Handler XX: Stock Maestro
Chapter 9: Treason

Chapter 9: Treason

They took turns in the bathroom, preparing quickly,

"I need to pick up some clothes from my apartment" Marie said, holding the gown up.

"I guess it’ll be locked. Since everything’s been taken and all..."

"I said you didn’t have to worry about it, no?"

Trent picked the files he’d placed on the table and stretched it.

"What’s that?"

"Take a look—it’s my wedding gift to you" he replied with a smirk.

She gasped as she read through the documents, her eyes tracing up to Trent in disbelief.

"You’re welcome" he said as he picked his suit’s jacket.

"How–How did you do it?"

"These should be more than a million dollars"

"A magician never tells his secret. I guess I’m a good one" Trent laughed.

"I’ll pull the car around" he tapped on her shoulder.

"Thank you" she muttered softly

"What’s that?" He shifted his head closer to her, hands on his ear.

"I said, Thank You!" She increased her voice.

"You’re welcome. Anything for Mrs. Ackerman" he laughed as he walked off.

Mrs. Ackerman, huh? Her face flushed as she watched him leave.

It was obviously a fake marriage, but this wasn’t a bad feeling.

_____________

They picked up her clothes from her apartment and headed for the base.

"You’ve got a nice place,"

"How much do you pay?"

"It’s the old man’s," Marie replied, tucking makeup into her bag.

"It’s not mine"

He glanced at her as he continued driving,

"Wanna move out?"

"If I could... Hell yeah" she applied a bit of lip gloss on her lips.

"I checked last night and my account had been frozen. Accessing my offshore account will take a while too"

"So you’re in a serious pickle" he said jokingly.

Her silence was as cold as ice.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I’ll just drive."

Morlov was supposed to have called the bank by now.

_______________

"There’s really no time for greetings now— so much chaos in the past few hours" Anton says rushing up to them

He looked at Marie, "why’s she like that?" he whispered to Trent.

"She’s going through some tough stuff" Trent whispered back.

"Next mission initializing..." Ave notified as they walked to the briefing room.

Trent opened the door wide for Marie to enter and walked behind her.

"I don’t get the door opened for me, huh?" Anton grumbled as he walked behind them.

"Sign-in at The Westender’s Summit"

"Westender’s..." Trent muttered.

"You seem to have done a bit of research, Mr. Twerp"

"Yeah... You’ll be going to the Westender’s Summit in the capital, Valon"

"There’s little time, so we’ve prepared a chopper"

They sat down as he took big screen’s remote from the table.

"There’s been a sudden change of plans" he said as he turned it on.

"Is this about the dead Handler?" Marie asked.

"Yeah..."

"This guy—" he clicked the remote displaying a Man’s picture

"He is Senator Luiz Gentely— he’s been on our radar for months since we found some evidence of Treason"

"Treason?!" Trent asked in disbelief.

"Yeah... A few days ago, we obtained definitive proof that he’d been in talks with the Kraven Empire— supplying them information"

He clicked on the remote to display a new image.

"Suddenly, one of our Handlers in Kraven gets killed"

"He’s got some giant balls to attempt treason" Marie said, leaning forward.

"And giants to support those balls if he switches sides" Anton replied.

"The old man’s not here so he’s ordered that I do the briefing—"

"Dear Gentely here will be attending the Summit since he’s in Valon as part of his plans to disguise things—"

"You guys are to find out if he knows anything and eliminate him"

"It’s on our soil, so we can cover anything that happens up"

"Ugh..." Trent groaned, "Dirty work"

"Yeah... Dirty" Marie mumbled, "That’s what we do"

"Your holding company has been created. I’ll lead you to link your account with the company and be done with registration"

"You’ve still got enough for the holding account, yeah?" Marie whispered as they walked out.

Trent nodded, with a grin.

_________

"This is Cisco— our tech genius and the one that’ll be completing the registration of your holding company"

Cisco gave them a warm smile, removing the headphone he had on.

"Chief..." He greeted with a nod, "You must be Ackerman" he stretched his hand forward.

"And Miss Marie" he turned to Marie smiling

"It’s Mrs. now. They’ve decided to marry like a sudden enlightenment" Anton laughed as he took his seat.

"Oh... Congratulations" he smiled, turning back to the computer.

"I’ve been sorting the account out and I’ve registered you as an official holding company"

"Everything funnels through the holding company—less taxes, more flexibility," Cisco said, snapping his fingers.

