Chapter 104 The hit
Verena
It’s been two months since Jaden moved into the neighborhood, with Kian living with him and it was safe to say that Kian never approached me like Daxton and I thought.
I hardly even saw him. Only seldom. One time when I went grocery shopping with Matilda and I met him there and he had offered to pay for the things I bought—which I declined. Another time, I was walking Daisy down the street and his car drove past me and he had only honked at me.
The other time was when I went on a run and saw him on the other side of the street—running too. He crossed over to my side and for a second, fear almost clogged my throat, not until he slowed down by my side and asked me if I was willing to donate to an orphanage.
He showed me pictures of the children there, told me how the orphanage was struggling, and how he would like more people to donate there. He even told me to ask Daxton if he was willing to.
After I told him that I would think about it, he only gave me the social media pages of the orphanage home and told me to reach out to them if I ever decided to support the orphanage and then he returned to his own side of the street and dashed into a corner.
That summed up every encounter Kian and I had. And now, I was starting to believe that he had changed.
Daxton had told me not to be deceived that it was all part of his big game plan to make me relaxed. But, I believed he was only being paranoid.
The ones he should be bothered about were the two men who were stalking me.
Stalking? I didn't know if that was the right word to use. But I had spotted these two men on two different occasions following me and when they noticed I did, I stopped seeing them.
I haven't told Daxton about them yet but the next time I caught a whiff of them and was now confident I was in danger, I would alert Daxton.
“Why are you not eating?” I said, bringing out my own lunch while eying Emily who looked downcast.
She groaned, burying her face on the table. “I don't know. Loss of appetite? I am just in my own head,”
I raised a brow, digging my fork into my salad. “Are you okay?”
She raised her head and whimpered. “I don't know—”
What could be wrong with her? The ever-bubbly Emily hadn't been herself for a while now and getting her to talk about what was wrong was worse than a herculean task.
“But you are good, right?”
She shook her head, palming her forehead—only to suddenly sit straight. “Verena, do you think I am unattractive?”
I dropped my fork. “No, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. You’re a pretty face with a very beautiful heart,”
She sighed. “But why does he not touch me? Whenever I initiate sex with Jaden, he turns me down. We have never shared a deep kiss, only those kisses where our lips touch and he is already pulling away in seconds,”
“It is like he is being forced or tasked to date me. That is how I feel and it is killing me, Verena. He treats me like a stranger and gives me mixed feelings—”
My heart dropped to the hollow of my stomach on seeing the tears that shone in her eyes. I had tried to warn Emily about Jaden—telling her to do more investigation on his past life but she claimed he was perfect.
And the fault lay in her perception of his perfection.
Because, the Jaden I knew had been devoted to only one woman for years and his life revolved around this very person. He would always go over to her parents’ house for the holidays and go on adventures with her too.
Unless they had broken up—
Which I highly doubted. But Emily wouldn't listen to me. She would always find a way to shun me whenever I asked questions about him.
Or could it be that truly they had broken up and he was using Emily to get over his ex?
That had to be it.
“I am so sorry about this Emily,”
“I don't know. Honestly, I don't know because I really like him,”
“Are you sure he doesn't have someone else?”
“Girl, he doesn't even have a social media page…”
Wrong. Very Wrong. Jaden had an account where he always posted pictures of himself and his fiancée and all of this proved that something was fishy.
I had known something was wrong since their interaction at the housewarming.
After consoling Emily and making her eat, I removed my phone from my purse to find Jaden's social media accounts and show her the real Jaden.
But, I was soon taken aback when I realized that he had blocked me everywhere. Not only him. Kian too.
I blinked back at my phone, Emily’s voice dragging my attention back to her. “Is there a problem? You’ve been staring at your phone,”
“No, there isn't one,”
I tried to process why Jaden would just block me out of nowhere. Or could he have deactivated?
Maybe.
I shrugged the thoughts off and shoved them to the back of my mind and smiled at Emily. “You know what, fuck Jaden and you are coming home with me tonight and sleeping over,”
She smiled, slow and sad. “I would love to…but the boss scares me so much,”
“Daxton wouldn't be back in a week. He has left for Moscow to handle something very urgent and I have been left to sort out his business here while he’s gone. So, you can even spend the rest of the week with me—”
The sadness on Emily’s face cracked and her eyes brightened. “Really? I will finally be able to breathe in the office!”
I laughed. “Do we have a deal?”
“Deal!” She high-fived me.
“After we check out of the office, I will drive you home and you pick what you need, before we go clubbing tonight and you can't forget that dusty ass Jaden. But please keep your mouth sealed, Daxton can't know that I brought someone from the office into our house, okay?”
“My mouth is zipped.”
It was two in the morning and we had left the club, now returning home. Even though Emily was completely wasted, she kept singing aloud to the song booming from the car’s speaker.
“Screw you Jaden,” she shouted over the music, groaning. “Screw you for making me think something is wrong with me,”
I chuckled and joined in the shout, increasing the volume when—
The streetlights went off at the same time and it happened in a blur. A figure rushed in front of my car, a scream leaving my mouth as I slammed my foot on the brake.
But it was too late. Only a thud followed as the engine stalled.
My breath came in short ragged gasps as the grip of my trembling fingers around the steering wheel faltered. I turned to Emily. “Was…that…a…deer?” My voice was shaky.
Emily turned to look at me with horror in her eyes. “I think we just hit someone,”
“Oh My God,” I unclipped my seatbelt as I stepped out of the car, and with every second I took towards the figure sprawled on the road, my legs almost caved under me.
Emily’s voice trembled. “I will call an ambulance. Please check for his pulse,”
With my heart thumping hard in my chest, I dropped to my knees, about to check the man’s pulse when his facial structure struck me even in the stark darkness.
This was Kian.