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Yeaj

Eric brought the Benz to a halt beside the street and several meters away from the house address that Alex had given him. Then he turned off the engine and reclined in the car seat with his eyes, making a careful surveillance of the neighbourhood that he had arrived at. The place was very unlike the rotting eye-sore that he had been to yesterday night. The residential area was relatively clean, with rows of modern low-cost single-unit houses.

He remained seated in the car and monitored the activities in the area for a while, watching some of the residents, both young and old, who were idling around or getting busy with their daily routines. He also took mental notes of the adjoining streets and some of the vehicles that were parked in the place.

Eric spent close to five minutes doing his surveillances and then reached for the car compartment box. He opened it and took out the loaded Nighthawk firearm with two extra magazines. The scenery around the neighbourhood was indeed looking good with a pleasant and serene atmosphere. But still wasn't convincing enough for him to step out into the cool, fresh air without his loaded Heater. An AK-47 also laid under driver's seat incase if it boils down to making a louder statement in a static effecting, noisy disagreement: He wasn't taking any chances at all after Rangel had sneaked up on him last night.

He made one last check on the pistol, tucked it in his waistbelt, and adjusted his white T-shirt to conceal the weapon. Grabbing the jacket lying on the front passenger seat, he unbuckled his seatbelt and alighted from the car. A few stares from the residents standing outside were thrown at him as he shut the car door. One was a look of admiration from a girl of his age, on seeing the wheels he had rolled into the neighbourhood with.

Eric paid no heed to them, including the young man standing next to the girl with a cloud of envy on his face. He donned his jacket and started walking, and he did so with the gait of one passing through a familiar territory. His composure was relaxed but still maintained his state of alertness. He made glances around the neighbourhood and its Tortilla-brown painted houses that were well arranged on both sides of the street as he walked past them, making his way toward his intended destination; the building with the matching resident number in the address that Alex had given him.

On getting closer to the house of his destination, Eric made a pause with a few more glances around him to be sure that he wasn't being followed. Then, he made his way across the grass lawn and stood at the front door. He paused again for a brief moment with his eyes staring at the doorbell knob and then thumbed it.

The sound of the doorbell buzzing in the house was heard, and a graveyard silence followed as he waited for an answer. And it grew long as if none was forthcoming even though he could sense someone being in the house.

After a little longer in his wait for an answer and getting none at all, Eric then pressed the doorbell knob again. This time, the door was opened almost immediately while his finger was still ringing the bell, which also took Eric by surprise. It was as if the occupant in the house had been waiting on the other side of the door. And he then saw himself staring at a man standing before him.

The man was fairly built, and probably in the mid-thirties of age. He had a bushy but well-kept beard on his face. The look in his eyes was sharp, and with an expression of unpredictability, written on his face.

Those sharp eyes regarded Eric with a long searching stare at first, before the bearded face turned friendly at him.

"Yes, can i help you?" The man asked with a kind tone of voice.

"I'm here to see Annette," Eric replied.

"Oh... you must be a friend of hers," the man remarked with a smile, to which Eric affirmed with a nod. "Well...." he moved to the aside to give ground. "...come on in," and his hand motioned at Eric to come inside the house.

Eric did accept the offer. But the mannerisms that came with it, he wasn't buying at all. The man's invitation was too immediate, just as he had opened the door on the second ring of the doorbell, and too quick to raise questions about the motive behind it. It did raise Eric's suspicions, seeing that the man didn't even bother to ascertain his relationship with Annette or find out the reason for wanting to see her.

"Thank you," Eric then said, staying more alert and returning the smile he was getting from the man that brought to his mind the hyenas he had seen in a wildlife tv show.

"You're welcome," the man acknowledged kindly.

Eric nodded and walked past the man, sensing being closely watched by those sharp eyes as he stepped into the house.

He found himself in a midsize, cozy living room with a grey coloured rug covering its floor. He stood at the center of the room with both hands tucked inside the pockets of his jacket, absorbing its layout. He made glances at the substantial number of its modern furniture that were rightly set in their respective positions. He also saw the doors that led to the other rooms in the house, his eyes counted four, and immediately knew that it was a two bedroom flat with a single bathroom and kitchen.

"Not bad at all," Eric inaudibly remarked to the living-room setting before resting his eyes on the man who had shut the front door and walked up to him.

"Please..." The man continued with his kind gesture and waved at the sofa. "...make yourself comfortable," he offered, to which Eric acknowledged with a nod but chose to remain on his feet. "So..." the man continued, rubbing his hands together. "..i hope you wouldn't mind me asking your name cos i only know a few of Annette's friends."

"Alex," Eric informed him.

"Okay....Mr Alex," the man nodded. "Annette always stays in her room whenever she's not doing anything...listening to loud music with her headphones," he continued with a cheeky smile. "Let me call her." Then he proceeded towards one of the doors, knocked a few times, and opened it.

Eric immediately took his hands out of his pocket as the man disappeared into the bedroom. He kept the one closest to his concealed weapon, ready for a speedy reach while he listened to the indistinct voices in the room. He noticed one being that of a female's. Moments later, the man emerged from the bedroom with a girl following after him. She did so with curiosity written on her face.

Eric saw the girl, and at that moment he suddenly realized that he hadn't been given the full description of Annette, which left him in some kind of limbo: Eric couldn't tell if the man had presented the person that he wanted to meet, or just dealing with an individual that's out to bring a f@cked-up idea to play.

The dilemma was quickly put to rest when the girl stopped in her tracks and fixed Eric a gaze of recognition. The gesture was enough to have him feeling very sure that he was indeed staring at Annette.

For a long moment, Annette stood in silence with an unblinking gaze trained on Eric. She's still trying to make sense of what was transpiring in her house after being shown the person whom she had been told was waiting for her in the living room.

Hi," Eric began at her with a wave of hand, wondering if the salutation would make the girl, whom Alex had described as unfriendly, to be willing to have a conversation with an uninvited guest. But he only drew a brief flash of an incredulous look from her.

After another long moment of regarding Eric with a searching stare, Annette shook her head with a low sigh, then folded her arms and leaned her body against the bedroom door frame. As much as she had wanted an explanation as to how he had gotten her home address before telling him to get the hell out, she was highly intrigued by his presence in her house and wanted to know the reasons.

"Aren't you supposed to meet Sharon?" Annette asked Eric with a tone of indifference in her voice after getting over the shock of seeing him in her house.

"Already done that," Eric replied coolly to the question and saw it as a good start.

"Today?"

"No... we had our discussions yesterday."

Annette furrowed her brows. "But i heard her telling you to meet her today," she noted to Eric.

