seven souls seven sins

chapter 19: icecream parlour

Natasha's pov:

I assumed that we were going home, but I couldn't have been more wrong..

Once I see that Vincent had passed the house I begin to panic. Why didn't he go home? Where was he taking me? Was he going to punish me for lying? Maybe I should escape before it's too late? It was almost as if Vincent knew that I was freaking out internally and he assured me "Nat don't worry, I wanted to treat you for being quite brave, so I'm taking you to your favourite ice cream parlour." He even lets a little crease form in the corner of his mouth.

What? I thought that he was going to punish me, I suppose not anymore. Maybe things are different here?

I mumble a small "Thank you." to be polite. It was a nice thing for him to do for me, especially after everything I've taken from them recently. It was the least I could do.

"Don't you want to know about my bruises?"I ask him. I was curious to know if this was one of his infamous manipulations or not. Besides, I knew that he was disappointed from earlier when I lied to the doctor.

"I do, but I know better than to force answers out of you. I trust that you will tell me when your ready." He confesses while keeping his eyes on the road ahead of us. That was kind of him. I thought that he would force me to tell him the truth, but I guess not. I was grateful for all the kindness that he had shown me but my radar was still up, I couldn't trust him fully yet.

I wanted to trust him, but after what he had pulled off earlier, I don't know if I could.

The rest of the car ride was peaceful. We made some small talk here and there, but the majority of it was silence. Soon after the 15 non-verbal minutes, Vincent pulls up into a vacant parking lot. I thought that he said we were going to an ice cream shop? Why are we here? He gets out of the car and I open my car door instead of waiting for him to open it for me. I didn't need my biological brother, let alone any man open a door for me.

I could do it all my myself, I didn't need their help.

Vincent starts to walk in front of me and I follow him mindlessly. We were walking for about 10 minutes when my mind couldn't take it anymore. "Why did you park the car all the way over there?" I ask him. He was a good few steps ahead of me. It seemed as if he was in a rush but It was only around 10 am in the morning.

He halts in place and turns to me quickly. I swear all this man wanted to do was get in and out. He then says in a slight whisper so that only I could hear "My profession restricts me from going out casually. As a Do- I mean Real estate agent, my job is of high value and there are bad people who would want to hurt me by hurting you."

He pauses for a second and takes a deep breath. "I parked over there because I want you to be safe. I want to spend time with you but I prioritise your safety over that. That's why I parked away from where we are heading, so if any of my enemies find the vehicle, they won't find us, at least not for a while." He takes yet another deep breath and continues to walk ahead of me. I somehow manage to follow the man for the next 20 minutes in complete silence until we reach a small town.

Whilst we were walking, all I could ponder about was what he said.

"I want you to be safe." That sentence that he said had been replaying in my mind for the past few minutes already.

Did he truly want me to be safe? Or did he just say that to shut me up? If he really wanted me to be safe he would've came and collected me from my mother's hold. He should've looked for me, if he really did want me to be safe. And if I'm being honest, I haven't heard of a real estate agent with a life so dangerous. I never really looked into that field of work but I knew that you wouldn't have that level of a threat whilst in the job.