"What is all of this?!"
Raine's voice echoed throughout Xavier's cabin as soon as she set foot inside, shocked at what lay in front of her.
The once spotless floor was covered in papers, old boxes, pictures, and many other smaller objects. Raine frowned when her eyes fell upon a box full of snow globes that were covered in a thick coat of dust. But that didn't stop her from rushing over and kneeling down, grabbing the first snow globe that her fingers touched.
"Xavier these..." She trailed off, not knowing what else to day.
But Xavier understood. He understood everything.
"Raine." He said, getting off of the floor and coming over to where she was sitting, placing a hand on her shoulders.
"The snow globe collection." She whispered. "Xavier, these are Mom and Dad's!"
"Yes Baby." Xavier nodded slowly.
"How did you get these?!" She asked, a desperate look in her eyes. "Where did you find all of these?!"
"That's not the only thing I found Raine." Xavier said. "All of this, it's all yours." He gestured towards the things that were scattered across his floor.
"Mine?" She questioned, glancing over at the pile of papers laying on the ground. Reaching her hand out, she grabbed one of the documents, reading it out load.
"Cyber Soft... Annual reports by Eden Woods... Technical report by Abby Woods..." She muttered, flipping through them. "Xavier, what is all of this?" She said standing up to face him.
Xavier remained quiet but guided her to his desk and seated her in his chair before propping himself on one knee and holding onto one of her hands in comfort.
"Raine, remember Dan Striker?" He broke the silent spell.
"The guy that lives at my house?"
"Yeah, him." Xavier nodded.
"What about him?"
"He called me yesterday." Xavier stated. "His wife came back home and when he told her about you and I visiting, she remembered that there was a box of old stuff in the attic that had been left in the house when they bought it. I asked Dan to send it over here. I thought you might want to have these things."
A tear trickled down Raine's cheeks. "Thank you so much, Xavier." She whispered. "Thanks for getting all of these things back to me."
"Raine, don't thank me." He shook his head. "If anything, it's the Striker's that we should be thanking. If they hadn't held onto these things, you wouldn't have ever been reunited with your belongings."
"I can't believe I got all of this stuff back!" She smiled weakly. "The snow globe collection. We used to get one of those every year from each place we traveled too. It was our tradition."
"I saw." Xavier smiled, wiping away the loose tears that were still lingering on her cheeks. "But Raine, I found something. I think you need to look at it."
"What?" Raine frowned.
Xavier stood up, walking over to a picture frame that was in one of the boxes. He brought it back to Raine and set it in her hands. Although the golden frame around the picture was covered in dust and the glass was all scratched up, Raine could still make out the picture of a small cabin in the woods.
"It's the cabin." Raine mumbled. "The cabin I told you about. We used to go over here all the time. What's suspicious about this?" She asked.
"Turned the frame around." Xavier instructed. "And take the picture out of the framing."
Raine did exactly as she was told, flipping the picture frame around and lifting the metal bounds that were rusted. Propping the cardboard piece out of it's position, she pulled it out, placing it on the table before looking at the frame.
"Oh my god..."
Right as Raine's eyes fell on the back of the picture, shock covered her face and she was left speechless.
Xavier too had felt the same way when he discovered what was behind the ordinary looking picture frame.
"A chip." Raine whispered, eyeing the memory card that was taped at the back of the painting.
"It's a memory card." Xavier informed. "I was just as shocked when I found it."
"Oh my god." Raine uttered once more. "Xavier, what if this has something important?"
"There's no doubt about it." Xavier firmly said, pulling out his computer. "I told Jordon to go get a card reader. He should be here any minute."
Raine nodded, still in a loss for words. A memory card was lodged up in hiding behind a painting that had once hung proudly in their dining room. It had always been an important painting to Raine that her dad had gotten painted by once more his artist friends. Each stroke of it was beautiful and reminded her of all of the fun times she had spent with her family. And there was no doubt that her parents felt the same way. If not, they would've never hidden the chip behind that particular painting.
"I can't believe it." Raine shook her head.
"I know Raine." Xavier said. "I know this is all crazy, but I really think this memory card will answer a lot of the questions that we have."
Raine nodded slowly as Xavier pulled her into a hug, running his fingers through her hair. They were so immersed into each other that they didn't realize the door slamming open.
Xavier immediately pushed Raine behind, his protective stance emerging as he looked at the doorway, glaring at Nick who had invited himself in.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Xavier roared. "How dare you set foot inside my office without knocking?! Let me remind you that this is not your house! It is my company!"
Raine patted his shoulders from behind, trying to calm Xavier down, but he was not stopping. Nick grew tense under Xavier's watch but the information that he was about to break to them, would hopefully save himself of this horrifying situation he had put himself in.
