Handler XX: Stock Maestro-Chapter 25: Tereo

"What are you doing here?"

"That’s supposed to be my question..." he lowered his weapon.

She walked into the room, glancing at Raya’s body on the floor.

"You’re a killer. How surprising..." she chuckled.

"...It’s work" he turned as she walked past him.

"What are you doing here, Scarlet?"

"Work..." She scoffed, taking a seat.

She pointed her gun at Raya’s guest— the target.

"And this, is my Client"

Trent walked closer and held her shoulder. "I’m sorry about the mess" he turned to the guest.

The old man stretched his hands— trembling and panicked. Trent glanced at his hand and took the handshake.

"Do you know who I am?"

"U–Uh... Yes?"

"Mission completed. Tereo— Sell" Ave’s voice echoed.

Alright. Trent held tighter, "Do you know where I’m from?"

The Man shook his head, eyes trailing to Scarlet nervously.

"He doesn’t" she assured. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Trent released the Man’s hand and turned to her, "You know why I’m here... Is this what I’m thinking?"

She chuckled, "Yeah, it is. What are you going to do about it?’

He placed his gun on her head, "I’m not joking— I need to know what’s going on"

"You’re not going to pull that trigger..."

He pressed the gun further. The old man just watched— silent and afraid.

"He’s a client for the agency— just not mine" she turned to Trent, smirking.

"Killed his babysitter and voila..."

The man fell off the chair as he shifted it back in shock.

Trent lowered the weapon from her head as she stood up slowly, pointing her weapon at the Man.

"It was nice to meet you, Pietro" she laughed as she pulled the trigger.

"What’s this?" Trent asked as she grabbed his shirt closer to herself.

"That was hot..." She teased, bringing her head forward.

"You’re crazy— you need help" he pushed her away.

She laughed, taking the glass of wine on the table for a drink.

"I think that belongs to your friends" she pointed at Raya’s bag, walking off.

He exhaled, watching her leave before he dialed the phone,

"Mission complete"

"Good" Anton replied,

"Casualties?"

"...The Contact"

"They’ll clean it up— Good job, Twerp" Anton replied as he hung up.

Trent looked over to Pietro’s body. They’ll definitely find a different bullet.

He took the grape scissors from the table and lunged it into the place where her bullet penetrated pulling it out. "Fuck..." He groaned as blood splashed on him.

He walked back a few steps behind here Scarlet had pulled the trigger, since he had a different gun and fired at the same spot.

"Good. Damned wench— having me clean up her mess"

He tucked the grape scissors into his pocket, picked the bag and walked off.

_____________

"Hi..."

"Hi, what’s up?" Marie responded from her end.

"I won’t be back tonight— I plan to stay at Theo’s"

"And?" She asked— clear and cold tone. "Look, Man. You don’t have to tell me that sort of thing. You snuck out without telling me, so it’s no problem"

"I—"

She hung up the phone before he could explain. Fuck.

He stepped out of the car and headed for his room— No need to bother Theo this late.

He looked at the bottle of whiskey in his hand— watch a series and maybe get drunk. Perfect.

_____________

"You reek of alcohol, Cap" Theo groaned as he opened his door.

"Yeah... It’s not easy living my life"

"I’ll make you some hangover soup— my sister’s recipe" he opened to door wider letting him in and walked off to the kitchen.

"That’ll be great... Thanks a lot, Man"

Trent walked inside. He’d tried to get himself drunk but the stats couldn’t let him. He exhaled as he fell into the chair.

After a while, Theo walked out with a bowl of soup. "Here..." He stretched it

"Thanks"

Theo turned his TV on and sat down besides Trent as he drank the soup.

"There’s a lot of hype about this company— they’re set to release a very smart AI tomorrow"

"AI? What’s the company’s name?"

"Tereo"

Trent almost choked on his soup as he heard the name.

"Are you alright?" Theo stood up, worried.

"I’m fine" Trent stretched his hand.

Theo handed him a glass of water and watched him, "Do you know something about them?"

Trent looked up at him,

"I just know that I’m on a short sell"

He thought about it for a while,

"Market doesn’t say that though..." He exhaled, "All investors take a loss"

Trent dropped the bowl on the table and looked at the TV.

