Chapter seven- Unraveling

Mira 

Swirling around, I exhaled sharply, then I gripped the edge of the sink to keep me grounded. 

“What’s amusing you?” His deep baritone echoed, causing my gaze to flicker and meet his eyes through the mirror. 

“Huh?” I asked with a cracked voice, holding my breath so my laughter would look real.

I glanced at the door as my legs itched to move. Maybe if I run so fast, leave this place, and tell Lucius that I had attached the tracking device and it was too difficult for me to get any useful information from him, I would get back my son and leave this country once and for all.

Without thinking, my body shifted, and my legs already moved before my mind had fully decided to do so.

“Where are you going? You haven’t told me how funny I am.” His voice was sharp and laced with mockery, and it froze me mid-step, just when my hand hovered inches away from the door handle. 

I couldn’t turn around; every nerve in my body screamed at me to run, but there was something about his tone that rooted me in place. 

In the twinkle of an eye, I gripped the door handle and twisted it with trembling hands before I left without looking back. 

The air outside was cooler, but it did nothing to calm me down while my heels clicked against the hard marble floor of the casino’s corridor. 

As the corridor stretched endlessly before me, I quickened my pace and passed a line of golden lights and black walls. The sound of laughter and the clinking of glasses echoed from nearby rooms, yet it had no effect on my noisy mind.

“My sweet little Mira,” A voice from the past, muffled and distorted, sounded so loud in my ears. 

Quickly, I whipped around and darted my eyes through the corridor, but there was no one. Not a single soul.

“It’s all in my mind,” struggling to catch my breath, my throat tightened, making every gasp a battle until I entered the main casino and looked around.

“Where’s the exit?” I asked, peering from one corner to the other until my gaze landed on a big exit sign close to a whisky counter. 

As soon as the heavy casino slammed shut behind me, my phone buzzed violently in my purse, causing me to stiffen while I reached for it. 

With trembling fingers, I pulled it out, and with a quick swap of my screen, a single word flashed at the top. 

‘LUCIUS’

“Lucius? How did he know that I was out already?” My thumb lingered over the screen for a minute because I was too terrified to open his message, and I hadn’t done everything I was supposed to do.

I didn’t get any useful information from Nicholas; as a matter of fact, I didn’t even get anything from him. 

What was I thinking? There was no way he would agree to return my son back to him if I couldn’t do what I was instructed to do.

“Fuck!” I breathed, staring at the notification. I failed, but there was no way I would tell Lucius that. He was a perfectionist yet utterly unpredictable.

Every move he made was calculated, every plan was perfectly executed, and his predictions were always accurate. 

I glanced up and down the lonely street, searching for any sign of Lucius, but he was nowhere. I was somehow relieved even though I couldn’t shake that he was close, always close, and always watching even when he wasn’t there.

Before I could decide if I was going to read his sudden message, my finger betrayed me, and his message displayed on the screen within seconds. 

“Your son is counting on you… Good job.

I read the words again and again as if repeating it would somehow lessen the pain. It didn’t; instead, my vision blurred as tears streaked down freely.

The noise from the casino behind me faded into nothing, leaving only the thumping of my heart. 

Suddenly, a drop of rain fell, striking the back of my hand. Just as I was about to process what was happening, another drop followed, this time on my cheek. 

NICHOLAS POV 

“What was that all about?” Kelvin asked while I rolled up my sleeves and walked out from the restroom. His sharp eyes tracked my movements as he shifted from where he’d been leaning against the wall.

Tilting his head slightly, a hidden frown tugged at his lips. He wasn’t the best at hiding his emotions; no matter how much he tried, his face always betrayed him.

I exhaled slowly, scanning the corridor and forcing down the flicker of irritation creeping up my spine. He knew how much I hated being asked obvious questions, and yet he did it each time I acted recklessly.

“Nothing,” I muttered. A bodyguard shouldn’t be asking his boss questions. A fucking bodyguard shouldn’t speak until he is permitted to do so. 

“Nothing?” He replied as his gaze sharpened.

“Drop it, Kelvin!” I snapped, shoving my hands into my pocket. As a minute of silence stretched between us, I watched him wait for an answer because he knew he was going to get it anyway. 

“I thought he sent her?” I finally said, causing him to push off the wall and take a step closer. 

“Who? The hound?” He asked calmly. 

“Yes, but I’m not too certain. She looks too innocent to work for him.” 

“Or were you just hoping she wasn’t sent by him so you would have a better reason and chance to fuck her?” A low snort escaped his mouth as he said this, and it made my blood boil.

Then I shot him a warning glare, making it clear that I wasn’t in that mood. 

“At least she got out alive, and I didn’t have to hide any dead bodies like I did after your last four encounters with those lovely women that also looked so innocent,” he replied in a clipped tone, barely holding back his anger.