The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 151 Cohen Files Xavier In the dining hall, I stood away from the others, listening to Dina. She was my eyes What I couldn’t see nor hear, she would describe. and ears. “X, I have a visual of Noah and Sarah Hughes arguing in the parking area. Seems like a crowd is beginning to gather around the both of them, Dina informed me. “And I have the combination of the safe, although it looks like we won’t be needing it. Liam has just taken all guys need to the files out from the safe and they’re sitting right on top of his desk. All you do is have Liam come out of his office, so Sam can take a look at those files. He’s already inside, waiting.” “Is the argument between Noah and Sarah… bad?” I asked. “Just a lot of screaming from Sarah mostly,” Dina answered. “My main concern is that there’s a crowd egging her on. I’m just worried a brawl might happen. That expensive Armani shirt Noah’s wearing and blood don’t necessarily mix. And here I thought she was concerned for his welfare. Well, time to stop an argument escalating to something more physical. “Guys, Noah and Sarah Hughes are fighting outside,” I said, gesturing to the people around us who were making their way outside. I quickly leaned towards Sebastian to whisper in his ear. “This is the distraction I need. All Liam has to do is leave his office, so Sam can take a look at his files. I just need someone to knock on his door.” Sebastian nodded, his eyes surveying the people rushing outside. Then, he suddenly called out to one of the townsfolk. He was an elderly man who loved telling stories wherever he was. “Mr. Allen, what seems to be the problem?” “There are people arguing outside, Dom,” he answered with a telling smile. “You know how the people

of this town are. Here, we love three things… Gossip, scandals and our honey.” He waved his hand at us and chuckled as he walked towards the front of the mansion. At that very moment, Jack and Lisa came walking into the dining hall. I noticed there was a tinge of sadness in Lisa’s eyes. I guess losing her husband wasn’t that big of a deal to her. 1/5 CHAPTER 151 Cohen Files handle this,” Sebastian suggested. “His house, his rules.” “Do you guys know who are fighting?” Jack asked. Both of us shrugged our shoulders. Jack ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed. “Alright, I’ll tell Liam so he can handle this. Thanks

I’ll be back.” Jack quickly turned to get Liam. guys. Kit. “Ooooh, I’m going outside to watch,” Lisa exclaimed. “Anyone wanna come with?” Sebastian and I shook our heads. “I’m not done yet, Cristos answered, showing his half-empty plate. “And I’ll only care if there’s hair pulling involved.” Lisa rolled her eyes at Cristos. “What about you, Virtue?” Lisa asked. Joy shook her head with an apologetic expression of her face. She showed Lisa her half-eaten cake. “I’ll go with you, Lisa,” K iki offered, linking her arm around Lisa’s. “I missed all the drama from awhile ago. I don’t want to miss this too.” Both ladies walked out of the dining room, leaving the four of us behind. I raised my finger, awaiting confirmation from Dina, before all of us could do what we set out to do. “X, Liam and Link are outside while Sam is inside the office. Outside CCTV camera feed is on loop, Dina said. I turned on my camera jammer, then I gave the signal.. Cristos immediately stood up and went towards the grand hall with Sebastian following closely behind him. Joy, on the other hand, quietly disappeared into the grand living room. while I stayed behind to bug the dining hall. Content © NôvelDrama.Org.

I placed a tiny CCTV camera within the frame of a painting facing the dining table. Then, I slid my fingers behind the frame, looking for indentations where I can place an audio listening device when I felt something very peculiar. I pulled it out and found a listening device. Holy s hit! Right away, I knew this wasn’t one of ours. Although Leo and Benny were guards here, we decided it was best if they only placed trackers on the vehicles and eavesdropped on conversations, rather than placing spy equipment within the house. We didn’t want anything to be traced to them knowing it would jeopardize their stay here. We had to be careful. The listening device didn’t have much dust on it and it looked fairly new. It was very thin, about two, maybe three inches in length, and cylindrical in shape unlike our circular bugging devices. I scrutinized the tiny object, turning it around in my palm. I could tell this little device was state of the art, usually used by law enforcement. 2/5 CHAPTER 151 Cohen Files Was Theodore listening in on Liam when he conducted business inside the house? It was but weird. From what I knew of Theodore, he had eyes and ears in the whole of New Salem. But this house was his haven and it was set up like a fort… No one wasn’t allowed inside the premises without an invitation. The guards were screened prior to employment, their belongings checked and they were paid well for their loyalty. son was Planting a bug in his own house wasn’t needed, unless Theodore suspected his own s betraying him. But Liam was afraid of his father, so I highly doubted he would do anything to betray Theodore. It wasn’t a Cohen who did this. It was someone else. But who? It was an unfortunate fact the Cohens had many enemies. My first thought went to Pete. He could have used Nicole or anyone else on his payroll. However, from the burner phone we got off of Cris, it was obvious Pete was getting his information from him. If this

