Royce Millers' POV

It's been past one hour and I'm still trying to unlock the safe folder on my brother's cellphone, but nothing happens. Until it says, I have to wait for another 24 hours before trying again. I took a long deep sigh as I placed the cellphone above the drawer. Still, it remains a puzzle to me, what could be the password of Reid's safe folder. 

Suddenly my phone rang and it was again Vince. I don't know why he was calling me again after I lied to him that I am now in Beverly Hills. Maybe, he did not believe what I said and he wanted me to join him at Perch. 

I sat on the bed and leaned my back on the headboard as I accepted Vince's call. I could hear loud music and people laughing and talking with each other at the bar. Until I could only hear a little noise.

"Bro, you're calling me again. I guess you are now at Perch. Who is with you?", I spoke a little loud.

"Yes bro, I am now at Perch. Actually, I postponed the hangout when you said a while ago that you're now in Beverly Hills. But I rushed my way to Perch when Alexa called me that Vera would be seeing someone here.

"She is dating someone?", I asked, a little annoyed.

"Yes bro, that's what Alexa told me and she asked me to keep an eye on her best friend because she doesn't trust the man whom Vera is meeting with.

"So, she is now in Perch? With whom?", I queried and this time I am getting more and more annoyed.

"She is with Simon Morris right now bro,", Vince replied in a husky tone.

"Si---Simon Morris?"

Suddenly my blood boils through my veins when I heard his name.

"What a fucking shit! Why the hell--", I lashed out.

Simon Morris... His name kept repeating in my mind.

Damn!

Bloody hell!

This person everyone thought was gentle and sensible, yet an 'exploiter'. I suddenly feel agitated thinking that Vera might be taken advantage of.

I ended up the call after telling Vince that I'll be coming and that he had to closely watch that asshole, while I'm not yet around. I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth as if I wanted to punch that guy so hard until he could not anymore breathe. 

Vera did not know anything about Simon but why of all people, it had to be him? That man was good at pretending until women would fall into his trap. The real Simon Morris was coming from a wealthy family in France. His name was actually Nicholas Monet. He just decided to study in LA and changed his identity to Simon Morris. There's nothing impossible when it comes to money because here in LA, he was able to live in disguise. He let people believed he was a sensible man. But the truth is, he was a pervert!

I got to know all this information when the sister of my friend became his victim. That incident happened in France when my friend's sister met Nicholas Monet a.k.a Simon Morris and was invited to see him. Unfortunately, my friend's sister was sexually abused, and when they tried to bring their complaints to court, the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Simon Morris, that fucking asshole was really good at manipulating everything. He even graduated in college and worked as a bank accountant, but if people are naturally evil, they would surely return to their wrongdoings. And now this man was trying to do something bad to Vera because once he went out with a woman, that means he wanted a woman to fall into his trap and become his poor victim. Knowing Vera was an innocent lady, makes him more confident in carrying out his evil plans. But I won't let that happen. Never!

I took a long deep sigh as I changed my clothes into a black polo shirt, a faded jeans, and sneakers. Then I remember my artificial wig so, I took it out from the drawer and put it on. Afterwards, I grabbed my leather jacket and placed my phone inside the pocket, and went out of my room.

I noticed my parents were there in the sala sitting on a sofa bed while watching television. As soon as they saw me, their eyes were dilated in great shock. I know they wanted to ask why all of the sudden I went back to Royce's image, but they chose to be silent because housemaids were there. I met their gaze like I wanted to tell them I need to go out for a very important matter to attend to.

Dad's men greeted me when they saw me on the porch. Their eyes furrowed in confusion because they did not see me coming inside, but I know they were also thinking that maybe I used the back doors. Royce was known to be like that, so I think there's no problem and everyone in the house would never become suspicious of me.

On my way to the garage, I met Arthur, dad's most trusted bodyguard.

"Good evening sir Royce, I did not see you coming", Arthur spoke in a deep voice.

"Ah yeah. I used the back doors", I responded.

"I need to go now, Arthur. Vince is already waiting for me", I uttered and tapped Arthur's shoulder.

I get inside my car and started the engine. Holy shit! This is the first time I got panic. I am just hoping that Arthur did not notice anything or else, this big show would be over.

But for now, I need to set aside those thoughts because what matters most is Vera's safety. I could not take her out of my mind because I could not worry less knowing that she is now with Simon who could possibly do anything to her. My heart was filled with both anger and apprehension because I did not even expect Vera would go out to see him. I know, I don't have any right to interfere with her personal life but if she wanted to date someone, there are a lot of good men out there but why the hell, it had to be Simon?

He is a son of a bitch! 

I continued uttering all the bad words in the world and I could not help it.

I pulled off the driveway and hit the car's accelerator. But bad luck was really coming out my way 'cause I was caught by LA rush hour. 

"What a fucking shit!", I murmured and thumped the car's steering wheel. I tried to call Vince telling him that I would be a little late because of the heavy traffic and that he should keep an eye on Vera.

Thankfully, the traffic did not last too long and after 30 minutes, vehicles were gradually moving forward until I suddenly sped up my car overtaking other vehicles on the street. And just as I was getting close to Perch, I heard a loud explosion causing my car to screech to a halt.

My tire is flat! 

Damn it! 

Of all the days that I would get a flat tire, why does it have to be today?

There's no other choice but to get off and run as fast as I could. Vera might be in danger now and I'm afraid it would be too late to save her. Sweats started dripping on my body when I started running. I am used to it anyway, especially during those times I had my training in Beverly Hills. I dialed Vince's number but he was not picking up. I was getting more anxious and my heart was pounding inside my chest.

When I arrived at the Perch, I hastily walked through the entrance door. I was almost deafened by the noise coming from customers who were enjoying the beat of the music on the dance floor. I looked for Vince's table, but he was not around. Someone approached me and gave me a flirty hug. I noticed it was Roxette, one of my casual flings, whom I met at Skybar last week.

"Hi lover boy, it's been a long time. What about later, hmm?", Roxette spoke, behaving amorously as she moved closer to me. 

"Some other time Roxette, I'm with Vince now", I responded with a blank expression. Then I continued my way to look for Vince. Until I found someone lying on the floor. I run hurriedly when I recognized it was Vince.

"Bro, what happened? Who did this to you", I uttered almost weeping in a frenzy of anxiety.

"Bro, I'm fine. I already called an ambulance. Simon was taking Vera to the 15th floor", Vince stuttered.

Thankfully,  I heard the siren of an ambulance, and I sighed in relief. After a while, an emergency medical technician and paramedics hastily pulled over to give Vince medical assistance.

Vince tapped my arm just to tell me that I need to be in a hurry before everything would be too late.

I quickly ran heading my way to the elevator and pressed the button going to the 15th floor. I closed my eyes because I don't know what happened to Vera now. If something bad happens to her, I swear to kill that fucking jerk with my bare hands.

Until the elevator dinged and the two doors separated and closed when I had gotten out. I made quick long steps through the hallway and found something on the doorstep of the third room going to the right. I closely looked at it and it was a bracelet of a woman. I knew it was Vera's bracelet because I remembered she wore it before when we were at Skybar.

I slowly flipped the doorknob but it was locked. So I have nothing to do but to break it.