Modern Love {A Cinderella Retelling} ✔️

Chapter Twelve

Brock looked behind him only for him to see the van following them. His stomach churned, palms became sweaty, and he panicked. It didn't take Peter long to notice, he glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that the van was following them and wouldn't let up.

"Hold on tight son," Peter said and swerved his car onto a different road.

The van behind them followed but now Brock couldn't figure out what else to do. He gripped the safety bar as tightly as he could until his knuckles turned white. Peter turned again searching for another place to ditch the van. They eventually came across an old, abandoned warehouse. Peter turned fast enough so the van wouldn't see them and drove underneath an old parking garage. He cut off the lights and waited for the van to drive by. Not long after Brock saw the van drive by, but it stopped in front of the warehouse. Brock and Peter looked at each other expecting them to walk over to their hiding place. They remained calm as the white van parked and the two men including his stepfather came out from the vehicle. Still dressed in his formal wear, He had changed out of his black suit and was now wearing a bright white jacket.

"Stay here," Peter said.

"What are you about to do?" Brock questioned his eyes narrowing.

"Just stay here," Peter repeated.

Peter climbed out of his car and walked around it as Brock hid from his stepfamily. Even though Alaric and his family as well as the hitmen were making sure he kept quiet. He had his own duty; no way was he going to let these men get the best of him. Peter wanted Brock to live happily, not to mention he planned to adopt Brock when he got out of the stepfamily's way of life. Peter stepped out of the parking garage and approached Alaric and the white van.

"Peter?" Alaric said, his brown eyes narrowing. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Patrolling," Peter lied. "What exactly are you doing out here?"

"Patrolling?" Apollo laughed, the wrinkles under his eyes shone with age. "What you think that someone would want to break into a shithole like this?"

Peter glared. Apollo, he knew was one of the hitmen, everything was going to eventually fall to him, to a point where he would actually be excited to arrest the idiots. His girlfriend wasn't much more with her strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"I didn't think that a place like this needed to be watched," the girl responded. "That is if you are hiding someone from us?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Peter responded. "I'm just here, doing my damn job, now I'm going to ask you, what are you three doing out here?"

"We thought we saw a car come by here," Aldina said. "Have you seen it? It's a white Hyundai,"

"I have not seen a white Hyundai here before," Peter answered. "Why are you looking for it?"

"Because we believe that there is a boy about my stepson's age," Alaric stated. "I think he went to that party when I told him not to,"

"I'm sure that he is safe and sound at home," Peter continued. "Why would he leave?"

Alaric glared daggers toward him. Peter stood his ground not taking any chances, especially if he revealed that Peter was indeed hidden in his car. Alaric sent his henchmen to look around the premise. The two nodded before leaving Peter and Alaric alone.

"I'm telling you," Peter warned. "Brock is just a boy, he doesn't know what's going on, he needs a normal life," he continued. "And the way you treat him, isn't helping much, you aren't treating him like a son,"

"And how would you know old man?" Alaric growled. "You don't even know what it's like to be a father, everything I do is to make things better for my family, now where is Brock?"

"If you go to the house, I'm sure you'll see him," Peter responded. "I'd recommend going now, while you have the chance,"

Alaric seemed to contemplate this and decided to leave Peter be. He frowned at the sheriff and turned back toward the van.

"Aldina! Apollo! Let's get going!" Alaric called out. The hitmen came running back with no success and climbed into the van before driving off. With them gone and Peter on a time limit, he raced back to his car and climbed in where Brock sat up. He worried that they wouldn't get back in time, but Peter wasn't going to let that happen. Peter started the car and drove as fast as he could back to the house.

Brock arrived at the house luckily before his stepfamily arrived and ran inside. Racing to his room out in the barn he quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a purple and white skull shirt. Brock hid his clothes at the bottom of his dresser so that way no one would know he was at the party. Taking the mask off his face he stuffed that in the trash, with the evidence hidden he climbed into bed reaching for his necklace to pull it off he gasped as he felt all over his neck for the missing necklace. A single thought arrived in his mind, he had lost it when he was running out of the party.

"Shit," he said to himself.

Lights shone from his window as he realized that his stepfamily was almost at the house which also meant that it wouldn't be long before they came into his room. Taking off his shirt, he turned off the lights and climbed into the bed pretending to fall asleep.

His doors open and three people entered his room. He turned over to see his stepfather and his stepsiblings

"You guys are back early," he said holding his hand up to keep the light from shining in his face. "Why did you leave?"

"Have you been here the entire time?" Alaric questioned.

"Yes, I finished my chores and decided to turn in for the night," Brock answered.

Silence filled the room as he expected Alaric to question him. However, when he hadn't it seemed clear to him that Alaric was either too tired to care or didn't care at all.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to get some sleep," Brock said.

Alaric frowned but turned and walked off his children complaining to him as they walked back to the house.

The very next day, Amelia awoke in her and her friend's apartment. After the ordeal she had the previous night, she was ready to search for her masked lover. It was something about the guy that she couldn't stop thinking about, she glanced over at her side table and saw the tigers eye necklace. It hung over her lamp post and she wanted so badly to find out who owned it. He had some great vocals and could dance without stepping all over her feet. The best part, he made her feel like she'd been missing a huge chunk of her life.

However, the way he took off after the dance was strange as no one really ran, unless she remembered the publisher was speaking to some strange people. She never even invited them. Her thoughts immediately transitioned to what she remembered the most. Brock had mentioned that someone killed his mother on purpose. Could it be possible that those same people were at the dance? Her door opened and she saw Noah and Petra enter the room. Petra had a whole tray full of delicious food that really made her mouth water.

"Petra? Noah? What gives?" Amelia questioned. Yawning.

"We thought that we'd make you something special," Petra explained. "So, I called Noah and thought that we could help you not only find your mysterious person but also to celebrate more of your books release!"

"We didn't know what you wanted so we made some bacon, eggs and even waffles!" Noah exclaimed. "Petra told me all about your mysterious visitor and she wanted to help you find him,"

"You didn't have to do that," Amelia laughed. "But don't just stand there, give me the food," Petra and Noah laughed as they walked over to the bed handing Amelia the tray of food.

"How are we going to lure your masked lover out," Petra questioned.

"I think I might have one way,"