Rose

Chapter 6- The meet

**Thankyou Snickery_Storm for this beautiful cover!! Absolutely love it❤️❤️❤️!**

After wasting as much time as I could, I decided that I HAD to get ready to go meet Derek Skyler again! I couldn't avoid confrontation forever.

I'll just go and get it over with.

So here I am, dressed and gauged, ready to be led to where ever we have to meet.

"So, you had to pay dues to one of Derek's men but you couldn't because the pests on your crop ruined your produce, so he KIDNAPPED your wife to compensate for it?" I ask Paolo.

Paolo gently nods confirming my question.

Paolo had come to the hospital to fetch me for Derek and if I didn't go, they would kill his wife and then come for me. So I agreed to come along, because atleast I'll be saving a life!

I somehow have accepted the fact that I'm already in this mess and I can't do anything about it. But then I guess after two bruised ribs, a dislocated wrist joint and a concussion, you realise that nothing's worth more than your own life. Sure, I have nothing to live by but my life IS precious to me!

As we get out of the hospital, I hug Iris and promise her that I'll be safe.

"Are you sure I can't come with her?" Iris asks paolo again.

She's upset that I am going alone to meet the people who hurt me so badly only because I called Derek by his name instead of boss. I can reason with her worries but there's pretty much nothing we can do about it!

"If you go, they take you both" Paolo replied.

I don't want that. This is my problem. I created this mess! I can't put her through it when she has nothing to do with it!

"He's right Iris. You coming along would only get you involved in all this, it won't help me get out!" I tell her.

"Just go back to the dorms and take a nap, it's getting late. I'll be back before you're up I promise!" I reassure her and then look at Paolo to tell him that I'm ready to go.

As we walk towards the road crossing, a black limousine stops by Paolo's side.

The window of the drivers side rolls down and a young man wearing dark sunglasses shouts to Paolo, his hand coming out of the window to make a gesture of 'come here'. So we both walk to the car together.

"Get in. Boss's order" is all the man says before rolling his windows up again.

In mutual understanding, both paolo and I walk to the back of the car and slide in. Nobody needs to repeat what was ordered. We're both scared shitless of the consequences that might follow.

After about 2 hours of ride, the car finally pulls over. We aren't in the main city anymore, I realise. We're on the outskirts of the town.

Getting out of the car, I look at where we have come. It's the forest. This man brought us to the Nyrst forests!

I look around me. Tall redwood trees stand at the boundaries of the forest spreading into view upto as far as I can see.

The man who brought us here motions us to follow him as he starts walking on a trail leading into the forest. I haven't been to this part of the forest. It's not just green green and yellow like before.

Only after walking for about five minutes, the trail spreads into a larger walkway. The trees now aren't in such close proximity as earlier. After another fifteen minute hike, I see the man ahead of us take out his phone.