"Mr. Thorn, I sincerely apologize but the information that I have just found is crucial and I couldn't wait a second longer."
"What is it?!" Xavier demanded, his anger dissolving and concern covering his face.
Intuitively, he pulled Raine into his chest, trying to shield her from whatever was to come. He didn't know if he could protect her from the news, but he would support her through anything.
"John Axel." That was all Nick said and it was enough to make Xavier's body tense and his jaws clench.
"What about him!?" Xavier gritted out.
"He's the link to how Malin found out about Raine."
"What?" Raine said pushing herself out of Xavier's tight hold. "How is Axel involved in any of this? I only met him like one time."
"He isn't directly involved." Nick clarified. "But Malin Hadleigh, he's an investor at Axel's company. He was visiting for a shareholders meeting a couple of months ago. The meeting was on the same day you visited the company for an interview."
"He must have seen you." Xavier said. "That bastard must have seen you that day you went for the interview!"
"But I didn't even..." Raine began, her head spinning slightly at the news that was being unleashed to her.
"Baby." Xavier quickly reached out to her. "It's ok." He patted her back.
"I don't know what's going on." She mumbled.
"Mr. Thorn, Raine had given her contact information on her application. I am assuming that Malin got her number from that. Raine had also put on there that she worked at Cathy's Cakes & Coffee, which is why he attacked the cafe. I checked in with Raine's old apartment as well, and it seems to be that Malin was seen lurking around the building, but Raine had already moved out by then to the new place that our company provided." Nick notified.
"When he couldn't find you, he hacked my company." Xavier stated. "He knew that you were working for me. He had to have seen me that day at Axel's too."
"Exactly." Nick nodded. "All of this had been going on for a while. Once he found out your new address, he attacked."
"The question is, where is he now?" Xavier said.
Just as Nick was about to say something, a knock on the door stopped him.
"Come in!" Xavier shouted, irritated by the interruptions.
The door swung open and Jordon came in with a device in his hands.
"Mr. Thorn, I've got the card reader you requested for."
"Thank you." Xavier said, quickly grabbing it from Jordon's hands. "Now I'd appreciate it if you and Nick could leave me and Raine alone for a bit." He stated. "I want absolutely no interruptions."
"Noted, sir." Nick nodded, following Jordon out the room.
As soon as everyone left, Xavier turned back to Raine nervously. He knew that this video was going to be an emotional rollercoaster for Raine and he wasn't really sure how she would take it.
"You know, you don't have to be so mean all the time." Raine pouted.
"Have I ever been mean to you?"
"No, but to the rest of the world, yes." She said. "It doesn't hurt to be nice."
"But nice people always get hurt." Xavier shot back.
"But you're nice to me."
"That's different. I loâ" Xavier began, cutting himself short. "You're you."
Raine frowned, confused but his interruption but waved it off.
"And you're you." She rolled her eyes. "Now let's watch this."
"You ready?" He asked.
"I don't think we have a choice." Raine signed. "We just have to jump in sometime, not knowing if we'll fly or hit the ground."
"That was inspirational." Xavier teased, kissing her cheek.
"Shut up." Raine laughed. "Come on Xavier, let's get this over with."
Xavier grabbed his laptop along with the memory card, setting everything up while Raine cleared up a small portion of the floor so that they could sit down.
Xavier joined her, putting the computer in front of them and an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer as they sat on the floor, their backs pressed against the wall, surrounded by old papers and boxes.
With a click of the button, a face came onto the screen. One that Raine hadn't seen in ten years.
The chocolate brown eyes that Xavier had become so familiar with, flashed onto the screen and Xavier felt Raine stiffen under his arm.
"To whoever finds this video, my name is Abby Woods and my husband right here, is Eden Woods. I'm recording this video because our lives are in danger and we need to make sure that regardless of whether we live or not, the truth comes out in front of the world."
Raine gasped upon seeing her parents. They had always been so brave, getting through any kind of problems fearlessly, but the women that was in front of her, looked so vulnerable. Something Raine had never seen her mom as.
"Abby, hurry up! We don't have time." Raine heard her dad speak from behind.
"Yeah, yeah." Abby waved off before turning back to the camera. "Me and my husband work for a software company called Cyber Soft. We keep federal information stored across a series of private and highly secure servers and provide top level security for virtually stored information. Recently, we came across someone trying to get access to our information. My husband got a note, bribing him to give the secured virtual files to a group of people."
Eden stepped forward, seating himself down besides his wife. "I didn't give in to their bribes, though. And maybe that's why things have escalated to the point they are at now."
"Lucky for us," Abby started. "Our software provides upmost privacy and threat detection. As soon as a foreign bug was found in the system, we received an update and all data was put under lockdown."
