Finn POV

"They have nothing against you. The cops are just perambulating." Denny said.

"The company had been metamorphosed. There's not a record of Eric Hayes, besides none of their minds had traveled back to remember about his son." Blake, my lawyer, stated.

"It still doesn't make sense. Who exactly spotted Cheryl? She was wearing her mask the whole time. She was beside me the whole time. Whoever might've descried her must've seen me too." I huffed out the steam of frustration in my office seat.

"Look, it is going to be okay," Denny promised.

"How? You're my father's best friend. I'm sure those devils knew you adopted me. If anyone among them got lucky to crack the symbol, guess what? Boom! they're coming for you, and then everything from there is considered-fuck."

"And how will they do that? I adopted Eric Hayes's son because he had no one, so what? What do they expect me to do? Let you on your own at eight? No one has proof, Finn. You go to school every day of the weekdays, you have friends just like any other kid, you are either at Liam's or Guardian Angel, your room is back at home, and you have a fitness coach." Denny challenged.

"They don't stand a chance. They're still lost." Blake murmured to himself. "I can't believe you let him take Rollins Law here in Chicago," Blake added when his eyes met Justin and Samuel.

"I don't even know how to feel about that," Denny muttered and heaved a sigh.

Samuel and Justin were only quiet, for they knew it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. Something Teddy and Reddy would never have agreed to. That's when I realized no one could replace those two men. They were my brain, and not having them around-I was slowly getting lost on the map.

"I have a headache. I'm going home." I announced to the people who have my back no matter the hardship.

Hanging my backpack over my shoulder, I headed out of my office with my two men following behind me.

It was Monday, and the day started stressfully. I was hoping it would be less distressing, but It was still the way it was on Sunday. The cops had been inspecting the company and even put on a curfew from seven in the evening to seven in the morning around Chicago.

My phone went off as I stalked towards the elevator. I picked it up when I learned it was Liam.

"Are you on campus?" He asked as I immediately brought the phone to my ear.

"No, I left. I'm heading home."

"Home? as in home?" He asked for I slept at Denny's last night.
Sharon was starting to panic after she saw the news on tv. She had been insisting I leave town or even the continent. She actually had me in her arms the whole night that I gave up resisting to escape. I only wanted to go back to Cheryl, but Sharon needed me to.

"Yes." The elevator door slid closed with my two men behind me.

"Alright, I will tell Steph to bring lunch. We'll meet there."

"Do me a favor and say nothing around Cheryl."

"Whatever, man." He reluctantly agreed and hung up.

Cheryl POV

"I'm so exhausted." Steph started when she came in.
She had boxes of pizza in her hands. "School can do that to you." She complained.

I can't imagine what this meant for my education. I had missed out a lot for the semester. And it is supposed to be my final year.
I was supposed to be waiting for my acceptance into college. I was supposed to be staying up late at night to study just as enjoy the weekend with my friends, for we all were going to different colleges after the summer break.

But right there, I was in a room different from my actual bedroom, far from Eureka Springs, and I had a weird feeling I was beginning to accept all of this as my fate.

"So the boys are on their way. This is our lunch." She announced.

"Cool." I only mumbled.

No one explained to me what I saw on tv. As a matter of fact, Finn didn't come home the whole night, I didn't get to see him for hours, share a bed with him, or at least have his presence around the house, and I was trying to convince myself I was worried because of his safety, but deep down I knew I was missing him.

When Steph dropped everything she came in with, she excused herself and went to the bathroom.

"I was wondering how to celebrate my birthday." Her voice was practically loud for me to clasp from the bathroom.

"Your birthday is today?" I surprisedly asked.

"No! In a month." Oh! "I was wondering if I should celebrate it in the restaurant, but that means without you, so maybe I'm bringing the party here."

Those lines reminded me how my life sucked, how I wasn't able to walk the street of the United States freely because everything was complicated.

"Oh!" I mumbled again.

"What is a birthday without my female best friend?" She gleefully said.

That made me laugh. "We're best friends now?"

