Chapter 433: Aria's secret

Joshua took a look at his laptop, while Ivy stared at his back, fearing the worst possibility. Joshua was angry, she was sure of it. She had read his body language and his eyes when he had lashed out a few moments out. To what extent he was angry, that was something she desperately wanted to find out. She did not want to lose the man, not now, not ever.

"Damn it!!!" He cursed again, running his hands fast over the keyboard.

"What is it, Jo? Did you track her?" Noah asked, his voice not giving away his disposition. He was the only calm person in the room. Aria was staring at him waiting for him to speak to her. However, the man had ignored her completely, not even bothering to look at the girl, who had not moved her eyes away from him. And this cold treatment of his was bothering Aria, a lot. She was fine if he was angry at her, if he had lashed out at her or even hit her. But his indifferent attitude was making her lose confidence about their future, slowly.

"This number we have does not exist," Joshua answered, as he continued typing. "It is a randomly generated number, which Maggie used to contact you. Once the call ends, the number gets erased from the database."

"So, can't we track her?" Ivy inched closer to Joshua, forgetting about her problems for the time being. Her friend's life was at risk, and she wanted to save her at all costs.

"We can. But it will take more time."

"How long?" Noah stared at Joshua's laptop which was still tracking Maggie's whereabouts. 

"Maybe ten minutes."

Noah nodded at him and thought to himself for a moment, formulating a plan. He was still perplexed with the way things had turned out. He had a lot of questions for the twins, and more so to Aria. However, he knew now was not the time. They had to save Maggie before it became too late.

"Ronnie, get the men on standby. As soon as we track the girl, we are leaving. Joshua, I need access to your weapon room." Noah did not hide his words from the two girls. They already knew everything about him, it would not be a surprise to them if they saw guns in the mansion.

Joshua showed him a thumbs up and immediately after, the wall towards his right split into two, opening to a huge room. For the first time, since they had come to the laboratory, Ivy was stunned at what she saw. The entire room was filled with guns and weapons of all sorts she had never seen in her whole life. Her jaw dropped and she gawked at the place, wondering how formidable her boyfriend was. 

Noah had expected such a reaction from the twins. However, to his surprise, Aria did not even bat an eyelid at the weapons in front of her. It was as though she was accustomed to what she was seeing, and it was an everyday occurrence to her, to come in contact with the dangerous weapons.

Aria and Ivy followed Noah and Ronnie, while Joshua continued to type on his laptop. As soon as Ivy moved past him, he glanced at her with a complicated expression on his face. Though he was angry at her, he was not angry at her the way Ivy was fearing him to be. He wanted to listen to her side of the story before he jumped to conclusions. He could not blame her when he himself hid a lot of things from her.

Not bothering about the other weapons, Aria went to the rack where the guns were arranged, and she ran a hand over them. Noah had been observing her the moment they had entered the room and his heart skipped a beat seeing her careless action. He rushed to her and pulled her back gently by her waist. "Careful, Aria. They are dangerous." He warned, and his concern touched her.

'He still loves me. There is still a chance for us.' Aria's heart danced in happiness, and she gave him a tiny smile of assurance. Noah had no idea what was running in her mind. He had no idea how her mind was shifting gears as feared for their future and their relationship. He was more focused on the problem at hand, not perceiving that his since towards her was killing her. 

His sudden concern and worry had come as a blessing to Aria, whose thoughts were running wild. She could not help but be ecstatic at it as she secretly thanked Noah. "I know." She replied, still staring at him gratefully.

"Let's move away from them, shall we? We do not want anybody getting harmed." Noah held her gently by her waist and attempted to take her out of the room. However, the girl shook her head, refusing his idea.

"I am coming with you guys." She stated, twisting her body so that she was now face to face with her man.

"No, you are not."

"Yes, I am." She was adamant and Noah glared at her, trying to intimidate her. "You cannot intimidate me. That will not work. I am coming with you. That's it."

"I am accompanying you too," Ivy added.

"Not a chance." Not only Noah, but even Aria also rejected the idea.

"Aria, why is it that you want to go but I can't?" Ivy complained with a frown, and Aria realized that another explanation was in the line.