"I guess she must have had a change of mind later on after you had left the club," Eric stated.

"Hm..," Annette smirked with a knowing look on her face. "And so the discussion must have ended with her giving you my home address," she said.

"That's right," Eric agreed and threw a glance at the bearded man, who was now sitting on the sofa with his attention fixed on a page of a magazine.

"I guess that's the reason why she canceled the appointment that we were supposed to have today when i called her this morning," Annette sighed. Her head tilted to the side with a short-lived funny smile at Eric. "And you must have done more in helping her ex-boyfriend to play his cards right cos she also told me that she's in his place."

"Glad to hear that," Eric said indifferently and nodded at the news that had no relevance to him.

"So...," Annette continued and unfolded her arms to adjust the collar of the pink, flowery design pajamas she wore. "....how is Lisa doing?" She asked.

"She is okay and in the country for the holidays as usual," Eric replied.

"Are you guys still dating?"

"I was with her this morning."

Annette then smirked with an incredulous stare at Eric. "Is she even aware that you were coming to see me?" she asked.

"She doesn't have that much of interest in my day to day activities," Eric bluntly replied. Then, feeling impatient with the discussion that was leading nowhere, he said, "I came here for something very important that I would like to discuss with you."

"What is it?," Annette demanded inquisitively and, at the same time, quite taken aback at how fast she had opened up to be having a conversation with him.

She had wanted to ask him to state the reason for coming to see her. But there's something about him. Something she couldn't really explain, but it made her feel quite relaxed to the situation.

"We will have to do it privately," Eric told her and glanced at the bearded man.

The bearded man then got to his feet. "You guys don't have to worry about me," he began, glancing at his wristwatch. "I'll be on my way cos i have something to take care of." He looked at Annette. "Are you gonna be okay with just the two of you?" he asked her. Annette gave Eric a brief stare and nodded at the man. "Will you be needing anything in case if I have to drop by again," he asked, to which she gave a short thought and shook her head at him. "Well then...," the man smiled at her. "I'll be seeing you soon." Then he shot a glance at Eric, nodded at him, and made for the front door, taking the magazine with him.

"Who's that guy?" Eric said to Annette after the man had walked out and closed the door after him. "Is he always that too nice as to make people feel like he wants to stand in line to kiss their ass?" he snorted.

"That's my uncle," Annette said to Eric with a tone that expressed her dislike for what he had said about him. "And you better watch how you talk about him," she warned.

"Oh, okay," Eric murmured unapologetically. "It's like your uncle does care a lot about you," he went on quietly.

"I never knew that i had one until three months ago," Annette said. "He's just trying to catch up on the years of not being around for his niece, and he is the only family that i got." Then she sighed, backed into her room, and motioned at Eric to come inside.

Eric glanced around the living room one more time and then made his way into the bedroom.

Closing the door behind him, Eric made casual glances around Annette bedroom. It looked to be well organized with a good setting. A medium-sized reading table stood next to the bed with numerous books neatly stacked on one side of its surface and writing materials on the other side. His eyes shifted to the big wardrobe that had one of its doors wide open, made a quick study of the clothings that hung in it, and then he sat next to Annette who was now sitting on her double-sized bed.

"I don't usually bring anyone into my room, most especially first-time visitors." Annette began and grabbed the pillow lying on her bed. "But don't start getting the wrong idea about me, though. And it would be in your best interest not to let Lisa know that you were here," she stated and rested the pillow on her laps.

"Okay," Eric nodded at the statement that was also of no relevance to him.

"So...," Annette continued and stared expectantly at Eric. "Can you tell me this...thing that's so important," she demanded and fixed him an attentive gaze.

Eric paused for a brief while. Then he said. "I think there's something going on in town. Something very bad. I could be wrong, but from the way i see it, someone out there is after going after some people, girls, to be exact." He made a brief pause again, and then went on, "And these girls seem to have some kind of a connection in one way or the other."

"And the reason for you wanting to meet Sharon is because you think she is also in the mix," Annette put in.

"Yeah, sort of. But I'm still not sure about it," Eric said.

"And i guess you feel that Lisa might also be involved in it too," Annette added.

Eric gave her a curious stare. "What makes you think so?" he asked.

Annette then regarded him with a knowing air around her. "Is it about the recent murders in the news?" she asked, and the question immediately left Eric staring at her with furrowed eyebrows. "The dead bodies of the girl and her boyfriend that were discovered in a park today," she went on.

"Go on," Eric said, his gaze now turning very attentive.

"Is that really why you're here?"

"I didn't come here to chew the rags with you."

Annette heaved a heavy sigh and lowered her gaze to her side. "I thought I was the only one that had noticed it," she murmured with an anxious look, clouding her face. "I was even beginning to feel that i was going paranoid."

"Now that you have been convinced that you weren't losing your mind, you can as well tell me what you know," Eric demanded firmly.

Annette chuckled and shook her head at Eric. "And what are you even gonna do about it if i tell you, huh?" she asked him. "Break into houses and play Mr Tough-guy?" She sneered. "I do know the dead girl very well. The dead guy was her boyfriend, a well-known tough guy and also a gang member." Annette then regarded Eric closely. "He's indeed a very tough guy, and very unlike those cheap chumps you had ran through in Angel's house long ago," she told him.

"Why don't you just tell me what you know, and let me decide on what kind of guy i will be playing," Eric said coolly.

Annette chuckled again. Then she tossed away the pillow and quietly got to her feet. "Why don't we discuss it over the launch," she said and went towards her wardrobe.

"Lunch?" Eric sounded flabbergasted.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything yet because i was supposed to meet Sharon for lunch," she replied as she stared at her clothes, deciding on which one to wear. "And since you are the reason for that appointment being canceled, you will be buying me one," she continued.

"Can't we just talk it out right now and then have your lunch later?" Eric grunted as he got to his feet, too. "I am on a very tight schedule today."

"There are a lot of things that we will be talking about," Annette said without looking at him. "You don't expect me to do all that with an empty stomach. Unless you wanna use your tough guy abilities to get what you want," she continued and reached into the wardrobe to pick out some clothes. "And i guarantee you that it won't get anything out from me," she added.

Eric heaved an impatient sigh.

"You might wanna wait in the living room cos it will surely be a holiday of running riot for Lisa if she also hears that you saw me changing clothes.

Eric sighed again and quietly walked out of the bedroom. He was out of the place before Annette started pulling off her pajamas.

