Before he can react, I extract Devin's mobile phone from his pocket nimbly and place it out of his reach.
"Give my phone back." he grunts, fighting against my grasp, "For fuck sake can someone please tell me what the fuck-"
Sighing, Nathaniel gives Devin a semi-apologetic look before stuffing a large fragrant lemon into his mouth to muffle his words. Shaking his head, he slips his hand into his trouser pocket and pulls out a crisply folded handkerchief, wiping his hands on a clean white linen before inverting the wiped side and pocketing it again.
"We should take this somewhere more private." he states grimly, walking around Devin and helping me fasten his hands with the duct tape he found in the kitchen drawer beside the fridge, "It's in everyone's best interest that no one else witnesses this. It'll be quite a task to deal with in case someone unexpectedly walks in for a glass of water or something."
Nathaniel regards Devin in silence, the boy on his knees glaring defiantly at him. Devin's jaw clenches as he tries to spit out the large lemon. Pinching his face slightly, Nathaniel tapes his mouth in a quick stroke before putting the duct tape back where he found it, patting a speck of dust off the fabric of his pants with a touch of smugness flashing across his face.
My body freezes for a moment, a little taken aback at Nathaniel's unkind action, but I observe wordlessly. As long as he doesn't get asphyxiated, Devin can manage with the lemon inside his mouth for a couple of minutes while we move him. Right?
I frown disapprovingly.
He kicks his legs about frantically as we pick him up, squirming desperately but stops immediately when Nathaniel pulls out a familiar looking silver tipped syringe.
My breath hitches as I swallow, my eyes widening and I shake my head but Nathaniel ignores me. As we lead Devin outside through the back door of the kitchen, I mentally debate whether Nathaniel would be cruel enough to actually go through with it. It pains me to think that he just might, if aggravated enough. After all, he'd threatened to poison me with it and had ended up using that deadly neurotoxic cocktail on me too although I'd conveniently passed it off as accidental.
Any trace of my cherry vodka induced haze has disappeared now and so is my urge to pee. The effects of my fight-or-flight hormones finally kicking in I suppose.
Once Devin is outside, we usher him along, urgently leading him into the garage and lock the door behind us before anyone catches a glimpse of us.
Nudging him into a corner, I carefully pull off the duct tape on his mouth. Despite the fact that Devin might just be the person who was stalking us, I don't have the heart to hurt him unnecessarily.
He spits out the wet lemon, falling into a coughing fit as he chokes on his own saliva. Once better, he flexes his jaw slowly, glaring venomously at the prince standing a few feet away.
"I think you should just tell us everything. We don't want to hurt you, really." I say in a grim tone before Nathaniel threatens to use his ghastly venom again, "Spill."
"About what?" Devin spits furiously.
"Why are you following us around?" I breathe out heavily, "More importantly who's making you do it?"
"I don't know, ok." Devin shakes his head, "Now, free my fucking hands and I'll be on my way."
Nathaniel steps forward, unsheathing the syringe slowly.
"Now, Devin." he smiles, "Think again. I know that I want you to leave this room sane and in one piece. And I trust that it's what you want too."
I swallow, shaking my head.
"Nathaniel, you don't need to use that." I place my hand on his shoulder lightly, whispering softly into his ear, thanking my stars that I'm able to keep my tone steady.
Honestly, he's acting a little unlike himself and it's worrying me. Scratch that, it is low-key terrifying.
"Please do not interfere, Ariya." he replies simply.
Shaking my head, I slowly wrap my fingers around the cold glass surface of the syringe and tug but he holds it firmly, not budging and refuses to let go.
"Nathaniel!" I purse my lips into a thin line, trying to pull it again.
This time he pulls back too, rather unexpectedly, sending me crashing into his hard chest. His subtle cologne invades my senses and it brings back brief flashes of our heated kiss in the closet. I can almost feel the tip of his tongue ghost over my mouth, teasing my lower lip enticingly, and the unexpectedly complex feeling of safety and impending danger that swept over my body.
I sigh softly.
Someone coughs behind me and I force my deviant mind to recentre instantly.
"Right, I guess I'll just step out and ask Mads to help me get out of this tape." Devin scoffs, "Go fuck yourself to oblivion, you sick fucks!"