"Two allies going at each other— what’s the world turn into" he muttered

"You mean the situation between Icarden and Faso? It’s because of a gold mine"

"They’re going to lose it to Kraven soon— all in the name of peace and the stars" Trent chuckled.

"Thank you a lot, Man" he said, standing up to leave. "The secretary should contact you today— reach out to Ange for me"

"No problem— get yourself cleaned up, Boss. The wife’s gonna be pissed" Theo chuckled.

"She already is" he groaned as he walked away.

______________

He hesitated as he reached for the door. She sounded so pissed— how does he get through this?

He took a deep breath as he opened the door. There she was— on her phone. She didn’t even act like she noticed him walk in.

"Hey..." He muttered as he walked closer to her.

She glanced at him, nodded and continued what she was doing.

"Ummm... Can we talk?" He asked as he sat on the bed.

"About what?" She snapped at him, "There’s nothing to talk about— We are our own people. It’s a fake marriage— we can do whatever we want"

Hah... He bent his head down. A fake marriage. He exhaled.

"I’m sorry"

"There’s no—"

"I’m sorry I snuck out without even telling you I was leaving,"

"Don’t—"

"I’m sorry for leading you into the Dewt mission when I knew it was dangerous..."

"I said—"

"I’m sorry for hiding so things from you"

"I said don’t fucking tell me you’re sorry!!!" She snapped, turning to him.

"Don’t tell me you’re sorry, Trent— I don’t want that"

He gazed into her eyes— teary, sad, angry. His chest tightened at the sight.

"I’m sorry" he whispered.

She closed her eyes and sniffled.

"There’s no need— Anton called this morning"

He flinched. "What did he say?"

"Raya— that’s the mission you went for, no?"

"Yes" he replied, turning his face away, "She was your best friend— I’m sorry"

She laughed— low and mockingly,

"Best friend, my ass"

What? He turned his head to look at her. She wiped the tears from her face.

"I found out she was the one giving Morlov information about me— she was his watchdog. And she was the one spreading rumors about me in the program"

"What?"

"Yeah... Why do you think I didn’t invite said Best friend" she air quoted, "to my fake wedding"

She turned away from him, silent for a while, "You killed her?"

"Yeah" he muttered.

She exhaled, "Figured— you reek of booze. That’s why I said not to be sorry— You did it so I didn’t have to"

Trent relaxed his back on the bed post in relief.

"But..." She turned to him with a grin, startling him.

"You agree to keeping secrets from me, huh?"

He gulped as she brought her face closer.

He exhaled as his phone rang immediately— Theo. Safe.

She chuckled as he stood up to take the call.

_______________

"My honorable Boss— the Captain himself" Theo hailed as he picked up.

What? He looked at the phone to confirm the contact.

"What’s with this cringe way of speaking? What do you want?"

Theo laughed, "Was it that obvious?"

"Of course— what’s going on? We were together an hour ago"

"Tereo" Theo answered in a low tone.

"What happened to Tereo?"

"They got sued as soon as the market opened— by a group of their top researchers"

"Oh? That’s not my problem" he chuckled. It was great news actually.

"I guess it’s yours— how much did you lose?"

"Five thousand— that I got from my sister"

Trent burst into laughter,

"It’s not funny, Man" Theo huffed.

"Sorry... It kind of is right now. Haven’t you heard that you shouldn’t play stocks?"

"You play it and you’ve got millions"

"Yeah— I don’t play"

"Yeah, right... That’s what lucky players say" Theo scoffed.

"We’ll talk about it later, Man— so I can laugh at you some more, Noob"

"Fuck your luck, Man" Theo groaned, hanging up.

Trent checked his trading account,

"Holy shit"

"What’s that?" Marie walked to him, looking at his phone.

"Shit... Is this real?"

He nodded at her with a smile.

+6050% profit and counting. Over 300 million dollars from his 5 million dollars trade. He exited the trade, bringing his balance to over 420 million dollars.

"Isn’t this supposed to be illegal? Wipe that smirk off your face, Golden boy" she laughed as she reached to open the door, hearing a knock.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice shifted— cold, as if it was ice.

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