You Are MINE (Trentham#2) (Completed)

2. Grief

Hanks swallows up his pride. Since he left England, he never asked news about her. Although Hook keeps his communication with Patch.

He finally asks, "How is she?"

"She's doing great. Got few kids and her husband loves her. Val owned a printing company now. You see those popular greeting cards in the bookstore we passed earlier? His company made them. He is the artist. Not bad, huh?"

As usual, Hook never stops blabbering as soon as he opens his mouth.

Hanks rubs his jaws again.

At least she is happy. That's all I need to know.

He reluctantly rises from the bed.

Dallas prepared beds for customers to rest or when they got KO like him.

Hook asks, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to my father's house."

He never felt it as his home. He refused to acknowledge it as his home.

"I've already packed everything for us. We could leave anytime. Tickets are still available for us if we hurried."

Hanks asks, "You are coming?"

"I would never leave you in battlefield, Pal," says Hook.

"Thank you."

Hook knows him too well. Facing his father again would be like walking alone in battlefield. Without any armor or any weapon. Stray bullets of anger would be fired like crazy.

Hanks would rather face speeding bullets in battlefield than going home again. But he has no other choice.

Hook is right. It's time to say goodbye to his past.

*****

Dallas shakes his head. The last customer has just left. The gym is dirty again. His maid isn't very diligent like Sophia. She spent too much time flirting him instead of cleaning.

God, I still miss her. Where could I find a girl like her again? So sweet. So naive.

He closes his eyes.

Time to do the cleaning himself.

He locks the door after finished the cleaning.

It isn't the safest neighborhood in town. Not exactly the slum either.

A hooded woman is walking alone. Her clothes are too flashy for this environment. Not exactly a commoner.

Dallas got a bad feeling about her so he secretly follows her.

Few thugs jump out from nearby alley. They are the local predators here.

One of them orders, "Leave everything behind, Lady. Even your fancy clothes."

The Lady protests, "Certainly not."

She swings her bag to a thug's head when he tries to grab her.

"Leave her alone," orders Dallas.

A thug mocks, "Isn't it the champ himself. You're far from your gym, buddy. Get back to your place. This is our territory."

Another thug warns, "We are fully armed, champ. Just go."

Dallas stares her. It's too dark to see her face. But she's shivering, probably out of fear.

He says, "No. You are the one who should leave."

The thugs start to attack him. Five against one. Not a fair fight because they are using knives and he fights with his fists.

Somehow he manages to knock out three of them. The other two fled afterwards.

Dallas stares down when he feels dizzy. Adrenaline is rushing in his veins. He doesn't even feel pain. A knife has buried in his belly.

"Oh, Sir!"

That's the last thing he heard before he fainted.

"Help! Help! Please help me!"

The Lady runs to her coach to find help from her servants.

*****

"I don't need help," says Dallas.

"You grunt! Doctor said you should have complete bed rest for a month," protests her.

She is a bit short and plump. Probably over thirty years old. Few years older than him. A rich Lady if you saw how many jewelries adorned her body. She is like a walking jewelry store.

He tries to get up again from bed. But she pushes him down with her smaller body.

"Stay," orders her.

He never likes Bossy woman. Having one on top of him makes him felt irritated. It also makes him wants more. It has been months since he had fun with a woman.

She smells wonderful like chocolate. Reminded him of a baker woman from nearby shop.

She blushes when she realizes how close they got.

"I'm sorry. You are injured, Sir. Please don't move too much. If you died, my conscience couldn't take it."

Dallas says, "Not your fault. It's a thug..."

"They were sent to claim my life. Jacob's nephew desired my factory. But I shall never handed it over to him."

She begins to tell the tale. Her husband and her built the chocolate factory ten years ago. He ran the management. She made the chocolate recipes. They managed to built a loyal customer base. One of the biggest factory in England.

When he died, she inherited everything.

But his nephew wanted a part of, no, the whole factory for himself. The good for nothing runt would only gamble his fortune away.

She fought against him in the court and won. The judge was a good friend of her husband.

Now the nephew tried to erase her by any other mean.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you everything. It's my fault, Sir. That's why I must make sure you recover completely."

Dallas closes his eyes. His head is dizzy for losing too much blood.

Her brown eyes look worried. She leaves the room silently.

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Please vote and comment :)

Poor Dallas unlucky in love. Now he is wounded. Will his luck change?