Chapter Two

"Yes, Alfred," I answered, innocently looking up at him. "What took you so long?"  I added in my head.

Did I succeed? Did I not succeed?

"Make sure you go inside and ask for Terra. She's Mr. Alexander's house keeper. He's a very private person so drop off the folder and get on your way."

I stared at the folder Alfred extended to me pretending to be dumbfounded. Mind you, I-out of fifteen people-was the only one who didn't show interest and who did he choose?

Ding, ding, ding. You guessed right.

And who could blame him for making such a smart choice? I mean, if you had fourteen lunatics screaming for attention and one sane human being, who would you choose to represent you in the presence of your world-famous boss?

"Oh, Alfred. I don't know," I protested while my co-workers arms shot up again, making this snatching-candy-from-a-baby thing even easier for me. Hadn't they heard of reverse psychology?

Well, I guess some people needed to be hustled in other to wise up and I was more than happy to be their eye-opener.

Where had I learnt such trickery? Well, from a girl I used to know of course. Who must definitely wasn't me by the way. So the story goes...

The girls douche of brother used to warn her not to breathe on, touch and most importantly wash his car because he knew she loved defying him. And what did that reverse-psychology-illiterate-who-must-definitely-wasn't-me do?

Ding ding ding. You guessed right again.

I... I meant, she washed his car squeaky clean every single day (and I'm not exaggerating here) up until he left for college two years later. But alas, that made her stronger and the knowledge of such trickery had stayed with her forever. And in such hectic battles of who's to be chosen it came in handy. Again, the girl was not me!

Rolling my eyes playfully at them, I continued with Alfred, "I need time to settle more, I just moved to New York."

"Liar! You grew up in New York," the voice in my head shot back.

And yeah, yeah, it was right. But still, I had been attending college in New Jersey for four years. I just moved back to New York a few weeks ago. So technically, it was only half a lie hence I only felt half bad. "Besides I don't know where Mr. Alexander's lives." 

"You're the only one I trust not to freak out like a maniac Eliyanna. Mr. Alexander is intolerable towards crazy people. My job is literally at stake here. Please, I'll text you the directions." I stared at the folder and back at Alfred's pleading eyes a couple more times to add dramatic effect.

"Alright," I finally gave in with a sigh and a defeated smile then snatched the folder a little too eagerly from him all the while sticking my tongue out at my whining co-workers. This was so easy.

After grabbing my bag, I headed toward the door and shook my head in fake disapproval at my still grumbling colleagues. Bunch of sore losers. "Better luck next time yeah?"

As I was heading to toward the door, Riley ran up to me and squeezed my arm, "Take a picture."

"I'll try Riles. I'll try," I replied, nodding my head with determination. 

"Will you meet us at Rico's later?"

"Yeah, probably. I don't think I'll have time to unpack today but I'm itching to celebrate. Bye guys."

"Bye," they mumbled back and I couldn't help but chuckle even though I felt a little bad.

Poor babies.

Waving like a pageant queen, I flashed them a bright smile before giddily leaving the lounge.

*******************************

According to my GPS and the address Alfred texted me, I was outside Mr. Alexander's house in the Hampton's, which was approximately a thirty minute drive from the office. Because I couldn't see anything from behind the huge marvel double door, I stepped out of my car and rang the bell. After a few seconds, a heavily accented male voice asked, "Who is it?"

"Eliyanna Holland. I'm an employee of Mr. Alexander's, sent to deliver this file for his meeting tomorrow." I raised the folder up the surveillance camera as evidence. A couple of moments later, the gates opened and I proceeded slowly through the tiled driveway.

"Wow!"  Yeah! That was the only word appropriate to describe the palace like place in front of me.

I didn't need to step out the car to know that the house-correction-mansion was massive, elegant and simply beautiful.

What really caught my eye though, was the big fountain placed on the center of the mansion, comprised of three gold sculptured lion heads with water pouring out of their mouths. Cars were packed neatly in rows, most of them black or white. Roughly, I counted about eleven before making my way through the arch and towards the huge polished double door.

Sighing, I bit my lip nervously then rang the doorbell. When there was no answer, I rang it again. After almost ten minutes of waiting, I made my way around the mansion, hoping to find a back door.

As I was about to make a complete one-eighty of the house, a faint noise caught my attention. Singing "Finally!" under my breath, I accompanied it with a mini happy dance before walking towards what looked like a back door.

Knock, knock.

Huh. Still no one.

Knock, knock.

Was anyone home?

Tiptoeing on the grass, I strained my neck to catch sight of the room the noise came from but couldn't see a thing because the windows were too high up.

Balancing on my tiptoes again, I scurried back a bit, making sure to stay inches away from the pool behind me. "Thank god," I mumbled gratefully at the sight of the illuminating bright light and the manly figures in the room. Roughly twelve or thirteen of them stood around while three others were seated.

I grabbed the pool chair and placed it right next to the wall before standing on it to get a proper view of the room. But just as I was about to tap on the window to catch their attention, the scene in front of me unfolded clearly. All traces of blood drained from face. My clenched fists froze half way toward the glass while my wide grin turned upside down.

Oh my god.

Blinking back a couple of times, I hoped the image in front of me was some sort of mind trick. But no. There was no way this was mere imagination. Some of the men that stood around were holding nine millimeter guns and about three of them had masks on. While the other men who I assumed were seated, were actually tied to the chairs and gagged with a cloth!

My heart painfully slammed against my ribs but my mouth couldn't form words or scream. I just stood there, unable to move or breathe, just stare.

