"No, I won't let you."

I regret saying it as soon as those words came out of my mouth because I can see how much it has affected her. The change of expression on her face gives me a hint of anger rising through her body. but she hides it very well from me, not allowing me to take a peek at whatever she is feeling right now. I see a scowl appearing on her face and then she lets it go. maybe hoping to get a try on making me change my decision. why does she keep on expecting from me? it wouldn't take a genius to know that I am the bad guy here.

"But wh... why? She stutters saying that. "I swear I wouldn't tell anyone about you and whatever business you have here. you can trust me with that." She tells sincerely. I can sense the honesty in her voice. I know that she is being truthful to me. if she is saying then it means that she wouldn't rat on us.

But she doesn't understand that its not the problem. I don't fear her exposing us to the cops or anyone else. She is being ignorant about the fact that the reason behind me not releasing her is different. I don't know why I am doing this? Fuck! what is wrong with me?

"Please let me go." she pleads to me.

I look around Finding something to come up with an excuse to make her stay with me a little longer. Then only my eyes fall upon josh.

"Wait till Josh wakes up." I blurt out without knowing. I look back at her. "Don't you want to witness the outcome of your tough grind?" I ask her hoping she would say yes. She doesn't look at me but keeps staring blankly at Josh.

I move closer to get her attention back on me. She meets my gaze and I tell her. " You have way more potential than you think you do." What she did was just amazing. I know she is a vet and surely has the knowledge of such stuff but still, without being a professional doctor she managed to do a great job.

She looks at me with an unreadable expression as if she is thinking about considering my offer. She doesn't say anything. Looking back to josh one more time, she nods giving me the answer I wanted. Relief flows through my body but I know that I lied to her. I lied that I will let her go once josh is up. She would hate me for doing this. But for now, I don't want to think about it. When I look back to her she lets out a yawn rubbing her eyes.

"You must be tired. It's really late now, I think you should get some sleep." Again without saying anything she shakes her head agreeing to what I said.

"Come on. Let me lead you to the room."

I walk out of the room closely being followed by her. Max is standing outside talking on his phone. I tell him to keep an eye on Josh and inform me whenever he wakes up. I walk down the hallway, leading her to one of the rooms at the far most corner. It is a warehouse so we don't require to have a place to make it like home. Even in the other spots that we own across the country, we don't have anything near to it because we mostly do only work-related chores. So people don't appreciate living here. yet we managed to get some of the rooms with fairly enough furniture considering our comfort level. Just in case we need to stay here.

I open the door and stand against it making way for her. Her arm brushed against my chest rising an unusual feeling in my stomach. I dismiss the thought immediately. The room is much worse than to be called basic. With nearly nothing as such of use. It has only a queen size bed with a nightstand. A small window facing it and an attached bathroom on its left.

She walks straight to the window and stares out of it. I know that she doesn't want to stay yet I am keeping her here. I hate myself for doing this but I can't help. I realize it only now that I don't even know her name. What am I doing without asking for her name? I clear my throat to get her to look back at me. I make my way towards her as she turns around.

"I am Christopher Harris." I extend my hand expecting her to introduce herself too. But she doesn't do that. She doesn't even look at me. Great! On your face Christopher.

"No problem." I retrieve my hand feeling rejected. "I forgot to tell you that my men brought your purse too while bringing you here. I would get something of use from it which would help me to know you better." I say that with a smirk. within no time she looks at me glaring. I surely know how to get back at people. after all I am fucking Christopher Harris.

"Nicole Johnson," she tells with her significant nervousness looking back at her shoes. she walks away from me and leans back at the wall beside the window. I guess she doesn't want to be anywhere near me. but I wouldn't let her run from me. my legs automatically make their way towards her until I am standing right in front of her. I don't know why but I keep both my hands on either side of the wall trapping her in between them. she gasps at my unexpected action. her lips trembling as she fights against the urge to look into my eyes. I place my hand under her chin raising it to meet her gaze. as I look into her deep blue eyes I find myself getting lost in them.

"Nicole Johnson," I repeat her name slowly tasting each syllable of it with my tongue. I lean into her unknowingly. my face just inches away from hers. then to my horror, I see that her left cheek is swollen as if she has been slapped. my eyes now flicker to her lips and I find a bit of dried blood at its corner. How the hell I didn't notice this before? maybe I wasn't this close to her earlier. my blood boils with anger at the thought of someone hurting her. whoever is responsible for this doesn't have the right to live. I would rip their head off their fucking body. but why do I feel like this? why do I care about her? I don't care about these thoughts now. first I want the answer to the most important question that I have.

I move away from her fearing that I would suffocate her with my proximity.

