The Criminal Diaries

      In two hours, Terrence, Daniel, Edward, Raquelle, Natalia, and Anna went to the home of Peter, who was still trying to help Helene come to herself after the criminal’s attempt to drown her in the river. Although the girl cannot hold down her tears, she manages to calm down a little and take control of her emotions thanks to the help of her friends. The doggy Sammy does not leave her alone and does his best to make his overwhelmed owner feel kind of better.       While Helene’s clothes are drying under the sun after the washing, she is now wearing Peter’s hoodie, t-shirt, and pants that he found in the depths of his closet. The girl’s half-wet hair is also washed, and getting dry as it’s brushed into a ponytail. Marshall is sitting powerlessly on the bed and squeezing the pillow tightly with both arms, while Anna, Natalia, and Raquelle are sitting next to her, holding her in their tight hug and snuggling their noses in their friend’s shoulder. While Peter is sitting on the office chair against them and squeezing the bridge of his nose at some moment, Daniel is leaning on the writing table with his buttocks, Edward is standing at the doorstep and leaning on it with his head with his arms crossed over his chest, and Terrence is walking in circles in the entire room.       “The situation is getting harder and harder,” Terrence says confidently. “It can’t be happening anymore. If we don’t take measures now, everything’s gonna go too far.”       “I’m afraid that even if we take measures, it won’t help us,” Raquelle shakes her head. “Those scums will not stop ‘til they get what they want.”       “Yeah, but we can no longer sit and just do nothing!” Daniel exclaims. “The attempt to drown Helene is something that crosses all the lines. We could say the attack on Peter after the show was an accident, but now it’s one hundred percent clear that those bastards can go much further.”       “You’re right, though,” Natalia agrees. “I don’t even exclude that harming Helene and Peter wouldn’t be enough for them. They may start dealing with all of us.”       “It seems they’ve already done it,” Edward throws gloomily. “Knowing one asshole almost hit Terrence with the car.”       “Yeah, now every attack of theirs is gonna be well-planned,” Peter notices, rubbing his hands nervously or running them over his almost dry, little disheveled hair. “They won’t be fools anymore. We won’t meet them alone anymore.”       “We won’t be wrong, either,” Anna replies confidently. “Now we will be walking in popular places in companies if we have a chance to.”       “By the way, girls, didn’t you notice anyone suspicious when you were on the beach?” Terrence frowns slightly.       “Nope, nothing like this,” Natalia shakes her head.       “And today, we could literally move through there!” Raquelle exclaims. “We barely found a quiet place to tan.”       “What about you, men?” Anna asks.       “I’m not sure, but I think I had a feeling that something was really watching us for some time,” Daniel confesses.       “Yes, yes, I felt it, too!” Edward agrees.       “Same thing!” Terrence confirms.       “I hope at least you didn’t suffer?” Helene asks hesitantly in a shaking voice.       “No, no, we’re okay. Nobody came to us.”       “They wouldn’t have dared to!” Daniel crosses his arms over his chest. “There were many people at the park. Lots of potential witnesses, as you could notice.”       “So, the life hack with walking at popular places works well enough,” Raquelle concludes. “Yes, they may watch us, but nobody will harm us in this case.”       “But I’m worried ‘cause the man, who tried to drown Helene and almost killed Peter, knows which house Daniel and I are living in,” Anna expresses anxiety. “It means unexpected visitors can come to us at any time.”       “I’m worried, too, but we have wonderful neighbors, who would call the police if they had at least one suspicion,” Daniel notices. “And even if someone tries to get into our house, our burglar alarm will work. And we will open the door to strangers super carefully.”       “Not only do they know the home address of you and Anna, Daniel,” Helene replies without emotions. “They know the addresses of all of us.”       “All of us?” Raquelle rounds her eyes.       “Yup. That man told me he and his leader knew where all the close people of Peter lived. They know Terrence and Raquelle are living together. They know Edward and Natalia are living with their parents. They even know my grandmother Scarlett and I are living together. And where I’m working.”       “Fucking shit…” Peter swears, stroking his chin.       “That’s bad,” Edward concludes, comes to one of the walls, and leans on it with his back. “Those scums really decided to get rid of all of us.”       “And our houses aren’t safe refuges,” Raquelle adds thoughtfully. “And it doesn’t mean our neighbors, guards, or burglar alarms can help us.”       “I wish they didn’t wanna harm anyone from our circles,” Natalia says with anxiety, putting her hand on her heart. “Since they know, for example, about my parents, I’m starting to worry about them seriously.”       “Just like I’m worried about the parents of Edward and me,” Terrence adds.       “Or I’m worried about my grandma,” Helene adds. “I’m afraid to imagine what’s gonna happen to her if those stinkers wanna do something to her.”       Sammy barks quietly two times.       “Hey, Helene, didn’t that man tell you more interesting things?” Anna asks softly, taking Helene’s hand. “What if there’s something that can help us?”       “Nothing special,” Helene shrugs. “He just confirmed that Peter didn’t really know the leader, who started it all.”       “And when will His Highness be pleased to show his face?” Terrence asks gloomily. “That’s gonna get a powerful hit of a foot shortly!”       “When he thinks it’s time. And until then… Rose can’t even hope.”       “Or Rose can’t even hope that he will actually know something,” Peter says in a low voice, crossing his arms over his chest and spreading his legs a little.       “In short, we’ve understood that we’ve understood nothing after all of this,” Daniel concludes. “Someone’s gonna keep harming us, but we won’t be able to do anything with it.”       “There’s a great desire to grab a bag and go somewhere abroad,” Anna says thoughtfully.       “I doubt it will help us,” Edward assumes. “If that leader really wants, he will find us even on Mercury. And he won’t get off us ‘till he gets what he wants.”       “Yeah, it seems like I’m no longer to protect anyone of you,” Peter says thoughtfully. “Those assholes know about everybody and are gonna go ‘til the end.”       “And now you understand you can’t do this all alone,” Raquelle says confidently.       “I didn’t wanna have you all involved in this shit. But it seems like it was done against my wish.”       “Well, since we’re stuck in this trap together, we will stay together,” Natalia replies with her head proudly raised.       “Does someone have an idea of how to get out of it?” Helene asks in a low voice. “How do we start to live a regular life again?”       “We delayed it for too long, but I think it’s time to ask for help,” Terrence says confidently. “It’s time to call Mr. Johnson and explain the situation to him.”       “Yes, guys, we’ve gotta take measures before it’s too late,” Raquelle agrees. “That’s good we have some good familiars.”       “We can call him right now, ask him to come here, and tell him what happened,” Daniel suggests.       “Mr. Johnson already knows something about this story,” Edward confesses.       “Knows?” Peter rounds his eyes. “But how?”       “A few days ago, he and his wife were at Mom and Dad’s home. And when I came back, they were talking about Peter’s situation. And I told them everything I knew.”       “Does it mean he’s working on this case now?” Helene concludes.       “At least, Mr. Johnson promised to think and try to give us some ideas.”       “And what does he know?” Natalia specifies.       “Everything before the case when that asshole pushed Peter off the stairs, and I went to the hospital with him.”       “Then, we can kindly give him a little more information to reflect on,” Raquelle notices.       “Listen, guys, give me the number of Mr. Johnson,” Peter says, stands up from the chair, comes to the writing table, and takes his smartphone from it. “I will call him now and try to invite him here. If he can do this, of course.”       “Oh, I have it!” Daniele exclaims, takes his smartphone from the pocket of his jeans, and starts looking for something on it. “I’ll find it now.”       When Daniel finds the phone number, Peter types it as he looks at the screen, and goes aside to talk with Mr. Johnson and ask him to come here. Meanwhile, Natalia pets the head of Sammy that is whining quietly, Anna gets up from the bed and starts walking in circles in the whole room, and Raquelle embraces Helene tightly around the shoulders and caresses her head softly, while the black-haired girl looks at her hands with tear-stained eyes.       “Hey, Helene, how do you feel now?” Terrence expresses anxiety, sitting on the bed and taking Helene’s hands. “You feel better now?”       “Yup, I feel a little better now,” Helene nods hesitantly.       “I’m afraid to imagine we could’ve lost you if everything had been otherwise,” Daniel notices with a horror in his eyes.       “I also silently said goodbye to all of you. I was horrified when I thought about what would happen to you. What would happen to my grandmother.”       “I would also be scared if I were instead of you…” Raquelle crosses her arms over her chest.       “Yeah, I’m afraid to imagine what drowning is like,” Natalia confesses. “I shake at just one thought about it.”       “Anyway, you’re a fine fellow,” Edward encourages, squatting down in front of Helene and stroking her hand. “You did everything you could.”       “I could hardly be called the one,” Helene shrugs. “Because I could not fight that man.”       “But at least you tried,” Natalia notices confidently. “You didn't give up and did everything you could do.”       “I swear, guys, I will not handle one more torture like this,” Helene says in a shaking voice. “If I hadn’t died of drowning, my heart would’ve just stopped. I was really frightened. As much as never ever in my life. I… I felt like a little, unprotected girl.”       “Don’t be afraid, friend, it’s all over,” Anna pronounces softly. “You’re with us, you’re safe. And we would all be scared if we were instead of you and Peter.”       Sammy barks confidently to agree with it and puts his paw on Helene’s lap.       “If that man had decided to drown me instead of strangling me, I would've definitely started to get into the water,” Helene assumes.       “It’s gonna be okay, sweetie, we’ll do our best not to let anything like this happen,” Daniel promises.       “Oh, what can you do? Would I have thought that walk with the dog would end so horribly?”       “Please, choose much more popular places to walk with Sammy,” Terrence insists. “Your mistake was going where there were no potential witnesses.”       “I think I’m gonna actually be afraid to get out of my home.” Helene sighs heavily. “And look at every bush with a suspicion since some stinker may hide behind it.”       “I don’t wanna scare you, but we can’t be sure someone isn’t somewhere near this place and watching us,” Natalia notices.       “Yeah, they may know we all decided to go to Peter’s home,” Raquelle agrees. “And they may hide well, so that even his all-knowing neighbors don’t guess anything.”       “It makes me much more horrified,” Helene replies thoughtfully.       “You’ve got no reason to be afraid, Helene,” Edward says softly. “You have us. If we have to, the men and I will not leave you alone. We’ll do our best for any bastards not to harm you anymore.”       “I dunno, guys… I ain’t sure about anything now…”       “Hey, Rose and you haven’t told us why you fought,” Natalia recalls. “Why Sammy had to attack him to make him go with him.”       “Indeed, Marshall, what happened between you?” Daniel asks. “I don’t think Pete would leave you alone at that place, knowing you could be someone's victim. There must be a reason for this.”       “Yes, of course, he did a bad thing, but we don’t believe he did it on purpose,” Raquelle adds.       “Nothing special…” Helene replies hesitantly, looking at her shaking hands. “When Pete and I were walking with Sammy, we just…”       Helene does not speak her mind because Peter comes back to his friends.       “Hey, guys, Mr. Johnson will come here soon,” Peter announces and puts his phone on the table. “I explained the situation shortly, said we had something important for him, and gave him my home address.”       “When will he come?” Anna specifies.       “Somewhere in half an hour. After finishing his business, he will come here shortly.”       “Great, we’ll wait for him then!” Edward exclaims and gets up on his feet.       “It seems like he really knows something. That man wasn’t too surprised.”       “I’m sure he’s got some interesting information about those ass-lickers,” Daniel assumes. “And then, we’ll even find out who their leader is.”       “They are probably by far not innocent!” Natalia exclaims. “Some of them probably have to do with some crimes.”       “The most important thing is that the men recall the men, whom they’ve run into over all this time,” Anna adds. “That they can describe them.”       “Well, I memorized those assholes well,” Peter replies thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest.       “Listen, are there some cases we don’t know about?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “Maybe someone met someone, who threatened you before, but said nothing about it!”       “If I met someone, I would’ve told you about it. I have no reason to lie to you.”       “We would hardly be silent,” Edward says thoughtfully. “I didn’t meet anyone suspicious for sure.”       “Me too!” Terrence, Daniel, Natalia, Raquelle, and Anna pronounce at the different time.       Sammy barks two times quietly and moves his eyes to Helene, who puts her head on her shoulders and twirls her fingers nervously.       “And you, Helene?” Raquelle asks. “Did you meet someone?”       “Erm, me?” Helene asks hesitantly, looking at her friends with widely open eyes.       “If something happened, don’t be silent, please,” Daniel insists. “We need any sort of information now.”       “Erm, you see… I…”       “Why are you nervous again?” Peter frowns strongly, crossing his arms over his chest.       “Indeed, Marshall, you’re kinda too tense,” Terrence notices. “Are you really hiding something?”       “Please, guys…” Helene starts to find excuses.       “We asked you a question,” Natalia says quietly. “So, be pleased to answer it.”       “It’s all… Too complicated…” Helene swallows nervously, starting to breathe a little heavily. “You know…”       “Don’t start it again, Marshall,” Peter says determinedly in a low voice. “Don’t make us get everything out of you by force.”       “Please, guys, let’s talk about it later…”       “Later?” Peter explodes. “Are you fucking serious now?”       “I feel too bad now. I can barely think… Half of the information gets out of my head…”       “Hey, cutie, don’t avoid the answer and tell us all the truth,” Raquelle demands determinedly.       “Yes, yes, what if your information may be very useful for us?” Edward puts his hands on his hips.       Sammy barks quietly, as if he tells Helene it would really be better for her to tell everything her friends should know.       “No, no…” Helene jabs excitedly. “It’s okay… Nothing special…”       “Helene, do not start it…” Peter demands coldly, shaking his head. “Do not make me regret believing you.”       “What do you mean?” Anna frowns slightly.       “And why are you talking to her like this?” Natalia wonders.       “Ask your friend,” Peter throws gloomily. “Maybe, she will be pleased to tell you all the secrets I don’t know about.”       “Do you have reasons to suspect she’s hiding something?” Raquelle wonders.       “Oh, guys, it’s like you don’t see anything! You just look at her! Look how hard she’s trying to find excuses not to tell us the truth.”       “Is it true, Helene?” Daniel addresses Helene. “Are you really hiding something from Peter?”       “Nothing that would make him blame me for lying and betraying,” Helene replies in a low, shaking voice, squeezing the pillow with both arms and pressing it to herself.       “Alright, Helene, stop avoiding the answer and tell us all the truth,” Terrence says quietly.       “Indeed, friend, you’re doing a terrible thing if you’re hiding something very important from us,” Edward notices.       “I…” Helene pronounces quietly with widely open eyes. “I don’t know… I don’t know if I should…”       “Marshall!” Peter shouts.       Sammy barks quietly two times as if he tells Peter to calm down.       “Just…” Helene says thoughtfully, setting her eyes into the distance and locking her fingers tightly. “You just… You don’t something… That has to do with… The current situation…”       “Speak, Helene, don’t be afraid,” Anna says softly, sitting on the bed and stroking Helene’s shoulder. “We’re listening to you.”       “This is not the first time I’m attacked by the henchmen of the one, who wanna get rid of Peter,” Helene reveals in one breath.       “What?” the girls and the men horrify, while Sammy whines with pity.       “What do you mean?” Natalia rounds her eyes.       “Today, I didn’t run into him for the first time. It had happened before.”       “Fucking shit…” Terrence horrifies, while the others look at each other.       “And when did it happen?” Raquelle asks. “How many times? What did they want from you?”       “It all started before Peter was attacked after the show,” Helene confesses hesitantly, looking at her friends with wet eyes. “Somewhere, a few days before.”       “Fuck!” Peter swears loudly, putting his hands on his hips. “But I did not know a little thing!”       “I was coming home from work. The man at the age of thirty started to bother me at some moment. He began to say someone I knew and loved would be dead soon. It’s like… Someone was preparing something terrible for them…”       “My God, were you silent about this?” Anna opens her eyes widely.       “When I said we wouldn’t close our eyes to this, he started to threaten me. He said I would be dead if I dared to open my mouth and ask the police for help. And their plan of revenge would come true anyway.”       “Didn’t he harm you?” Edward specifies.       “Nope, there were many people. He terrified me verbally. And he left me alone when a young man was passing by and stopped, suspecting something bad. When that man left, he asked me if everything was alright and whether I needed some help. But I said everything was okay, got into my car, and went home. As if nothing happened.”       “Does it mean you knew someone would start haunting Peter soon?” Daniel concludes.       “I didn’t know he would be a victim. I was told about it by the other man, whom I met outside the next day. He told me they needed Peter. And he mentioned the show… Something terrible would happen on that day.”       “My God, Marshall, are you crazy?” Natalia surprises loudly. You knew about the possible attack all the time, but you said nothing!”       “Indeed, friend, you did a mean thing!” Terrence agrees. “You must have told us about it!”       “I’m sorry, guys…” Helene apologizes with tears in her eyes. “I know I did a terrible thing… But I was really scared… Those men shouted at me, insulted me, humiliated me, held me under my arms… One of them even hit me in the face. They threatened to kill me… But I don’t wanna die. I’m too young yet!”       “Yeah, it seems like I trusted you for nothing…” Peter exhales sharply, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “I believed in your decency for nothing.”       “Peter, please…”       “You knew the fuck everything well, but you preferred to be silent! You preferred to watch the way they tried to get rid of you!”       “I’m so sorry… I was scared…”       “If we’d known it, we would’ve taken some measures,” Edward says confidently. “We would’ve talked to George and the organizers, so they can straighten out the measures for safety. We could’ve avoided it if you’d told us everything.”       “You would’ve avoided just one of many more attacks they planned, as those men said. If they hadn’t done it then, they would’ve done it later.”       “Alright, as I understand, those two are not the only ones you met,” Daniel assumes quietly. “There were more, right?”       “Right,” Helene nods hesitantly. “I’ve met different stinkers over all this time. At different places. At a different time. And they had the pleasure of telling me about all the attacks on Peter.”       “Do they want to kill him or just get him exhausted?” Raquelle asks.       “Nope, one of them said their leader wasn’t gonna kill Peter yet. He really wants to drive him crazy and make him suffer.”       “And they’re doing this well, however,” Terrence throws gloomily.       “At first, all those meetings happened at popular places where they didn’t harm me. But there were cases when Sammy and I walked in quiet and unpopular places. Then they hung out to the fullest…”       Helene swallows nervously and sighs heavily.       “They tried to stab me with a knife, put the pistol against my head… One of them actually tried to push me into the car and take me somewhere by force. Another let his hands loose and told me dirty jokes… The third one threatened to harm my grandmother…”       “Come on?” Natalia opens her eyes widely.       “Yeah, but I magically managed to save myself somehow. And Sammy protected me the way he could: barking, growling, biting, scratching, attacking them from behind… That’s what saved me.”       “Is that why you’ve looked so tense and scared all this time?” Edward concludes. “It seems like everything is okay, but you’re kinda thinking of something yours.”       “I spent a lot of energy on it. Besides…” Helene tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I always have a feeling that someone’s watching me. But when I look around, I don’t find anyone suspicious.”       “Well, honestly, sometimes I have this feeling, too,” Raquelle confesses thoughtfully.       “Agree, it seems like someone’s breathing behind our backs,” Natalia agrees.       “It’s true,” Anna adds.       “Helene, why didn’t you the fuck tell us anything before?” Daniel wonders. “We thought those scums were chasing Rose only, but now it looks like they need you, too.”       “I didn’t wanna look like a certain paranoid for you because of the thought I’m under someone’s view all the time,” Helene excuses herself. “I… I made myself think it seemed to me… I was going crazy for a reason… I felt stress… I dreamed it all up…”       “Yeah, but would it have been better to say nothing?” Peter explodes, coming to Helene in a sharp, quick step. “Is it easier to pretend that nothing is happening?”       “I’m so sorry…” Helene sniffs quietly. “I didn’t think it would go so far.”       “You must have thought! It’s a very useful thing, for your information!”       “Peter, please…”       “It’s okay that the guys knew nothing, but you must have told me everything! About all the stinkers, who caught you outside!”       “They scared me to death! I was afraid to open my mouth! I was afraid they would find me and kill me!”       “Ah, so, would it have been better if they killed me? If you, bitch, had stayed alive, but they would’ve erased me from this world?”       “For God’s sake, Peter, forgive me!” Helene begs with pity in her eyes. “I swear I didn’t want it to happen so.”       “It seems like you wanted to get rid of me! It’s like you are sick of me, and you got an amazing chance!”       “No, that’s not the truth!”       “Ha, now I don’t know where the truth is, where the lie is!” Peter sneers evilly. “Because you are fucking confused! And you are drowning in your secrets!”       “Pete, please, stop!”       “Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”       “Hey, hey, Peter, buddy, c’mon!” Daniel gets confused, taking Peter under his arm and clapping him on the shoulder. “Calm down… Relax. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale.”       “So, all these hints are your secrets are grounded enough,” Peter concludes and gets his arm out of Daniel’s grip. “They do know what you are doing behind my back.”       “My gosh, Peter, it’s like you’re possessed by a demon!” Anna horrifies, opening her eyes widely.       “Indeed, buddy, why are you attacking the girl like this?” Edward wonders. “Yes, she did a bad thing, but it doesn’t mean you have a right to treat her like this.”       “She actually must have her ass kicked,” Peter replies in a low, rude voice, clenching his hands tightly into fists. “Since her grandfather and grandmother didn’t kick this girl enough in childhood. Didn’t kick her enough. Didn’t keep her on a too short leash.”       “Hey, stop!” Terrence exclaims, raising his hands. “You two, tell us what happened between you now.”       “The thing that happened is that Marshall decided to get rid of me. She is kind of sick of me! So, she is acting like THIS!”       “Please, Peter, stop…” Helene begs in a whisper, closing her face with her hands and starting to cry bitterly.       “You think you can make me emotional with all these tears? You think I can close my eyes to your betrayal and pretend that nothing happened? And you think we will keep dating while you’re having affairs secretly from me?”       “I don’t have anyone!” Helene shouts in a heartbreaking way. “And I’ve never had!”       “My gosh, Rose, you’re starting to scare me…” Edward rounds his eyes, putting his hand on his heart. “You’re literally burning from anger! You’re about to explode!”       “I’m not guilty of the fact that someone doesn’t appreciate everything I do,” Peter throws gloomily. “Someone put a knife in my back and did their best for me to be one step away from death.”       “I did nothing, guys, I swear!” Helene exclaims desperately with tears in her eyes. “I’ve never betrayed Peter and had affairs secretly from him.”       “Stop denying it!” Peter roars, grabs Helene painfully under her arm, and shakes her slightly. “TELL ME THE TRUTH AT LEAST ONCE!”       “Hey, hey, quiet, quiet, quiet!” Terrence jabs, running to Peter, taking him under his arm, and pulling him aside. “Quiet, buddy, get cool.”       At this moment, Sammy starts barking loudly at Peter and growling at him, while Daniel sits on the bed next to Helene crying bitterly and embraces her tightly.       “Wake up, Pete, what are you doing?” Raquelle wonders, coming to Peter and putting her hand on his shoulder. “She is a girl!”       “She is a demon!” Peter snaps, breaking free sharply. “The demon that’s hiding under the mask of the angel! She has everyone wrapped around her finger! She swears to everyone that she’s changed. But she actually remained the same bitch she was in her school years.”       “Gosh, buddy, we don’t recognize you!” Natalia horrifies. “You’ve always been such a sweet and shy guy, but now you’re acting like nobody the hell knows who.”       “That’s what happens when you get in touch with some bitches.”       “Oh, guys, I don’t know how to prove to him that I’m not guilty!” Helene sobs in despair, while Edward strokes her shoulder after he sits next to her. “Someone told him something, and he believed it.”       “You did the fuck just prove everything to us!” Peter shouts. “You proved your ass was more important to you than people, who loved you.”       “Not true!”       “By deciding to say nothing about the attack I would have to experience, you clearly let me know what you cared about more.”       “You’re attacking me like I organized it all! It’s like you were tried to be strangled, pushed off the bridge, and hit with the car because of me!”       “I wouldn’t be surprised! Wouldn’t be surprised if you were the one to do it all!”       “Peter, enough!” Daniel orders. “Calm down now!”       Sammy starts growling quietly at Peter, who looks red from anger that he is obsessed with.       “Sammy started to growl at you!” Edward exclaims. “It never happened before, but now it’s happening!”       “Why do you actually think Marshall wanna get rid of you?” Anna wonders. “What did they say if you started to treat your girlfriend like this?”       “And why do you think she has affairs secretly from you?” Raquelle wonders.       “That’s why!” Peter throws gloomily, taking his mobile phone from the table and starting to look for something in it. “Enjoy, guys!”       Natalia standing next to him takes the phone from Peter and starts reading the message from the unknown sender that became the reason for his conflict with Helene before. While the girls and the men surround her at this time, and Helene pets the head of Sammy that is whining quietly.       “Are you an idiot, Rose?” Terrence asks quietly. “Did you go crazy?”       “Indeed, buddy, you’re an idiot!” Daniel exclaims. “How could you believe this message from an unknown person?”       “They didn’t give you any proof!” Raquelle notices. “No proof of the fact that Helene is hiding something from you or dating another man!”       “At first, I doubted, too, and tried to get rid of all these thoughts,” Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “But the behavior of this girl made me think better. She got nervous after the question about something I didn’t know yet. And Marshall did not want to explain anything.”       “So, is that why you fought?” Anna concludes. “Is that why you left Helene alone in a desert place so easily, knowing about what could happen to her?”       “You all see well that the message’s sender was right. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more secrets. If your friend hid something else, that could make me wanna leave her.”       “Yes, she was silent about the attacks on her,” Edward says confidently, while Raquelle, Anna, and Natalia look at each other briefly. “But it doesn’t mean you can attack her like this.”       “Maybe, Helene was really scared?” Natalia assumes. “Maybe, they told her so much that she would’ve kept being silent if we hadn’t insisted on telling the truth.”       “It’s okay, guys, don’t worry,” Peter raises his head proudly. “I shall know everything. I shall find out what she’s hiding from me. I shall spend one year, two years, or eternity, but I shall know it. I shall reveal all of her secrets and find all of her lovers.”       “There’s no truth!” Helene wrecks her cords. “I did nothing bad! I did not betray you!”       “I am sure that the author of this message would kindly agree to explain everything to me and reveal your real side. Do you think I will not want to call this number and agree about the meeting? You think I will not think about it? Not fucking way, sweetie! I shall meet them! Meet and find out everything!”       “Whatever they say, it’s gonna be slander!”       “Enough!” Peter raises his hand. “Enough! I am sick of your lies!”       “You did say you shouldn't have believed that message? You called yourself an idiot because you attacked me with charges! Huh, Rose? You forgot you were literally crying and begging me for forgiveness? You swore it would never happen again! But you’re doing the same thing again!”       “Until I know who you really are, I shall not calm down. And if I know you lied to me and used me, I will break up with you for sure.”       “My gosh, do what you want!” Helene explodes, “I am sick of proving something to you! Proving that I am clean and innocent for you!”       “We will see it, bitch!”       “Get therapy, psycho! You’ve gone really crazy! You are fucking sick of pretending to be a good boy! Your real side has shown up, after all. You’ve shown what you really are.”       “What did you say? WHAT DID YOU THE FUCK SAY, BITCH? WHAT DID YOU SAY, BITCH?”       When Peter wants to run to Helene and do something terrible to her, Sammy closes the girl with himself and starts barking at him aggressively, and Daniel and Terrence try to hold the man down and pull him aside.       “Hey, hey, calm down!” Edward demands in a mandative voice, closing the way for Peter with his body, and pushes him off when the blond tries to break free. “Calm down, I said!”       “This bitch MAKES ME ENRAGED!” Peter throws in a low, rude voice, trying so hard to break free from his friends’ grip with no success. “Let me go, guys! Lemme go, I said! I wanna show her where she belongs!”       “Peter, wake up!” Raquelle demands harshly in a loud voice. “Stop doing stupid things!”       “This bitch does know what kind of pain I felt, but she went on the same way CONSCIOUSLY,” Peter hisses through his teeth. “AND SHE IS LYING TO ME INSOLENTLY, NOT FEELING ASHAMED!”       “MAYBE, YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING FROM US YOURSELF?” Helene screams at the top of her lungs. “Maybe, you are trying to hide some of your dirty tricks with your hysterics and desire to blame me for everything?”       “I am more innocent than any angel!” Peter roars.       “Maybe, everyone kicked your ass in school years for a reason. Maybe you aren’t so innocent and ruin someone’s life. Probably, the case was not even about your reluctance not to follow their trends and to be what they wanted to see near. Maybe, the case is that you are a worse asshole than all of them.”       Breathing heavily and burning with hatred, Peter tries to run to Helene again and grab her by the hair, but Edward is closing her with his body determinedly, and then Terrence and Daniel join him.       “Stop, Rose, enough!” Daniel demands loudly. “Leave her alone! Hear me! Stop! Enough!”       “I swear if she says one more word, I shall strangle her with my own hands,” Peter threatens with his finger.       “Calm down, for God’s sake!” Anna begs, holding Peter under his arm along with Raquelle and Natalia, trying to take him aside, and stroking his shoulder.       “Don’t do stupid things, buddy!” Natalia demands determinedly. “Please.”       “You just look at Helene!” Raquelle exclaims. “She is scared to death, but you are making her feel much worse by blaming her for nothing.”       “Those assholes are trying to get you to fight,” Edward adds. “Is it so hard to understand? Someone does need to get rid of Helene’s protector to do anything they want to her!”       “He has not learned anything from the stories that happened to all of you,” Helene throws gloomily. “He thought just one message from the unknown person was a wonderful proof of some of my mistakes.”       “You were the fuck told to shut up!” Peter throws rudely. “WAS, BITCH, NOT CLEAR FOR YOU?”       “See who you look like! You are literally black from anger! And your hair is standing! You are about to attack someone with fists! Or actually, a knife!”       Peter tries to get through the wall made by his friends with an irritable growl, even if Raquelle, Natalia, and Anna are holding him the way they can, and Daniel, Edward, and Terrence do not let the man come to Helene crying bitterly. While Sammy is thrilling with a deafening bark that all the neighbors may react to, and the girls press themselves closely to each other, Terrence pushes Rose as far as possible much more determinedly and tries to take full control of the hand-in-hand fight that he has to start with him.       “Enough, Rose, stop this show right now!” Terrence demands in a mandative voice.       “Let me go, Terrence,” Peter snaps. “Let me go if you don’t want any trouble.”       “You will now be in trouble if you don’t turn your fucking brain on.”       “Let me go, I said! Or you are dead!” Peter glances aside, noticing Edward and Daniel hug Helene around the shoulders at the same time. “And these two. If these do not let me come to this betrayer."       “Peter, stop, we’re begging you!” Raquelle begs in despair. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”       “Get out of my apartment!” Peter roars, while Terrence is holding him so hard. “Grab your stuff and get out of here to the fuck!”       “You’re acting like a patient of a mental hospital!” Terrence throws rudely.       “I’ve got an excellent teacher, who is fucking perfect at this thing.”       Peter and Terrence fight hand in hand for a few seconds, along with the girls’ quiet cry and Sammy’s bark, before MacClife, Sr. slaps Rose in the face in anger. He does it so strongly that the blond loses his balance and falls to the ground, grabbing his burning cheek and looking at his friend with a heavy breath with his eyes full of sparks of anger and hate.       “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND CALM DOWN!” Terrence explodes. “WAKE THE FUCK UP AND STOP ACTING LIKE SOME KIND OF SICK BASTARD!”       A tense silence settles in the air for some time, during which the girls breathing heavily look at each other with a horror in their widely open eyes, Sammy puts his tail between his legs in fear, and Edward and Daniel look at Terrence surprisingly, while he just raises his head proudly and strokes his disheveled hair a little.       “So what, calmed down?” Terrence asks coldly in a low voice, addressing the discouraged Peter, who is still sitting on the floor with a heavy breath and looking at his friend. “Or should I hit you again if it didn’t help you?”       Peter says nothing and just keeps looking at Terrence closely, while the black-haired man takes him silently under his arm, raises him up, and seats him rudely on the office chair.       “But now listen to me closely, pretty boy,” Terrence keeps speaking confidently as he grabs Peter by the collar. “First, stop attacking Helene and scaring the poor girl with your tricks. And second, work your brain a little and ask yourself if it CAN be possible? Whether Marshall HAS reasons to get rid of you?”       “Has she done something personally to you to make you doubt her at least once?” Anna asks. “Has she ever left you when you needed her? Has it ever happened?”       “Helene is not holy, we can’t deny it,” Raquelle adds. “But you have no right to treat her like this! Yes, she had a conflict with the girls and me, but it’s our business. We can solve it on our own. I mean, we’ve done it. And she’s never done anything bad to you.”       “We completely understand that every little suspicion of betrayal can break your heart and make you wild,” Natalia notices. “But to blame someone, you must have proof. Or you must see the betrayal with your eyes. Not read messages or see photos, but see everything yourself. In real time.”       Sammy barks confidently two times in approval. Peter says nothing for a few seconds and thinks about something with a disgruntled sigh, still looking gloomy enough but less aggressive. While Helene looks at him closely with her red, tears-stained eyes and presses herself close to Edward, and Daniel is just stroking her hand.       “Alright, maybe, I really got too excited,” Peter says much quieter in a low voice. “I crossed the line. My blame.”       “Yeah, you got too excited!” Anna crosses her arms over her chest.       “Just try to understand me. Understand what I felt at just one thought about someone, who betrayed me. You all know well that it’s a painful thing to me.”       “We get it all, Pete, but your behavior can’t be excused like this,” Natalia replies. “You must hold yourself down somehow. If we weren’t here, you’d kill Marshall, for sure.”       “The thing I’m afraid to death is that the message may be true.” Peter swallows nervously. “That someone really betrayed me.”       “Listen, think a little yourself!” Raquelle exclaims. “Think about how high the chance of all of this shit is!”       “There is. I can’t say it’s high, but I can’t say it can’t be happening.”       “Besides, would a girl leave the one she’s done so much for?” Terrence meddles, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “For you, Helene’s ready for any sacrifice and does her best to make you feel good. She doesn’t think as much about herself as about you. You’re everything for her!”       “You’re our close friend, but, excuse me, it does cross all the lines,” Daniel adds, coming to Peter. “We can’t close our eyes to what you’re doing.”       “I dunno, guys…” Peter sighs tiredly, leaning back in the chair. “I don’t know what to think and what to say. I kinda understand I may not be right, but I don’t exclude that there’s something about it.”       “It’s partly true, but as Natalia said, you must have proof before you blame someone,” Edward recalls, coming to Peter, too.       “But she did know they were going to attack me! Marshall could’ve prevented it all for two minutes, but she preferred to go another way.”       “What would’ve changed?” Anna throws her hands up. “Do you think it could change their plans? Not at all! Early or late, they would’ve caught you somewhere early or late! Not after the show, but not far from the house of Daniel and me. Not there, but somewhere else!”       “Maybe, that’s true. But the fact that the girl said nothing when she must have spoken!”       “We don’t excuse her at all, but it’s wrong, too,” Natalia replies.       “Oh, my head goes around…” Peter leans on the armrest of the chair with his elbow and puts his hand on his forehead. “I am excited due to all these attacks, but now there’s much more fuel in the fire.”       “It’s gonna be over early or late,” Raquelle replies confidently, stroking Peter’s shoulder. “Now, Mr. Johnson will come here, and we will be looking for a solution to solve this problem.”       “I doubt he can help us somehow.”       “But there’s one more important thing,” Helene meddles quietly, petting Sammy’s head that is lying on her laps.       All the men and girls move their eyes shortly to Helene curling up in a ball.       “One of the men, who caught me, dropped a hint at the reason why it all started.”       “Really?” Anna rounds her eyes.       “And why?” Peter asks gloomily, crossing his arms over his chest.       “It’s all kinda connected with your mother.”       “My mother?”       “He didn’t give me more details, but he noticed his lord started it all to do something connected with that woman.”       “But my mother disappeared many years ago! One day, she left home and never came back!”       “Okay, it’s just something…” Daniel puts his hands on his hips. “We can try to get deeper.”       “But how could that woman be connected with the leader?” Edward wonders. “What did she do?”       “It seems like she was involved in something serious,” Terrence assumes. “And Peter is gonna have to pay for her tricks.”       “But why now?” Peter wonders. “My mother disappeared many years ago, but someone started to give me claims now!”       “But we can assume that woman is still alive,” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “Alcohol hasn’t killed her yet.”       “And what could she do, in your opinion?”       “It’s probably connected with money,” Natalia shrugs. “What if she robbed one man, who turned out to be a certain rich man, who was determined to get everything back?”       “Robbing for money to buy a bottle of vodka?” Edward frowns slightly. “Likely!”       “But those assholes say the reason why it all started is not money!” Peter throws his hands up.       “Who knows, buddy…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully. “But one thing is clear – your mother definitely did something, and you were made to pay for her.”       “If she got in trouble, why should I the fuck help her out? Why do I have to pay some fucking bastard?”       “Well, I guess he’s thinking something like, since you’re her son, you must pay for what she’s doing,” Daniel assumes. “They do know you’ve got money. Which means you’re an effective dude that can pay all of her debts.”       “And how did they know she was my mother? How did they manage to find her son?”       “If he’s really rich, this thing is as easy for him as spitting,” Terrence replies. “Moreover, you’ve become famous. It’s playing its role, too.”       “And it’s a shame I can’t know what it all means. Because I don’t know where she is now, and what’s happening to her.”       “Listen, Pete, do you remember the day she left home?” Raquelle frowns slightly.       “Yeah, I do. It happened two or three days after I graduated from school and received my certificate. She was whooping ‘cause she managed to get a bottle of expensive vodka. At first, she suggested that I drink with her in honor of my graduation, and when I refused, she called some of her drinking companions and invited them for a party. In honor of mine, as she said. Her son kinda graduated from school. That’s awesome! It must be celebrated! Well… She was gone… And… She never came back. I didn’t see her anymore. And I… Didn't try to find her. Because I was used to the fact that she wasn’t at home for a few days. I thought she would hang around and come back. But my mother did not come back. And I… I didn’t kinda care. I didn’t try to find her.”       “Did she work for a certain period of her life?” Natalia specifies.       “Nope, she never worked in her life. To buy drinks, she stole money from people outside or took it from me when I managed to earn something. Well, or she just pretended to be ill and begged. If she was lucky, she got enough. But if she wasn’t, she kept thinking about how to get money.”       “And wasn’t there anything that could make you have some suspicions?” Anna asks.       “I am more surprised that she was never caught for something and arrested. But I know for sure that my mother often robbed shops.”       “What if she disappeared because the police arrested her?” Daniel frowns slightly. “What if that woman was caught on something?”       “But how can she have to do with the man, who is trying to get rid of the blond?” Helene wonders.       “Good question,” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “The question we don’t have a clear answer for.”       “Anyway, we can find it out,” Edward notices. “We’ll tell Mr. Johnson about that woman, and he will probably recall some cases featuring her if she really did something.”       “Oh, Mother…” Peter sighs tiredly, turning his head around. “It’s been an eternity since she disappeared, but she decided to do dirty tracks on me.”       “Nevertheless, if we manage to catch the leader of the gang, he will undoubtedly be able to tell us everything about her,” Raquelle replies.       “And when we catch him – it’s an open question.”       “Alright, guys, let’s think this case is moving on in a snail’s step, but it does,” Edward says quietly. “Now we know Peter doesn’t know the leader, and the leader is kinda connected with his mother.”       “Yeah, if we get such little doses of information, my head is gonna get gray hairs sooner,” Peter throws gloomily.       “My head’s gonna have gray hairs if those people do something terrible to me again,” Helene says under her nose.       Sammy barks quietly and puts his head on the laps of Helene, who yanks him softly by his ears. Peter watches her silently for two seconds with a much quieter glance, feeling guilty for her because of his behavior deep inside, but still asking himself if he should trust his girlfriend. Nevertheless, he gets up from the table at some moment, comes to the bed, sits on it, and takes the girl in a tight hug with no words, caressing her head. At first, she does not react to this, but then she puts her head on his back and snuggles her nose in his shoulder.       “I’m sorry…” Peter apologizes quietly. “Forgive me for my hysteria. I’m really very sorry…”       “You’re breaking my heart,” Helene whispers and sniffs quietly. “I won’t bear it.”       “I’m praying so hard that you don’t break mine.”       “I’d rather choose death.”       “Don’t say it.”       Sammy barks quietly as he watches closely Helene and Peter, who pets his head with a slight smile. While their friends watch them, look at each other briefly, and hug their sweethearts tightly.       “Let’s drink something,” Peter suggests, while Helene is holding his hand and caressing it. “While Mr. Johnson’s on the way.”       “I don’t kinda want to, honestly…” Natalia replies thoughtfully, wrapping Edward’s waist with both arms and pressing herself to him as closely as possible.       “By the way, how are you two feeling now?” Anna expresses anxiety, caressing Daniel’s arms that are put around her neck from behind.       “I’m fine, don’t worry,” Peter replies.       “And I feel much better,” Helene pronounces quietly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “But I’m still super scared.”       “The most important thing is that you’re with us,” Raquelle says with a slight smile, while Terrence is pressing her closely to his chest with both arms. “You two are with us.”       “Thank this hooligan for this,” Peter says shyly, moving his eyes to Sammy. “If he hadn’t insisted on my return, everything would’ve ended tragically.”       “Making sure again that Sammy won’t be excited without a reason,” Edward notices. “Especially when the case is about his owner."       “Taking him with me was one of the best decisions in my life,” Helene smiles much more widely. “I liked him so much that I would’ve done this even against Grandma’s will. But thank God, she agreed.”       Sammy barks shyly two times and gets pleasure from accepting the caress and attention from Helene, Peter, and their friends, who are truly grateful to the dog for not being confused for a second and finding a way to ask for help when he was absolutely powerless against the evil criminal.       

