31
I don’t know where we are. Darkness surrounds us as we pull into what looks to be like an old and abandoned farmhouse. It’s in the middle of nowhere which scares me. If Declan was going to kill me this would be the perfect way of doing it. I swallow hard as my eyes yet again fill with tears. “Get out,” he says, opening my door. He still has the gun pointed towards me and as hard as it is, I do what he says. When I stand I brush myself off, trying to see if my phone is still on. In the car I tried to sit so that I wouldn’t accidentally hang up on Xavier. Not much he could anyway thousands of miles away.
We walk towards the house and up the creaky steps. He pulls out a key and unlocks the door. “Go.” He shoves me in first. It’s pitch black and I can’t see a damn thing, if my phone is still on he’ll see the light coming from it. I try to walk with my hands behind me, to cover any possible light.
He brushes past me turning on a small lamp that sits on an old rinky table. He exhales hard sitting down on a leather chair.
“What do you want Declan?” I ask softly, taking in my surroundings. He sets the gun on his lap and massages his closed eyes with his thumb and middle finger.
“You were at the club that night,” I courageously say and his eyes quickly open and hold mine. It seems he didn’t know about the picture after all.
“How do you—” he pauses.
“There was a photo taken of the three of us that night and you were in it,” I exhale, shaking my head.
“I know everything.” I stare down at him. His dark eyes continue to look up into mine.
“You don’t know shit!” He stands making his way towards me. He towers over me, but I look up at him anyway. I stare him straight in the eyes.
“Alex owed me half of that money.” His expressionless gaze holds mine. What ? My body begins to feel numb as I stumble away from him shaking my head.
“What?” I say as my voice gives away.
“You and Alex—” I pause as I now stare at a blurred outline of him. I try to hold in my sobs, I really do, but I am unsuccessful. Tears stream down my painful face. When I go to wipe my tears I noticed blood on my hands. He must’ve hit me harder than I thought. I dab at my face again and the sting makes me wince softly.
“Alex owed me three-million dollars, but the bitch went and got herself kidnapped too and then killed.” He says angrily and I can’t help but laugh with tears in my eyes. I burst out laughing, almost hysterically. I can’t tell if I’m completely scared shitless or if I really just don’t give a damn anymore. Declan's confused face makes me laugh even harder. For the life of me, I can’t help it.
“It looks like you're the one that doesn’t know shit.” I laugh. “Alex screwed you over too.” I tilt my head as his mouth parted slightly. “She faked her death and ran away with the money and with—” I pause as anger fills his face. “Emerson, is that the name she used with you? Or was it Elias? Hell, I can’t keep up with all the lies anymore.” I scoff, looking at the gun that is on his lap. I don’t think I could get to it fast enough.
“You fucking little bitch,” he comes at me and throws a punch straight for my face. I fall to the ground as ringing now throbs in my ears. I laugh as I look up at him. He’s going to kill me—right here, right now, this is it. I try to get up, but I stumble. “I helped kill every single person that was part of that fucking operation,” I cough as blood drips from my lip. I feel his foot kick my stomach hard and my phone goes flying across the room.
I watch as he slowly walks over to it. The bright light shines in the dimly lit room as he bends down and picks it up. “Xavier?” he says as he hangs up my phone.
My world splits in two. Part of me is glad Xavier was on the call, so the truth will eventually come out. But, the other part of me is broken that he heard all of this and couldn’t do a damn thing to save me.
Declan smashes my phone into pieces with his foot. I hear the glass crumble. My forehead sinks into the floor as all hope rapidly drains from me. I stare up at him as he holds the gun to my head. “Killing me won’t get you your three million dollars, Declan.” I shakily say, looking at the ground. “You’re right it won’t, but at least I won’t be reminded of it every time I look at you,” he says, cocking the gun.
My heart rattles against my ribcage as my hands begin to tremble uncontrollably. As terrified as I am to move I find the strength to reach for my necklace anyway. I run my fingers against the diamond lotus, back and forth slowly as peace begins to trickle into my body.
When I close my eyes, I’m sitting with Xavier. The two of us are sitting on the beach in Mexico as we watch our toddler make sandcastles. The sounds of the waves overpower Declan's screams. Our laughter drains out the terrified feeling and replaces it with peace and comfort like I’ve never felt before. I take a deep breath, but before I can exhale I hear a familiar sound.
Zip. Zip.
Declan falls to the ground right next to me. Blood seeps out of his skull and spreads quickly along the hardwood floors. Before I can comprehend what’s going on, I hear a voice I haven’t heard in what feels like forever.
“Miss Lina, are you okay?”
When I look up I see Carl and bursts out into a loud and uncontrollable sob. I feel his arms wrap around me as I cry, deafeningly. “Shh, it’s okay Miss. Lina,” he says, ushering me outside. When we step onto the front porch I see about a dozen men with guns. Xavier’s men. I lose control all over again.
Carl puts me into a black car and the two of us drive off down the dirt road. I watch him take out his flip phone and place it to his ear. “Sir, she’s safe,” he says before hanging up again. He looks over at me with a sympathetic smile before turning his eyes back to the dark road. I reach my hand over to his and he takes it gently. “I missed you Carl,” I murmur as I lean my head against the window. Tears continue to stream down my bloody face. “I missed you too, Miss. Lina,” he smiles, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.
────
Carl pulls the car over to the side of the dark road. I can see the city lights in the distance, but no one is around us out here. He pulls out his phone again and this time hands it over to me.
“Lina?” I hear Xavier on the other end of the phone. My breath shudders as I cry loudly. I try my hardest to pull myself together, but I can’t. I’m not one bit sad that Declan is dead, I’m sad because I just got Xavier back and the thought of not being with him shatters me. The thought of him potentially finding out I was killed utterly destroys me.
“Hi,” I cry into the phone. I hear him try to hold it together, but hearing him get choked up only makes me whimper even harder.
“How many times am I going to have to save your ass?” He says with a tearfully shaky voice. “This is the last time, I promise.” I sniffle into the phone.
“I’m on my way to you now, but I need you to listen carefully okay?” He says in a more serious tone.
“Yeah?”
“What do you want my men to do with the body?” he asks and I stay silent. Various thoughts rush through my head. If he wasn’t my brother’s good friend, and if I didn’t know his mother and father like I do—I would say he doesn’t deserve to be found. But he was my brother’s friend, and I had countless dinners with his parents who were always so kind to me. It’s not their fault that he was a part of this.
“Can you make it look like an accident?” I ask.
“I can.” He says.
“Okay.” I sniffle, trying to wipe the blood off my lip.
“I love you, Lina.”
“I love you too, Xavier,” I say softly as I wipe my tears from my face. I look up at Carl who is standing over me. It all clicks suddenly and I hold his stare. “How long did he have you following me?” I ask. He smiles at me as I sit back into the car. I watch him shut my door and get back into the driver's seat. “Let’s just say watching you walk into Nora’s cafe—right then I knew it was fate.” He winks at me.
Xavier had him watching me and keeping me safe all of those months. I stare out of the window of the car as my heart swells with so much gratitude for him. As if it wasn’t enough to save me just once, he continued to make sure I was safe all of that time. I smile as the city lights become brighter.