7- New Destination?

Turned out, Max had called cops.

When he was on the call earlier, he had called the police. When the police had arrived, Max and the police had greeted each other like long known best friends.

It was all weird.

And scary.

And impressing.

Surprisingly, the police did not come to ask me any questions. They picked up cringy and burly after talking to Max in a low tone for a while, and then drove away.

"What did you tell them?" I asked as soon as the police vehicle was out of our sight.

"That they need to wait 'cause I am going to ask you the questions that may come out offensive and interrogating."

"What kind of questions?" I poked.

"What are you hiding from me, Hope?"

"Nothing of your concern." I looked away.

He came forward, grabbed my chin and made me look at him once again,

"Darling, you are my concern. And not just because you are niece of the man whom I respect very much, but also because you are going to take me to your bed and I would like to know more about the woman whom I am planning on dating."

"Then simply you should not get into my bed." I snapped, "And about being Vincent's niece, that does not have anything to do with you."

I saw his mouth twitch in anger. "You are so stubborn." He muttered.

"Very."

He stepped closer. I stepped back. I definitely did not need any distractions. His closeness and body being the 'discratiest' thing in the world.

"Let me get you home. Then you and I are going to have a long conversation."

Ha. Like I was going to listen.

*****

Instead of going home, he took me to the coffee shop. As we entered, I could not see Vincent.

And then instead of staying in the coffee shop, he started dragging me to the backdoor.

"Where are you taking me?"

"My office." He replied.

"I would like to stay here." I pulled at his hold on my hand.

He turned around to face me, his gaze scorchingly hot,

"I know you would. But the kind of people that you have got running after you, I do not think I am prepared to leave you alone."

Made sense.

We walked to the backside of the building and instead of coming to an open area, Vincent's back door was connected with another building.

We walked forward on the marble floor, turned at the corner, and then I was hit with a stone cold shock.

You must have seen in movies how PI's have a very tight space room with no sight of cleanliness and hygiene. And trash thrown everywhere near them with piles of files and coffee mugs and energy drinks, right?

I did not see that.

I was prepared for that.

But that is not what came into my sight.

Just as we turned, I was met with the cleanliest office with latest interior walls and marble floor. A model like receptionist was sitting by a long dark wood desk typing things in her computer from some files.

When she saw us enter, she nodded at us with a professional smile in greeting.

I was stunned.

He took me to his office which was just as professionally modern as the outer space. A table was set by the wall size window with a head chair and two guest chairs by it.

My hand was still clutched in his and while I was so busy in admiring his office, he brought me near his desk and I was trapped against it with him caging me in before I had even realized it.

"Now," he started speaking while making me shiver under his gaze, "are you going to continue being a bitch or are you going to spill out everything so that I can take care of you?"

"I am not being a bitch. There are just some things that I do not want you to know."

"Are you sure that these things are so minor that you can handle alone and would not need my attention?"

"Of course." I immediately exclaimed. "I am leaving tomorrow, anyway. You do not need to worry about anything about me anymore."

Even though I am scared as hell.

The Next Day

My things were packed. I was standing near my suitcase, wondering where I should go next.

I had planned on staying with Vincent for at least fifteen days before finding my new destination.

But it had barely been a week and I was having to run away once again.

I could not stay with Vincent any longer. Not when the wrong kind of people had found me so soon. They had not attacked Uncle Vincent's home yet so I was guessing they had not yet found out about my whereabouts except for the city I am in.

I could not put Vincent's life in danger because of me. I could not see him, or Ocean Eyes, or anybody else close to Uncle Vincent getting hurt because of me.

'Cause I had seen what these people can do. I had seen the tragedies with my own eyes.

How could I let it happen to Uncle Vincent just to save my own life?

So that was it. I have to leave. Pronto!

I picked up my bag and started pulling the suitcase outside.

The strange thing was, when I had told uncle Vincent about my departure, he had not said anything.

He had neither accepted nor refused to let me leave. He had just walked away from me while dialling a number on his phone.

It made me sad.

Did I not matter to him? Did my stay with him had been so bad for him?

He had not even talked to me after that.

Probably I had been a burden on him.

Still, I wanted to bid him good bye. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning now. I needed to leave.

I put my suitcase in the hall and started searching for uncle Vincent in the house but he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly I heard a commotion from outside along with uncle Vincent's booming voice.

I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and started dragging it outside.

As I reached the door, the scene in front of my eyes had me shouting,

"Uncle Vincent!"

"What?" He snapped back in his booming voice.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped and left the suitcase on the doorway, running outside.

"Helping you with moving out." He said with a sheepish smile.

I grabbed my forehead in my hand in exasperation.

A tow vehicle was dragging away my car in front of my eyes. It had already left, and I could now barely see the back of my car.

"What did you do it for?" I groaned in annoyance and anger. "I needed to leave today!"

"You said you travelled here from North Carolina in this car." Uncle Vincent said innocently, "it needed to be taken care of so I sent it for servicing. It will be back in two weeks. At least that is what the auto mechanic said."

"Let's go, Max!" He suddenly boomed and that is when my eyes fell upon the second car that was standing in our porch.

Max was leaning against a BMW with a laughing smile on his face

"I am going to kill the both of you." I shouted and stomped inside the house angrily.

Here goes my plan of running away from this city.

*****

I walked inside the coffee shop.

Actually, I stomped inside the coffee shop.

But it seemed to have become an everyday thing nowadays.

"Give me a Latte!" I snapped at uncle Vincent.

Although I was not talking to him anymore. A girl still needed her coffee of the day.

He chuckled at me but started to make coffee.

That was a good choice. Otherwise, I was almost ready to bang his head against the counter.

I went to sit by the coffee counter.

Uncle Vincent and Max had ruined all my plans for running away from Texas.

Although I did not actually have any plan of where I was going to go. I still needed to get out of here.

There was no way in hell I was putting their lives in danger.

Suddenly the chime over the entryway rang. There walked Ocean Eyes, with black t shirt covering his biceps and hard chest, and low jeans so washed out, it started to look cooler than Levi's. It hung upon his waist deliciously with a black buckled belt keeping it in place.

"You." He put his hands on his waist while coming in front of me, "with me. Right now." He motioned towards the back where his company's entryway was and started striding away.

And that is when I noticed that there was no humour, no smile in his voice. Just pure seriousness.

"I will be back." I looked at Vincent in worry before starting to follow Max.

"Hey!" I tried to catch up to him but his strides were way too long.

I finally managed to grab his arm right as we started to enter his office through the backdoor of the coffee shop.

I clutched his arm and made him turn around to face me, "What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked. Worry and tension eating me from inside.

Max sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in anger. His mouth was twitching badly.

"How are you involved with Varys fucking Flint?"

"Varys fucking who?" I got confused immediately.

"Varys Flint!" He repeated, "the guys that had tried to kidnap you? Turns out they are Varys' men."

"Who the hell is Varys?"

He stared at my face for a second. Satisfied with whatever he saw on my face, he started looking at his shoes.

A minute later he lifted up his hand and grabbed the back of my head.

He pulled me closer to him so that my body was flush against his chest,

"Honey," Max growled, his voice coming down to a low pitch, "Varys Flint is the man who drives most of the underworld on the tips of his finger in most of the cities. The biggest rival of Italian gangster clan."

My face turned white as chalk as his words entered my mind and I immediately recognised the name.

"Now," he muttered with his teeth clenched shut, "You are going to tell me how the hell you are involved in all this mess. Or I am taking everything in my hands and finding out on my own."

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