The Warmth In Her Heart

It was almost dawn when the meeting finally ended. The room has changed back intoa normal living room. Tristan went to send Alicia to bed. Seeing her drained from the long meeting making him feel unpleasant. This is not what she was supposed to be facing when she's already 5 months pregnant. Besides that, he still have another issue that he needed to know. Which is why he made the others 'locked' inside the house while he went to put his wife to sleep.

Not more than half an hour, he went back down to find the others looking listlessly. Understandable, considering they were up all night. By they, he meant everyone including his grandfather.

"Damn brat. Is this how you're going to torture my old bones? I still needed my rest so that i can live longer and hold your kids and play with them." Duke Cullen started to chastised the moment he saw Tristan.

"Seeing you still have a lot of energy to berated me, i wouldn't worry much." Tristan answer nonchalantly.

"You!!! It's truly a wonder how a couple could drive me to my early grave. Asides from your wife and you, no one could take years of my life." It was better for Duke Cullen to start arguing with his vexing grandson. Might as well he get over the topic and be done with it.

"Ask whatever you want to ask."

"Before that, is there anything else you want to tell me?" Tristan looked over Daniel who was trying to make himself invisible. Daniel grimaced knowing full well what Tristan meant. With the look of his eye, he could definitely tell it's best to tell him everything instead of hiding some facts.

He coughed awkwardly before straighten himself up.

"That,, erm, i was chosen by your wife to be her decoy or something like her disciple. Although i'm still lacking but if i were to hack down the current security system i'm still able to do it. And about the company, i told Jean to take over. You know i'm not keen on business." He explain.

"Does Jean know?" Jean, their other brothers who were born in another country but they were able to recognize each other through their parent's heartless letter.

"You'll have to asked grandpa that. You know he's been trying to recruit us entering Googol. I had no choice because of your wife has been threatening me the whole time." He smile bitterly when he remember the day he was caught hacking into the Googol system by Xero. Because of her, he had to live a double life ever since. Come to think of it, Tristan also play a big role in this. He was caught in the act by Alicia when he tried to find more about Googol. All under Tristan's order.

"And is he involve as well?" Tristan had a feeling that his brothers were already recruited just like he was back then. He manage to get out because he can and have the power to do so. Threatening his grandfather has become his daily job.

"That, you have to asked grandpa. He knows more. The only people who knows everything about Googol and who was recruited is probably Xero and grandpa. But Xero usually gave up the idea on tackling some 'administration' work." Daniel explained ignoring his grandfather accusing look. It's best to learn and detect who has more power. Right now, it's Tristan. No one wants to mess with Lucifer.

Tristan glanced at his grandfather who tried to hide his guilty look. Not wanting to prolonged the topic, he decided to get the answer from Alicia. She knows more and if she doesn't, he can always look for it. Right now, what concerns him more is the situation that happen inside the meeting room. He saw how she changed into a completely different person. He knows she's strong but he didn't expect her to be that strong where she manage to lift two men by their throat without giving any signs of exhaustion. It's like she have some sort of forbidden superpower. The reason he call it forbidden probably because the way his grandfather and her teammates react towards the 'different' her. He thought he knew everything by now. All about Alicia considering she told him about Googol and her history with it. But it seems there's something else that he didn't know.

"Talk. Tell me everything. No more tricks nor hidden secrets. I want it all out now." Tristan looked coldly at his grandfather and putting pressures onto the team Xero. With his overbearing aura, team Xero felt like they were dealing with someone who had a high killing intention where they needed to be wary of every single move nor the way they breathe. It seems, without Alicia's presence they were nothing in Tristan's eyes.

Duke Cullen sighed heavily as he massage his head for a while. He had a sense of guilty and regret whenever he thought of that day.

"It was during her first year after i officially launch Googol and she was only around 8 years old. All of the mission were handled by her. At first it was only mission on stealing classified information or deleting a person's identity. But later, the mission gets tougher. I wanted to decline all the tough mission considering her young age. But she insisted that i accepted it. Telling me that it's the only way to keep the Googol alive. Plus, she wanted to have 'fun'. I was persuaded by her and took the tough mission. I always make sure she was safe throughout the mission. And she did come out safely. Her performance is incredible and the skills that she have is lethal. I was impressed. Due to that, i start to slack off. Letting her off taking the SS mission. It was the hardest mission of all. And i thought she could do it. But i forgot she's only just a small little girl. She got caught and become part of the experiment. By the time i manage to save her, she was injected with newly founded drugs which doesn't have it's cure. It almost turn her into a monster. That drug was to produce immortal army. Only her body happen to take the drugs without causing her life. Which is why they acted fiercely when we manage to infiltrate their base just to get Alicia back.

Thankfully Alicia's mind wasn't broken and she immediately recognize us. In the end, she saved us with her outstanding strength to eliminate each and everyone of the people involve in the illegal experiment but it almost causes her frail life. I didn't know the consequences of her using that power within her body. It was only after we were done destroying every data and capture all of those who were involve she finally collapse. It turns out, when she was using that power, her bones shattered due to immense use of the power with that fragile body of hers. She was in unbearable pain while helping us all along. I didn't know a thing and she never said a word. When she collapse with the shattered bones, we didn't know what to do. We force the people who put her into that state to talk but they just laugh before killing themselves. I was so mad and before we knew it, no one was left alive. In the end, it was the drug it-selves that recovered her shattered bones. But she was never the same person again. Her bubbly and the joy side that she had in her seem to disappear. It was as if, she turn into an emotionless person. It's like part of her was missing. Her heart seem so cold when she look at others. Although she recognize the people around her, it was as if there's something missing when she went berserk. The Alicia that you saw today was much better than back then. At least now she knows how to laugh, smile and be happy. Having Ralph adopted her into his family really help tremendously. And marrying you makes her more human like. Although i forbid her to use that strength of hers but the moment anyone touch her bottom line, there's no telling what will happen. Which is why, she produced her own shots whenever she becomes a monster. Today, Grant and Quint must have said something that makes her snapped. She'll be fine since she didn't go all crazy. And probably because she heard you and recognize your voice that she stopped from killing these two idiots."

Duke Cullen glared at the two person who was receiving treatment from Farrah. They both looked down and once in a while wincing in pain when Farrah purposely poke their broken ribs.

He sighed after telling the last bit of Alicia's secret to Tristan and the others. That part of her life is something that he would always feel guilty. He was still foolish back then. Dragging little Alicia into dangerous stunt at such an early age, he didn't think much. Talked about protecting Alicia from the higher ups. It seems he was using her all along. He regret it so much. But he still wanted to protect Alicia's identity no matter what.

"I shouldn't have established Googol and letting her join the mission." Duke Cullen massage his forehead.

"You should have left her alone to begin with." An icy voice coming out from Tristan making everyone feels chilly as he look at his grandfather with his cold eyes.