The King of City

43 THE TALK

"What do you mean with that?". Elsa asked bewildered, it was true that she would have to confront her father for his actions sooner rather than later, however, she still didn’t feel ready to discuss this issue with Mr. Einstein.

"Just as you listen to it, you must confront it to know what movement we should make". Lionel said severely, but he saw the worried face that Elsa had, surely it would be due to the matter of having to confront her father since she had never confronted her father and the idea terrified her, Lionel supposed that Elsa would be going through a very difficult decision so he decided to help her. "Elsa, don't worry, I'm going to be with you all the time". Saying this, he held out a small artifact, the size of a pinhead, and was barely noticeable to the human eye. Elsa received it in the palm of her hand and looking with disdain at the device she questioned Lionel.

"What is this thing?".

"It's an earpiece". Lionel mentioned, taking the artifact away from him again and putting it in Elsa's ear. "I just have to link it to the cell phone and so we will be in contact all the time".

"This is spectacular. Thank you, Lionel!". With tears of thanks, she rushed to Lionel and put her arms around his neck to give him a big hug that he reciprocated, for a few moments they stayed in that position, the two huggings each other, which made Elsa feel more secure and comforted. Pulling her away from him gently, he said.

"Now you must concentrate!". And gently caressing her face wiped away her tears. "Call your father!".

Elsa did what Lionel told her, at first she hesitated but she did it anyway, there were a couple of opportunities, where she made calls and he didn’t answer and thought that he had saved himself, or at least for now, from having to confront her father promptly, but when Lionel saw that Elsa wasn’t going to continue calling, he took the phone from her and quickly dialed Mr. Einstein before Elsa blocked the phone, with such bad luck for her that this time he answered.

"Hello?". Dr. Einstein's voice answered on the other end of the phone. "Is that you, Elsa?".

"Hello Daddy!". Elsa said with a little nervousness. "How are you?".

"Very good daughter!" Then putting a severe tone in his voice, he said to her daughter. "What do you want Elsa? You know that you shouldn't call me at this time, right now I’m meeting with the oil tankers to expand the market in Lucien”. Mr. Einstein said a little annoyed at being interrupted at such an important meeting.

"Daddy, it's something important, we have to talk. Can we see each other now?". Elsa said a little calmer but her heart was still pounding.

"Elsa, are you pregnant?". Mr. Einstein asked alarmed that he found Elsa's behavior strange since she had never done anything like this.

"Don't be silly daddy, just tell me, can you?" Elsa insisted.

"Of course, darling, I'll be home at seven in the afternoon. Wait for me!".

"Thank you, daddy!"

"You're welcome daughter, now I must say goodbye, see you later". And he hung up to attend to his partners and follow the meeting.

"What did he say?". Lionel asked her that he could no longer bear the prolonged silence in which Elsa was, since he saw in her face great bewilderment and seemed disconnected from the outside world.

"Only that we would see each other in the afternoon". Elsa said disappointedly, avoiding Lionel's gaze, then continued. "I really don't want to do this; I don't even know what to say". Elsa said exposing Lionel her fragility and insecurity in the matter of having to confront her father.

"Calm down! Right now, we are going to test how the meeting with your father will be and if the possible answers he can give us”.

"And how will we do that?". Elsa asked even a little giddy.

"Well, doing a dramatization".

After saying this, Lionel stripped the sheets off the bed and started stuffing his shirt with it to simulate a big belly, then took some white grease and smeared it on his face to paint his beard white, the scene It was as parodic as possible, which helped Elsa a lot of tension since the only thing she could do was laugh at that scene, the situation was uncontrollable when Lionel began to imitate Mr. Einstein, he walked like him, he spoke like him, he gestured like him, everything was exactly the same, definitely the military training that Lionel had had to characterize and infiltrate organizations had made him a great actor. Elsa couldn’t stop laughing, her abdomen already hurt from laughing, however, she managed to stay a little serious and do her role well, it surprised her how Lionel's method was so effective in tackling almost any situation that She could appear in front of her father and that filled her with confidence and hope to face their meeting later.

"I think I already have it". Elsa said excitedly. "Thanks, Larson, I'll keep the headset on!". And putting it back on her ear, she picked up her things and left, Lionel as every gentleman helped her get a taxi because it would be counterproductive for his plans if Lionel appeared in the mansion with her. So, he went to a nearby coffee shop for a very strong coffee, because he also didn't want to go home to meet Corrine and have her spy on all his movements.

"Larson, are you there?". Elsa talked on the earpiece when the time to meet her father arrived.

"Yes, here I’m. Has your father arrived yet?". Lionel asked anxiously for Elsa.

"No, I'm very nervous, I don't know if I can do it". Saying this, her father entered the room where Elsa was, and Lionel couldn’t reassure her before she had to talk to Mr. Einstein.

"Daughter, how are you?". Mr. Einstein said to Elsa while giving her a brotherly hug since her call had caused him deep concern.

"Okay Daddy, I needed to talk to you". Elsa said in a soft voice and still a little worried.

"Ahead!". After that Elsa confronted her father, told him that she already knew that he had resigned from the Democratic party, in addition to that she knew how he had joined the Republican party and that in addition to that, he shared classified information from his former party, which It was already serious. During the confrontation, Elsa couldn’t help crying, since the situation seemed extremely overwhelming to her, since her lives, or at least her father's for now, would be in constant danger thanks to the Republican party.

"There’s nothing to do. What's done is done!". Mr. Einstein said without noticing the detail of how Elsa had obtained this information, on the contrary, he embraced it and continued. "It was something I had to do princess; my conscience didn’t allow me to continue in that party".

"But don't you know that this can kill us?". Elsa said a little hysterical at her father's carefree reaction.

"That won’t happen!". Mr. Einstein stated categorically. "At least not you".

"What do you mean with that?".

"I mean I’ll protect you and if I must send you away, I’ll do it so that they don't harm you".

"You cannot do that!". Elsa said raising her voice and realizing what she had done, she breathed and completed. "I have my whole life here, I cannot leave my friends, I had already settled in the other university, I really cannot do it". Elsa said hiding her true reasons, because the real reason is that she would be away from Lionel and that would break her heart.

"Just promise me you'll think about it". Her father said giving her a kiss on the forehead and turning away from her and leaving the room to let her think alone, however, Elsa didn’t have many things to think about, she had already made a decision.