Intertwined

Chapter 68: Almost Free

A/N: Thank you for reading. Lots of love always.

TW: mentions of blood and violence

Asha held it together. She could feel her body trembling from the inside, as they got closer to the safe house, it became harder to hide. Gio had his hands on her in the back of the taxi, but she tried to distract him, gently holding his hand back and smiling at him with a flirtatious wink. 'Patience baby. You don't want to rush this,' and she leant into his neck, placing a kiss under his ear and then whispered, 'Trust me,' she felt him tremble. And she held his straying hand in place on her thigh.

The outside appearance of the tall brunette maintained was confident and seductive, but inside she was screaming to run away. When they walked up to the small black door Gio's hands resumed their wandering, starting to find skin under her skirt. Asha's nerves caused her to stumble, and she fell with her back against the door. Shock and fear on her face that Asha knew she quickly had to hide. The large man looked delighted, hungry, but when the tall, slender brunette narrowed her eyes at him, composed anger on her face, Gio was subdued, like that was the thing he craved.

Asha placed her hand on the silver handle and pushed it down, her mind praying that the agents were on the other side of the door and she would not have to explore Gio's desires for her any further. She grabbed the man's jacket roughly pulling him inside. He stumbled a few steps in the dark entry way and she closed the door, still facing him. A figure stepped behind him from the shadow of the hallway and with a heavy thunk the six-and-a-half-foot man fell to the floor.

Lights came on and four agents gathered an unconscious Gio up and placed him in a room at the end of the hall, leaving Asha to stand trembling alone in the center of the room.

'Miss Seymour,' A man, with a Scottish accent, walked up to her and toward the front door with car keys. She pulled the hem of her skirt back down; suddenly aware it was bunched up at the back. The man kept his eyes on Asha's, calm and steady, 'I am agent Caelan Maurice. I will take you back to Agent Rovina,' he gave a slight smile, gestured for Asha to follow him to the car and opened the passenger door for the pale looking woman.

They drove through narrow streets in the small car, cobbled roads were bumpy and Asha was grateful for the distraction of them as she tried to settle her shaking. 'It's the adrenaline wearing off Miss Seymour,' Agent Maurice spoke softly and the brunette noticed there was no judgement in his voice. She nodded slightly; movement was difficult. Her body seemed to not be listening to her mind. 'You did very well tonight ma'am. You were brave,' His voice sounded like it was underwater. Asha tried to nod, acknowledge his words and kindness, but she couldn't respond. When they stopped at an intersection agent Maurice texted his colleague.

Rovina: Civ in shock

The Scottish agent pulled over gently, not wanting to scare the woman he had been driving. He climbed out and greeted agent Rovina to let her know they had Gio secured and the information Asha obtained was going to be incredibly helpful. The tall woman just sat still staring at her hands that would not stop shaking, unable to move.

Mia saw her friend in the car and frowned, all of the brunette's confidence was gone, she was pale and trembling, 'Asha,' the redhead knew that look, she didn't want to startle her, but they had to get her grounded and right now she was stuck inside her head.

The brunette didn't respond to her name, so Mia followed her instincts and told Nadia and Maurice to wait for a moment, going back inside the villa. When the Mia returned, she had Niko with her.

Agent Maurice had left the driver's side door open, and Niko carefully sat in the seat. 'Ash, it's Niko. I'm going to sit with you for a while. Is that ok?' the brunette responded with a small movement of her head, and a tear started to track down her cheek. The curly haired man put his hand on the center console with his palm up and waited.