Several minutes later with Annette having changed into a beige coloured blouse with blue jeans and white casual sneakers, both of them walked out of the house. She locked the front door, made a check to be sure of it, also checked the contents in her pink purse, and then joined Eric who was waiting for her at the front lawn. They started heading towards the direction where Eric had parked his vehicle after he had told her that he came with one.

After walking several meters away from the house, " Hey!....Annette!" Both of them stopped in their tracks and looked over their shoulders to the direction where the voice came from.

"Goddammit," Annette hissed frustratingly as two young men made towards their position with quick strides.

The men came over and stood infront of both Annette and Eric, looking quite aggressive. The one that had called out Annette's name, then regarded Eric shortly with a smug smile on his face before turning his focus at Annette.

"So is this the f@cking monkey-shine that you and your friend are pulling off with us, huh?" he asked her curtly.

Annette firstly regarded the man that threw the rude question at her, then turned to his partner, and saw herself staring at a physique that's built like a white Rhino. He was the taller of the two, even though the other guy was quite tall, and with a puffed up rock-solid chest under the black t-shirt he was wearing. Her eyes then traveled from the unsettling scowl on his face, to his frame that was made swollen by the abundance of muscles.

Seeing the guy's build and his cold glare, did indeed shake Annette to the core. But she still maintained a look of defiance that was directed at him, though finding it quite difficult to do so.

"What are you talking about?" She then began at the first guy.

"You damn know very well what I'm talking about!" The guy fumed at her. "I should have known that Sharon hooking up with me was a whole big fucking scam being orchestrated by you and her!" he continued angrily.

"Scam?" Annette snorted. She folded her arms with a funny look on her face. "Talking about scam, weren't you the one that lied your way into Sharon's heart?" she asked. "Or did you see me tell her anything when the both of you were having your misunderstandings last night?"

"You must have said something to her!" The man insisted with a blurt. "And probably the reason why you brought this motherfucker to threaten me!" he went on and pointed at Eric who then narrowed his eyes confusedly at Annette on hearing those words.

"Threaten you?" Annette regarded the man with a flabbergasted look. "You had four of your friends with you, and you were the one making the damn threats," she told him.

"Who is he?" Eric curiously asked Annette with a whisper. This immediately drew a fixed gaze from her that stared confusedly at him. As if he had vehemently insisted that one plus one equals fifty.

"Is this some kind of joke...or did i miss a public announcement about you boys going crazy today?" Annette quietly replied Eric's question with a glare.

"You better keep your f@cking mouth shut" the guy put in curtly at Eric. "You and i gonna have a talk when I'm done with her," he fumed, pointing a finger at Eric's face.

"Leonard, please, we don't have time for this right now," Annette then said seriously. "There's something very important that we are now running abit late in attending to," she continued. "You know where i live. And if you also want to have words with him, then i will gladly bring him to you," she went on, pointing at Eric and making him look even more confused. "But as of now, we are very busy," she concluded, grabbed Eric's hand, and made a move to leave the scene.

But Leonard's big friend moved and stood in their way. "Where the f@ck do you think you are going?" he growled at Annette. "We ain't done talking," he went on, and folded his big arms with a hard stare at Eric.

Eric, while still keeping his cool toward the blatant show of intimidation, then regarded guy that blocked their way. He ran his eyes from the guy's big chest to the condescending glare on his face, and then smiled faintly on seeing the differences in the capabilities after sizing him up.

The damages will definitely be a one-way street if the guy decides to start a physical contest. But Eric's unwillingness to deal with the dusts that he might raise from probably overdoing it, greatly overrides his yearn to leave the guy with a boatload of hospital bills and heartbreak.

With that in mind, Eric decided to keep silent, and also stayed cool. And he let Annette to handle the situation by herself. Unless.

"Perhaps, i will have to call the authorities if you don't tell your friend to get out of our way," Annette warned. "And if I'm forced to do so, then I will make sure that both of you are gonna fully regret it!" She further warned with a raised voice that attracted a lot of stares from the people in the neighbourhood.

Seeing all the attentions that Annette had drawn towards them, Leonard then nodded. "You better start watching your back cos it ain't over," he threatened. "Be sure to relay the message to Greg and that b!tch." He looked at Eric. "And i hope your Supreme Hustlers friend will be protecting your ass too." He then motioned at his friend for them to leave.

"We can atleast take his good-looking shoes for a start," Leonard's friend suggested with his eyes on Eric's black sneakers. "I wanna see how much of the tough guy that he is."

"Nah, i will be taking more than that when i get him," Leonard muttered and started walking away with his friend following, after giving Eric one last glare.

Annette eyed both of them as they left and started moving. Eric stayed briefly with his eyes staring at the men, then glanced at his sneakers and followed after her. He caught up, and guided her to the parked Benz.

"I don't wanna hear any complains about my choice in the menu when we get to the restaurant," Annette began irritatedly as she shut the door and grabbed her seatbelt.

Eric paused in his move to buckle his seatbelt. "Meaning what?" he asked with furrowed brows at Annette.

"Well, i just saved your ass from the Gorilla that Leonard brought with him," Annette sighed.

Eric proceeded to slide the belt tongue into its buckle with a smirk on his face. "But i didn't say the guy was too muscular for me to handle, though," he noted.

"Whatever, tough guy," Annette muttered. "Just drive."

Eric shrugged and then brought life to the car engine. He thought about her last words as he put the vehicle in motion, wondering if it was a compliment from her, or him being mocked at.


Matt remained hidden in his car and watched as the Mercedes drove past him. "They are now on the move," he spoke quietly into the his cellphone mouthpiece. Then the sound of engine turning over was heard, and another car that was parked several meters away from where the Mercedes had been standing, started moving in direction it went. "The boys are tailing them now," Matt continued. He listened to the voice rasping from the phone earpiece. "Yeah, i told them what to do, as you have said. The girl won't be touched, and i told them to bring the guy to us unfailingly." He listened again with his eyes staring intently at the two young men that were now walking past his car. "I will do that, boss," he concluded.

Matt ended the phone call, and immediately got out of the car. "Hey guys," he began at the two young men and got their attentions. "Can i have a few words with both of you," he continued and walked toward them as they stood, staring curiously at the person whom none of them had ever seen before.


******************************************

Phew!!!!!!!.....
Thanks for the updates, Trust you are doing great and back for good now

welcome back op u made my day
thanks for the update

do4luv14:
Phew!!!!!!!.....

Thanks for the updates, Trust you are doing great and back for good now

Yeah bro. Thanks for the comment.

Abdulreheem:
welcome back op u made my day
thanks for the update

Ur welcome

Welcome back bro

Welcome back

fabulousbrainzz:
Welcome back

Hey bro! How are you doing? It's been a very long time.

