Olivia Rodrigo - Favourite Crime

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Hidden in the brushes was a mass of curly blonde hair covered by a black beanie, pale skin and sea green eyes. Rory patiently waited for Mr Torres' massive SUV to park in front of the iron wrought gates. For years now she had be using his massive car as a shield from the security cameras installed at the gates of her father's mansion.

Getting out undetected was easy, she just had to climb the wall where the camera doesn't see her. But getting back in was difficult since her father had installed cameras at every corner outside the mansion. As far as she knew, he didn't for security purposes.

Thankfully, Mr Torres frequently visited her father - she assumed it was business related. They were always in his office, talking in hush voices. Even her, younger half brother, Henry, who was known to be nosy could hardly hear their conversations.

He would try to listen in but end making a fool of himself by falling through the door.

Rory recalled seeing Mr Torres a handful of time, mostly from a distance. To say he was merely a tall man was understatement, he was massive with widespread shoulders, arms thick as a tree trunk and he was unfairly attractive too. He ticked all the boxes of a rough and rugged man.

Short dark hair and dark hooded eyes underneath thick straight brows. He had tall nose, a chiselled jawline kissed by a light stubble and wide pink lips. And, tan skin that said he spent a lot of time in the sun or was due to his Colombian heritage. Rory assumed he was Colombian, Mexican or Puerto Rican - she had heard her father conversing with him in Spanish.

Hearing the sound of a car approaching, she crawled onto her knees and waited for the car to slow into a halt. Thereafter, she darted out of the brushes as the big G Wagon blocks her from view of the camera. Rory kneel beside the front wheels, watching the gates swing open.

She kept up with the speed of the car and once she was outside the range of the camera, she dart across the lawn, circling the house to the back door she purposely left open.

Gideon watched her tiny retreating figure with a content smirk. Nothing had changed about the girl who had charmed him with her antics.

He had first laid eyes on Carl's secret daughter or rather illegitimate child a few years back. She was probably no older than 16 years old at the time. She had jumped out from nowhere scaring the life out of his driver as she stayed close to the car, probably trying to sneak back home without her father releasing she was gone.

It had amused him. She did this every time she knew he was coming, she had been using him as shield.

The irony, he had thought. Gideon was the type to use people to his advantages, to simply get ahead - nobody used him.

Because nobody dared to.

Until the naive little girl did.

Back then he was going give her father a warning for not being able to control his daughter, until he really saw her for the first. The long blonde curls and those green eyes dotting with blue flecks. Her oval shaped face, perfect plum lips and rosy cheeks. She was gorgeous, it was clear as day.

And, for the first time, his heart began beating - he was finally alive.

That's when it all started for him, his obsession with Carl Smith's daughter. During his absence from America, he had his men keep a close eye on her since her father wasn't. He did to keep her safe and to ensure no one touched her because she was his. His to claim, his touch and his to keep.

Thankfully, he didn't have to dispose of any bodies during the two years he had waited for her. No boyfriends nor flings, nothing.

After his 35th birthday, he realised he couldn't no longer wait for her. Then, the opportunity to take her from Carl's grasp came like a blessing. Gideon had discovered a variance in his shipments.

His goods were going missing and he had a hunch that Carl may have something to do with it. He was a broker and Gideon won't be surprised if he had taken his goods and started selling it himself. Lately, he noticed millions had been deposited into Carl's account.

His line of work was sophisticated hence why he kept a close eyes on those he did business with. He monitored their lives, noted down who they met on a daily basis and what goes in and out of their bank accounts. It was all to ensure nobody backstabbed him.

Just because he wasn't in the country, he didn't mean had he didn't have ears or eyes. His men were everywhere in all the deepest and darkest corners of the world. No one could hide from him and no secrets could be kept from him.

Carl greeted him on the porch of his mansion. Unlike his daughter with her thick hair, the man was balding and turning grey. He stood at an average height but beside Gideon, he looked like a dwarf. Rory clearly didn't get her beautiful features from him.

