"If heâs leaving the city and not taking the helicopter, that can only mean he doesnât want Shu Maxwell to know that heâs going outside the city. If weâre lucky, weâll get answers to many of my questions," Ray told the girl.
" Alright. Now stop disturbing me and let me do my work," The girl said as he disconnected the call.
Soon, Ryder left the city with Alice.
" Alice, Can you open the net and search for the best hotel for dinner? Since weâre going there, we might as well go to the best one," Ryder told Alice while keeping his eyes on the road.
This was an abrupt plan that had to be made because of an abrupt mission given by Janus.
He didnât have the time to do any research, and he didnât want to stop the car. He didnât want to delay any further by stopping the car since he knew Alice must be hungry. It was already very time consuming to travel from one city to another by car.
He gave the task of searching for a hotel to Alice.
"Ah, didnât you say that you are going there because thatâs a nice hotel there which you want to eat at?" She asked Ryder in confusion. If Ryder already knew where he wanted to eat, why was he telling her to search? She was confused.
"Ah, right. I do know a great hotel, but now I think that it would be better to go to one selected by you. Choose one and give me the location," Ryder said, shaking his head.
"Itâs fine. I donât have a preference. I want to eat in the place chosen by you," Alice answered as she smiled.
"Ah, donât worry about that. Select one, or weâll spend the entire night like this since I am not dripping this unless you first a hotel for dinner," Ryder insisted as he smiled wryly.
After a little more back and forth, Alice agreed to do it.
She started browsing through the internet to find a hotel she wanted to have dinner in.
"This one looks good, Hotel Luxia. The reviews of the critiques are good," Alice said as she selected a place.
"What about the peopleâs republic review? You know some hotels pay the critiques to give nice reviews. You should focus more on the public reviews," Ryder said as he chuckled.
"The public perception is good too. All I hear is praise for their dishes," Alice said as she smiled.
"Alright. Hotel Luxia it is," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.
"Oh, right. Howâs that friend of yours? Estonia, I believe she was called?" Ryder suddenly said as he started some light-hearted talking.
"Sheâs good. I met her in college. She was shocked to hear that I was attacked, and she offered to help. She said that her father was rich and had plenty of security. She suggested that we stay with her to stay safe," Alice replied.
"Yeah, her father is Rich indeed. What did you reply?" Ryder asked, even though he knew what her answer was going to be.
"I denied. Iâm perfectly happy here, and I donât worry about my safety with you around," Alice replied as a beautiful smile blossomed on her face.
" Hahaha, It should be the opposite. Youâre in more danger with me around. Danger always seems to be following me. I try to keep it away from my family, but it finds its way. The guys who kidnapped you did that because they wanted to blackmail me. If it were not for me, it wouldnât have happened," Ryder replied, shaking his head.
" Donât say that. It all started because I was arrested first, so itâs because of me," Alice said, shaking her head.
"Oh, right. Shu said that we should stay with him. He said he would be alone if we leave. I want to ask your opinion about it though. Should we get a nice mansion for just the two of us or stay with Shu? There wonât be any compromise in your security either way," Ryder asked Alice.
"What do you want?" Alice asked back.
" Iâll do what you say. Iâm fine with any of the two options," Ryder replied. He didnât take his eyes off the road throughout this conversation.
"I-i think we should stay with Brother Shu. If he says that he would be alone when we leave, then it would be bad to leave. Also, itâs more fun with the three of us. Itâs like our family just got bigger," Alice replied as she smiled.
" Yeah, Our family got bigger," Ryder replied.
" Shu is a great guy. Heâs just like us. Itâs like all our destinies were written with the same brush. All of us lost our parents at a young age. The only difference was that he had money, and we didnât. But that doesnât change the fact that we all suffered. All three of us lacked a family. There will always be that empty spot in our lives," He muttered as he sighed.
"Fortunately, I had you, but he didnât have anyone except a few loyal employees," he added.
"We should stay," Alice said, nodding her head.
"Yeah," Ryder muttered.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. I wanted to buy some clothes for myself. Letâs get some on our way back," He said as he remembered.
Soon, Ryder reached the neighboring city.
âThat car has been chasing us throughout the way. That girl is such an idiot. Did she think that I wouldnât notice her? That idiot spy. Sheâs doing such a bad job. Sheâs lucky that Iâm pretending not to know, or she wouldâve been in deep trouble,â he thought as he looked at the car chasing him through the mirror.
The girl that was chasing him didnât know that Ryder had already discovered her.
Ryder drove through the roads of the city that were empty since it was so late at night.
He stopped his car near Hotel Luxia and stepped out of the car.
He gave the Valet the keys to part the car before he entered the hotel while holding Aliceâs hand.
Ryder entered the Hotel and booked a table. It was pretty expensive since it was a Seven-Star Hotel, but Ryder didnât care about that much money. He was escorted to the table, which was in a private room. The food was served inside the room for them.
There was a TV in the room which was showing a news Channel.
" Breaking News! We have just received information that there has been a terrorist attack in Hotel Durham in New Jersey!"
Ryder was just about to take his first bite when he heard the news. He looked to his side and stood up, shocked.