In His Arms

Chapter 22

"Mr West," I greet him cautiously, taking in his casual jeans and T-shirt appearance. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else, I have no idea who you are."

His responding smile sends a cold chill down my back, with the key of the car firmly grasped in between my ring finger and middle finger as a makeshift weapon in case he makes a move on me, he chuckles darkly, "It's terrible that you've forgotten who I am so easily, Ms Ootori. After all, I did take quite a liking to you as a child."

As a child? Blinking a few times, I emphasized my words from before, "As I said, Mr West, you've mistaken me for someone else."

Opening the car door, I jump sky high when his hand forcefully slams the opened door shut, his breath is hot against the slope of my neck, making the hairs on my arms rise as his emotionless and cold murmuring voice makes me quiver in horror.

"Let me give you a hint. When you play with fire you get burned. Play with Hierarchy and you'll get killed. Who stood on the number one spot in the Hierarchy for three years straight before a little someone decided to run away?"

Run...away...Hierarchy...oh no...

My eyes widen in an immediate realisation of who this man is and I waste no time in elbowing him in the stomach. Fear runs through my body like a hot knife through butter, my body is on autopilot as I hop into the driver's seat, screeching out of the parking space. My hands grip the steering wheel tightly as I glance at the slowly straightening and receding figure of Carter Logans.

The leader of the Sangue Nero crime syndicate.

How did he find me? It's been twelve years since I escaped. My name is different and so is my personality...how the hell did he find me? Did he have me on a trace? How long has he been watching me? What does he want from me now? He knows I'm with Alexander...

The screech of tyres and some car horns snap me out of my rushing obscure theories of how he discovered me, slamming my foot down on the brake a little bit after the road divider of university street near Alexander's residence, I peep hesitantly into the review mirror. Cars of varying colours are either horizontally stopped in the middle to avoid hitting one another or forcefully stopped just after the traffic lights with little space between the bumpers of the cars behind them.

Crabs...what have I done?

Hitting metal to gas, I quickly leave the mess of vehicles behind me in a pretence that it was not my doing as I turn into The Scala's parking garage. Grabbing everything out of the car after I've parked the car, I hurry to the elevator where I punch in the access code for Alexander's apartment, my body trembles like the last leaf of autumn as the journey to his apartment seems to take longer than usual.

As soon as the steel doors slide open to reveal Alexander's immaculate foyer, I hasten to dump all my papers onto the low-rise coffee table in the living room to free up my hands a little, calling out to Mrs Dense to somewhere in the penthouse.

With Danny pressed up against my chest, I race-walk down the corridor that leads to my bedroom. As I sit down on the edge of my bed, reaching for the drawer of my bedside table with my free hand to retrieve the flip phone.

And I hesitate.

I think the lives of Alexander and Danny should be top priority right now, my subconscious huffs, crossing her arm over her chest as she rubs the back of my breaking down subconscious. Put away that damn pride of yours and just call him. He'll do anything for us, remember?

Feeling that she has a point, I press the green call button and I sit there with the phone to my ear, anxiously waiting for him to pick up.

The phone rings three times and then... it connects.