Chapter 419 - 419: Don't Lie Anymore

Elle was glad to hear the story of her Master and her father. She even learned that her father was the one who gave Phantom his alias. After being called the Masked Man for several years, his alias changed to Phantom because of Elle's father.

After talking about the connection between Phantom and Elle's father in the past, Elle told Phantom everything that happened to her in the past two years. She also mentioned the help she received from James and the Skull Gang. They also talked about Lu's condition.

Later on, Charles, Brother Yu, and Brother Yan joined them in their conversation. They planned out their next move against Alfonso Ramirez. They would go together to infiltrate his hideout, steal Lu's antidote, and grab some pieces of evidence of the Dark Knight's illegal operation of bio-weapon facility.

They divided the task. Phantom would take a lead in catching Alfonso Ramirez while Elle's Team would focus on stealing antidote and gathering evidence. In the meantime, they would not touch Edson Tyler. Fortunately, Phantom agreed on letting him stay alive.

After finalizing their plan, the five of them decided to take their dinner. They lost track of time strategizing their next moves. When they realized it was already night time. Elle informed and reminded Erick that she would stay over at Phantom's place.

After her phone conversation with Erick, Elle felt a little bit guilty. Because she knew that Erick's team was working overtime in order to plan out their next move in catching the new Catseye and finding Edson Tyler.

She was put into another difficult situation wherein she didn't know how she would act accordingly. Erick's team was investigating and chasing after the new Catseye. And those new Catseyes turned out to be her family- Charles, Phantom, and Phantom's henchmen.

Phantom noticed that Elle was bothered by something. She was sitting on the couch silently. Charles and Phantom sat down beside her.

"What's troubling you right now? You can share it with us." Phantom said, urging her to speak up.

"Ÿeah, we are willing to listen." Charles also supported Phantom's statement.

Elle decided to confront the two important people in her life who were the source of her troubles right now.

"It's about the new Catseye's case. Erick's team is handling this case. They were doing their best, putting all their efforts. Now, I know the truth and I feel like I am deceiving Erick if I will try to hide this from him. I don't want to lie to him. But at the same time, I wanted to protect both of you. Now, I was put in this dilemma once again. What should I do?"

Charles and Phantom exchanged glances with one another. They felt sorry for Elle. 

"I want to apologize for making things hard for you," Charles said, lowering his gaze. He couldn't look straight at her eyes because of the burden he caused her.

"Don't worry too much, Elle. Just give me time. I will shoulder all the responsibility regarding this matter. Just leave it to me, my dear daughter." Phantom reassured her.

"You can tell him the truth. Don't lie with Erick anymore. You can trust him. He will understand. Don't lie to him just for our sake. Don't break his trust, Elle. He loves you so much. It will break his heart once he finds out you hide more things from him. I'm not against the idea of telling him the truth. So don't hesitate and hold back. Just do it and tell him everything."

Elle felt touched after hearing Phantom's advice. What he said was true. She needed to tell Erick everything. She should not lie to him anymore.

"Thanks, Father, I will do that." Then Elle turned to Charles with her questioning gaze. She wanted to hear his opinion too.

"Don't look at me like that Elle. I know… I know… I understand. You can tell him about me. Tell him I'm the one who pointed the gun at you last night. For sure, he will come at me and punch me in my face once again. But this time, I will be able to avoid it. Hmmm. I will fight back. He still owes me one punch." Charles lamented to her.

Master Phantom just let out a soft chuckle after hearing Charle's childish remarks. He could still remember the night when Erick came to Charles's place to fetch Elle. Upon seeing Charles, he immediately punched him on his face.

On the other hand, Elle folded her arms across her chest while eyeing Charles with an eyebrow raised. "He owed you one punch? I thought it was already settled two years ago when you gave him a hard punch when he was still at the hospital at South Carolina's District Hospital. Did you forget about it?"

Charles was rendered speechless after hearing that. Elle was giving him a sharp glare. He did punch Erick at that time. He was really mad and he blamed Erick for what happened to Elle.

"I'm sorry. I was mad at that time. I couldn't control my anger." Charles looked away with his guilty expression. 

When Elle saw that, she burst out laughing. She was not mad. She was just teasing Charles.

"Hey, I'm just kidding. Haha. don't give me that kind of face. I just reminded you that Erick didn't owe you one punch anymore."

"Yeah, I know!"

Then the three of them erupted into a peal of laughter. Brother Yu and Brother Yan were just watching them on the sideline. They were glad to see them laughing again just like that. They knew that Master Phantom and Brother Charles suffered emotional pain for the past two years when they thought Elle died. Those years were very hard for them.

Now, that their Lady Boss was back. Those wounds and emotional pain were now gone.

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*** Mr. Carter's Place ***

Meanwhile, on that same night, Mr. Carter went to his attic to retrieve some of his kits and pieces of equipment that he hadn't use for several years now. There was a smile on his face while staring at those items.

"Who would have thought that after 18 years, time would come that I would have to use these items once again. This time it is for a greater cause… for a good cause." Mr. Carter mumbled to himself.