Chapter 3: Mid-way Dropping

Chapter 3: Mid-way Dropping

Ember Corbin

A Mafia leader? 

So basically a criminal rescued me from a crime scene, I mean, a crime of which I would be a victim, if he wasn't there on time. Interesting.

If he hadn't saved me, I would be scared of him, but right now, I felt safe even while being in the car with a mafia leader. Never knew people with an illegal profession like him had a properly functioning heart. So even the bad people have a soft corner for a woman in need like me.

"It's intriguing," I mumbled and found Lance looking at me as if I had grown two heads. "What?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"How can you find it intriguing? Aren't you scared?" he asked, his voice holding disbelief.

"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "I would've been scared, but you saved me. So why should I be afraid of you?"

"Why shouldn't you when I can still kill you anytime I want?" he uttered.

I chuckled at his facial expression. He was expecting me to get scared like other normal people, but he had no idea how normal I was. "If your intention was to kill me, Lance, you would never rescue me in the first place. And even if you kill me now or later, I have no one who will cry for me," my voice lowered when I mentioned the last sentence.

"What is this annoying woman made of?" I heard him grumble, making me laugh. "Great, now she is laughing." He turned to me and asked with annoyance, "Lady, is your permanent address possibly the mental asylum?"

I shook my head politely and said, "You were close though, my previous address was a mental asylum."

He rolled his eyes. "You are unbelievable."

I was enjoying watching him get annoyed; I didn't know why. When he was talking to me, it felt like he would bang his head anytime on the windshield, which would definitely be fun to see.

"So..." I started. "Why did you spill the beans to me?"

Lance furrowed his brows. "Sorry?"

I sighed. "Why did you tell me that you are a Mafia leader? I am pretty sure it is supposed to be confidential. How can you reveal it to a stranger you only met twice?"

He seemed to be impressed with my question. "You talk a lot, but you aren't that dumb," he commented.

"And you think you can change the topic of the conversation, which you cannot," I said with a tight smile. "You wanted me to stop talking, didn't you? You wanted me to get scared and stay quiet. Geez, how typical!"

Lance narrowed his eyes in my direction. "Why are you so weird?"

"That's my specialty," I said proudly. When silence filled in the car, I spoke up once again, "By the way, since you've said such an important thing, what if I reveal it to someone? You shouldn't trust strangers."

As soon as I said that, Lance took out his revolver, pointing straight at my forehead. "Just fucking shut up, and also, keep your mouth sealed about the Mafia thing."

I gave a curt smile and held the barrel of the revolver with my left hand. Sucking in a deep breath, I said confidently, "First of all, just because I talk a lot, doesn't mean I will have a slip of tongue. My mind functions just fast enough to know what to say in which situation even while having random conversations with people."

He was taken aback by my confidence. Did he expect me to cry just because he had a gun? As I said, I wasn't scared of him because I was grateful to him for saving my life.

I further spoke, "Second of all, since you revealed your secret to me, I will reveal one of mine to you and we can call it a truce. I screw you, you screw me. My secret is, I was really in the mental asylum for a month, don't ask why." Shaking off the past incidents, I said, "Third of all, I am not afraid of death, Lance, so don't give me death threats. It's pointless."

Immediately, he pulled his revolver down, his eyes held no emotion as he said, "I will still keep an eye on you so that you don't reveal my secret."

With a smirk, I asked, "Will you stalk me, Mr. Stranger?"

He sighed in disbelief, not answering me.

"Ma'am, now where?" asked the driver.

I looked ahead at the road and said, "Keep going straight."

"Are you possibly leading us towards the gate of hell?" Lance deadpanned.

I pulled a few strands of hair behind my ear and said with a bright smile on my lips, "Don't worry. If you die with me, you will get heaven because I will tell God how good you are since you saved me."

"How can you be so sure that you will get heaven?"

"Awesome and good people like me, who are also innocent, always get heaven," I reasoned, which made him shake his head with a sigh.

"How do you have so much confidence?" he mumbled.

"It's not only confidence, it's about how much trust I have within me," I answered back. When he didn't say anything else, I decided to talk, "I always pictured gang leaders to be cold, ruthless, and ugly. But you seem cold, though not ruthless cause you rescued me, and," I checked him out, "You are so handsome."

"Did I just dig my grave by saving you?" he asked in irritation, making me hold back a laugh.

"No," I let out innocently, "You just saved a girl from dying."

"Stop making it seem like I am a good person, for God's sake," he grunted.

"But you are a good person, otherwise, why would yo—" I was interrupted roughly by him.

"Quiet. Just fucking stop talking for once!" he snapped.

I pouted. "What did I do? I was just stating facts."

He groaned and closed his eyes as if controlling himself from shooting me.

Why was this so much fun?

I placed my hand over his shoulder, startling him. I asked softly, "Are you okay?"

He pushed my hand away and shifted towards the windshield, creating as much distance as possible between us. "Just stay away from me, Lady."

"My name is Ember," I said and pouted. "I don't have any contagious disease. Heck, I don't have any disease, so you are safe." I tried to place my hand over his shoulder once again, but he pushed it away.

