Her Life On The Line

Nina

“Hello..hello..can you hear me?” My father's voice snapped me out of my thoughts as I removed the phone from my ears and placed the phone on speaker so he could hear.

“What do you mean? You told me to go to Caspian that the city wasn't safe. Don't you remember?” I asked, but his voice sounded confused and afflicted as Caspian looked at me weirdly; this was everything far from what I wanted.

“I don't, I didn't tell you to do that. I can never…” He said, desperation obvious in his voice, and my heart ached. What exactly was going on? Why was everyone so…? “Wait, give the phone to Caspian.”

I raised a brow as I asked, “How do you know I am with him?” I asked, and all I heard was a scoff from the other end as Caspian took up the phone, putting off the speaker, and walked away to receive the call while I paced back and forth in his room.

Though it was a part of my plan to come here in the first place, after that message, there was no way I could, and I sure didn't want him thinking that I was lying to him; then I would probably not get any answers.

Caspian walked in, his expression vivid and unreadable. I walked closer to him as he lowered his hand, giving the phone to me. I collected it from his hands as I asked, “Did he finally confirm my words? What did you both talk about?”

He ignored my questions as he went ahead to sit on the bean bag and said, “He said he wasn't the one who called, but you have been scammed.” I raised a brow at his words as I walked closer to him.

“Scammed? Why would someone want to scam me to…?” I cut short as I thought about the question; it sounded ridiculous on its own. “What exactly went wrong?”

“The number that called you was from your dad, but he had lost that number years ago, and the voice was probably edited. As for the reason they want you here…” He said, taking a short sigh before he continued, “I don't know yet, but I think they want you to be involved, and I will never let that happen.”

He lowered his voice, giving me a reassuring look, but I just wasn't having it. It was like I was being left out in my own story. “Involved with what? Caspian! What exactly are you talking about?” I asked, and he smiled as he shook his head negatively at me.

“Nothing important, just settle in for a while. I will get back to you soon on the hotel. This place isn't so safe either.” He walked out, and I stood motionless; their actions puzzled me to the core. I couldn't help but feel, for some reason, there was something big going on that they were hiding from me.

He soon came back inside after a few minutes while panting heavily. “My parents are back…” he said as he slipped down from the door handle, and I looked at him in awe. Truly, I had never seen his parents before, but what could happen that made him so scared?

“Are your parents really that scary?” I asked, and he shook his head negatively as he grabbed me up to my feet and escorted me towards his wardrobe.

“Please hide in there for the moment and wait for me to come back from dinner. Don't come back until I am here.” He said, leaving me in further confusion. What was the actual deal with his parents?

“Please!” He said, and I was left speechless. This was the first time in twenty days of knowing him that I ever heard him say please; this must have been really serious. I nodded as he helped close the closet and knocked on it before he left.

After confirming that he was gone, I opened the closet and walked towards the door, but before getting there, I heard a resounding voice filled with anger. “What did you say again?” The voice belonged to a female, and from the door, I saw that it was probably his stepmom.

“I said she isn't living here. Just because she came to visit me doesn't mean that she would have to live in this family.” He said, his voice as cold as ever; it was like he was even colder at home than in school.

Judging from what I heard, I could already easily tell that they were talking about me, but why did they want me to stay, and why didn't he want to?

“You proposed to her at a funeral. The best you could do to respect them both is to help her, and how can you do that without her being with you?” His dad asked, and he shook his head negatively as he got up to his feet.

“I already said that she wouldn't need to stay here with me, and she is fine with it, so I don't think there is any more explanation on this.” He said as he headed towards the room, but his words soon made him shocked.

“If you leave this moment, I will remove all my money from your business and make sure you aren't included,” he said, and Caspian turned back to look at their faces. He took a glance at Brian's smug look and smiled lowly.

I could already tell this was a hard decision for him to make, but if he actually did let me stay here, I wouldn't even mind it one bit. “Do whatever you want,” his voice came, bringing me out of my thoughts as I glared deeper.

For him to actually be able to give up his lifetime fortune, it was really shocking. Just as I was about to turn back, I heard his father say, “You want another Sage, right?” With those words, my eyes shone, almost bulging out of my eyes.

Only then did things make sense; only then did I understand what was at stake. It was MY LIFE!