2: In Search Of Her Guardian

As mentally and physically tired as Faith was, she believed that she will only wake up from the nightmares or her screaming in her sleep, but her sleep was hard to catch. She doesn’t remember how many times during the night she woke up. It was like her body was afraid to fall asleep. She would check her phone each time she woke up to see, that she only got sleep for a few minutes.

She would go back to sleep, only to wake up a few minutes later. Her sleep came in brief periods, it came and go all night long. Each time she woke up with a memory of her family, the first time she was awakened by the thought of her mother – smiling sweetly at her. The next time, it was her brother – pulling her hair and calling her an ‘idiot’.

After that, it was her sister, Rebecca – friskily gushing about her crush on her. And then, her father – she thought she would wake up to the fresh memory of him committing suicide in front of her, but instead, she woke up to the sweet memories she had of him. And just like that, each time she woke up in the middle of the night, she woke up to a memory.

By four in the morning, she gave up. She couldn’t sleep. There was a feeling of disquiet, she couldn’t escape it. It was a cold morning. She stepped towards the small window and looked at the deserted garden – on a normal day, it would have seemed scary to her but not anymore – nothing seemed scarier than her own life.

The glass of the window radiated cold, which prickled her skin. She thought of the letter her father left her. Nothing made sense to her. Although her father asked to go and meet her so-called guardian, she doesn’t want to – then again, all the questions pinch her thoughts. Why was she left behind? Why was she in danger?

Who is Mateo Nixon, and how is she related to him? She heaved a sigh and rested her throbbing head against the chilled window – sending shivers down her spine. She closed her eyes and softly banged her forehead against the cold glass. What to do? What not to do? Her mind raced.

In contrast, in a club named Xon – the DJ played loud music and let it blasts in the spacious but closed space. The blue neon light highlighted the sweaty bodies, dancing on each floor. Even in the closet space, there wasn’t even a hint of the smell of alcohol, sweat, or smoke. It was daytime in the club while at four in the morning, the world slept. While inside the club, the adults were having a careless time.

A long line was formed outside the club – people desperately trying to get into the club but it wasn’t easy to get in. Levi Khari, a member of the Xon club, walked to the bouncer. Levi didn’t need to verify his membership – everyone in the club knew him – he was one of the elites. The employees of Xon knew him as the second in command.

Levi Khari strolled past the waiting line – not even sparing them a glance. He heard some people trying to reach him – asking him to let them in, but Levi didn’t care. One of the many rules of Mateo was to never commend anyone based on their status, gender, orientation, or influence. If they exceedingly want to be a part of the club, they will wait in lines or get an official membership. Levi offered a small smile to the bouncers, “How is it going tonight?” He asked them. One of the bouncers shook his head, “Everything is under control,” he affirmed. Just as when Levi was about to walk in, he felt a hand on his arm. He immediately halted and looked to his right to see a young woman by his side, a woman he had never seen before.

“Hi, handsome.” She smiled sweetly at Levi – who didn’t return the gesture. She wasn’t acting slutty nor was she battering her eyelashes or pushing her body up again him. She was a fairly attractive woman and her words stood true. Levi was handsome.

Levi Khari was nearing mid-thirties – at the age of thirty-two, he was closer to thirty-five than he was to twenty-five. His tall figure was fairly attractive, something that he has in his genes – his father was just as tall as him and so are his brothers. A thick stubble covers the lower half of his face – his brown eyes always compliment his olive skin tone.

He looked at the woman and shook his head – he knows what they want, “Sorry, ma’am.” He gently pushed her hand off his arm, “I can't help you here,” he nodded, and before the woman could say anything, he walked inside the club.

As he was about to climb the stairs to get to the exclusive session, he halted midway as he saw, Blair dragging a young man and a woman – holding them by their arms. “Come on, woman! We were just making out,” The guy struggled to get rid of the firm hold of Blair’s hand, who rolled her eyes at him, “I didn’t know you could make out with your dick,” she blurts out.

