Chapter 13

Adrian....

I cup my hands under the raining tap and splash the warm reliving-water on my freezing face, dripping with icy water droplets from the shower.

I grit my teeth when the warm water touches my cold face and slamming down my palms on either side of the sink, I glare at the sucker in the fogged mirror.

And to my utter agitation, that bastard glares right back at me, right in my eyes. He taunts me with his blue blue eyes, showing me that no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, I'm still that same person. It provokes me to smash the mirror with my fist and shatter it into pieces but I know it'll only feed into my dark urges to inflict more pain, whether it is on me or on someone else.

You're nothing but a twisted monster, a fucking sadist… a voice inside my head quips in my misery.

I steer my eyes away.

I can't even stand to look at my own reflection. It's becoming more and more real and unbearable, every fucking time.

I've just taken an icy cold shower after my run. My body is still shivering and quivering in the aftermath of the shower. But I'm still feeling restless, my muscles are coiled tightly and my breathing hasn't changed much.

I need a release.

I'm wound up too intensely.

But nothing is working for me anymore. The more I try to spend my energy on workout and running, the more powerful and ready to knock someone out I feel. I know sex can help but I can't stand it right now, not without adding pain in the pleasure.

This doesn't make sense.

I don't lose control like this.

I'm always cool and indifferent.

This doesn't feel right.

I haven't got any sleep since yesterday, I'm too unsettled to even sit quietly. I haven't even eaten anything since after I left Balthazar's property.

This is not good. I've never gone this long without eating anything.

Bert had been going crazy too, when I wouldn't stop pacing the perimeter of the Den. He was cursing me continuously because he couldn't focus on his work, so he had kicked me out and locked himself inside.

I haven't talked to him since then.

I think it's time to face him, he should have cooled off by now.

I grab a towel from one of the shelves near the shower stall and wrap it around my waist before stalking out of the bathroom to throw on some clothes. I have to find something to do and focus my mind on it before I can go apeshit and end up going back into Balthazar's territory to check if she's alright.

I won't lie to myself.

I'm fucked up over this girl. Royally.

I can't stop thinking about her, her mane of that dark black hair keeps swaying in front of my eyes as her chocolate brown eyes burn a fucking hole through my heart. The spark in her smile had left me dizzy when I'd caught her suppressing her amusement behind the curtain of her waist length hair.

I shake my head, wanting to haul myself out of the window for obsessing over that girl like this. I don't even know her and that is what eating me alive. I'm curious about her. If I had some clue of who she is or some details about her background, I might have been less obsessed but obsessed nonetheless.

Shit!

She's too young, Dammit!

Don't think of her in that way.

Racking my hands through my wet hair, I start pushing the thoughts of that enticing girl to the back of my mind and make my way to my office. I sit down behind my desk and open my laptop to go through my emails. My inbox is filled to the brim with messages.

Fuck! I had been so distracted that I forgot all about my business.

I quickly sort through the messages, scanning them and separating the important ones which I have to deal with immediately. While looking at the emails from my PA, Leila, I come across a private message from an unknown email address, attached with a few pictures and a short caption, "Count - 120. Delivery successful. All safe and in one piece. Taking to Rehab."

The short and clipped text gives away the sender. A satisfied smile settles on my lips when I go through the pictures that were attached with the message.

The girls have reached Tornado safely.

The message is from him only.

I quickly send a short reply, thanking him for everything and giving him some instructions before deleting the evidence of the whole exchange between us. I do a short work on the rest of my emails, mainly sending out commands and directions asked by the Managers and Directors of the different branches in my business.

When I'm finally done, I lean back in my chair and let out a deep breath. Thank fuck! All of them are safe now and away from Balthazar. Now I can focus on the case at hand.

“You look relieved.” Bert's voice pulls me out of my muses and I turn around to give him a nod, both in acknowledgement and agreement.

“That I am. I just got a text from Tornado, he has the girls and he is taking them to rehab.” I don't bother to temp down the acute relief in my voice. I want him to know how glad I am for such a big success without any hindrance.

Bert's eyes soften and a grin splits his lips, showing off his crooked white teeth. “I'm proud of you, brother. You've done a really great job.”

