Later that night, Elian got a call from Jace that he managed to retrieve all of our files in our laptops and that he was sending them over with Ashton.

When Ashton arrived, he informed, "Guys, I think we discovered who is behind all of it."

"Which company?" Elian asked.

"Not a company. It's a gang. Remember the XS gang?" Ashton asked.

Elian clenched his jaw as he spat out, "Yes, what about it?"

"XS gang leader's son, Xavier, joined the Blacklist gang and took control over it, and now, he's seeking revenge from you."

I was totally lost in the conversation, but I at least wanted to understand a little bit of it, so I asked, "Why does Xavier want revenge from Elian?"

Ashton shot a wary glance at Elian before replying, "Because he annihilated the entire XS gang."

"Why did you do that?" I asked Elian.

His jaw hardened as he spoke, "They started it first. They hurt my—" He closed his eyes as if he was recalling something horrible, and I placed my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He took a few deep breaths and let out, "Forget about it. That's not important. Ash, give me more details."

"Right. So the Blacklist gang is the one behind it. As you know, they are a big organization, second only to us; they had the resources to buy every worker involved in the military project in the manufacturing facility. They hijacked a few of the weapons trucks on the way to military facilities, where there were no security cameras, while the workers arranged a fake firearms registry which showed the creation of less than required firearms and laid down chemical wastage of making explosives, which were found in the manufacturing facility. Someone from the project team must have exposed the assignment to Blacklist, otherwise, they couldn't have known about the assignment in the first place," Ashton explained.

Someone from my team actually sold out our company. Impossible. I hand-picked them all, basing them on their loyalty. They would never do this. But wait...

"You mean, this never had to do anything with our market competitions?" I asked, baffled.

Ashton nodded and replied, "We thought the same at first, that's why we were busy looking into your competitors and were coming out empty-handed. But when Elian called and asked us to think outside the box, we immediately pinpointed the Blacklist gang."

I looked at Elian in awe, and he just shrugged. He really was trying his best now, and I was proud of him.

Just then, Ashton received a phone call. He talked on it for a few minutes before he grinned and informed, "Elian, we caught the missing firearms trucks red-handed at the Blacklist gang's base. We also found the rest of the chemical wastage of the explosives in their base."

"You don't mean we have been proved innocent, right?" I asked, not totally believing yet.

Elian placed his hand over mine and said, "Yes, Alena. We are free now."

I burst into a grin as I pulled Elian into an excited hug. I could feel Elian smiling as well.

Finally, after so long, we were free. We were not fugitives anymore. We didn't have to wear masks or shades all the time while going out.

"Can I join in the hug too?" Ashton asked.

"No," Elian immediately replied and tightened his hold on me. I giggled when I felt his smile broaden.

"Sure, enjoy the hug, then we have to teach those Blacklist assholes a lesson. I swear I'm going to kill that bastard Xavier with my own hands. I'll make him and his men beg for death," Ashton spat out, sounding darker than I had ever heard him.

I involuntarily hugged Elian tighter in fear.

"Ash, you're scaring Alena," Elian rebuked.

Ashton instantly reverted back to his cheerful self and said, "Oops, sorry, Alena. Elian, I'm going down to wait in the car. Don't take too much time." With that, Ashton was gone.

I freed Elian from the hug and asked, "So you're going into what? A gang war? A fight?"

"You could say war," he replied casually.

"Will you be okay?" I asked in concern.

"Yes, I will be fine, Alena," he said with a smile.

"Will you kill them all?" I asked in fear.

He nodded. "I can't spare their lives like the cops. Because those people... they aren't innocent. They deserve what's coming for them," he explained, and I could feel the chillness in his voice, yet I could also feel that he was controlling himself a lot.

"Okay. I don't exactly get it, but I won't poke into your business. You do what you're supposed to, and I will do mine," I said.

"And that is?" he asked curiously.

I grinned and kissed his cheek. "You will know soon, Mr. Storm."

Elian wasn't going to be back for the night, so I remained alone, and I understood why Ashton or Jace couldn't come over because they needed to be present for the two gangs' showdown.

However, I was more than fine alone. I was used to living alone in my apartment, after all. Instead, I used the alone time to think and make up a plan to confess to Elian.

I wasn't the type to dilly-dally around with my feelings. Since I had realized that I liked Elian, I was going to let him know, and from there on, it was up to him.

If he was going to accept my feeling, great. If he was going to decline me, not so great, but that was okay. I wasn't entitled to have my feelings returned.

But he had to like me, right?

I mean, he showed care for me on lots of occasions. He put my protection above his. He got mad when I was neglecting my health. He did things for me, which he really didn't have to, except for the fact that they made me happy. He sounded jealous when I would get too friendly with the other guys. He would often smile at me in that cute, wholesome way.

There were many other symptoms in him, so I was feeling kind of confident as I prepared myself mentally to confess to him.

It was around late evening that Elian got back.

I was ecstatic to see him, even though he looked a little bloodied. But I could tell none of that was his blood. He had a familiar Gucci handbag in his hand.

"Oh, my God, is that my bag?"

"Yeah. We found it in the Blacklist's base. Seems like I had suspected right; it was them who had it stolen from you."

"Thank you so much." I checked the contents inside and found everything except my phone. I almost got happy tears in my eyes. I never expected to get these back.

"No problem. I'm going to go freshen up now."

I let him go to his room while I decided to serve dinner on the table.

After Elian came out of the shower, he looked at the dining table and commented, "Where did you order food from today? It looks terrible."

"Hey, I made it with hard work!" I objected.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, amusement lacing his voice, "You made it? Since when do you cook?"

I feigned a disappointed sigh. "Nice gestures have no value these days."

He chuckled lightly and sat down on his chair. "Your nice gesture will be valued if the food is edible. What is this even supposed to be?" he asked while serving himself a spoonful from the bowl.

"Baked spaghetti. I'm not sure how well it turned out, but blame it on Google if it's bad because Google was the one who suggested that this was one of the easiest recipes. And if it's good, you have to kiss the chef's hand."

"From making instant noodles to baked spaghetti? That's quite a long jump."

"How do you know I survive on instant noodles?" I asked in surprise.

"Doesn't everyone who doesn't know cooking survive on instant noodles?"

"Point." I nodded, then looked at him in excitement as he took a small bite. "So how is it?"

He took my hand that was on the table and kissed the back.

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I sputtered, "What are you doing?"

"Kissing the hand of the chef like you said," he stated with a smile.

"Why?" I asked, still blushing.

"Because this is surprisingly great," he responded and let go of my hand to continue eating.

"Really?" I asked excitedly. I also wanted to take a bite, but I might throw up with how nervous I was feeling right now. But I had to remain calm. "What happened with the Blacklist gang? Did it go alright?"

"For the most part, yeah. But Xavier and his close men managed to escape. We will catch them soon enough, though. Don't worry."

I hummed, my heartbeat fastening at the perfect chance. I took a deep breath and started, "Um, so I have something to talk to you about."

Elian took a sip of water and said, "Sure, what is it?"

"You know, how much time we have spent together ever since I saw you that night?" He nodded cautiously, looking me in the eye. "I have come to realize that I like you. Not just as my boss. Or even as a friend. In fact, I don't want to be your friend anymore. So..." I gulped hard and tried to smile as I asked, "Would you be my boyfriend?"

Elian stared at me blankly before he turned his face away and mumbled, "I'm sorry, I can't."