SEQUEL: SIXTEEN

Roman sat in his office staring out the window which was essentially an entire wall made of glass. His office was on the third floor which gave an ample view of Reef City from where he was seated.
A lit cigar sat neglected between his middle and forefinger, the red tip glowing softly. Roman didn't have anything to do but he sat in his office anyway because it was better than aimlessly wandering around his empty house.
Even Lou had given him some distance which was a surprise as his personal assistant always jumped at every chance to tease him.
So his personal line ringing out of nowhere startled him out of his thoughts, making him place his lot cigar on the solid gold ash tray on his table and reach for his phone.
Roman frowned at the unsaved number, at any other time, he would have immediately hung up on the caller but right then, it was the perfect distraction he was looking for.
He picked up and immediately, the very last voice he expected to hear responded.
"Roman?" Alina’s searching voice spoke up, she sounded frazzled, something he could hear clearly although she was on the phone.
"I uh… I only called because I didn't have anyone else…" She started awkwardly.
Roman listened quietly, wondering just where this was all leading to. The last time he saw Alina, she had thrown a glass cup at his head and yelled at him to get out, why would she willingly reach out to him now?
"Just tell him to come save us… Ahh!" Madeline's distant voice filtered into the call as well as the sounds of glass breaking.
Roman sat up at this, speaking for the first time. "What's going on?"
"It's a lot to explain, you still have a tracker on me right, could you help us out, we're in a lot of trouble right no-" Alina spoke in a rush, her words cutting off abruptly.
"Alina? Hello?" Roman tried reaching out when she stopped speaking, he could only hear feedback for a few moments and then the line went dead.
He cursed and immediately whipped out the tracker that he had unwillingly been given, only for his jaw to drop when he saw where she currently was.
"Fucking Silverfall City," He cursed, feeling the urge to throw his phone around the room.
Why didn't Alina call Lukas? They were pretty close after all. Not to mention, she had started her call for help with the fact that she didn't want to call him.
It made him roll his eyes in anger, he had been lenient this entire time because he felt obligated to her somewhat because of the respect he had for her father but he had to draw the line somewhere. However, it wasn't going to be this time.
He had some contacts in Silverfall City that he could call on to obey his orders anytime, so it wasn't difficult to send out men to their current location.
However, the difficulty of the request wasn't the issue, the issue was that Alina herself had reached out to him for help.
The past two times he had helped her was because her father put him to it but this time he didn't have any excuse. He could tell himself that he was doing it because they were slated to be mated and she sounded to be in grave danger so it felt like the right thing to do but he knew well that he had no morals when it came to the people he didn't care about.
So he wasn't required to help Alina and she clearly didn't even want him to but he went ahead and did it anyway.
He sank into the cushions of his seat, reflexively checking on the tracker on Alina again and frowning at the map. The location looked oddly familiar for some reason and it took several seconds for it to click - it was the same location that he had given to Madeline.
If he remembered correctly it was supposed to be the address of some Myla… Iyla and he hadn't really paid attention to it when he gave them the location but now he did.
It was literally out in the middle of nowhere, an obvious trap because nobody fucking lived there. But essentially wasn't it his fault for getting Alina and her friend into trouble as he was the one responsible for sending them to that location?
That was reaching a bit too far though. He pushed that thought out of his mind and focused on Iyla Cutler instead.
Madeline had told him - while practically sticking to him like glue - that Iyla was the one who had led them to the Underground's headquarters under the guise of taking them to a really nice club.
It would mean that this was the second premeditated attack this Iyla Cutler figure was making on them, and it also meant that she was the sole reason why his days kept getting interrupted by the fucking Costins.
The only conclusion he drew was that he needed to get rid of Iyla Cutler, and his days would return to being peaceful again.
With a task at hand, Roman’s expression brightened, the cloud hanging over his slicked-back hair clearing up as he reached for the landline.
"Lou?" He spoke into the phone when his personal assistant picked up the call. "Haul ass in here, there's something I need you to do."
A few short minutes later, Lou came striding into his office like she owned the place. Her shoulder-length hair was slicked back, and she was in her usual outfit of a muscle shirt and cargo pants as well but this time she strapped her holsters crisscrossed across her chest although they were empty as they were indoors.
"You called, boss?" She asked with a grin, happy to see the light return to her Alpha King’s eyes.
Ever since they had that conversation on the way back from the airport, he had been listless and absent-minded, clearly lost in thought. It made her unwittingly give him some distance, she had even suggested that he take a break but she knew that was never happening.
“Do you remember me asking you to do a profiling on someone?” Roman went right to business.
Lou slouched in her seat, a laid-back expression on her face. “You just asked me yesterday morning, I wouldn’t have my job if my memory was that shitty,” She replied sarcastically.
Roman’s lips lifted to the side slightly, this was the Lou he was used to, he couldn’t deal with her being so quiet and distant out of the blue. “I need you to do a thorough background check on her, no information is unimportant.”
“Got it, boss, anything else?” Lou cocked a brow.
Roman wasn’t worried, although Lou was the most unprofessional person he had ever come across, she was also so capable it was almost terrifying. He had deduced that she didn’t sleep, because she singlehandedly ran the entire country as well as the businesses on the side, only coming to him for executive decisions.
“Yeah, get yourself a drink, you look like you need it.” He said languidly, fixing his eyes on the tracker on his phone.
“Talking to yourself in second person now?” Lou chuckled, rising to her feet and striding out the door.