NINETEEN
I slowly opened my eyes, groaning when the bright light shone directly above me. I blinked, trying to figure out where I was. I felt a sharp pain on the left hand side of my upper body.
There was a beeping sound coming from somewhere, I just couldn’t focus on it because I felt groggy and confused, trying to push the excruciating pain aside.
My vision was slightly blurry, but the more I blinked, the clearer the room became and I realised I was in a hospital bed. The cream coloured walls and dull curtains nearly sent me into a deep depression.
The room looked modern and sleek, but missed key elements and colours that brought some vibrancy and comfort. When I turned my head to the right, there were fresh flowers on the bedside table. Daffodils, to be exact. Judging by the colour and the type of floral arrangement, I knew Amala brought them.
The last thing I remembered was standing face to face with Antonio, falling to the ground and then Ares rushed to my side.
The door slowly opened as Ares and Christos entered. When they saw me, they seemed visibly more relaxed than when they first entered. “Thank fuck,” my brother said. He rushed over to me and Ares followed suit. “How are you feeling, adelfós?”
I swallowed, making my throat hurt. “I’m okay.” I frowned. “What happened?”
This is when Ares finally spoke up. “You were shot.” My gaze flickered to his and I could see the extent of his concern. His eyes were sunken in, the dark circles underneath extremely prominent. “I’m so fucking glad you’re awake, man. I’ll go get the doctor.”
He practically ran out of the room before I could even respond. “How long have I been here?”
“A week,” my brother answered. “You’ve been in a coma.” I didn’t know what to make of this information. Ever since I started working as an agent, I’ve never been shot. So what the fuck went wrong this time around?
"Why does it feel like I haven't seen you in ages?" Ares asked, patting me on the back. The impact nearly made me choke on my drink and I glared at him.
"I'm here now, aren't I?" I scoffed. "What do you want from me? Want me to call you every day and treat you like my girlfriend?"
"Way to avoid the burning topic," he said matter of factly. "The only reason you're scarce is probably because you do in fact have a girlfriend ."
"Why does my scarcity have to involve a woman? Perhaps I prefer my solitude." I leaned back in the chair, making myself more comfortable.
"Nicolas," he deadpanned. "We know you prefer your solitude, but you'd still make an appearance every other week. Now you're just radio silent."
"Does this mean we're best friends? Seeing that you know me so well." I faked enthusiasm.
"Funny guy," Ares said with a straight face. "Then again, you've always been the clown in our friend group."
"No, I've always been honest. But people mistake that for a sense of humour because they assume I'm joking."
Ares chuckled, shaking his head. "You're still not answering my question."
"That's because I don't have an answer." One thing about the people I referred to as friends was the fact that all of them were persistent as fuck. When they wanted to know something, they'd pester you nonstop until you told them what they wanted to know.
"You're a damn good liar, but you know it would take more than that to convince me." He smirked at me.
"Is this why you said I should come over, to interrogate me? Over the phone you made it seem like you had an emergency. Jesus Christ."
I sipped on my whiskey, closing my eyes. Images of Gabriella flashed through my mind and I squeezed the glass in my hand.
"You're not denying it."
"I have no idea what you're referring to." I'd rather chew shards of glass before sharing the name of my love interest. The same love interest who still hadn't texted me back for the past twenty-four hours.
"You sly son of a bitch." He chuckled, shaking his head.
I smirked, tossing back the last bit of amber coloured liquid in my glass. "Sometimes you to learn the importance of privacy. "
"Between you, Kayden, and myself, I'm probably the most private person." I laughed softly at that, clutching my abdomen in the process.
"You're under the impression that you're private, but your facial expressions and body language always give you away."
He raised an eyebrow. "You've been observing me, haven't you, Calisto?"
"What can I say? It's part of the job, isn't it?"
Therapy was indefinitely a modern day scam. How did it seem logical to pay a stranger to express your feelings so they could provide you with a solution to your so-called issue?
I could find solutions on the internet if I desperately needed it. I exited my therapist's office with a frown. "Next month we've got two sessions, Nicolas," the blonde haired woman said to me. I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly turned my head in her direction.
"Two?" I looked at her in disbelief.
"Yes. Your sabbatical should come to an end soon," she stated, clasping her hands together on her oak desk, "and you'll be able to return to work if you're mentally prepared to do so."
"I'm perfectly fine," I said nonchalantly, gripping the door handle tightly.
"Are you really?"
"Yes, Natasha, I am," I dismissed her.
It was clear as day that she didn't believe me. "Every traumatic experience has a psychological effect on you, and if you ignore the warning signs, it could potentially worsen. You know that, right?"
Her voice was meant to be calming and serene, but right now it sounded like nails on a damn chalkboard. "I know. Our session was over five minutes ago, I'm leaving."