SO you still came back to continue this story God bless you

Ubong001:
SO you still came back to continue this story God bless you

Bros, I would have probably finished it by now. But it was my dad's funeral that put a hold to this story. Now I'm straddled with a lot of responsibilities being the head of the family. Not to talk of the one I have here with me. I hope you do understand my situation.

ironkurtain:


Bros, I would have probably finished it by now. But it was my dad's funeral that put a hold to this story. Now I'm straddled with a lot of responsibilities being the head of the family. Not to talk of the one I have here with me. I hope you do understand my situation.

I dey follow you like slow and steay bus ride on

Welcome back boss

Boss abeg come give us small update

"Mmph!," Annette nodded with satisfaction after emptying her glass of club soda to wash down the last bite of the steak and potato salad she had been having. "This meal is indeed the meaning of life being good," she elated.

Eric had been watching in silence throughout the sawing and spearing of her knife and fork. He gave Annette a faint smile, seeing how delightful she was, despite having his patience being pushed to its limits by the way she had eaten her food with a lot of delay.

He then reached for his glass of the orange juice he was having and made glances around the Steakhouse that was teeming with customers.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself," he said quietly to Annette and took a sip from his glass.

"If i have to die now, i will surely go with a smile on my face," Annette chuckled.

"Okay, but before that...." Eric left his glass on the table. "....i think we should now get down to the business at hand."

"Well...of course." Annette moved her empty plate aside and rest her elbows on the table with a long moment of silence, her eyes staring at her folded arms. "You were right about the connection," she then started. "The girl and her boyfriend that were found dead in the park yesterday morning, the other girl that was gunned-down in a carjacking two weeks ago, and the one that killed with her entire family member in an armed robbery last month." She looked at Eric. "They were all members of Angel's fraternity."

Eric narrowed his eyes on learning that there were two other victims, which he hadn't been aware of, being in Metro-city at the time of their murders. But Annette has also confirmed his suspicions, and he wants to push further for more information.

"Do you know that for sure?" he asked.

"Didn't i tell you that i was in his house the day you went berserk?" Annette furrowed her brows at him.

"Were you also a member?"

"I was the one who brought up that idea."

Eric then stared at Annette with growing intrigue.

"I also helped him in creating it," Annette continued.

"And what were the reasons behind that idea anyway?" Eric demanded curiously. "Did Angel have any political ambition or what?"

Annette regarded him shortly with a plain Annette regarded Eric shortly with a plain look and stared absent-mindedly at her empty plate, recollecting of the past event.

"Angel had a problem that has to do with girls," she then told Eric.

Eric snorted. "Are you telling me that even with his popularity and being from a rich family who also commanded a lot of respect among his rich friends, he was finding it very difficult to find a date?" He asked with a chuckle.

"No. He only likes to...you know....get it on with only virgins," Annette said.

"Well....," Eric snorted again. "I do know that finding such girls in this time and age is one hell of a work. But with his credentials, i don't think it would have been an impossible feat for him."

"Yeah," Annette agreed. "But he's the guy with little patience. He always wants to get what he want and at the time he wanted it," she stated.

"Oh i see," Eric nodded, now knowing what Annette meant. "He just doesn't want to put in the necessary work that should be done to achieve his aim," he said quietly. "So that's why he had rumours of rapes hovering around him," he noted.

Annette nodded. "That's the reason why i suggested a fraternity," she said.

"So as to do what? Make him have an endless supply of virgins to rape?"

"No! To see if he could learn a few things about females and get to know how to approach them in the right way, other than forcing himself on them."

"Nah, you should have had him buried in a prison cell where he would have gotten a painful re-education from behind by monstrous dudes that love guys like him."

Annette shortly regarded Eric with a plain look. "Do you think all his victims wouldn't have done that if his father wasn't going around paying them off or using his influence to keep it swept under the rug?" She asked.

Eric pursed his lips and thought about what Annette had said. "But why would you even wanna help that creep?" He asked.

Annette sighed. "He was putting his dad through a lot of bad sh!t," she replied. "His father was a good man, and it pained me a lot seeing what Angel made him go through despite he trying his best to put his son in the right path," she added.

"Well, he should have probably allowed his son to suffer the consequences of his action," Eric shrugged. "Which, to me, still remains the best way to sort out such problem."

"Mr Adams had always wanted to do that," Annette said. "But....". She paused for a short while with a thoughtful look on her face. "....he always seemed to be finding it very difficult to do so. It was as if he was being stopped by....something, or perhaps, someone," she continued thoughtfully "There are times he did confront Angel, but Angel just blew him off, and very rudely in every occasion. And the man just stood there, looking very helpless for a man with a lot of influence," she added.

Eric nodded thoughtfully.

"My idea was actually working though," Annette continued. "It made him the center of attention for the girls. It kept him very busy in trying to decide on which girl he would have because there were a lot of them that willing to jump into bed with him in a snap due to his popularity, the virgins included." She then fixed Eric a gaze. " Until your girl, Lisa, came into the fold. And everything then went to sh!t," she muttered.

Eric smirked on hearing those words. "Don't tell me that you are blaming Lisa for your plan nosediving into the gutters," he said, fully knowing the entirety of what really happened.

"Of course!" Annette elated. "Things wouldn't have ended up taking the wrong turn if she hadn't shown up, trying so hard to become one of us."

Eric sighed and averted his gaze away from her. "I really don't understand what you are talking about, though," he then said indifferently.

"Does it even matter if you do?" Annette scoffed. "She got into trouble, and you just swooped in and left a trail of carnage in saving her," she muttered.

Eric regarded her with an incredulous stare. "Well, i do remember very well that Angel and his friends had wanted to run a train on Lisa before i dropped by," he said.

"That wouldn't have happened if she had just kept to herself, instead of showing off with her sassiness and constantly hovering around Angel, trying hard to get his attention cos she wanted to join his inner circle of friends," Annette countered. "If Lisa had taken her time to get to know him and what he was about, she would've found out the kind of person he was," she went on.

"Look," Eric then began and moved his weight in his seat with a grunt. "Lisa was only being friendly to the people around her," he sighed. "Angel himself was a rotten piece of sh!t, who got too bold with his demons cos his pops always covered his ass for all the bad stuff that he did," he went on indifferently. "And no matter how you try to convince yourself of giving him the much needed help, it still doesn't change the fact that he's a rotten piece of sh!t. The only help you can render to guys like that is giving them the taste of their own medicine. That's all. So don't bring Lisa into this," he warned.

