Vexon
"Maya, did you see Ruby?" I asked Maya when I saw her walking through the corridor with a few laundries on hand.
She bowed in front of me, while I tapped my foot, already getting impatient.
"No, boss. She went to Starbucks to meet someone. Please don't worry, Richard is with her," she replied.
My body stiffened.
Returning home after a tiring day at the office, only expecting a warm welcome from my wife, and I got to know she was out to meet someone else, that too, without informing me.
Seeing me lost deep in thoughts, Maya took it as a cue to leave.
With whom is Ruby meeting with? What if it's Steve? It better not be him. Anyone but him, please.
The thought alone was making me see everything red. I ran a hand through my hair out of frustration. "It's not Steve. Don't worry, Vexon. Calm down," I mumbled to myself.
I heard footsteps approach me as the person beside me spoke up, "Bro, what are you doing here��"
"She is out, meeting with someone without letting me know, and the thought is killing me right now."
"Woah, chill." Orson raised his hands in surrender. "I just asked what you were doing here, not how you were."
I frowned. On the other hand, anxiety was chewing me alive.
Orson sighed and urged, "Okay, tell me." I was about to open my mouth, but he waved his hand dismissively. "Wait, I know. You blabbered it out." I narrowed my eyes at his nonchalant, disrespectful tone. "Do you know something called a car?"
It was as if a bulb lit inside my head. I felt dumb all of a sudden. Why didn't I think of that before?
"Thanks, Orson," with that, I was gone.
___
Pushing open the doors to Starbucks, the first thing my gaze fell on was my elegant wife, who was wearing a white jumpsuit, her hair left open, giving an enticing vibe to her.
But it wasn't the time to be swooning over my beloved. Because the next thing I saw made my blood boil. I clenched my fist.
You did want it to be anyone other than Steve. Here it is. It's not Steve. Be happy, Vexon, my subconscious taunted me.
Just because I didn't want it to be Steve did not mean I wanted it to be River Brown.
"Ruby," I uttered her name in an intimidating voice. Her head instantly turned towards me.
"Vexon?"
"What are you doing here?" I asked and looked at River, who just chuckled.
"We were just hanging out," Ruby stated casually.
"You are coming with me," I stated and pulled her up.
"What? I can't leave right now," she protested, trying to pry my hand off her.
I grumbled, "I don't care. You are coming with me."
Ruby was getting frustrated but controlled her temper as she noticed that I wasn't in a mood to argue with. "Fine, we will talk about this. Let me grab my stuff," she gave in.
"Dude, chill. You're getting mad for no reason at all. We were really ha��" I sharply cut River off.
"I am not talking to you."
Ruby shot me a glare and muttered, "Vexon, you don't have to be rude. I am coming with you." She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of there.
After that, we settled in the car before I started driving, but Ruby refused to say a word.
"Why didn't you inform me? Do you have any idea how tensed I was?" I expressed myself.
"Geez, I had Richard with me. It's not a big deal, to begin with," she argued while I frowned in disbelief. "What's wrong with you, anyway?"
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, trying to suppress all the mean words that threatened to spill out. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong," I breathed out, "Ruby, you told me that a couple is supposed to share everything with each other. No secrets, right?" She furrowed her brows in confusion but nodded nonetheless. "Then why didn't you tell me about it?"
She lowered her gaze and mumbled, "I thought it wasn't that important."
"Everything is important when it's related to you, Gem." I stopped the car near the roadside and held her hands onto mine. "You know, I always remember every small detail related to you, because you are very important to me."
Ruby nodded, understanding my point, and replied, "I am sorry. I should have informed you."
I smiled softly at her and kissed her forehead before starting the car once again.
I wish I could tell her not to meet River anymore. I was well aware that he was texting her for a few days now. Richard informed me. But he was just trying to be her friend, at least that was what it seemed like from outside. But I knew better than to trust that bastard.
Also, I was not sure whether River was behind the attack or not. Though it was a great opportunity for the Aconites to attack, they didn't, which led me to believe that whatever they were plotting, they wanted me to be there for something huge. Even so, I felt like I was missing out on the bigger picture here.
There was no way I could tell Ruby, otherwise, she would think I was being a possessive freak who wanted her to stay away from every male.
Maybe I actually was a little bit jealous and insecure, but her safety mattered the most to me.
"Vexon, are you feeling okay?" Ruby's soft angelic voice brought me out of my trance as I hummed in response.
After reaching the mansion, Ruby and I freshened up before we had dinner. Ruby was making the bed, while I was standing in the balcony, enjoying the cold breeze; that was when I received a phone call from Mane.
"What is it?"
"We were attacked again, Vexon," Mane informed, and my body froze.
"How is that possible? Only I, you, Cason, and Kace knew about it," I stated. "Call them immediately."
"You need to come to the base right now," Mane told me.
"Okay," I agreed and left without informing Ruby as she had already fallen asleep.
___
The four of us, the ones who had knowledge about the shipments, were in a meeting.
"I want to know everything. Whoever did it, spill it right now, or else, everyone is going to pay for it," I warned, my voice laced with malice and intimidation.
"All I know is, I didn't tell a single soul about it, so leave me out of it." Kace raised his hands in surrender.
