𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 (𝟏𝟖+) 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 ✓

Chapter 18

"Natalia, Jade!" The two of us turn to look at the open hatch of the roof and see Nash looking at the two of us in relief, confirming we have zero injuries. 

"Nash!" Jade exclaims as she stands up and rushes over to him. I get up and follow behind her at a slower pace carrying both her school bag and mine. I watch Nash go back down before keeping an eye on Jade as she descends and then on me as I go down and close the hatch.

"I'm so glad you're okay, both of you," Nash says in comfort as he pulls the two of us into his arms. "You did such a fucking good job beautiful," he whispers in my ear before pressing a kiss to my head.

"Well we have one very brave girl with us, she's strong," I say as I pull back and ruffle Jade's hair as she grins up at me.

"Natalia was so cool Nash, she was like, bring Jade closer to me or I'm not handing it over," she says mimicking my voice. "And then she kicked whatever she was giving them."

"You weren't scared?" Nash asks her in a soft as he looks at her keeping a sturdy hand on her shoulder. She keeps silent for a couple of seconds before I see tears welling up in her eyes and they run down her face as she furiously tries to wipe them away.

"I was a little scared but my mom always told me that if something is scary I should be brave and always get help from an adult," she says confidently.

"It's okay if you were scared Jade, I wish that never happened but of course I promise to protect you just like your mom would have done," I say as I hug her and she lets out a sob against my jacket. 

"Let's grab some of your things, both of you and then we'll relocate somewhere else," Nash tells us as I run my fingers through Jade's hair.

"Did they already check the apartment?" I ask as we go to take the stairs back down to my apartment, hopefully the investigational team has reached out to him while he's been up here with us.

"I just got a message saying Jade's room was untouched but yours was ransacked and it sounds like she was cutting your clothes," he says as he checks his phone, voice trailing off after in confusion for a moment before sighing as he pockets his phone. "What a fucking psycho," he mutters under his breath.

"Okay we'll grab things from Jade's room, you help her pack while I call her mom," I tell him once we reach my floor. "You guys go ahead, I'll see if Haruto is still there so I can talk to her."

"Alright, we'll wait for you, anything you want me to grab?" he asks as Jade grabs onto his hand, we can hear the voices of other police officers in the hall.

"Anything salvageable clothing-wise and for my electronics, leave it for now I'll deal with it when they give the apartment an all clear," I tell him and he nods his head as they walk out, the staircase door closing softly from behind them. Now for the hard part. I take out my phone dialling Haruto's number as I lean against the wall running my fingers through my hair in exhaustion. 

"Nat, what's up?" he asks when he picks up.

"Haruto, is Julia done with the doctors?" I ask him getting straight to the point.

"Uh-oh, you calling me Haruto and not sensei must mean some serious shit happened," he says as his voice goes sombre. 

"Yeah, which is why I really need to talk to Julia but it would help if you stayed while we're talking, I'd rather she not panic," I tell him. Well, not more than she already will when she hears what happened. 

"Nat, I need you to run by me what happened before I pass the phone to her, she's still in recovery and I'd rather she not have a heart attack," he tells me, his voice going into doctor mode.