Marie took her seat, watching all these unfold.

He’d miraculously given her back all the properties. Does he even have enough for this?

Her jaws tightened, palm sweaty.

She looked at Trent, who seemed to be immerse in the conversation with Cisco.

"So... Let’s declare the statement of the account to set it up and complete the registration"

"Trent Ackerman... CEO, Ackerman Holdings... Worth..." He turned to Trent.

"Seventy-eight point five million," Trent said calmly.

"What?!" Anton dropped the box of pens in his hand.

Marie’s eyes shot wide.

They both stood up from their seats immediately.

Cisco whistled in excitement,

"Damn..."

"You’re not joking, right?" Marie asked.

"I’d log into the app if there was a strong secured connection" Trent replied, taking his phone out of his pocket.

Cisco took the phone and connects it to a network he was using,

"It should work now"

Trent opened the app and showed then the balance— $78.57 million

"Holy shit, Twerp"

"Do you use some kind of magic?"

Marie stared in silence, her eyes flicking between the screen and Trent’s calm expression.

How had he made so much money— so fast?

They completed the registration and prepared to leave.

"There’s a helipad outside the city... They’ll be waiting for you there"

"Congratulations on getting married, Kid— just don’t piss Mrs. Wildling off" Anton laughed as they walked off.

___________

The car ride was awfully quiet. Trent peeked at Marie as he drove.

"Ahem" he cleared his throat

"I—" they both blurted at the same time

"You go first" he tells her.

She exhaled, clearing her mind. "I know this is a fake marriage— I’ll pay back everything that you’ve done"

Trent glanced at her, she was holding her hands together. The words twisted his stomach into a knot.

"I understand... You don’t have to pay me back"

"I will" she replied immediately.

There was a brief silence between them as the ride continued.

"Then work for me."

"What?"

"Five hundred grand a year. Call it your repayment plan."

She stared at Trent, in silence.

Why was he doing all these?

They got to the helipad and the pilot handed Trent a burner phone.

"Hello"

"Hello, Trent" the person answered.

"Branch Chief... I heard you had something important to take care of"

"Yes. With so many things happening, this old Man doesn’t have time to spare" Newton replied.

"We’ve told an agent to place what you’ll need— truth serum and guns in the location. They’ll pass you a note"

"They’ll slip laxatives in Gentely’s drink while you and Marie take care of him"

"Noted" Trent replied

"Congratulations on your wedding" he added, hanging up.

Trent passed the phone back to pilot and entered the helicopter.

En route Valon.

________

As soon as they landed, they entered the car prepared for them— a Limousine, and headed for the summit.

"Do you feel nervous?" Trent asked, pouring champagne into the glasses.

"Well, this isn’t my first rodeo" she chuckled, taking the glass.

She seemed to have thought a lot and was finally warming up. That’s great.

Trent watched her drink the wine.

"Are you not going to drink? It should calm you a bit" she points at his glass.

As they pulled up to the venue, they saw reporters outside swarming around a car.

"Why’s he here?" Marie muttered, looking through the window

Trent looked through the window— it was Morlov. Well, he was also a businessman.

He glanced at Marie as she frowned and grumbled under her breath.

Morlov points at them as they stepped out of the car. What was he scheming?

Some reporters rushed to them,

"Mr. Morlov said he’s given you his blessings. Is that true?"

"What’s your relationship with Morlov Sanchez?"

"He says you’re a genius in stocks trading. How true is that?"

"Are you involved in insider trading?"

These were all questions directed to Trent.

He shielded them away from Marie as much as he could. Fuck, he should’ve brought Theo along...

They walked up the stairs, amid the reporters, meeting Morlov.

"Give the new couple some space, would you" Morlov waved his hands at the reporters.

"This is my daughter, Marie" he pulled her hand closer to himself,

"And I’m very happy about her marriage to such an excellent young Man" he laughed.

"They have my blessings... And the blessings of the State"

"That’d be all"

His security blocked the reporters as he turned with Trent and Marie into the building.

"I hear there’s been some bad news" he chuckled.

"Good luck" he laughed as he walked off.

A waiter immediately passed by Trent, slipping him a note.

Trent squeezed the note into his hand and looked at Marie.

She looked pissed.

"You ready?" He tapped her back softly.

She exhaled sharply, "Yeah. Let’s do this"