122 Summarization

Greg threw a glance at Frank, but the friend instantly averted his eyes away, showing with his whole attitude that he had nothing to do with all of this and he actually just passed by. On the other hand, Tony immediately broke into a smile and opened his mouth, ready to throw all the details on the new additions to their group with a great pleasure.

"No, Anthony! Shut your mouth this instant!" - noticing this, Paul barked at him, pointing his finger at the delighted guy. - "I am not yet ready to listen to all your vanilla nonsense now."

Tony in response pouted his cheeks, diligently showing how offended and wounded he was by those words. Meanwhile, Paul looked at the girl near Greg. From the very beginning, he noted the fact of how close she was to his friend. Greg rarely allowed anyone such liberties, especially women. But now he looked quite comfortable. Besides, judging by his posture, he also held this blonde by the hand under the table. Paul grimaced at the sweet couple trying to figure out what was going on.

"Greg, can you maybe send your new passion ... well, I don't know... For some coffee for example? Or something stronger would do, too."- he spoke dismissively, nodding in the direction of Lana. Greg's face immediately changed. His eyebrows meet on the nose bridge and the eyes were lit by malicious sparkle.

"Paul, please ..." - Frank began pacifyingly, knowing Paul's attitude toward women, and how this guy could sometimes not restrain the poison, that sometimes was literally gushing from every pore of his body.

"What is the problem? Girl, are you frozen, or what? Go, take a walk until the grown-up men here end their conversation." - Paul continued in his usual manner without any second thought and barely managed to dodge the paper press, which whooshed by only a centimeter from his temple. Greg was boiling with anger. He did not even rise from his seat and threw the first thing that came by.

"Once again you will express disrespect for my girlfriend, and this will no longer be a paper press, but something heavier. And I assure you, I didn't miss your smug face this time ... " - Greg hissed, nailing Paul with a sharp stare. Even Mike opened one eye with interest and began to observe what was happening.

Paul opened his mouth in bewilderment. He had seen his friends not so long ago, and everything was, as usual, not counting that failure of a trip. What was it now then? As soon as he went fully into his big case and didn't pay much attention, his friends changed as if they were possessed.

"Paul, just relax a bit." - Began Tony, trying to sort things somehow. - "Greg just fell in love! It is a great news, isn't it?!"

"What?" - Paul asked looking at Anthony, still trying to digest what was going on.

" Greg is in love!" - Repeated Tony, smiling broadly, definitely enjoying the situation. But Paul's expression became utterly perplexed as if Tony suddenly started to speak in a foreign language.

"What Greg are you talking about?" - Paul whispered, cautiously squinting at a friend. Tony just couldn't mean this Greg! The guy whose cell was full of " fake boobs no brain" girl's phone numbers.

Seeing Pauls bewildered face even Greg ceased to be offended and could hardly restrain himself from laughing.

"Is it really so astonishing that I finally decided to settle down?" - Greg asked curiously, hugging Lana by the shoulders.

Paul stared at the sweet couple for a few moments, then sighed sadly and mumbled something like: "Calm down, Paul, you just have auditory hallucinations. Greg does not know the word " settle down". It is merely your imagination."

Meanwhile, Michael rose from his seat and approached Lana. The girl looked up in surprise at the strange man. His face was absolutely deprived of any emotions as if his facial muscles froze that way a long time ago.Mike halted just a step before the girl and without any word grabbed her free hand in a handshake, firmly rocking it a few times.

"Michael Ross." - sounded his rough voice, making Lana totally confused by his actions.

"Ruslana ..." - The girl finally exhaled, realizing that the man had just introduced himself and waited for her response. But then she hesitated. She was no longer Winterbourne, but the thought of calling herself as Benne made Lana cringe inwardly. The words stuck in her throat, making her look lost. Seeing her confusion, Greg leaned over and suggested in a not all that quiet whisper with a cheeky smile.

"The registry office is still open. We have time not only to get married but also to change your surname. What do you think?"

" God, I should be so high right now if I still hearing this madness!" - Moaned Paul, covering his face with his hands. The corners of Mike's lips twitched slightly but it was impossible to say was it a smile or a frown.

"Okay, stop fooling around." - Frank spoke, trying to change the subject. This situation was going nowhere, and they have more important business to deal with.- "In fact, you both came here just on time. I have already told Greg that we should let you know about all of this soon. Otherwise, the three of us will be completely lost in this mess."

"No wonder!" - Grumbled Paul through his teeth. - "When the majority of you three are now totally certifiable!"

"What you are hinting at, huh?" - Tony asked offendedly, raising one eyebrow.

"Ok. That's far enough!" - Greg snapped, getting tired of this bickering. - "Let's get back to the main subject. In order not to repeat all this again, first tell us what you know, and then we will add the missing part. And, Mike, please do the talking."

