~ Bella ~"Oh my gosh, I think he's angry," Maggie muttered fearfully.I knew the same fear I could hear in her voice was definitely reflected in my face as well."More than angry. He is furious," I said."Oh shit! Oh shit! I told you I wasn't interested in playing chaperone to you guys. Why, oh, why did you bring me into this!" she cried.I swallowed heavily and didn't answer. Maybe I hadn't made the best decision asking this of Maggie?It's just that after yesterday's events, I'd renewed my decision to stay as far away from Nikolai as possible and kill any errant feelings for him.And this was the solution I readily found. At least if we weren't alone, there was less of a chance of me doing something stupid.I didn't think it would make him this angry. It's not like he liked me or anything."He isn't going to hurt me, is she?" Maggie asked fearfully.I shook my head. I knew Nikolai. I knew he wouldn't hurt me. Or Maggie. He would never do that.He might have misread my nervousness fo
~ Bella ~From the ground, I watched Nikolai drag Emily up against the wall. There was a horrid scraping sound of her flesh against the bricks. I cringed.He pulled her up until her legs cleared the floor. She dangled helplessly from his hands. I struggled to my feet but stood a few steps back, watching helplessly."I'll give you one chance to answer my questions," he said in a deathly calm voice.Her bravado had faded. She nodded, eyes wide with fear."N- Nikolai!" I stuttered in fear. Real fear. "You can't threaten a person. It's against the law and--""First question," he said, completely ignoring me. "Why are you suing Isaiah and Isabella?" She swallowed heavily. Meanwhile I was still in panic mood. We could get sued for this. Plus no information we got here would be admissible anyway because we're getting it illegally.But it was impossible to get through to him in this state. Oh shit!I'd known his anger against me would have to find an outlet somewhere and now I was seeing
~ Nikolai ~"Now, let's get some answers," I said. "Emily here has been kind enough to inform me that it was you who approached her with an offer to make quick money."Tony's eye darted to Emily. Even in the dark room, I could see the light of accusation in his eyes."N-no, that's not true," he said.Nikolai gave a world-weary sigh. "Listen here, Tony boy, I'll be straight with you. I already did one interrogation today. Let's save each other a lot of stress and just be truthful, okay?"He said everything in a calm, reasonable voice that was even scarier than if he had just yelled.Tony must've thought so too because he immediately nodded. "I-I'll tell the truth sir," he said."Good! Emily here was nice enough to inform me that she was offered some money to file the case against Isaiah and Isabella," Nikolai started.Emily made a choking sound in her throat. He ignored her.She continued. "Apparently, the person who did the offering was you. I'll like to know why.""N-no! I didn't do
~ Unknown ~I watched Nikolai storm out of the apartment building; his men with him.He looked furious. I wondered why. More importantly, I wondered what he was doing in a place like this.The great Nikolai Reese at a rundown apartment building downtown? Who would have guessed.I raised my camera and snapped a few pictures of him. In the next one, I made sure to get his men in the frame; Ahmad and Boulin...He got into his car immediately and they took off. I waited for a few seconds before I peeled out of the shadows to leave.Just then, I saw movement from the corner of my eyes. Someone else was coming out of the same building.I stepped back into the shadows and watched a woman step out and look around.I recognized her immediately. It was the female lawyer, the one handling Nikolai's case. They seemed to be spending a lot of time together for a lawyer and client. Very interesting!She seemed to be looking for something. Probably Nikolai. Did he abandon her? He'd driven off in a
~ Nikolai ~The second I heard that slight ruffle, I knew where it was coming from.With a burst of wolf speed, I darted in the direction of the sound faster than the person, whoever they were, could see.I came to a stop in front of them and slammed my hand into their chest, sending them crashing back into the tree."Who the fuck are you, and why are you following me?" I snarled, my fangs extending out and eyes glowing."N-no sir! I was not following you!" a male voice cried. "I was just enjoying the view here when I heard someone coming so I ran and hid. But when I saw it was you Alpha Nikolai, I panicked!"The voice pierced through my blind fury. It was a child's voice.I realized that my hand holding the person against the tree was lower than it should be laying against their chest."Mathias!" I exclaimed, looking into the face of one of the compound kids. "What the hell are you doing here?"I'd thought this place was completely hidden from everyone."I come here from time to time
~ Bella ~I sat alone in my car, staring at the office building. I couldn't bring myself to go in yet.The events of yesterday with Nikolai continued to play in my head.I felt awful. Like it was my fault that everything happened the way it did.I suppose it wasn't fair that I suddenly turned my back on him because I couldn't control myself.But having seen him like that yesterday... it felt like a different Nikolai.And this version scared the shit out of me. Even worse, I'd have to see him again too.My alarm went off, sending me jumping. I bumped my head into the top of the car."Ouch!" I muttered, rubbing my head. It was time to go in, I couldn't delay it any longer.I walked in slowly. The first thing I noticed when I entered my office was Maggie.She was standing in front of her desk, not sitting. That was already strange in itself.She was looking at something on her desk. Her hand was clasped over her mouth, horror on her face.I was already so tightly strung that my heart imm
"Boss, we didn't know you'll be leaving so soon," Ahmad said when I suddenly returned to the car.He bowed. Boulin, who was standing next to him, bowed too."Change of plans," I said shortly.I'd told them that I'd be spending most of the day at Bella's office.After my conversation with Mathias last night, I'd realized that I may have overreacted so I'd wanted to spend time today making up for that.All chances for that were thrown out the window now that she considered me a murder suspect."Get in. We need to go," I ordered. "Bella will be coming with us.""Yes, boss," Ahmad said but gave me a quizzical look. I ignored him and got in.He held the door open and let Bella get in beside me then he got into the driver's seat. Boulin got into the passenger seat."Where to?" Ahmad asked."The compound," I said.There was no more talking in the car after that.Everyone could feel the weight of my mood and not even Ahmad dared to strike up a conversation.I saw him glancing at me in the rev
~ Bella ~I could see the unspoken question in Nikolai's eyes. 'Do you now believe?' he seemed to be asking with his eyes.I swallowed. I was starting to see the truth while my brain scrambled to put together the pieces of the puzzle.According to Ahamd, after they'd left Tony's apartment, they dropped Nikolai off at the compound gate.If that was true, then truly was no way that Nikolai returned to the apartment unnoticed to kill Tony.I'd carefully taken note of the path to the compound.It was set so far into the woods that he would have needed a car to get back to town.Of course, that applied if and only if Ahmad was telling the truth.Like I pointed out earlier, Nikolai's men would gladly lie for him if the need arose. I could only take their words with a pinch of salt.But hearing this kid's testimony... I couldn't bring myself to believe that a kid like this would lie so cleverly.More so, would Nikolai really ask a child to lie on his behalf?And to what end? Why go to all t