"What you just said about Angel is true," Annette agreed. "He was probably even worse. But all I'm just saying is, if Lisa didn't come around, things wouldn't have gone up to this level ," she stated.

"Can you give me a clear explanation as to why it was so," Eric demanded.

Annette sighed. "Well, after the incident that he had with Lisa at his place, it threw him into the bad light amongst his peers and everyone that knew him," she said. "It did cost him a lot of friendship and brought a lot of disrespect, especially from the girls, whose attention he had always enjoyed."

Annette paused, thought for a brief moment. "All his victims started having the idea that the way you had handled him was the best course of action," she continued. "So they all lined up to take their own pound of flesh for what he had done to them, and the line was indeed a very long one. His friends who remained loyal to him started thinning down when they themselves started becoming the crash dummies for those that were on a serious collision course with him, i also took a lot of smoke too, and with his dad washing his hands off him, he became nothing but an empty noise maker. That's why the authorities who investigated his death were left with a long list of suspects, which also includes you, Lisa, the dead girl and her boyfriend, and even Sharon who had once put her hands on him for having the nerve to threaten her."

Eric nodded severally after Annette finished talking. He then blew out his cheeks and reclined in his seat, making glances around the restaurant as he analyzed what she had told him. What he did had indeed set off a lot of chain reactions.

"But now that he's dead with nobody still calling themselves his friends, and his parents dead too, so who else could it possibly be that would be out to hurt these people?" Eric muttered thoughtfully as he rested his sights at the table of an older couple having a minor dispute between themselves.

"I don't know." Annette shook her head. She stared at her empty plate for a short while and looked up. "I've been trying to...." she then paused abruptly.

"Been trying to what?" Eric asked. But he didn't get any response.

Eric averted his eyes away from the couple and saw that Annette was still as a suspicious mouse with a fixated gaze ahead of her. Something behind him seems to have gotten her attention in a big way, and probably what made her stop short in her statement.

Sensing the likelihood of it being something unpleasant, Eric made no attempt of looking behind him to see for himself.

"What's it?" he asked her.

After being in that state of transfixion for a short while, Annette then lowering her gaze. "Alex, we have to leave now," she finally spoke quietly to Eric with her voice sounding quite nervous. A look of anxiety was also written on her face.

Eric's eyes narrowed on seeing that Annette's lively demeanor had suddenly turned unsettled. "What is the matter?" he demanded again.

"I want us to leave now," Annette insisted and made another quick look at that position again. "Please, we have to leave this place," she said again with a quiver in her voice.

It was now clear that Annette had been spooked by something behind him. Eric decided to make the check. He remained still, thinking of how to investigate without being noticed with his eyes making quick glances at everything that lay on their table. His sights finally rested on Annette's purse, lying next to her elbow. He then slid his hand towards it and motioned at her to hand it over to him.

Annette did as she was told without questioning his motive. Getting out of the restaurant as soon as possible was the only thing she could think of right now.

Eric opened the purse and took out what he was looking for and what he had expected to see inside it; a small hand mirror. He held the mirror in front of him under the pretext of checking his 360 waves haircut while monitoring the activities going on behind him with it.

After making a few turns to an angle with the mirror, Eric finally saw Annette's source of concern. It came in the form of two men at a corner table behind him. One was burly looking, and the other had a stoutly built frame.

Both of them appeared to be minding their business with the occasional sips from their soda cups. But Eric still noticed the careful surveying glances their stone-cold looking faces were making at his position and knew for sure that they weren't in the restaurant for the food.

"Two ugly looking guys,...one wearing a brown trench coat, and the other in blue jacket." Eric gave Annette the descriptions of the two men sitting behind him.

Annette affirmed with a nod.

"Do you know them?" Eric asked.

"Only the fat one," Annette replied, referring to the burly looking man. "I have seen him before," she murmured.

"Who is he, and how did you get to know him?" Eric demanded.

The question made Annette's face turn gloomy with a downcast gaze, and Eric immediately knew he needed not to be told that it was a bad experience for her.

"Please, can we go now?" Annette asked again, as if pleading for them to leave the restaurant.

Eric pursed his lips and then dug his hand into his pocket. "We have to pay the bill first," he said quietly and took out his wallet. "And you have to stay calm," he warned and slid his credit card toward Annette.

Annette gave Eric a brief stare of discomfort, hesitated a bit, and got to her feet. And she then left for the table, taking the card with her while Eric continued watching the two men through the mirror.

"Thank you very much," the young female receptionist said cheerily to Annette and handed the credit card and receipt to her with a smile. "See you again."

"I don't think so," Annette muttered inaudibly and hurriedly accepted only the card. Then a hand got hold of her arm, and she almost jumped in fear.

"Let's go." Eric took his card from Annette and gave the receptionist a faint smile. "Get a hold of yourself and stay calm," he continued and guided her towards the door.

"I am trying," Annette gasped quietly as she followed his lead.

Eric then walked Annette to the door and opened it for her. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the two men now standing at the front desk and being attended to by the ever smiling receptionist.

On exiting the restaurant and stepping on to the pedestrian filled sidewalk of the busy street, Eric started walking in the opposite direction from where they were supposed to go. He did so with Annette in tow.

"Where are we going?" Annette protested, stealing a glance over her shoulder to look in the other direction that led to his parked car. "Shouldn't we be going that way?" she asked, staring confusedly at Eric.

"Just follow me," Eric told her. "I want you to act normal and don't look back," he continued with his hand still wrapped around her arm and almost dragging her with him as he increased his pace.

"Are they following us?"

Eric looked over his shoulder and saw the men dashing out of the restaurant and making searching glances around the street. He turned away before they they could notice that he was aware of their presence.

"Are they following us?" Annette asked again.

"As expected," Eric replied.

"Oh God!" Annette heaved with increased agitation. "What are we gonna do? How did they even find me?...or is it possible that they saw me that day?"

Eric ignored her frantic questions. He was still trying to come up with a better escape plan. Having Annette in tow would make it very difficult for him to just shake the men off. Going for a shoot out is out of the question because wouldn't want to risks putting Annette in danger, not to talk of the men catching up to them before he being able to find a proper place where he wouldn't have to worry about innocent bystanders getting hit by stray bullets.

Eric then saw a narrow pathway to an alley ahead of him. "Now, I want you to grab my hand and make a quick turn to the road on your left," he told Annette. "You have to play it nice....as if you want us to do something naughty," he continued.

"Oh, for Christ sake!" Annette groaned. "What's that gonna do? Make them hide their eyes from us?"

"Just do as i say!"

