Fighting Feelings

23

Caleb

I started to pace back and forth. I didn't know what to do. I thought I was out. I thought it was over. When all along Anthony had been plotting against me.

"We need to leave," Nadia begs grabbing my arms but I shake my head, running was one thing I could not do.

"I'm not running, and I don't want you dragged into this," I told her but she was having none of it.

"I think my father being the leader of the herd and hiring someone to shoot my brother drags me into this," she differs and I could tell that she was still trying to wrap her head around the revelation.

"You want to live on the run away from your family? What about your brother, your mother, your friends?" I remind her.

"I will come back for them, we will tell the cops everything but right now my father wants you to be the heir of the herd! I'm not going to let that happen!" She says tugging on my arm.

"I love you, you know that right? But I won't have you sacrifice everything for me," I tell her as I leaned my head against hers. Tears start to stream down her face.

"How am I supposed to! How am I supposed to live each day knowing what he has done? It's not possible Caleb? I thought Drew was going to die!" She screams as tears continuously to pour down her face.

"I'm going to send him down, don't worry you'll only have to pretend for a few days, I'm going to get Officer Blake on this," I reassure her whilst cleaning her tears dry.

"He's evil Caleb, his own son! His own son!" She yells furiously.

The door swings open and in comes the man.

The man that I actually can say I loathed.

Anthony Johansen.

"Is everything alright Nadia?" Anthony inquires looking back and forth between the both of us.

"Yes," she whispers under her breath but he doesn't look convinced as she quickly dries her tears.

"You're crying?" He asks but it comes out more of a statement.

"Nadia and I have decided to call it quits," I replied thinking fast.

He nods in understanding. He walks around to Nadia making sure she is okay. I start to walk closer to the door.

"You really thought you could outsmart me?" I turn around to find the document with my name in the palm of his hands.

We had been caught.

"Not in front of her, this is between you and I," I tell him but he just chuckles.

"So now you speak on behalf of my daughter.... how convenient," he replies as he stares at Nadia who has her head down in defeat. This wasn't like her.

"So I'm guessing you know then, the both of you, that's why you've been snooping around," he says. Nadia just keeps silent and I wondered what was running through her head. She had just found out her father had hired someone to shoot his own son, her brother.

We both kept silent.

"Answer me girl!" He bellows in her ear and just before I can even get in his face. Nadia uses her hand to smack him.

I quickly run in front of her. Who knew what this man was capable of?

"How dare you! I raise you to be this ambitious independent young woman and you throw it back in my face!" He shouts walking closer and closer to me. Luckily I was the same height as him so I didn't feel one bit threatened.

"I have issues because you have made me feel that I shouldn't open up about anything! You and Mum always arguing! Trying to paint a picture for the outside world! You making Drew feel as though he was worth nothing! How could you! Then there was me.... you probably thought you were doing me a favour but all you did was make it hard for me to open up to people!" She screams, it felt as though she poured out her whole heart and I know this was the first time she'd done that.

"Your Mother and I have issues like any other married couple, your just a little self centred bitch who wants to make everything about herself!" He yells and that's when I had it to up there.

"I don't want to hit you because even after everything you're still Nadia's father! But don't ever talk to her like that again because once you do everything that I believe in will go to hell!" I tell him sternly and he just smiles leaving me confused.

"This is what I admire about you Caleb.... you would die rather than let your pride fall and that's what I want in the future herd leader," I stood there frozen in spot whilst Nadia held my hand.

"You're even more sick than I thought," I spat as I held Nadia's hand heading towards the door.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like that," he says as he collapses into his armchair looking away. I wanted to continue and walk out that door without looking back but Nadia couldn't and I understood entirely as I still wanted answers from my own father.

"When I got someone to shoot him, I told them under strict instructions to be very careful to just shoot him in the leg so that he would be alright but they missed and shot him in the abdomen, I didn't want it to happen like that," he sulked and all I could do was scoff. Was this some sorry ass excuse of an apology?

"You still hired someone, I can't even bare to look at you! One question.....was it all worth it?" Nadia asks him towering over him.

"Are you two still together?" He asks her back and she smiled proudly whilst gripping my hand.

"Better than ever," she grinned.

"Then no it wasn't worth it because my plan has failed.... you're still with him and he's not coming back to the herd," the fact that there was no remorse for what he had done was what shocked me the most.

The power Nadia showed in that second gave me strength. She meant everything to me.

Once again we started to walk away but this time all of a sudden something sharp was pressed to the side of my abdomen. I turned around to see Anthony standing there with the knife pressed to me.

"Time to let her go, Daniels," he murmured and I shuddered but I knew at that moment I had to let her go. Once again. Maybe in another lifetime we're the two of us didn't have complicated lives we'd be able to be with each other.

"Nadia, you need to leave," I whispered and the hurt appeared on her face before she realised the shining weapon next to my abdomen.

"Get that off him! Right now!" She yelled at her father and her father just looks to the door as though waiting upon someone to walk through.

I had this unsettling feeling and I wanted Nadia to leave straight away.

"Nadia this time you have to listen to me! You have to leave!" I told her as I stared at that door knowing any minute someone would come in and hurt her and I wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Pops? Please put the knife down... and I will promise to never see or talk to him ever again.... you have my word," she lied because I knew her when she lied. She couldn't stop staring at me.

"So who do you listen to? You don't listen to me and you don't listen to your darling boyfriend, maybe a gun pointed towards you will get you to shut the hell up!" He barked and as he was yelling the knife became closer to my abdomen so on a reflex I bought my hand closer to the knife and twisted it out of his hand so that it now settled in the palm of my mine.

Nadia sighed in relief and I smiled at her whilst using my other hand to grab her hand. We were safe now, this lunatic of a man would be locked up soon enough.

"Marcus come in! This time bring back up!"
Anthony bellowed.

My smile soon faded away when I saw a swarm of guys dressed in black enter.