Chapter 13

The view was nice.

Getting a hotel room at such short notice wasn’t easy, but Abigail and Najay managed to find one just in time. Abigail’s room sat on the third level. She could see only a part of the city since the hotel was on the other side of town. She also had the perfect view of the back of Theodore’s company, and since the very minute she got settled in, she had been staring at it.

He had called earlier to ask what time he was supposed to swing by. Abigail didn’t know what to tell him, so she hung up the first time without replying to his question. But then he called again, and again until she had no choice but to answer him.

He was worried, and she apologized for getting him worked up. But Abigail then knew that she couldn’t go on without telling him the reason for her behaviour, so she gave him the hotel’s address, avoiding all his questions about why she was there in the first place and promised to tell him everything later.

It all unnerved her, but what killed her the most was that Nicholas was out and free. Whenever Najay made a sound from the bathroom or closet, Abigail would flinch in sudden fear, thinking deep down that it was Nicholas.

Why did he get out? Every time Abigail thought about it, she nearly cried. He was far too evil to be running free again, and to know that he was looking for her made it even worse.

Nicholas was nothing less of an obsessive monster, and he should be where all monsters are kept—locked away all alone.

“I’m going to go now,” Najay said suddenly from behind Abigail, almost sending Abigail jumping through the window in fright. “Whoa, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Najay added quickly as she grabbed Abigail’s shoulders to steady her.

Abigail sighed. “It’s okay. I’m just a little shaken. That’s all.”

“Do you want me to stay?” Najay frowned as she swiped away a fallen tear from Abigail’s eyes. But Abigail quickly shook her head in protest.

“No. You need to get back to the salon to catch the evening rush. I’ll be fine. Really. Besides, Theodore should be here in thirty minutes.”

Abigail lied. Theodore wasn’t supposed to pick her up until seven in the evening, and it was only four-thirty. But she felt guilty for keeping Najay away from her job when she needed every second she could get. There was also the fact that her head was pounding far too much from all the sudden sounds Najay made that scared her. Probably a little alone time would help soothe her messed up mind.

“Are you sure?” Najay asked in uncertainty, analyzing every inch of Abigail’s face.

Abigail forced a smile. “I’m sure. Go. I’ll feel better knowing I’m not keeping you from your work. I’ll call you later.” She pulled her friend in her embrace, knowing that they both needed it.

As much as Najay was acting strong, Abigail could tell that she was scared too. Not for herself but for a friend’s safety. Najay, more than anyone else, saw upfront what Nicholas was capable of, and she hated every bone in his body for it.

“Please be safe,” Najay mumbled. “I can’t lose you.”

“I will,” Abigail assured as they pulled away. For now, she knew she was safe from Nicholas. As long as he didn’t follow Najay, he wouldn’t know where Abigail stayed. That was the sole reason why they made an agreement for Najay’s visits to be minimal. Nicholas would surely follow Najay every day from now on. The good thing was, he wouldn’t dare try to hurt her. But if he found Abigail before they somehow managed to get his ass back in jail, that would be detrimental.

After Najay left, Abigail decided to take a nap before getting ready to leave for Theodore’s. She closed every lock on her door, checked her bathroom windows and curled herself into a ball against the white sheets on the bed. The day had been nothing but exhausting. She had tons of work to finish up, but she had no energy for it.

With the dance she prepared tonight for Theodore, she knew she’d need every ounce of strength she could get, and so, she fell asleep.

By the time she was awake, it was already six o’clock. There were two messages from Najay asking if she was still okay without company, one from her boss asking if she felt better, and a final one from Theodore, telling her that he left the office earlier and so he was on his way to get her now.

That message surely woke her up completely as Abigail dashed from the bed. She was thankful that Najay knew to pack all her dancing clothes and shoes, all somehow in the same order she left them in the closet. She rechecked the message as she grabbed her blue heels and a matching outfit. It was sent twenty minutes ago, so Theodore could almost be at the hotel if the traffic wasn’t too bad.

