THE SENDER

Alone together inside the car, Troye fixated his attention to the road, whereas Hailey just boredly stared at the blurry cars passing through her gazes.

It was quarter to eight when Hailey received a call from her secretary slash acting as her position—sarcasm, intended—indicating that she needed her presence today in the company. This time must be so relevant that her presence is needed. No matter how much she wanted to decline, though, there’s no way she could as she’s the real CEO among them.

Thus, Troye is driving her to the company as of the moment.

A minutes later they have arrived. Troye instantly left out his seat the moment the car stopped, and went toward the passenger’s door to open it for his boss. Although, Hailey would still choose to open it by herself.

“You’re beginning your investigation today, right?” Hailey casted a quick glance at Troye in which the latter nodded at. “Well, you don’t have to see me to my office. I can go there by myself—” but her words fell in deaf ears when a hand suddenly grabbed her waist, when at the same time, a heavy object fell from above that if she wasn’t grabbed, she would take all that heavy object.

An object from above creates a clamor, catching anyone’s attention near the incident.

“A vase.” Troye murmured with Hailey on his arms as he looked above. He could see a man in black clothes, cap, and mask hiding right away. Whereas, Hailey instinctively covered her head upon hearing the noise.

“What the heck was that?” although heart was beating fast, she still had the nerve to be in half-raged.

“They are on the moves,” Troye muttered, making Hailey frown at him. “Stay put, ma’am. It won’t take long.”

In just a few words, Troye then dashed inside the company to come after that man who had the guts to do it right in his target’s abode. However, he’s not chasing him, rather, he’s looking for him through the security camera.

“Dumb.” Troye remarked as he observed the culprit walking on the spot where there were cameras. But his eyes narrowed into slits when a realization dawned to him.

The culprit, however, was last seen in the male’s comfort room at the seventh floor. Troye furrowed his brows and think deeper.

“Sir,” he called out the security staff. “Lock the entire company. Right now.” He commanded and as though as an innocent kid, the staff obliged by making a call delivering the orders from Troye.

In an instant, Troye left and ran towards the elevator to catch up with the culprit. He pressed the number seven and was immediately brought there. He wasted no time and quickly went toward the male’s comfort room. Although, he stopped in front of the door and examined for a while.

To his surprise, someone emerged from the door, wearing a blue janitor uniform with a cart on his hands. The janitor greeted him a ‘good morning’, but his eyes just stared at his back with skepticism, as he walks away.

He stood there with his eyes glued to the janitor, seemingly scanning his entire existence. Until his gazes went down to his ankle. His eyes dilated in flabbergast when that thing rushed back in his mind, in which it was followed with the janitor casting him a sideward glance.

“T-That bastard…” Troye threw a glance beside him when another man emerged from the door, wearing the same clothes as the culprit he saw on the camera.

Now, he had a picture of what actually happened inside this comfort room.

“Hey, Warren!” he called him out, but the so-called janitor just walked fast. Having no time to spare, he chased after him.

He wasn’t mistaken. What he had seen on his ankle—which is a rose tattoo—was the same thing he saw on that delivery guy. The same person who had a fake identification card upon the delivery. Troye noticed something missing on his ID upon that day, which happened to be a validation stamp.

“Shit!” the janitor hissed, and made a short U-turn to push the cart towards Troye. The latter managed to dodge it though by jumping out of it. The janitor was astounded with it that he had his pace becoming slow.

Seemingly possessing the abilities of a cheetah, Troye’s speed went three times faster than the man in a janitor uniform. He knew that he would lose to such speed, therefore, he resorted to throwing him any objects that he touches.

But with Troye’s astonishing reflexes, he managed to dodge them all.

“I’m fucked up.” Warren was exchanging his glances to Troye who was running towards him and the entire landscape of the ground floor.

Warren trembly gripped on the railings, hesitatingly to jump. “Shit, it’s over once I’m caught.” He breathed heavily as he gazed beneath. “Damn it!” his last words before climbing on the railings.

Troye widened his eyes at the sight, fortunately reached where Warren was standing and managed to grasp his one hand.

“I’m not going easy on you, bastard.” Troye gritted his teeth while trying to pull Warren up. Although, this man quite has the weight, Troye still tried to spend his strength on him.

But this bastard just grinned at him. He let out a spray from the janitor’s uniform using his free hand, somehow rendering Troye’s strength as he tried to cover his eyes using his one hand. Warren was then given a chance to scratch Troye’s wrist, freeing him from his grasp.

“NO!” Troye screamed, although it’s too late already as Warren’s lifeless body laid on the ground floor with the pool of his own blood.

Troye shook his head repeatedly as he got inside the elevator. As he reached the ground floor, people are starting to gather around the lifeless body of Warren, including the security staffs who were disappointed by the action that the culprit chose. Troye checked his pulse and closed his eyes intently when he couldn’t feel any.

He stared at the bloody body and started his examination. He cupped his body in hopes to find anything relevant, but he only found an item from the janitor.

“Did you call the police?” Troye asked one familiar security staff, making the latter to dilate his eyes as the realization hit him. Troye sighed and called them by himself instead.

“Troye!” the other line exclaimed with the hint of longing on his voice.

“A crime and incident happened here at Dixon Company—” the inspector cut his words short.

“Ah, yeah. Luke called.” He said, squinting Troye’s eyes into slits. “We have arrived actually.”

Troye turned his back to face the entrance where familiar people emerged from the glass door.

“Inspector!” Troye called the gray-haired man. He then salutes at him before coming towards them. “Did you mean that Luke was here?” he asked, which the inspector nodded.

What is he doing here, though? It’s not like he knew someone in here.

However, Inspector Ryan instantly furrowed, puzzled by his presence here. “But… what are you doing here?”

“Well…” Troye relaxed his shoulders, and started to narrate everything that happened to him that ended him up here.

“That’s very uncalled, huh?” they turned their heads to one person. “Pardon my interruption, I’m your replacement, by the way, Sergeant Steven James Cy.”