I was now wearing a yellow off shoulder dress with a slit on my right leg. My hair was falling in the natural straight way it always was. I had put only a black eyeliner and red lipstick. The door opened and I heard Stefan call out my name. I was standing in the closet staring at myself in the mirror.
"Dia-" The closet doors opened and Stefan stood there. I took a deep breath and let it out and turned slowly towards him.
"I am ready." I said and walked towards him. He just stared at me. I walked past him and down and took to my phone. He stood by the door and I handed him my phone. He looked confused.
"I don't have pockets and I don't need a bag." I said. He took the phone and put in his pocket. We walked down to the car and we were taking the limo. A man I had never seen was opening the door.
"What happened to Mal and Alan?" I asked once we were inside.
"I gave them an off tonight. I hired a driver." Stefan said and he went on texting on his phone.
We reached the venue and I linked my arm around Stefan's. We went and talked to a few people from the business. Some of the department heads were there. The party went on. We ate the food that was there and we didn't dance. Which I was grateful because I had to keep my distance from Stefan because the way my body reacted to him when I was backed into the door was alarming to me. We left by 10. We took a turn onto an open road that was weird. We didn't come this way before. I tapped Stefan on the shoulder. He looked up and furrowed his eyebrows.
"What?" he asked rather loudly. I sat a little closer to him and he looked a little shocked. I leaned in and whispered in a low voice.
"We took the wrong turn to go back I think." I said as I looked at him worried because the street was entirely empty. He looked out the window and lowered the screen separating us from the driver.
"Why are we taking this road?" he asked.
"Sir, this is a backroad to the main street. There is said to be a lot of traffic on the GPS." The driver answered. Stefan nodded his head and put the screen back up. Suddenly, there were sounds of tyres screeching and we were hit. The car turned in circles and the door opened Stefan fell out and we seemed to something again and the next thing I knew I was rolling out the car. There was a loud noise. Someone pulled my elbow. I was about to scream when a hand came over to close it. I looked up and was relieved to see Stefan. He had a small cut in on his head. He put his finger to his mouth and I nodded. He pulled me up and I turned and finally saw the car had hit the lamp post and the driver had come through the windshield and he seemed to be hit right on the head.
"Come on. We gotta go before they come back." Stefan said. Come back? He pulled me to behind some trees and there was a staircase to the road below. We walked down quickly. The tyres screeching came again. Stefan looked back worried.
"Come on!" he hurried me and I began running down. As soon as we reached the road we began running down it. There were lights coming in our direction. Stefan put his hand out and the car stopped. There was man driving with a little girls in the back.
"Are you okay sir?" The man asked.
"Could you please drop us off at 57th street. We got into a little car trouble." Stefan asked.
"Of course." The man said. Stefan got in the front and I sat in the back in between the two girls.
We began driving to the road home.
"My name is Carl and these are my daughters Denise and Darla." The man said.
"I am Stef-"
"Stefan Black and your wife Diana Black." Carl gave us a smile.
"Yeah." Stefan looked worried again.
"I plan on buying a necklace from the Kristen line of yours for my wife. Our anniversary is coming up." Carl said. Stefan nodded his head.
"Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital?" Carl asked.
"No!" Stefan said with a slightly raised voice. The girls beside me flinched a little.
"It's okay. It's just that you got hurt on your head and I wanted to just help. What happened to your car?" Carl said as he narrowed his eyes.
"There was a pothole that I didn't see properly and our car hit and lamppost because it skidded. I had to get my tyres changed but, I pushed it a week back thinking it would be okay." Stefan made up a lie.
"Hit your head on the steering wheel?" Carl asked.
"No, we were walking on the road and he tripped on my dress and hit his head as he fell down." I said. Carl chuckled while I felt Stefan glare at me.
"Ah. Problems with dim lighting and long dresses. Happened to me and wife on multiple occasions." Carl laughed. I joined in as an act. Stefan smiled at him. The rest of the car girls' kept on saying that I was Belle and I told them that the meaning of that was the most beautiful. Carl was talking about the importance of changing tyres and keeping the car in proper condition since he works in insurance and seen so many cases. Stefan thanked him and we walked silently down our road to the house. We upstairs and I went to the bathroom and brought out the medical kit. Stefan had changed into his sweatpants already. He was about to remove his shirt and wear a plain black t-shirt when I made him sit on the bed. He frowned at me.
"You have a cut and it needs to be cleaned." I said. I took a cotton and dipped it in the disinfectant.
"It's going to burn." I said. He nodded his head and he didn't flinch one bit. I cleaned the wound and taped it up. I threw the used cotton in the trash and went to change my clothes upstairs. I came down wearing a salmon pink hoodie and black leggings. Stefan was no where to be seen. He hit his head and could have a possible concussion. I walked out to check where he was. I saw that the door to my room was left slightly ajar. The room was dark. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I switched on the light and gasped at the sight in front of me. Everything in the room was destroyed. The couch was torn and cushion thrown everywhere. The curtains and its rod thrown down. The table was broken. My closet door was broken as well. I found the broken vase and wilted flowers beside them. Was this after I went? Or had some one broken in? What if there was some intruder. I ran down stairs and saw the light of the study on. I was running to it when it opened and Stefan stepped out.
