“Julie....” I called out as soon as I reached the location she shared a few minutes back.
“Charles, I asked you to provide security for Julie. How did this happen?” I asked through the phone angrily as I walked inside a Mall.
“She is one of the suspects in human trafficking after Logan’s interview. We warned her not to go out of the house. I’m sorry, but I can’t help her more than that.” He snapped, disconnecting the call. I ran towards every corner where I thought she would be hiding.
The shopping mall was huge and considering its upper floors having rooms and a penthouse, the people cooped up on the entire ground floor, making it hard for me to find her. She said she was somewhere nearby, and I searched until I was breathless through the enormous crowd, unable to find her anywhere.
Dejectedly, I walked near the elevator which was a little vacant to breathe fresh air. Clicking on Julie’s number for the nth time, I waited, expecting her to respond, but it said that it was switched off. I pulled out my cigar and stood near the window to release the tension in my mind.
“Zearo...” I heard a whisper and turned towards a small corner below the staircase and near the storeroom, where I saw my mother holding Julie.
“Mom?” I blurted, surprised, throwing away the remnant cigar from my hand into the dustbin hurriedly.
“What are you doing here?” I inquired and Julie rushed at me, hugging me tighter, and wailed.
“I asked Julie to accompany me to the mall, as I didn’t want to disturb Diya.” My mother said as she slowly stroked Julie’s hair.
“When I was in the changing room, a group of students charged at her, tearing off her dress like this.” My grip around her shoulder tightened as I noticed how her dress was torn around the shoulder and scratch marks on the skin.
“I tried to break free, but it was not fruitful. That’s the reason we are hiding.” My mom spoke and Julie just kept on crying and damping my t-shirt.
“We have to complain about this to the management here. This is not the way to maintain decorum. They should take strict action against the people who did this to you.” I gripped my hand around her gown and retorted.
I felt her shaking her head on my chest and then heard her say meekly, “No, I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to go home.”
“How could you ask her to accompany you when both of you were strictly prohibited from getting out of the house?” I glared at my mother, who had an apologetic face.
“I needed a few things and i-“ she stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“They are here. How did they know I was here?” My mother whispered, pointing at someone at the entrance.
“Who?-“ I followed her line of sight and saw the same men who entered the oldie's warehouse in search of Logan.
“We need to get out of here,” I concluded. Julie must have suffered a lot, as her cries didn’t even stop and her body shivered against mine, making me feel guilty.
“How did you come here?” I asked my mother, and she replied, “Liara’s car.”
“Whose car?” I asked as I felt I misheard.
“The red one. Liara’s car.” My mom replied I wanted to scream louder when I realized she brought Liara’s Lykan.
“Where is it?” I asked, checking where the Luchelies guys were.
“It’s... It’s. It’s over there.” Julie spoke.
“Where?”
“That’s my fault. I guess some people saw us coming out of it and they tried to harm the car when we were inside. We wanted to get out of here, but the tires were flat.”
“Mom! Do you even realize how valuable that car is for Liara?” I exclaimed. I was practically dead meat if she found out that her car was in such terrible shape.
“Can we think of getting out of here first?” My mom threw her hand, frustrated, and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah right. And for the nth time, try to heed someone or at least inform somebody before you do something.” I bit my tongue to control my anger. In the morning, I was in a terrible mood and one by one people kept on spoiling it more.
“I’m sorry Zearo,” Julie whispered between sobs.
“It’s all my fault.” She mumbled.
“No sweety, you were targeted.” My mom soothed her. I was having a terrible headache already but thankfully found Charles pulling his van in front of the mall.
“We need to run,” I said to my mother and picked Julie up as she staggered as soon as I tried to break free from her hold.
“One..two..three..” I counted, making sure the Luchellies men were not on our way, and jogged towards the exit, hiding Julie in my arms. My mother held the end of my t-shirt and joined me. Hiding my mom from the Luchellies was my priority because they weren’t aware that she was alive and I needed to keep her safe. It took a few minutes to get out of the ground floor amidst the crowd. We dogged all the people and hid from the group who tried to harm Julie and the Luchellies' men as well.
“Charles,” I called out, heaving due to lack of air.
“Get them inside first.” He barked at me through the window.
“Careful,” I said and placed them both inside the car.
“Take them to the Mansion and please arrange some security for Julie on her way home,” I said to Charles after I shut the door where Julie was.
“First you’ve got to take care of bigger issues.” He shook his head, and I glanced at him, confused. The scorching sun had my intellect in a mess.
“What -“ I asked breathlessly, holding my body beside the van.
“Her...” He nudged me back and started his car, taking them away from me.
“Who?” I turned around and my brain just fused.
“Liara..” I couldn’t reckon my luck would be this terrible. I glanced at her as she stood near the elevator, unmoving in the penthouse, I suppose. I knew she saw me because our eyes met, but she refused to acknowledge that as I saw her smiling at someone beside her.
“Finn!” I gritted my teeth. Taking a few deep breaths, I strode toward the elevator, pushing the guards away, making my way towards them, and held Liara’s hand as she was walking away from me.
“Woah, man! That was a pleasant surprise. Liara told me you were busy.” Finn said, and I nodded at him. “I didn’t know you would be here,” I said, looking at Liara, but she just nodded at me.
