The Alchemists

Finland finally regained consciousness from the anesthetic and found Jean sitting beside her bed, looking exhausted.

"Hey... you look so tired... Why don't you go back to the hotel to rest?" Finland asked, touching Jean's hand.

"Eh... you are awake... I wanted to be here to make sure that you are fine. The doctor said that the operation was successful. Now we just need to wait."

"Oh... thank goodness..."

"Are you hungry?" Jean asked.

"No... I'm just sleepy."

"Maybe the effects of the drug have not completely disappeared." said Jean. "You just rest."

"I have to contact Rory. I want to meet him and Aleksis..." Finland took her phone from the side table and contacted Lauriel.

After two rings her call was picked up.

"Hi, how was the surgery?" Lauriel asked.

"Fine. I'll be able to come home tomorrow. Now we need to wait for them to process the cells and transfer it to Terry. Hopefully his body won't reject the bone marrow transplant from me. Where are you guys?"

"I have to take care of something for a minute. Aleksis will be fine, I have a nanny for her."

"Why don't you bring Aleksis here?"

"It's not safe there. Young children shouldn't be in the hospital."

"Uhm..." Finland was disappointed because she could not meet Aleksis. "Can't she wear a face mask or something to protect her? I miss her so much."

"We will come tomorrow. You should rest."

Finland could not argue when Lauriel had made such a decision. Finally, she could only agree.

"Do you want me to visit them? Are they at the Raffless Hotel too?" Jean asked.

"Uhm... I don't think there's a need. They should be fine. I'll just wait for tomorrow, they will be here tomorrow."

"OK."

At the Raffless Hotel, Lauriel welcomed a beautiful woman in her 20s and 5 sturdy men in his suite. You could see that each one of them hid a weapon under their clothes.

"Are you Sara? I have an important task for you. Take care of this child until I return. Don't attract any attention. I have no enemies, but the father of this child has many enemies. I don't want anything to happen while I'm not around."

"Yes sir." Sara said as she smiled sweetly at Aleksis, who was standing beside Lauriel with a confused face. "Good evening, little girl. My name is Sara. I'm happy to meet you."

"Where are you going, Uncle Rory?" Aleksis asked in her rich voice. "I am coming along with you."

"Sshh... kids can't come. You just eat fruits and watch cartoons here. I'll be back in a few hours." Lauriel crouched down and hugged Aleksis. "You must obey Auntie Sara... If you are not naughty, tomorrow we will go to the hospital to meet mummy."

Reluctantly Aleksis finally nodded and raised her arm to hold Sara's hand who happily took her to sit on the sofa and read a book to her.

Lauriel gave some instructions to the five bodyguards then left the suite and went down to the lobby. At exactly 6 pm, Neill came accompanied by another man to pick him up.

The Rolls Royce took them speeding eastward and finally entered a mansion with a very large courtyard, something that was very rare in Singapore.

"Please come in, Mr. Lauriel. Mr. Alexei is waiting for you at the library."

Lauriel did not answer and immediately followed Neill to the library. Neil stopped in front of a large wooden door and gestured for Lauriel to enter alone.

In the magnificent library there were thousands of books and some comfortable reading chairs. Alexei immediately rose from his seat when he saw Lauriel enter. He moved toward his guest and was about to embrace Lauriel but the man dodged coldly.

"What do you want?" Lauriel asked quickly. "You know I hate small talk."

"Ah... we almost became family... If my aunt hadn't died in the war, you would have already married her and become my uncle. How could you not come to meet me after you came back to civilization? Are we meaningless to you? Is Aunt Luna meaningless to you?" Alexei asked. "Auntie will be very disappointed to see this attitude of yours."

"Alexei, don't make me repeat my words," Lauriel became impatient. He showed his pinky finger which held his girlfriend's ring and asked, "You kept it all this time and didn't tell me?"

"Sophia kept it for decades. I just got it last week. My sister is acting up a lot now..." Alexei said in a sad tone. "I just found out about your return and I happen to have the object you want. I want to make a deal."

"I am not interested."

"I'm not talking about Aunt Luna's ring." Alexei waved his hand. "You will be interested if it concerns your goddaughter."

"What do you mean?" Lauriel began to worry.

"Charlie did send his best people to protect your goddaughter, but you should know, the safest place for her is beside you."

"You...!"

Alexei took out his phone and called someone. He then gave his phone to Lauriel.

"Uncle Rory, where are you? Auntie Sara and her friends are all asleep. Their bodies are covered in red stuff..." Aleksis' innocent voice was heard on the line. Lauriel gasped in anger. He did not expect that after he left the hotel, Alexei's men attacked Sara and her people.

This was too much!

"What do you want?" he asked though his gritted teeth.

"Ahh... I just made you repeat what you just said. Oops… Please forgive me, Your Highness Lauriel..." said Alexei in a mocking tone.

In an instant Lauriel stood behind Alexei with a gun pointed at his forehead, and his hand gripped Alexei's throat mercilessly.

"I'm done with life, I'm not afraid of anyone," Lauriel said coldly. "If anything happens to Aleksis, don't expect to see the sun again."

"Don't be so angry..." Alexei still smiled sarcastically even though Lauriel's strong hand was clutching his neck. "You haven't heard what I want. I think you would be stupid if you refused my request."

"Speak NOW!"

"I have given the child poison that will be activated in two weeks. You will not have time to look for the antidote partially because you don't even know what poison I gave her. If you do not want her dead, I want you to follow my orders. That's all."

Lauriel's usually calm face now turned pale.