"I expect her back in time," Esme added jokingly."Aye aye, ma'am." Leo saluted before leading Rose to the chopper and taking off.
Sitting in the pilot seat, he helped Rose put on her seatbelt and handed her a faceless characteristic mask.
"What is this?" Rose looked at the mask, asking. Leo smiled, putting one himself, followed by a pair of gloves.
"It's a mask to hide your face and voice." Leo's voice came a couple of octaves deeper, completely different from normal.
"A year ago, after my parents' accident, I got an email about this company. With everything going on, I didn't give it much mind." Starting to take off, Leo began to explain.
"In recent months, around the time I got here as a teacher, I started to go through my inheritance, only to find myself the sole owner of one of the biggest companies in the world." As the heli was in the air, Leo checked the flight line and set it on autopilot before looking back at Rose again.
"As I dug deeper, I found out it was made by my parents around their teenage years. Later, it got bigger, and when I was born, they even started to implant some ideas I gave."
Smirking at Rose, "I may not look like it, but I was quite the genius in my childhood." The smugness in his voice made Rose chuckle.
"And how did you end up hiding your identity?" Rose asked, trying to know the reason. After all, since he owned it, why hide it?
"Well, for the people inside the company, I'm still the only owner, even before I took control," Leo said, then added after remembering something, "Well, there are some who know what happened, but most of them don't know the real owner. They only know the masked man they call 'Boss'."
The man behind Leo's company was always an enigma to the business world. Despite his high ranking among the wealthiest, he never appeared.
That was Leo's father's way — he liked a simple and detached mindset. And in Leo's case, he just wouldn't bother to flex his wealth. Since it was hidden by his parents, he let it stay that way.
"It was my father before, and now it's me," Leo ended his explanation.
"You're like a Pandora's box, you know?" Rose chuckled before putting on the mask. "The more time I spend with you, the more I find your mystery."
"You don't like it?" Leo asked, not knowing if she was complaining or joking.
"It's a great thing," she said, hugging his arm. "This way I have more things to know about you."
Nodding to her, he rested his head on top of hers, enjoying the view for the next half hour or so until he was awakened by the landing signal call.
[This is the observation tower, you're in private airspace, please reveal your intent.]
Leo didn't bother replying, as Alfred was already on it.
[**This is the pilot. We have permission to land. Landing code ***. Over.] Giving the permission code, not a second later, the monitor voice came back, slightly shaky.
[Observation tower, permission confirmed. The landing pad is clear to land. Welcome, Boss!]
As one of the old staff members, Alfred had quite the standing, so he was one of the few informed about the Boss's visit.
"Thanks for your hard work," Leo thanked him. "Alfred, land us please."
[On it, sir. Also, you got a message from Lady Esbella. She's airborne and will be here in minutes.]
"Oh, good, then this won't take much time." Leo nodded, looking at Rose, only to find her nervous. He smiled. "Ready? It's all good — just imagine you're entering class and all's fine."
"And why that specifically?" Rose asked, weirded out.
"Because that cold and queenly walk and façade make you look scary sexy," Leo said with a raised shoulder, freezing her in place before she started to laugh.
"What is that?" she said between laughs. "Is that even a thing?"
Leo nodded seriously. "It's a thing for me. It's like you're flexing but also warning them that you're taken."
"Oh!!" she realized something. "Is that the reason you're not that bothered with the boys eyeing me?"
"No, no, no." Leo waved his hand in refusal. "The reason is that I know you're my mate, and those are just snobby, hormone-filled teenagers."
That made her laugh again. Smiling at her as she finally relaxed, Alfred had already landed the plane.
Outside, three men in suits were already waiting at the edge of the landing pad.
Giving them a quick look before stopping at the man in front—"It's an honor to finally meet you in person, Boss. My name is Ethan Slyde, the current head of The Banker." Ethan stretched his hand for a handshake, which Leo accepted.
"This is the vice leader and head of security staff." Even as Leo accepted his handshake, he felt at ease and continued the introductions.
"Nice to meet you. This is my wife—you can call her Tigress," Leo said, introducing Rose, causing her to flinch for a second at how he introduced her.
The man was about to show him the way, but a chopper sound came from the sky again.
The leader looked at the security staff, about to ask, but stopped when he noticed Leo raise his hand.
"It's my guest. I called them over," Leo clarified. "Step back for a second."
Nodding, they stepped back beside the door. By the time the chopper landed, only Leo and Rose were near it.
"Well, well, isn't this our little cub," Esbella came closer but froze after looking at the mask. "Why the mask?"
The same could be said for her escort — her son.
"Well, I'm here as Leo, the 'mysterious owner,' as set by my father," Leo said before getting closer to her. "It's been a while. Good to see you again."
Feeling the truth behind his words, she dragged him into a hug. "Good to see you again too." After letting him go, she got closer to Rose, observing her carefully.
"You must be Rosalia Hall, the Olympus Coven member, right?" she said with a smile — but her info hinted at deep research. "My name is Esbella Rageheart. Nice to meet you."
