CHAPTER 57: SOMEONE’S DIGGING

There wasn’t any reason to avoid Atlas, but Lola thought it was safer to never be left alone with him. After all, the man’s imagination was wild, and she didn’t want him to say she was trying to jump him again.

So, while the twins were busy getting changed, she idled in the kitchen and washed just one plate. She scrubbed it so thoroughly that she could see her reflection in it.

"Wow, I never thought I could wash a plate until it’s clearer than a mirror," she commented, only to freeze when a plate was carefully slid into the sink.

Slowly, she turned her head, wide-eyed.

There, standing just a step away, was Atlas. He placed his used plate in the sink carefully, then gave her a look.

"..." She smiled and looked away.

Earlier, she had been just carefully rubbing the sponge against the plate to kill time. But now, she was scrubbing it. She scrubbed even more intensely when she noticed him idling beside her, not moving an inch.

"Ahem!" Lola turned to him again and smiled. "Mr. Atlas, do you need anything?"

"No."

Then, why aren’t you leaving?

Atlas narrowed his eyes, his attention not on her, but on the single plate she had been washing for the past ten minutes. Seeing that he seemed interested in the plate, Lola raised it a bit.

"Do you want to wash the dishes?"

"You have a dishwasher. Why would I?" he returned, meeting her eyes. "I’m watching how long it will take for that thing to fade. You’ve been scrubbing it for the past ten minutes."

"..." She blinked while he blinked back at her as well.

He cocked his head to the side. "Go on."

And so, Lola had to scrub the same clean plate for the next five minutes just to let him see if it would go away! Had it not been for the twins, she would have continued scrubbing it while he watched it fade.

As if scrubbing a plate would change its opacity!

****

"Ah, my goodness." Lola slumped on the couch after the trio left, following the twins’ sweet goodbye. Slowly, she raised her hands over her face, only to see her wrinkled palms.

"I felt like my hands would’ve faded first before that plate."

A heavy sigh escaped her as she dropped her hands to her side, staring at the high ceiling. She sprawled her arms on the coffee table to reach for her phone. She checked it for anything important, specifically a message from Cedrick.

Nothing.

There were a few other things, but they didn’t matter right now.

Lola checked Silo’s messages, only to see questions about whether she made it home last night. She didn’t bother asking him if he did, considering he had the time to bombard her phone instead of calling the police.

Amid her quietness, her phone suddenly rang.

The name on the screen showed Amala.

"Amala," Lola answered. "How are things on your end?"

The voice from the other end was a woman’s mature voice. "There was a problem, but it’s nothing for you to be concerned about."

"I see." Lola nodded in satisfaction, knowing that if it were a huge problem, Amala would tell her immediately. "Then, why did you call?"

"Vito reached out."

Hearing the name, the corners of Lola’s mouth curved down. Lola sat up, her eyes sharp.

"What does he want now?"

Amala didn’t answer immediately, catching the growing coldness and sharpness in Lola’s voice. Lola was normally calm, but when it came to this person—Vito—just hearing his name was enough to set flames within her.

"Believe me or not, it’s not what you think it is," said Amala calmly. "He called me because he wants me to relay a message to you."

She paused, making sure Lola was listening. "He said someone was digging up your past."

"Who?"

"He doesn’t know yet."

"That’s weird," Lola’s frown deepened. "How can he not know?"

"It’s why he called," Amala stressed. "Vito, not knowing who was digging up your past, means whoever it was could be someone bigger than him. He said, Be careful... after all, there weren’t any people who were above or equal to his power."

Lola pressed her lips into a thin line. She didn’t like Vito for many reasons, but she understood what it meant for him to give her a warning.

"Do not worry," Amala reassured. "He said he’s checking, and I also checked. Aside from the tip that someone seemed to be interested in your past, there isn’t anything else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Amala nodded. "Vito didn’t say it, but I assume he believes this move is because of him."

"Why would someone dig up my past just because of him?" Lola rolled her eyes. "If there’s nothing, then let’s leave it at that. Though, keep checking just in case."

"I’m already doing that. Anyway, Lawrence Young has taken the bait."

"Yes, Silo told me."

"I’m sending you the date when he’ll hand us the money," Amala added. "Congratulations in advance, Boss."

The corners of Lola’s mouth hooked up as she nodded. "Thank you for your hard work, Amala."

Having said that, the call ended. Lola held her phone, narrowing her eyes as she thought about the brief call with Amala, the person in charge of her businesses. Thanks to Amala, Lola had plenty of time to focus on her hobbies and some other things.

"Someone digging up my past?" she whispered to herself. "Is it really because of Vito?"

She rubbed her chin, recalling the darkest part of the last five years of her life. Lola hadn’t gotten it together immediately after losing her child. If anything, she lost her mind for a while and did a lot of things, which she regretted in a way.

After all, because of that, she met someone and got associated with someone she shouldn’t have. But the good side of that was she survived and didn’t succumb to grief, and she met Amala.

"But I already erased any traces of that part of my past," she whispered, shaking her head slightly.

Amala already told her that she had checked, but it still bothered her. So, Lola checked a secret app on her phone just to make sure. All she wanted to see was whether or not there was more she needed to know or if there was something Amala missed.

To her horror, just as Lola opened the secret app, the first thing she saw was a hit request 1on someone amounting to a billion.

"What?" Lola blinked, but the hit request suddenly disappeared just as fast. Deep lines formed on her forehead as she refreshed the page, just in case, but nothing.

"Did I misread it?" she whispered. "Just now, there was... a hit request on a person named... Atlas Zorken."

DING!

Lola’s thoughts halted when a message suddenly popped up on top of her screen. Seeing who it was, she clicked her tongue.

[From: Lawrence Young

Come over if you want to talk about your mother’s estate.]

Bounty