"Because... I was in his dreams, and his dreams often end with me dying."
Silence fell between them until Slater clapped happily.
"Very well! That means I’m wrong," he laughed. "That’s better!"
Lola furrowed her brows. "Why are you so happy?"
"Sis, what do you mean, why am I so happy?" Slater scrunched up his nose. "First Brother is more horrible in our previous life than now."
"Atlas is not horrible at all."
"Considering Penny was locked up because of him — and that she got executed — I don’t want him to remember," he spelled it out, reminding Lola why Atlas was even the head of the Order in the first place.
"If him not remembering but still knowing he failed to protect our family is already like this; what more if he remembers everything?"
"Right." Lola nodded slowly. "The reason Atlas took over the Order instead of Zoren is that he was planning his own murder to atone for his so-called sins."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "My brain’s just overloaded with all this information. Gosh. My stress level has never gone down these days."
"Maybe he’s just really stressed," Slater assumed, not dwelling on it. "If we’re already stressed that all of this is happening at once, then that’s double for him."
He pushed himself away from the table and got to his feet. "I’ll get my coffee and start again."
Lola watched him walk past her toward the coffee machine. She ignored him and enjoyed her coffee, her eyes falling on the file within her reach.
"Hmm?" she hummed, pulling one of the papers from under the scattered pile.
When it came fully into view, her brows knitted. "Slater, did you draw this?"
"Ah... yep!" Slater nodded without looking back. "I’ve been thinking about this, and then First Brother told me to draw a sketch of Melanie."
"Melanie?" she repeated. "The woman you remember from the group that trained you?"
"Yep." He nodded. "First Brother said it’s better if we put it up on the board, and if someone asks who she is, we’ll just say we found her sketch in Ashkar linked to suspicious activity... or something like that."
Lola blinked, staring at Slater’s back. Slowly, she set her eyes back on the sketch.
"Slater, are you sure this is the woman you knew in the past?"
"Yes."
"..."
When Lola didn’t respond, Slater turned around to face her. Seeing the look on her face, his brows knitted.
"You know her?"
"Mhm."
"Ahh, that’s why — WAIT! WHAT?!" Slater gasped, wide-eyed.
For a second, his brain just stopped working.
When his mind rebooted, his face twisted. He rushed to her side and slammed his hands on the table.
"Sis, did you really say you know this woman?!" he asked, pointing at the sketch. "This woman?!"
Lola nodded, still in shock herself. "She’s my friend... and her name is not Melanie."
She blinked, trying to make sense of it. She definitely knew this face, and she knew Slater’s story. Although the details about Melanie came late, Lola had eventually been told.
What she didn’t expect was that this Melanie Slater talked about was—
"Farah," Lola whispered, meeting Slater’s eyes again. "She’s in business with Vito... until they weren’t."
Slater held his breath as both of them stared at each other with wide eyes. Had he shown this face earlier, they would’ve known.
"Shit—" Slater jumped up and ran to the board. He quickly grabbed a pen and drew a connection between the sketch and Vito, writing the small bits of information about them.
Once he finished, he clasped his fingers together above his head and stepped back.
His eyes darted across the board, which had expanded exponentially in the past few days. Originally, they had one, but now they had three. Soon, they’d probably start using the walls.
As for Lola, she also kept her eyes on the board, then on Slater. He looked shocked but also eager — probably because it was the first time he had a lead about Farah, or what he knew as Melanie.
Actually, I can try calling Farah. After all, I kept in touch with her secretly even before I left Vito’s organization and managed to claim our freedom.
But as the thought crossed her mind, her brows knitted.
"Hang on," she whispered, tilting her head.
Hearing her, Slater turned. "What? What is it?"
"Well, I just remembered... Vito and Farah had a falling out. It was messy, and I’m not aware of the details. I wasn’t very interested in whatever came out of Vito’s mouth, but he was really angry," she hummed. "It just occurred to me that Vito has been eyeing expansion in Ravah, but Farah already has dealings there."
Slater paused, then looked at Lola. "Is that why he asked you to steal the blueprints?"
"I don’t know, but thinking about it now... there’s a chance."
"But you didn’t hand them to him, right?"
"Mhm."
"I don’t think I’ve asked, but what did you give Vito if not the blueprints?"
"Trade routes and information," she shrugged. "Enough for him to get through the door. What I’m saying is, if in your previous life you were trained in Ashkar that Farah runs... it’s possible the person running it now changed too, as part of the domino effect."
There were many of them who had remembered their previous lives, and although their changes were minimal, they still had lasting effects.
Since the Bennets didn’t fall, Farah probably didn’t have a reason to recruit Slater. However, someone in this circle — whether Lola liked it or not — had fallen into despair.
Melissa — the Young Family.
"If our assumption is correct, that means we’re on the right track to locating Vito," Lola nodded, then perked up. "Actually, I can try calling Farah."
"What?"
"I’m not too sure if she’ll answer, but I can try."
Slater nodded and quickly took the seat next to her. Lola took out her phone — good thing she hadn’t changed numbers. She scrolled through her contacts, found the name, and they nodded at each other before she dialed.
Much to their surprise, it rang.
The duo waited patiently, unsure whether they wanted someone to answer or not. But they would take whatever result came. Just when they thought no one would pick up, the call was answered on the last ring.
"Fa—"
"Hello?"
Lola stopped while Slater furrowed his brows at the voice.
That’s not Melanie, he thought, but then Lola spoke, catching him off guard.
"Amala?" Lola scoffed. "Amala, is that... you?"
"Lola?" Amala chuckled. "So you do know how to call, huh?"
"Amala, why are you answering this call?" she asked, confused.
"Oh." Amala checked the number saved under a different name. "It’s because Farah dropped by."
Lola and Slater fell silent.
"Really?" Lola let out a shallow chuckle. "Are you guys... okay there?"
Amala hummed. "Mhm. Farah’s been here for three days now, and she’s leaving tomorrow."
Hearing that eased them.
"I see." Lola nodded. "Then tell Farah I called."
"Alright. What about me, Lola?" Amala then went into full scolding mode while Lola could only chuckle and listen.
They let Amala ramble until the call ended.
"I guess she’ll be fine," Lola sighed in relief. "Well, Farah is really a good friend of ours. I don’t think she’ll hurt Amala."
But Slater didn’t answer, clasping his hands together. "I hope."
*****
[Novera]
Clack.
Amala let out a huff as she looked at the phone, shaking her head.
"That woman," she grumbled. "How could she call others and not me?"
Still, Amala knew she couldn’t complain much. Lola had lived for others all her life, and now she was living for herself. She was okay with minimal connection, as long as it wasn’t complete disconnection.
With that thought, Amala turned, only to stop when Farah — a slightly older woman — stood a few steps behind her.
"Oh, Farah," Amala chuckled. "You surprised me."
Farah smiled. "Was that... Lola?"
"Oh, right." Amala smacked her lips. "I’m sorry for answering your phone. I didn’t mean to..."
She trailed off as she noticed Farah’s hand hidden behind her back. Amala smiled faintly and let out a shallow breath.
"Actually, Farah, you are truly a good friend," Amala said softly. "It’s just... Lola is my family."
As soon as those words left her mouth, she dove behind the couch while Farah pulled her hand forward... and opened fire.