C14 An excuse for evacuation

"It seemed this orphan boy of yours is proving himself beyond expected!" Dragon uttered as he helped his Boss into his coat with a cigar lit to his lips.

"I have been meaning to ask Boss...why did you take him under your wing?

The only response to the Dragon's incessant statements was a smirk on his Boss's lips as he smoked his cigar and puffed its contents on Dragon's face. Then he moved over to take his seat before he finally opened his mouth to speak, ever since Dragon reported about Jason's accomplishments in planting the prescribed bugs at the Superstar's residence.

"That boy is my last ticket to power, in case all my plans fail in the end. He really has no idea about his real identity and I am simply using it to my advantage...It's shocking how he changed drastically after he came to me shivering and scared about his crime...I remember how he repeatedly begged to be exempted from his attempted murder drug overdose case of his girlfriend three years ago. He is a worthy bet. And what is more amusing was the actual bet I put in place for Tylon Tycoon!!" The Boss uttered and laughed hysterically with great humor.

Meanwhile, Dragon's face was aghast with horror, at the mention of the most Notorious Underworld lord who had the entire Underworld's control on his palm The mere mention of his name called for terror and fear from every underground member.

Tylon Tycoon was like the Boss of all Bosses, and none so far had ever seen his real face or know who he was except The Big Six...A highly reputated Big shots of politicians and respectable public figures in the Media who are involved secretly in the filthy dealings of the underground business...The dirty leaders.

But Tycoon suddenly disappeared from existence, away from the Underworld since ten years back and everyone thought he was dead...until Dragon's Boss suddenly mentioned his name just now, which sent shivers down his spine.

"Ty..Tycoo_Tycoon is alive?!" Dragon was sweating profusely. He really can't believe why his boss wanted to mess with Tycoon who had everyone else terrified and they had to remain in their shells since he took over as the most fearless lord of all time, all this while, out of fear of his well-known brutality.

"Oh yes! How do you think I became the Boss of the Underworld at such short notice...I was his replacement! It was an offer from The Big Six, until Tycoon's return." Dragon's mouth was left agape when he realized his Boss had been hiding all these info from him all these years. He thought he was the most closest and trustworthy to his Boss.

"But how!...Where.. had he been?" Dragon stammered from shock.

"That's a secret I struck with the Big Six, which I can't disclose with anyone...But he surely is alive!" The Boss replied with humor.

Dragon had always been his Boss's trusted right-hand man who helped him escape from their formal country to avoid the FBI, when they were almost caught for his notorious illegal acts and their cartel was brought down to nothingness. Since then, His Boss had been covering his tracks to prevent any acts of his from getting sniffed by his current country's FBI, ever since he settled into it for the past ten years, as the Boss of the underground world.

Over the years his business has been booming with different clients and successfully shipping goods to and from the country without the snooping of the cops. But since one of his most trusted ally leaked his information to cops which he paid with his own life, things hadn't been going on well.

The Boss had the traitor and his family killed for the betrayal, but his business hadn't been lucrative since.

Words spread around about the sudden sniff of the cops in his dealings so he lost most of his clients out of fear of being apprehended with him, simply from mere rumours.

"That Wilby guy had surely cost me a few millions, I thought his death will bring back all the loss but he died for nothing...What a shame though!" The Boss spoke with anger building up within him after all these years, at the guy who ruined everything for him shortly after he took over the reins of the Underworld.

"I have been meaning to ask about why you spared his Kids...I thought you ordered them killed?" Dragon asked as he hand over a glass of wine to his Boss.

"Not until I retrieved all my losses from Wilby's betrayal and what better deal but to regain it from his Kids...And I also had to test that boy...Jason, about his capabilities. So I sent him to befriend and later convince Wilby's son into serving me...for my bigger plan to escape the FBI for good!." The Boss took sips of his wine as he added with a convincing smirk on his face, at his malicious intent to dump all his crimes on Wilby with the help of his son...Sam Wilby.

