(Talias POV)
"I have to go back to the store," I said, rushing towards the door.
"What? No! We spent all day out and we finally got everything we needed, you have to stay here and spent time with me. I need my girl time!" Kim pouted, blocking the door.
"I found this," I stated, holding up the rose. "He left it in my bag, I have to go and find him."
"Find who? The guy who bagged our groceries? It was sweet of him to do, but you don't want to seem desperate. Go see him tomorrow, I'll even call and make sure he's working that day."
I grabbed Kim's arms. "It's Romeo! It has to be, this is exactly the kind of thing he would do. I have to go now before he's gone!"
Kim paused and I waited for everything to click in her mind. I could feel the precious seconds trickling by, along with my chance of finding him.
"Wait, so you think that the guy I tried to set you up with at the store is actually the guy you've been fawning over and the reason why you wouldn't talk to the guy in the first place?" Kim grinned triumphantly.
"Yes!" I was exasperated. "Can you move now? I have to go!"
"I'll go too," Kim said, heading over to grab her purse.
"No, I don't want you to come. It could not even be him, just stay here and spent your evening with Koteo." I really didn't want her tagging along for this. If I was wrong, I wanted to wallow in disappointment alone and if I was right, I didn't want her there because it could be dangerous.
"You can't go alone!" Kim insisted, not even listening to me.
"I'll take my gun," I said, jogging to my bedroom to grab Lukas gun. I really needed to give it back to him. "There! Now I'll be perfectly safe. Just stay here and I'll call you if I find anything okay?"
Kim sighed, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed.
"Please don't argue with me on this Kim," I said, hoping she would listen.
After a moment, she heaved a sigh and tossed me her keys. "At least take my car."
"I will, thank you!" I said, opening the door, only to find Koteo handing me a container of warm food.
"For the road," he said, bumping his glasses back up his nose.
"Thanks! Have fun!" I pulled the door closed and ran down the hall, to impatient for the elevator as I took the stairs down and out of the building.
I felt like I was racing against time to get there in time.
* * *
When I entered the store, the crowd had thinned out and the store looked like it was preparing to close for the evening.
Kevin was no longer working at the cash register and the potential Romeo was nowhere in sight.
"Excuse me," I said, finding a manager. "I'm looking for the guy who was working on bagging items earlier. Thin guy, brownish hair, store hat. Really quiet guy." I really should have paid attention to the bagging guys name tag.
The old guy looked me over, his eyes sagging with tiredness from a long day of dealing with customers and employees. "We have a lot of people working here," He stated and my shoulders drooped. "But I think I know what guy you're talking about."
Yes! "I really need to get in touch with him," I said, hoping the manager would go ahead and spill the beans of all the information I needed. "When is he coming back to work?"
"He was just coming in special for today to help with the Easter rush. I didn't even catch the guys name."
"How could you hire someone and not get their name? Didn't he fill out paperwork or anything?"
The guy looked both tired and annoyed. "It was a favor for a buddy of mine okay?"
"Who?"
"Listen lady, I'm really busy and we're working on closing up for the evening," He turned away, shuffling through some papers.
I moved in front of him and put a desperate look on my face, putting on as much sadness and willing my eyes to blur with fake tears. "Please, he's my brother. I'm just trying to find him, he ran away and is using a different name. I've been looking for him for so long," I sniffled, thanking my eyes for finally tearing up. "Please, help me find him."
The guys expression changed and he gave me a look of pity and uncertainty. He was hooked though and I knew he was going to tell me everything I needed to know.
"His name was Jack Herings. He's an old war vet, but I don't know where he's living now. I mentioned needing someone extra this week and he told me he knew a guy who was willing to work for food," The manager said and I knew he was telling the truth. Men like him had no reason to lie about things like that.
I thanked him and headed out to my car, going on my computer and digging around for a Jack Herings.
After looking through google, state records and army records, I finally round up in public records, finding a property that appeared to be owned by a Jack Herings.
It was a strong lead. Jack knew who he was personally and I was one step closer to finding out if the bagger guy really was Romeo or not.
The address led me to downtown and into a rough neighborhood that I had never been in. Even the house that Tony had been using to hack from, the place that I had been kidnapped from, was in a better part of town then this place.
I was glad I had Luka's gun with me.
* * *
It was almost dark when I pulled up to the address I had found for Jack, parking the car and taking in how the house looked from the car.
The roof had been patched up recently and it looked like it was barely holding itself together. It wasn't just the roof that had been patched up over and over, it was the entire house.
It was like your favorite pair of jeans that you eventually had to add patches to to keep them from completely falling apart, adding more and more patches until the pants were made from patches and only threads of your favorite jeans still showed.
Did that mean that the pants weren't your favorite anymore? No, you still wore them no matter what.
I got out of the car, tucking the gun into the back of my jeans and pulling my shirt down over it and grabbed my bag. Shifting my eyes around at the dark shadows around me, I approached the front door of the house.
I really hoped I didn't die trying to find Romeo after he had just saved my life.
Knocking on the door, I glanced around behind me, watching as a shadow moved, someone watching me from across the street.
The door creaked open behind me and I turned, preparing to ask an old war vet questions.
Instead, I came face to face with the bagger guy from the store. Romeo.
(Romeo's POV)
I lit the candles in the living room, lighting up the room in the house so I could see. It wasn't a surprise that there was no electricity, we couldn't afford food, let alone the electric. My feet ached from the long walk back to the house, but it felt good.
What felt better was the bags of expired food that covered the counter top in the kitchen. It was enough food to last us a month more and we could even eat twice a day without worrying about running out right away.
I still needed to find somewhere to work so we would have a good supply of food. Maybe I could convince the manager to hire me part time.
I dug around in the bags, trying to decide what to eat first. I settled on a can of stew, saving the fish for Jack because I knew it was his favorite.
I grabbed a spoon and the can opener and headed to the living room, sitting the things down on the makeshift coffee table.
Sitting two candles close together, I worked on pulling the paper label off the can so it would catch fire when I put the can close to the candles to heat it up.
A knock on the door caused me to drop the can and it disappeared into the darkness of the room.
I sighed and stood, approaching to door. It was probably Jack back from wherever he went during the day and I couldn't wait to show him the food I had brought home.
We would be eating well tonight.
I grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open. Instead of looking up into the wrinkly face of Jack, I was looking at the face of an angel.
It felt like my heart had froze in my chest as, for the second time today, I looked at Talia.
My heart began pounding wildly in my chest and my mind was quick to follow it, thoughts flying through it.
How had she found me?
Who cared? She was here, standing right in front on me. There was no question, she knew who I was. I could tell by the intelligent spark and hopeful gleam in her eyes as she spoke, "Hey."
It was all I could do to keep eye contact with her and keep my legs stable enough to keep me standing.
She had found me and I watched reality and my online world collide, waiting in desperate terror as to how much damage it would cause us.