Steph came out from the bathroom barefooted while drying her hands with a napkin. "Of course we are. We might meet awkwardly, but I'm sure you've known me enough to be my partner in crime." She told me with a smile on her face.

"Exactly!" I giggled just when the entrance door opened, and Finn showed up before Liam did.

Something in me pinched, and I was on my feet promptly, wearing an exciting smile that I couldn't control. Before, I'd be hiding or running for safety but at that time? All I wanted was to see him, hug him, kiss him because I missed him.

Precisely, that's what happened, for Finn wasted no second when he approached me and pulled me into his warmth. He left kisses on my face before he finally landed his soft wet lips on mine.

I wanted him. I needed him.

"Awnn! aren't you two adorable?" Steph gave us but seconds later threw. "Now enough before you disgust me from eating this pizza."

I heard Liam chuckle, and I immediately felt embarrassed that I had to bite my lips. I must be utterly reddish, so I inclined my head to avoid attracting attention on myself.

"Is good to see you too, Steph." Finn annoyingly said to his friend.

I wanted to ask him if everything was okay, but I didn't get the chance for they were all interested in the car race that they kept discussing Lewis Hamilton, and my sport uneducated self had to stay quiet and only chew on my pizza.

"I can't forget back when we were twelve, we attempted racing on a bicycle, and you ended up breaking your ankle." Liam laughed.

Now that was interesting.

"You've once broken your ankle?" Confounded, I asked Finn, who was sitting beside me.

"He broke his ankle three times, and his arm once, all from riding a bicycle." Liam chuckled, and my eyes widened.

"I was dumb then, riding wasn't my thing, and Liam kept pushing it," Finn explained to me.

"Dude, don't blame me. You kept accepting the challenge." Liam lifted his hands in defense.

"That's because you kept betting on that parrot, and Denny won't let me get a bird." Finn rolled his eyes, and we all laughed.

"I still don't get your obsession with birds," Steph said.

"You like birds?" I asked the man I was trying to know more.

"They're cute, don't you think?" He smirked at me.

Smiling, I nodded. "But I didn't get to have a bird of my own. Instead, Sharon got me a dog, and we became Turner and Hooch until someone came driving reckless one Sunday evening and hit my Hooch across the street." He appended.

"How old were you then?" I asked.

"I was fourteen when I got my dog, and it died a week before my fifteenth birthday." He explained.

"You spend only a year together." With a frown on my lips, I stated.

"It was a great year, Drew and I planned to take over the world." Finn grinned as he reminisced the good old days.

"Drew? That was his name?" I questioned.

"Yep."

"I'm sorry you lose him."

"It was for the best. I became a man afterward."

Steph exhaled a laugh. "I'm sorry, but seriously? you were what? Four feet then? please 'man' is prohibited for you to use for those days."

"Shoot! She did hit you, bro." Liam laughed. Finn only smiled and lowered his head while my gaze shifted between the three people, for I was completely confused.

"Finn delayed growing up, but when he did, he won't take a break," Steph told me while she giggled. "I used to be taller than him."

That got me blushing when I looked over to the tall guy with broad shoulders beside me. He fretfully scratched his jaw and said to Steph. "Okay, thank you. We've heard enough."

He was cute when he was nervous.

We continued to eat our lunch while I listened to different adventures of Finn growing up and about some mean neighbor of Steph who always made the boys park far from her house, or she'd scrape their cars.

"Sir, you need to leave now. There are cops by the gate. They're here to inspect the house, they claimed." Justin announced.

With that, the blood in my body ran cold.

If I thought I'd felt alarmed through the month of my stay in this house, then right there I was struggling with my soul to not give up on my body, and eventually, it did, that I was left petrified and unable to move.

"Permission to fire, sir?" Some group of Finn's men asked by the door. They were fully armored and were dressed in bulletproof vests and different defensive equipment.

I was shaking. That was my life at that moment, it was my ultimatum, and I had to choose one, either get out of there or stay with Finn.

And I knew that was it. That I feared for the outcome, for whatever that was about to happen gave me a feeling, after this, it wouldn't be the same anymore.
I knew those four young adults sitting in a circle, eating pizza and discussing old good times would surely become a memory.