"But it didn't stop there." Eden said. "We needed to find out who was trying to steal federal level data and the only way to do that was by attacking back. Me and my wife followed the IP address to locate whoever was behind all of this. We trailed it back to a private company under the name of Lyzo Corp."
"But before we could do anything, we go a letter from their attorney blaming us for cyber theft. Whoever was behind all of this, somehow framed us. They insisted on an out of court settlement, which basically was a warning for us saying that we needed to back off or they'd destroy Cyber Soft but most importantly, that they'd hurt our baby." Abby began to cry.
Eden was quick to pull her into his arms and offer her comfort. Kissing the top of her head, he wiped off her tears and looked back into her camera.
"For the sake of our daughter, we told them that we'd back off. But we couldn't. There was too much at sake for us to keep quiet. Abby and I snooped around some more and we found out who was behind all of this." Raine's dad stated. "Killian Hawthorne is his name. He's an underground cyber thief that steals confidential government information and sells it to foreign countries. He's the CEO of Lyzo Corp but it's all a fake facade."
"We have to go." Abby was seen whispering to Eden. "It's time."
Eden nodded before taking one last glance in the camera.
"We're going to Washington DC. We've gotten a meeting with some White House Correspondents and Secret Service officials, and we will be revealing the truth with all of our evidence to them." Eden said. "We know this is a big step, but it must be done for the sake of the country. And if anything ever happens to us, and you find this video, please do us one big favor."
"Please tell our daughter, Raine that we love her so, so much. Raine, you are our entire world and the best thing that ever happened to us. We love you sweetheart, and if something happens and we don't come back, know that we will always be with you. You're our strong little girl and wherever you go, you'll light up the world. Stay safe my love. Mom and Dad love you. Forever."Â Abby said before breaking down in tears.
The video place for a couple more seconds, showing Eden wiping tears of his own before comforting his wife. After a while though, Eden reach up, turning the camera off and the screen went black.
Xavier shut the computer and put it aside before turning to Raine cautiously. He would be lying if he said that video had been easy to watch. But at the same time, it was something that needed to be done. Raine needed the final closure and now she had gotten it. Ten years of suffering and missing the her parents had gone by, but now it all made sense. The puzzle pieces of this incredibly complex case were slowly fitting together. But there was no doubt that this was all at the cost of Raine's heart.
"Raine..." Xavier whispered, cupping her face.
There were tears in her eyes but they hadn't fallen out. Her skin was pain and cold and Xavier was afraid that she'd collapse any second now.
"Baby, say something." Xavier begged, but got nothing from Raine.
He sighed, worried beyond belief. He wanted to take everything that hurt her and throw it far away so that pain would never be inflicted upon the girl he had grown to admire so much. He wished so deeply to take all her sorrows and shower her with so much more happiness. But what could he do now? The truth would always come out and no matter how bitter it was, she would always have to face it.
Xavier pulled Raine into his arms, pressing her head into his chest right above his heart. Perhaps his words couldn't comfort her the same way the sound of his beating heart could. It didn't take long for Raine to completely break down in Xavier's arms. Sobs raked her body and tears streamed down her eyes continuously.
"Shhh..." Xavier said soothingly, rubbing her back in attempts to get to her stop.
She was still weak, fragile, and this world was far too cruel for her.
"Raine, please stop crying." Xavier pleaded after fifteen minutes. He pulled her face out his chest and wiped her tears with his sleeves.
"I'm sorry for ruining your suit." Raine mumbled, embarrassed when she saw a large wet spot covering the front of his black suit.
"Forget about the suit." Xavier shook his head. "I only care about you. Are you alright?" He asked softly.
"Hmm..." She nodded. "I... I hadn't seen their faces in years, nor heard their words. I got a bit carried away, I guess. I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing Raine." Xavier refuted. "I can't imagine how difficult that was for you."
"It's difficult." Raine sniffled. "But I'm proud of them... They sacrificed so much to protect our country. They went through so much. And they never let me get a glimpse of their battle."
"They're heroes Raine." Xavier stated. "You are so lucky to have such amazing people as your parents. They put the country before themselves, protecting all of us while putting themselves in danger."
"And they were killed for doing so."
"Their death will not go in vain, Raine." Xavier stated. "I promise that we will give your parents justice. Killian Hawthorne won't be a free man for long."
"He killed my parents..." Raine whispered, tears beginning to arise from her eyes once more.
"No, Baby." Xavier shook his head. "You can't be weak now. This is our time to get revenge. To have Killian pay for the damage he has done. We have all of the aces in this game and we're gunna bring him down with glory."
"Will you help me?" Raine softly asked.