"Shut up Devin!" I grind my teeth, abruptly letting go of the tranquiliser in Nathaniel's hand.
I don't dare to look up at him, stepping away quickly. And turning to face the boy kneeling uncomfortably on the floor. To my relief, I see Nathaniel reluctantly slip the glass syringe back into his pocket, but keeps his hand there- ready to whip it out if required.
"I'm telling you that I don't know." Devin rests his head against the spare parts cabinet, beads of perspiration running down the sides of his forehead, "You have to believe me."
I run my right hand through my hair to flatten out the friz. It's sweltering hot inside the garage and a layer of sweat has gathered on the back of my neck.
"You've been leaving behind chits in places where you know we can find them. Right?" I question calmly.
"So what? That doesnt mean anything. It could be a harmless prank for all you know." he replies with an astounding amount of indifference, "You don't fucking need to go all Natasha Romanoff on me for that!"
Nathaniel's hand tightens around the syringe.
"Don't you see that I'm trying to help you here Devin?" I let out a frustrated sigh, "There's only so much I can do to stop Nathaniel from taking this in his hands. And I'm sure you can guess it won't be painless at all."
Devin opens his mouth to protest but closes it again.
"I don't even know what those chits mean." he relents finally, shaking his hands behind his back, trying to free himself as he rubs his face against his shoulder, "I only did it because I owed a guy and he was ready to call off the debt if I agreed to drop these stupid chits around for him."
"And who is this particular gentleman?" Nathaniel edges into the conversation slowly.
"I don't know his name."
"Great." I mutter sarcastically, "How did he look?"
"I don't fucking know okay, for fuck's sake!
Pulling my mouth into a thin line, I share a furtive glance with Nathaniel.
"Pass his phone." I say quietly, motioning to his phone.
"Wait wha-" Devin opens his mouth to protest but I cut him off mid sentence.
"Password?" I ask simply, raising my eyebrows slightly.
When Devin stubbornly stares at the floor wordlessly, I sigh loudly. With practised dexterity, I hold up the phone screen so that I can make out the frequently punched characters of the password.
It is a five character password. A hundred and fifty permutations.
I find a fingerprint sensor at the back and walk around so that I'm standing behind Devin. Kneeling down, I punch his right index finger on the sensor, internally rejoicing over saved time.
The phone screen lights up immediately.
"You've got a pending software update." I mutter disdainfully, opening his call logs and text chats, "You should get that done as soon as possible."
Nathaniel strides over to where I'm standing and leans over my shoulder as I scan through the texts.
All his chats are pretty mundane except an empty thread from someone named JT that shows that the last message was today.
"Hmm this one looks suspicious, doesn't it?" I murmur, tilting my head behind slightly.
Nathaniel hums in affirmation.
"Who is JT?" he asks aloud, straightening up and taking a step back.
"No one that's important."
"Then you shouldn't mind telling us who he is." Nathaniel replies coolly.
Devin stubbornly decided to keep his mouth shut and shrugs.
I let out a frustrated sigh, hardly audible to the other two.
Dropping Devin's phone onto a panel beside the door, I bend down to rip the duct tape off his bound hands in a single stroke. I barely flinch at the loud ripping sound of the tape being pulled off, breathing hard as I crumple it into a sticky ball and toss it to the side.
"Fuck!" He grimaces, cradling his wrists with a deep scowl set deep across his face.
"Why on earth did you set him free, Ariya?!" Nathaniel demands, lunging forward to tackle Devin.
Before he can do anything to Devin, I grip his hand tightly and hold him back firmly.
"He isn't going to answer any of our questions if we treat him like a freaking criminal for god's sake." I snap, widening my eyes, "Right Devin? Well, you better start talking now."
Devin doesn't make an attempt to run, thankfully, instead sitting exactly where I'd left him. He shrinks his shoulders in response to Nathaniel's aggressive advance.
Rolling his eyes, Nathaniel stills and waits for me to loosen my grip on his arm before shrugging it off.
"Very well then," he tenses his jaw, turning to glare at Devin, "Since you insist."
He takes a step back, leaning against a wall outcropping and crosses his arms in front of chest before nodding at me to take the lead.
