Chapter 5: Spying on Simon

Ariel POV:

In a week I will be moving with Simon to England. There's a part of me that is excited because I will be going somewhere that I never been before but there is a part of me that's sad for leaving.

I'm going to miss my family and my friends. Most importantly I'm going to miss this house. This house has so many memories of my mother and I. Plus this is the only house I ever grew up in.

Today I decided to start packing some of my things. Mark came over to the house to help me.

"I can't believe that your moving away from me Ari. Who am I going to hang out with or need advice or play Call of Duty with?" Mark started to freak out.  I laugh a little.

"Mark we will always be bestfriends to the end. You know that. Plus I will be visiting a lot too and also there is a thing called skype . We can video chat everyday if you want." Trying to lighten things up with him.

"I know but it won't be the same." He starts to frown.

"I know Mark." I sigh sadly.

"Hey I didn't mean to make you sad. To be honest I'm jelly. You get to travel and live in England. That's a dream come true for anybody. Plus it's a new start and adventure for you Ari. Just don't forget me okay." Mark tries to cheer me up.

I run to him and give him a huge hug. "I will never ever forget about you Mark."

"So tell me. How the heck did your father came back to your life?" Mark asks me curiously.

"It's a super long and dramatic story."

"I have time " Mark says pretending to look at his imaginary watch. I slap his arm playfully.

"Well you know my father left me and my mom when I was a baby. Still to this day I don't know why. But the day when my mom died and I decided to stay at Aunt Karen's house, he came. I heard that Aunt Karen was talking to somebody downstairs and I decided to eavesdrop. Then that's when I learned that Simon is my father. I was shocked, happy, angry, sad... all of the emotions combined. The next day Aunt Karen and I went to the coffee shop close by her house to go see Simon because I wanted to get answers from him. I asked why he left us but all he said was 'I did it to protect you and your mother.' What the heck does that mean? Also he kept on saying that he will tell me everything when the time is right." I explain  to Mark everything that happened.

"You know there might be a bad reason why he left. Did you ask him what his job is? What if he's in a gang or a mob leader?" Mark says as he starts to panic.

"Think about it. For a person like him, he dresses pretty well and his cars are classics for sure. The only way to get those things is if he has a good sum amount of money." Mark explains to me.

I start to think about what Mark said and to be honest Mark does have a point. I don't know what Simon does for a living. What if his job is dangerous? What if he's dangerous?

"Ugh... why did you have to put those thoughts in my head? Well what if he's just a guy that worked hard for his money?" I try to convince myself.

"Well there's only one way to get you answer. You have to find out yourself." Mark simply tells me.

"You know what we have to do now right?" I give Mark an evil smile.

"Uh-oh I hate that smile. That means you have a plan."Mark says nervously.

"We are going to spy on Simon tonight."

"Spy? Do you even know where he lives? This is dangerous" Mark points out.

"Chill I have my pepper spray and my taser. Plus all were going to do is snoop around for an hour. Plus you can bring your Swiss army knife." Trying to make Mark like the idea.

"Fine 1 hour and then we leave." Mark strictly says to me.

"Yay." Giving him a hug and throwing my fist in the air.

------------ Later on that night-----------

I found out that Simon would be staying at the Hilton Hotel. Of course since we were gonna do some spying, I need put some spying attire. I put on my black shirt ,my black jeans, black jacket and I also put my black heeled boots. Definitely look badass.

"Okay so what's the plan?" Mark asks me.

"Okay so were gonna go in to the Auberge du Soleil Hotel and your going to pretend to be interested in staying for the night. That's why I asked you to bring a fancy  suit so you could look all business like. Just keep on asking questions with the person at the front desk. While that person is distracted I will go sneak to the counter to get the key card and we will be on our way up. His room is the penthouse." I  simply explain to him.

"Okay sounds good so far. You think this will work?" Mark says getting a little worried.

"My plans hasn't failed me yet."

...

We arrive to the  Auberge du Soleil Hotel and of course I see a lot of fancy and rich people. I look so out of place. To be honest Mark looks good with his suit on and you can mistake him as person with a lot of money. Mark went to the front desk and he started to ask questions. I can see the lady at the front desk had some interest in Mark because she was twirling her hair around her finger. This will be totally easy.

"So I'm planning to stay for one night here. What are your room prices?" Mark tries to distract her.

While they were talking it was time for action. I went around the front desk crawling. Looking for the room keys. I couldn't find them so I went to the back. When I got to the back I saw a stack of blank card keys. Looking through the computer I saw that Simon was staying in room 321. I made a copy of a card for room 321.

