Fanning the coals of love

Minutes after Danica worked out of the airport, a convoy pulled over and a lot of men stepped out of the car. People came to a halt instantly, knowing that they were either there to escort someone in or escort someone out. Whoever it was had to be very rich with the flit of current cars lined up and men whose aura and build spoke of nothing but danger. Dressed in formal attires of black suits, shades and comms in their ears, they looked more like assassins than guards. All tall and huge to a fault, they looked both ravishing and dangerous to the core. The kind of danger that pulled women close. It was almost irresistible and it made them all frantic and excited to know who was coming or who was going. But something caught the eyes of most of the people who wanted to witness all this. A tattoo at the nape of this men. A tattoo of a well-drawn compass right at the nape of their neck. Instantly, panic ensued and those who took notice retreated from the convoy. Not all the security had this tattoo on their neck, mainly because they preferred to have it on other places. Some had it on their arms while others on their huge chest. It all depended on their preferences, so most of their tattoo were well hidden from the eyes of the crowd and media.

It didn’t take long for the line of sight of people present to see what the others had seen at the nape of the neck of most men. Fear instantly crept into their hearts, filling their lungs and screaming at them to run. It was a well-known tattoo in this part of San Diego. Or rather still, in all parts of it. it was a family crest, a family heirloom for a very special and influential family in the state, one they all knew and one that they had all heard of. The Deane’s. A syndicate family who held power even across the city. They were in charge of business, drugs, crimes and so many other illegal affairs that had been rumored to have happened in San Diego but had never been put down, arrested, taken or killed ever in history. They were the Deane’s of the city, a syndicate family to rule by night and a world business company to rule by day. Their crimes and atrocities were tales told to children at night, just to make sure that they grow up into good and reasonable human beings and even with the knowledge of what they are, who they were and what they were capable of, no one dare stand against them or raise a hand against them. Those who did were never able to tell the tale, and most of them were never found.

People around immediately started giving way and running away from the airport just to be far away from this people. The syndicate family had not been held from in a while and most people thought that they left the city. Now, they realized that they didn’t and would not want to cross part with even a shadow from them for the sake of their lives and wellbeing.

The security at the front of the airport did nothing to conceal who they were. They owned the city and wouldn’t care about such. They had been running undercover activities and businesses for a long time now. But that was all going to change because the son of the don was returning from the states where he had been handling operations. It was the first time of meeting him after a very long time and with the tales of what he was like, no one wanted to get on his bad side.

Once they were informed that he had stepped out of the plane, a few of them immediately walked into the airport to retrieve him and tighten whatever security he had come with.

Heads turned when a man, dressed in simply plain black pants and t-shirt stepped out. he had guards, all dressed on black at each side of him to provide maximum security but those guards were not the reason behind the gaze and stares that made heads whipped towards his direction. He was built but not as huge at the bouncers and security he had but one look at his body proved that he was a builder. His height was average and his looks were heavenly. Brown wavy hair combed, curled and oiled to relaxed perfectly to the back of his head, chiseled face, small lips, a long and pointed nose and eyes covered behind sunglasses was enough to show that this man was dreamily handsome. Still, that was not the only thing that made them turn around to look at him. There was simply something about his movement and the way he carried himself. Not like a proud peacock, but definitely like a man who knew his worth and ground. The command, authority, power and danger surrounding him was suffocating with each step he took towards the entrance of the airport. His steady strides that provoke the ground itself and the way his long leg moved with so much confidence made them to want to know who he was.

But before any more eyes could feed on him, more guards had run in and hovered at his both sides, his front and his back that no one was able to make a view of the man who just graced them with his present.

The man behind all these stares paid no attention to the stares and looks he was getting. It was neither a new experience from him neither did he care about it. His main attention and focus were on the very thing he had been staring at on his phone. The picture of girl, beautiful, exquisite. The reason for his return had been a lot of things and she was one of them. He glared at the picture and simply could not imagine how stupid things were. He had other ways to handle this girl and get the results his father wanted but he had been ordered to spare a lot of blood this time. He didn’t understand why his father was being so lenient towards the situation and hated that he had to waste his time with stupid things like this, but he was he was his father and he had his ultimate respect. He would never disobey an order from him and simply had to do what he had asked, no matter how much he disliked the idea.

