It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me.
That's the song Chelsea put up while going to see the next destination. That line pretty much sums up the thoughts I have been having for the past few hours. Thinking how I have fucked up so badly this time. I don't know if it's deliberate or a coincidence but creepy much?
"We had to see this place today?" I glared at the orangish pink sky with the dark water waves of the sea. I knew where this road went and I hate that I can't do anything to stop them from going there unless I want to shoot myself in the foot and get exposed. It's the mansion where Jasper and I had to stop over a few weeks ago when the goons showed up to kill us.
My mansion.
I mean sure Xavier is the legal owner of this mansion but he had given it to me when I decided that I would be here. Alas, I wasn't able to live here.
With Xavier's consent, I put it up for sale a few months before when I went to live with Roy and his crew but if I had known these people are going end up finding this mansion out of all the million houses that exist in this whole fucking state, I wouldn't have put it up for the damn sale.
Meherbani meri. I'm so glad I didn't show my face or gave my identity to this moron over here and to their agency as well.
I'm going to kill Helen for suggesting this to Jasper when I showed the photos of the entire main crew and warned her not to suggest the house to these people at any fucking cost.
"You all are going to LOVE this mansion so much, it's that A-MAZING."
"Who hired this cartoon again?" I asked, fed up with the amount of chirpiness this broker gave out.
"Who do you think?" Riley retorted sarcastically, pointing all her fingers of her right hand at Ben. "How the fuck do you manage to get on my nerves each time?" Closing my eyes, I just leaned my head against the window.
"Hey! They are keeping us entertained. We should thank Benji. Wait, shouldn't you be looking in the front instead of us?" Riley mumbled an 'oh fuck' before keeping her right hand back on hands on the steering and looked ahead.
"Thanks Chelsea. I knew I could count on you to see my perspective." They gave each other a few hi-fies and low-fies, making the broker giggle. I can understand Chelsea being ultra vibrant but no damn adult is this chirpy unless they are directly in contact with a 5-year-old.
"Fault bachpan se hi hai shayad iske dimag me." I mumbled under my breath, even if none of these people would understand what I said.
"Is- Mark going to visit here today?" Riley asked, trying to show nonchalance but failing.
"Mark and Jasper are going to show up later." Ben stressed on 'Jasper' looking at me pointedly.
"How much more time to reach there?" I yelled at the broker, who jumped in fright and dropped the phone down. Riley visibly winced at the sound it made by dropping directly on the steel bottle.
"Just 5 more minutes, and we will be free from this hell." Riley continued to drive ahead as told by the navigation system and within a few minutes we were at the gate of the mansion. I pulled up my hood till it reached my eyes so that no one would get a look at me. I had already pulled up my mask when I had to sit in the same car as this broker.
"What's with the hood?"
What's with the questionnaire?
I pretended that I didn't hear the broker and focused on the fabric. If it moves enough and Riley gets the windows down, I'm done for. The security system would recognize me and open the gates automatically, raising so much suspicion that I won't be able to get out of it.
"Why isn't the door opening?" I knew it without looking that it was that broker gritting his teeth. Helen, kis bewakoof ko bheja hai tune idhar? I curse the fucking day I decided to give this contract to Helen's company.
I typed a message from my mobile to Helen to give a call to the broker who is showing my mansion and give me an update about the deal instantly. Soon enough, the broker got a call and I heard the broker's side.
"Yes, Mrs. Helen, we've reached but the doors aren't opening."
"Did you get the fuck out of that car and used the damn key card I gave you? God! Atlas, we don't want to mess this deal. The owner of this house is our last hope to save our company." I cringed hearing Helen's yells through Atlas's phone. I think her yells were so loud it could be heard across the ocean too.
Atlas said a few affirmative words while getting down and they must've used the keycard because Riley drove ahead and parked the car near the barrier that was installed to tell the difference where the lawn started. Yeah, some people had that difficulty and managed to park their vehicles in my lawn.
Where there was already one vehicle parked. Jasper's metallic black racer bike.
"Chelsea, call Mark." Was all Riley said when she got out and saw the bike. Yeah, I have a hunch about what she is thinking seeing Mark is not so much a fan of bikes and there is no other vehicle here other than the one we came in.
"Ummm M-" Before Chelsea could say a word to Mark, Riley snatched the phone and walked out of our hearing distance.
"Let's go find Jasper. That's going to take time." Chelsea had a defeated look on her face and she just walked in a random direction. I got my phone out and walked inside the house to go to the rooftop.
I had to talk to Janvi. Or the kids. Either of the options worked. I had to get myself back to the sanity.
"Yaad aa gaya ki hum zinda hai?"
"Not the time for dialogues." She sighed as if she knew what I was going to say. "And how can I forget about you four huh? And "
"Ghari ka nahi yeties tu." It was a plain statement. "I want to come back home. But I can't leave loose ends and endanger you all." I can't make the same mistake our mom made.
"Don't think about how mom fucked up. I know these are the same people as her ex. But you're careful and.. even if I hate to admit this- more cunning and evil than necessary."
"You almost died while saying those word." I laughed through the tears. I know it is her adjectives which she uses to describe fucked up people. But even if she meant these words i don't mind, that's actually true. And no amount of anger on my part can deny it.
"My point is, I know you won't leave behind anything or anyone that will expose you or us." I heard rowdy yells in the background and realized the devils must've woken up.
"Talk to you later. The kids must need their mother's eye on them to behave."
"Yeah- hey stop that! Ugh jaldi aa ja ghari. Here at home, these kids are going wild." With that she hung up without hearing my reply. "I will, but not before I sort things out." Not before I catch someone not-so innocent and blame them for what I did. They would've to have done something so unforgivable that killing them would be worth the cause.