My glare shifted to Cason, who was fidgeting a bit. "I didn't tell anyone as well. I was just talking about it over the phone with Mane."
"Phone call?" I inquired. "Was anyone around you while you were on the call?"
Cason gasped as a realization dawned upon him. He averted his eyes from me and gulped.
I cleared my throat and let out, not having enough patience for his bullshit, "Well?"
Cason pulled his lips in a thin line and answered in a taut voice, "Only Ruby was there."
My eyes grew bigger, my heart thumping crazily. Mane fearfully glanced at me.
"Boss, you doubted River. The boss lady met River today. Maybe by mistake she..." he couldn't complete the sentence. He was scared like me. We didn't want whatever that was being hinted to be true. It was just not possible.
"Cason, tell me more."
Cason sighed. "Bro, I analyzed a few things. Every time we talked about the shipments, Ruby was there. The shipment schedule fell from my hand when I bumped into Ruby. She had seen it and asked me about it. I told her the truth, without suspecting her at all after she handed me the papers. I swear I had no idea that she might have to do anything with it."
"That's the time for the first attack, right?" Kace asked, and he nodded.
I exchanged a look with Mane.
"And now, before this attack, I and Ruby, we had a talk. When I was over the phone, only she was there," Cason completed.
The room fell silent, only my thoughts running crazy.
It was like someone just kicked me in the guts, forcing me to swallow down something disgusting that burned my throat.
Despite that, I didn't want to believe it. I trusted her. I knew she wouldn't do something like that.; it wasn't just possible. She would never do that and I wouldn't accept it. I didn't want to.
"Boss," Mane called me. "Even during the set-up plan, she was there with River Brown and..."
I didn't want to listen anymore. They were all trying to poison my mind about Ruby. They didn't know Ruby well enough, that was why they were thinking bad of her, expecting the worst from her. Yes, that was it.
But I knew her, so I needed to prove her innocence to everyone. Therefore, no one would point a finger at her and hurt her.
Before I knew it, I was sprinting out of that place and was in my car within a few seconds. I pulled over the driveway, well aware I was flying over the speed limit.
While I was driving, I tried to connect the dots in my head.
Ruby had no connection with the Aconites before she was kidnapped.
After I rescued her from them, she started to get close to me. She was giving me a chance to be with her. I knew she cared for me; I saw it in her eyes.
I was positive that the Cowells weren't successful to poison her mind, neither was she working for anyone else.
I knew it in my heart, and no one was going to prove me otherwise.
Someone else was framing her. Ruby couldn't be the real traitor. She was one of the kindest persons I had ever met, and kind people didn't just betray the ones that cared about them.
All I needed to do was prove that Ruby was innocent. I needed to find the real traitor before things got uglier.
I would find it. On my own.
___
"Where were you? You know, when I didn't find you beside me, I was scared to death!" Ruby exclaimed with fear as soon as I stepped into our bedroom.
I glanced at her frightened face. The worry that etched her angelic face, it wasn't all fake; it couldn't be. She genuinely cared about me. She wouldn't betray me.
"Vexon? What's wrong? Are you upset about the River topic? I am sorry, I should hav��"
Abruptly, I pinned Ruby to the wall caging her between my arms. "Why the hell are you sticking with him so much? Can't you just stay away from him?" I was angry at her. Why couldn't she understand what was best for her?
"Why should I?" she challenged.
"Stay away from him," I repeated.
"What if I don't?"
"You wouldn't dare."
"I dare you. I will be sticking with him more from hereon," Ruby said and pushed me harshly.
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. As much as I loved every side of her, I hated it when she was being unreasonably stubborn. She wasn't trying to understand what harm she was bringing upon herself by not paying heed to my words.
She was about to walk away before I spoke up, "Please stay away from him, Gem. It's for your own good. He is not good for you." I almost begged, "I'm requesting, please."
"I'm not going to stay away from him just because you are jealous," she retorted.
"That's right. Wait, what?" I freaked out when I realized what she said. "I am not jealous, okay?"
How did jealousy come in between all of it? She was taking things way too lightly. Didn't she understand that River was trying to trap her?
No doubt it was River who was foiling our plans. But the question was, why and how? Why did he want to destroy us? How did he even know about the Mafia life?
It all meant there was another traitor in the Gladiolus. They all had their eyes on Ruby, and she was being unreasonable. Just my luck.
"Whatever floats your boat." Ruby shrugged and climbed over the bed. "Sorry, I was being paranoid. I should've known better than to worry about you. Goodnight," she wished me and covered herself with the blanket.
Sighing, I also changed out of my working clothes into the comfortable ones before sliding by her side. I watched her innocent sleeping face, wondering why anyone would want to frame such a nice person?
I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and called Mane who picked it up immediately and asked, "Are you okay, boss?"
"Mane, I am sure someone is trying to frame Ruby, and River is with them. It's about time we pull out our last card. I want to put an end to all of it within tomorrow."
"Okay, I understand. I'll arrange it," he said before hanging up.
I caressed Ruby's hair and murmured, "I don't want to lose you, Gem. Please don't do anything stupid. I know you are not the traitor."
I kissed her forehead and wrapped my arms around Ruby. Soon, I fell into a deep slumber, wishing to stay like this forever.
Little did I know, everything was going to change the next day.
