Chapter 88 Chapter 88
He moved away from me, unable to look me in the eyes. I, on the other hand, grappled with fear from the ordeal I had just experienced. Yet, I tried to remain calm. I was not the enemy here, and I needed him to know that.
"I need some time alone. You should get out of here and get some rest." He said more to himself than was audible enough for me to know he was talking to me.
I got up, still shaking from the attack. I felt blood trickle down my neck from where his hands had grabbed my injury.
Returning back to the house, I knew that I could not allow Damien think like this. Despite the fact that I had found out things about him that had left me wondering whether I even knew him, I couldn't just allow those things define my alliance because I was stuck here whether I liked it or not.
He and I are stuck together whether he likes it or not. The pain in my neck worsened. With a sickly strength, I went into the bathroom and cleaned the wound again before reapplying a fresh band-aid.
As I lay down to rest for a bit, my phone beeped. I picked it up, and the message box popped up. Opening it my blood froze. It was Claudia, saying she had important information about the real leader of the Syndicate.
I had to share it with Damien. I rushed up to his office door before remembering his request to be left alone. I paused, taking a deep breath.
I glanced from his door to the information in my hand. I had to prove that he could trust me, and this was crucial.
I reached up and knocked, despite the ringing in my ear that blared I was trespassing. The door opened abruptly as if he had been waiting for someone to knock. I looked up and found him glaring at me.
"It's just me," I muttered to my own surprise. He nodded.
"I can see that, and I said I wanted to be alone. "
I swallowed. "You would want to see this." I raised the phone to his face. The message was encrypted, so it wasn't really traceable, but it was Claudia's number, alright.
Reading the coded message, Damien's face contorted into a frown.
"You're not going." He said strictly and ended the discussion like manner. I glanced up at him sharply, not certain what he meant by that.
"Why not? This could be very valuable intel. Think about it, we don't know why Alexander has been making the moves he's been making. He doesn't act like he is really running the show, but just like he has a personal vendetta he was trying to work out."
"We have walked into several sabotages today. Aren't you tired of being hurt?" He asked, his eyes holding my gaze daringly.
"I can take it if it will bring us to the truth."
The corners of his mouth rose in a smirk, and he passed me back the phone with a scoff and sat back down in his chair. "This is not a game, Lisa. This is real; you don't just jump on your hunches and get out there. You have to be willing to take the risk, and it could be a risk worth dying for."
"I understand the risk, and I'm willing to take it," I said judiciously, but he merely threw me a side eye and nothing more.
"No, I'll have my men look into it, go." He said coldly, and I turned around and left.
"But she didn't ask for your men; she asked to speak to me. What if she leaves once she sees them? And how do you intend to find her?"
"The same way we found her the last time. Go to your room, stay out of my way, and forget about the message."
He said it so strictly that it annoyed me. How dare he sit there and tell me what to do when I was trying so hard to get him ahead of the fight?
I went back to my room as he had instructed, but there was a clear huge strike in me going to my room, staying out of his way, and forgetting the message, and I did all three, except the message I chose to forget was his own.
I dressed up in black pants and a dark blue hooded jacket and waited for it to get dark. The benefit of the whole situation was that he wanted to be left alone, and I was following his instructions.
At exactly eight pm, I made my way out of the house the usual way. By the time I was at the other side of the gate, the cab I had ordered was waiting.
Claudia's message said to meet her at a secluded location. Following my map, we got into a town, and he dropped me just outside a tavern. I went in, but the place reeked of alcohol, sweat, loud banters, and desperation.
I made my way through the crowded room to the back, close to an exit, and I sat down. I dialed Claudia's number, but she didn't pick up. Moments later, I received another text from her asking to meet outside the tavern, at the back.
I followed the instructions and went out back and into one of the desolate-looking buildings with dimming light bulbs and peeling paint on its walls. The door I knocked on was made out of weak wood; it looked like it had barely survived its first day, much less a couple of months holding down the fort.
The door opened with a loud, annoying creak, and right before me, in the flesh, was Claudia. She looked hastily around before pulling me into the room.
Inside wasn't as bad as expected. It looked far better than the outside, even better than my previous run-down apartment. I almost understood how a woman like Claudia could stand living there.
She was hiding and it made me want to laugh, Damien would never have guessed that this was where she was.
I turned to face her, my eyes widened, alarmed, and I stepped back. She was pointing a gun at me.