Chapter 4: See You Never

Chapter 4: See You Never

Ember Corbin

After I regained consciousness, I wasn't able to open my eyes immediately. My head was aching when I tried to open my heavy eyelids.

Where am I?

I could feel a few strands of hair over my forehead, so I tried to push them away using my hand. But I felt my hands tied when I tried to use them. Why the hell am I tied?

Finally, I managed to open my eyes. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the fully white painted room. It was a square-shaped room—totally empty. There was not a single thing here, except the chair made of steel that I was tied with tape. It was creepy and scary.

I was kidnapped, no doubt. But why? Was it because I met Lance yesterday and one of his enemies kept a close watch on him? Did his enemies think we were close? Foolish enemies. If I and Lance were close, why would he drop me in the middle of the road at night?

I sucked in a deep breath.

I was unable to open my mouth because it was covered with tape. It was suffocating.

I started taking deep breaths, wanting to calm myself down. I was claustrophobic, but here I was tied and stuck in a closed room. It felt as if the whole room was choking me to death. My body was becoming so weak that there was no strength left in me to even try to free myself from the ropes.

My claustrophobia was hitting up on me again.

Why was I kidnapped in the first place? If it was because of Lance Storm, he better save me. This time I landed in trouble because of him.

Since I saw his face, death was chasing me like a mad dog. His handsome face was a facade behind his devilish luck, which had transferred to me now.

My whole body started trembling. I had to keep myself calm and distracted before anyone could come here and help me. I had to be strong.

You can do it, Ember.

I closed my eyes and started chanting, "Mom, please save me. Your prayers have always been there to keep me safe, then why not today? How will I survive from here? Earlier, I was almost getting raped, and now I am kidnapped. Please tell God to stop testing your Ember. How long will she survive living in this cruel world?"

It was all too much for me. There were too many people in the world, yet the kidnappers had to kidnap me. Whose leftover half-eaten chocolate did I eat to deserve this?

A shiver ran down my spine once I opened my eyes again to see the enclosed white room. Even if I was kidnapped, they should've kept me in a big room, or a room with things in it. At least, I would've been less scared. Why was the room so blank?

If I got kidnapped so that the kidnappers could ask for a ransom, oh boy, they were so wrong. I had no family who would care for me, and if they thought that Lance would come to my rescue, it wouldn't be shocking when he would say, 'Kill her.' In the end, I would be useless to the kidnappers and they would dump me somewhere after killing me. Or worse, they would sell me off.

My chain of thoughts broke when my eyes fell on the CCTV camera at one corner of the ceiling. Maybe someone who was keeping an eye on me would realize I would die if I was kept there for more than five minutes. I was fucking claustrophobic, and it was getting harder to breathe by the second. The trembling didn't stop. I wished I saw just a little bit of the outer world to console myself for my untimely death.

When I tried to move my chair a little as my legs weren't tied, electricity zapped through my entire body all of a sudden. No wonder why I was sitting on a chair made of steel. If I tried to move, I would die out of electric shock. It was worse than a dungeon.

Glancing at the CCTV camera, I looked with my watery gray eyes. Though I tried not to cry, I couldn't control my tears. I was taking deep breaths with tears streaming down my eyes.

Please help me, God.

As if my prayers were answered, suddenly the door opened—a door which I hadn't even noticed until now. It was like the color of the room, so no one would ever be able to guess where the door was. I felt like I was caged inside a large box.

A few men entered the room at first with weapons, mostly with revolvers in their hands. Once they were in, one of them turned off something, taking out a switch. I guess that was the electrical button of the room. Well, I felt relieved when the door opened, which didn't last long as a man, well-suited in dark blue, stepped into the room with his hands in his pocket.

My eyebrows raised, my eyes getting as wide as saucers seeing the familiar stranger in front of me.

Lance Storm.

He seemed to get equally shocked like me as his green eyes grew bigger.

"Boss," a man spoke up, looking at Lance with a proud smile, "here is the woman whom you ordered to kidnap."

What? Lance kidnapped me?

Was he that attracted to me and fell in love at first sight with me like the typical Mafia bosses I read about in online book apps? Was he going to force me to marry him and make me his?

Oh, my God. He's nice, handsome, rich, and all, but no.

Lance pulled out a hand from his pocket and formed it into a ball before punching the man hard on his face. "Out of all the fucking women, why this lady, Denver?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion, my claustrophobia disappearing into thin air.

The man, whom Lance addressed as Denver, rubbed his nose, which was bleeding now. He said, "Boss, you told me to kidnap the woman in the empty lane, which was lane number 5. She was on the street you mentioned. She has the black curls and caramel skin as well. She is the assassin appointed to kill you by our enemies, right?"

I was beyond confused now. I had so many questions to ask, but damn this tape over my mouth. It stopped me from asking the questions I had in my mind.