A round face and a rounder belly.

He grimaced at the way the man had let himself go. He had known him for years and this was how he ended up ageing.

"Hola!" He said with a smile, "How long has it been Gideon?"

"A while." He answered nonchalantly, "I'm here on business."

Nodding, Carl invites him in leading him up the familiar twin staircases. As he is led down the corridor, in the corner of his eyes Gideon spots Rory, dressed in her usual all black clothing, darting into her bedroom, bringing a small smile to his face.

They take their usual spots by the arched windows that overlooked the back garden. His men, security that he had brought along, waits patiently outside the office.

A maid quietly walks into the room, her eyes kept lowered as she served them drinks.

Carl was a man of many talents, particularly in languages thus their meetings often took place in Spanish. He was fluent in several tongues, particularly Arabic and Swahili was often the most useful, since his wealthiest buyers were from those regions. He played the part Gideon had hired him to do well.

"What business do you have?"

"Let's start with the fact that some of my shipments have gone missing." He said, eyeing the man with ferocious intensity.

He was visibly sweating, tugging at his collar as if he was going to her some air. The point blank claim had unsettled him, catching off guard.

"Not only that, you have been receiving millions from private accounts." Gideon continued, "Do you see where I am going with this?"

"It's not what you think it is." He hastily denied. "I'm loyal to you."

Pushing back the satisfied smirk, he clenched his jaw instead, feigning irritation to scare him a little. Carl was caught like a deer in headlights, he was willing to do anything now not to be buried six feet under. Men like him were afraid of pain, of death and of losing what they value the most - their life and their money.

Right now, Gideon was controlling the gears and he could force whatever he wanted from Carl. Good for him, he had something that was valuable to him. Something he wanted.

His daughter.

"Prove it to me." He ordered, daringly. "Show me how loyal you are."

He gulped, tearing his eyes away from Gideon's intensity, "What is it that you want?"

"I want your daughter." He stated not a moment too later.

A surprised gasped escapes him. Carl had been keeping her a secret since she had moved in with him four years ago. Her mother had go mentally insane was hospitalised and unfortunately for him, he was Rory's next of kin.

He hadn't known about her since he was forced to go and pick her up at a temporary home. Ever since then, he had kept her in the mansion for the sake of his wife and his reputation.

Rory was homeschooled, no friends and no hobbies - she was isolated from the world. So, how did he know of her?

"I don't have a daughter." He stuttered, blinking away the sweat that had dropped into his eyes. His last effort of defending his reputation was futile.

Carl wasn't a dumb man. He didn't ignore rumours that were circulating in their upper society. He heard them and was ashamed, embarrassed of himself. His wife wasn't happy especially since she had to care for daughter that wasn't hers.

He had let her stay on the condition that she took care of her own needs, complete her school work in silence and do not disturb the rest of them.

"So, who's the girl that has been sneaking back into your home using my car as a shield from the camera?" He raised an eyebrow, not wanting to believe this man was so dense he hadn't notice his daughter going missing.

He pursed his lips unable to come up with an excuse. He shouldn't have a problem giving up his daughter to his man, she was nothing but an embarrassment. If that was all he wanted, then fine he could have her.

"Is that all you want?" He questioned, curiously. "Why do you even want her?"

"I've been looking for a wife," Gideon admitted, as her father, he believed Carl had the right to know what he intended to do with his daughter. "I'm going to marry her." He looked him dead in the eye, "Hopefully this will tie us and strengthen our alliances. So, don't you dare try to double cross me again."

He visible shakes in fear at the warning, nodding in absolute compliance. Carl, knowing his place now, won't dare to cross a man like Gideon ever. Man like him had a talent of causing several disappearances and horrible deaths. Decapitation, buried alive and drownings - all the terrible and frightening ways to died. He didn't want to think what would happen if he didn't have a daughter at the moment in time. Would he be dead now? His entire family slaughter due to his greed.

Rory, his only daughter, was useful after all.