In The Dark

23. Real

"Good Morning, baby girl," he smiled, not aware of the effect his shirtless form had on me.

"Do you have some personal issues with shirts and my innocent eyes?" I exasperatedly questioned and he laughed. Christopher quickly got dressed as I turned to face the other way and got lost in my thoughts.

Fingers snapping in front of my eyes startled me and I jumped up in surprise.

"Yeah?" I mindlessly questioned him.

"You okay?" he furrowed his brows and I hummed, not really paying attention.

"I can tell something is bothering you. What is it?" he sat beside me, watching me intently.

"I had another 'dream'," I confessed.

He raised his eyebrow in question and I explained what all I saw.

"Your parents were in it?" he widened his eyes.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"I don't think they are dreams," I confidently huffed out.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I just need a final confirmation from my dad, which by the way I already can imagine the answer to," he shook my head.

I then left for my room and after showering and getting ready for yet another unpredictable day, I picked up the file I had sneaked from Hathaway Industries and was about to open it when I room door was slammed open.

"Do people here honest-," I stopped mid-sentence when I saw a frantic Valentina.

Wordlessly, I picked up my loaded gun with my daggers and rushed out of the room with her. I didn't need her to tell me what's going on, I already got a rough idea when I saw a gun in her hand. Some crap just went downhill, for all of us.

As we reached the top floor of the warehouse, I took a deep breath and ran through the open door leading to the roof.

I saw Alex, Lucas and Christopher with their guns raised up to a man crouching with his hands in the air as if to show he meant no harm.

I took long strides towards the scene with my raised gun. As I reached nearer to the intruder, my eyes were met with a pair of familiar ones.

"Dad!?" I shrieked and rushed forward to help the greying man to his feet. Meanwhile, all my teammates let out a sigh of relief and retreated their weapons.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still not over the shock of him finding me.

"I need to talk to you, Ashley." He has never looked this desperate.

"But-" I was cut off mid-sentence by my father. "We need to talk. Now."
I nodded, not wanting to argue with him.

I along with my dad went to the conference room while the others dispersed to give us some privacy.

"Ashley-," I cut him off and stated, "If you're here to take me back home, I am not coming."

Upon seeing his confused expression I continued, "Cody found me. He said something about everyone looking for me and how I should go with him, I refused. He believed The Organisation could help me, I didn't."

"No!" dad immediately exclaimed. "In fact, stay away from The Organisation," he pleaded with me.

I was shocked. Why would he say that? He should be the one telling me to bang my head on the wall because I was being stupid. Instead, he tells me the exact opposite of what I expected him to say.