A Tale Beyond Destiny

Chapter 28: Connor Valentin (Caleb)

“I thought that the next time that I meet you, you would be able to tell me that you and that woman were finally in a relationship,” Connor said as soon as he entered my office after almost half an hour of waiting. He gave me a sharp look, though I could tell that he was not that serious as he added, “I never thought that the next time that I would be here in your office was because of your assh*le of an uncle.”

I let out a sigh, to remove the anxiousness that I was still feeling because of Caliana’s safety, before I finally responded to him, “To be a prank, I also did not expect that something like this would happen again.” It was intended to be a joke, and it seems like Connor and Fabian was able to get that because they became relaxed as they gave me a smile on their faces. “But then again, I just want to tell you that we are already together. Though I never expected that the two of you would find out about it like this way.”

Their smiles dropped because of that, and maybe they saw how my anxiousness returned because of the way they looked at me, as if they were worried about me too. I looked up at both of them, though I frowned when I saw that they were exchanging looks as if they did not want me to hear anything about their silent message towards one another.

After a few seconds, I saw how Connor nodded his head as if he got what Fabian wanted to imply, before, finally, he went to take a seat on the chair that was across the table between the two of us and Fabian did the same thing too.

“This means that we needed to really save her as soon as possible so that we will never see you go insane because of your uncle’s plan,” Connor said, and I knew that he just wanted to lighten up the mood, though he never succeeded about because it just made my heart race because of worry for Caliana.

I knew that could possibly happen. If ever we would not really be able to save Caliana, and I really hoped that would never be the case, we were bound to be doomed, and I did not want to think of what could possibly happen to me. After all, I knew that I might really go insane if everything went south.

She was the only person who made me believe in myself. She became a vital part of my life, and I did not think that I would really be able to handle it if ever she would be gone to me, in an instant. I did not like to think of all the possibilities that we would face because it would just break my heart all over again.

We were just still new to our relationship. We were still in that phase where we would know one another. We still have so many things to do together, and I did not like the idea that we would fall apart because of this. I never want to lose her because of the evil plans of my uncle.

She did not deserve any of this. No. I already knew that she had enough because of the place that she left behind. Even though she did not directly tell me that, I already knew that something had happened to her in the past that resulted for her in going to this place.

That was why I needed to save her, because I already knew that she just wanted to be free from everything that had been stopping her all this time, and I never intended to be one of the reasons for her not to get the freedom that she badly wanted to have.

“So, what is the plan?” I asked Connor, because that was the main reason why I called him here. I even looked at him, straight into his eyes, to see if he already had something in his mind and it seemed like he really did because of the way he looked back at me. “I did not want to wait that long because I already knew that he would never really follow what we had talked about on the phone.”

I already knew that he would do something bad to Caliana if ever we made him wait that long. I already knew that he would never really do his part in the talk that we had earlier, and he would do something horrible to her, and I could not possibly let that happen. I would never let anyone, and that includes him to lay a hand on her and be the reason for me to lose her.

“Before I started talking about my plans, I wanted to tell you something, Fabian,” he said as he looked at the direction where Fabian decided to sit earlier. Fabian, on the other hand, just sat straight because of the serious tone in Connor’s voice as he called his name. “I want you to stay behind in this office and let Caleb and I handle this whole situation.”

Fabian’s eyes widened in shock and he was about to open his mouth, maybe to protest that he wanted to help me in some way too, but then again, as soon as he saw how Connor looked at him, he had decided to let out a sigh and accepted his own defeat.

“We already knew how cunning he could be, and how manipulative he is,” Connor explained, even though Fabian already accepted that he would not be able to help me on this one. “We did not want to repeat the same thing that had happened in the past, which was why I wanted you to stay behind and let us handle this thing.”

Fabian, who did not even turn up his gaze on Connor, just let out a defeated sigh as he answered him, “I understand what you wanted to imply, and I never intend to be the reason why you cannot save her and I never wanted to be a nuisance that would make him escape what he did, after all these years.”