Over the years, since the Boss's escape from his formal country and settled in this current place, he had used the Wilby Corporation's for his dirty dealings, until Trent Wilby figured it out from ongoing suspicions and joined him as a spy under the FBI, for a sting operation, so and he had to finish him off.

However, The Boss didn't realize Trent Wilby had already leaked all his secret information about his actual identity to the cops. He had fought all these years to acquire a permanent disguise, away from all suspicions only to lose it at the expense of Trent Wilby. Everything was going on well, then suddenly he had to run from the cops once more...thanks to that Wilby.

Nevertheless, another permanent disguise was what he desperately needed now to avoid blowing his cover, and to save what was left of his business dealings. That was why he needed to gain control of the CCF foundation, and turn it into a permanent base for his illegal transactions.

A trusted and reputable organization like the CCF was what he needed. But it seemed that CEO was still hard-headed in providing the information about the real owners of the organization.

The thorough investigation the Boss had carried out to find out the real owners led him to the White Entertainment Industry's CEO Todd Carter. But it was later revealed Todd was only a borrowed name used to hide the real administrators of the foundation.

It turns out Jason's hit on the CEO's son Tom Carter, got Todd talking and he revealed the Superstar Eric Kurt and his Brother Evans Kurt as the real founders and administrators of the foundation. They built it in memory of their dead mother... Caroline Kurt, and even name it after her...Caroline Charity Foundation (CCF). The foundation offers care and attention to orphan kids who lost their parents in childhood just like them.

However, Eric Kurt borrowed the name of his CEO under disguise, as his foundation's administrator and wiped out any lead to his name since he accepted to become a Superstar three years ago.

Both Brothers wanted their ownership of the foundation to be anonymous and the reason for that didn't matter to the Boss now. All he needed was the rights to the highly reputable foundation to secure and manage his illegal transactions without the snooping of the cops, and if in any case It was found out, he would have a good cover to escape getting involved or reprimanded by the law.

"So you sent Jason with the bugs to get the information you might use to threaten him into submission?" Dragon asked.

"Well, Dragon..There is nothing a Superstar fears more than a tainted reputation and the curse of his once allies called fans, haunting him for an immoral act...What better blackmail than to use his perfect image to our advantage." The Boss responded, sounding intrigued by the plots he placed ahead to damage White Entertainment along with the Superstar, if Todd fails to keep the end of the bargain by transferring the foundation's ownership, and allow him to secure his illegal transactions without any trace.

"What if we don't get anything on him? like you said his perfect image!" Dragon curiously asked his Boss.

"Fool! The bugs aren't there for nothing...if there is nothing then we have to make something up of course. Everything is already in place. Let Jason handle it while you handle Travis Walker!" Dragon vehemently nodded at his Boss's order and moved to continue his twenty-seven surveillance of Travis's Walker.

One of the sons of the reputable Walker Multi-billion Empire who had been in a Coma for the past ten years, after an incident of his niece's kidnapping. Travis woke up from coma recently and the Boss placed Dragon to monitor his every movement and report back to him to the tiniest detail, which Dragon left to obey immediately.

Back at Eric's Mansion,

Eric clicked a spoon to his glass to call an end to his guests whisperings about the assumptions. The main reason he stood there was to thank all of them for coming, on such short notice and evacuate all of them to their various homes. And as soon as he got all their attention he finally made the announcement.

"I am sorry guys...But I need to get ready for tonight's party so this brings us to the end of today's get-together. However, I am inviting all of you to the grand party tonight! It was nice getting acquainted with you all. Let's reconnect tonight! Cheers..... for tonight!" Eric raised his glass to propose the final toast for the night as well as his birthday party later.

Henry Harper, one of Eric's closest friends and a private detective, who was currently helping Eric to crack down a long-term family grudge, was also present among the guests. He cheered and whistled when Eric invited all of them to his bigger party tonight. And the rest of the audience followed suit with cheers and applause. Even though they were a little disappointed with the party coming to an end. But they were excited to be personally invited by the Superstar himself, to his grand party.