After some sort of back and fourth and angry growls between the men, another made his way into my view. When he raised his hand, all the arguing came to a dramatic halt without him saying a word. He was also in disguise but unlike the other three masked men, he wore a hoodie that covered his hair, black gloves on his hands and a bandanna that covered his nose and mouth. 

"Wolf what do you think?" one of the masked men asked him.

"Wolf?" I mumbled to myself while still stupidly watching the gunmen like a movie. The name sounded so familiar. It was glued right in the back of my mind but I just couldn't place my finger on it.

The men continued debating with each other then looked to the man behind the bandanna as if they expected him to say something. However, he just listened.

A couple of minutes went by and my "smart" legs were still plastered on the spot. But then...

The name hit me harder than a truck load of bricks, faster than lightening and literally left me gasping for air like a struggling fish out of water...

"Wolf!" I repeated in panic. Again, I felt myself go numb as anxiety and indescribable fear took over my body in a flash. If this was the person I suspected it was, I needed to get out of there fast! So why the hell weren't my legs moving?

But then again, how was that possible? "The Wolf" couldn't be ten feet away from me. I chuckled nervously to myself and shook my head in denial. He was the unknown leader of the Garza; the most radical and dangerous group of criminals ever to walk this earth. Chasing them was like chasing the wind. Because of their invisibility, people thought they were a myth. Including me! Invisible meant out of vision, out of sight, out of perimeter and area. So there was no way they were here right now.

Surely, the man behind the bandanna's surname was wolf and they were just referring to him by his last name. People did that at times. It didn't mean they were the same person.

Right?

Right! I mean it was ridiculous not to mention ludicrous. The man was practically a ghost. The authorities weren't even close to knowing who the members were not to mention their leader. So there was no way I was standing a few feet away from them. No way!

"So what? You're just gonna stand around to find out?" The voice in my head asked. "These people are world class kill machines. High level don't-fûck-around-will-split-your-head-in-half criminals who, by the way, didn't give two sh*ts about torturing, killing and throwing a US senator to swim joyfully with the fishes. But maybe, if they catch you standing there like a lost fool, you can negotiate and hopefully, they would agree not to throw your remains in the deep dark ocean. So just stand there Eliya, just stand. No pressure."

As I watched the scene still unable to move, I blinked back tears of panic as the denial I so desperately held on to wavered. I knew running was the only option here but how could I leave the victimized men or Mr. Alexander behind? What were they doing in his house anyway?

I finally reached for my bag in search of my phone, pushing the useless question aside. Who ever these people were, the Garza organization or not, they were holding weapons longer than a ladder and I had a strange feeling they weren't paintball guns.

"Taglio del loro ossigeno," the wolf commanded calmy. However, the way he uttered those words was cold enough to send goosebumps down the reapers spine. It definitely sent some down mine. The poor men choked in tears and squirmed on their seats desperately but couldn't say a word due the cloth that gagged their mouths.

With my mind going into over drive, I continued to search my bag for my phone.

I didn't remember it being this damn big! It was just a stupid medium sized hand bag! How could my phone get lost in there?

"Finally!" My hand wrapped around it's thick frame and I quickly plucked it out off my ex-favorite bag.

When I tried to punch in the code to unlock it though, my ragged breathing and shaking hands struggled to cooperate. After several unsuccessful attempts it finally unlocked and I further proceeded to the dial pad, hoping and praying the cops would make it on time so...

BANG! BANG!

My body stiffened and I swallowed.

Hard.

I hadn't noticed my phone slipping out of my sweaty hands until it landed on the grass with an almost inaudible thud. Instantly, I instinctively looked up at the window just in time for the shots to be followed by another three.

"Ah!" My high pitched scream rang through my ears and almost in unison, all the men in the room instantly turned towards the window where I stood shaking.

Well, screaming was a very, very bad idea.

No one blinked or moved just... silence. The men who wore masks had rolled it up until it was above their forehead revealing their faces. When their eyebrows frowned in confusion, was when I realized that I was awkwardly and very stiffly waving at them while my mouth had somehow twitched up in a wobbly smile. An emotion which was far from what I felt at the moment by the way. I quickly wrapped my arms around myself while my eyes further scanned the room until it landed on...

Oh god...

Oh god no.

The man behind the bandanna... I blinked hard then squinted my eyes to look at him properly. It couldn't be. His familiar face was there to see but I was hundred percent certain my eyes were playing a sick trick.

The black cloth that used to cover half of his face was now hanging loosely around his neck and the hoodie that was once on his head was no more. To get back to reality I blinked once.

Same person.

Twice.

Nope, the face didn't change. Still the same person.

Thrice.

Still there.

As reality quickly toppled imagination, I slapped my hand across my mouth to stifle another scream. Denying it was useless. Almost immediately, I had recognized his raven black hair and perfect blue eyes. No matter how hard I blinked - and I blinked hard - those blue eyes were impossible to mix up. Even a pair of identical twins weren't that similar.

Roman Alexander, was... was... The wolf?

Well... this was not the tete a tete I was hoping for.

A/N:

Raise your hand if you're at the edge of your seat right now. *Raises hand*
I can't even begin to imagine what you guys feel right now. I'm the author and even I feel the pressure! Haha..

So...

What do you think will happen to poor Eliyanna? With a house full of gunmen and highly trained killers how will she manage to get out alive?

And Ohh... Roman... BAM! Who was expecting that? Things just got real!

Stay tuned my cookies, this is merely the beginning of a very bumpy roller coaster ride.

Please don't forget to hit the little vote button if you enjoyed this chapter. It would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Xoxo... Tima.