Chapter 7 Her target

Elena's POV

Layla suddenly coughed shaking her head. "No I don't...but I've heard that name a couple of times."

I wanted to think about what she said... but it could be true, so I dismissed it.

Leaning closer toward her, I asked. "So..."

It took a second before she understood and she shook her head. Standing up she said. "Give me a second." Then she turned around and began walking up the stairs.

"Aish...she didn't even offer me a drink." I thought out loud after I looked at the table beside me to see nothing there.

Standing up I walked towards the kitchen...or where I thought was the kitchen.

"Yes! It's the kitchen." I exclaimed in excitement.

I took a cup and opened the fridge picking a bottle of water before returning back to the sitting room to find Layla already sitting there with a laptop in her hand.

"Really? You couldn't even offer me a drink."

"Yeah because you are not a stranger in this house." She said, calmly, clicking away on her laptop.

Not a stranger???

"This is literally my first time in your house," I answered dumbly returning to my previous seat.

She looked up from her laptop and at me. "When I first came into the house, I didn't ask anyone to get me a cup of water... 'cause it's my house. I found the kitchen all on my own."

"My house is your house, so...I was certain you were going to find whatever you were looking for." She said with a shrug. Without even waiting for my reply, she looked back down to her laptop and kept typing.

"Aish..." I frowned glaring at her. "You..."

"Ah, I found it," Layla exclaimed interrupting me. Her voice sounded so excited and her face pleased...but then it fell.

Her, sudden change of expression made my heart skip a beat, and I moved closer to her. "What? What is it?"

"Reynolds... don't you think that surname sounds familiar? Maybe a bit too familiar?"

Her words weren't surprising since I had the same thought when I first heard the surname Reynolds...but it was the way she said it.

Come to think of it, the Reynolds surname really was too familiar to me.

And just hearing the name gave me shivers.

Where have I heard it before?

"Come and look at this," Layla said breaking the two minutes silence as she gestured for me to look into her laptop. My eyes went up to her, and then at the laptop.

I hesitated but adhered nevertheless.

There was a picture of a man on the laptop, he was pretty old... give or take around sixty years, or probably older since rich people had a way of concealing their real age with money.

But that wasn't what struck me about him; what struck me was that he was familiar.

That face of his... where have I seen that face before?

"His name is Leonard Reynolds, the master and head of the Reynolds family and the entire Reynolds Corp...well, at least he was." Layla paused to look at me, pressing her lips tightly before she continued. "Three years ago, he had an accident and didn't recover fully from it. The consequences... Dementia, but this was concealed from the public, and the family announced that it was just age-based dementia."

Clicking on the laptop the picture changed to someone even more familiar.

"This is his grandson, Noah Reynolds...though not the only one he has, but Master Reynolds left him in charge of everything, from the corporation down to the family."

What?

My eyes almost popped out of its socket.

My Mr. Mysterious...Noah Reynolds; damn that name fit him so much, was the head of everything?

I really have a good eye. I nodded at myself as Layla kept on reading out things about Noah and the Reynolds.

"This is him." I nodded at Layla, pushing myself on the chair to relax properly. "Noah Reynolds." I giggled. "Doesn't even his name should sexy"

Layla didn't find what I said funny one bit.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, especially the part about his grandfather, Leonard Reynolds. Three years ago? His dementia? The accident? Everything just seems..."

Considering how she put it, it was indeed weird.

Three years ago.

Three years ago, I was out, as usual, in a high-end club... exclusively for rich and powerful men, looking for the next unfortunate, extremely wealthy person to con when I came across an older-looking man.

He seemed to be in deep thought as he stared at a document. It looked important, really important...but that wasn't my job. With a smile, I hung around him, offering to help him ease his stress, and to my surprise, he accepted.

We had a crazy night together, laughing like we had known each other for ages. We didn't even have sex before he fell asleep; it was not like I would let the old man touch me anyway.

I was a con artist, not a prostitute.

When I saw that he was asleep, I went back to the document...it was of a property that cost over 50 million dollars!

Everything was there, all the papers.

I didn't want to touch it, I knew I shouldn't but I did. 

I consoled myself repeating the words over and over again that I did the right thing, the only good thing. I was a con artist how could I see such a good opportunity and let it pass by?

Before I could rejoice and celebrate my new house, people started looking for me, not just regular people... Dangerous people.

If it was only the police fine, I could handle that; though I had never been arrested before, I knew that the day would come one day, right? But no... this man didn't want to take me to jail; they wanted to end me.

Completely silence me.

After more than two attacks, I evaded my hair length, and I decided to travel abroad. Before the man would think it wise to declare my face wanted.

And I was right, as soon as I left, that was exactly what he did.

I didn't hear much about the old man anymore... the last thing I heard before I left from a friend who worked at the club was that the man had collapsed...apparently, he had a stroke.

Who wouldn't if that huge amount of money was just taken away from you?

But now...

Now considering what Layla just said about this grandfather... Three years ago... It couldn't all be just a coincidence, could it?

Layla sighed loudly gaining my attention. "I know you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Maybe you should step down from this one. Never see that Noah Reynolds again."

"The Reynolds family practically rules this city...if not the entire country. They are really wealthy, but not only wealthy, they are also powerful...Elena, you do not want to be caught by them, ever." She advised.

Of course, I didn't want to be caught by them; I didn't want to be caught by anyone.

"I can't drop it Lay." I should my head, breathing out slowly. "He already thinks I'm his fiancee."

"Fuck this Lena..." She suddenly shouted glaring at me. "It's an arranged marriage! This means he has probably met the parents of this so-called girl and would keep meeting them. What if the girl tells her parents that she and Noah haven't spoken at all? Do you know how easy it is for them to catch you?"

Silence.

I didn't know what to say to that.

I had nothing to say to that.

Layla was right, what I was doing was probably dumb. I would be caught at any time.

But then again...this was my first com in three years...I couldn't just let it pass like that.

"I know you care about me Layla, but I can handle myself. If the going gets tough, then I'll leave; if he as much as suspect anything, I'll leave...but not now."

Layla looked like she still had lots of things to say to me. I could tell from her expression that she wanted to yell sense into my head, but she knew that I had made up my mind and once my mind was made up, that was it.

She sighed deeply for like the tenth time today shutting her eyes before opening it again, her gaze much more calmer.

"Elena, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Layla, my best friend, asked, sounding concerned.

All for the right reasons though. I smirked, crossing my legs.

"He is rich, he is handsome, he is powerful..." A sly smile graced my lips "Noah Reynolds, is my target"

And I would make sure the target didn't backfire.