Sit, Stay, Roll Over ✓

(26) Drive & Escape

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I RAN TO THE window, standing beside Christine so I could see Hunter too. Hunter got off the car and walked towards the entrance, holding onto the side of his stomach like he was hiding something. "Dane!" He then shouts, trying to open the door of the pet shop. As he was trying to force it open, he suddenly stumbled and falls on one knee, surprising us.

     "What's wrong with him?" Christine confusingly asks, but with one look, I already knew what was going on.

     "He's injured," I say.

     I was about to run out of the office, but Neilson suddenly grabs my arm to stop me. "Day, you don't know what they did to Hunter. They could have placed a tracking device on him, or maybe they have full control of his cameras now. If you show yourself to him, you might get hurt."

     I knew that Neilson was only worried, but I pushed his hand away from me and told him, "Hunter won't go all the way here if he knew the risk."

     Neilson wanted to say something, but I was already out of the door before he could even do it. I ran out of the shop as fast as I could, and as soon as Hunter saw me, he immediately had a relieved look on his face.

     "Baby, you're safe," he weakly says, and I quickly went to him and grabbed him, but before I could help him up, Hunter lets go of his side, and there I finally saw the blood.

    "Oh no...y-you're bleeding," I ask in shock, my hands instantly trembling as I reached out for my handkerchief so I could cover it for him. I tried to stop the bleeding, but as I was doing so, Neilson arrives at the entrance and looks back at Hunter.

     "You escaped the mansion, didn't you?" Neilson asks as he walks closer to us. Christine also appeared behind him, trying her best not to panic like I was.

     "We should bring him inside so we could treat his injury," She says as she was about to grab Hunter, but Hunter pushes her hand away. He forces himself to stand, and then he grabs my arm and says, "No time. Dane, come with me. We have to go."

     "Okay, where are we going? Where are we supposed to—"

     "No," Neilson suddenly says, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Hunter. "You are not taking him anywhere. Day has to stay here."

     "But it's not safe here anymore," Hunter tries to tell him.

     "He's not safe with you," Neilson fires back. "Hael asked us to protect him too, and that's what we'll do. You had your chance and you fucked it up. We can't hand him to you anymore."

     "I can't leave him here," Hunter desperately tries to say. "Dane, please, trust me. Come with me before they arrive," he then says in a panic.

     "Wait, what?" Christine asks in shock, and Neilson's eyes widened when he realized something.

     "You brought them here?!" Neilson shouts, making me cover my mouth in shock too. "You brought them directly here, to the only place Hael thought would be safe?!"

     "I didn't bring them anywhere! The association always fucking knew!" Hunter shouts back despite the pain he was feeling. "They always...always knew."

     "What are you talking about?" Neilson asks, his brows furrowed because of how confused he was.

     Hunter takes a deep breath and holds onto his injury again before looking back at us. "A year ago, when they found out about Herbert, they already found out about Dane before Jonathan and I could even stop them. I knew that I could no longer protect him, so I agreed to get killed so they would no longer chase after him."