Lance groaned in annoyance, running a hand through his hair. "Denver, did you notice her eye color? It's gray," he murmured as Denver took a few steps towards me to notice my eye color. "The woman I ordered you to kidnap has fucking brown eyes."

Denver hung his head low after realizing his big mistake. So I wasn't the woman who was supposed to get kidnapped. It was someone else, but she got lucky.

Thank God, Lance wasn't the typical psychotic Mafia boss who went abducting women who he fell in love with at first sight.

"Sorry, Boss. I failed to notice the eye color." Denver approached me and gave me a pitiful look. He removed the tape, then started untying my hands.

"How can you make such an amateur mistake? Did you even see this lady smoking?" asked Lance, while Denver shook his head.

"What?" I started speaking, happy at finally finding my voice. "How can Denver see me smoking when I cannot even use a lighter properly? Also, why was I kidnapped in the first place?"

As soon as Lance's eyes met mine, he groaned in frustration. "Why did you remove the tape, Denver? She will feeble my mind with her non-stop talks."

Since the door was open now, I wasn't feeling weak anymore. I stood up from the chair. Placing a hand over my hip, I asked Lance, "What do you mean by my non-stop talks? My talks do stop at a certain point."

"Oh, really?" Lance took a step toward me. "May I know when that ever happens?"

I tried to find an answer to his question, but when I couldn't find a proper answer, I said, "I wasn't talking until now."

He narrowed his eyes in my direction. "It was because you had a goddamn tape over your mouth," he pointed out.

Not wanting to lose the fight, I decided to change the topic. "First of all, Mr. Lance Storm, tell me why I was brought here. Just because you rescued me last night doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with me. Second of all, why do you have this crazy dungeon-type room? Do you have any idea how scared I was? I have claustrophobia. I would've died, and then, the cops would put you in a cell. Then, they would even learn about your secre—" I was interrupted by Denver.

"Boss, she knows the secret?"

Glaring at Denver, I said, "First thing, it's none of your business. Second thing, why did you kidnap me when I wasn't even smoking? I don't care about the eye color thing because not everyone looks in the eyes at first."

Denver mumbled, "Sorry. I thought you were the killer, and you were running after you saw me. This is why I kidnapped you and put you in the cell."

I let out a sigh. "I didn't even notice you in that lane. In fact, I was running because I was getting late for Happy Kindergarten—Oh, my God."

"What?" Denver asked curiously.

I gasped and looked at Lance, who had a confused look on his face.

"I am late for my work," I uttered.

"So we will bribe your boss?" Denver offered, but I shook my head at once.

"You don't understand, Denver. It's not about my boss firing me," I told him. "I am a kindergarten teacher, and the kids will go crazy if they don't see me there. I am the only one who can control so many kids at once. Without me, the kids will make the other teachers go bald."

"Jesus," Denver mumbled.

I slapped my forehead. "What should I do now? What's the time now?" I asked and grabbed Lance's hand, looking at the time on his wristwatch. "I am an hour late; however, I have to go. I can't afford to waste any more time. But I don't even know where I am."

Lance roughly pulled his hand away from my grip. He fixed his wristwatch and said, "Uh... since Denver made a mistake, he will drop you off at the kindergarten. Now, you can stop being less dramatic."

I narrowed my eyes in his direction. When something got into my mind, I smirked. "Technically it's your fault, Lance," I stated confidently.

He arched an eyebrow. "My fault? I wasn't the one kidnapping you."

"Well, you were the one who gave the order of kidnapping," I informed him.

Lance rolled his eyes. "The point, Lady?"

"The point is, you made a mistake, so you will drop me at my workplace," I said sternly.

He let out a humorless chuckle. "Why would I do that?"

I looked straight into his eyes and said, "If you don't do that, I will stay here and keep talking till your brain cells stop functioning. Even if you leave the room, I will talk so much that the person keeping an eye on me over the CCTV camera will quit and shoot himself."

"Stop, you are giving me a headache already," Lance grumbled.

I gave him an innocent look. "So, about the lift..."

"Fine, I will drop you at Bless Kindergarten," he agreed at last.

"Happy Kindergarten," I corrected him with a smile.

"Whatever," he mumbled and started walking out of the door.

Waving 'bye' at Denver, I followed Lance.

###

"Now, get out," Lance ordered as soon as the car stopped near Happy Kindergarten.

I took off the seatbelt and was about to get out. "By the way, your mafia cell is very scary. One will die just by staying there for an hour," I informed him and got out of the car. "Do you want to come inside and meet the kids?" I asked, waiting for his reply.

"No," he replied curtly.

"Well, anyway. Thanks for the lift," I said and closed the door. Once I realized I forgot to say something else to him, I knocked on the windshield. When he rolled it down, I wished with a bright smile, "See you."

"Never," Lance added and started the car.

I watched him drive away. If it was only yesterday, I would've never thought of meeting him again. But after what happened today, I knew even if we were poles apart, fate would somehow make us cross paths.

Maybe we were meant to be friends.