The two thugs then increased their steps to close the distance between them and two individuals they had been following. Their initial plan for a fast traffic-stop kidnap had just taken a turn to the back burner on seeing that their subject was taking a different route instead of going to the vehicle as they had expected. One of them was about to make a phone call as instructed by the other before the target suddenly made a sharp turn into an alleyway.

Both men immediately upped their pace, almost pushing a few pedestrian out of their way as they ran toward the alleyway. They made their diversion into the narrow dirty place that has a dead end ahead, and stopped on seeing the bags of trash and dirts that littered every corner of the place without their target and the second individual in sight.

They made wild searching glances around the alley, looking confused. One of the men trained his eyes at the parked garbage truck ahead of them and got suspicious. He then made a motion at his partner, who then nodded and followed as he moved toward the truck with his hand being held close to the handgun tucked in his waistbelt.

The men slowed down their steps when they arrived a few feet away from the truck and slowly approached it. They got to the front of the vehicle and took a quick peek inside through the windscreen. Seeing nothing at all, they slowly proceeded towards it rear-end, moving stealthily till they caught sight of their subjects.

The young woman was standing with her back against the wall and her arms around the shoulder of her male partner, who was standing very close to her. Both of them seemed to be on the verge of getting intimate with each other.

"Hey! You two lovebirds!" The big man began at them.

Eric looked over his shoulder with a somewhat mischievous smile at both men. "What?" he demanded, putting up an expression of being disappointed by their presence.

The stoutly built man then stepped forward and said, "The both of you should come with us."

Eric made glances at both men. "And who the hell are you guys?" he asked. Annette stared at them, trying to hide her fear as Eric had instructed her. "We are not doing anything illegal here, and you guys don't look like the cops," he went on.

The man pulled out his handgun, cocked and pointed it at Eric. "Do i look like i give a f@ck? Get moving, and don't waste my f@cking time, pal," he told Eric sinisterly. The big man drew his trench coat aside to reveal his own weapon, too.

Eric immediately held his hands in front of his chest. "Hey man, take it easy," he said quietly, pretending to be scared by the sight of the weapon.

"Move it!" the gunman ordered.

"Okay, chill... we are coming," Eric obeyed. Annette moved behind him, murmuring her exclamation to God.

"Tell Rogan to get the car ready," the man told his burly partner and beckoned at Eric with his pistol. "Tell him where we are," he continued as his partner turned away from them to make the call.

Eric kept his sight on the man's weapon as he moved slowly toward him and also watched the man's partner from the corner of his eyes, timing his movement toward the man holding the gun with that of his burly partner that was reaching for the cellphone to make the call. At the exact moment at which the big man's attention was fully focused on the screen of his phone, Eric had placed himself at the right position to make his intended move.

Eric's arm suddenly shot at the unsuspecting man's handgun. He got a firm grip on the gun slide and jammed his thumb against its cocked back hammer. The sharp movement prompted the startled gunman to immediately reacted with a pull of the trigger.

Nothing happened.

And at that moment, with the man getting panicky on seeing no action from his firearm, Eric's other hand speedily came with a clenched fist and rocked him with a stunning blow to his jaw that briefly separated him from his senses. Another sharp move followed, and Eric expertly dispossessed the man of his weapon in no time.

The big man immediately dropped his cellphone on seeing the sudden scuffle and reached for his own weapon. But Eric was already on him with the pistol he had taken from his partner being sent flying toward him.

The weapon struck the big man's face with pinpoint accuracy and force. The stunning blow broke his nose and stopped short his adventurous hand from grabbing his gun. Eric smashed another blow into the face of the other man and made his move to close in on the big man as his partner crumbled to the ground.

The big man was yet to recover when Eric came at him and sent his big body staggering backward with an uppercut that almost knocked his big head off his shoulder. He then yanked the man's pistol out of his waistbelt and clobbered him to the ground with it.

Annette stood still, staring astoundingly at Eric as he picked up the other pistol from the ground and quickly tossed the weapons into the back of the garbage truck. Her gaze was still fixed at him as he took his position between her and the men, who were now scrambling to their feet after shaking off the concussions they had taken.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked without looking at her as he maintained his gaze at their assailants. But she was too scared to give him an answer.

"Like i said, you bastards don't look like the cops," Eric then said to the men as they glared at him with murderous intent and at the same time, seemingly taken aback at how fast he had disarmed them. "Which means that it's gonna be very easy for me," he continued. "So you all better start talking, or none of you will be leaving this dump," he told them.

But the men had already decided on a totally different option. They made it known by rushing wildly towards Eric, who made his own move too, and got in between them to let loose his intention of getting up-close and personal with them.

Dodging a blow from the big man's meaty arm in the close quarter combat, Eric drove a wicked right hook into the other man's face and broke his jaw. He drew back the fist to deliver a backward elbow strike that increased the big man's facial injuries as he came from behind. The fist then switched into a knifehand strike that came back at the other man and broke his shoulder blade. Eric's left fist got into the action too. It drove deep into the man's side and broke some ribs. Switching back to the big man, the left fist drove into the thug's chubby face and knocked out blood and an agonizing groan from his mouth before his partner then got put down with a vicious leg kick to his foot that dropped him on one knee with a broken ankle, followed by a brutal knee kick that broke his neck and knocked him out cold to the ground.

Seeing that his partner wasn't moving anymore, the big man launched another desperate attack. He ragingly went at Eric with blood and spittle flying out of his profusely bleeding mouth as he bawled out curses. But he was about to find out that all his efforts would be in vain and regret his actions.

Eric outmaneuvered all the moves and wild punches till the man's big body started giving in to fatigue. The man relentlessly threw another straight punch with an agonizing grunt. This time, Eric ducked skillfully and replied with a cross counter that hit the man's face and threw his big body into an uncontrollable backward stagger.

"Is that all you got, you fat f@ck," Eric mocked, and the big man furiously made another wild dash. Eric's arm then made a sharp jerk, and Annette's steak knife that he had hidden in his sleeve made a quick slide into his palm.

Annette, who had been standing and staring dumbfounded as Eric destroyed the thugs who were several sizes bigger than him, caught sight of the cutlery flashing into his hand. She immediately knew that he was about to take the reckless violence to a deadly level.

One moment, she was staring with a frightened look as Eric ducked the big man's punch and dropped low with the knife in his hand. The next moment, the look on her face turned horrified as the blade sank deep into the man's knee joint. Eric then swung a kick at the big man's other leg, knocking it out from under him to throw his body off balance, and she gasped to the sickening sound of the damaged knee joint cracking under the man's heavy weight.