"Is that even a question?" Xavier said in disbelief. "Raine, how many times do I have to tell you? We're in this together."
"But what do we do?" She questioned. "How will we ever get to him?"
"Before we do anything, we need to find out exactly what happened in Washington DC." Xavier suggested. "This video was made right before they left and they never came back."
"You're right." Raine agreed. "When Mom and Dad called me, they had said that their meeting had been postponed. That was the reason they were going to be staying longer then they needed to."
"So that means that either their meeting was intentionally delayed, or something else was going on." Xavier said. "Because they had planned to come back sooner."
"Yeah." Raine nodded. "Something must have happened."
"Do you know where they were staying? Whether they had security or not?"
"No, Xavier." Raine said. "I don't remember any of the details."
"Ok, then I'm gunna get a hold of Jordon and ask him to snoop around and see what he can find." He announced. "Jordon might be able to find some more information on that trip. Where they went, whether the meeting happened, and why it was postponed."
"Alright." She said. "And what about Killian?"
"He was the one that filed the lawsuit against Cyber Soft." Xavier said. "He hired Charles."
"Who happens to be Malin's father."
"Isn't it a bit weird that Malin and you met?" Xavier asked. "I mean, it can't be a complete coincidence that you two ran into each other. He didn't even live anywhere near that area."
"I don't know..." Raine thought. "When I met him, he seemed harmless."
"He's anything but that." Xavier spat out, venom dripping from his voice at the thought of that vile man.
"Wait, Xavier, didn't Jordon say he's heard of Killian before?" Raine recalled.
"Yeah." He nodded. "He said that my father and him might have met for a business deal a while ago. Why?"
"Because we can use that against him!" Raine mischievously smiled.
"Raine," Xavier smiled slowly. "I'm not catching on."
"Thorn Inc collaborated with his company in the past. So why not have them collaborate again?"
"You want me to have a business deal with the man you killed your parents?" Xavier asked uncertainly.
"No. I want you to have a fake business deal with the man who killed my parents." Raine corrected.
"Raine, I'm never going to let that man come anywhere near you. Didn't you hear what your mom said? He threatened to hurt you once already!" He refuted.
"But that was so long ago! He probably doesn't even remember who I am." Raine argued.
"And I'm not willing to take that risk." Xavier refused.
"But Xavier, that's the only way we can trap Killian!"
"Raine, I can't lose you." Xavier spoke with vulnerability. "That man is heartless. He killed people once and he won't hesitate again. Putting you in front of him is something I'm simply not willing to do."
"Xavier, he'll never know it's me! I'll be in disguise or something!" She pleaded. "You know we have to do this Xavier! It's the only way."
"Alright fine." He groaned. "But let me think things through first. I'll have to get Nick and Jordon involved too and find out what company Killian is a part of."
"Thank you."
"Shut up." He glared, kissing her lips. "Now please do me a very important favor and explain to me why there's a giant box filed with snow globes."
Raine laughed, pushing herself back into Xavier's chest for a hug. "That's because my parents loved to travel." She said before getting up from the ground and dragging the box closer to them.
Raine crossed her legs, rubbing both of her hands with excitement before pulling out the first snow globe.
"So this is the first one we ever got." Raine explained, shaking the old snow globe so that the tiny pieces of white snow would float around the small Christmas tree that was sitting besides a toy cabin. "It was from a road trip we did to Big Bear. Dad bought it for me because I couldn't take my eyes off of it and after this one, it became a tradition to get snow globes whenever we went somewhere."
"That's cute." Xavier smiled. "Of course, not as you cute as you."
Raine blushed, digging through all the different globes to find the ones that she loved the most.
"This one!" Raine brought up to Xavier's face. It was small but vibrant with a blue ocean and small island in the middle. Instead of snow, it had blue glitter floating around the water. "That's from when we went to San Diego." She grinned.
"What about this one?" Xavier asked, holding up a small pink globe. In the center it had a cherry blossom tree and small petals floated around the globe when he twirled it.
"Oh, Dad got that one when he came to New York." She answered. "You guys have that garden here right? The one with all the cherry blossoms?"
"Yeah, it's in Brooklyn. They have a garden with all of the cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring." Xavier answered. "Have you been there?"
"No." She shook her head. "But I've always wanted to go! Dad knew I loved them so when he came for a business trip, he got me this one."
"I'll take you there." Xavier whispered, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "One day."
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A/N: Hey guys! Early update! I just couldn't wait to post this part and I hope all of your questions regarding Raine's mysterious past have finally been answered! Of course these is a lot more drama and action to come, but for that, I'll need you guys to vote, vote, vote and support the story! The amount of votes I get will determine if I make a sequel or not so PLEASE VOTE!!
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