No Return

17.We're not alone...

I lift my head swiftly, squinting at the blurred glass of the window facing me.

"What's wrong?" Xavier says, following my gaze.

"Didn't you see that?" I say, my voice alarming. I pull away from the chair and stand beside him. He stands up too.

"See what?" A hint of skittish tone tinging his voice.

I open my mouth to tell him that we're not alone, until a seismic crush on the wooden door startles us.
The fragile door breaks from its hinges.
And I stifle a scream.

Xavier curses under his breath. He takes my hands and bolts out of the kitchen towards another room. Dragging me after him.

Like the first time he did in my apartment.

"Who's that?" I ask as we run through dimmed corridors, dread coiling in the base of my stomach.

We rush into a bedroom. Xavier rams the door shut after him with a strong push, then saunters off to the nightstand beside a king size bed.
He must have slept here last night.

"Who ever that person is." He says as he rummages through the drawers for something, "they must have followed us here yesterday."

Xavier pulls out a gun—

"Xavier!" Someone shouts. "Get the hell out of your hole you coward!"

A slam on the door sends a shiver up my spine and I jump away.

"You can use the handle asshole!" Xavier shouts as he opens the door, and tackles the man behind to the floor, pinning him there, his hand on the latter's throat.

Xavier uses his free hand to search and disarm him. He finds nothing.
"Where are your weapons?" He asks as he pulls off the man's mask—the same mask Adam's men wore when they broke into my apartment the first time— with the muzzle of the gun trained on the his forehead.

Once Xavier has the mask off. His eyes widen with denial.

"I came here in peace. You piece of shit!" The man glances at me. Then he sits down. Elbows on his knees.

I stare at him intently.
His face is bruised.
Bloodied.
Too pale, like he hasn't eaten anything in days.

He has the same silver eyes of Xavier's.

"Elias—" Xavier breaths. Shaking his head. "H—how did you get here?"

Elias looks up at him, studying his face. A ghost of a smile passes by his mouth. Then he suddenly goes earnest again. "I was running away from Adam's lame room, after he held me captive for days. I had no place to go but here, somewhere neither Adam, nor his men can find me."

Xavier's grip on the gun tightens, "how do you know about this house Elias!? You were Adam's captive, and I'm sure as hell that he won't let go of you—"

"Whoa, whoa, easy buddy." Elias gestures with his hands, "Dad's last words were to find you. He said I might find something here, so he gave me the location."

"Me?" Bewilderment written across Xavier's face. "He's no longer my father, why does it have anything to do with me?"

Elias's face softens. He sighs. "You're a part of unlocking the chip. The chip you are searching for."

"This explains Adam's attempts to get you—"

"Wait wait wait..." Xavier shakes his head, interrupting me, "how do you know that I wanted the chip? How can I make sure Adam didn't send you?"

"You crazy?" Elias says. "Why would he send me? He could have sent one of his men!"

"Because you know where I might be you idiot!"

I roll my eyes at the quibble between brothers. Something I missed with Maya.

I move so I can sit down and watch their first conversation, when Elias looks up at me and speaks, "So? Already with a girlfriend?"

"Do. Not. Change. The subject, Elias" Xavier's anger is palpable.

Elias rolls his eyes, "No, he's heading for... something like a base, your base." He shrugs, "So relax you're safe he—"

"What..." Elias's words have punched Xavier in the gut, "how does he know about the base's venue?" He looks at the floor.

"Your friend told him." Elias squints his eyes, as if trying to remember something, then he pouts, "josh? James? John—"

"THE BASTARD!" Xavier screams, he starts pacing the corridor with anxiety.

His brother looks at me with a cocked eyebrow.
I shrug.

Elias looks as handsome as his brother is, except that Xavier's hair is darker.
And that Elias is softer, contrary to his brother.
And that ...

"How did you run away?!" Xavier suddenly growls.

The voice snaps Elias's head to look at his angry brother. "They left with your John in haste. And left the door a little ajar—"

"LIAR!" Xavier hold out his gun again.

"Easy bro!" Elias says. Then mumbles to me, "he looks like he slept an hour at most. No wonder he snaps at every second."

The urge to laugh despite the tension is strong.

"He'd never be this derelict about leaving you this unsecured!" Another tranquility breaking.

"Why? My fingerprint?" Elias looks at his brother again. "You can lower your gun psycho, he already has it, he already has everything he wanted...aside from your fingerprint." A serious look. "Even the chip."

"You told him." That wasn't a question. "You told him about the bullet, did you not?" The older brother is ablaze with rage.

"I'd be more surprised hadn't your John told me that you figured out the place of the chip in my files". Elias is more calm than the situation allows to. "But yup, they tortured me until I spoke."

"So Adam wants me as the last step to unlock the chip. Now that he has everything he wants."

"Right." Elias seconds his brother's analyzing.

So what I understood is that Adam, knows about the chip, and the bullet now.
No wonder he'll search everywhere for Xavier.
I mean I'd do the same right? 67 billion dollars? For real.

"How does Adam know anything about the bullet from the first place?" My voice is foreign in this place, between these voices.
Yet this question still baffles me like before.

Elias explains. "Adam's father got imprisoned by me, after I divulged his attempts to murder me when the chip news broke out in the company."

He talks like there's nothing series about it. He breaks his look, "Anderson, Adam's father, was an old employee for my father. He was the closest friend to him too. And so far, I still believe that he's the one who murdered my father too."

Adam never told me anything about his father being imprisoned. "Yeah well—"

"His father told him about it, maybe at a prison visit." Elias interrupts me. "And he wants the money to revenge for him, and to get him out of prison. And, because the chip contains an amount of digital money, that people would kill to have it. That reason is enough." He smiles.

His smile is so sweet I think I'm blushing.
He feels so soft and tender.
So calming to sit with.
I smile back.

Only for my smile to fade immediately when I notice how Xavier is looking at me.

His jaw is tight. Hands clenched. And eyes forcefully making me flinch without moving.

"You," he angrily whispers, addressing me. "Dare smile to someone else, and I'll show you how hard it'll become to smile again."

The temperature drops ten degrees.
I feel my heart beating in my ears.
What did he just say?

Xavier looks back at his brother. Who looks amused by the unfolding spectacle.

"Told u". Elias says to no one particular. "Already with a girlfriend." He smiles and closes his eyes. As if he's meditating.

Xavier shakes his head and walks off. Irritated. Probably conserving his energy.