C475 We Will Not Chase After Her

Mary suddenly stood up. “Alicia, my child, don't.” Alicia looked at her. Mary walked closer. “They surely have a plan. You cannot simply go after them because they posted something online.” Alicia remained silent. “What if they are waiting for you?” Mary continued. “What if this is exactly what they want? What if they kill you before you even get close to them?” For a moment, Alicia said nothing. Then, despite the tears still running down her face, a faint smile appeared. “They better kill me first.” Everyone looked at her. “Because if they don't…” Her smile disappeared. “I will kill Charlie and Hanna myself.” Mark's expression immediately hardened. “Alicia!” She looked at him. “You cannot talk like that.” “Why not?” “Because you're speaking from anger.” “Of course I'm angry.” Her voice broke. “I'm his mother.” The room became quiet again.

Alicia looked down. “I held him in my arms.” Her voice became softer. “I watched him breathe. I watched him smile. I watched him sleep.” She swallowed. “And now I have to look at a photograph from his funeral while someone uses his death to provoke me?” She wiped her face. “No, Father. I can't ignore this.” Mark walked toward her. “You're not ignoring it. But revenge isn't the only way to deal with what happened.” Alicia looked at him. “Then what do you suggest?” Mark had no immediate answer. Alicia nodded. “Exactly.” I finally stood up. “Enough.” Everyone looked at me. I picked up my laptop. “I'll see if I can locate where the post was made.” Alicia turned toward me. I continued. “If I can find the location, then we have somewhere to start.” Mark looked at me. “Mike, be careful.” “I will.” I looked at Alicia. “But we need information before we do anything.” Alicia nodded. She seemed willing to slow down. She decided to followed me upstairs. But she didn't enter the study. Instead, she went into our bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, opened her laptop and immediately started working.

I glanced at her from the doorway. “What are you doing?” She didn't look up. “Planning.” “Planning what?” “How to make Hanna come out of hiding.” I stared at her for a moment. Something about the way she said it made me uneasy. She wasn't crying anymore. That almost worried me more. I entered the study and closed the door. Then I began working. The post had been shared across multiple platforms. That made things complicated. But the original upload contained small pieces of information that could potentially be traced. I began following the digital trail. Time passed. I continued searching. Every time I thought I had found something, the trail disappeared. I tried another method. Nothing. I tried again. Still nothing. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes. Then, after almost an hour, something finally appeared. A location. I stared at the screen. The coordinates pointed toward an area I knew very well. My eyes widened. “Willy Harris's estate…” I zoomed in. The location was outside the estate where Willy had lived. The same place where we had killed him.

I immediately began checking nearby security cameras. If Charlie had posted the photograph from that area, there might be footage showing who had been there. I managed to access some nearby security feeds. But there was a problem. The mansion itself was empty. There were no obvious signs of anyone staying there. I searched the surrounding roads. Nothing useful. Whoever had posted the message had been careful. I closed the files and leaned back. “We'll have to go there ourselves.” I left the study. When I entered the bedroom, Alicia looked up from her laptop. She gave me a faint smile. “Husband, did you find anything?” I smiled. “The post was made outside Willy Harris's estate.” Her eyes immediately changed. “Really?” I nodded. “That's where the location points.” Alicia nodded. “Good. We'll go there tomorrow.” I nodded. Then I looked at her laptop. “What were you working on?” Alicia turned the screen toward me. “I was planning how we can make Hanna come out.” I walked closer. “And?” Alicia rubbed her tired eyes. “I've been thinking about everything we know about her.” She paused. “The things she wants. The people she trusts. The things she is afraid of losing.”

I looked at her. “And what did you find?” “The only things I can say she truly cares about are the Gold and Diamond Dagger…” She paused. “…and her family.” I thought about it. Then I looked at her. “You want us to kill her father?” Alicia immediately shook her head. “No, killing her father would be the same as killing my grandfather.” She looked at me seriously. “Grandpa Samson may not like me, but he is still Grandpa Victor's older brother.” I nodded. “So what should we do?” Alicia looked back at the laptop. “I don't know yet.” She closed it. “But if we can find her weakness, we'll know exactly how to bring her out.” I nodded. “We'll figure it out.” Alicia looked at me. “Together.” “Together.” We eventually went to sleep. But neither of us slept peacefully. The Next Morning. The sun had barely risen when I felt someone shaking my shoulder. “Husband.” I opened my eyes. Alicia was standing beside the bed. “Wake up.” I looked at the clock. “Why are you waking me up so early?” She smiled. “We have to go to work.” I stared at her. “What?” She smiled again. “Lucia Goods.” I slowly sat up. “You're serious?” She nodded. “Yes.”

I looked at her carefully. Something about her was different. Yesterday, I had seen a mother destroyed by grief. Last night, I had seen a woman consumed by anger. But this morning… This was different. She looked calm. Focused. Determined. Yet somehow, she wasn't the Alicia I knew. I couldn't explain it. There was something behind her eyes. Something I couldn't read. “Wife…” She looked at me. “What?” “Are you okay?” She smiled. “I'm fine.” I knew she wasn't. But I didn't push her. We quickly got dressed and left the house before the rest of the family woke up. The drive to Lucia Goods was quiet. Alicia barely spoke. She spent most of the journey staring through the window, seemingly lost in thought. When we finally arrived, we went straight toward the training hall. The building was still quiet. Alicia unlocked the training hall and walked inside. I followed. She immediately went to the storage area and pulled out a large whiteboard. I watched as she dragged it into the middle of the training hall. Then she turned toward me. “Go sit down.” I froze. “Why do I have to sit down?” She smiled. “Never mind.”

She placed the whiteboard in front of me. “Just listen to my plan.” I slowly sat down. Alicia picked up a marker. She stood in front of the whiteboard for several seconds without saying anything. Then she wrote one name. HANNA. I stared at it. Alicia turned around. “We are not going to chase Hanna.” She underlined the name. “We are going to make Hanna come to us.” I leaned forward. “How?” Alicia smiled faintly. “That…” She raised the marker. “…is what we're going to figure out today.” She turned back toward the board and began writing. Alicia wasn't simply reacting to what had happened. She was planning her next move. And I had a feeling that whatever she was about to propose would change everything.