Everyone stared at the silent guy, that now settled down opposite Lana and looked utterly uninterested in the conversation. But hearing Greg's plea he exhaled and opened his mouth.

"Ruslana from the Winterbourne family. Two children. Failed marriage. Greg's former girlfriend, and now his bride." - the man began to list in a colorless tone, sounding more like a machine reading someone's resume out loud. - "Angela Leib was stilling from the corporation for some time and set up a few tricks to separate both of you. Also managed to persuade Martine to help her with the plot. Arrested with the father a few hours ago. Martin found dead. He was shot in the head. The bullet belongs to Tony."

Michael paused, ending up his summarization. Everyone fell speechless. Apparently, no one expected such a short answer.

Paul was the first to come to his senses.

"Wait! What did you just said? The bullet belongs to Tony? What the…?" - He began astonishingly, looking from Tony to Mike. Mike wordlessly nodded and Anthony pulled a pistol from his inner pocket. He separating the butt from it and unfastened one of the bullets, showing it to Paul. All his movement were swift and efficient, making Paul's eyes widen.

"By the way, the bullet is not mine," - Tony began in a smooth voice. - "I already told Greg. Although Mike might know the bigger part of this story."

He was calm this time while retailing all the story to the other part of their group.

"So the bullet and most likely the pistols from which it was fired belong to a person known to me as Ian." - Tony finished his story without tearing his gaze from the two guns on the table. Even though he convinced himself that it is not big deal to let everyone else know about his dark past, Tony still was a bit scared to meet disappointed eyes of his friends.

"Wait," - Paul said slowly drawing the attention from Tony. His lawyer's instinct set aside all emotions, and now his face revealed only concentration and effort to put all the strings together. - "You said he was shot by this uncle of yours? Then how could he resurface again now?"

"It's very simple," -Lana answered instead of Tony. - "Ian is my father. And it is quite difficult to kill him."

Judging by Paul's eyes, Lana's phrase has completely confused him. The man began to mumble under his breath, drawing out something like an algorithm with gestures, and then giving up took a notebook out of his pocket and began to scribble in it.

"So, let's say, Martin was killed by your father ..." - Paul began after a few seconds of torturing the paper in his hand, raising his thoughtful look at the girl. - "Why the hell did he do it? Was he trying to protect you in such a strange way?"

Lana sighed and hurried to answer, feeling like Greg was going to take it all over on himself again.

"No, I think that way he was trying to frame Greg."

Paul frowned, returning to his notes again.

"I don't see any connection with Gregory here at all!" - Finally exclaimed Paul in rage, throwing away a notebook.

"The fact is that this is the third dead body killed by the same weapon." - Greg joined the conversation. - "And I killed the first one."

His last words made even Michael open his eyes wider. Something vaguely like a surprise appeared in his eyes and immediately disappeared. But Paul did not hold back. The pieces of his pen, which he crushed with a clenched fist, scattered across the tabletop.

"Enough!" - He leaped up from his seat, pointing at Greg. - "Stop bullshiting me and spill it already!"

Greg exchanged glances with Lana and a sly smile suddenly appeared on his face.

" I guess we better show you, don't you think?" - He pronounced with undisguised notes of amusement in his voice.

Paul raised his eyebrows, not understanding what his friend was hinting on. This situation already made his head spin. The guy was so angry that he already started to search for this damn paper press with his eyes when his thought was interrupted by Mike's sudden cough.

The silent man at the time Greg said his phrase was still carefully studying Lana. Therefore, when the girl's eyes suddenly changed, and long fangs crept out from under her upper lip, he was the first to notice this and began to cough, choking on his own saliva.

Tony hurried to help a friend, caringly patting Michael on the back.

"Don't worry so much, Miky!" - He tried to reassure between claps. - "I was also surprised when I saw it for the first time. Although, then there were four of them and they shifted completely. And Lana's not very sane brother blew up all our cars because of the raccoon. Now it does not look so scary to me. You'll get used to it in no time!"

"My brother is quite adequate!" - the girl rebuked Tony slightly lisping because of the fangs. And only at that moment did Paul look at her.

"Holly Batshit!" - He screamed, jumping back and stumbling over the chair falling to the floor behind it.

"What the hell is this sh*t?" - came from under the table. Greg, Tony, and Franks exchanged glances and roared with laughter like horses.

" I hope I didn't look so stupid the first time saw it!" - Frank said through laughter, wiping away the moisture in the corners of his eyes. Paul finally got out from under the table, glancing at Lana cautiously. Mike finally managed to subside his cough and now with undisguised curiosity looked at the girl.

"Let's not stretch the pleasure any more," -Greg finally broke the silence. - "I want to introduce you to Ruslana again. My charming Mate and my cute girlfriend is a Werewolf!"

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Authors note: Sorry for posting only 1 chapter per day the last few days. I had a very hard week. As a little compensation, I will be posting 2 chaps tomorrow and 4 in total during the weekend.