And I know just the person for it.
"So, what a coincidence huh?" I just closed my eyes to curse myself.
Mental hai kya tu Vanya? Can't you remember to fucking lock the door for once!
"Spying on me, huh? How long have you been here?" He lifted his hand in the air and replied.
"I just heard 'I will but not before I sort things out' Got a secret boyfriend you're cheating on with me?" I turned around to look at him in disgust.
"Chi! Boyfriend kaun bolta hai apne partner ko? It's fine when you call your partner boyfriend before 25, afterwards it is just.. cringe." He laughed at the repulsion I expressed.
"Jyada hasi aa rahi hai tujhe?" I could feel my nostrils flaring as I said that.
"How I can stop myself from laughing if you looked so comical?" He wraps his arms around me pulling me into a hug.
"Wait a minute, you seriously think I'm the cheater type?" I narrowed my eyes in distrust. Why am I being like this? It's not as if we're in a relationship, even though I'm, in one way or the other, deceiving him.
"I was kidding! Though, you look like a lovesick person while asking that." Does he know that I love him? No, he doesn't!
"You.." I didn't know what to say but he interrupted by saying, "Let's take a look at other rooms in this villa. I did look through the 3rd, 4th and 5th floor. 1st and 2nd are left." He made me walk towards the exit and we took the elevator down to the 2nd floor.
"There aren't many rooms here just like 6 or 7 but goodness, they are so lavish and spacious." Thanks, I made the architect hate his career by the time the designs were finalized.
"There isn't a gym or library here though. It would have been the perfect house then."
"There is so much space, you can renovate according to what you want if you buy it." I replied bitterly, looking away from him.
Jasper swiped his thumb on my cheek to wipe away the water, that's when I realized my blunder. Hastily wiping away the traces of tears and taking a deep breath to calm my mind. "What's on your mind?"
We walked around in silence checking the rooms and the views each balcony had.
"You were avoiding me for the past few days." Did you get to know the whole truth?
"Did you avoid me because you didn't want to give me the chance to ask the question?" By this time, we were in the elevator going to the 1st floor.
"Huh?" This man even forgot the pact we made.
"The pact. According to it, it's my turn to get some answers."
"Can we talk about this somewhere else?"
"Why-"
"JASPER!" We heard Riley's yells from downstairs and he rushed down the stairs, forgetting he still has an arm around my shoulder like glue. Glue se chipka liya kya hath tune mere kandhe par?
As soon as we reached the waiting hall on the ground floor, I pulled up my mask by the time Roy halted in front of Riley. Not going to risk showing my face to that broker. We heard another pair of footsteps, "What is it? Who attacked? Who is hurt?" Ben asked, coming out from the kitchen, with Chelsea and Atlas beside him.
"Why did you leave him behind?" Riley shouted in anger. "I talked to Mark, don't you dare say 'he said no' to blame him." Jasper purposefully left Mark behind? Fuck, he must've gotten something that he wanted Mark to investigate. They could be onto me. That's why Jasper was trying to distract me.
Fuck. I have to show every single evidence to them now without dragging myself too deep.
I played one of the ring tones on my burger phone and pretended I had some phone call.
"It's one of my informants." I gave them a random reply as everyone was looking at me. The tune cut off and closed my eyes to curse my luck. I have to think of something and fast!
Just then I had the idea of making it seem like I just got a message and discreetly played a short tune.
I pulled up the video that I had gotten ages ago and played it while wearing my earphones.
"What is it?" I felt Jasper's hand on my elbow after some time, so I just disconnected my earphones and said, "You should have a look at this." They played the video and Zane's voice filtered through the speaker. "Is she here?"
"Zane." Jasper, Ben and Riley said at the same time.
"Yes, she is here but... why her? She is from the rival mafia." I really don't know how my informants managed to get this footage from Zane's mansion but damn they did a great job. It's making Roy mad. "She is the important ingredient to this plan. Our inside eye. The perfect destruction can be done through her."
"Come, we have to welcome our dearest guest, don't we?"
"Zane!"
"Janet?" Ben questioned when he saw her on the screen while the other two looked confused as hell.
"Dearie let's get in, shall we?"
"I have the perfect plans to destroy them dearie, ready to hear them?"
"And my son Theo with his wife will help us."
The rest of the video was about all the planning they did, from trying to kill us in that hotel room to sending goons behind us in every place the crew has been to.
"Why did you get it so late?" Jasper tried to manhandle me but before he could touch me, I created distance between us.
"You think getting things out of Zane's mansion is a child's play? My people had to make sure they didn't get killed while stealing all this info and footage."
I was the one who compiled them as one single file as my people sent them over the time but they did have to keep everything under wraps or would've been game over for everyone.
"Jasper, we have to warn Mark. She may not be in the city, but she will be soon!" Riley panicked and everyone else followed Jasper's lead. Atlas was asking Ben if we would drop them to the main road and he agreed so Atlas went out as well.
"Time to end this all." I whispered to myself, a heavy feeling settling in my heart. I don't want to do this, but there is no other option left for me.
I went out to see all of them piled into the car. Jasper included. He motioned asking 'are you okay?' I nodded, not wanting to make him question my behavior. He pointed at his bike and I walked over there to see the keys on the ignition. I looked back at him and he winked at me with a smirk on his face. I sat down on the bike and they started the car as well.
Jasper, I hate that this has to end like this, but I can't stay back here. It feels like history would repeat again, but I won't let it happen. Not now, not ever. I got my phone and made a call. While I was on the wait, I wore the earphone and started the ignition to follow the crew.
"Vanya?"
"Xavier." I tried my best not let my voice waver and continued. "Book my ticket too. 1 week. That's the time limit we have." I cut the call before he could say anything and followed the car.