was Pete’s bug, why would he need to ask Cris for info? He’d know Liam’s every move through this bad boy in the palm of my hand. I replaced the listening device I found with one of my mine, quickly wrapped it inside a napkin, then placed it inside my sock. The textured fabric of my socks will absorb sound, mu ffling our voices. “We have a problem,” I said through coms targeting mostly everyone. “This place is bugged. Check the paintings, underneath the tables and if you can, those display cabinets outside,” I said. Then, I switched to talk to Dina. “There are bugs in the mansion.” “Copy that,” Dina said. “Sam brought a bug detector with him. I’m currently searching for signals, so I can cut the feed.” “Hurry,” I whispered, noticing there were shadows heading towards my direction. I heaved a sigh of relief when Cristos and Sebastian emerged from the corner. They quickly resumed their places at the buffet table. I raised my eyebrows at them, questioning if they found anything, but they shook their heads. Joy came back smiling though, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. She waved her small black bag indicating she found something. Good girl. at to our 3/5 I placed a finger in front of my lips to warn her not to talk about anything relevant to our CHAPTER 151 Cohen Files plans. She nodded her head and began to talk about plans for her wedding. “X, Sam is looking through the files,” Dina suddenly said. “Nothing on a Nestor Villegas, but he found files on Cynthia McDowell, Tomas Martín, Daniel Williams, Veronica and Lorenzo Ortiz, the Sheriff including Cris and Lisa Murdock. Oh, and there’s something interesting you might want to know. The Cohens have a file on a certain Lucas Jensen.” I moved to another painting in the dining hall, running my fingers behind it, checking for bugs before I spoke. “Jensen? How is he related to Noah?” “Lucas Jensen is Noah’s father,” Dina answered. Apparently, this file was made about twenty- four

years ago when the Jensen’s first moved to New Salem. What’s interesting is there are no other details or information about the Jensens prior to New Salem. There isn’t even much in his file, but it does say he died of a car accident almost nine years ago.” That was it? “So what’s your point?” I asked. Noah never spoke about his father nor did anyone in town. It was like Lucas Jensen didn’t exist. “X, Lucas Jensen must have been really important to have a file made by one of the Cohens. Back then, Theodore’s father was still mayor. Theodore only became mayor a year after,” Dina pointed out. Unfortunately, Theodore was dead. He probably knew why his father made that file, but dead men tell no tales. “Good job,” I told Dina. “Tell Sam to get out of the office now and I want you to locate where the feed on these bugs go to.. “You never make it easy, X,” Dina said, sighing. “But we’re close to finding a location. Lou is working on it as we speak.” I walked back to Cristos and Sebastian, wanting to tell them what I had just found out, but this-wasn’t the time nor place. Half of the people had come back, resuming their activities before they were interrupted. Lisa and Ki ki were giggling as they walked back to the buffet table. The sorrow I saw in Lisa’s eyes was now gone and she seemed to be enjoying herself with Ki ki. “And? Who was arguing with who?” Sebastian asked curiously. 4/5 CHAPTER 151 Cohen Files “Noah and Sarah. From what we witnessed, they’ve broken up…officially,” Ki ki announced. while Lisa nodded her head as she sipped her wine. “Sarah slapped Noah in the face after Noah called it quits. Jack had to pull her away from him and remind her she was running for mayor. I’m guessing you’ll be seeing videos of it circulating on social media by tomorrow.” My eyes narrowed, remembering what Sarah had said about Liam and Virtue’s engagement.

Her break-up with Noah… it was convenient. It was so out of character for Sarah to be drunk and ruin everyone’s night. She even targeted. Joy. Why would she do that? Unless Noah manipulated her. Whatever Sarah accused Liam and Virtue of was actually the reality of her relationship with Noah. Their relationship was most probably a ploy to destroy her chances of becoming mayor. It was possible Noah and Liam were working together and Noah’s mission was to distract Sarah. Noah Jensen… I needed to find out more about his father. Chapter Comments 3 POST NOW