Ava almost scoffed in disbelief when she saw the house where Karena took her. It wasn’t a mansion or anything grand but actually a place that looked like a factory. The name outside was TEE Logging Co. Of course, Ava knew it was fake.
Most companies owned by Trillium were mostly fake. The headquarters and hideouts were named after different companies. From Logging company to a factory, Trillium had it all.
Keepers helped them blend in and even provided them with all the required paperwork.
Surrounded by trees and far away from the main road, the place could be considered remote. She wondered how many ’loggers’ worked in this place.
Karena pulled her inside and dragged her slender frame into an elevator made of iron. The elevator led them to an underground facility.
As usual.
Most of Trillium’s bases were underground.
"Sit," Karena pushed her towards another room. This one didn’t have any mirrors nor was it made of pure iron. On the outside, the room looked like a normal drawing room where they entertain visitors. A long beige couch could be seen just across a fireplace.
To make the interior look more elegant, there were two other single couches with different styles and colors.
A high ceiling made the place look bigger than it already was.
Ava looked back and realized that Karena was no longer there.
"Miss Woods?" the man who was standing behind her was none other than the Deputy of the Operations Department. Kenji Moore.
A Japanese American who was well known for his ruthlessness in the field forty years ago. The man was a shifter— a werelion. And his large and dangerous stature towered over Ava as he approached her with a benign smile on his face.
"Please take a seat."
Ava’s eye twitched but she complied.
The man should be in his sixties yet from the looks of it, he looked like a middle aged man. Clean shaven, he was sporting a military style haircut. Short and precise. His brown eyes focused on her green ones.
The man sat on one of the single seater chair and poured a glass of wine for himself.
"I presume you already know why I invited you here?"
Ava said nothing. She couldn’t read his emotions. The man must be wearing some sort of talisman that could stop anyone from attacking his physc.
"You know what happens to people to threaten Trillium Miss Woods?" he asked.
"They disappear."
"You are well informed." ƒrēewebnovel.com
"I am not crazy. I know the risks."
"And yet you still dared to threatened us." The man emphasized the word ’US’ as if he was silently telling her that she was still with us. "For what?"
"The Hybrids. My brother. My mother. I want answers."
"Gabriella Montez Woods.... Died in an unfortunate circumstances. All I can tell you is that it wasn’t intentional."
"So Romeo just— "
"Romeo Mclary didn’t kill your mother. The Hybrids did. Wrong place at the wrong time."
Ava’s gaze turned sharp. She knew he would say something like this. Just like Amore.
"And my brother?"
"Phillip Woods, retired military personnel, was also at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Bullshit."
"Believe it or not. That is the truth."
"You are telling me that this was all a coincidence?"
"It is the truth."
Ava looked at him in disbelief. She pursed her lips as she tried to calm herself.
"Mr. Woods was just one of the failed experiments that we conducted on young healthy humans in the past. The experiment was not successful. So we let them go."
"And you want me to believe that?"
"The reason why the experiments were conducted is because... they were relatives with someone who works with Trillium."
"What?"
"Gabriella Woods... was one of us."
The revelation shook her core. This was the plot twist that she never expected. "What did you just say?"
"I said Gabriella was one of us. We tend to— " he took another sip. His Adams apple bobbed. "We hire ex communicated witches to work on the field. Not as active agents but as people who supply us with information."
"And kids..." Ava continued.
And when Kenji Moore nodded, Ava felt her heart broke into small pieces.
"The reason why Samuel Sutton approached you is because... you were his colleague’s daughter. As you know, we tend to hire someone who already has connections inside Trillium."
"So... Romeo..."
"Oh, he was guilty, alright? It’s just that he didn’t directly killed your mother."
"Not directly?"
"Your mother wanted to stop trillium from scouting you. She went into the woods that day to negotiate. But she didn’t inform anyone and it just so happened that we were trying to test new Hybrids that we created so... an accident happened. When Romeo arrived, your mother was already dead. The crazy in him kicked in so— "
"He dismembered her body." Ava nodded. She could feel the blood drained from her face. "And you let Amore think that it was Romeo’s fault so you could... blackmail her."
"You are surprisingly smart for someone who showed average IQ during the test."
Ava didn’t know how to react. This wasn’t a part of her calculations at all. She had suspected something was wrong with Samuel approached her in the past. She thought it might be a coincidence. She was wrong.
Oh... she was so wrong.
"As a witch, I know you are a very logical creature. Since your mother and brother are already dead, I thought it would be best to reveal everything so we can move on."
Ava blinked. Right. These people might have thought that Phil was already dead.
"Move on?" Ava asked.
"Your mother was one of us. You can consider her death as one of the hazards of her job."
Ava squinted as realization hit her. Everything that the man revealed actually made sense. It connected the dots that she didn’t even knew existed in the past. But why would she believe him? Why should she believe him?
At the end of the day, she could only think of one thing; Trillium was rotten to the core.
"So... what do you want me to do? Forget everything?" Ava asked.
"What?" the man guffawed. "Miss Woods... you got something wrong. In fact, you aren’t that important. The chaos that you cause with your threats... was the only reason why I am here talking to you. To me... you are irrelevant. Just like... your mother and brother. Stop thinking too highly of yourself."
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