I shake my head, not wanting to take all the credit for the job well done by everyone. “If it wouldn't have been for everyone's support, I might have never been able to pull this off. It's the result of good team work.”

“And who had made that team of hand-picked people? Who had led them through every part of the plan? Who had made the plan? Who had stayed up so many nights and worked so hard to save those girls? Who had risked his life so many times to pull off the plan? — You!”

“Enough.”

I roll my eyes at Bert and he scowls in return. “You don't give yourself enough credit, Rain. You need to learn how to take a compliment.”

“I know how to take a compliment but I don't appreciate them when I know I'm not that much worthy.” I give him a stern look to stop him before he can start another argument about my worth. “Now, do you have some news for me or you just got bored and came out here to argue with me?”

“Yeah, right. I got distracted by some selfless jerk.” I ignore his comment, making him glare at me in annoyance when he doesn't get the reaction he had wanted from me.

“I've checked the documents you had sneaked out of Balthazar's office and you were right, the debt is invalid. That kind of deal had never been made between either of the families. That bastard made up fake paperwork.” He confirms my suspicions and runs his hands through his hair as though he's struggling with something inside.

I nod, then stand up to approach him quietly. There's something else he has found, but he's not telling me.

“What else?”

He gives me an uncertain look, his eyes dart away from me for a second, looking at a point over my shoulder. After a moment of deliberation, he licks his lips nervously before meeting my eyes again. He seems to have made up his decision now.

“The girl you had told me to look for yesterday, doesn't exist. Neither does this Danforth family. There are many people with the title Danforth but no one has a criminal record or has their hands in any kind of illegal business like it's mentioned in the paperwork of this fake debt. Rose Danforth isn't a real girl, there's no birth certificate or any identification means to be sure that she's real. Hell, even Josh and Caroline Danforth don't exist.”

I absorb the shocking revelation in silence and can only manage a soft nod for Bert when he looks at me with questioning eyes, asking if I'm okay and if he should go on.

“I know you didn't ask me but I did some research on Balthazar's family background too. There's no mention of any kind of deal between their family and any other. The track record of his family only shows that they've been involved in trafficking for a decade now but their truth has never been revealed. They have enemies but none of them have ever got their hands on any one of his family. Everyone started to fear him when he ended the Milton family. But after that, Balthazar's family didn't pull any stunt.”

“You know what I think. Balthazar is onto something really big and for that he needs this girl, otherwise why would he go to such lengths to get a girl? He could have just kidnapped her with no one the wiser, don't you think?”

I nod again, this time in agreement.

I've listened to his every word intently, trying to make sense of what he was actually trying to tell me.

He's right about one thing though, Balthazar is planning to pull off something really big this time. And the building block of his plan is this girl, whose true identity we don't know, yet. I don't know what his plans are but this girl is the key to his success.

“We have to get this girl.” I turn to Bert and he looks at me with surprised eyes. “From what you have just told me, I think she's a necessity for the success of his plan and if we take her away then maybe we can stop him.”

His eyes bulge when he realizes what I'm really implying to.

“You're willing to go to this auction for her?” His voice is pitched high, as though he couldn't quite believe what I've just said.

“Yes.”

“You're out of your mind! I won't let you go there. I know it will tear you apart like the last time you had been there. You had become a total wreck after returning from there.”

He's scared, I can feel the angst rolling out of him in waves but I can't let him weaken my resolve. He's concern is appropriate but his reaction is not. Too much is on the stack and I've got nothing to lose but…. Myself.... which is not a really big problem.

“I have to do this, Bert. Maybe this is my best chance to finish this chapter here only.”

“But there has to be another way. We can send someone else to bid for her in your place.”

I know we can but then Balthazar will never bring her up to sell if I'm not there. I know him very well, I know why he has chosen this auction. He thinks that I would never show up. But I'm going to prove him wrong.

He has no idea, just what I am capable of.

“Listen to me, Bert. Sending someone else in my place is not an option. Do you really think he would let me get out of there alive, if I bid the highest for her and win her over? He would have me killed before I can even think of getting out of there and if we send in someone else then that person will die in place of me, an untimely death.” I grasp his shoulders and stare deep in his eyes, silently asking for his understanding. “We can't risk an innocent's life, Bert.”

