Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever
Chapter 822: Convincing Ethan

Chapter 822: Convincing Ethan

"So you mean to say this guy has planted bombs all over the country and nobody even knows about it?" Ethan, for a moment, wondered if he was hallucinating. This wasn’t what he had expected.

Ethan had actually imagined something else, maybe a problem in the hospital where they worked, or maybe another virus that had broken out for which they needed his help. Heck, he had even gone as far as to assume about a kidnapping or a child trafficking case.

Who knew he would be hearing about bombs and lives being in danger? This situation was even more bizarre than his imagination and Ethan didn’t speak for a long time.

"Why is your Chief unwilling to request the help of the SWAT team? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to get permission to seek the help of the bomb disposal squad?" Ethan directed the questions to Valerie.

To make the issue more credible, Noah had invited Valerie and her team as well. With her, Ethan would be more convinced that they were not joking or playing a prank on him, and instead, the situation was indeed grave.

"Well, it’s because they believe it’s a hoax call. The man behind this plan is..." Valerie hesitated before making up her mind. "We cannot produce the man who planned this deadly attack before the law."

"Why? May I ask?" Ethan was surprised. The lady before him worked for the law. But she herself was against putting a criminal behind bars. Interesting! He thought.

"Jared has a lot of connections. He has managed to escape a lot of times and he might do so again. We don’t want to take any risks."

"Okay, where is he now?"

"Somewhere safe, waiting to be killed," Aria replied for everyone and Ethan’s eyes darted to her immediately.

"Look, I work for the country. I may be able to help you out of courtesy. But I still need the truth." Ethan stated, his expression turning grim. "I trust you, Aria, Ian. I really do. But I still need to know the truth."

Ethan showed his stance on the matter and everyone looked at each other before they came to a collective decision.

"I’ll start." Noah took the lead and started speaking, disclosing the secrets only the people in the room knew. He revealed everything about Jared, from his plans to the people he had killed and the people he wanted to kill. He didn’t miss out on the detail that he was involved in the war between their country and their neighbor.

"You’re kidding, right?" Ethan interrupted him when he heard about the war. This was explosive news for him.

Nobody responded and Ethan didn’t know how to react. This matter was even more convoluted and deadly than he had thought.

"If you’re so sure that Jared is the mastermind behind all these, why can’t he be produced at court? He is bound to get the capital punishment." Ethan wasn’t still convinced by them.

Jared was a wanted criminal. The nation was looking for him and now that he was caught, there was no way he would be able to escape punishment. Why were they so hesitant to produce him before the court?

"It’s a little complicated," Valerie replied followed by a sigh. "We don’t have substantial evidence against him. All that we have is based on assumptions and things we have seen or known. Our claims can easily be overturned in the court if Jared has a brilliant lawyer leading his case."

"Today too, we found some evidence." Noah took over, forcing Ethan to look at him. "However, all of this evidence points to the men who worked for or worked with Jared. None of them point directly to him." Noah added.

Ethan slowly understood where this was going and was almost convinced by them. Although he too worked for the country, he didn’t trust the law sometimes as well. He had seen quite a few cases where the deadliest of the criminals got away just because there weren’t any direct proofs against them.

"In that case, why haven’t you killed him yet?" The question was directed to Valerie and Ethan tilted his head in confusion. "You work for the law. Make it seem like an encounter. Deal done."

"I’d love to." Valerie really wanted to kill the man herself. He was the criminal she hated the most. "I have my vendetta with him as well. He killed my father."

"Ohh!" Ethan’s expression morphed into one filled with guilt and apology.

"Everybody here wants to kill him. Somehow or the other, we have been harmed by him." Joshua spoke for the first time since Ethan had entered the mansion.

"You know Preston over there," He pointed at Preston who was sitting silently beside Valerie. "His sister was raped and killed by him. Maggie was close to being killed by him. Aria’s father was in a coma for three years because of him. Ian’s hospital was tarnished and close to being shut down because of him."

Ethan shut his mouth. This time, he too felt his blood boil. Jared had destroyed many people’s lives and he deserved a painful and miserable death.

"Why isn’t he dead yet? He should be gone by now."

"Oh, he will be soon," Aria stated with conviction. "My sister will make sure he regrets even being born."

"Your sister?" Ethan couldn’t fathom how Aria’s sister was involved in this and his brows knotted into a frown.

"Yeah. She was close to being raped and killed by him while I was forced to watch it." Aria revealed, her eyes turning bloodshot with rage. The visible change in her stunned everyone, including Noah and he scooted closer to her to calm her down.

"Ivy was in a coma for weeks after that mishap. Thankfully, she managed to survive." Joshua added what Aria had missed to say.

"Are you sure about the coordinates?" Ethan enquired and looked at the coordinates Valerie had handed him when they had stated the purpose of requesting a meeting all of a sudden.

"Yes, one hundred percent," Joshua replied for her. "And we need to hurry because we have only 9 days. We don’t know what kind of bombs we are dealing with."

"Let me make a call. Although I have the authority to dispatch my team right away, I still need to inform the Commander. We are off duty currently. So, I’d need to give a valid reason for using the resources off-duty."

"Will there be a problem?" Valerie looked at him worriedly, only for Ethan to shake his head.

"Don’t worry. I’ll handle it." He promised and stood up to leave the place. "I’ll be back in a minute."

"Aria, are you alright?" Noah whispered once Ethan was out of sight. Her condition was concerning and he couldn’t help but be worried. Her eyes were still blood red and she had gone into a trance as if she was stuck in a nightmare, one that haunted her every night.

"Aria." Noah shook her again and tried to wake her up. But it was as if the lady had shut down everyone around her. His voice didn’t reach her at all.

Now, not just Noah, everyone in the room was concerned. Her situation wasn’t normal at all.

Ian jumped to his feet and approached Aria. Kneeling before her, he checked her with his lips pursed. He even snapped his fingers before her to break her out of her trance but with no effect.

"Ian, what’s wrong with her?" Noah was agitated and he held Aria close, hoping their proximity would wake her.

"I’m assuming Aria must be having hallucinations, but not quite." Ian tilted his head and tried to wake Aria up again.

"What?" Noah’s gaze was fixed on Aria while his ears were trained on Ian as he listened to his explanation.

"She does seem like she is hallucinating. In certain cases, people imagine things and they aren’t able to sense anything else. I believe Aria too must have fallen into such a state." Ian deduced. "Maybe whatever happened here pushed her to recall the dreadful day."

Ian wasn’t sure himself. But this was the closest conclusion he could come up with.

"What do we do? How do I wake her up?" Noah was losing his mind slowly. Aria was already being tortured by her nightmares daily and her sleep was getting lesser and lesser. Now, she was starting to hallucinate as well. Her condition was agonizing and he didn’t know what to do.

"I’ll give her a sedative. Let’s put her to sleep first. We’ll talk about it later."

Ian stood up and rushed to his room. He came running back a minute later with an injection and a small bottle in his hand.

Aria didn’t even react when the needle pierced her skin and slowly, everyone saw her eyes flutter before her head lolled to one side and she fell asleep.

"Let me take her to the room. Excuse me." Noah picked her up and walked away leaving the worried audience to stare at his back.

"Will she be alright?" Joshua felt terrible for Aria. Wasn’t Ivy enough now that Aria too had fallen sick? Among everyone present in the room, the West family had suffered the most because of Jared.

"I’m hoping so. I’ll take a look at her when she wakes up. She’ll be out for at least five to six hours." Ian got up and returned to his seat.

A tense silence fell over until Ethan returned. "The Commander has agreed. Let me make the necessary arrangements for the mission."