3

LILIANA

It takes four days of drowning in tears and wallowing in the loss of Kyle without solace before I realize that I'm fast becoming more useless than a couch potato. Eating junk or skipping meals altogether – the fastest way to ruin my life.

If Kyle was alive, he would surely crack a joke about my being underweight and I'll throw some chips at him and…

You're doing it again, I berate myself before rising from the bed.

I sigh.

The corners of my eyes are cracked with dried tears and I'm bleary-eyed. I would need to drum it into my subconscious that tears will not bring him back.

Another sigh leaves my lips. Perhaps, taking a drive through town and maybe picking up a few things at the grocery's would help?

Just maybe.

So I freshen up and begin on my way down the stairs where my bodyguard is watching the TV. As soon as I land on the final few steps, he spots me and he pulls himself to his feet.

I nod towards the TV. “Crime Now? Very predictable of you.”

He gives me a curt smile. “Good morning, ma'am. Going somewhere?” He asks as I walk past him to the door.

I turn and force a smile on my face. “I cannot bear one more day holed up in that room anymore. A change of scenery and fresh air would do me some good. Please, don't stop your show on my account.”

He frowns, taking a step closer. “I'm not authorized to let you leave the premises by yourself, ma'am. Let me come along. I can take another car if you want, stay several meters away from you while we walk.”

I shake my head while my lips struggle not to scowl at him. The innocent man is just doing his job. “Thanks but I'll be fine by myself. I promise. If there's a problem, your number is on speed dial.”

He regards me with squinted eyes as though re-evaluating my words in his head. A second later, I see his resolve fall like building blocks knocked over.

He hasn't got so much of a choice.

“If you're not back in a few hours, I'll be on my way to find you. I wouldn't want my head on a stake.”

I see the little pinch in his brows that betray his facade. His fears are valid. After Kyle's body was discovered, it was revealed that the job was done by a brutal enemy. There is no telling what he could do if that person finds his wife.

I shake off the fear of the unknown and try to reassure him that I'll be fine. Soon, I'm in the Porsche which was gifted to me by Kyle on our wedding day, and driving out the gate.

I shudder lightly as I peel out of the estate and onto the main road where the boisterous noise drowns the thoughts in my head.

My windows are halfway down for the breeze to filter in. It instantly calms me, luring me to forget my worries for a while.

It's summer and there's no sign of an incoming storm but I find my teeth chattering again and a slight shudder coursing through me.

I grip the steering wheel tightly, trying to shake off the numbness.

After stopping at the grocery store to get a few things, I drive out and take a narrow but quiet path. It's a road Kyle used to drive through whenever we were out for an evening drive.

My phone rings and I glance at my phone to see it's Theodore.

“Liliana, how are you?” He asks after I pick up, his voice ladened with so much concern.

How about we talk about the fact that I've never stopped crying over my husband and how I packed every one of his belongings so they could be moved to another bedroom because I couldn't bear to see them?

How I lock myself indoors for almost a week with instructions not to be brought food while I ruin myself with sorrowful instant noodles?

Or how I just took a bath after obsessively wearing Kyle's T-shirt for four days?

“I'm… managing,” I say instead. I can't stand another adult fussing over me.

A brief moment of silence falls. It feels too awkward so I break the spell, “Is that all?”

“Oh, no.” He chuckles lightly, probably laughing at his forgetfulness. “I’ve got updates on your husband's properties,” he informs me.

“What is it?” I ask, eyeing the exit of the street as I approach it.

“The proceedings are moving faster than expected,” he explains. I catch the crinkling of paper in the background. He's at the office.

Suddenly, a car comes out of an alley, cutting me off abruptly. I slam on the brakes, my heart racing.

“Jesus Christ!” I exclaim in shock. I stick my head out of the car and yell, “Are you trying to get me killed, you asshole?”

“What's that? What’s happening?”

I huff angrily, tucking back the loose tendrils of my hair behind my ear. “Just some idiot who thinks the road is his playground. You know what they say; boys and their toys.”

But the jerk isn't making an efforts to drive. “Move, will ya!” I yell again with a loud honk for effect.

Impatient and angrier, I put my car in reverse and try to back out of there only to see another car parking the same way as the one in front, both blocking my exit.

Doors open and menacing men step out. My heart rate picks up.

“Um, Theo?”

“Liliana, what's happening?” He asks in a panic.

“I don't know,” I inform him as my throat closes up in fear. I struggle to breathe, cold sweat breaking out on my skin.

“Where's Eric? Where's your bodyguard, dammit?” He sounds angry and frantic too. There's a shuffle in the background and a door banging shut.

I look around me for an escape. “I left him at home. I just needed a ride into town alone.”

“You did what? Have you lost your god-damned mind?”

My door opens. “Get out.” The man growls.

I try to resist and scream when large hands and arms wrap around my hand, yanking me out. In blind terror, I swivel and throw a punch to him in the face.

It hurt my fingers like a bitch. “Let me go!”

“Lilia–” Theo's voice is cut off as one of them grabs my AirPod and flings it to the ground, crushing it with his foot.

I drive my knees up, fast and hard, into the crotch of another one holding me. He kneels in pain and my escape route is paved.

One of the men yanks my hair before I can inch forward. I fall back against his chest and he begins to pull me roughly. I kick with all of my might ensuring to give him a tough time.

My efforts are proved useless when another grabs my ankles and lifts me off the ground, I resort to screaming my lungs out.

My head bumps against their car as I'm shoved in which dazes me for a second.

One minute, I open my mouth to scream again, the next, I'm choking violently on a piece of clothing shoved into my mouth.

I bite down on the man's fingers as hard as possible with the intent to break skin and draw blood. I'm like a raging dog and fear is my only drive.

The next second, my head whips to the side as a large hand collides with my cheek. My teeth close down on my tongue and I let out a groan of pain.

My cheek smarts with pain from the hit and now I'm confused about which hurt the most; the slap or my bruised tongue.

I start to cry, terrified for my life.

Is this what it felt like for Kyle when he was being kidnapped?

A piece of cloth is pressed tightly over my nose and one whiff to stop myself from suffocating, I inhale chloroform. In almost the same instant, everything blurs.

The last words I hear before I lose consciousness of the world around me are, “It is done.”

What is done?

I barely have time to process my thoughts when my head lolls back against the seat and darkness consumes me.