Path-to-Freedom (version 1)

(17)

I limped towards my suitcase and took out another pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt.

After quickly changing and putting my dirty clothes in the zipper on the inside. I don't know how long I stayed inside for but when I heard that we were landing soon, I went outside to see Mason sitting there.

After a moment of thinking if I wanted to answer his questions, I walked in his direction and sat in front him.

"Thank you Mason."

"It was no problem Ashley." He seemed worried but didn't want to show his emotions off.

"I have a question, you find people per se right?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Did a girl named Brooklynn, in London ever go missing? She would have probably been a little girl at the time."

"I can check for you. I'm gonna accompany you until you get settled in, I'm not gonna let you go like this. There's no room for arguments. How the hell did you even get hurt?"

There was an announcement that we had reached and were about to land.

After landing, I tried to stand up but fell right back into the seat and took a deep breath.

"You ok?" Mason asked immediately, getting on guard.

"Yeah, fine."

This time I stood up slower and made sure not to put too much weight on my right leg.

"I'll grab your things, wait for me before you go down. I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Thank you." After he brought out the suitcase, he walked before me to help me down.

We got into his car and I told Mason of the apartment which Mason then told his driver. After driving for about more than an hour, we finally arrived.

Mason got out first and grabbed my suitcase again while I called the realtor for the keys.

We waited outside the apartment before my realtor, James arrived with the keys for both the office and apartment.

"Ashely?"

"Yeah, James?"

"Yes, ok these are your keys for the apartment and then all the keys for the office. Enjoy."

I smiled at him. "Thank you James."

"No problem."

He soon left and I opened the apartment door.

When you first walk in, you see the living room. The color palette I chose was, black, white and grey and they designed it beautifully.

The living room had a black L-shape couch alongside another small one and a black table in the middle. They were placed in front of a fireplace, the fireplace was also white and grey. The couches were adorned with many throw pillows and a white duvet draped across.

Mason placed my suitcase next to the couch and closed the door.

"Ok, I'm gonna go check into a hotel, let you get settled in."

I turned to him and sighed.

"That won't be necessary, you can just take a guest bedroom."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable Ash."

"You won't. Really, it's not a big deal. If I'm correct then they are the three doors across from each other, two have full baths and the other a half, just take your pick."

"Really Ashley, I'll be fine."

"No really Mason, just go pick one."

He nodded with much hesitation and left towards the hallway.

I picked up my suitcase with much difficulty and went towards the stairs.

The stairs were located right next to the hallway.

Upstairs was basically just a bedroom and bathroom.

Right when you reach, you see the bedroom and a door that leads to the bathroom.

The same color palette was used up here too, in the bathroom too.

It was magnificent.

It's all way different from where I 'lived' with Tony.

The bed was a queen sized, white sheet  with a black cover and black, white and grey pillows. The bed was on top of a dresser-like set. There are two drawers on each side.

One both sides of the bed, there were two black side tables, both with white lamps.

There was a walk-in closet that was too big for me.

Then the bathroom had big black tiles on the floor with a big white tub on one side and a full wall glass shower on the other. The walls were tiled with white and grey. There were two sinks, about five feet apart. Both had drawers underneath that ended up connecting.

In the shower, there was a seating area and there were three shower heads, one main big one on top and two on either side which could be held and moved if chosen.

It was a very interesting concept.

I unpacked my suitcase and made sure to put my important documents and my saved up money in a safe place.

I then went back downstairs just in time to see Mason coming out of one of the bedrooms too.

"Hey, I'm just gonna go get some clothes and go check in with one of my dad's companies."

"Ok, I'll see you later."

He nodded with one last look and left.

I grabbed the office keys and went right next door.

It was a very nice building, the offices all seemed equal except mine was a bit bigger and the one next to mine.

Mine was on the second floor and it was splendid.

They did an amazing job on this, it looked spectacular.

I went back to the apartment after locking up.

The remaining week, I settled in and Mason went to work in his father's company. He said that his father had some meetings here but since he was already here, he decided to do them for him.

I had been talking to Raelyn a lot and she was planning on moving here with me.

She knew a lot about what to do and she offered to help me get the practice started.

When she finally came down, she settled into one the other full bath bedrooms.

Then we started working non-stop.

The building had 12 offices, eight on the first flood and four on the second.

Over the next month, we hired 7 people. Four females and three males.

They were all newly graduated and that was one of the factors that played in the hiring section.

Whenever Raelyn or I would get a case, we would always take one of them as an assistant, we always changed them, it was like a routine so that all would know what to do.