"Because I know to fight, while you don't." She replied with all honesty, and Ivy rolled her eyes at her sister's unbelievable answer.

"Aria, my dear. If you have forgotten, it was I who thought you some self-defense moves. If anyone among us should be allowed to go, it must be me." Ivy's words made Aria smile.

"Do you know how to yield a gun?"

"No, I don't. Do you?" Ivy answered with a shrug.

"Yes, I do." Noah, Ivy, and Ronnie were stunned by her answer. Even Joshua looked up and stared at her, stupefied.

"Aria, now is not the time to play pranks," Noah warned her, and Aria's head snapped to him, her expression serious and resolute.

"I am not lying. I know how to use a gun. If you want I can show you." Without waiting for his consent, she picked up the gun nearest to her. Noah's eyes widened at her choice and he stepped forward to retrieve it back from her. However, Aria just moved away from him, maintaining a distance as she took at the weapon in her hand.

"This," Aria caressed the gun in her hand as though she was caressing a baby. "Is Desert Eagle Mark XIX Pistol, one the deadliest handguns in the world." Aria then checked if the pistol was loaded and her perfect and top-notch actions mortified Noah. He gaped at her in disbelief as she continued with her performance. She then released the slide, and held the pistol right in front of her, aiming at Noah in the head. 

Her accurate grip and confident gaze were beyond Noah's perception and he could not stop gawking at her in awe. However, before he could speak a word about it, Aria moved her hand and turned to the target that was towards her right. But she stopped herself before she started firing. "Do you have dummy bullets? I don't want to waste the real ones." She lowered her hand and looked around her, trying to find the dummy bullets. 

It did not take long for her to find what she wanted and she changed the magazine, filling them with dummy bullets. She loaded them with ease, showing off her expertise brilliantly. Joshua too had left his desk to witness what Aria was doing, leaving his work to his devices. Aria, then, turned to her targets and without blinking, shot all the nine dummy bullets not stopping until the magazine was empty. 

Noah had stopped staring at Aria since the moment she had picked up the gun and he continued to do so until he heard Ivy gasp. 

"Oh my God," Ivy gasped and Noah turned to see what had happened. The score he saw made him question his entire existence. The girl had accurately hit the innermost circle with her shots, two bullets even striking a bull's eyes. The total had added to a whopping eighty-eight, a score which he was unable to believe, even though he had seen it himself.

"Now, do you believe me?" Aria smirked seeing the dumbfounded look on the four people's faces. She raised her eyebrows at Noah, waiting for him to speak first.

"How...When...Who..." Noah did not know what to say. His tongue and mind had given up on him and he was sure that his brain was frozen with what he was seeing. "Amazing." He then, settled on one word that his heart was screaming at him and his one-word praise was enough for Aria's face to glow in happiness. That was all the assurance she needed from him.

"Now, am I allowed to go?" She queried, hoping for Noah to agree. However, to his dismay, he shook his head once again.

"No."

"But why?" Aria almost wailed at being denied.

"Just because you know how to use a gun that does not mean you know how to fight men. We are going to a place filled with criminals, who are more dangerous than anyone could comprehend. I do not want to put your life in danger, not when you are the world to me. No way." Noah was adamant and nothing she did or said changed his mind.

"Fine, if you are not taking me with you. I'll go on my own." Aria too did not back off.

"Aria," Noah warned her, his voice turned low and deadly all of a sudden. But Aria ignored it, even though she felt the chills run down her spine after seeing the look Noah was giving her.

Right at this moment, Joshua's laptop beeped once again and everybody turned to see what had happened. "I have found her." He stated, checking the location his device was pointing.

"Then, what are waiting for. Let's gear up and kick some butts." Ivy clapped her hands, only to cower in fear seeing Joshua glower at her.

"You are not going anywhere." He threatened her.

"But..."

"Ivy, don't test my patience. I am already angry at you. Don't make me angrier than I already am." That was all it took for Ivy to give up on her idea to accompany the men. She did not want to do anything that might trigger Joshua.

"Aria, you too." It was now, Noah's turn to warn his girl. "You are not coming with us and that's final." Seeing that she was about to object, Noah narrowed his eyes, challenging her to go against his words. And just like that, Aria too gave up on the thought, much to Noah's relief.