Connor nodded, understanding what Fabian had said to him, before, finally, he turned his attention on me, which made me sit up straight and look at him with a serious expression on my face. I waited for him to explain our plans, though it seemed as though he was trying to weigh down the pros and cons of this strategy because of how he looked at me.

“Just to inform you, if ever you decide not to let me come with you, I will never accept that,” I warned him as I saw how he looked at me. It was as if he wanted to say the same thing that he told Fabian, but something was stopping him from doing so. “I will never sit right here while Caliana is out there in danger because of my manipulative Uncle.”

Connor snapped his head towards me, and I knew that I did not imagine the widening of his eyes, though it was suddenly gone, as though he never intended to react in that way to me. He looked at me for a brief second, before he let out a resigned sigh as though he already knew that I would say that to him.

“Let us talk about the plan for your car,” he said as he stood up from his seat, and Fabian and I followed him behind as he turned his back on us. “After all, just like what you have said, your Uncle was bound to break his own deal. He will not be able to hold on that long, and I am afraid to say that we might be too late if we do not move now.”

I clenched my fist to try and calm myself down, but it never worked because of the sudden worry that I felt for Caliana. I never thought that we would face something like this so soon in our relationship, but then again, no one had anticipated that my Uncle would do something like this when, in fact, he already got every single wealth that I had before.

It was as if my Uncle had already managed to spend all of my money on something that I never really knew, and I never intended to know. It was as though everything that he got from me and from my parents had gone to waste because of something so trivial.

It made my blood boil, really, because he already took away everything from me and he planned to do the same thing again. It was as though he really did not have any souls inside of him. It was as if all he had on his mind was a lot of wealth that he would be able to spend over and over again on some things that I knew were never that important.

“Fabian.” I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Connor called Fabian, and the latter just hummed as he became attentive to whatever he was about to say. “I want you to stay here in the office and make sure that nothing can go wrong. After all, he had already pointed out that he wanted to get Caleb’s company and he had just used Caleb's girlfriend to become a bait for him to come to that place.” He shook his head as we descended to the underground parking lot of my company and went to the side where he parked his car. “We can never be sure that he did not have any plan beside of that deal.”

Fabian nodded his head as an answer as he even said to Connor, “Then, might as well call the security and inform them to be alerted to anyone that will go inside and outside of the building.” Connor immediately agreed to what he said, before he finally opened the door of his car, and I did the same for the door on his passenger seat. Fabian nodded his head, once again, before he added, “I hope that you will be able to catch him this time.”

Connor just gave him a smile, before he finally closed the door of his car and started the engine. “That was what I intended to do,” he whispered to himself, before he finally drove off along the highway in order for us to reach the place that my Uncle had said over the phone.

Half of the time that we were inside of his car, it was just silent and none of us dared to talk about anything. He just started to talk about the plan, just like what he had said he would do earlier, and I just listened to him, attentively, so that I would be able to know that I would not be just a nuisance to whatever he was about to do.

It was as though he had appreciated my silence because he just kept on talking and informing me about what I should do, before finally, he ended his explanation with, “I already contacted my men to be on standby if ever the plan would go south. They would be lurking around the place, but they would never interfere, not until I decided and sent them some signals.”

I just nodded my head at him as I kept my silence, until we reached the area where my uncle had told me to go. It was an abandoned one-story building and it was as if the place had been there for a while because of how old it looks on the outside.

Connor parked his car in the furthest area where he could to avoid the suspicion that we were here, and to avoid those people inside the place to be alerted that we were already here, even though it was clearly still not the time that I would be there. Connor even shushed him, even though I was still quiet the whole time that he was trying to be as stealthy as he could.

“Remember that we had to be as quiet as we can so that we would not be able to alert anyone that we are already inside,” he reminded me again and I just nodded my head at him, because I certainly could not say anything as my heart started to pound inside of my chest. “I must also remind you that we will get inside as quiet as we could, get your girlfriend out and into the safety, then if we were lucky enough, we will be able to catch him and make him pay for everything that he had done to you.”

