𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

𝐬 𝐢 𝐱 𝐭 𝐲

"You sure you're okay?" He asked for what feels like the fifteenth time.

"No, I've lived in Russia for eighteen years and can't hail a taxi myself," I replied with sarcasm.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'm just concerned." And he leaned in for a hug.

It was now nine in the morning and I just left Peter's apartment, making my way to a more populated area where it was more likely to find a taxi. Peter's apartment was in the area near to Cinder Edge Avenue, which was where I spent four years of my life barely surviving.

As I made a right turn up the alley, I felt a presence behind me, creeping up on me that I felt a warm breath near my ear. I sensed a pair of hands reaching for my face, and I managed to duck before the person could do so. I then used my elbow and aimed at the person's chest, making them stumble backwards and nailed them down by tripping their balance with my leg.

"Ouch!" The person exclaimed before I had a proper look at them and recognised who it was.

My face turned into confusion. "Ophelia?" What was she doing creeping up on me?

She groaned and stood up. "Hello to you too, Tiana. Got some new moves I see."

I knew Ophelia during my time in the streets. She was and probably still is the leader of one of the larger gangs here. She ran an all-female gang and we even worked together once.

I ignored her statement and narrowed my eyes on her, "Why did you try to attack me?"

She gave me a weird expression. "You're asking the questions? You disappeared for half a year and just all of a sudden decided to pop back up?" She scoffed, "I jumped on you just in case what I heard was false and you weren't at the diner yesterday."

Well this is sure a surprise, didn't know if anyone would realise I was gone.

"I was... away," I answered briefly and thankfully she didn't look like she cared about asking further.

Instead, she said, "Good to know you didn't kill Zari."

My eyes widened. "What? You thought that I killed Zari?"

"I didn't, that was what other people were saying. Some people came up with the theory that you went all crazy, killed her and was sent to a mental facility." I was a topic of gossip? That's new...

"That wasn't what happened." I quickly debunked those gossips.

"It's definitely confirmed now, by the leather jacket and boots you're wearing. Both of which cost a few hundred dollars." She raised her eyebrows at me and I blushed. Both of those were bought by Nicandro when I lived in his mansion, which I didn't ask him to, but accepted it anyway as I didn't want the money to go to waste.

I tried to change the topic. "Anything else you needed now that you confirmed it was me at the diner?"

"Watch your back," she said and that caused my ears to perk up. "Last week, one of my contacts at the police station said that the captain asked him to dig up the file of a case file of Zari since it was probably buried by now. He then saw the captain having a meeting with this man in his office and passing him the file."

My heart rate quickened. Shit, someone knows. Whatever it is, it can't be good.

"He did say this man had an ugly scar on his face, most likely from fire." She added on and my heart almost shot out from my chest. What were the odds that the man is Luis, one of the men from Felon's inner circle. Flashes of my two interaction with him; in Thailand and Spain appeared in my mind and I pushed them away quickly.