Chapter 50: WORRIES
Arianna
There’s a loud ringing noise in my ears when all the city sounds fade away, only to reveal the thunderous beating of my heart, which feels like it will burst from my chest any minute.
The red dot on Vincent’s chest stares at me like a curse when my wide eyes connect with his, my tears falling down my cheeks. His expression is worried, but soon it clears with a lethal malice, and with fast reflexes, he pulls me to the side, right when a bullet rips past our heads, grazing his cheekbone.
Roughly yanking me to the side, he doesn’t waste time and speeds us to the car. Unlocking it, there’s another bullet coming when it shatters the window beside us like a warning.
From the message, the person didn’t want to kill me, so he was only doing this as a warning to make me leave Vincent.
He thinks I’m that stupid?
I was safer with Vincent than alone, knowing he is experienced with these types of situations, I trusted him to protect me.
Opening the driver’s door, he pushes me inside so I can crawl to the passenger seat and jumps right behind me behind the steering wheel.
“Seatbelt,” his sharp order pierced through the car, making the tires screech and the engine roar. Closing the door, Vincent starts the engine and presses on the gas pedal, speeding off in no time.
“Duck your head, don’t let them see you.” Vincent is in full protective and killing mode right now. Pulling his own gun from his holster, the car takes a sharp turn at the next intersection when a car pulls right behind us.
Vincent fires two shots at the car, and I almost scream when they hit their target straight on the windshield. He was aiming for their tires.
My breath hitched when they swerved sharply to the side, hitting the wall of a house behind them with a loud thud. Vincent’s grip on the wheel tightens as he accelerates further down the road, taking the exit before the road opens up again.
It takes several minutes for the pain to subside as the adrenaline rushes through my body while we drive faster and faster, not stopping until we reach home, the adrenaline wearing off. Once Vincent parked the car near the garage, he turned to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the car immediately, locking the car door behind him.
Taking the elevator to his penthouse in silence, he then drags me along with him, and we walk through the kitchen to the living room, Vincent pushing me ahead of him.
I stumble, almost tripping over the carpet with the sudden force of him holding me upright. He then stops by the couch, and my dizziness returns from what just happened.
Watching him take his phone, he dials someone, and his voice is cold, without any trace of emotion,” I need backup immediately. Bring Tomass along with you. Someone wanted to take us out, and I need to find them tonight.” Not waiting for a reply, he hangs up, exhaling a harsh breath of suppressed anger.
Turning towards me, like he just remembered that he is not alone, he strides over to me and gently grabs my jaw to lift my eyes to his.
“Who was it? Do you know who could target me through you and threaten you?”
I can hardly swallow when I answer,” I don’t know. The person texted me for the first time. No one ever threatened me or anything. My clients are always satisfied with their purchase, and no one seemed interested in me like that. Except for Charles, of course, but you killed him.” The sarcasm in my voice didn’t go unnoticed by both of us. I was still in shock after the gunfire attack, so I couldn’t believe that I was too calm about the fact that he had killed somebody because of me before.
I was too nervous about someone hurting Vincent because of me.
Maybe I was also crazy.
Tightening his hold on my jaw, he grits his teeth, and I feel like he is holding his anger at bay.
Nodding his head, his harsh breath was hot on my face,” All right, sweetheart. Give me the phone,” when I obey him without questions, his eyes soften slightly because of my trust in him but I just watch how he reads the message again and the longer he reads the words of the threat repeatedly, the faster he becomes angrier when his hand almost crushes my phone in his hold.
“Son of a bitch,” cursing under his breath, I touch his chest to bring his attention back to me.
“What are we gonna do now? He can kill you, and I don’t want anything bad to happen if you go after him. What if he provoked you on purpose to make you catch him so he can trap you and kill you?”
He blinks. Then, unexpectedly, he can’t help but grin. For a second, I don’t understand what is so funny, but then he speaks again.
“You being protective over me is cute, little rabbit, but did you forget that I hunt criminals? I will make sure the bastard is caught in no time. You will never be scared again, so don’t worry about me, all right? No one will touch you, and if they thought messing with me, they will get to you; they really don’t have any idea who they are dealing with. They will regret the day they even thought about you.” his gaze and words are cold but still reassuring. I believed him.
“So what now?”
Vincent looked down at my phone in his hands again,” I will trace the phone number and try to see his live location before I can go after him. For the meantime, you will go rest while I go make preparations for finding him.”
“Rest? What do you mean, rest?” My confusion was evident:” You will go after him alone?”
Catching my pleading expression, Vincent shook his head with instant denial, like he expected me to help. Try at least.
“You will not go anywhere with me while it’s not safe. You will stay home with two of my trusted men while I go find the man responsible for terrorizing us, so before you start protesting, it will not help; the answer is no.”
“But-“
“You can only help if you answer some of my questions, so I can try to find a clue about who it is, because how come the man didn’t contact you sooner if he suddenly threatened you?” Raising an eyebrow, he expected an answer from me, like I was hiding something.