The woman tried to snatch her arm away from Blair, but she failed. “Bitch, we were just having sex in the washroom, it wasn’t like we were doing it in front of the crowd!” The woman complained. Levi inspected the appearance of the couple.

The woman had her jeans in her hand while she stood in her black lacy panty and unevenly buttoned blouse, while the man was trying to cover his obvious hard-on with the jeans his hands in hand – thankfully the boxers her wore covered up his skin. Levi’s eyes went back on the woman’s blouse, not because he wanted to stare at her almost exposed chest but because the uneven buttoning bothered him. He likes his stuff organized.

Blair rolled her eyes and looked at one of the guards. The guard didn’t need to be said anything – he knew what to do – he had to throw them out of the club, simple. Blair handed the couple to the guard and looked at the woman who snarled at Blair, “You know the rules, no sex in the club. Now get out,” she pointed her finger towards the exit.

The guard didn’t wait for the woman to reply – he simply dragged them to the exit. Levi couldn’t help but chuckle at Blair who cringed as she looked at her hands, “Urgh, I need to wash my hands. I think I touched something wet,” she told Levi and skipped upstairs.

Levi heaved a sigh and looked around the club – he could see some of the couples kissing. He glanced around before he climbed the stairs.

Another rule of the club, no sex is allowed within the premises. You could make out but no threading the needle was allowed – if anyone was caught doing the deed, they will be thrown out – as simple as that.

Blair is usually the one that catches the sneaky and horny couples, she finds it amusing to walk into people having secret sex – she is a little crazy, that is what they say about her.

Blair was a badass woman, maybe in her late twenties – she might look like the woman that hates everything around her, but she was not as she appeared to be – she might like to wear black or grey all the time, always had smoky makeup on and with her black short hair – everyone thinks that she will turn them blue if they even try to approach her.

But in reality, Blair was happily married with no kids. She works as one of the bouncers of the club while her husband is a school teacher, no one knows how they met, nor does anyone believes that Blair married a school teacher – mostly because no one ever met the man, also it was hard to believe that a woman like Blair ended up with a school teacher. She likes to keep her personal life personal – something Levi appreciates.

Faith was in the washroom when she heard a knock at her door. The knock made the hair stand on the back of her neck – it was close to thirty pasts four in the morning – why would anyone come to her room at such a late hour? She recalled the words of the man that spoke to her in the hospital.

Was she really in danger? She slowly walked out of the washroom – making sure she doesn’t make any sound to alert the person behind the closed and locked door. She gulped painfully and with teary eyes, she walked to the door and throw the peephole, she looked outside at the unknown man – waiting for her to open the door. He appeared to be a police officer but something was off.

Faith was having a hard time believing that it was a real police officer. First, he was wearing black sunglasses in the dark, and second, his right hand was fixed on the gun he had in the gun holder. He once again knocked at her door.

She again looked through the peephole to look at the gun – with shaky hands she decided to open the door, maybe he was here to check on her. She almost opened it when her eyes fell on the gun – it had a silencer fit on it. Why would a police officer have a gun with a silencer? This didn’t fit well with her.

Another bang on the door echoed in her room. She took a step back when she heard, “Miss Merchant, I know you are in there – I am here for a routine check,” the police officer spoke from the other side of the door.

Fear ran through her body – she sprinted to get the envelope from under the pillow before she packed it in her jeans pocket and decided to run away through the window. Since she was staying on the first floor, she might have a chance to get away.

She opened the window, only to shiver – partly due to the cold and partly due to the fear. She was shaking badly as tears fell down her cheeks. She was scared – too scared. She looked out of the window and took a sigh of relief to see fire-escape stairs.

She was about to step out of the window when she heard a loud bang on the door but the man didn’t say anything. She wasn’t brave enough to take a chance, so she went out of the window and with the help of the fire escape – she climbed down to the back of the hotel. She looked up at her opened window before she ran to the garden. The absence of the light helps her hide behind the thick bushes.

