For several long seconds, nobody spoke. The holding room remained dead silent, save for the low, rhythmic hum of the overhead ventilation.
Jack looked around the room, bright eyes bouncing from person to person. Edwin stared at him in disbelief. Kelvin rubbed his temples in silence. Miso's eyes were wide as saucers.
Then, in synchronized precision, all three slowly turned their heads toward Arora.
Arora stood frozen, inwardly regretting every single choice she had made in the last twenty-four hours—especially her impulsive choice of a fake nickname.
"'Baby'?" Edwin repeated, his voice cracking slightly.
The tension in the room thickened until it was almost suffocating.
Jack pointed a bound hand toward Arora without a shred of hesitation. "Yeah. Her."
Kelvin blinked once. Twice. Then he turned a slow, heavy gaze onto his sister. Arora refused to meet his eyes.
"Arora."
Silence.
"Arora."
"There is nothing to explain," she said coldly.
Jack immediately raised his tied wrist. "Actually, there is."
Arora closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course there is.
"What happened?" Kelvin pressed, his doctor's demeanor replaced by pure sibling disbelief.
"I met her a few hours ago," Jack offered cheerfully, thoroughly enjoying himself despite being tied to an iron chair. "At a diner."
Miso stepped forward. "A few hours ago?"
"Yeah! She beat up a guy," Jack beamed. "Then we ran into each other at the gym. That's where she told me her name was Baby."
Kelvin turned back to his sister, raising a single eyebrow. "You told a stranger your name was 'Baby'?"
"No."
"He just said you did."
"He's delusional."
"I am not!" Jack protested loudly. "You literally said—"
"Quiet," Arora snapped, her gaze slicing toward him. She gestured toward the door, then at Edwin and Miso. "Untie him. Both of you, up to my office now."
Edwin scratched his neck awkwardly, looking at the ropes. "Wait—what about him?"
"Keep him in the security lounge," she commanded, adjusting her coat. "Give him a sandwich, lock the doors, and don't let him touch anything."
As she turned on her heel to leave, Jack called out after her, "See you soon, Baby!"
The entire security detail winced. Arora didn't turn around, but the deliberate, heavy thud of her heels echoing down the hallway promised retribution.
Five minutes later, the heavy oak doors of the sixth-floor suite slammed shut.
Arora stood behind her grand desk, resting her hands on the polished wood. The icy composure had returned, but her eyes burned with sharp irritation. Edwin stood at attention near the leather couches, while Miso leaned against the side table, trying and failing to suppress a sly grin.
"Explain," Arora ordered, her voice dangerously quiet. "How did a clueless civilian end up bound to a chair in my basement?"
Edwin cleared his throat, bracing himself. "Leader, it wasn't a standard grab. I received an alert from the perimeter grid twenty minutes ago. One of our field operatives lost track of a low-level target near the west district, but when I ran a thermal scan on our own perimeter..."
He hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Speak, Edwin," Arora warned.
"He was already lurking right outside our building," Edwin admitted suspiciously. "Pacing the alley near the loading dock. In our territory, an unidentified civilian hanging around the main gate at two in the morning is an automatic security breach. So I swept him up."
Arora's brow furrowed. "He was lurking around our headquarters? Why would he do that?"
Miso chimed in with a light chuckle, tapping her chin. "Maybe he was trying to get your phone number?"
Arora shot her a sharp look. "Don't goof around, Miso. This is suspicious."
She leaned back against her desk, processing the timeline. A chance meeting at a diner, an encounter at a secluded gym, and then showing up outside the Black Rose command center an hour later? Coincidences didn't happen three times in one night in Chicago's underworld.
"Is he armed?" Arora asked.
"Not even a pocket knife," Edwin replied. "Just a student ID, a transit pass, and a half-empty pack of gum."
Arora stared out the floor-to-ceiling glass at the dark skyline, her eyes narrowing. "Either he's the luckiest idiot in the city, or he's playing a very dangerous game. Keep a close eye on him tonight. Put two guards outside the lounge."
"And tomorrow?" Edwin asked.
"Have him call his family or friends," Arora instructed, her tone turning practical. "Give him some excuse—tell him to say he's staying over at a friend's place for a last-minute getaway so nobody files a missing persons report with the CPD. The last thing we need is police cruisers circling our block over a college kid."
"Understood, Leader," Edwin nodded, stepping back toward the door.
Miso watched Edwin leave before turning back to Arora, a mischievous spark in her eyes. "You know... for a dangerous intruder, he didn't seem very scared of you."
Arora picked up her silver pen, her gaze cold enough to freeze blood. "If you don't get back to the northern district reports in five seconds, Miso, I'm assigning you to inventory audit for a month."
Miso vanished through the door instantly.
Alone in her office, Arora took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. Her mind drifted back to the holding room—to bright blue eyes lighting up the moment they saw her.
He really called me 'Baby' in front of my entire command staff.
She clicked her tongue, shaking her head as she sat down at her desk.
He was suspicious. He was a security risk. He was completely out of his depth.
And somehow, he was driving her absolutely insane.
To Be Continued...