"we have a problem" Ade said as soon as i walked into the house this morning after meeting with George for some more training.
We were working on getting all the licenses for the bar as weve pretty much sorted out the venue.
"What now" i said removing my jumper.
" i just got alerted that some journalist saw Zach the other day and now she is planning to go public about it"
Public?
"She can't do that" i exclaimed already knowing that this really was a problem. We couldn't let this happen.
" yeah i know, Braden is trying to set up a meeting with her because Zach could be in real trouble if this gets out" ade explains to me.
I breathed in and out deeply.
" Well we might be in luck, she was pretty open to meeting with us. She is coming over right now" Braden said walking into the lounge.
I guess we just had to wait.
" Gen, what do you want to eat?" Karly screamed as she met with us. Sh was holding her phone.
I stared at her " i dont know, why do i have to decide" i asked her. To which she stared right back at me.
" If you arent happy with the food you get pissed because of your damn pregnancy cravings"
Hm, good point actually.
" I'd love some chinese actually"
" I'm on it" Braden says walking into the kitchen. Bradens mothers side was from china so he made the greatest chinese food. No need to order form the local chinese.
Who knew he such a good cook.
I walked into the kitchen when i could already smell the food he was cooking. When i walked in he was grilling some meat and mixing a bunch of sauces together.
" you need to learn how to be patient" He said sliding a plate of fried pork over to me. I greediiily grabbed it and ate it.
He knew me too well.
" what's the fun in that" i said awallowing the delicious marinated pork he cooked.
"Guys she's here" Karly shouts from the lounge.
"Go let her in i'll finish this quickly" he said pushing me out of the room.
I grabbed another piece and headed out to meet this journalist.
Ade was the one that let her in, as soon as she walked in she was already checking the room. Zach didnt let anyone from the media in his house not even for a house tour special on the internet.
Zach might kill us all for this later.
" so what do you need to keep this quiet?" Karly asked her, i could tell that Karly had her hard face on, one that i witnessed when fisrt meeting her.
The journalist whos name was Katy smirked at Karly.
" I'm not here to make any deals with you, you were stupid enough to let me in here i'm just getting more intel" he said not wasting any breaths.
I sat on the sofa nervously.
" what more could you find out" Ade said.
Katy's eyes snapped to me. " well shes pregnant with Zach's baby for starters"
"How do you know its his" Karly said
She smiled, " well do you want people thinking you're a whore going around fucking men that aren't your public boyfriend"
Karly sat back, she has a point.
"Don't you ever get tired of chasing people round when theres actual problems in this world that could use your skills" Branden spoke up. He walked out with food. He handed mine first.
"More money" katy shrugged not missing a beat.
Karly rolled her eyes, not surprising.
" Look Zach could be in real trouble if you leak your information, there is a reason hes gone private" Braden said pulling out a folder from his desk.
" well the juicier the information the more money i get" she said.
Bloody hell.
" we will give you your stupid money" i said getting pissed with each second she mentioned money.
Her eyes moved to me.
" Can we just send her to them, I'll gladly swap any of those girls for this bitch here" karly snapped.
"Karly" Ade warned her.
"What do you mean swap?" Katy asked.
Braden placed the folder infront of Katy. " Zach is working with an underground human trafficking programme trying to free these girls" Braden showed her multiple pictures of the girls taken into the programme.
Katy finally removed her bag and looked through the folder.
Finally some progress.
" this is the girl that went missing 6 years ago" Katy confirmed one of the cases. A girl was taken when she only 9 and was believed to be killed.
" This is her now" Braden places a very recent picture of the girl. From what was a generally healthy blonde girl was now a skinny and pale girl dressed in a revealing dress definetely not made for girls her age.
Katy slowly picked up the picture getting q closer look " arent they selling them?" she asked.
"Thats what we originally thought but they use the girls as sex workers, it makes them more money" Karly said.
When Zach was out for that time he didn't just come to me, he made sure to hand over these recent pictures to Braden.
Weirdly enough he wasnt just here to satisfy both of our needs in an office.
" I wont publish it on one condition" this caught all of our interest.
What could she want now.
" i want to be the first to talk to Zach when he returns before any of this goes public"
Well honey, before you talk to him I'm gonna be first in line.
My needs are more important than yours. Hello, baby bump.
I looked around the room finally landing on Braden. I trusted his decision.
" okay, but we can't gurantee that if things go wrong" it hurt to hear that.
Because ultimately there is a chance that Zach may not be out to be in that first interview. Hate to even think it but its true.
" you need to make something up though, the media are really interested in Zach right now and they wont stop pestering" Katy told us before she left the house.
Luckily Katy was a solo journalist and only worked for herself.
" we know" Braden said leading her out.
