-Twelve days after Aera left-

"" Giovanni, Aera's father calmly asked Ronald Stoll.

"" He yelled at him.

"" He growled and pressed his cigarette into Ronald's palm.

He hissed in pain and stared at Giovanni with fear reflecting in his eyes.

"" He tipped his head to the side and raised his brow.

" "

. . .

Hwan and Hyun opened the door for their father as he stepped inside Revere's office where the rest of Aera's soulmates and their siblings were waiting.

Giovanni sat down in the middle with his legs crossed and he puffed out a cigar. He then threw a filled envelope in the middle of the table.

" " He said.

" " He gritted.

" " Madeleine stuttered.

" Lykos Michele Stoll, his son and my daughter's ex-boyfriend. "

" " Viktor raised.

" " Extending his hand, he forwarded the security footage into a different room.

It was a shot of the stalker, there was a black car waiting for him. The person in the car handed him a small bag and drove off. The stalker seemed to be beyond upset and even wore gloves.

He bumped into Aera on the Elevator and was extremely displeased with her when he had his back turned at her. When the clip of him knocking on her door repeatedly, he slipped in a note that was from the small bag and soon left after he got a notification on his phone.

It skipped to a different clip of him inside the car, wiping his hands with Alcohol over and over again and yelling at the person with him. When he finally removed his mask, they all gasped.

" " Calixto stared at the screen with widened eyes.

" " He zooms in to the person beside him and there stood out, red hair.

""

Madeleine paled in comparison to their looks of hatred etched onto their faces.

"" Vesna griped.

It was Meredith rolling her eyes at Maro while driving off the scene.

""

"" He finished.

They immediately went to the university to find out what Meredith was and what was her goal to snoop around the campus grounds. As Lippe was in Norway, she couldn't leave since she needed to wait for her students so she gave permission for her brother, Calixto to do whatever he pleased.

It didn't take them long to find footage of her going inside the Principal's office but what was suspicious is since Lippe wasn't in the university those days, how could she go in when the door was supposed to be locked?

" The Vice Principal. "

She was then caught to be bribing the Vice Principal as she stamped on the letter. They searched for hours and when they pulled out the same letter on the footage, it was a letter that stated that they were allowed to switch the cruise ship to a different ship.

" " Alicai stressed.

" " Vera asked.

"" Seth read through the information about the ship.

" " Devereux asked.

"...Nine years ago."

"" Madeleine questioned.

"" Hwan stressed.

""

""

Believing what Hwan implied, they went to look if there really was anything on the ship. Hyun then contacted Jerome, the guard that worked for their company and he was appointed to guard Aera.

Calixto did the same and contacted Adam but it the line didn't even go through.

"Ah, Jerome. How was the investigation?" Hyun asked.

"Don't worry sir, there's nothing wrong here."

Meanwhile with Calixto, he tried a couple of more times but all ended with it going straight to voice mail.

"There's something wrong, I can feel it."

. . .

Fluttering her eyelashes, Aera opened her eyes. She tried moving her arms but she was sat down with her arms tied from the back and she was strapped in by ropes.

"Sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up." A male voice spoke from behind her.

Her voice failed to come out as her mouth was taped shut.

She couldn't see through the dark but the sharp pain of something like a whip smacked her face.

Refusing to groan in pain, the man became displeased. He smacked her repeatedly and when she groaned accidentally, a smirk came across his face.

"Don't hide it. I don't have enough time to enjoy this so stop hiding it." He laughed and continued on hitting her.

Aera was fuming in anger as she was bound in ties, she recognized his voice anywhere. The tape got wet and she finally was able to talk.

"" She gritted.

The lights switched on and a displeased face was etched on his face once more. Aera glared at him but her eyes shook once she saw the person behind him.

"" He pushed the stick on the side of Charm's face.

""

"" Maro laughed sadistically and smacked Charm with the whip-like stick.

""

"" Charm groaned and gave a half smile towards her.

""

"" He rolled his eyes and created a large scratch on her shoulder down to her arm.

While Maro was distracted, she moved her arms, attempting to break out of the ropes. When she finally found the thread she had to pull, a hand stopped her.

"" Lykos whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek.

"...Fuck you."

To be Continued . . .