The big man bellowed an agonizing groan, and his entire body wobbled as he tried to support himself on one leg. Eric immediately grabbed the man by his jacket, stunned him with a headbutt that weakened his last footing to the ground, then propelled his body as he was collapse to the ground, and rerouted his destination towards the garbage truck with a leg kick that added more momentum to the fall.

"Oh lord!" Annette exclaimed when the big man landed head first against the steel frame of the truck with a violent thud. She then covered her mouth with wide eyes staring at the trail of blood he left as his body slided from the body of the garbage vehicle and collapsed heavily on the ground.

Eric was already going through the pockets of the big man's unconscious partner.

You’re really good bro… can’t wait for the next episode

thanks for the update

Thanks for the Update, as usually it was a blast
I learnt Another new world today
" A blow that separates him from his senses "🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oshare you are very good mehn

Boss, so you still came back to give us another update God bless you Thanks

Thanks for the update brother

"Are they dead," Annette then asked shakily.

"I don't know," Eric replied as he also rummaged in the pockets of the big man. "But they will be passing a lot of time in the hospital if they aren't, and that's for sure," he continued and then straightened up with the men's cellphones in his hand. "Let's get the hell of here," he said to Annette and tucked both devices in his pocket.

Annette immediately followed him, muttering, "What sort of sh!t have i gotten myself into."

It was quite a surprise that the violent fisticuffs in the dirty alley didn't draw any attention from the pedestrians as they walked into the main street. Eric then paused in his tracks, reached into his pocket, and took out of the men cellphone that was vibrating an incoming call. It must be from the third man and the driver of their car, whom the burly had wanted to call.

Eric stared at the number on the screen of the phone for a short while. Then he turned his attention towards the direction where he had parked his car and started walking briskly.

Annette immediately followed as Eric moved, seeing the look of deadly intent written on his face, and endlessly muttering, "Sh!t..sh!t..sh!t," because she already knew what he was about to do next.


"Still haven't heard anything from them yet," Rogan spoke into his phone mouthpiece with tobacco smoking receding from his nostrils. He briefly paid attention to the voice that rasped out of the phone earpiece, then said, "I will call them again, and if they don't pick up, i will have to go check up on them," and ended the phonecall. He sighed, took another drag from his half-smoked cigarette, and decided to let a few minutes pass before making that call.

As he was doing so, he then caught sight of the young woman who had been together with the subject they had been tailing. She was making her way through the parking lot and was alone. His eyes took a closer look through his darkshades, and he immediately got out of his car on seeing that she was indeed the girl.

Making glances around the parking lot, he searched for his two partners. But they weren't in sight, and neither could he see their subject. In his confusion, he took out his cell phone and held it close to his ear after dialing a number with his eyes staring keenly at the girl as she moved.

Annette tried to maintain a steady footing as she made her way towards Eric's Mercedes. She had noticed the man's strange gaze at her after he had alighted from his vehicle. One of the cellphones that Eric had given her was now vibrating an incoming call with the man now making a move toward her with slow paces. And just as Eric had instructed her, she waited until she had reached the side of a parked van before answering the call.

The man heard Annette's voice and immediately ended the phone call with an overly flabbergasted look on his face. His paces then turned to quick strides as he went over to her position where she was now standing with her back at him.

On getting close to Annette, the man then roughly grabbed her shoulder, startling Annette in the process, and made her face him.

"How did you get that phone?," his hoarse voice asked with a wicked glare in his eyes.

Just like his strong hand had grabbed her, another stronger hand did grab him too, and forcefully turned him around.

"This is how she got it." He heard.

Whoomp!!

The man was stunned by the blow that hit him squarely in the face; Annette immediately scuttled away from him, knowing that his involuntary accidents won't stop until he stopped moving.

Whoomp!!

The man's darkshades flew off the bridge of his nose as if fleeing from the next blow flying at his face.

Whomp!!..whomp!!..whomp!!..whomp!!

The blows fell the man into a sitting position on the ground with his back against the side of the van.

Whomp!!..whomp!!..whomp!!..whomp...Whomp!!

The back of his head left dents on the side of the car from the impacts of the blows going at his face

Whomp!!...Whomp!!...Whomp!!.

Eric was done. He cleaned the blood that covered his knuckles with the man's shirt and straightened up with the man's cellphone in his hand. Then he started heading towards his parked vehicle without saying a word to Annette; she immediately followed after glancing at the latest victim of his one-sided beating.


*****************************************

Annette heavily dropped her weight onto the seat of the Mercedes and slammed the door shut. She remained still with a downcast gaze with breaths of anxiety as Eric sat on the driver's seat.

Eric took one look at her and then leaned toward the compartment box. He opened it, took out a plastic bottle of water, uncorked, and held it in front of her.

Annette immediately snatched the bottle from Eric and took several gulps of the water. "That was indeed crazy," she heaved quietly.

"What?" Eric asked.

"It's true that your sudden show of courage and display did shock a lot of us back then," Annette continued and drank some more from bottle. "But what..in the serial-killer..have you become?" she asked.

Eric smirked. "Why don't you just tell me what you know about those men," he demanded.

Annette finished the content in the bottle, exhaled heavily, calmed herself down for a short while, and said, "I once saw the big one with two other men in Angel's house."

"How long ago?"

"A few days ago."

Eric thought shortly. "Was that before Angel's father killed his wife and committed suicide?" He asked.

Annette gave Eric a gloomy gaze. "Mr Adams didn't commit suicide," she said quietly to him. "He and his wife were murdered."

Eric furrowed his brows at her. "But i thought the cops said that it was murder-suicide," he said, looking confused.

"No." Annette shook her head. "I saw everything. I was there when he and his wife were shot to death, " she said.

Eric went mute. He was dumbfounded by Annette's confession to being a witness to double murder.

"I was in his house that day," Annette went on with the profounding revelation. "After hearing the story of what happened to my mother a long time ago, something gruesome, which he was also involved in." She heaved a sigh and clenched her jaw with some anger written on her face. "So i went to his house to confront him about it. He did confirm the story and tried to convince me that he was forced to play a part in it, and that was how i found out that it was his reason for taking care of me and sponsoring my education after my mother died."

Eric nodded. "Did he tell you what really happened?" He asked.

"He was trying do so before the men showed up at his place," Annette replied. Then she stared ahead thoughtfully for a long moment and said, "It was as if he already knew what was going to happen and forced me to hide in a secret compartment in his house. Even the housekeepers weren't around."

"He must have sent them all out of his house," Eric noted.

"I guess so," Annette agreed with a sigh.

"Did you get to see the other men?" Eric asked.