"What are you doing? You should be in bed." He said as he looked at me slightly angry.
"Someone is in the house. I saw my room right now. It was broken." I said.
"Yeah. The hurricane came through." Stefan said.
"What?" I asked confused as to how he was taking this casually.
"The moment I found out about your departure I trashed the room in anger. Hurricane Stefan came in. I locked the door and the master key is with me." He said and then seemed to realise something. The door was unlocked.
"Did you take the keys?" Stefan asked as he narrowed his eyes at me.
"I don't know where the keys are!" I exclaimed that was his first thought?
"You do suspicious stuff all the time. Like befriend me and the run away." He said angrily.
"I don't know where the keys are!" I exclaimed.
"They are with you! Stop lying!" Stefan said, "You took them from my study!" he said and gripped my arms tightly.
I never entered the study. He locked me in the room since last night. We were in the room. The master key was taken by him. There are only one pair of keys and that is with Maria. She had the master key. He took it. How was the door open?
"I only went to three places in the house until now, the kitchen, the living room and yours." I said worried. There was someone in the house wasn't there?
Suddenly, there was shattering of glass from the window in the living room. The living room opened into the passage here because there was a small section of the living room that was wide open to see this passage. I looked to my right but, I was pulled forward and was on the ground. The shattering continued and I knew that there was only one thing that could cause the glass to shatter continuously like this. Gunshots. Stefan was on top of me.
"Stay right here!" He said as he got up and took something from the table outside the study behind the wall that hid the entry to the study. It was a gun. He had a gun. I could fell all the warmth leave my body when he went into the living room. I slid with my back against the wall. The firing stopped. Stefan appeared. I looked up at him.
"Come on we have to go." He said. There was another gunshot.
"Go to the room. Look under the fourth drawer and pack enough clothes for the two of us in the duffel bags. Understood?" he asked. I couldn't speak.
"GO!" he shouted and I got and he covered me as he took me to the other side of the passage and I ran up the stairs to the room. I heard a few more gunshots and I looked back and opened the door without looking back. I was pulled into someone's arms. One of their arm was holding me and covered my mouth. The other pressed a cold thing to my head.
"You shout I will blow out your brains." He said darkly. I gulped as I felt my heart drop. I nodded my head. He removed his hand from my mouth and held with grip from behind. His arm was holding my neck and he still the gun pressed to my temple. The door was slightly ajar and I finally saw Stefan come in and freeze at the sight in front of him. His gun was raised. My chest heaved in fear.
"Put the gun down or I blow her brains to pieces." The man said. Stefan looked at me and back at the man not putting his gun down. He just stared.
"Trust me. You put the gun down we deliver you to the boss. And I will bargain for this beauty." He said. I gulped. Stefan was not moving.
"Let her go. I will come with you." Stefan finally said.
"Gun down. She goes. You die." The man said. Stefan slowly was lowering his arm. The man chuckled and I saw him smirk in the small wall mirror on the wall on the left and he looked at me. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and I closed my eyes as I felt something wet on my cheek. I was dead wasn't I? I then heard a loud thud. I fell to my knees. A clatter. Two hands cupped my face. They were warm. Why were they warm. Everything should be cold when one dies. Warmth is what everyone feels when they are still alive. I couldn't feel warmth.
"Diana look at me." Stefan's voice. I slowly opened my eyes. I was still alive. I gasped.
"Hey, you are okay. Come on." Stefan said. I looked back and saw the man's eyes dead. His temple had a hole. He was shot. My throat constricted at the sight. I looked back Stefan. He pulled me and put his arms around me. One of his hand was on my waist and the other was patting my head to calm myself. I took a few breaths in. He looked back me again and wiped something off my cheek. I saw his fingers stain red. There was blood on my cheek. My hoodie was splattered with blood.
"We need to go to a safe place. I will place our bags. Go get changed." He said and pulled me to my feet. I sat right there. I couldn't move. First the accident that didn't seem like one. Then the gunshots. The man holding me at gunpoint. Stefan not moving and standing still and he killed him. He killed the man. "Diana!" Stefan said more loudly. I looked at him and then realised I was supposed to change from the hoodie with the man of blood close to killing me. I went into the bathroom and Stefan brought me my ACDC grey band shirt and black ripped jeans. I wore them and walked to the closet. Stefan had both the black duffel bags he talked about packed and he took out a leather jacket and his brown jacket I wore yesterday. He handed me his brown jacket and put his own on. I followed him and we passed the kitchen.
I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look back at me.
I pointed to the kitchen. He nodded his head as he understood and we got my backpack and packed some food. I then followed him back down to the basement. We got into a Matt Black Range Rover. We got out and I saw were on the road. Stefan put my phone along with his in the cup holder between us. The ride was silent no one said anything. I couldn't say anything and he decided to keep mum. I put head on the headrest and looked out as we were making our way out the city. We were outside by the time we sun began rising.