"Cheers!!" The guests all called out after Eric before Jason placed his phone aside after his texts to join the toast. They all gulped down their drinks and finally prepared to leave.

Within a few minutes, every guest was long gone except for Sophia, who was still glued to her seat as if she never had any plans to move. It's like she had already made a home for herself in Eric's Mansion.

"Sofia...Shouldn't you be off to get ready for tonight's party?" Eric asked when he saw Sofia not moving an inch from her seat.

"Of course I do...I wanted to stay a little longer." Sofia replied, a little tipsy from all the drinks she consumed so far.

Meanwhile, Eric urged her to leave with the excuse of wanting to get himself prepared for his party. But Sofia's request to kindly drop her home, made Eric pause in his tracks. He was surprised at how Sophia cunningly found a way to continue her clinginess till the last second.

Eric nearly screamed his frustrations aloud but controlled himself. His desperate hope was to complete their currently shooting drama series together, so that Sophia wouldn't find any excuse to meet him, and he will have no excuse to tolerate her or entertain her advances any longer.

Nevertheless, He agreed to drop her home, but before that, Eric texted his manager Jeff, with an SOS message as he escorted Sophia until they got to the parking lot. He opened the back door for Sophia to get in. But instead, she hurried to take the front seat with a smile on her face.

That was when Eric realized that, she intended to sit close to him because she thought he would be the one driving her home. Heroically, Jeff appeared out of nowhere to take the wheels of the car to send her home.

Eric was so relieved since he figured Jeff knew him so well to even understood his emergency messages. Times like these were when he loved Jeff for his quick wits.

Whereas, Sofia's shocked expression from the turn of events was priceless. There was a fit of anger lurking around her fake smile when Eric apologized to her, with the excuse of preventing a scandal outbreak in case anyone spotted him dropping her home or around her house.

Since it could create another huge mess for their highly-rated television series, and all sorts of stress from the Media. They had already been through a dating rumor before, and a second time would have proven fatal for the both of them. Eric won't be able to deny it then, and Sophia would only continue to pester him.

"See you at the Party...tonight! Bye!" Eric waved at Sophia as her car moved. He was finally rid of his clingy partner for now.

On their drive home, Sofia screamed her frustrations in the car. She took out all her anger on poor Jeff, for not taking a hint about her crush on Eric all this while.

"How could you do this!" Sofia questioned Jeff angrily.

"Eric texted me to drive you home, because he said he needed to get ready for his party, time was running out. That was why I came. I am so sorry if it upsets you!" Jeff answered to calm Sophia's temper and it worked, Sofia calmed herself to make sense of Jeff's explanation.

"I am sorry about that...I thought you were trying to keep me away from Eric. You tried that many times before." Sophia defended her rude reaction a while ago.

"Yes, I did! But that was before. I never wanted Eric involved in any scandals, or ruin his image. But it's different now! He is now famous worldwide, so I wouldn't mind if he found himself a companion now. And a worthy one at that!" Jeff proudly stated.

"So I am not worthy of him? You know I have liked him for like a century." Sofia confessed.

"I know...And I would be glad if Eric felt the same way about you, but I keep having my doubts." Jeff explained.

"He will...He surely will! If you help me. Can I count on you.....please!" were Sophia's sorrowful pleas.

Jeff turned to look at Sofia's pleading eyes, filled with pity. He didn't know how, but before he could think, he found himself nodding in agreement.

What! did she cast a spell on me or what!. Anyway, It won't hurt to ship Sophia and Eric together. Eric isn't interested in anyone at the moment, so it's best if Sofia tried her luck. It's now or never!

Jeff returned Sofia's smile as she happily hugged him in gratitude for accepting to help her get Eric's love.

"Thanks, Jeff!