"I..."
"He was with me."
Ambrose, Natasha, and Alex turned towards the door to find two standing there.
One was a white-haired old man, wearing a black hat, a fancy suit, and carrying a cane while the other was a brown-skinned woman with brown hair and a wonderful physique, dressed in a saree.
Ambrose raised his brow. "I didn’t expect to see you here, Mr. Sanders. Did the Morning Weeklies not open today?"
The white-haired old man cracked a grin. "That’s the beauty about running a successful business, my boy. You can leave and not worry that your employees would burn down the building."
"Is that so?" Ambrose muttered as his eyes narrowed. "So might I ask why you are here?"
"Ah, well you see, I got into my office today to find out that my most valuable worker wasn’t around. Could you believe my shock when I found out what happened?" Mr. Sanders continued. "So as a sensible employer, I rushed down here to check on his well-being... I hope that’s not a problem, Officer."
Any sensible man could tell that there was a certain level of tension in the air, however, Alex enjoyed it as it allowed him to get a breather.
Thankfully, he wasn’t completely unlucky.
With interest, he watched the exchange between the duos.
"It wouldn’t be a problem under normal circumstances but your employee here is involved in a very important case... one involving an evil god, nonetheless," Ambrose remarked.
Mr. Sanders nodded. "But I don’t think this is the right way to interrogate him, Officer. If one was none the wiser, they would think you were threatening him."
"Nonsense!" Ambrose scowled but Mr. Sanders remained unmoved, a sly smile at the corner of his lips.
"If you don’t consider him a suspect, then that’s for the best."
"Tch, we still need to know why he wasn’t at home during the attack on Room 68."
"Didn’t I already answer?" The brown-skinned lady finally spoke up. "He was out with me."
Ambrose sneered. "Please, Ms. Nadia, be more mindful of how you speak. With how open you are about your nightly endeavors, one would think you were talking about something to be proud of."
"And shouldn’t I be?" Nadia raised a brow. "Unlike your hypocritical Zion women, where I come from, women do not try to hide what they do with their men."
"This isn’t Judah!" Ambrose could barely hold himself any longer as he revealed his annoyance.
Mr. Sanders stepped in at that moment. "This isn’t the time to start with the conversation on culture. Maybe another time...preferably over tea, my place if you are willing."
Ambrose snorted, not bothering to give a response.
Seeing how badly the situation had devolved, Natasha finally stepped up. "Ms. Nadia I understand that Mr. Regulus was meant to be with you, but I found him in the Evergarden forest."
"That is because I was chased by an unknown attacker before I could get to our meeting place," Alex replied from behind, drawing attention back to him.
A brief exchange of looks occurred between himself and Nadia before he turned to face Natasha.
Inwardly, he knew the relationship between the identity he stole and Nadia as well as Arthur.
Realizing they wouldn’t be able to get anything reasonable, Ambrose turned and left without saying a word, leaving Natasha to handle the pleasantries before she quickly followed him.
Closing his eyes, Mr. Sanders stood at the door for some time before he nodded after which he opened his eyes to gaze at Alex.
At that moment, Alex felt as though his entire being was read.
Of course, not his true essence but what Nyx left out in the open.
"... I will leave you two to chat. I’ll go and talk with the Enforcers about letting you leave this place." Mr. Sanders remarked before leaving, not even giving Alex a chance to refuse his gesture.
Hearing the door close, Alex sighed inwardly before turning to face Nadia.
The strong, authoritative demeanor she had earlier was less prominent, replaced by a side that made Alex uncomfortable.
It was a side he was familiar with.
A side a woman only showed to a man that had conquered her heart.
Silence reigned with only the sound of Nadia’s shoes echoing as she walked over to the side of the bed and sat at the edge.
"... I waited for you." Nadia broke the ice. "At first I was angry, thinking you had forgotten like you usually did. I could barely sleep as I cursed you for jilting me... imagine my shock when Arthur told me what happened?"
"How did he know?"
"You should know that he has his ways."
Of course, he didn’t, but Alex had a part to play, so... "Indeed he does."
He had to play it well, even with his limited knowledge.
"...I’m sorry," Nadia muttered while placing her palms together.
Alex reached out and held her palms. "...No need to apologize. You couldn’t have known."
Though she nodded, Nadia still blamed herself for her actions the night before.
Alex wasn’t one to overdo it, so since she wanted to dwell on that, there was no reason to stop her.
Sighing heavily, she asked. "How do you feel?"
Alex pursed his lips as he glanced at the roof. "... I don’t know how to feel. In a single day, my family was attacked and I was nearly killed. Tell me, how should I feel?"
"What happened?"
"I can’t remember... everything from last night is a blurry mess. What I do know is that I nearly lost my life and now, I learn that Douglas is missing and Emily is in the hospital."
"She’s fine now," Nadia remarked before adding. "We checked on her before making our way here."
’That makes things easier for me.’ Alex sighed inwardly while staring at Nadia.
"I was scared something had happened to you." Nadia reached out and placed her palm on Alex’s cheek.
Alex placed his palm on her own with a worried expression. "... I’m glad I’m fine but..."
"I know, Douglas. We’ll find him, don’t you worry." Nadia assured.
With that, silence reigned once again.
Nadia leaned in, her long eyelashes flickered as her lips, painted with an alluring black lipstick, quivered.
Alex was well aware of what she wanted and thinking back to the reason he was here, it didn’t sit well with him.
Though the identity he currently had was one that had a relationship with Nadia, he didn’t plan to lead her on as his heart was already elsewhere.
Just as he was about to say something to stop her, an awkward cough caused her to pause.
Both she and Alex glanced back to find Arthur staring at them with a weird smile on his face.
Taking a moment to recover, Nadia moved away from Alex with Arthur coming over.
"Did they agree?" Alex asked, inwardly thankful that the old man came back right on time.
Mr. Sanders nodded. "Do they have a choice?...they have no reason to keep you here in the first place with their bogus claims of you being associated with an evil god."
Heaving a sigh of relief, Alex inquired further. "So what now?"