An unexpected change

Ava steadied her breath and tried to calm the panic she felt, yet she could no longer control her hands as they shook in an odd trembling rhythm.

"Ava!" Rake called.

Even though it was the fifth time he had said her name, she was not responding. He could see the fear in her expression as she ushered her dark eyes shut, then opened it.

"I want to go home." Ava mumbled as tears rolled down her face.

"You can't." Rake said.

She then turned her head and doubtfully gazed at him as though he was talking nonsense.

"Why is that?" Ava harshly asked.

"Because you stand the risk of getting you and everyone you love killed." Rake casually replied.

For a while, Ava didn't know how to respond to his statement or how to feel about what he had said. So she just gazed at him with annoyance in her eyes.

"I know it's hard to accept, but your old life is over. Your boss' son will not take his father's death lightly. In this game, an eye for an eye, and if I am right, after he has seen the footage, you will be the eye he wants for payment for my deed." Rake explained, hoping that Ava would understand.

"Why would he want to kill me? You are the one who killed his freaking dad." Ava screamed out of confusion.

The driver turned his head around and gazed at them with a shocked expression.

"Look where you are driving! You are leaving your lane." Ava yelled.

"Hold on! You did not tell me that you were a murderer! What kind of bull crap have you gotten me into?!" The driver asked.

"Are you not already in shit? I can tell from your driving skills that you are a getaway driver. Plus, how accurately you dodged those bullets proved that you are in pretty messed up stuff yourself." Rake stated.

The driver laughed in a deep voice after hearing what Rake had said before his expression became cunning.

"I guess I have gotten caught. However, now that you know my other job and for the risk that you have put me through, you have to pay me more." The driver slyly stated.

"Cash is not a problem. Just get us to the plain field next to the railroad, and you will get your payment." Rake replied.

"I like your style. Anyone that is free with paper is my kind of guy. I am Big D."

"You can call me, Rake."

It dumbfounded Ava at how these two men casually discussed things like what had just happened meant nothing to them.

"I can't believe that I am sitting in the midst of two criminals! You know what! Stop the car!" Ava screamed.

Big D ignored what she had said and kept driving since Rake had not reacted or responded to Ava's statement.

"Great! I will get the door for myself then." Ava mumbled.

She reached for the door lock, but Rake pulled her back and sealed her wrist in his grips.

"What the hell do you think you are doing! We are in moving traffic. Do you want to hurt yourself?" Rake screamed.

"Why are you scolding me! You are the one killing people, getting us into a criminal car, and making me a target of something that I don't even know about and should not be involved in, in the first place! You have no right to take such a tone with me!" Ava yelled back.

Big D kept his eyes ahead of him, but he focused his ears on everything that was happening in the back.

"I am sorry. You are right, and I shouldn't have screamed at you." Rake softly said as he let go of her wrist.

"I just want to go home. Why won't you let me?" Ava cried.

Rake knew the answer to that question, yet he kept those words to himself since he did not want to start something that he would not finish.

'How can I tell you that my love for you is the toxicity that has put you on a death hunt? Rami saw you with me, and by now, he knows that we know each other, which will lead him to dig behind our relationship. Once he finds out the truth, he is coming for you. An eye for an eye. I've killed someone he loves, and he will want to kill someone I love to even the scale.' Rake thought.

Ava sat there, staring at him, wondering in his thoughts, and she patiently waited for him to give her an answer.

"Gem and I have a karaoke date to attend together. So if you can't give me serious information for me to believe, I am getting out of this car, and this time, you won't get the chance to stop me." Ava said after she had waited for ten minutes, and Rake said nothing.

"Is the fact that you and those that you love are going to die not serious information?" Rake asked.

"No. It is not enough for me to just believe in you and leave my entire life behind to run away with you. You killed his father, not me, so I don't see any sense in him coming after me."

"Fine."

Rake knew how stubborn Ava could get if her mind got made up, so he reached into his black bag, and before she could get the chance to take action, he had slapped a handcuff on both of her wrists.

"What the hell are you doing, Rake? This is kidnapping! You can't just force me to go with you against my will!" Ava screamed with tears in her eyes.

"No, I call this 'keeping you safe.' You will understand in a while. Please bear with me." Rake said as he gently wet the tears that rolled out of Ava's eyes.

Sometime later, Big D stepped on the brake, then turned around to them and with a bright smile on his face.

"Well, we have arrived." He said.

Ava stared out the window and gazed at the chopper not far away from them, and somehow she knew that her life was never going back to the way it used to be.