Chapter 24 - A Hidden Ace

Scarlet certainly wasn't expecting visitors when her door cracked open almost creepily. She jammed the power button of the computer to destroy the evidence of what she was crafting.

The girl stood up abruptly, making a lot of noise that panicked her intruders. Jasper quickly pulled Alex in and shut the door as silently as he could before locking it. Scarlet's eyes were wide in disbelief. How did these two manage to bypass the security and her parents? She thought that after the blog post, they might have gotten the a.d.u.l.ts to help but to personally come over? What were they thinking?

Sadly, due to the temporary brain malfunction, she could only gap like a fish. The first words out of her mouth were, "Are you guys for real?"

Alex beamed. She rushed towards Scarlet with a hug while Jasper drew the curtains close, not wanting anyone else to find out. They had limited time to pass the message. Every second they spent here was increasing their risk of getting caught. He couldn't allow Alex to spend too long catching up.

"Alex! We are on a mission, tell her what she needs to go and then we need to leave. I'll keep watch."

Snapping out of her thoughts and emotions, Alex complied.

"Scarlet, we saw your blog post. My mother is working on something right now. A lawyer will arrive at your home this weekend, your parents will be distracted so that you can answer his questions. We will try to negotiate with your parents to let you become the ward of the Wilde Family without going to court. However, mother said that she'll push for a court case if your parents won't yield."

Jasper nodded. After seeing the confusion in Scarlet's eyes, he elaborated a little more. "You're going to be Alex's unofficial sister if everything goes right. Mrs Wilde has taken a liking to you and as a sponsor, she couldn't allow her investments to flop before she saw returns."

With Jasper's blunt explanation, the girl felt more at ease. The world runs on more logic than emotion, so it was more reasonable for Mrs Wilde to take action when personal interests were involved.

"I didn't think she'd take the flowery talks of a child so seriously..."

Jasper shrugged. Scarlet may be right, there will always be more than met the eye when the Wilde's were involved. Unfortunately, he was in the same boat as Scarlet. In this business deal, they were at the mercy of the huge consortium and before they were financially powerful enough to break from that hold, swallowing their pride to ask for help was all they could do.

"We are geniuses after all... it would be strange for a shrewd businesswoman like mother to not want to secure talent like that," Alex said.

Both Scarlet and Jasper blinked. For Alex to say something that has a lot of sense, this was a first.

"What?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

After a few more clarifications about the lawyer, Alex passed Scarlet her phone. "This is so that you can contact us if things become bad. I'm sorry I didn't bring a charger with me so you can't play games on it."

Scarlet smiled for the first time in days. "Thank you, I will be waiting."

After the secret Romeo and Juliet left, Scarlet felt less like Rapunzel and more like a hidden ace. She felt like she was finally starting in her own life movie as the lead actress even if Mrs Wilde had more screen time in the beginning.

"No more hiding," she told herself. "No more hiding."

The computer was powered on again and Scarlet stretched before tucking the chair in.

It's showtime.