immediately pulled his daughter out of the country under maximum security, but Aria had been secretly transferred to Ms. Gable’s private residence to recover in total isolation.
But you cannot tell a single soul, Alexander! Serena added in a final, urgent message. It is a secret that nobody is supposed to know!
A sharp, electric surge of dark excitement rushed straight through Alexander’s veins as he read the coordinates.
Thank you, Serena, Alexander texted back, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. Thank you, you’re a incredible help. I’ll come visit you very soon. I just hope your mom isn’t too mad about the past.
Serena replied almost instantly with a barrage of texting emojis, promising that she would handle her mother and reminding him that he owed her big time for the intel.
Alexander quietly locked his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. The persistent, heavy sensation of being tracked was becoming an irritating nuisance, and he wasn’t about to lead an unknown tail straight to his cousin’s doorstep.
"Change of plans" said Alexander, leaning forward toward the front seat. "Take a detour. Take me toward the financial district, near the Continental Grand."
The driver nodded spinning the steering wheel to guide the sedan away from Amy’s neighborhood.
Settling back into the leather seat, Alexander pulled his phone out again. Since he was forced to kill time, he bypassed the standard civilian apps and opened up a specialized, restricted automotive application linked to his mercenary credentials. After the carnage of his last few encounters, his craving for fragile, high-speed muscle cars had vanished; he wanted raw, unstoppable mass.
He skipped the sports section and clicked straight onto the heavy armored transport catalog. As his thumbs scrolled through the listings, he bypassed the standard civilian packages, his eyes scanning past the basic Level 1 and Level 2 protections until he reached the peak of the catalog: Level 5 maximum ballistic armor. His attention locked onto a monstrous, custom-built black Hummer H2 that looked like it had been ripped straight out of a Tier-1 military deployment zone.