From behind the bushes, her eyes were fixed on the window of the room she just escaped. After hardly two to three minutes, she gasped as she saw the same man that was at the door, standing at her window.

He had forced his way in. It only confirmed her fears, he was not the real police officer – he was there to hurt her or possibly help her – she couldn’t tell nor was she going to take any chance. The man stood by the window – looking outside, trying to catch a glimpse of Faith, who was hiding behind the thick bushes.

After a couple of minutes, she saw the man talking on his phone before he turned around and he was gone. After a while she kept looking at the window, too scared to come out of the bushes. She placed her palm over her mouth and broke into silent sobs.

It was six in the morning. It was time to close the club. Levi stood at the gallery as he saw the employees of the club cleaning and shutting down everything after each patron was gone. The sun had risen hence the club had closed. It will open again at eight at the night – that is how it works every day.

He walked back into the suite – where his cigar rested on the ashtray while his whiskey rested on the table – he hardly drank anything this night, with Mateo gone on a business trip to Spain, he was the one that was looking after the club. He sighed and sat on the chair behind his desk – maybe he will stay at the club and sleep on the couch, he didn’t feel like driving to his apartment just to sleep and then coming back in the noon to work – he rather stays in the office.

He picked his cigar in between his fingers and was about to smoke it when the intercom went off. He answered it casually, “Yes?” He spoke. One of the bouncers, Will, spoke from the other end, “Khari, you might want to see this,” he said. Khari brought his eyebrows together and leaned back to his chair, “What do you mean?” he asked. “Switch on the security cameras – the one in the waiting room,” Will said shortly.

Levi picked the small remote from his desk and pointed toward multiple LEDs that were fixed on the wall in front of him. His eyes immediately went to the camera views of the waiting room to see a woman sitting on one of the couches while having her arms securely folded around her as she rocked back and forth.

Levi was perplexed to see the unknown woman; he couldn’t see her face as she was looking down at an envelope she had fisted in her hand. “The club is closed. Who is she?” Levi spoke as his eyes were fixed on the woman.

Will heaved a sigh, “I know and I told her that, but she wants to see Mr. Nixon,” Will said to Levi. Levi snorted at her ridiculous demand and almost rolled his eyes, “I see – just tell her some other time,” Levi told Will and was about to cut the call when Will spoke again, “She has a card – an old business card with Mateo’s signature behind it,” Will said. Levi sighed unimpressed, “Will, most of the population can write – so what if she has a card with his signature on it,” Levi said, “It must be fake. Just came sure the girl leaves,” Levi said.

“She is crying a lot and said that she was being followed and that someone tried to kill her,” Will spoke chillingly. “She insists on meeting Mateo Nixon,” he added, “She gave me the card and asked to give it to Mr. Nixon and tell him that Faith Merchant was there to see him. She said he will understand,” Will continued.

There was a small pause after which Will spoke again, “As weird as this may sound, she says that Mr. Nixon is her guardian,” Will concluded. Levi wordlessly listened to Will while his eyes were fixed on the woman who sat in the waiting room with her arms around her – rocking back and forth. After another brief pause, Will spoke, “Do you think that she is a setup?” he asked. Levi pressed his lips together, “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “If she is then Mateo is going to kill her,” he added.

“What am I supposed to do?” Will asked. Levi was silent for a few seconds while his eyes were fixed on the woman – a pretty young woman.

He sighed, “Let her in,” he said. “But Mr. Nixon is not here, Levi,” Will spoke. Levi nodded his head, “I know,” he said. “If she is a pawn – then she cannot leave,” he told Will. “What if she is not?” Will asked.

“Then Mateo will decide what to do,” Levi told Will – his eyes didn’t move from the screen – looking at the young woman. “I am not sure what he will do, but until he comes back – she will have to be locked down,” Levi added.

“What if she is a pawn?” Will asked. Levi placed the cigar in between his lips and smoked it, “Then Mateo will kill her,” Levi replied – his eyes not moving away from the mysterious woman.