***

      With a sense of satisfaction, the man, who almost sent Helene to another world some time ago, met the man named Elijah, who is one of the accomplices of Marcus Longbottom. The one, who started this chaos. They are spending time in the car of Marshall’s offender, who is drinking something from a little tin can, and his friend is breathing in slowly the smoke from the cigarette that he is holding between two fingers.       “So, were Marcus and the guys right that this idea would work?” Elijah smiles slyly.       “It worked like magic!” the man replies with his head proudly raised. “As I’ve said, Rose fought with his girlfriend to the fuck. He blamed her for betraying him, fucked her off, and got out. While the girl was crying bitterly and begging him to stay.”       “And we didn’t lie! It’s not a secret to us that Marshall has a dark past.”       “All these know just a couple of secrets from many more,” the man drinks a little from his tin can. “The girl did not want to reveal it all to her friends.”       “And it’s good for us!” Elijah exclaims and breathes in the smoke of the cigarette. “We’ve got a strong card in our hands. The thing that can help us turn everyone against her.”       “I told the gal about it. I said the messages Marcus sent Rose from his number were nothing. We would keep pressing on Peter to assure him that she was a false bitch.”       “And if he really experienced the events we were told about, it’s going to be a strong hit for him.”       “Yeah, the boy just learned to trust people and let himself love a girl again. But then boom – he ran into a piece of shit!”       “Marcus knows well what to do. He examined the situation very well before starting to make his plan real.”       “I hope the girl is not stupid, too. She’s understood what kind of fucking trouble she got in because of her sweetheart.”       “Hey, Luther, don’t you know what happened to the girl?” Elijah shakes the ash off the cigarette right in the window. “You said you threw her in the water.”       “I don’t know, Elijah, I didn’t stay there for too long and got out shortly. Peter was going to beat my face so hard. And that smelly dog almost bit my arm through.”       “So, did our pretty boy come back?”       “Yeah, it seems like that asshole made him come back. As far as I understood, the dog was hers. It was fretting because of the girl two times more than for Rose himself.”       “Now I am really curious if she stayed alive.”       “I think we will find it out soon,” Luther smiles slyly. “We will know if Marcus is gonna have much less or more work.”       “If she is magically lucky, we will all have fun to the fullest with pleasure.”       “Oh, yay, buddy, I must confess that the girl is pretty good.” Luther smiles mysteriously. “She is fucking beautiful! And what a body she has! M-m-m… Exciting!”       “Hey, ya liked it?” Elijah chuckles.       “Well… I’d be happy to bend her over and fuck her.”       “Maybe, you will have a chance to do it.”       “Most likely. Rose was fucking determined to jump in the water when I was leaving.”       “Anyway, Helene is gonna be scared to death and look around all the time,” Elijah assumes.       “That silly girl shouldn't just have walked with her dog where there was nobody.” Luther drinks a little from his can. “If she’d walked in a busy city, nothing would’ve happened. I would’ve just watched her. Just like we’ve been watching Rose, his friends, and their charming girls.”       “Even if we do something before the eyes of people, everyone would mostly give a fuck about it. People are too busy with their business to think about others. Everyone only thinks about themselves and their duties.”       “Sure, but Marcus’s right – we can’t risk. Otherwise, we’ll be taken to the police station the way Darren was after he threatened Peter before the eyes of little girls.”       “Oh, stop fretting and fuming, Luther!” Elijah smiles evilly. “Why would we rush? May Rose suffer a lot! So, his life doesn’t seem sweet!”       “I do not rush, Elijah. He is not able to do anything to us anyway. Marcus was right when he said we were officially innocent. Which means nobody can find or prove anything.”       “Right! But we can prove even what is not the truth. We can do our best for Peter to get mad at his sweetheart and his friends.”       “No, I think the problems with his girlfriend will break him much more. And he will easily handle his separation from his friends.”       “You’re right, buddy! The girl is our main toy. The most needed girl in Marcus’ hands.”       “That’s why I still hope that blond-haired guy and that smelly dog got her out of the water and revived her.”       “I don’t understand that you actually threw her in the water. You should’ve left the girl lying there unconscious, and then she would’ve woken up.”       “That dog got everything I thought about out of my head with his bark!” Luther throws gloomily and massages his hurt arm a little. “My arm still hurts after all his attacks.”       “You’d better go to a doctor. For an examination. What if the dog is infected with something.”       “Oh, yeah, you’re right! I need to check myself! I don’t wanna get infected with some shit because of that fucking piece of shit. What if he hasn’t been vaccinated.”       “Hey, you say the dog literally attacked Rose when he started to attack Marshall?” Elijah smiles mysteriously after he smokes his cigarette again.       “Oh, yeah! That piece of shit did growl at him! I was waiting for the dog to attack Rose and tear his ass. But the guy was lucky – he got out in time.”       “It’s okay, okay, buddy, the dog’s gonna have a chance to have fun. Marcus and I will be pressing on Peter regularly and doing our best for him to believe that Marshall is not decent and fuck her off.”       “Yeah, that boy is not as shy as we used to think. It’s not some kind of nerd that’s afraid to show up on the corner. Rose’s got a lot of power, and his tongue works well.”       “But I don’t exclude that he is so sassy only next to his pals. If that guy were alone, his pants would definitely be wet from fear.”       “That’s true, Elijah! Yes, of course, Rose is trying to show off and pretend to be a fearless hero. At least, he tried to be brave until the dog found his pal. Then the blond-haired went loose.”       “Yeah, ready to bet his friends would be much braver. For example, the puppy. Well… The brother of that talentless actor. Ivan told us about.”       “Kids think they’re the sassiest and smartest nowadays,” Elijah notices. “They were silent and obeyed older people before, but now they aren’t afraid of their father’s belt or their mother’s lectures.”       “Well, knowing that Peter was growing up on his own since that alcoholic woman gave a fuck about him, there was nobody, who could kick his ass. And here’s what we got.”       “It’s weird that he didn’t go down and didn’t drink his stress down with vodka and liqueur when living with her,” Luther notices thoughtfully and drinks a little from his can.       “It’s still waiting for him, buddy.” Elijah smokes his cigarette for the last time and throws the rest of it out of the window. “When we get him to fight with the gal, make him break up with her, and turn him against his friends, Rose will start drinking fucking much.”       “Aha, he’ll spend all his money earned at shows on a few boxes of vodka and drink them until he dies.”       “Most likely, Marcus will want to deal with him by that moment. Peter will not have too much time to realize the situation.”       “But he will have time to learn the truth. Find out why Marcus started it all.”       “Oh, the boy’s gonna be fucking overwhelmed when Marcus wanna make a full confession.”       “That’s right!” Luther agrees and throws the empty tin can in the half-open window with no hesitation. “The truth can hurt, the truth can strike.”       “Rose may not be ready and will never be ready for what he’s going to hear.”       “And he will not be ready to lose his girlfriend.”       “If we do everything right, he will not even move his eyebrow when she dies before his eyes.”       “Anyway, the game is still on,” Luther smiles slyly. “And we will do our best for Marcus Longbottom to be the winner.”       “We will not let him down,” Elijah raises his head proudly. “One day, he trusted me, and he is sure we will not refuse to help him.”       “I owe him a lot. My family owes him. Marcus has done a lot for us, and we will never forget.”       “And my father was his friend. They were very close friends before he suddenly died. And Marcus and I have always had a really wonderful relationship.”       “We all owe him. I mean, we are doing what our relatives must have done.”       “Why don’t we help the good man?”       “That’s right!”       Silence settles inside the car for two seconds, after which a loud melody starts playing. Elijah understands that his phone is ringing and takes it from the pocket of his denim jacket.       “Oh, it’s Marcus!” Elijah exclaims, runs his finger over the screen, and puts his smartphone to his ear. “Yes, Mr. Longbottom, I listen!”       “Howdy, Elijah!” Marcus greets. “Have you already met Luther?”       “Yes, yes, sir, he is with me now!” Elijah turns on the speakerphone quickly by pressing one button on the screen. “And he can hear you now.”       “Hello, Mr. Longbottom!” Luther greets.       “Hello, Luther,” Marcus replies. “So, what, did you do what I said?”       “I did! I managed to catch the girl and remind her about some things.”       “Excellent,” Marcus smiles much more widely,       “By the way, I want to inform you that the idea of the message worked like magic.”       “What?”       “Peter fought with Helene and blamed her for betraying. She is kinda hiding some secrets from him and having affairs with other men.”       “Peter? He was with the girl?”       “Yes, Mr. Longbottom! They were walking with the dog, whom I had told you about.”       “That’s how…” Marcus starts stroking his chin.       “Marshall tried to deny everything so hard, but Rose didn’t believe her and almost killed her with his own hands. The dog didn’t let him do it. He almost bit his balls when trying to protect his gorgeous owner.”       “Ah, yeah, a dog is a human’s best friend…”       “So, even if she magically manages to change his mind, Peter is going to be full of doubt anyway.”       “Would you tell me more about it?”       “Oh, Mr. Longbottom, what if we go to your home now?” Elijah suggests. “We aren’t far from your house. Sitting in the car. Decided to drink a can of sparkling water and smoke a cigarette.”       “Yes, sir, wouldn’t you mind?” Luther specifies.       “Sadly, I’m not at home now,” Marcus replies thoughtfully. “I should’ve gone somewhere for my business. But I’m supposed to come back in half an hour.”       “I think we will come by that moment.”       “Alright, we will meet at my home in this case. If you come earlier, just wait for me near the door. I will be back soon.”       “Alright, lord! We are on the way.”       “Don’t rush, guys. If you are late, I shall wait.”       “As you wish!” Luther exclaims. “See you soon.”       “Waiting for you with your news impatiently.”       Elijah finishes the call, blocks his phone, and puts it in the pocket of his denim jacket.       “Alright, let’s go slowly,” Luther says confidently and puts on the safety belt. “Let’s not waste time.”       “Yeah, let’s go,” Elijah agrees, pulls the collar of his t-shirt, and fixes his long hair brushed in a bun. “Moreover, I’ve just come up with one cool idea.”       “Really?”       “I’m sure Marcus’s gonna love it one hundred percent.”       “Wouldn’t ya tell me what’s that?”       “Well, if you’re insisting…”       While Luther leaves the parking lot, where they are now, and goes straight on the busy highway, Elijah tells his friend about his idea shortly. The man approves of it immediately and expresses his confidence about Marcus agreeing with them and wishing to make this thing real.       

***

      A little more than half an hour later, Peter is accepting at his home Victor Johnson, the deeply respected police captain at the age of close to sixty, who has been a long-time friend of the father and mother of Terrence and Edward and was working on arresting all the enemies of the men and the girls. The man with thin enough, dark hair and brown eyes, who wears glasses due to his bad vision all the time, is not used to giving up and being upset even in the hardest situations, and is sure that there is always a way out – you just need to wait and believe.       When the apartment’s owner greets the visitor, who has just arrived, he, Terrence, Daniel, Edward, Raquelle, Natalia, Anna, and Helene tell Victor about the situation they got involved in this time. While the man himself listens to them closely and takes some notes in his little black notebook that he always has with him, just in case.       “In short, here’s the story, Mr. Johnson,” Peter shrugs, while Helene is pressing herself to him as close as possible, having her head on his shoulder and wrapping his arm with her arms tightly. “The guys and I have been thinking a lot about what we can do, but we can’t come up with anything.”       “That’s why we decided to ask you for help,” Natalia adds, folding her hands in front of herself, while she is sitting on the bed next to Peter. “With the hope that you will advise us on something.”       “Oh, guys…” Victor sighs tiredly, leaning in the office chair and fixing his glasses slightly on the bridge of his nose. “I must confess that the case is complicated…”       “Can you help us?” Helene asks with rounded eyes, while Raquelle sitting on the bed next to her is embracing her tightly. “Can you do your best for us to come back to our normal life?”       “To be honest, I don’t know how to make you happy. What you all told me is too little. Having only this information is not enough to be able to do something.”       “At least, the men and I memorized the faces of those, who attacked,” Edward notices with his arms crossed over his chest.       “And I gave you the number of the car that almost hit me and hit Peter,” Terrence adds.       “Yes, yes, of course, we will check it out and find the owner of the car,” Victor nods.       “Wouldn’t you say that car could just be driving by?” Daniel adds. “It’s like the fact that one bastard tried to hit two people was just a bad coincidence?”       “No, no, I don’t want to say it. Of course, it could surely be a well-planned thing.”       “If you find the owner of the car, you will get closer to the one, who started it all,” Anna replies confidently, sitting next to Raquelle and petting Sammy’s pet at times since he is pressing to her.       “And it may happen that the person is innocent under the law. I am now trying to remember if there is someone you described is featured in the currently open cases. But… I cannot remember anything.”       “So, do you want to say the case is hopeless?” Helene opens her eyes widely. “Doesn’t it make sense to count on something?”       “Of course, not, Helene!” Victory protests. “The case is not hopeless. We just need more information.”       “We told you everything we knew,” Terrence throws his hands up. “Everything Helene and Peter have had to run into over the past few days.”       “As you already know, I knew a part of this story thanks to Jamie and Rebecca. And I began to reflect on it from that moment on.”       “It’s clear that it would be easier if we knew some names,” Natalia says thoughtfully. “If we knew someone, who could help us find the leader and his whole gang. But sadly, they didn’t call any names.”       “Anyway, I will find time to examine the current and archive cases better. Maybe, I will manage to find something.”       “Any help from you would be very good for us,” Raquelle replies.       “We should end it all as soon as possible before it’s too late,” Anna adds. “If we do nothing, Helene and Peter are gonna be in great danger.”       “I completely understand it, guys,” Victor says softly. “And I am truly sorry about you and worried about what’s happening. But sadly, I cannot help you.”       “But the video of the attack on Peter was spread throughout the Internet,” Helene notices thoughtfully. “The face of that person is seen pretty clearly. Didn’t you see it? Wouldn’t you say anything?”       “Yes, our manager said the security that caught him called the police that took that deadbeat to the police station,” Edward recalls. “Maybe, you know something about it?”       “Sadly, I’m not working on his case,” Victor confesses. “My colleague questioned him.”       “And didn’t they tell you anything interesting?” Daniel specifies.       “As far as I know, someone made bail for that guy because they wanted to put him in jail. That’s why he was released with no problems. And he has already paid the penalty.”       “That’s all?” Terrence opens his eyes widely.       “Yes. And he also got a penalty for violating the order at a common place and confiscated the gun that he had.”       “Do you know who made bail for him?” Peter specifies.       “No, I don’t know it, sadly. But I’m going to clarify that the amount of bail was big enough. He did let them know he wasn’t able to pay and asked for one call to contact someone. I guess that person made bail.”       “Was he caught in other crimes before?” Raquelle asks.       “No, I think. Not saying anything about the attack, he is innocent. Besides, the case was qualified as hooliganism. The case was not about the attack on the person.”       “But how?” Helene opens her eyes widely. “That man tried to kill Peter, but he just got a penalty for hooliganism!”       “I don’t know, guys, I can’t say anything to you. My colleague briefly mentioned that case when we had a lunch break. But since I have too many cases, I didn’t ask him about the details. And I don’t have such a close relationship with that man as, for example, Darwin Austin, who you all should remember well.”       “It causes some questions about his competence,” Peter frowns slightly.       “Agree, but this is everything I know about that case. But I think if you reported him to the police, they would work on this case seriously. But as I understand, you didn’t do it.”       “Nope… I thought that man was just a hooligan. Who attacked me just because I ended up at the wrong time, at the wrong place.”       “Well, as you see, it wasn’t just the breaker of the peace.”       “Can’t it happen that the leader made bail for that man?” Edward assumes.       “Who knows, maybe, that’s him.”       “And if it’s so, we’re having a deal with a rich fellow that would be able to get his pals off and agree with any person,” Helene adds thoughtfully.       “Alright, I will try to ask my colleague about that case and find out who made bail for him,” Victor promises and clears his throat quickly. “But to be honest, that man is a little strange. Although he’s worked with us for ages, I can’t call him conscientious.”       “You should watch him better, Mr. Johnson,” Daniel advises. “It all really sounds kinda strange.”       “You gave me a good idea. I will surely work on it and try to find out everything I can.”       “We will believe you can do this,” Anna flashes a slight smile.       “Oh, honestly, I’ve been super busy lately…” Victor sighs tiredly. “I’m working on multiple cases now. Everything’s mixed in my head, and I began to confuse them.”       “We’re sorry for giving you much more work, Mr. Johnson,” Raquelle apologizes with sadness in her eyes. “But we have nobody else to ask for help.”       “It’s alright, guys, you did the right thing by deciding to ask me for help. Although I can’t say anything to you now, we will surely figure everything out and punish those, who are guilty.”       “Thank you so much, Mr. Johnson,” Peter thanks amicably. “We knew you wouldn’t refuse.”       Sammy barks quietly two times.       “By the way, Peter, you just mentioned the case might have been connected with your mother somehow,” Victor recalls thoughtfully, frowning slightly.       “Yeah, Helene just told us about it,” Peter shrugs.       “One of the men, who caught me, confessed that Peter’s mother had to do with this case,” Helene adds. “It’s like… She’s the reason why their lord is trying to get rid of us.”       “You all confirmed that the woman disappeared many years ago and never showed up since then,” Victor strokes his chin.       “Yes, it’s correct,” Daniel nods.       “What’s the name of that woman?”       “Cornelia,” Peter pronounces quietly. “Cornelia Rose. My mother.”       “Cornelia… Cornelia…” Victor thinks about something for two seconds. “Familiar name… Cornelia Rose…”       “You know something about her?”       “I don’t know… I’m not sure about it yet…”       “Peter told us his mother was a long-time alcoholic,” Anna confesses. “She didn’t work, spent all the money on drinks, and didn’t care about her son at all.”       “And she left after he graduated from school!” Terrence adds. “To celebrate her son’s graduation, allegedly. And since then, nobody has seen her.”       “Listen, I cannot confirm anything yet,” Victor says thoughtfully. “I need to check out the archives. But… I don’t exclude that I may be right.”       “What’s wrong, Mr. Johnson?” Edward frowns slightly. “What do you want to say?”       “The case is that I remember one woman named Cornelia. She was once featured in the case of the armed robbery of a major bank.”       “You think that’s Peter’s mother?” Helene rounds her eyes.       “No, I don’t say that’s her. I just recalled that case.”       “Could you tell us more about it?” Daniel asks.       “One day, the police received a call from an unknown man, who told us that a group of people at the age of thirty or forty broke into the bank. The women threatened the visitors with knives, and the men had improvised explosive devices. They demanded that the staff open all the safes and give them money. And when a couple of visitors tried to run away and ask for help, some women wounded them seriously with a knife. And one of the men beat strongly one of the security staff members and a member of the bank staff, who tried to save at least some people.”       “And did Cornelia participate in the robbery?” Terrence specifies.       “Yes, she did wound the young woman that tried to run away. The girl was there with her husband, but he managed to run away along with several lucky folks. One of who called the police.”       “But were all of them arrested?” Helene specifies.       “Yes, luckily, that hell didn’t last for too long. The police quickly neutralized the group and took them to the police station, and the doctors from the ambulance took all the victims to the hospital. Thank God, nobody died after that case.”       “And what happened next?” Anna asks hesitantly. “Was Cornelia arrested?”       “They decided to send her to a medical examination to detect mental health issues. The doctors made the conclusion that she was sane, but she was deeply weaned to alcohol. And during the robbery, that woman was under potent psychotropic drugs. To be exact, Cornelia barely understood what she was doing.”       “Do you want to say they drugged her with something and made her go to the robbery?” Daniel rounds his eyes.       “Well, she could get drugged by herself. Mix alcohol with some tablets or something like this, and she went insane, as they say.”       “Was she the only one to be drugged?” Edward specifies. “Or were all the members of the group the same?”       “Yes, all the people, who participated in the robbery, were inadequate. Some of them were not even able to remember what happened.”       “And what happened to them?”       “They were sent to the mental hospital for compulsory treatment. After which almost everyone got a prison sentence.”       “Including Cornelia?” Natalia frowns slightly.       “But Cornelia managed to run away from the clinic. It seems like the woman planned her escape very well because her tracks disappeared when the doctors learned it.” Nobody saw anything, nobody knew anything.”       “Gosh, what a twist…” Anna horrifies.       “My older colleague was investigating the case, but I worked as his helper and did a lot of paperwork. And after that man went to work at a different place, someone else took control of this case. And I don’t know what happened next.”       “Hey, Peter, what was the age of your mother when she left home forever?” Raquelle asks thoughtfully.       “Almost forty,” Peter replies thoughtfully. “And when my mother left home, I was almost eighteen.”       “Maybe, she disappeared for that reason?” Helene assumes. “Actually, everything fits: she decided to rob the bank to get money for drinks, but she was arrested and put in a mental hospital. And then she could run away and hide.”       “Maybe it’s true.” Peter looks at everyone with sad eyes. “Though she was never caught stealing anything. Even if she sometimes stole expensive alcoholic drinks. The cost of one bottle could be like one or two hundred dollars.”       “Hardly: Cornelia Rose was actually arrested many times for trying to steal expensive things from a shop,” Victor protests. “And it wasn’t always alcohol: she could go to other shops where they sold jewelry, clothes, household appliances…”       “Maybe, it’s true. But one thing is clear – that’s her… My mother… We’re talking about the same person.”       “If it’s so, it’s clear where she disappeared,” Daniel shrugs.       “Yeah, but where did my mother go after she ran away from the mental hospital? Is she alive now?”       “I can’t say anything, Peter,” Victor shakes his head. “I don’t know what happened to Cornelia Rose next. We tried to find her for a very long time, but all our efforts were worthless.”       “And next, she could start it all again and try to rob a rich person,” Anna assumes. “But they caught her in a crime and wanted to put her in prison.”       “Rob a rich person, who learned about Peter and decided to get some money from him as moral damage?” Helene adds.       “Or is everything much more complicated ‘cause the case is about kidnapping or taking hostage?” Natalia assumes. “Does the rich person want Peter to pay a ransom for his mother?”       “In case that woman is really alive!” Raquelle exclaims. “But if she’s dead for ages, the reason may be different.”       “Seriously?!” Peter chuckles nervously. “Do we all have to suffer like this just because my mother got in great trouble?”       “I’m sorry that you don’t have the opportunity to find that woman,” Victor says thoughtfully. “You could ask her about what she did and find out who is the reason for your suffering.”       “No, Mr. Johnson, it’s impossible! Even if I really wanted, I wouldn’t be able to find her.”       “Do you know someone, who knows your mother? Maybe, those people could tell you something?”       “Well, I met her drinking companions just once. And our neighbors don’t especially know what that woman did and where she’s hiding now.”       “Hasn’t she shown up even once since she disappeared?”       “When I lived there, nobody heard or knew about her. But I don’t exclude that everything would change after I left that neighborhood.”       “So, you lived in a different place?”       “Yeah, I bought this apartment and moved in here shortly after I got money. It happened when I was twenty-three. When Daniel and I met and worked together with the band of one man.”       “And haven’t you come back to that place?”       “I have nothing to do there.”       “You know, Peter, I would advise you to go to that place and ask everyone, who’s living there. I don’t think everything could have changed a lot for several years. Yes, someone could die or move, but someone is still there.”       “Do you think my mother is hiding there now? The house where we lived before?”       “Anything’s possible,” Victor throws his hands up. “At the moment, your mother is the key to solving this problem. She’s the only one to be able to help you find out everything and introduce you to the one, who’s threatening you.”       “Oh, alright, I shall think about it. I wouldn’t like to come back there due to my bad memories. But if you think it can help me, I should give it a try.”       “Or instead of going there, you can just call some of your neighbors. You probably have some numbers.”       “Hardly. But I’ll try to find.”       Sammy barks quietly at this moment.       “But what if we don’t manage to find that woman or she died?” Anna rounds her eyes. “What do we do then?”       “We will think about it,” Victor shrugs. “But knowing all the information, I don’t have any ideas for this situation. Not saying about the attempt to find Peter’s mother.”       “We’ve been racking our brains so hard…” Helene sighs heavily.       “By the way, what about Peter’s father? What if he can help us somehow?”       “I don’t have him,” Peter shakes his head. “I mean, I don’t know about him. He's never shown up, and my mother didn’t like to talk about that man.”       “So, you know nothing about him?”       “Nothing. And I will never know. Though I don’t want it, to be honest.”       “I don’t think he died. While Cornelia could’ve died of overdrinking alcohol, your father is probably alive. He is supposed to be somewhere fifty or fifty-five.”       “Or vice versa, he overdrank much earlier.”       “Who knows.”       “Yeah, hard case…” Daniel exhales sharply.       “Alright, guys, don’t worry, we will solve this problem,” Victor promises with a slight smile. “I do not refuse to help you and will do my best to work it out. And if you help me, we’re going to be a wonderful team.”       “If something else happens, we will let you know it shortly,” Terrence promises.       “The only thing I can advise you is to be careful. Look around all the time and don’t walk in unpopular places. The case of Helene has shown you what could happen.”       “You’re right, Mr. Johnson,” Edward nods confidently. “The guys and I are trying to walk outside in companies where there are many people.”       “Yes, they’re watching us all the time, but nobody harms us,” Natalia adds.       “I can’t assure you it will save you at one hundred percent, but there is a lower risk of becoming someone’s victim,” Victor notices.       “And since they know all of our addresses, being even at our homes is not safe now,” Anna notices.       “Anyway, you can always call the police. They will come to you shortly and figure everything out.”       “And we can always use the videos recorded by the security cameras,” Terrence says confidently. “The territory of the house of Raquelle and me is always under the view. And the security of the neighborhood doesn’t let strangers in. Even a mouse wouldn’t go by them so easily.”       “And yeah, I advise you to warn all your closest relatives about danger,” Victor insists. “Jamie and Rebecca are aware, but the others may not know it.”       “My parents know everything, too,” Natalia confesses.       “My sister knows it, too, until she’s getting therapy, it won’t have to do with her,” Daniel says.       “But my grandmother knows nothing,” Helene confesses hesitantly.       “What do you mean?” Victory rounds his eyes.       “I haven’t told her about the case of Peter and about what’s happening to me.”       “I insist that she must do this, but Helene refuses,” Peter adds.       “I just don’t want to make her nervous. She’s got by far the strongest heart, and I may make everything worse by telling her about all these terrible things.”       “That’s wrong, Helene!” Victor exclaims. “You must tell your grandmother the truth. You don’t have to tell her everything, but she must know you and Peter are in danger.”       “No, Mr. Johnson, I will not say anything to her!” Helene looks at all her friends. “And you be silent, please. Don’t dare to tell my grandma about what’s happening. And don’t especially dare to tell her I almost drowned today.”       “We completely understand your anxiety, friend, but that’s too wrong,” Terrence replies quietly. “I wish those scums didn’t catch Mrs. Marshall! They would tell her everything shortly. Do it so harshly that she would surely be taken to the hospital with a heart attack.”       “Yes, Marshall, you have a chance to tell her this information softly, without details, and be silent about some details,” Edward agrees. “And those assholes will not show mercy to anyone. Even an old woman.”       “No, guys, I told you everything!” Helene exclaims determinedly. “Grandmother Scarlett should know nothing!”       “Yeah, but how are you gonna excuse the scar on your cheek?” Anna asks.       “I will come up with something. I will say… I scratched it against the stick of the tree or something like that.”       “You’re gonna lie again…” Peter moans tiredly.       “I’m doing this for the best. Maybe, I will tell her a short story of everything when we find the one, who’s guilty of this situation. But now, you and I must be silent.”       “Of course, it’s your business, but I would warn her if I were instead of you,” Daniel puts his hands on his hips.       “No, I said everything!”       “Do what you want, but I hope you will change your mind in time,” Victor expresses hope. “That’s bad to keep the woman unaware of it. You should know that she will know everything early or late.”       “She will know it, but not now. I promise.       “Listen to your friends and do what they advise you, Helene. We understand you want to make it better, but being unaware is always much worse. You don’t have to tell all the details. Just give her facts. That’s all.”       “Don’t worry, Mr. Johnson, it’s gonna be okay.”       Sammy barks very quietly with disapproval as if he says his owner should not be stubborn.       “Alright, but anyway, I want to repeat that your grandmother will have to know everything early or late,” Victor says quietly.       “I know,” Helene pronounces quietly with a slight nod.       “It has to do with all of you, guys.” Victor looks at everybody in the room. “Warn your friends and relatives, so they are ready for unexpected surprises.”       “Yes, Mr. Johnson, we will do this,” Raquelle nods confidently.       “And the most important thing is that you are very, very careful. It seems like the criminal is acting determinedly and is not going to give up. Danger may be waiting for you anywhere at any time.”       “The men and I always keep our fists ready,” Daniel raises his head proudly.       Sammy barks loudly.       “And the dog is always ready to show his teeth and release his claws,” Edward adds with a slight smile.       “The kids are under my close control,” Terrence puts his hands on his hips.       “And thank God, none of you suffered a lot after all these attacks,” Victor notices.       “All the scars will be gone soon,” Peter shrugs.       “I see you injured your foot and hand.”       “Yeah, after I was hit by the car. I felt bad. But luckily, my traumas are not too serious.”       “Does it hurt a lot?”       “It does. But I take a painkiller if I feel too bad. Pain goes away for a few hours.”       “That’s good!” Victor moves his sad eyes to Helene. “And you, Helene? How are you feeling?”       “Much better,” Helene replies quietly.       “You are extremely lucky, girl. You were rescued literally at the last moment.”       “I didn’t hope for this at that moment. And I said goodbye to everyone.”       “I am really happy you two are fine now.”       “Yeah, thank God…”       “Did you go to the hospital for the examination?”       “Nope, I feel good now.”       “You know, even if it’s so, it doesn’t mean your brain didn’t suffer after drowning. So, you must go to the doctor and take all the tests to foresee some possible consequences.”       “Don’t worry, Mr. Johnson, I will drive her to the hospital tomorrow,” Peter promises. “Now, I didn’t think about it and drove Helene to my home. But we will go to get examined tomorrow.”       “Do this surely! What if she needs some therapy immediately. God forbid, of course, but drowning is a serious case. Doctors always insist on hospitalization for the reason. And the sooner you detect the problem, the higher the chance of getting well.”       “Leave it to me. I will watch everything personally.”       “Anyway, you’re a fine fellow. You reacted quickly. And Sammy didn’t get confused and did everything he could.”       “Yeah, but I almost drowned myself…” Peter confesses hesitantly. “I panicked a lot when I started to lose my air when I was at a depth of many meters. I swallowed a lot of water. Barely managed to get up to the surface to catch some air. Brace myself and get underwater again.”       “Nevertheless, you did it.”       “If not for Sammy, I wouldn’t have woken up from the trance at the sight of the person, who had no pulse. And I wouldn’t have recalled how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.”       “That’s why we need friends. And it doesn’t have to be a person. Pets can also be loyal to us and be where we need them.”       “That’s right,” Helene cracks a slight smile.       Sammy barks confidently two times, and Victor pets his head with a slight smile. Meanwhile, Helene and Peter look at each other, and then she puts her head on his shoulder, and he kisses her sweetly on her temple and runs his fingers through her almost dry hair, little disheveled hair. While their friends watch what’s happening with sadness in their eyes, and the girls are pressing closely to their beloved men, who give them smiles full of tenderness.       

***

      As it was planned, Elijah and Luther went to the home of Marcus, whom they had to wait for some time because the friends arrived a little earlier. After coming, the one, who started this chaos, apologizes for being late, lets his visitors in, and invites them to the living room where they are now talking about everything Luther did.       “Good job, Luther!” Marcus praises with a smug smile, setting himself comfortably on the sofa with his legs spread. “You worked very well.”       “I did everything you asked me about, Mr. Longbottom,” Luther replies confidently, setting himself comfortably on the sofa next to Marcus. “Everything was really wonderful.”       “I wonder if the girl stayed alive? Did Peter manage to get her out of the water in time? I mean, it would be better to ask if he wanted to do this? After my short message!”       “At least, when that smelly dog brought him there, he screamed like a patient of a mental hospital. He threatened to kill me if something happened to her.”       “Well, I’m not amazed! You can’t kill love for just one day. You can’t kill it with just one message with a hint on the fact that his precious lady is not so innocent.”       “Nevertheless, he definitely forgot about your message and rushed to save Helene.”       “It’s alright, Luther. As you and I said, it’s just the beginning. I shall not stop and shall keep dirtying the name of that girl. Someday, it will work, and their relationship will come to an end.”       “Are you going to leave her alone if you know they’re separated?” Elijah asks, leaning back on the sofa against Marcus and Luther. “Or will it not save her anyway?”       “Oh, no! Helene Marshall will not get away from me so easily! Even if Peter gives a fuck about her because of the thought that she is a betrayer, I am also going to get rid of his sweetheart.”       “Maybe, we should pity her?”       “You know well why the gal must die, Elijah. Why Peter is not the only one I need. Yes, of course, I am a little sorry for the girl. She is young and beautiful. But by getting in touch with him, she doomed herself to death.”       “Yes, yes, Mr. Longbottom, I know. But still…”       “Even if they break up, it does not mean they will not care. Which means her tragic death will drive him crazy anyway.”       “So, why would you separate them?”       “To give Peter as much pain as possible. Because, according to our sources, he has a super little experience in relationships. And even mentally hard, I would say. It was super hard for him to start an affair with the gal.”       “Yeah, being left by the queen of the school before the eyes of hundreds of students and hearing they bet you is a real shame,” Luther says thoughtfully.       “That’s why I don’t doubt I am now on the right track.”       “Do everything you think is right, sir,” Elijah says with a slight smile. “And we will be happy to help you.”       “I think we can hide and do nothing for two days,” Marcus strokes his chin. “So, the guys calm down a little and relax. The evil and mean uncle Marcus has gotten them super exhausted over the past few days.”       “You’re right, it’s time to slow down.”       “But I shall keep attacking Peter in a psychological way and turning him against Helene little by little. One or two messages per day before she becomes a false whore soon.”       “But you and I know well that our charges are partly true,” Luther throws his hands up. “There’s someone, who knows Helene well and can reveal all her dirty secrets. And she already knows your hatred for Peter has to do with his mother.”       “And since that gal is afraid to talk about it to death and pretends to be holy, it’s even good for us. Because she’s going to excuse herself for him all the time, but all her words will sound like a lie. And the boy will be done with this.”       “Do you understand you will have to give him proof someday?” Elijah frowns slightly. “Early or late, Rose will understand that you are playing the fool with him.”       “Of course, I shall prove everything to him,” Marcus says with a sly smile. “That person would be happy to meet Peter and tell him everything. And if Helene is with him, she will surely understand that she is in a trap. And she will tell him about the tricks of her dark past. She will tell him how many people suffered because of her. And how she made her grandmother and grandfather ashamed.”       “I’d like to see her face at that moment,” Luther smirks evilly.       “And I wanna watch Peter going crazy from jealousy and anger again.”       “You will, my lord, you surely will. You just need to wait for some time.”       “Besides, I am going to send him messages and send him some interesting photos. Yes, I don’t have anything yet, but I really hope everything is going to change very soon.”       “We got it, Mr. Longbottom,” Elijah smiles slyly. “Of course, you will have it.”       “Anyway, I am really happy with the news about Peter receiving my message and starting a scandal for his sweetheart. I managed to make him doubt her.”       “So, leave him alone and torture the girl a little more?” Luther specifies.       “Yes, I think the body has suffered a lot. Let him have a little break. And we will deal with the gal.”       “As you wish, sir.”       “So…” Marcus smiles slyly. “You say that baby is really handsome?”       “Oh, yay!” Luther purrs with a wide smile. “Marshall turned out to be a really sexy chick. Boobs, ass – she’s got it all. You can grab it tightly. She’s a reason for an instant erection.”       “M-m-m, that’s how…”       “If that fucking dog and Rose hadn’t come, I would have probably fucked her quickly when she was lying unconscious. What? There was nobody around! And she would’ve said nothing!”       “Don’t worry, guys, if you really want, I will be happy to give you a chance to play with the girl by one,” Marcus promises. “I mean, I do insist that you do this. It’s going to be your reward for everything you’ve done for me. Agree, sex with a young and beautiful girl is awesome?”       “It would be cool… Very cool…”       “So, it’s gonna happen. In case she stays alive, of course. Who knows…”       “In two or three days, we will check it out when we go to watch those, who are wiping Rose’s mouth again,” Luther replies determinedly.       “Wise decision,” Marcus nods, stroking his chin. “Very wise.”       “But the friends of that boy are the reason why our mission to get rid of him is getting harder,” Elijah notices thoughtfully.       “Yeah, these bastards are saving him again and again!” Luther exclaims. “They take care of him like a chicken takes care of its eggs and protect his ass as if it’s some kind of diamond!”       “These men can’t save him forever, gentlemen,” Marcus says confidently. “Early or late, we will have a wonderful chance to deal with them. The moment when he is all alone. Even without that fucking dog.”       “Fuck, the dog is standing in our way, too! First, it brought that fucking asshole to save Rose, but then he found Rose to rescue the gal.”       “Agree, I thought all dogs were stupid and could only eat and sleep, but as it turned out, there are exclusions. I must admit it, though.”       “Nevertheless, it’s going to be easier to get rid of the dog,” Elijah notices. “We just need to hit him in the face with a foot before he is lying on the ground and whining.”       “If I see him next to Marshall or Rose again, I shall just stab that bastard with a knife,” Luther throws gloomily. “He did bite my arm through fucking hard. It still hurts.”       “I advise you to go to the hospital,” Marcus advises. “What if that piece of shit is ill. That dog walks everywhere, he is probably interested in everything… Nobody knows how many infections that dog has gotten after all the walks with the gal. And which infections she has gotten after kissing him in the face.”       “Of course, Mr. Longbottom! Elijah has already advised me to do this. I will go to the hospital tomorrow and take all the tests. I will say I was attacked by a stray dog and want to check myself, so I don’t have infections that a person may get from it.”       “If you need money, I can help.”       “I thank you for your infinite generosity, sir.”       “Of course, it’s all wonderful, but we need to decide how to get rid of everyone, who may stand in our way. I mean Peter’s henchmen.”       “What if we turn him against them, too?” Elijah suggests. “Don’t you want to make Rose’s relationship with those idiots worse?”       “Something tells me he does know all their secrets,” Marcus frowns slightly. “Sadly, we don’t know anyone, who could tell us something interesting.”       “But we can come up with a story of a betrayer!” Luther exclaims. “Or use one of the rumors about them that were spread before.”       “Well, we cannot definitely use the charges against, for example, Daniel Perkins, who was suspected of forcing Peter to commit a suicide attempt. Peter knows about these rumors, denies them so hard, defends his pal, and calls him his brother.”       “So, aren’t you planning to get them to fight?” Elijah specifies.       “Not yet. Sadly, I don’t have any ideas about it. But I don’t exclude that I won’t have to do anything for this. If we keep attacking them again and again, they may start to blame the boy for all the troubles and fuck him off.”       “Good idea!”       “Early or late, they will get sick of taking care of him,” Marcus notices. “They will want to live a quiet life and do their business.”       “Don’t hope, Mr. Longbottom, those assholes will not stop protecting him,” Luther replies confidently. “They are not afraid of any threats from us.”       “I got it.” Marcus smiles slyly. “So, since those undeveloped Supermen decided to deal with me with the thought they’d be able to save Helene and Peter, they made a great mistake. They are getting closer and closer to their death every day.”       “We’ve gotta deal with them first, and then get rid of Rose and Marshall,” Elijah insists. “I mean, we can deal with them at the last moment.”       “He will give up on a hundred percent if he stays all alone!” Luther exclaims. “Now he’s got a motivation to fight, but when we get rid of all of them, it will be gone.”       “Oh, I put such great hopes on you for the reason!” Marcus replies with a smug smile. “I am madly happy to have you as my alias.”       “By the way, we almost forgot to tell you!” Luther clicks his fingers. “When we were going to your home, Elijah offered a very cool idea.”       “Ah, yeah, Mr. Longbottom!” Elijah exclaims. “I wanted to tell you about it and find out what you’d think about it! Whether you’d be happy to do this.”       “The idea is fucking genius! When Hartley told me about what he came up with, I liked it immediately! But we need some of your knowledge to make it real.”       “M-m-m, intrigues, I can smell intrigues…” Marcus smiles mysteriously and tears his back off the back of the sofa. “I am really interested in what you came up with since your eyes are shining so bright.”       “I just came up with an idea about how we can get rid of the friends of Peter,” Elijah confesses. “All of them at the same time.”       “All of them at the same time?” Marcus pronounces with interest. “I am excited already!”       “But if you want, we can get rid of the four men. If we do everything quickly and quietly, no one will suspect a thing.”       “Alright, what should I do to make it real? Need tough guys? Or something else?”       “No, no, let’s do it without scuffles that they love so much,” Luther shakes his head. “There is a much faster and easier way.”       “We have two ways,” Elijah adds. “Either we can do something for them to die instantly, with no chance to survive, or we can strike them out for some time. So they put their tails between their legs and don’t show off too hard.”       “What do we need?” Marcus asks.       “Something special…” Elijah smiles slyly. “And to reach this goal, we need not only your knowledge but also just one person, who should try to do everything quickly and silently.”       “But what if someone catches them?”       “If they do everything super carefully, nobody will suspect a thing. Nobody will understand the reason for those bastards’ deaths or the reason why they’re close to death. And while they figure everything out, that person can get rid of all the clues quickly.”       “Alright, when can we do this?”       “At any time!” Luther exclaims. “Even right now! At any moment, when they come somewhere together!”       “I think I’ve got a better idea!” Elijah states. “I recently checked their social networks and their event schedule on the official site. It said their band would have a show in three days. Many people are supposed to come.”       “Three days?” Marcus rounds his eyes.       “Yes, tickets are going fast like hot cakes, even if they have a couple of tickets available yet.”       “Very good moment,” Luther strokes his chin.       “No, it’s impossible, guys,” Marcus shakes his head. “Most likely, after Darren’s attack on Peter after the show, they will strengthen the security and take the strictest measures for safety. You will not go there so easily. You will surely be undressed to your underwear, and they will confiscate all the suspicious things. We are not stupid people. And smart people do not make the same mistake twice.”       “Don’t worry, Mr. Longbottom,” Luther replies confidently. “We don’t care how they are going to strengthen the security, and whether they will do this. To do what we’ve come up with, we don’t even have to come to the show.”       “What?” Marcus frowns his forehead.       “We found out where the show would take place and understood that we had caught our luck. Since one trustworthy person is working there and can do everything without a hitch.”       “Working where the show will take place?”       “Yes, that’s my old friend Carla. She is not the main person there. Just a servicing staff member. But her colleagues respect her deeply. If we ask her to do us a favor, nobody will even dare to blame her for anything.”       “Yes, sir, we can meet her somewhere, explain the situation, and ask her to do what we’ve come up with,” Elijah adds.       “Are you sure the girl will agree?” Marcus gets suspicious. “What if she is sort of a fan of Peter and his henchmen?”       “No, no, lord, my friend cannot bear them,” Luther replies confidently. “Carla says she doesn’t understand how people can like their music. And she doesn’t agree that everyone calls them handsome, hot, and sexy, as all little girls think.”       “M-m-m, that’s good… It means she could be our alias.”       “I’m not sure if she will agree to kill them, but it’s fine if we don’t tell her the truth about our plan,” Elijah suggests. “We can say we just wanna harm them a little. Disrupt their show. She wouldn’t refuse to do a bad trick on them.”       “Will she not suspect anything?”       “The most important thing is that she does her business and does not show up. If everything is fine, it will be good for us, and she will not suffer.”       “If Luther’s friend agrees to help us, I am even ready to pay her some money,” Marcus states. “As a reward.”       “She would do anything for money,” Luther assures. “Carla needs it so much because she has to feed her child that she loves so much. Everyone knows a loving mother would do any crazy thing to make her baby feel good. To make sure her child is fed and dressed.”       “Then, it’s a perfect candidate, who can make our plan real.”       “Do you want me to call her and ask her about the meeting?” Luther asks.       “Yes, Luther, talk to that Carla, please. Persuade her to do what you want.”       “Don’t worry, she will not ask too much. My friend is very shy. The thought that she can go to her boss and tell him to increase her salary makes her horrified.”       “If she does everything right, I’m even ready to borrow money from someone to reward her generously. And then I will give everything back every time I get my salary.”       “Alright, Mr. Longbottom, I shall tell Carla about it.”       “When will you call her?”       “I’ll call her tomorrow! She’s supposed to have a free day. And having two or three days will be enough for us to get ready and come up with a plan.”       “Excellent,” Marcus smiles widely, rubbing his hands happily. “I would be madly happy if we got rid of all the friends of Peter at the same time.”       “Do you prefer to knock them out for a while or kill them?” Elijah asks.       “Kill. I don’t want to waste my time on those bastards. We must get rid of them immediately. I have so much to do, but those assholes are messing up everything.”       “As you wish, lord. In this case, we need to take one thing that can help us kill them.”       “I have a gun. You can take it at any time.”       “No, we need something else… Something that’s hard to get, but possible.”       “You know how to do this?”       “Elijah says he knows,” Luther shrugs. “He says he knows how to get what you should work with, using all your knowledge. And I prefer to believe him.”       “How can’t I believe the one to be my right hand? My eyes. My ears.”       “Thank you for your trust, Mr. Longbottom,” Elijah inclines his head slightly. “Be sure I will do everything we need with the guys’ help. I shall get what we need.”       “The next show of ‘Against The System’ will not even start,” Luther says confidently. “Because three of four members will go to another world.”       “And then they will be about to disband. And Peter will not be able to start a solo career.”       “These assholes will play their next show somewhere in heaven,” Marcus says with his head proudly raised. “For all of their late relatives.”       “So, we will spend a few days getting ready to murder them.”       “Are you sure you can do this?”       “Huh, if we don’t get rid of at least one of them, you can cut my finger or arm personally!” Elijah challenges with no fear.       “And mine!” Luther exclaims. “Elijah came up with an idea and is ready to get the thing we need, and I found the person, who would help us.”       “Do everything you think is right,” Marcus approves. “I completely trust you and am ready to help you with everything. But tell me everything. And let me know what you need from me. I am ready for anything to reach my goal.”       “Yes, Mr. Longbottom!”       “Don’t worry, the sweethearts of those assholes will be scattering their ashes at sea in a few days,” Elijah smiles slyly. “Crying bitterly and suffering because of losing the chance to get married to them and have a lot of children.”       “It’s not my problem,” Marcus replies quietly. “My main mission is to get rid of Daniel Perkins, Terrence MacClife, Edward MacClife, Helene Marshall, and Peter Rose. And I shall do this. Whatever it makes.”       Elijah and Luther say nothing and just smile slyly with their heads proudly raised, not doubting that their plan of getting rid of Terrence, Daniel, and Edward will work like magic. That Marcus and they are getting closer and closer to the moment when they have a wonderful chance to end Peter, not spending too much time and strength on it.