Chapter 567: Alliance

"So… What do you think?" Katherine probed after she told Emma that there's a house, and she wanted her to move there with her family.

Emma was baffled. It was as though what Katherine said was unbelievable. "Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you giving me a house?" Emma's brows furrowed deeply. "Katherine… We're friends, yes. But you can't just give me a house. That's absurd."

Katherine exchanged glances with Damien. She really didn't have much to work on, so she's trying her best to convince her friend. "Well…" A sudden thought came to mind, and without second thoughts, she informed, "It's actually your brother's. He bought the place for you."

"Really?" Emma looked at her brother.

Chris, just like Katherine, maintained a straight face. They both knew she was lying, but both of them remained calm. He didn't want to take all the credit, so he added, "They helped me look for one...for you." He pointed at Katherine and Damien with an open hand. "I've been looking for you for a long time. I live far from you, so we should stay in one place—at least for the meantime. We do still have a lot to talk about."

Emma understood this better. At least this made sense for her. The thought of being close to her brother now after two decades of being apart made her really happy. There was so much to learn about each other, and she was looking forward to it.

However, before she could agree, Adam spoke first, "I don't think that's possible. They're all under protection, and activities like this need approval from the higher-ups."

They realized Emma's situation. To stay protected, the government watched over her family.

"I'll talk to Director Hughes about it. I'm sure this can be arranged somehow…" Chris responded, then he got up from his seat to make the call.

Director Hughes of NIA understood what Chris was asking her. And after being saved by them from Shadow a few days ago, she promised to make this happen.

The evening got darker, and everyone decided to call it a night. Damien extended an invitation to Emma and Adam to stay in one of his hotels that evening. It seemed as though he was only being thoughtful, but it was also a disguise so that they could keep an eye on her. This way, Katherine and Chris would feel reassured about Emma's safety.

The two declined at first, but after Katherine's persuasion, telling her that she would stay over too, Emma eventually agreed.

…

It took nearly two days for Director Hughes to get back to them, bearing good news that they were given a go signal for Emma's family to move to the new house. And on the third day, they finally moved in.

It didn't take long for Emma and her family to pack their stuff as Katherine provided personnel to help with the move—they were men from Maverick Security. They treated their movement as an operation, and everyone coordinated with each other to make sure that they weren't being followed—that Shadow wasn't tailing them.

Emma and Chris agreed that they had to keep their relationship as siblings a secret for now. The two had gotten close real fast since the first day they reunited. Emma had a lot of questions for him, and he took his time to answer them all.

He spared her the dark secret that he and Katherine had. He just didn't want his sister to get involved in all this mess. So he skirted around Shadow and told his sister an ordinary life story, saying that he and Katherine were friends before she lost her memory and that he was helping her with security matters. It worked well with their cover, so Chris introduced himself to Emma's family as one of the security detail who will stay 'live in' with them for a while.

Although they were technically not safe yet as Parker was still out there, certain that the latter was scouring the face of the earth to look for them, Chris was at least feeling secure because he could stay close to Emma. This way, he could protect her.

…

Monday — December 10

The days went by so fast, and it was exhausting. However, things just wouldn't quiet down at the safe house.

That day Katherine and Damien called Styles when they thought about "Alliance" being the name of a company or a brand or an organization, he was able to come up with a list. But there were too many that even with the help of Amelia, Gus, and Felix, it took a while to check each of them.

But that afternoon, Styles found something that he missed the first time he was working on it. Just when Katherine and Damien entered the front door, Styles slammed his hands on the table of his work station.

"Holy shmokes! I think I figured it out!" he spoke out loud as he stared at the screen in front of him.

"What is it, Styles?" Damien asked as everyone gathered around him.

"I could not believe I missed this. How could I miss this?!" Styles ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, but he was also feeling excited about what he just discovered.

Sitting back down on his chair, he pulled up the information of a particular person on the monitor and began, "Ms. Diana Webb. She's the CEO of a shipping company."

"Who is she?" Katherine wondered as the face of the woman didn't look familiar at all.

"She's actually Josiah Connor's mother."

"Connor… as in Director Hughe's husband?" Amelia clarified.

Styles's fingers danced on the keyboard and several windows opened simultaneously, showing more detailed information regarding the company and Josiah Connor's family. "Apparently, Mrs. Webb divorced Mr. Connor some years ago. So she's using her maiden name again, Dianna Webb, it's why I couldn't find any connection right away. Anyway, that's not important." He shook his head to stay focused before he continued.

"Ms. Webb planned to step down this year... and then her son, Josiah Connor, would be replacing her position. The transition is probably still ongoing and it's not official yet, but get this… It's too much of a coincidence." He pressed a button, and a window popped up in the center monitor with the company's name and the logo.

"Alliance Shipping and Logistics…" Katherine read slowly.

Everyone looked at each other with stunned expressions. This was indeed too much of a coincidence, and they all had a bad feeling about it. Katherine could feel her stomach twist when she saw the name. Her heart raced at the thought of getting closer to the truth.

Clenching her jaw, she thought, 'This has to be it… It has to be.'