I stayed on the bench, trembling, watching the ambulance pass by us with the dead body of the florist. The sight made bile rose to my throat. The poor woman's body drowned in blood was etched in my memory and the image had shaken me to my core.
Dead.
"What happened?" I heard Sean Miller's voice and that forced me to raise my head. He asked the person who had saved me from the bullet by pushing me to the ground. The tall, dark, blue eyed man had come out of nowhere and saved my life.
"We tried to catch the shooter but he vanished into thin air. He must have been a professional hired by someone." The guy briefed him.
"Are you hurt?" He asked me but I seemed to have lost my words.
"No." I managed to say. Not physically.
"Do you still want to go back to Florida and risk more lives?" He said, no empathy in his words but no anger either.
I shook my head in no as I stared at the splotches of blood on the road.
"Get in the car." He said and I did ask he asked.
He motioned the driver to start the car as he shifted into the car beside me. He might have expected me to resist but honestly, I was still traumatized by the sight I had seen earlier that I didn't care. That woman might have a family, or children that were expecting her to return home. And now she was dead, just like that. And knowing that I might be the reason behind her death was haunting me. It was all my fault.
I could feel Sean's eyes on me, observing my pale face quietly. Thank God, he decided not to mock me or say "I told you so" because that would have been the last straw before I break down in front of him.
The car finally came to a halt inside the mansion and I followed him quietly. Once inside the lounge, he called Jenny who rushed to us in no time.
"Take Miss. Woods to her room. And give her warm milk. She is a little shaken." He said and there was some slight warmth in his voice if I am not mistaken or deluded.
Jenny did as she was instructed. She took me to my room, helped me change clothes, cozied me under the blanket and then after few moments, came back with some warm milk.
"Are you alright?" She asked when she noticed my trembling hands, while blinking her round eyed at me.
"I don't know Jenny. I just watched a woman die. One minute, she was alive and the next minute, she was lying in front of me lifeless." I said as tears rolled down my cheeks.
"You'll get over it." She said, patting my arm.
"I don't think I will." I said, horrified.
"You will, trust me." She said and helped me gulp down the milk. Afterwards, she laid me down and covered me with the blanket. There was something in the milk that made me feel sleepy all of sudden. Or maybe I was just too mentally and physically exhausted. The last thing I remember was Jenny turning the lights off before I succumbed to sleep.
•••••
During the breakfast, there was deafening silence sprawled accross the dining table. Sean and Lucas were sitting opposite to me and they were silently chomping on the food in their plates. I on the other hand, was still stuck on what happened last night. I haven't even contacted Mary and told her that the plan had changed. I was in no mood to talk to anyone or explain anything.
After the breakfast, Lucas left the table first, leaving me along with the older Miller brother. I knew he was going to say something. I just wished it wasn't a reference to the aftermath of my stubbornness.
"Are you done?" He asked all of sudden and I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.
"What?"
"Are you done eating? I want to show you something." His voice was icy cold, like always.
"I'm done." I replied.
He stood up and motioned me to follow him. Gulping the ball of saliva down my throat, I stood up and walked behind him. His strides were longer so I had to walk faster to be able to follow him. I climbed the stairs behind him and then entered what looked like a study room.
But it wasn't the study room that he wanted to show me. It was the huge photo hanging behind his desk, covering half of the wall's width.
"What am I looking at?" I asked.
In the photo, there was a group of men sitting on a sofa, all dressed in black, with hats on their heads and scowl on their faces. The photo looked old, judging by the style and clothing of everyone. On the lower corner of the photo frame, the date was engraved.
Rome. 28/06/1990.
"This one is my father." He pointed towards the man sitting in the middle. The man looked a lot like him, brooding looks, sharp chiseled jaw, dangerous glare, most importantly the ability to command a room.
"And..." I raised my eyebrows.
"The one on his left is yours." He said.
And that's when I noticed my dad. I had never seen his older photos because according to him, everything burnt up in a house fire when I was a baby.
He looked a lot different than the funny, homely man I knew. He looked tough here in all black, and a little like Sean Miller's father himself. His lips were thinned into a frown, something I have never seen on his face.
"Your father worked with my father. One might say, they were close like brothers and Elijah Woods was the right hand of Alexander Miller." He said, reminiscing.
"Why haven't I heard of you or your father before?" I asked.
"Because they had a dispute many years ago, after which they never talked again." He replied.
I stepped closer to the picture and then stared at my father's face. How come we spend our whole lives with someone and still stay unaware of some aspects of their lives.
"But my father was a teacher. And your father.... What did he do?" I asked, confused.
"They... They ran a business together." He said after a lot of pondering.
"Why did he send me to you? After our families have been out of touch for all these years." I asked.
"Because my father and your father had some common enemies in their youth. Now I believe one of them is behind his death." He said.
All this information was a little too much for me, specially after last night's trauma.
I walked over to him and stopped few steps away. "You aren't telling me the whole truth, are you Mr. Miller?" I asked.
He stared back at me with narrowed dark eyes. "I've told enough." He said. "That's all you can handle for now."
"I can handle more than you can imagine." I said.
"Really?" He took a step towards me and I took one back. "I think you overestimate yourself, Miss. Woods."
I rolled my eyes at his arrogance and rudeness.
"Can I go now?" I asked, putting my hands in the pocket of my jacket.
"Sure." He said.
Huffing a little, I walked past him out of the
room and then closed the door behind me.
He had cleared many of my confusions but he still wasn't telling me complete truth. But what could I expect from him when Dad himself hid so many things from me related to his past.
•••••
• Sean •
"I don't think you telling her all that would make any difference." Lucas said to me as he walked into my office without my permission.
"We can't keep her against her will. She needs to understand why she is here." I replied.
"You haven't had troubles with keeping someone here against their will before. Tell me brother, are you going soft?" He said, striking a chord.
"I am not going soft." I cast an angry glare at him.
"Really? Because I can't remember the last time someone argued with you and survived, other than this chick." He mocked.
"This chick is our responsibility. Elijah trusted us with her life. It may surprise you but I still have honour left." I chewed my words.
"Your honour is quite selective, if I may. Is it only for pretty girls with green eyes and red hair?" He said.
"I don't give a fuck about her. She is just a nuisance that we have to protect because whoever is after her, that person may become a pain in our asses later on." I gritted. Lucas maybe my second in command but he was still a brother. And being my brother, he knew how to push my buttons.
"Whatever you say." He said and stood up. "And while we are on the topic of pain in your ass, Hailey is waiting you downstairs." He informed and I groaned internally.
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°