477 Melnikov

The setting sun in Harbor City cast a beautiful glow through the tall tinted windows of Katherine's old apartment. Inside, the space was filled with several men with loaded guns.

On the sofa, Chris had just finished cleaning up the wound on his abdomen, covering it up with a new bandage. Then, he grabbed a grey shirt from the side and wore it on him. The shots given by the doctor last night had already worn off and he could feel the throbbing pain on his wounds. However, he refused to take any pain medication, so he sucked it up and clenched his jaw. This wasn't his first wound, but it hurt just like all the others—although he got better in handling the pain unlike before. He was getting too old for this.

For the whole day that he was cooped up in this place, he could only think of ways on how to get to his sister. Katherine was right, Parker was surely waiting for him to make a move and that could only put his sister in danger. Chris had to find a way to meet with Hughes from the NIA. She had to give him something or he was afraid he would be too late to get to his sister. 

The door swung open and in came Styles and Felix, both carrying briefcases in each hand. They headed straight to the right side of the room and set up Styles's small workstation on the dining table. They hadn't said a word since they entered, and while Chris was cleaning up the medical kit and putting it away, Gus—who was still tied up to a chair—observed Styles.

"I'm still not used to seeing you here. It feels like I'm seeing a ghost. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually kinda missed you," Gus said, a small smile hinting on his lips when he met Styles's scowl.

"Save it," Styles retorted. "I'm not about to reminisce with you. Also, you're not my type, Gazelle. I prefer human beings with breasts, beauty, and brains—which obviously, you have none of the above."

Gus barked out a laugh. He may not have the breasts that Styles was looking for, but he sure had brains and he wasn't bad looking either. But that wasn't the point. He just thought annoying Styles would cure his boredom. "Oh, yeah? Kinda like that screensaver you had on your computer back at the first Castle?"

"Hey!" Styles frowned. "Ximena Navarrete is a goddess. Okay?" 

When Gus snorted at his answer, a mischievous smile appeared on Styles's face and he remarked, "At least, I don't take a sneaky picture of Katherine while she wasn't looking."

The grin on Gus's face slipped and his eyes turned cold. "Hey! That was one time!"

"You… What?" Chris threw a fiery glance at Gus. He couldn't believe what he just heard. "You took pictures of Katherine?"

"I already said that was one time! Okay? I'm not… some pervert." Gus gave Styles an eye, who—in return—stuck his tongue out at him.

"I swear, it's not a big deal. Let's just drop it."

"When?" Chris insisted.

Sighing, Gus could only give in and mumbled, "When she just rose up to level 3. We were celebrating at the shooting range. That's all. Nothing else. Styles just…"

"I just happened to catch him while he sneakily took a picture of our Queen. That's all," Styles interrupted, earning a glare from Gus.

Chris's brows knitted. "Level 3… That was many years ago... I was there."

"Seriously. Drop it." Gus's voice was stern.

Giving a last look on his mentee, Chris sauntered towards Styles in the dining area. Felix stopped him from coming closer, so he grunted, and then he took a seat a few feet away from them. "How did you survive that blast? Where were you all this time?"

Styles didn't have to ask Chris what he was talking about. He knew that he was asking about the explosion that Katherine did more than five years ago. He briefly glanced at him and continued to work on the task that Damien and Katherine gave him a while ago. Shifting his gaze back to the screen on his laptop, he told the other, "You don't think I'm just going to tell you anything, do you?"

"What do you have to lose? I'm no longer with Shadow, that's for sure. I've been stuck here since yesterday and we've got nothing to do."

"Oh, I have better things to do. You, on the other hand…" Styles paused as he thought of something, then he studied Chris. "I'm still skeptical about the story you told us regarding your sister. Why don't you convince me that she's real and you're not making this stuff up?"

"You have a sister?" Gus from the other side of the room questioned but the others only glanced at him.

Chris thought about it as he exchanged looks with Styles. Seeing as he was already in this situation, what else could happen to him at this point? He was on the way to his death faster than he thought. "Fine."

Hearing his answer, Styles straightened in his seat, slightly leaning forward as he waited for the other to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Chris's jaw ticked as he forced himself to divulge information that only very few people knew. He nodded at Styles's computer and in a low voice so that only they could hear, he told him, "Search up: Karina Melnikov. M-E-L-N-I-K-O-V."

Styles narrowed his eyes at Chris, wondering what he was up to but did the search anyway. There weren't many results that popped up. A lot of them were in the Russian language, in which Styles couldn't possibly read easily—his Russian was rusty. The page refreshed and it auto-translated the results to English. "What am I looking at?"

"Check the article about a burned down house in Vyanetsk. An official report by the police."

Scrolling down the page, Styles saw the word 'fire' and the name 'Karina Melnikov'. He clicked on the link and the browser opened a new tab of a Russian article. With his quick eyes, he was able to catch one particular word before it was translated from Russian to English. And his brows furrowed. On the link that he opened, it had the Russian characters that were equivalent to 'Melnikov'. However, when the auto-translation worked, it changed into "Miller".

"Wait…" Styles froze. "Why… am I seeing the surname that you gave Katherine before? Miller?"

Exhaling an exhausted sigh, Chris replied, "Because that's what Melnikov means in English. It's a patronymic surname, and Melnik means miller."