There was no point rushing it. Her make-up alone would take at least half an hour, and then she’d need another fifteen minutes to braid her natural hair to get her wig in place. Then, who knows how long it would take for her to figure out how to wear that new blue thong she bought the other day? It wasn’t her fault that Theodore was early, so she decided to take her time to prepare herself perfectly.

Yet, throughout it all, Abigail subconsciously glanced at her front door, even though it was bolted by three locks. She couldn’t shake the fear that maybe somehow Nicholas would get superpowers and teleport into her room.

She shook the ridiculous thought from her head and hopped in the bath to take a quick shower. She then wrapped herself in her robe and sat in front of her mirror in the bathroom, grabbing her kit to start her make-up. Her reflection stared back at her. Messy tendrils and bright, brown eyes with the most awful stories gazed at her.

Her eyes darted to her full, pink lips. They were so smooth and soft, and Abigail instinctively reached up to brush her thumb over them. She flinched away as a quick image of her lips busted flashed across her eyes. She blinked a few times in fright and shook the memory from her head, but it was deemed useless when she suddenly felt as if her eyes were rimmed with black, swollen circles. Then there was blood—so much blood dripping from her broken nose and busted head. And it was all real. All real again.

The blaring sound of her ringtone flashed her back to reality, and a perfect, scar-less face was once again staring back at her as she grabbed her phone. It was Theodore. For a while, she hesitated but decided that she couldn’t avoid him forever.

“Hello?” she answered, her voice breaking from the trauma she had just relived.

“Abigail? I’m in the lobby. Should I come up `or do you want me to wait in the car?” Theodore’s voice was steady but careful as he spoke. His curiosity was piqued to the highest level, yet he didn’t want to startle her.

Since earlier when she told him she was at a hotel, his mind had been racing with thoughts. Not to mention the fact that she sounded uneasy every time she spoke; it was just the cherry on top. It was the only reason why he left his office earlier today. He was far too anxious to see her—not for her to dance for him but to know if she was okay. Because from the way she spoke, even now, she didn’t seem to be.

“Um… I’m not quite ready yet.” Abigail chewed on her lip as she assessed her untouched face. “Actually, I’m not ready at all. You can come up if you’d like.”

Sudden regret at her words rose in her as she thought about the possibility that Nicholas could be following Theodore. But it then occurred to her that Nicholas had no idea she was even involved with Theodore in any way. Her paranoia was going too far.

“I’m in room forty-three. You can tell the receptionist that you are coming up,” she added.

“I’m already on my way up,” Theodore said without ending the call. Abigail heard the ding of the elevator on the other side of the line. She waited. It wouldn’t take long for him to arrive, and when he did, she was already at the door.

With shaky hands, Abigail unlocked it. Theodore stood on the opposite side, looking as sharp as ever in his grey three-piece suit and perfectly gelled hair. He examined her slowly, realizing what she meant when she said she wasn’t ready. In fact, she wasn’t even wearing clothes beneath her robe.

Without a word, Abigail pulled him inside the room and proceeded to close all her locks after thoroughly checking both ends of the hall before stepping back inside. Theodore watched her in confusion. It was evident that she was on edge, but he didn’t know why. Also, the fact that she actually touched him to get him inside the room showed that she wasn’t herself.

“Abigail?” Theodore watched as Abigail gazed out her windows with worry etched on her face. She was also fidgety and evidently anxious. It was starting to unnerve and worry him. “Abigail!” he called again, this time grabbing onto her arm to stop her from moving.

Her eyes were wide and scared as they met his. They glistened as Theodore peered at her, trying to read what was wrong with her. Concern edged at his heart when he noticed that she hadn’t even flinched away from him either.

“What happened?” he asked, holding her even closer to him. She was shaking like crazy, but Theodore could tell that it had nothing to do with the fact he touched her. Her eyes were too distant.

She couldn’t explain it, but seeing Theodore had somehow enhanced her fear. Before he arrived, she had occupied her mind with getting ready. But the slight distraction of his arrival plunged her back into panic.