"Stop the goddamn car," he ordered, and the car came to a sudden halt. Before the driver could ask what had happened, Lance said to me sternly, "Get out."

I raised my brows. "Sorry?"

"Too late. Now, get out," Lance spat out bitterly.

So was he throwing me out of the car? It was very rude.

"Are you kicking me out of the car?" I asked to be sure.

"Yes, and if you don't listen to me, then get ready to be kicked out of the world too, because you pulled the last string of my patience," he grumbled.

I let out a humorless chuckle. "Patience? Lance, you barely have any patience."

"Congratulations. You took that away as well," he said mockingly, making my nose flare in anger.

How dare he kick me out of the car? I opened the car door and got out. Before he could go, I went to his side and knocked on the windshield.

When he rolled out the window, I informed him, "God will punish you for leaving an innocent and polite girl like me alone on the road at night." Since he didn't even bother to look at me, his eyes glued in front, I added, "You rescued me, and now you are pushing me into danger. What if those thugs come back? Or worse, what if they come with more people? You will die in guilt if something happens to m—" I was interrupted by him.

"Drive away, Sebastian," Lance ordered the driver, whose name was Sebastian.

"But what if I get attacked again?" I questioned, this time slightly scared because it was really too late at night. It really was risky for me.

He gave me a side-eye, saying, "Then, kill them with your blabbering." With that, the car started, and Lance left me on the sidewalk at midnight—all alone.

I watched the car disappear until I realized I should run back to my home as fast as possible if I wanted to save my precious life. Even though I knew good people died soon, I wanted to live a long life.

While I wasn't scared of death, who wouldn't want to explore the beautiful world? Everyone would, but only some could afford it, and I wanted to be that person. I didn't care whether it would take years or decades. I would save plenty of money for a world tour and explore the world before God took me back from here.

Pushing off all of my thoughts, I made a run for my house, wanting to reach there safe and sound, in one piece. I would get back at Lance later. Or, maybe I could forgive him because he saved my life when I landed up in grave danger. But because of him, I was late for my work this morning too 

I didn't know whether I should forgive him or not. All of this could be decided if I ever met him again.

Will I meet my mafia rescuer once again?

He was in the Mafia, so there were high chances I would never see him again. Damn, I should've said a proper goodbye to him instead of getting angry for throwing me out of his car when he was supposed to drop me off at my home.

Soon enough, I reached my house and freshened up. While preparing the study plan for the kids for tomorrow, my mind shifted to Lance Storm. It was a weird day. I have met the same person, who was a complete stranger to me, twice. Not once, but twice. Also, we ended up sharing the deepest secrets today, though we didn't give each other full details of it.

I took my phone and looked up Lance Storm. Even though I had told him I wouldn't stalk him online, I ended up researching the entire Storm family. I even found out the brother's name I was forgetting earlier. Turns out he was Lance's twin. Elian Storm was the one who had more public recognition—recently, he was even all over the news for being framed into a conspiracy. Lance had another brother, Eltan; even he was famous for his artistry. But there was barely a picture of Lance. He was only in a family picture, and nowhere else. He seemed so secretive, but damn, he was so handsome.

Keeping the phone aside, I got off the couch and looked outside through the window. The moon was shining gloriously. I looked at the peaceful sky and mumbled with a smile, "Stay happy, Lance Storm. Thank you for being my mafia rescuer."

I would always pray for him because he saved me from having a traumatizing moment. Shivers ran down my spine even at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn't appeared on time. I would be lying on the cold ground, in a pool of blood—either physically dead or alive but mentally dead.

Shaking my head, I tried to think positively and focused on completing my task. I was also about to set five alarms so that I wasn't late for kindergarten tomorrow, but stopped myself from doing so realizing I knew the short-cut lane. It would only take a few minutes if I use that lane, so I didn't have to wake up with five alarms, right?

This was why I decided to stick up with three alarms, which was a very bad decision.

###

I was late once again. I knew it.

I was running out of the house after freshening up. Even if I use the short-cut lane, I would be two minutes late according to my calculation. I ran as fast as I could toward the short-cut lane. The lane reminded me of whatever happened last night, including Lance saving me like a hero.

It was morning, so now the lane seemed safe and secure for me. It had to be.

While running, I stumbled upon a stone and fell flatly on the ground. Wincing in pain, I cursed my luck. Rubbing my nose, I got up and cleared off the slight dirt from my yellow jumpsuit.

I glared at the stone on which I stumbled. Since it was an isolated path, it was unconstructed and filled with pebbles. Making a mental note to keep my eyes on the ground, I decided to walk this time instead of running. It was better to arrive late than to end up being in the hospital with small injuries.

While my eyes were glued to the ground, suddenly, I bumped into someone's hard chest. My eyes grew as wide as saucers, realizing I bumped into a person. This lane was supposed to be isolated. Was this a haunted lane and last night the thugs who chased me were actually ghosts?

Before I could look at whom I bumped into, someone placed a handkerchief over my mouth. I didn't want to inhale the scent, but I couldn't control it and ended up inhaling the chloroform. Soon enough, I was engulfed with pure darkness.