“I will remember that,” I answered him as I started to prepare myself for whatever we were about to do. I even took a deep breath because I suddenly got so thrilled about whatever would happen, even though it was clearly not the time for me to feel that way.

Who could blame me though? This was the very first time that I would ever do something like this, and it was also a plus that the one I was with was so experienced and already knew what he had to do on the field. But then again, I needed to calm myself down because I already knew that I intended to mess things up if I let my emotions get the better of me.

“Then, let us go now,” he said, then I was shocked because he gave me a g*n that I knew was full of bullets inside. I looked at him with a questioning gaze, and it was as though he already knew what I wanted to ask him because I heard him explain, “It was just for in case of an emergency. I will not allow you to kill anyone, you know? It was only for self-defense, and again, if everything goes south, then you will have something in you that you can use to protect yourself.”

I nodded my head at him even though I was still clearly shocked as this was also the first time that I ever held a real g*n. I never thought that I would ever feel it with my own hands, but then again, there was some other time for me to be amazed by it, because it was really not the time for me to have some emotion like that.

Caliana was in danger and I needed to save her or else I might not be able to take the pain that I would feel, if ever I messed this up. I needed to think of her own safety before my own amazement and my own self-indulgence.

“Then, we should already get inside now and save her,” Connor said to me right after he had explained how I would be able to use the g*n and fire it at the time of crisis. He even said that I should just follow his league, which I really intended to do, because I knew that he had more experience with this kind of thing than me.

It was not that long ago that the two of us managed to sneak inside of that building, without anyone alerting that someone had really got inside. Though I knew that Connor had a hard time finding an opening for us to get inside, and he had to knock down some of the men that were lurking around the place as though they already knew that someone would come at this kind of time.

It was not that easy to sneak in, though we managed to do so, thanks to Connor, who had years of experience of doing these kinds of things. But then again, just like what we had anticipated in the car earlier, we already knew that this would never really go that smoothly. We would never really be able to make that plan work, given that I was so inexperienced with this kind of thing.

Even though we tried to avoid suspicion and we tried our best to stay as silent as we could, we still alerted someone when we decided to take a turn in one of the hallways that we saw. We never noticed that someone was roaming around that place, and it was as though Connor never really felt his presence, because I knew that if he ever really did notice it, he would make me halt and tell me that we should take another route.

That man who discovered us shouted with all his might and that resulted for too many footsteps to go on where we were. Connor and I turned our backs towards each other as I heard him whisper to me, “You should prepare yourself and fight these men, because I do not think that we will be able to outrun them without harming anyone.” I nodded my head at him, though my heart pounded because of what he said next, “I think that they might also inform their boss and it will never be really in favor for us.”

My head started to think of so many possibilities after that, though I tried to calm myself down and forced myself to focus on the men in front of us because I already knew that I was bound to lose if ever I let my guard down. I tried my hardest to stop myself from worrying over Caliana as I started to tell myself that this would be over soon and I would be able to really save her from his filthy grasps.

That was all that I thought when the men started to advance towards me, but then again, I still could not help myself from thinking about her safety and that resulted for me taking some blow that I never really intended to have. That was all that I thought, but the moment that my enemies came to a halt because they heard a familiar voice that was saying that they should stop now and let him do the rest, that was that my heart pounded too fast for my own good.

I was too familiar with that voice to ignore it completely. I was too familiar with that kind of tone, and I feared that I already knew what would happen. Though that was the case, I still forced myself to turn my head in the direction of that voice and my heart almost sunk when I saw that scene that I feared I would see once we met.

There he was, my manipulative Uncle, together with Caliana, who had her hands tied with a rope behind her back and a bruise on her face. And that was the moment that I feared this would really not be in favor of us. We were bound to lose to him once again, and we would never have a chance to save Caliana.