“What about your life, huh?” His voice is hoarse when he chokes out the obvious question. “Wouldn't your life be in risk if you showed up there?”

“Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.” I gulp.

Ironic…. I'm trying to reassure my little brother when I am myself in desperate need of that reassurance right now.

Will I be really fine? I don't know but that doesn't mean that I can back out of this now. It's better if I die while trying instead of living with regrets.

“Promise me you'll come back.” When I turn my eyes back to Bert, I find him holding up his chin in determination.

“I don't do promises. You know that very well, Bert.”

“Okay, then give me a guarantee, anything…. Just swear to me that you'll come back.” He slowly turns desperate, needy…. And my heart breaks for him.

“I'll be armed, alright? And I'll go with backup. You don't have to worry about me.”

“Then why aren't you saying that directly? Swear on my head that you'll come back, just for the peace of my mind.”

I don't respond and his eyes turn accusing as they glower at me.

“I knew it! You're lying to me!!” He shouts in my face and I clench my jaw, closing my eyes for a brief second and take a deep breath to steel myself for what's coming. “Do you even care about me? You were just planning to leave me here all alone and go there to die at his feet, weren't you? I know how your mind works. You're so fucking selfless, you never even consider about yourself.”

He's breathing hard and fast now…. But he's not done with me yet.

“I know how much you care about me, Adrian. I know how much you love me. You've always kept me safe and away from the ugly side of the world. But don't you understand, I don't want to be safe, if I don't have you. I don't want any of this but you. You're the only family I have. If you got yourself killed there then I'll probably end up hanging myself from the ceiling of this damned —”

“Albert stop! Stop it! Just stop! Nothing is going to happen to me and you're going to do nothing like that. I'll come back, I swear upon your head, I'll fucking come back. For you, only for you, dammit!” My thundering voice booms out, breaking the relatively calm of the room and my shouted words bounce off the bare walls.

We both stand inside the dark walls of my office, staring at each other while panting like we've been running for hours. My heart is pounding inside my chest and my eyes are burning with unshed tears.

Fuck! What the hell have I done?

This can go terribly wrong.

“I need something to drink.” I immediately run out of the office like a coward, when panic takes over me.

I reach the kitchen and head over to the fridge. I pull out two bottles of chilled water and slide one across the granite island, out of habit before uncapping the other bottle and taking big gulps of the life-giving water.

My mind is strangely blank after the outburst I had there. I'm feeling unusually peaceful and light, as though someone has just lifted a heavy weight off of my chest.

After a few minutes, I hear the sound of the bottle opening and find Bert standing across from me and sipping up on the bottle.

So he has followed me after all.

Silently, he meets my eyes and holds my gaze with a smirk. I raise an eyebrow in return to his smugness.

And suddenly, I crack a smile and we both burst out laughing.

It's so abrupt that it catches me off guard and we start laughing harder when we realise how ridiculous this whole situation is and how absurd our reaction is to that situation.

“Damn! Stop laughing, Bert!” I manage to push out those words in between the fits of laughter.

“You stop first.” He manages to form the words in between his own hysteria.

But neither of us stops and after what it feels like eternity, we have finally controlled ourselves. Bert is lying on the floor, clutching his stomach and trying to suck in some much needed air while I'm leaning with my back against the counter to catch my breath.

“Woah… That was crazy man.”

“Yeah, totally crazy.” I nod my head in agreement. “By the way, why did you start laughing?”

“I didn't start it. You did. You're contagious as fuck. You don't know how hard I was trying to stop but I just couldn't, not while seeing you laugh like that. I have rarely seen you smiling and I had almost forgotten how dangerous your laughter is. But you reminded me today and now my stomach is twisted painfully.”

“Sorry.” I apologize, sarcastically.

“I forgive you, my son.”

A stupid grin cracks out on my lips despite my annoyance at his choice of words.

“You know what, Rain? I'm dying to meet this girl now. Don't even dare to think about returning back home without her in your arms.” Bert perks up from down on the floor. “I sorely want to know how she's done that.”

“Done what?”

“Have you wrapped around her pinky finger.”

And just like that, we fall into another fit of laughter.

Some things never change, I guess.