<h4>Chapter 480: 480-Running Late</h4>


    <strong>Ian:</strong>


    Once we entered the mansion, we saw all the preparations. They must have done everything in thest few hours after we informed them. I gave Haiden a dry look as he stood there, staring at everything. I felt his pain.


    His energy had shifted into something heavy, likely because all these preparations and all the power Patrick held were supposed to belong to Haiden.


    "Come on, have a seat," Patrick continued, pointing toward the living room.


    They had decorated it with unnecessary things. All the shy decorations were too much. I preferred a minimal setting, something darker, but this man clearly had no understanding of that. Some might call it aesthetic, but to me, it looked pathetic.


    I sat on a separate sofa, spreading my arms with my elbows resting on the armrests. One leg crossed over the other as I shook it, forming a visible gap between my thighs and knee. One finger rested on my temple while the other sat under my chin as I observed everything.


    "I am so d you came back. I thought you had left," Fauna whispered to Haiden.


    That caught my attention, but it was Haiden’s response of lifting his nose in disgust that kept my eyes on them.


    "Fucking stay away from me," Haiden grunted at Fauna in a whisper, stepping away to sit on the same couch as Troy.


    There was genuine sadness on Fauna’s face whenever Haiden treated her badly. However, I could not feel bad for her because she was forcing herself on him. If he told her he did not like her, I thought she needed to let go.


    "So what brings you here?" Patrick questioned. "I know I’m not that special for the headmaster to bring in his best crusaders. One is missing to visit me."


    He paused just to add thatst phrase, likely mentioning Clementine since she was not with us.


    "I came here to ask you about Nook," my father replied.


    As soon as my father said that, I watched Patrick straighten his back in his seat.


    "The man who goes from one pack to another selling goods," Patrick remarked. "always busy with his big business. What are you trying to sell? Is it academy equipment? Is the academy really shutting down and going bankrupt?"


    Patrick kept asking questions, sliding in information he knew about Nook, though not too intimately, only through business. I caught all of it.


    As for his wife, she was glued to her phone, as if her real life existed behind the screen.


    Then there was Mariana. She sat on the couch with her father, paying close attention to every detail.


    Fauna, on the other hand, drifted like a butterfly. I noticed her slip into her thoughts before looking back at everyone. Her eyes lingered on Haiden, filled with desires she did not need to speak, as they showed clearly on their own.


    "No, I just want to know if you know where we might find him now and where he typically resides when he is not moving from pack to pack," my father continued to question while my fingers clutched the couch’s armrest.


    I was deeply disturbed. My mind kept going back to Clementine and how disappointed she must be in me. She must have thought her mate would find her, and here I was. I could not even find a single fucking man.


    "Oh, I’m not really sure," Patrick replied, "but I can get you the information if you want."


    As Patrick gave us a positive response, I watched Troy and Haiden share a happy, excited nce before they looked at me. I gave them a nod, letting them know I was listening to everything.


    "Great," my father remarked. "When can we get it?"


    "Right now, the man who keeps the digital data is away on a family vacation," Patrick exined, "but he will return in two days. I hope that is okay."


    The moment he said that, I began to shake my head. I unwrapped my leg from the other and straightened my posture before cing my arms over my thighs, hunching forward.


    "Can’t you contact him and ask him to do it now?" I asked anxiously, noticing my father give me a hand gesture to stop looking so panicked.


    But two days was a lot of time. We needed to find Clementine. Every second counted. It had already been days since she went missing. I was losing my fucking mind.


    "I understand that you havee here for something urgent," Patrick exined, "otherwise you all would not be here. But the thing is, these are sacred matters, and we keep that data in a secured ce. He has to physicallye here to retrieve it. It will only be two days."


    He continued, "He was supposed toe today, but the weather is so bad that he probably has to wait. Do not worry. I will get you a good result. Until then, you can stay here."


    Patrick added, "I will prepare a big dinner for you. It will be like celebrating the academy as it once stood, as a prestigious building and organization that killed monsters and protected the maind from invasion."


    Patrick weed us, and at this point, we could not force the information out of him. He was not refusing to give it to us, he just wanted us to wait, while I began to lose my mind.


    "Um, by the way, should I show them their rooms?" Fauna asked, pping her hands happily, clearly too excited to have visitors.


    Haiden rolled his eyes the moment he heard her voice, and I watched Fauna’s excitement fade a little.


    "Yeah, sure," Patrick replied. "Mariana, Fauna, go ahead. Children, show them their rooms."


    Patrick announced this while watching the three of us get up. I knew my father would stay behind to speak with Patrick about casual matters, just to make it seem like we had note here in an emergency looking for Clementine.


    At this point, we had to hide our intentions. If Patrick knew too much about Nook, he would most definitely know that his mansion had been attacked and that he was connected in some way to the leaders, or possibly involved in buying someone and might as well tell the leaders we are here for it.