He would handle her when the time was right, and with that he finally looked away from his phone, placed it in his pocket and looked towards the direction he was heading to. A car and a lot more were waiting for him, he simply had to get the work the moment he got home.

The moment he stepped out of the airport, the sunlight hit him, feeling his skin with a refreshing a new warmth laced with the beautiful color of the streets and the life that lived in it. Knowing how long it had been since he came here, he could not help but stop in his tracks to observe the beautiful scene before him while he took in a new breath. The oxygen here seemed to be different from where he was coming from and the refreshing intake filled his lungs with more life and energy than it should. Maybe it was not so bad to come here, if only he came here for the scenario alone. That thought made him feel somewhat angry for all the trouble he had to go through for family. With a huge sigh, he started working and got into his car. The door was only about to be shut when his sight caught someone. A woman who was not so far away from the fleet of cars that were lined up. It was a miracle that he saw her there, when she was squatting on the ground. She looked so little and was definitely not worth his time but something had made him stop. Her golden blonde hair that was so similar to the sun and how it reflected on her, made it shine so bright, it caught his attention so fiercely. Aside that, he was good at reading his environment even when it seemed that he was not, so he knew how to detect threat. But most importantly, that woman had caught his attention because of the hair she had. It was similar to the woman whose pictures he was just looking at. Halting, he stepped out of his car, surprising his men, however they said nothing and watched. Not caring about them, he fixed his gaze on the woman whose hair was too familiar to be ignored. His assignment could begin earlier than he had anticipated.

If she noticed him coming, she didn’t show it and it had surprised him and irked him that she could be so clueless about her environment. Someone might stab her at that spot, and she would not be able to do a thing, react or see the person’s face before she dies. It was a terrible way to live. Not caring about your environment enough. His face turned into a frown when his entourage got closer and she still remained in that same position. He was irked by her careless behavior and found it very stupid. People like this were those who got killed easily and blamed it on something else. While their family die in pain and mourn them with tears when they had been the cause of their own death.

He stopped beside her and waited for a reaction, however she still showed no response. He glared fiercely at her and thought of just leaving her to her faith or doom or whatever was going to come to her. But stopped when he saw that she was shaking and whimpering. He had heard a lot of sounds in the past, cries, wails, pains and had seen a lot of gruesome scenes before his eyes. Nothing got to him, nothing touched him, and he felt absolutely nothing when heard those. But this sound, why did it make his heart prick?

“hey…” he came grumpily and waited for a reaction. However, she made no attempt to look at him to the very annoyance of the men surrounding him. No one ignores their boss, and even those who paid attention thought the said girl must be in trouble.

“Hey…” he called out again. She said something, but those words he could not catch. Her trembling seemed to have become worse and the sight burned his eyes. For the first time, he saw that she tried to move but found it very hard to. It was not because she was ignoring him, but because she couldn’t and he could tell from her body movement. Without another thought to what was going on, his environment or the people staring at him, he bent down beside her to reach her level since she was finding it very hard to look up at him. Strong scent of lilac filled his nostrils and he scrunch his nose. He hated flowers, and lilac was the worst of them all. He could take the others, but not lilac.

Being there was a bad idea, and with that he thought of just leaving when she slowly raised her eyes to meet his. Blue eyes struck him like lightening bolt, eyes filled with tears. He froze instantly at the sight of her, shocked to look at her. But when her gasp for breath followed her movement, making those blue eyes of hers close, he snapped out his state and caught her before she could fall over. Seeing what their boss was doing and trying to make sure that he did not get implicated, his men surrounded him to cover the people view from what was going on. If he cared, he pretended not to, or maybe he just knew that they would do their job. Standing up, he picked the woman up, placing his hand at the back of her legs and back and carrying her up in a bridal style back to his car.

Once they were inside the car, and ready to drive off, he paid more attention to her. He found her earlier than necessary and in such a situation. A plan started cooking up in his crazy mind and a smile caressed his lips. He didn’t have to plan for more when he was already the prince charming in the picture.

“Where to, boss?” the driver turned to him. He ran his hand over his hair, pushing it to lay back flat and graciously to the back of his head and his brown eyes flickered with a glint.

“To my house…”