"I only had the chance to see that big bastard cos i couldn't risk getting caught," Annette replied. "But i did hear Mr Adams speak to one of the men, and they see seem to know each other very well," she went on. "The guy did mention Angel's name, said something about him, and he was majorly pissed at Mr Adams from the way he sounded."

"So what else happened?"

"The man and Mr Adam had a few heated exchange of words, his wife got shot dead despite her begging for mercy, more exchange of words followed, and then Mr Adams got killed."

Annette then turned to her side and away from Eric to hide the tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered Mrs. Adams tearful pleas for her life before the gunshots rang out. It really broke her heart.

"Did you tell anyone else about this?" Eric asked.

"No," Annette replied and dried the tears that had tickled down her cheek with a swipe of hand. "Just you, Alex,"

Eric nodded. Then out of curiosity, he asked, "What happened between your mother and Mr.Adams?."

Annette fell silent for a short while and then looked at Eric. "He raped my mother, and i am the product of that dastardly act," she told him.


******************************************

1:30 pm.

Rangel dried his face with a hand towel and stepped out of the bathroom with only a shower towel tied around his waist. The motel room where he and Jessica had passed the night looked unimpressive and cheaply designed with a few near worn out furniture except for the bed mattress that was soft and comfortable.

Rangel draped the wet towel on the arm of the single chair in the room and looked at Jessica, who was now ending the phone call she was making while he was taking his shower.

"What did Reggie say?" he asked, standing in front of her with his hands adjusting the shower towel wrapped around his waist.

Jessica tossed her phone on the bed with a frustrated look on her face. "He said we should get out of town immediately," she replied slowly, then sighed and rested her elbows on her knees with her face buried in her palms. "I can't believe what's going on," she whined quietly.

"Nah," Rangel immediately disagreed with what Reggie had advised Jessica as the best course of action after she had informed him of what happened at her place last night. "I ain't f@cking going nowhere till i get that motherfucker Bronco," he insisted with a vehemence that tightened the chiseled muscles on his bare chest and abdomen as he heaved those words out.

"Will you stop with this..getting Bronco!" Jessica suddenly blurted out, sharply lifting her head from her palms, and glared at Rangel. "Can't you see that our lives had gone to sh!t!" she continued with a raised voice, unable to contain her annoyance and have had it with his revenge mission that he had spent most of the morning, rambling incessantly.

Rangel was left frozen with his hand still holding his towel as he stared at Jessica, and quite taken aback by the sudden outburst that she rarely made.

"Now i have lost my job, and i can't go back to my house," Jessica went on. Her eyes was now watery from its welling up tears. "I have no where else to go! It's not like I can even move freely in this city again!" Then she turned away from him and heaved a sigh. "Have you forgotten that all our money is in my house?" she asked, this time with a quieter sullen tone of voice.

Rangel's mouth turned agape as he continued staring fixedly at Jessica, suddenly remembering telling her to take out all their entire savings from the bank. Collecting that money was his main reason for being in the neighbourhood in the first place before getting caught up in the mayhem that struck at Jessica's house, and he having forgotten about it in the excitement of their narrow escape.

"We don't even have enough for our bus fares out of this city," Jessica muttered as Rangel then moved and sat quietly beside her with a downcast gaze and looking extremely worried. "Not even enough to feed ourselves today for crying out loud!" she added.

Rangel now saw their dilemma. Even though they had escaped unscathed from last night's brush with death, they were now in a major fix. They are now flat-out broke with no money to relocate or even for food, and no place to lay their heads. They weren't even sure of how long they would be staying in the motel room, and Jessica won't be finding another job anytime soon. Not that she would even want to risk having Bronco getting his hands on her.

He pondered on the money they had left behind while fleeing the house. More than the loss of his brother, it did leave him with a broken spirit and feeling utterly defeated.

It was a lot of money. Some of it was Jessica's entire savings, which she have been making for over three years, and the rest being the only victory that he had scored in his ongoing war with Bronco: he had taken a large amount of cash from Bronco's top enforcer, who happened to be the guy that murdered his brother on Bronco's orders, before killing him.

Jessica's money with his big score, was damn more than enough to have them well settled and living in any location of their choosing, if he had listened to Jessica's advice to abandon his plans for revenge. But he was so bent on his mission to get the main guy that's responsible for his brother's death, and ended up losing all of it.

After a long while of thinking to himself in silence, Rangel then looked at Jessica who was now sitting with her head bowed and sobbing quietly with a sullen look on her face. He hurt seeing her in that mood, and it made him place a hand on her shoulder. He then stared ahead as he comforted her with a gentle rub on her shoulder, his heart pounding hard to the seething anger of knowing that Bronco still has the upper hand.

"Baby, I'm very sorry," he began quietly. "I didn't know that things would turn out this way. It's just that...my brother meant a lot to me just like you...and it pains me a lot to see the guy who's responsible for his death, still moving around freely," he said, rubbing her shoulder gently. "If i had known that it will leave you going through all these, i would have probably put it aside and...perhaps, we would have left this city earlier and start a new life somewhere else,"

Jessica sighed again. Then she nodded and wiped the tears in her eyes.

"But i will certainly make sure that nothing happens to you while i look for a way to get us out of this city as soon as possible," Rangel continued. "And that's for damn sure," he concluded to her with a reassuring voice.

Jessica nodded again and looked at him. "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you," she apologized quietly. "It's just that I'm overwhelmed by everything that had happened. That Bronco is a very very dangerous man." Then she shook her head. "Can't you see that he even got to find out about us. I'm so scared of what might happen next, especially to you."

"It's okay, i do understand how you feel." - Rangel pulled her closer to him. "I will make sure that you will never go through this again." - and gave her a peck on her forehead.

Seeming to be calmed by Rangel's assurances, Jessica then eased back "I think i need some rest," she murmured and laid her back on the bed.

Rangel got up and changed into his boxers. and top tank. He then joined her in bed and both of them laid in silence with each having thoughts on their minds. As the minutes of silence went by, Rangel, who had kept an all night watch over Jessica, could no longer fight the sleep that was now catching with him, and he fell into deep one.

But Jessica didn't. She was now analyzing the thought that had crossed her mind, which seemed to her, to be the only option at hand for their situation. It involves her leaving their room, and the neighbourhood where their safety was the only place it was guaranteed. Rangel would definitely object to her leaving his side for any reason whatsoever. With him now lying next to her and snoring like a baby, this was the only opportunity for her to carry out that intention. She will deal with whatever feelings that he will be having for her action when she gets back.

Bearing that in mind, Jessica quietly got out of bed, and she did so carefully not to wake Rangel from his sleep. Then she went into the bathroom to clean herself up.



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