King of My Heart

36. "I said that?"

(881 words)

I took a few deep breaths, my breathing becoming more erratic and my heartbeat more frantic than before. What I was thinking was crazy. Something absurd enough to not even have set foot into anyone's wildest imagination.

No, it can't be.

Before I could think it through again- the preposterous idea that had all of a sudden injected itself into my brain- my phone rang, interrupting my deranged train of thoughts.

With shaking hands I attended the call and put my phone to my ear without bothering to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Ethan, I'm sorry to disturb you. I can't get a hold of Mr. Woods. Does he happen to be with you?" A female voice spoke. I wish...

"He—no. Who are you?"

"I'm Laura Nathan. I work in Mr. Woods' office. An unfortunate event has occurred that I need to inform him of." She replied.

I massaged my forehead irritatedly with my fingers. "Can you please directly tell me what unfortunate event has occurred?" I asked curtly.

"Umm... You must know Emily... we found her dead at her desk. Her throat had been slit." She said.

I stilled upon hearing her words. Emily... had been killed? She was the same employee I had asked to help find Ethan's location. "It befell me to inform Mr. Woods, but..."

"I'll let him know." My voice came out slow and monotonous.

"Thank you, Mrs—" I ended the call before she could finish.

Emily is dead.

The last conversation we had had, came flooding to my mind word-to-word when I had been driving to go to that hell-hole.

"Ana, are you going to that place?" Her voice was urgent.

"Yes."

"Don't. I don't know how to tell you this. You don't know whom it's owned by."

"Caleb Greene." I responded.

"No! I couldn't believe when I learned, but now I smell danger. It's really unexpected. It's actually owned by...." her voice disappeared.

She had told me that the shit-hole wasn't actually owned by Caleb and I sort of overlooked that given the hassled situation I was in at that moment. And she was never able to tell me the real owner's name.

She had been silenced before she could tell anyone.

"Anastasia, you.. don't.. know... anything." Ethan's words once again rang in my ears.

I stood up from his chair, allowing myself to consider the seemingly-absurd idea that had stormed into my mind and stirred a mayhem inside of me.

If I want to ever re-unite with Ethan, I better not turn a blind eye to my gut feeling no matter how irrational it seems.

———

Not long after, I found myself going up the elevator in Ethan's corporate building to the executive floor. Once the elevator doors opened, I stepped onto the luxurious marbled floor and took big, firm steps towards Zayn's office.

Knocking on the door, I awaited his response. "Come in." Hearing him say it, I immediately pushed the door open and marched inside. Zayn sat behind his desk, his laptop in front of him, a scowl on his face.

"Ana?" He seemed surprised to see me.

"Why are you here? Why didn't you go and save your cousin? Are you waiting for him to just die?"

"Of course not!" He immediately exclaimed. "I've sent our men there! Trust me, they'll find Ethan. There were some things that I needed to take care of. I'm trying to find out who owns that damned place."

"Oh so you're trying to find the owner."

"Yes."

"Zayn?"

"Yes, Ana?"

"Did you not see Ethan there when we had been there?"

"I told you I only saw you passed out in that passage." He responded.

"I'm not talking about the passage in particular. Did you see him at all? Anywhere?" I asked.

"No, I didn't even catch a glimpse of him. If I had, wouldn't I have helped him out of there instantly?" He replied.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, you would have. There's something I don't understand though."

"What?" He frowned.

"If you never saw him, how'd you know he was losing blood?" I deadpanned, looking straight into his eyes.

"I said that?"

"Yes, you said that to me back home."

"Oh right... you told me that he had been shot." He said.

"I don't remember telling you that."

"Must be the chloroform. Making you forget stuff."

"Chloroform?" I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"Remember you had passed out there?" Came his reply.

"How did you know it was chloroform that had knocked me out?" I inquired.

"Geez, Ana. Why are you interrogating me like a police officer? What's up with you?"

I pulled my lips up in a smile that was very much forced and fake. "Must be the chloroform. Making me crazy."

He chuckled. "You should rest."

"Zayn... one last question."

He snickered, shaking his head. "Go ahead, madam."

"You had never been to that place before, right? You didn't know your way around at all. You told me that."

"That's right." His response was curt.

"Then how did you know that there was a dungeon-like area below that staircase? My chloroform-instilled brain recalls that very well."

"I—"

"It's you, isn't it? You are the one that hell of a place belongs to."

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Um well...

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Do you guys want Ana and Ethan to be re-united ASAP?