Killed at Eighteen, Billionaire Alpha at Dawn

Chapter 6

Arashi felt anger and irritation burst in his belly. Cassain was not stupid, so he must have clearly known this would happen.

And he had let himself die. Dumb, annoying prick. 

Rue muttered under his breath. “Damn it.”

His reaction told Arashi this was the first time Rue must have watched the recording, then he remembered that Arashi was the only way the recordings could be accessed in the first place.

Great. Just fantastic. 

Arashi leaned forward, rubbing his temple. “So people are looking for me now? Because my old man was a troublemaker.”

He was too fucking young for this.

He had to be, right?

Rue pursed his lips, staring off into the distance with an odd expression. “To tell you the truth, boyo, people were always looking for you. The search started after Cassian died. Despite how the government wrapped it up, people were still searching. Of course, some believe the empire was destroyed but they were wrong.”

Arashi looked at Rue again, but the man wasn’t looking at him. He instead shook his head once, waving away a medical personnel who tried to step close to him.

“Are they supposed to be here?”

Rue looked distracted, and he started digging in his pockets. “They have an implant inside their head that works like an NDA clause. Neat stuff actually. Cassian's idea.”

His father sure liked putting things in people’s bodies, didn’t he?

“Some people believed it was stolen, but they are closer to the truth than they think. They aren’t the people we should worry about, boyo. It is the rest.” Rue was still looking through his pockets for something, and Arashi wasn’t about to ask what.

Arashi’s jaw tightened. “And the rest?”

“They’re the ones that know it was hidden. Cassian was brilliant, but even he wasn't omniscient. These ones know what he did, or at least suspected,” Rue said. “And they are looking for the vault.”

It was the same word Morton and Rue had used back in the other room. They had called Arashi a vault, as if he was nothing more than something Cassian created to store away his wealth. 

He was a fucking person.

“Do they know it is a person?”

Who knew Arashi would keep looking at a rich geezer for anything?

Rue hadn’t looked up still, and instead of answering Arashi, he slammed a hand against his chest. Arashi barely had a second to breathe through the pain, and Rue smiled when he coughed. “Relax, kid.”

“What the fuck did you do that for?”

Rue tsked, showing Arashi his palm. It had a red orb that stopped blinking, turning it pale. “I was testing out something.”

He didn’t explain any further, but he answered Arashi’s earlier question. 

“They don’t know who you are. And they don’t know it is a person yet, but they'll figure it out, if they haven't already,” Rue’s facial expression turned sour, “They aren’t stupid.”

Arashi scoffed weakly. “You think they'll find me? Until a week ago, I was a nobody. Invisible. Unimportant.”

Rue’s voice hardened and this time, and the weight of his attention focused on Arashi, made him squirm. “If Cassian is right, and he is, that was only preparation.”

Rue folded his arms, and his jaw ticked. 

“All Cassian’s death did was buy you time. Nothing more. That time is even less because I found you now.” His facial expression softened by a fraction, but his tone wasn’t remorseful. “I wanted to warn you this part was coming.”

Arashi looked at him without flinching, because he wanted the geezer to say it to his face. “You knew I’d be hunted eventually.”

“Yes.” Rue looked bored. 

“And you didn’t think to mention it from the start?”

Rue met his gaze evenly. “You weren’t ready to hear it.”

Rue tapped a monitor that was in front of him from the console board, and the projection flickered from the minute it came up, the visuals shifting so fast Arashi had a harder time keeping up with the images. 

“What are you looking at?”

“Surveillance,” Rue said, gesturing to the console. 

Arashi spent a couple minutes trying to puzzle out the meaning. There was an obvious pattern, but it wasn't one Arashi understood. 

Arashi frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Not a lot of things do in this world. Don’t worry. You'll learn.” Rue exhaled slowly.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Have you ever sat in a room with a god?”

Arashi blinked. Rue turned away. “Cassian had interests beyond the visible world. That's what I'm saying.”

“Define interests,” Arashi said.

From how long it took Rue to answer, Arashi was certain he wasn’t going to get an answer to his question. He was about to speak when Rue started, holding up his palm to cut Arashi off.

“Your father found beings that don’t answer to laws or physics. They defy everything that you understand.” It was clear that Rue chose his words carefully, as if he didn’t want to say anything that Arashi wasn’t supposed to know yet. “They are the reason Cassian didn’t operate in public, the way the government wanted him to.” 

Arashi arched his brows, and straightened his spine, pushing away the nausea that was building in his belly. “Define that.”

Rue met his eyes. “They don’t care who’s elected. Or what parties have political power. They existed before Cassian, and they noticed him because he learned how to bargain with them.”

Arashi felt a chill settle under his skin. 

“Bargain how?”

“Stability,” Rue said then shrugged. “Containment. He did some services for them, and they rewarded him. That's all I know.” it sounded like “that's all I'm allowed to tell you.”

“So now,” Arashi said slowly, “he’s gone.”

Rue nodded. “And the agreements are void,” Rue agreed, looking more somber than Arashi had ever seen him. “Some of those forces considered Cassian to be a stabilizing variable, while the others considered him an obstacle. He got what he wanted out of all of them.”

Arashi’s pulse spiked. “And now me? Where did I fit into all this?”

That grief flickered over Rue’s face again, but this time, it was directed at Arashi. “Both, if we're interpreting Cassian's will correctly.”

Fun.

Arashi pushed himself off the table. His legs felt steady, which felt wrong. He was supposed to be buckling under the weight of everything he had learnt.

“So that’s it,” he said. “I’m bait.”

Rue shook his head, his face back to being blank. “Nah, kid. I fully intend to see you survive this if you're worthy. Think of yourself as leverage.”

“That’s worse.”

Rue didn’t argue. Arashi was beginning to think the man never did.

“They’re not unified,” Rue said. “That’s the problem.”

Arashi leaned against the table, arms crossed tight. “Who is they?”

Before Rue could answer, as if on cue, a low tone sounded from the far wall.

One of the surveillance monitors glitched. It was only for just for a second, but Arashi’s head snapped up. “That happen often?”

Rue’s expression tightened. “No.”

Another monitor flickered. It showed static, then normal feed, and Arashi felt his skin prickle. 

Rue moved fast, his fingers flying over a console that popped out from the table Arashi had been strapped to. “I’m seeing ghost pings.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning someone’s brushing our perimeter without attacking,” Rue said. He scratched his head. “They're testing us.”

Arashi’s chest tightened, and his body started getting ready for a fight that hadn’t even arrived yet. 

He felt the urge to laugh. “Is this my life now?” 

Rue’s face flickered, as if he was remembering something unpleasant and then he cursed, reaching out to grab Arashi’s arm. “This is why your death had to be convincing. To avoid shit like this. Seems we've run out of time.”

A red indicator blinked once, then disappeared.

Rue swore softly. “They’re good.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Rue rubbed his eyes. “They've stopped the attack. Tried having the system trace them, but it can't. They covered their tracks.” He eyed Arashi. “Get some rest. This isn't over.”

Of course it wasn't. 

Of course it bloody wasn't.