Nevertheless, everyone in the Underdogs knew about Damion’s second family, since he couldn’t help but show them off at certain events. It was to ensure unity and strength among the Underdog gang, to demonstrate that he was unafraid of those that would come after their family, that's how confident they were,
As a familiar face, nobody had stopped Eleanor from heading inside the main office of the Underdogs, even though Damion only allowed others in under his strict supervision. With nobody bothering her, the woman had gone through countless files, business accounts and more in the hopes of finding something to help out her childhood friend.
Of course, she didn't want to hurt Simon. She knew perfectly well how much his firstborn son meant to Damion, yet she cared about her friend more.
‘This… all of this is important information… but what exactly am I supposed to do with all of it?’ Eleanor wondered, sitting down in the seat and staring at all the information as if they would offer some sort of guidance.
‘Should I perhaps do what Kyle planned on doing? I have some of the shell companies the Underdogs use to clean their money. There are even cards here, and I know their PIN and more. I could just withdraw most of the money and hand it over to Kiki.
‘The two of them can run away to another country for a while. If Simon catches his big break, maybe he will become too busy to do anything about them.’
Eleanor took a long while to consider her next course of action. If she was caught, it would definitely cause problems. No matter his personal feelings, once everything came to light Damion would be forced to act, even if she was his lover. It was impossible for him to simply overlook such a treasonous act, as it would cause him to lose too much face.
‘I… should I just do it and come clean to him after? So far, he has never done anything bad to me or Kyle… and if I explain the situation… I’m sure he will understand.’
Elanor was aware that she had no guarantee that things would turn out that way, and that this was mostly her hoping it would be ok. Still, she had already spent too much time here, and people might start to get suspicious. As such she decided to get to work, transferring the money into her account, so there would be no way to link it to Kiki. After that she could give her friend the card.
Eleanor regretted that it had come to this. In the past, she had tried to talk to Damion about this situation. Unfortunately, Simon had a way with words towards his father. He knew exactly what to say to convince him. Ultimately, the only thing that came out of it was a sort of unspoken compromise that Kiki was allowed to leave for a period of time whenever Simon ‘misbehaved’.
Everyone involved must have hoped that it would be a one-time thing, yet it had turned into a vicious cycle…
‘And that's all done.’ Eleanor thought to herself, mentally exhausted. Everything she was doing was nerve wracking, and she knew that she would eventually be caught. There was no coming back from this.
Her only hope was that it would give Kiki enough time to leave the country first. Ideally, Damion even help her keep it a secret… or at least go easy on her once she confessed.
Interrupting her idle things, the woman saw that her phone started to vibrate on the table. When looking at the number, it was one that she didn't recognize well, yet she decided to answer it.
“Hello, is this Mrs Eleanor Hamper?” The voice on the other end questioned.
“Indeed. Who exactly am I speaking to?”
“Ah yes, this is Miss Buckle calling from Westbridge. I’m just calling to check if everything is okay with Kai at home. He hasn’t come in today, and it is school policy to notify the school beforehand. We know you are usually on top of things and since this is the first time something like this has ever happened, we decided to give you a call.”
It was safe to say that Eleanor was confused. She had seen her son leave for school in the morning, and he wasn't the troublemaker type to just skip. The mother didn't know why, but her stomach was feeling even worse than it was before.
“I’ll be right there.” Eleanor replied and hung up the phone, rushing out of the office.
——
A short while later, Eleanor arrived at the school herself. She had attempted to call Kyle on his phone multiple times to no avail. Normally, this wouldn’t be surprising, after all they were to concentrate on the lesson. However, she knew for a fact he wasn’t at school. What’s more, it had gone straight to voicemail meaning it was turned off, which was just worrying her even more.
Eleanor headed straight to the teacher’s lounge, where she got told the same story as on the phone.
“Please, would you call Marie Degrace. She should be in the same class as him. The two of them walk to school every day, and they even left today together. I just wish to ask her some questions to see what is going on.”
The teacher was a bit weary, but Elanor had been polite in asking, and there was something about her voice that made it hard for them to refuse. A few minutes later the young teenage girl was brought in, and straight away it felt like she knew what was going on, as she avoided eye contact with Eleanor.
“Marie…please tell me where Kyle is.” Eleanor requested as she got eye level with her and held her hand. “You know how much I care about you and your mother. You’re both like family to me… but so is Kyle. If anything were to happen to my son…”
Elanor gulped as she didn’t dare to finish that thought. Of course, Marie found it hard to deny the request of the woman who treated her like her own daughter. A bit shy, she leaned in and whispered a confession about Kyle’s plan to Eleanor, making the mother nearly suffer a heart attack.
*****
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