This caused Rose to tense, and Leo to raise an eyebrow.
"Don't be so tense. What I mean is—it's an honor to meet one of the Cullens," she said with a mischievous smirk. "It's not every day you hear about a full-vegetable-diet coven of a blood-based race."
The smirk made Leo sigh—it reminded him of his father's teasing.
"You know the number of those could be counted on two hands in the whole world. After all, it's not always you find the will to fight something built into you."
Understanding where her words came from, Rose sighed and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too, Lady Esbella," Rose said, raising her hand for a handshake.
After some small talk and introducing her son—who surprisingly only nodded and stepped behind her—they were led to the inner circle.
"You can take your leave. I'll call you if needed," Leo said, looking around, talking to Ethan and the others. But the security man had other plans, about to speak—until Leo looked at him once, and he froze.
"Y-yes, Boss," he nodded and slipped away with the others.
"That was neat, but—" Esbella got closer and, under Rose's surprised eyes, slipped her hand behind the mask and grabbed his ear.
"Since when are you dealing with war arms?" Esbella said seriously. "And how the hell did you end up owning The Banker?"
"Awawa—let me go, will ya? As I said, it wasn't me, it was Dad!" Leo, despite his high specs, felt like his ear and whole server system were being ripped from his body.
"Hmm." After a small hum, Esbella let him go. "Okay, then start explaining."
"Sigh Can we leave it for later and do what we came here for?" Leo said. "I'll explain at a later date."
Nodding at him with squinting eyes, "Don't think it's over."
Turning around and about to start her work, she heard a small sniffling laugh. Looking at the source, Leo already knew who it was and glared directly at Rose.
"What's funny, sweetheart?" Leo said, trying to sound pissed, but that only made her laugh harder.
"Sorry, but you just looked like Emmett reprimanded by Mom," Rose said, unable to hold her laughter.
While Leo approached Rose to get his revenge, they started to flirt around.
Esbella smiled at them warmly before clapping. "Okay, let's focus for a second."
Turning around, she placed her hand on the ground. From the contact point, an energy wave spread, covering the area in a thin see-through membrane. Seconds later, shadows began to move around.
The shadows were images of them from seconds ago.
With a nod from Leo, Esbella started to reverse the time flow of the place. Soon, they saw an unknown shadow treading between storage places, and as it got closer, Esbella froze the flow of time, revealing the person behind it all.
With black underclothes covering her whole body except for her golden eyes and purple hair — from the revealed part beside her eyes, they noticed her dark, skull-like skin. On top, she wore unique boots and an orange jacket with white stripes on the shoulders.
Looking back at Leo, who was staring at the shadow absentmindedly — especially since it was a hot lady — Rose landed a hit on his side.
"If you want, I can help you look into her identity," Esbella fanned the fire playfully.
Leo looked between Rose, who huffed at him, and Esbella with her smirk, massaging his eyebrows.
"No, I know who she actually is," Leo said, surprising the two. "What I don't know is why she's here—on the other side of the world."
"Eh? You need help?" Esbella offered, not knowing what Leo meant.
"Nah, thanks, Aunt. I have the right person for this." Leo smiled and looked at the shadow one last time. "Thanks for this time; it's all we needed to know."
With the person behind this identified, Leo at least knew who was poking into his staff. And since that person wouldn't do this without reason—it was either Soul Society, or the Hat Man.
"What's up?" Rose asked, seeing him deep in thought, thinking it was some kind of problem.
"Oh, it's not... well, depends actually." Leo tried to act casual, but noticing her look, he sighed. "We'll know when we get home. My guest knows this lady."
Nodding, Rose understood he wasn't going to talk about it here—either it wasn't the right time or he wasn't sure himself.
"Okay, I guess my work here is done." Esbella disabled her skill and looked at Leo. "You owe me a favor—and an explanation later."
"Of course. And you can call me if something pops up." Leading the way outside, Leo noticed the nervous people waiting and sighed.
"We found the reason, and nothing's wrong with the vault. It's just a matter of the person himself, don't worry," he said, patting Ethan's shoulder. "Keep up the good work."
Leaving those words, he joined back with Rose, who was bidding farewell to Esbella—who, shockingly, had become great friends with her in just seconds, to his despair.
"Don't forget what I told you—you owe me a favor," Esbella said, looking at Leo. "And I'll be cashing it next week."
"Eh? Sure, need me for something?" Leo asked, not really minding. He only got a smirk before being hugged for a second and released.
"You'll know later," she said, dragging her son along to the helicopter.
Not understanding anything, he looked back at Rose. "Shall we go too?"
"Yup, home." Rose hugged his arm, acting chipper. "I wish we had a date though."
"Date it is then," Leo said, catching her meaning. "Any requests?"
"Anything's good, as long as I get to be with you," Rose said, looking straight into his eyes.
Looking back at her eyes, Leo noticed something. After a second, he remembered what was different before looking at the night sky.
"Then, I have an idea..." Leo remembered something on his to-do list he'd been putting off despite its importance. And since conditions were perfect, he might as well do it tonight.