“Oh, this building’s penthouse is my getaway home for a few days when I’m in New York, and thought this would be the safest place for her to be,” Finn answered instead.
“Oh, okay. Are you done?” I asked her again, but she walked away with her phone attached to her ears, pretending to talk to someone. I grew frustrated at how she behaved.
“Man, she is pissed.” Finn chuckled, amusement clear on his face, making me even angry.
“Excuse me?” I asked as I didn’t hear him correctly.
“She saw you taking your girlfriend in your arms and as she snuggled into your body,” he commented and I was sure he was enjoying this.
“I asked Derek to send some sensible person and not an idiot.” I yanked on his collar and spoke seriously. He lowered his eyes after I scowled.
“And he chose me.” He answered, grinning at me. I grew furious and punched him hard in the face.
“Master, I didn’t know you were such a pussy.” He tutted.
“Mind your words. I would not think twice before ripping your tongue off.” I clasped my elbow into his neck as I moved away from the guards and behind the elevator wall.
“Instead of doing that, why don’t you think about your wife?” He mumbled breathlessly as he struggled to breathe because of my hold.
“Get your ass out of New York instantly,” I said, releasing my grip around his throat. He massaged his throat and laughed at me. I asked Derek to send a man and not a puppy. He should have sent some sensible man to talk on my behalf of me about the investment I made in SAMs. I would not boast to her about the fact that I invested in SAMS when she was going through a crisis.
“Master, I was going to, but now I think I should stay because perhaps Liara needs me.” He said, pointing at Anthony and Liara as she stared at her car. I watched in horror when I saw her car’s condition. They broke one of the mirrors and the tires were flat.
“It's fun being this close to you. You don’t seem to be as frightful as you pretended to be when I was a trainee.” He commented, but I cared less about his remark and more about how Liara would react.
“Fuck off.” I pushed him aside and rushed towards Liara.
“Liara, let me explain.” I held her shoulder when she was caressing her car’s broken window.
“Not a word.” She answered, shaking my hand off her shoulder.
“My mom didn’t know how important this is for you. If she would, I bet she wouldn’t” I started, but suddenly she turned around and looked straight into my eyes furiously. Considering her height, her face touched my chin, but the look on her face frightened me.
“I Said Not A Word.” She held my collar and came threateningly close to me and said.
“You are overreacting,” I replied as I found it offending what she did in front of so many people.
“Then move away.” She pushed me and walked inside the building, Anthony and Finn tailing her behind. I pinched the bridge of my nose, not knowing how to even react to this.
“Where is your manager?” I heard a booming voice at the reception.
“God, no,” I whispered and took off inside where Liara was fuming.
“Ma’am, please come this way.” A lady whispered.
“Madam, I’m so sorry. I heard what happened to your car.” The manager came forward faking an apologetic look, but a loud slap fell on his cheek.
“Is this the way you treat a customer inside the mall? Is this how secure your mall is?” She shoved her phone into his face and asked.
“Ma’am, it was unexpected. We tried to” He tried to explain, but she chose not to listen.
“And my car? Where was your security when that happened? Do you even realize how precious that is to me? And have you any idea who got hurt when the people attacked? She was my mother-in-law.” She spoke and threw the phone in his face.
“I’m extremely sorry, ma’am.” He apologized again and all his workers piled up. I walked towards her but heard Anthony say, “We should leave. They are filming this.” Then I realized that a few girls were filming the entire commotion.
“Get my car repaired and I don’t care how, but all the parts should be original. Pack all the stuff the women selected and send it to my address with a proper apology letter, which you should have done when they hid helplessly for hours and you ignored it.” She spoke. I stood there bewildered when I realized she saw everything. What was she even made of, man? I thought.
“And you girls, post that thing on Twitter with a hashtag that says this mall doesn’t treat all its customers equally.” She pointed at the girls who were filming. They looked at her, surprised, and their mouths agape.
“You will take action against whoever messes with my people.” She pointed her finger at the manager.
“If not, I will sue your mall and those culprits together.” Man. Julie would be glad when she found out that Liara had stood up for her.
“Liara, enough. We need to leave.” Anthony dragged Liara away from the crowd. I walked with them and tried to push the people away. She didn’t bother to look at me or even talk to me, and it bothered me the most.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Anthony spoke, shaking his head as we made our way out of the crowd.
“Woah, that was just mind-blowing, Liara,” Fin exclaimed.
“Let me drop you off at the Airport.” Liara offered Finn. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and shook his head.
“No, I’m alright. I can manage. You look tired and need rest.” He kissed her cheek, thanking her for spending time with him. I fisted my hand angrily but thought about teaching him a lesson afterward. For now, my focus was Liara.
“Anthony, I’m tired. I want to go home.” Liara spoke, ignoring my attempt to talk to her. I grew frustrated and took my hands through my hair as whenever she ignored me, it stung deep into my heart.
“For fuck’s sake.” I threw my hand in the air and walked towards her.
“The hell!” She exclaimed, but I didn’t listen to her yells. I carried her on my shoulder in the parking lot and threw her inside the car Anthony drove her with.
“Anthony, you take the cab,” I announced and shut the door, switching on the engine. I didn’t care if any stranger looked at us. She didn't acknowledge my presence, so I wanted her to.
“What do you think you are doing?” She glared.
“I’m doing something that I should have done way before.” I winked at her and drove towards the mansion.
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