NURA

Chapter 26

Nate

Oct. 2014, New York

Nate was sitting at the garden table of the coffee shop close to his apartment building, waiting for an old friend from his army days to arrive. His fingers were tapping on the envelope on the table before him as every fiber of Nate's being urged him to tear it to pieces along with the disgusting contents within.

He was furious like he had only been once before, and that was when Eli had died, so to say that Nate was barely managing not to go on a wild rampage across the city until he found the son of a bitch that had threatened Nura would be an understatement.

It had all started about a week before. Nura had been working that night, but Nate was unable to come to keep her company since his shift had run late, and he was dead on his feet by the end of it.

But he had stayed awake since she had promised to stay the night at his place, and so Nate did until 4 a.m. when the girl finally showed up, looking like she had walked out of a nightmare.

Nura had been pale and shaken up about something, but she tried to wave it off and claimed that it had just been a long night and that she was tired, but the way her eyes were red and puffy and her voice shaky and hoarse told another story.

Nate wanted to hound her until she cracked and told him what the problem was, but on the other hand, he didn't want to pressure her when she was so obviously distressed. So, he let it be and watched as she broke under the pressure of whatever was bothering her just a little more with each passing day until it all came to a boiling point the previous day.

They were spending the night at her place, and since Nura had been anxious the whole day, Nate had decided to cook her a nice dinner and try to talk to her about this whole thing, which was seriously starting to worry him.

Her phone suddenly sounded off with a new message, and she left the kitchen to check it.

The next thing Nate knew, there was a loud crashing noise that sounded like glass breaking, so he hurried into the living room to find her crying on the floor, surrounded by pieces of broken glass and with her phone lying on the ground next to her.

Nate approached her slowly, careful of the glass, and took her in his arms as she continued to sob for a long time.

All Nate's questions about what happened to make her that way went unanswered as Nura just squeezed him more tightly and cried even harder, so he eventually gave up and just took the discarded phone to look through it and try and find an answer.

The messaging app was already open, and Nate saw a text from an unknown number in Arabic, which made him frown.

After getting together with Nura, Nate had made it his mission to learn as much Arabic as he could so he could surprise her one day because he knew how much it would mean to the girl to be able to speak with someone in her own language.

So, with the limited knowledge that Nate now possessed, he could decipher that the sender knew Nura somehow, and the text sounded innocent enough, making the man even more confused.

But then he scrolled further down, and what he saw made Nate drop the phone as if he had been burned.

Just underneath the message was a picture of a younger-looking Nura, standing naked in the middle of a crowded room, with what looked like a thousand bruises littering her body and a huge man standing before her.

The man was holding her by the hair and sneering down at her as the others in a similar condition as Nura sat around and covered in fear.

Nate looked at her to find her staring at him with her eyes full of tears and a trembling lip.

"They found me," she whispered and then broke down again.

Afterward, Nate did what every boyfriend would do and persuaded her to tell Ben about it, and after that, he reached out to his contacts for some additional help.

That sick bastard had been following Nura for quite some time, judging by the pictures he had sent her, and it was obvious that someone had to be there with her constantly to protect her when Nate couldn't.

"What, no face tattoos yet? You are slacking, mein Freund," Nate heard a husky voice say behind him and smiled despite himself.

"That's rich coming from an ex-marine afraid of a needle," he said, turning around with a wide grin. "Good to see you, Nik. Thanks for making the trip."

"No problem, man. I just finished a job in Connecticut, so it was not a big deal." the man said as he sat at Nate's table.

Nate signaled the waiter, and once they ordered and were given their coffees, Nik turned back to him with a raised brow.

"So, what is all this about? I find it hard to believe that a big ass Arschloch as yourself needs a bodyguard." Nate shook his head 'no' and slid the envelope toward him.

"It's for her. Her name is Nura, and she is my girlfriend. She used to be a part of a white slavery ring in Morocco but got out in a CIA sting operation and later testified against them." Nate quickly explained and saw Nik's eyebrows hit the roof.

"So, a brave, little bugger then. You do not fuck with the African mafia just for fun."

"Yeah, I know. And now one of them, who has apparently managed to slip through the cracks during the trials, has found her, and he has been sending Nura threatening messages and following her around, so that's why I need you to guard her until the CIA resolves this mess that one of their own had created."

~

Nura

Nov. 2014, New York

"You know that you can sit, right? Don't your legs hurt?" Nura said as Nik glanced at her and then turned back to continue watching through the window.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, unsure why she even bothered with the man. He was the epitome of cold and collected; every hair in its place, not a single wrinkle in his clothes, and always on alert. Which was fine for his line of work, and Nura had never felt safer in her life than with him by her side, but would it kill him to let loose once in his life, hell, to even utter a sentence longer than a few words?

He just loomed over her, like a very handsome but extremely stalker-ish shadow, while she tried to live peacefully.

It was frustrating, and Nura was counting the days until that bastard was caught so she could go back to her life without the Terminator-wannabe breathing down her neck.

"Are you hungry?" she asked Nik, and when no answer came, she huffed in frustration and started to stomp toward the kitchen, all the while praying to Allah for time to pass quickly so Nate could come and save her.

There was suddenly a series of urgent knocks on the front door, and she felt Nik's hand clamping down on her upper arm and pulling her back toward the living room.

"Are you expecting someone?" he asked, to which she shook her head.

"Stay there and don't move," he whispered, going to the door with her lurking around the doorway while trying to look inconspicuous.

Nik opened the door an inch, and she heard him ask the person on the other side what they wanted, to which they replied that they were looking for Nura.

As soon as she heard their voice, her eyes widened, and she walked closer despite Nik's warning until she was standing just behind Nik.

"What did I just tell you!?" Nik started to scold her, but she waved him off, her eyes glued to the person she had thought she would never see again.

"Zaria..."