"Who did this to you?" I ask her clenching my jaw. my hands curling up into fists on their own accord.

"The big guy with the tattoos," she whispers. I knew it was tony. that bastard is gonna fucking lose his life. I guess he was planning on getting killed by my hands today one way or another. I turn around and storm out of the door looking for that piece of shit. I discover tony discussing something with max outside of josh's room. I lunge on him throwing fists on his face before he can register anything. He stumbles back as I keep on punching his face. max intervenes to save him from my wrath pulling me away from him. I revert composing myself. but the anger is still radiant on my face.

"What the fuck Chris?" Tony says spitting blood from his mouth.

"WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO HIT HER?" I yell at him clenching my jaw.

Tony stares at me with a puzzled look unaware of what I am talking about. after some time his expression changes letting me know that he got who am I referring to.

He sneers looking at me. "That little bitch was being a pain in the ass. I had to do it in order to get her fucking mouth shut."

"Don't you ever call her that. Okay?" I tell him gritting my teeth. Anger streaming through my body, I try to take a step forward this time aiming to his throat. Before I get my hands on him max stops me jerking my hand off.

"What is wrong with you Chris?" Shaking his head in frustration Max asks.

Without paying any attention to max I take a step towards Tony, now standing right in front of him.

"I Dare you to fucking touch her again. swear to god I'll make you regret your own existence on this earth." I shoot an irritated glare at him. "Let me make something very clear to you. Not only her, don't you ever dare laying a hand on any woman. It isn't appreciated in our business ethics. Never do we hurt women and children, no matter how bad things we do." I look straight into his eyes. "It isn't in our conduct. Do you understand that?"

Tony stares at me in disbelief as if he is hearing that from my mouth for the first time. What the fuck? Did I say it in Greek or what? Why does he look so astonished? I don't know but I have been getting such looks a lot lately. I look back to max and see him having a similar expression as such of tony. They are looking at me as if I have said something which I would never say. why is it so hard for them to believe? after all, it should be known to everyone that only a fucking coward would try to hurt women. I don't know from where this came to me but I always know better than to lay a hand on women, I have never seen my parents. but I guess it is in my blood.

Suddenly my phone starts ringing, I fish it out of my pocket and find Richard's name flashing. Shit! due to this whole Josh ordeal, I forgot that I had a meeting with Richard. I turn to max to tell him that I am going to meet Richard and that he has to take care of Nicole while I am gone. max is the only person that I trust here. I wish I could see Nicole once before going but I know I don't have time. anyhow she is going to be here, I can see her later. without wasting another second I storm out of the building.

Nicole

I sit down at the place where I was standing minutes ago when Christopher was here. I bring my knees to my chest holding them tightly. closing my eyes I lean on to them and replay everything that has happened in the past few hours. tears start to brim in my eyes but I try to hold back them. I am not weak, I won't cry, and after all this Christopher has assured me that he will let me go once josh gains his consciousness. when I was brought here, I was terrified about what will be happening to me. I was getting myself prepared to encounter the worst considering what I have gotten myself into. but when I saw Christopher, everything changed. something in him made me believe that I was safe, that he wouldn't allow anything to happen to me.

I believed him when he said that I should stay until I get to know if josh is okay because a part of me wanted to do the same. I have always treated animals as in my profession but never did I operated a human being. this was something new for me. the moment I saw josh bleeding, the only thing that came to my mind was to find a way to save him. I couldn't let someone lose their life in front of me no matter what they do. because that's how a doctor thinks, he doesn't care about his patient's background, if he is a good or bad person. the only thing he cares about is to save his life. So I did the same, I did everything in my hand to save him and I am glad that I was able to do it. I am just hoping that he makes through it.

I remember how Christopher's eyes were on me the entire time while I was removing the bullet. The way he looked at me, I couldn't help myself from drowning into his mesmerizing grey eyes. The way I felt when he was standing close to me, so close making my heart beat a thousand times faster. I remember the anger rising through his body as he looked at my hurt face. but why was he angry? does he care about me? why would he care about some random girl whom he has never even seen before in his entire life? I am sure that I was instantly attracted to him the moment I saw him. could it be the same with him? I can stare forever at his handsome face. why am I thinking about him this way? do you think you were brought here by destiny to fall in love with a gangster? this isn't some kind of mafia romance movie Nicole. stop being ridiculous! get some sense back in your thick skull. I look around to see an orange hue enveloping the room giving me the indication that the sun has risen. The start of the new day gives me hope of going back home. I trust Christopher, he will help me to get out of this. he is my hope. but why does a part of me feels sad at the thought of going back?

That's what I want right? then why do I feel sad thinking about leaving Christopher and going back home?

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Thank you for reading!

Janvi❤