Clearing my throat, I start in a soft tone, "I'm just going to make this easier for you and fastforward to the part where we know that JT is someone you genuinely fear or that person has some blackmail material on you. So do the honours and spill the tea please."
"I–" Devin swallows, staring at his feet, "I can't."
"Can not or will not?" I huff under my breath.
I glance at Nathaniel exasperatedly for a moment, but quickly glance away when he begins to motion towards the vial inside his pocket.
"Devin," I breathe patiently, "You must understand that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. We can offer you protection against who this person is."
"There's no fucking way you can!" Devin cries out suddenly, his voice shaking with contempt and a hint of fear as he eyes Nathaniel's pocket cautiously.
I run over a couple of interrogation strategies that I'd read about in a comprehensive secret service journal I'd got my hands on a couple of months ago, inside my head.
Trust. And a portrayed upper hand or power. These were essential in any successful interrogation.
I calculate various outcomes in different scenarios by playing them out inside my head and brace myself.
"They're probably wondering where we disappeared." I say to Nathaniel with a small frown, "Maybe you can go tell them that I got my period or something and had to leave."
Nathaniel pulls his mouth into a thin line before nodding tersely, he doesn't say anything as he turns to leave the stuffy garage with a purposeful stride.
An almost inaudible sigh escapes from Devin.
I whirl around, chuckling, "He can be a bit too much sometimes."
Pretending to get ready to leave, I bend down and pick up the sticky bits of duct tape off the floor and the discarded lemon to make sure the garage looks just as it did before we entered.
Devin remains silent, staring at the floor intently.
Just as I'm about to open my mouth to say bye, he asks quietly, "What's in it for me if I speak?"
I bite back a cheeky grin, knowing my pacification strategy is working.
"Well firstly, whatever it is, I'm sure it's something you don't want Madison to know so I shan't expose you to her or anyone else for that matter." I reply tactfully, "And more importantly we can provide you with protection from whoever you're scared of."
Devin doesn't respond.
"There is one thing you can do," he says finally.
Oh my fucking goodness! It's happening—
"Do you think Nathaniel knows how to wipe out electronic data?" he asks expectantly.
I scoff inwardly, a fraction of my victorious rush getting mitigated. The nerve he had to think I didn't know how to do it myself.
Breathe Ariya, I repeat inside my mind, getting underestimated by the opposition is always an advantage.
"I suppose he can." I reply after a short pause, "He is very good with gadgets."
"That's perfect," he breathes out a relieved sigh, "Please take my phone with you after this and erase all contact with everyone except Madison, my parents and the old care home called 'King's Senior Citizens Home'."
"Done." I agree hastily, "You better spill fast. Nathaniel won't be long."
"Yes ma'am," Devin replies indignantly, regaining some of his previous arrogance, "If you'd just give me a chance to speak."
I roll my eyes, pulling my lips into a tight line.
"JT was my brother's dealer. He's in rehab now-my brother, I mean, but he still owed JT a couple grand," Devin exhales hard, "The fucker somehow found our address and a couple of goons threatened to cut of as many fingers as the number of has been hounding me to repay him for the last two months. I don't have that kind of money and I don't want to worry my parents with my brother's dark past because therapy is already costing them a lot."
I frown, "And let me guess, this dude agreed to subsidise whatever you owed him if you agreed to do a couple of harmless errands here and there."
"Yes, but–."
"You silly boy!" I exclaim, "You need not have burdened yourself with this entire thing, at least not alone. You could have gotten help from the police or from—"
I cut myself off midsentence when I see Devin bite his lip with regret and avert his gaze. He's probably thought about all the things he could have done differently in this situation and questioned himself mercilessly over it.
"I'm sorry."
He shrugs, slowly getting to his feet and glancing towards the garage door.
"Your boy is heading this way." he mumbles, brushing dust off his clothes, "And Ariya, I beg you to keep Madison out of this. She's better off not knowing."
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Hi there, I'm back from the dead 👉🏼👈🏼
I know it's been really long since I updated and I'm really sorry but offline university is super hectic.
I've decided to update weekly from today onwards and hope you're just as excited as me to read where this story takes Ariya and Nathaniel.
Do vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love! ♡