I hurriedly closed the door behind me, cutting her off before she could respond. I sighed, rubbing my temples to relieve the throbbing sensation.
Then, in true Murphy's Law fashion, when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, Ares spotted me and called me aside with pure urgency in his voice. That could only mean one thing: he was about to say something that would turn my day from shit to complete fucking garbage.
"Calisto," he said sternly. "Kayden needs to show you something." Fuck .
I gaped at him, feeling my palms getting sweaty. The urgency in his tone only aggravated my anxiousness. "What is it, Valiente?"
"You need to see it for yourself." He cocked his head, gesturing for me to follow him.
I felt restless while we walked towards Kayden's office. I may have been off from work due to my injury and my mental health, but Braun still wanted to keep me updated.
Even if there was a minor change in the investigation, they'd inform me. The second we stepped foot into Kayden's office, he dumped the information on us.
He didn't believe in prolonging the inevitable and he wasn't going to deliver the news in a gentle manner. The man only treated women with the utmost respect and gentleness. Men could go straight to hell. His words, not mine.
"Freeman's last known location was London," Ares and I looked at each other and I could feel my blood boiling, "until his mobile devices were turned off and we lost all traces of him, yet again."
"What the fuck would Antonio be doing in London?" I frowned .
"I don't know." There was a hint of resignation in Kayden's voice. He knew how much this case affected me, so he's been trying to locate the man every opportunity he got. Which is something he didn't have to do, but he did it for me.
Ares gripped my shoulder and it's like the force of his grip brought me back to reality. "There's something else Kayden needs to show you."
That didn't sound good. Not even in the slightest. "What is it?"
"You might want to brace yourself for this one," Kayden said, gesturing for me to come closer. I obliged, taking a seat next to him with my arms folded across my chest.
I glared at the screen as if it had personally done something to me. Then he tapped the enter button and images of Gabriella and I in Cabo popped up on the screen.
My eyes widened slightly and there was an intense feeling that travelled from the tips of my
toes, all the way to my fucking brain. It felt like my body had gone numb.
We were in the pool, my body practically covering hers. We definitely seemed extremely familiar with each other. Kayden flipped through the images. There were about ten images of us until we entered the hotel after our little swim .
My jaw ticked and I balled my left hand into a tight fist. "We managed to retrieve various files from his phone's database and these were a few of them."
"Fuck me." I ran a hand through my hair. "This means he's most likely going to target her or use her to get to me, and I can't fucking have that."
"So I take it she's the mystery woman." I only glanced at Ares. I couldn't speak, I couldn't even think straight. All I saw was red.
Not only did they have images of my woman, but they saw her in clothing that revealed almost everything. Just the thought of those men gawking at her made me fucking sick.
They were ruthless, the things they did to women were just plain fucking awful. The sound of Kayden's voice pulled me out of my reverie and I snapped my head in his direction.
"You good, Calisto?" I nodded, rubbing my palms up and down my slacks. A habit that occurred overtime. I'd do it involuntarily when I was worked up.
"I'm good." I was anything but fucking good. "What's our plan?"
"Don't worry about that," Ares said. "Kayden and I will handle it and keep an eye out for any other updates regarding Freeman. You just focus on her. Got it?"
"No." I stood up abruptly. " Fuck no ." They looked at me in bewilderment. "They've got pictures of her, a woman who seems awfully cosy with me in those images. Do you actually think they're going to take that shit lightly?"
"We're only looking out for you," Ares said.
"I don't need anyone looking out for me right now. What I need is to ensure her safety," I spat. "So I'll ask again, what's our plan?"
They were silent for a moment, glancing at me with concerned expressions. "First and foremost," Kayden broke the silence, "is there any possible way you could perhaps teach Gabriella some basic self-defence techniques?"
"I don't mind teaching her, but does that mean you're insinuating she might find herself in a dangerous situation?" Never in my life have I ever been this tense. I was wound tight like a fucking coil.
"That's not what I'm saying," he sighed. "Prevention is better than cure. You won't always be by her side, so it's best she at least knows how to handle herself should the need arise."
Ares stepped closer, standing beside me. "You know we're just trying to help you." I looked at him, frowning deeply.
"I'll teach her the basic techniques," I said. "Now, what are we going to do about Antonio? If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's messing with us. This seems too coincidental, too easy."
"That's the same thing that crossed my mind," Ares stated. "We don't have a plan as of yet, because what can we do to find someone who's basically non-existent?"
"We'll figure something out," Kayden reassured.
"We don't have a choice," I said sternly. "Them coming after me is inevitable, but them fucking with the people I care about is unacceptable. And I'm not going sit around and wait for something bad to happen to Gabriella. We need to strategise."