We needed to either think of an excuse or make some kind of fake scene with someone who could look like Zach.
When she was finally gone i walked back to the sofa. My eyes couldnt stop looking at those recent pictures. The conditions that they were kept in weren't terrible but i could see syringes and dirty towels.
The hell these girls are going through, i couldn't even imagine.
No wonder why zach doesn't want to leave.
After a few hours in the house i got hungry for food. These pregnancy cravings were no joke.
I sneaked out the house and headed to town. It was only 9 in the evening so it was dark but there were people out and about.
I walked around going in and out of shops, not actually making a decision on what i was actually craving for.
I ended us at a asian supermarket and relaised cheese flavoured snacks was what i was craving. That and ice cream.
As i went around the supermarket i started to get the feeling that someone was following me.
When i would stop to look at something so would they, and then when i moved again they would follow.
I picked up and big packet of corn chips, i pretended that i was reading the ingredients on it when in actual fact i was texted Braden.
Me- Braden, i think someones following me.
B - what, where the fuck are you?
He's pissed, no surprise really since i left the house without letting him know. I guess they assumed i was sleeping.
Me - in the supermarket on regents avenue, i was hungry...
B - Jesus gen, okay buy your stuff and then go to the starbuck next door and talk to jared hes a barista and a friend. Talk until i get there
I replied with a quick "okay" and grabbed what i needed and headed to the cashier.
I noticed that the young guy probaby looked worried as he looked behind me.
I pressed my finger to my lips. " im okay" i mouthed to him to which he just smiled and prooceedded to check in my stuff.
Once i was finished i walked out of the store, taking a unique way out before eading to the starbucks.
As i went towards the area to order i looked at the barista's shirt looking for a Jared.
"Hey, is jared working?" i asked the barista that took my order.
" no but hes in the back why are you friend?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"Can you tell him that braden said that i could talk to him" He nodded and rushed inside whilst my eyes flicked over to the door where i saw that same person hovering.
An asian guy walked out." Hi im Imogen I'm a friend of Jared i think someones following me and ..." i didnt get to finish my setence when Jared smiled at me.
" i got you"
He grabbed me a panini from the fridge. " I'll warm that up for you" he said. This would make sure i stayed at the counter whikst it was heating and hoopefully Braden would show up relatively soon.
" thank you, my pregnancy cravings are driving me crazy could i get a brownie aswell" i pointed to the choclate fudge brownie.
He grinned " oh congratuations, yeah its on the house" he grabbed a plate and placed the brownie on it.
" My sister had some weird cravings, im sure its the same for you" he said keeping the conversation going.
It was a relief to me that he was willing to help me out.
Before i could even reply i heard the sound of something banging on the window. We looked over and i saw he guy who was following me being shoved agaisnt the window as Braden held his arm behind his back.
" C'mon" Jared said pulling me with him as we went to Braden and Karly who was looking for me.
" you silly woman why did you leave without one of us"
I rolled my eyes, i go to many places without them. I was just unlcuky next time.
" you might not be scared but Zach will have my head if something happens to you" he said pulling me for a hug.
She check me up and down.
" thanks Jay" she said looking over at Jared. She said it so sweetly almost like some nice girl had taken over her body.
I looked between them.
Alright karls, i see you.
" Dont come back here, you freak" one of the female baristas said kicking him out with a large bruise forming o his face.
I walked over to Braden.
" scared the shit out of me Gen" he said wrapping his arms around me.
I hugged him back. I'm sorry, it wont happen again" i said to him.
I felt his rub my back. " you know he will have my head first, right" he said in a joking tone.
I nodded.
He was right.
" he made you promise to keep me safe didnt he" i asked him, catching on.
He pulled away from me. Pulling my coat tighter around my body. " of course he did" he said gently.
Oh zach.
Braden eventually went over to jared and thanked him for helping me out.
"Wait i need to go to the store again" i said abruptly when we were walking to the car.
Karly groaned " its late, arent you exhausted" she said letting out a yawn.
I rushed into the supermarket and went to the boy.
" oh thank god, i was seriously worried i couldnt distract him for long" the boy said when he saw me walk in.
Braden understood why now.
" yeah im okay, thank you for worrying about me" i said to him. He smiled at me, " I just couldnt forgive myself if something happened to you when i could have stopped it"#
" alright casanova, shes pregnant with a baby daddy" Karly said with a smirk. This caused him to look down enbarassed.
I turned to karly. " so who's Jared" i said grinning at her. Now she was the one looking down all red.
The boy laughed lowly behind me.
I watched with a grin as Karly stormed out and headed to the car.
"Cmon baby momma time for bed" Braden wrapped his arm around my shoulder and escorted me out.
" thanks man" he said to the boy as we walked out.
With my snacks in hand I actually couldn't wait to get home and sleep.