The Alchemists

Marie couldn't believe her own hearing. The two children who called Nicolae Daddy were not his biological children? Why did he treat them like his own? Marie had never seen anyone like that ...

She truly thought that Nicolae and the woman did have children together and that Nicolae loved that woman so much that he would do anything for her.

Was she assuming wrong?

"I ... don't understand," Marie finally said. "Apparently, there are so many things I don't know about you. I don't even know your real name."

Nicolae became uncomfortable when he heard Marie's words. He was not open to Marie about his real identity. At that time, he never expected that they would be bound any further, and he would even fall in love with her.

Now ... he could not hide anything else about himself. After all, Marie was the mother of his child, and she must know who Nicolae really was.

"Marie ... I'm sorry because when we met I didn't tell you who I really am. I will tell you everything... slowly, at the right time," the man said gently. He did not want Marie to be suspicious of him for being so mysterious. "But now ... I'm very worried about your safety and Summer. It seems like someone is after you both. What if you let me protect you and our child?"

Marie immediately remembered what had happened recently and sighed. She did have enemies and had tried to avoid them by faking her death six years ago. Now there was a new contest in Darknet to find her, and a few days ago, Summer was also kidnapped.

Suddenly her life burden that she had carried alone on her shoulders made her back feel so heavy. She had lived alone for so long, looking after herself and Summer ... and she was finally tired.

But ... what can Nicolae do? Besides having a wealthy relative, the owner of the Nobel Hotel, how could he help Marie?

"Nico, I'm very grateful to you. But, I don't want to involve you in my problem. You don't know who is chasing me. If they are also after you ... I can't protect you," Marie said in a stern voice. "After this, I will go with Summer and change my identity. After we are safe, I will contact you."

Nicolae looked at Marie in surprise. "You don't need to protect me. I will protect you. Don't you believe me?"

Marie frowned. "You don't know who is chasing me."

"No. Not yet. But I can help you if you tell me. Please, Marie ... I don't want to lose you both anymore. I will do anything to protect you ..." Nicolae rose from his chair, put Summer beside Marie, then he knelt at Marie's feet. "I will make up for the lost six years and look after you. You must trust me."

"I don't want to put you in danger..." Marie still insisted she didn't want to involve Nicolae. "You don't know this, but I'm involved with people from the underworld. I have connections that can help me, but they won't want to help you."

Nicolae immediately thought of the four men who had killed the two kidnappers on the boat. Was this the connection that Marie meant? What kind of life had this girl lived all this time? He could only ask himself.

"You mean the four men who killed Summer's kidnappers on the ship? Are they your connection in the underworld? Are you also in contact with hackers who hacked all the CCTVs in the area?" Nicolae asked. "The four men also went to the kidnapping gang's home-base in Saint-Denis and looked for me. After all, I am already involved."

Marie pressed her lips when she heard Nicolae's words. "You ... you know all that? How do you know about them and their hacker?"

Nicolae hugged Marie's knee and looked at her deeply. "I'm not a simple man, Marie. I also have a connection. I'm sure I can help you. Please open up to me. Who's after you? I'll fix them."

Marie looked at Nicolae with her lips half-open. She was also very surprised. "I ..."

Tears slowly flowing down her cheeks. Really, she was very tired. For the past few days, she had been so restless and could not sleep at the thought of her daughter's fate.

Although she was a tough hacker in cyberspace, in real life, she was just a young girl who was physically weak. She couldn't physically confront anyone who continued to hunt her down. She could only hide, covered her tracks, and avoid them.

"Marie ... please, don't cry," Nicolae said. "I'm here. I will not let anything happen to you."

Marie finally nodded. She wiped her eyes with her hands to remove her tears.

"Thank you." She took a deep breath and took a tablet from her bag. Nicolae immediately sat next to her and watched what the girl was doing.

Marie opened Darknet on her tablet. Slowly, Nicolae's eyes widened as he saw her slender fingers swiftly browsing various forums.

He didn't know Marie had access to Darknet and entered the same world as him. Didn't Marie use to be a florist?

Was she...

"I'm actually a professional hacker who receives a lot of work from clients. Over the last few years, I've reduced my workload because I want to live quietly. But some bad people feel wronged because of one of my assignments in the past, and they paid people to hunt me down. They almost found out my identity as Marie Lu, that's why I faked my death and moved to Paris. While here, I also deliberately didn't interact much with Sanna for fear that they would suspect her..." Marie started her explanation.

"Sanna ...?" Nicolae just remembered Marie's best friend, who went on a blind date with him. "Sanna is in Paris?"

"That's right. She has married her boyfriend, Julian. I don't have anyone else in this world besides Sanna, so I moved here. But I still keep my distance so I don't get in touch too often with her," Marie said. "I also made sure Summer and I live alone and don't attract people's attention."

Now Nicolae understood why he had not managed to find information about Summer anywhere. Even her face had never been captured by a CCTV camera in Paris. That was why he had great difficulty finding Marie. Apparently, Marie was a professional hacker as she said.

This was very hard to believe.

Nicolae now looked at Marie with a new perspective. 

What an amazing girl!

"If I may ask... what is your identity on Darknet?" Nicolae asked slowly.

"Me?" Marie shrugged. "My name is Goose."

Nicolae was stunned and was speechless for several seconds.

Wasn't Goose the world's best hacker who took his title as the number 1 hacker after he retired years ago?

So... Goose was actually Marie?

This Marie?

Nicolae's deep blue eyes were suddenly filled with admiration, and then his head shook in disbelief.

"Gosh .. You are Goose." He sighed in surprise.

"Looks like you've heard my name," Marie said, smiling at Nicolae's reaction.

The man nodded and smiled broadly.

"Wait a minute," he said.

He hugged Marie tightly, then went to his room and took out his tablet. He came out a few moments later and stood in the doorway while opening his tablet and writing something.

Marie only watched Nicolae with an expression of not understanding. What was this man doing? She thought in astonishment.

"Check the latest announcement on Darknet," Nicolae said, smiling faintly.

Marie furrowed her brows and opened the important announcement page. As she read the latest contest announcement, her eyes immediately went around. She raised her face, staring at Nicolae with a shocked look.

[Wolf will pay double for whoever catches the person who is after Goose]

"You...?" Marie opened her lips and tried to ask for confirmation ... but no sound came out.

Nicolae nodded. "It was I."