“Abigail!” Theodore called one last time, this time gaining her attention as she snapped her head towards him. Worried, concerned eyes stared at her, silently questioning her as he loosened his grip even more.

For some reason, she didn’t have the usual urge to move away from him. In fact, she felt safe with him, as if he was protecting her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a much softer voice. “Why are you here in the first place?”

Abigail gulped. She noticed that it would yield her no better result if she hid it from him. And knowing Theodore, he wouldn’t stop pushing until he got the truth. So, she shuffled from his hold only a bit to move towards the bed. He followed in suit as she sat on the soft mattress, and Theodore watched as she played with her nails nervously, keeping her head down.

“I know that from the morning you officially met me for the first time, you had been wondering why I am the way I am,” she started, and Theodore instantly knew what she meant.

He nodded as she continued.

“Let’s just say, after I lost my father in my early teenage years, things haven’t been the same for me. When my mother remarried, that’s when things started going downhill. Long-story-short, my mother is dead, and I was almost dead too because of the same reason. I came to New York for a fresh start—a clean slate.” She paused quickly as she met his eyes. “I’m no criminal. But I just needed a life of my own.”

Theodore nodded in understanding. He never guessed that she was a criminal. “I know.”

“Well, I thought I found it. I met Najay, I got a job, I got accepted to the master’s program… and I thought I found love.”

Theodore gulped as his heart slammed against his chest. He had had a lot of time to think about what might’ve happened to Abigail, and it didn’t take much to guess that it was a man who caused her current state. But to hear it directly from her drove a sudden protective and primitive urge in him. He already dreaded the rest of the story.

Despite his own discomfort, he encouraged her to continue. Her hands were trembling like crazy, and he wasn’t sure if he could even help her. But he took the risk and held onto her forefinger, and she evidently relaxed against her touch. Her robe was ridden up a bit, exposing her smooth, olive thigh. Yet, it didn’t distract him as much as he thought it would, even knowing that she was naked beneath her cover-up. His only concern at the moment was her well-being.

Despite Theodore’s mood, he offered her a small simper. “Go on,” he urged, and Abigail forced her own smile before continuing.

“You can imagine what happened. The person I thought I loved wasn’t who he claimed to be, and when I found out, it was too late. He had already sent me to the ICU.”

“Oh, fuck.” Theodore cursed under his breath as all his emotions were now clouded by anger. He couldn’t begin to imagine that someone did this to Abigail. His Abigail. This sweet, fragile, beautiful Abigail.

Over the weeks, he knew she had a lot behind her brown eyes and a deep story that most wouldn’t be strong enough to share. But this—this was far too much.

“I was unconscious for days, but Najay worked on the case on my behalf. By the time I was up and moving, I was able to testify in court against him. He and his father are wealthy people, and they had their own way with the system. For something that should’ve yielded him at least ten years in prison, he only got two.” Abigail sighed as a stray tear rolled down her cheek, but she tried to wipe it away before Theodore noticed.

The memory of how she felt that day was still so raw. She felt so betrayed by the law system. She felt belittled and irrelevant. Even though she had’ won’ the case, the trial itself plunged her into a season of depression.

Theodore was about to say something, but she spoke before he got the chance to. “That was about a year ago, and imagine my surprise this morning when Najay showed up at my office, telling me that he got out.”

“What?” Theodore whipped his head towards her so fast he almost cricked his neck.

Abigail nodded. “He showed up at our apartment looking for me. When he didn’t find me, he went to Najay’s workplace with the gall to ask where I was.”

Theodore’s jaw ticked as anger jolted in his chest even more. Whoever this man was really had a death wish.

“So, Najay brought me here. I won’t see her often, since he will probably try and follow her to find me, and I can’t stay at one place for too long either. Until we can somehow get him back in prison, I don’t trust him being close to me.” She gulped and licked her lips. She waited to tell Theodore the part that she dreaded the most. “I can’t say I am surprised, though. I knew his father hadn’t stopped trying to get him out, and when he was being taken away, Nicholas told me that when he got out, I’d be the first person he would look for because he won’t rest until he makes me love him again.”