Just as I was about to leave , somebody was getting in the back. I had to act fast and hid under the table.

A few minutes later the person left. That was close I thought. Quickly I exited the back room and looked at Mark giving him a nod. I crawled out quickly and went to the hallway that lead to the elevators.

Waiting for  Mark. He came up the elevator a few seconds after.

"What took you so long?" I asked a little irritated.

"Sorry that girl at the front desk wouldn't leave me alone." Mark says annoyed. I giggled.

"Okay. Are you ready to do this?" I ask him.

"Totally. Let's do this." Mark says with a smirk.

We made it to the front door of room 321. Slid the card key to the slot and slowly opened the door. I peaked my head to see if the close was clear. Didn't see anybody so we both went in. The pent house was huge. Nice and expensive furniture, a fireplace, there's even a nice lounge area, and a huge king size bed.

"Now this is life." Mark checks out the penthouse .

"You can say that again." I say in awe doing the same thing.

We start to snoop around until we found his laptop on the kitchen table.

"Bingo. Let's see what he has in here." I open the laptop and turn it on.

Of course there's a password. I face palm myself. What would his password be? After thinking for a minute, I put in my mom's birthdate. Right away it let me in.  That was easy.

"Yes we got in. Open his documents." Mark suggests.

I open the first document and see all the profits he's making. There were thousands and millions of dollars.

"Damn that's so much money. What is Cowell Co? Is this how he's making his money?" I scroll down on the computer.

"I can't put my finger on it but Cowell Co. sounds familiar." Mark chimes in as he looks at the laptop as well with me.

"Hey! Who are you? " a huge man with muscular arms came into the room.

"Shoot. Caught red handed. Time to run." I say to Mark.

Closing the laptop. We both start to run opposite directions.

"Both of you stop running." The man chases the both of us.

Just as we got to the door there were three more men blocking the door. They grab my waist bringing me inside. I start start trying to fight him back  by kicking him and punching him but failed miserably. This guy is like a wall of bricks. Mark was already inside trying to break their hold but failed miserably as well.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? We want answers now." The muscular guy says in a serious tone as he stares down Mark and I.

Just as I was about to answer his question, Simon comes into the room. "What is going on in here?!" Simon yells out.

"Sir we found these two sneaking around in your hotel room." One of the service men explains to Simon.

"Ariel?" Simon says all confused.

"Hi Simon." Giving him a slight wave and a nervous laugh.

"Please leave me and my daughter alone ." He says to all three of them.

"Your daughter sir?" All of them say simultaneously.

"Yes this is Ariel and her friend Mark" Simon explains to them eyeing the both of us. The service men went out of his room and left us with Simon,

"We are so busted" Mark whispers to me.

"Tell me about it" I whisper back.

"Can you please explain to me why you two were sneaking into my room and looking into my private stuff in my computer?" Simon questions the both of us.

I guess it's time to tell him the truth.

"Okay we were trying to figure out why you have so much money. Also we tried to figure out what you're job was because we thought if we asked you, you would lie about it. You just have so many expensive things and you dress high class. So conclusions jumped into my head like you work for a gang or you're a mob leader. I just thought you were dangerous and I didn't want to live with you if you were." I explain to Simon really fast.

After I explained everything to Simon, he starts to laugh. "I am not a dangerous man Ariel. I am a hard working man like anybody else. I am in the music business and I am a manger for a of couple bands. My father was a fairly wealthy man because he is a CEO of his own company and I also took over that business after he passed away." Simon explains to me.

"Pinky promise me that you're telling the truth." I stick out my pinky.

"You're serious?" Simon says giving me look.

"She takes pinky promises very seriously sir." Mark says to Simon.

Simon sticks out his pinky and wraps it around with mine. Mark and I sigh in relief.

...

After that whole incident Mark and I apologized to Simon a couple of times more . Simon said we were welcome anytime as long as we tell him. I gave Simon a hug and said my goodbye.

Mark and I went back down to the lobby and was ready to head back home. We saw the lady that flirted with Mark still there at the front desk working. When she spotted Mark she went up to him and gave him her number. Mark blushed and I couldn't stop giggling.

Through out the whole card ride home I was teasing Mark. Earning a punch on my arm from him. I rub my sore spot on my arm. That freaking hurt.

Well the whole night turned out better than I expected. At least I know Simon isn't a dangerous man.