Abigail shivered at the very thought. As if she could love someone like that. She only wished she had known the truth before it got too far.

“Wait, do you mean Nicholas Brown?” Theodore asked. Abigail noticed that his face was red, and his eyebrows were pulled closely together. Still, she nodded.

“Yes.” She sighed. “I was stupid, I know, but—”

“No, never say that, Abigail.” Theodore cut her off as he cupped her cheeks in both his hands. Even now, Abigail hadn’t flinched away from his touch. Conversely, she relaxed against him.

Her troubled eyes searched for judgement, but she found none. All she saw was pure admiration and worry for her, stemming from a newfound desire to keep her safe at all costs.

“Thank you for telling me,” he whispered, using his thumb to swipe away her fallen tear. “I know you don’t know me much, but I understand why you came here, and I promise I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe and help you get that bastard behind bars again.”

His words cut deep. One, because Theodore mentioned he’d do everything in his power, and he was a very powerful man. His words also reflected the truth behind them. She knew she could take his word for it.

Abigail hated feeling like a damsel in distress, but she acknowledged that she was scared out of her mind, paranoid and already losing her sense of peace. She could use all the help she could get.

Theodore, on the other hand, could barely explain what he felt. He knew Nicholas from business years ago when he was searching for potential investors. Nicolas had shown his interest, but it didn’t work out how they both wanted it for some reason. However, they acknowledged that this was how business sometimes works, so they parted with no hard feelings.

Now, there were hard feelings— tough, rigorous feelings if he really did this to this beautiful, perfect woman. Theodore swore from then on that he wouldn’t let her go anywhere unprotected. From the minute he met her, he knew that there was something about her that he simply couldn’t shake. The more he got to know her, the more he was intrigued by her. And now, he was in far too deep.

Theodore wasn’t sure if he had romantic feelings for her. Probably not. He simply cared for her a lot as a hard-working woman who had seen far too much trauma to last her a lifetime. Could it be that he merely wanted to see her happy and safe? Perhaps, but there was also a tiny, budding annoying thought that he was attracted to her. Yet, that wasn’t important. At least not now.

At the moment, she didn’t need anyone to pursue her. She needed a friend—someone she could lean on and run to for protection. And Theodore decided that he’d be that for her, especially now, seeing that she was more comfortable with him touching her.

Her brown eyes sparkled in gratitude and a million different emotions, and Theodore knew the last thing she wanted right now was to strip for him. So, he instantly dismissed the idea of leaving to go to his penthouse.

“We can skip tonight’s session if you’d like,” he offered in a small voice, dropping one of his hands from her cheek. “What if I take you to dinner instead? Somewhere where there aren’t a lot of people. We can talk, and perhaps that will help.”

Abigail chewed on her lip. She had already prepared a dance for him, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t up to dancing. But she dreaded going in public even more.

“Abigail,” Theodore mumbled, pulling her back to reality. “Remember when I said I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe? I meant it.”

That much was enough to assure her to a certain point. And so, almost reluctantly, she nodded after realizing just how scared she really was.

“Just… Just let me braid my hair and put on my wig. I think I’d feel better if it’s harder for me to be identified,” she told him, and Theodore’s lips pulled upwards slightly at the thought of taking Kitten to dinner.

“Anything that makes you comfortable,” he said.

Abigail forced another smile as she left to go to the bathroom, leaving Theodore with his thoughts.

As he watched her retreating figure, he wished he could find the right things to say to her. He wanted to take all the pain away, but he knew it wasn’t that easy.

She certainly wasn’t in the best mood, and perhaps it will be like that for a while until this Nicholas issue is resolved. Theodore wanted to figure out a way to do it all for her without having her stress too much.

She already had too much going on. She deserved to be happy at least once in her life.

Theodore swore that it would start with him.