"Claire, this is a surprise."
"You're telling me; I thought you were missing. Angela, welcome back."
"Where were you, Nicole? The whole town was looking for you."
"Now is not the time, Claire. It's good seeing you; please come in."
Claire walked through the house to the lounge, where she saw Jack and Marcus. She awkwardly stood there, "Am I disturbing you, guy?"
"No, not at all." Said Jack.
"Marcus and Nicole, I am terribly sorry for what has happened to your parents. If there is anything I could do, please let me know."
Marcus nodded, "We will let you know."
"I saw your house is a crime scene. Do you guys have a place to stay?"
"I am at a friend. Nicole will be here with Angela."
Claire knew Jack and Nicole had a history, as she nodded, "Nicole, why don't you stay over by me?"
"No thanks, I feel more at home here than I felt at my own place."
"Okay then, would you mind if I pulled Jack away for a moment? We got something to discuss."
"I am sure you can say whatever you have to say to him here?" Nicole said. Marcus lifted his eyebrow, confused why his sister was acting so hostile toward Claire.
"It's personal." Claire gave a fake smile.
Jack stood up and took Claire to the room, "Jack, I wanted to say I am sorry for how I have been behaving. I know you."
"You don't need to apologize, and I should be thanking you for getting rid of that gun and clearing my name."
"Wait, how did you know that?"
Claire was confused, "is there something you are not telling me, Jack?"
Jack sat on the bed, patting his hand next to where he sat.
Claire looked at him worryingly, "so there is something you are not telling me? How did you know about the gun and me getting you out of being detained?"
Jack laughed, "firstly, you never got me out of being detained, and the gun is not the same gun you thought it was."
Claire was confused and convinced it was the same gun. "The gun you had sold to me, not you personally, but you know what I mean, the gun was a 9mm colt, and I carried a Taurus."
Claire's head was spinning with confusion, "how do you know all that?"
Nicole walked into the room, "Are you guys done talking? I would like it if Jack could drive me to get pizza."
"I can take you, Nicole."
"No thanks, Claire. Besides, I don't want to drive with that bouncer who looks like a CIA agent. Why is he with you anyway? Is that your boyfriend? He looks like your type."
Jack looked up, "a bouncer, hey, No, it's, it's just a friend of my dad. My dad made some people mad, so my dad hired that guy to follow me around."
"Nice to have a dad who can protect you." Nicole replied, "anyway, Jack, grab your keys and Jacket. Let's go."
Claire was confused; the Nicole she knew was quiet and scared. This Nicole was the opposite.
Claire walked up to Nicole and touched her hand to ask her if she was okay; Nicole started to scream, "leave me, please leave me, don't hurt me.
I won't do it again." Nicole went into a fertile position, moving backward and forward, holding her head.
Marcus and Angela came running into the room, then Claire's agent ran inside, keeping out his gun. He saw it was nothing serious and put away the firearm before they saw it.
"What happened? What did you do to her, Claire." Marcus snapped, "Angela got down on her knees folding her arms around Nicole, humming, "It will be okay, your safe."
"I have done nothing, Marcus, I just touched her shoulder, and she screamed." Claire was as shocked as everyone. Jack walked over to Nicole and touched her hand, "You will be okay. We will protect you."
Nicole was crying frantically and shaking, "breath in and out, count till ten." Angela kept her tight as she placed her chin on Nicole's head."
Marcus has never seen his sister in this state, "What is wrong with her? Why is she screaming?"
"It's something that happened in the place she was locked up in."
"What place, Angela be more specific?"
"They had her locked up in a cell that had no ventilation and smelled like decomposed bodies laying there for days. Rotten eggs don't even compare to that smell. Rats were feasting of what seemed like human remains."
Claire through up in her own mouth, "Marcus, you want to know the truth. Your sister has been through the unimaginable."
Marcus had tears in his, not knowing what to say. He walked over to his sister and placed his hand on her shoulder. Claire felt guilt a few minutes earlier; she was judging Nicole, not knowing what she had been through. Claire didn't know what to do, she felt like she never belonged there and it was a family moment.
She placed her hand on Marcus's shoulder, "I am sorry; call me if you need anything." Claire had tears in her eyes. She would never imagine something so cruel could happen to someone she knew.
"Where are those sons of a bitches who did this to her." He felt angry and wanted to hurt these people who had done this to his sister so poorly that the unimaginable words became unbearable.
"Now is not the right time, Marcus. Your sister needs you; when the time is right, we will take down the syndicate that has done this."
Marcus walked out, punching a wall, while Nicole started to breathe more calmly.
Nicole stood up, "Hey Nicole, how about we all go for that pizza?"
"Sure, let me get dressed."
Angela reminded her she was dressed, "oh yes, I am. Where is Claire? Why did everyone leave?"
"Your brother is in the sitting room, and Claire had to leave."
Nicole looked confused, "We need to take her for that checkup, Jack. Do you want Marcus also to start asking why we never took her for a checkup?"
"You are right. We will make an appointment for her in the morning."
"What appointment?" They hadn't seen Nicole behind them.
"An appointment to have you checkout."
"Why, what's wrong with me?"
"Nothing is wrong with you. We want to make sure you are taken well care of."
"I'm taken care of right, Jack. Tell Angela you take good care of me." Marcus stood by the room door, leaning his forehead against his bruised hand.
Angela walked up to Marcus, placing her hand on his shoulder, "she will be fine. Give it time."
"You are not a doctor. How would you know."
"I know because I saw her before your parents got killed. She was fine." when they shot at the house, that's the first time she started to cry."
"I am sorry. I know you have her best interest at heart, but isn't she better off in a facility where they can take care of her? I mean, we know nothing of her condition or what she has been through; shouldn't we leave it to the professionals?"
"Marcus, what makes you think she will be safe? Do you think those guys will let it go and forget she escaped, this is a big operation, and I can tell you now that your sister isn't the only victim. I have seen those cells; not even animals stay in such cells."
Angela had tears in her eyes, "She is safe with Jack and me, and we will protect her; if you don't want to help us protect her, it's okay to go back to where you came from."
Jack walked up to Angela and Marcus, "Guys, now is not the time to argue, we are not sure what is triggering this, but we all should stay calm and try to be there for her."
Thats what Marcus admired about the two siblings; they spoke sense and the truth.
"Angela, I am sorry I even thought of putting her in a care facility. You are right; we all have, and thank you for being there for us."
Marcus's eyes were teary, and so was Angela, "It's okay; you meant good."
"Have you got any update?"
"No, Mam, our records show nothing except him being a standard student."
"Someone is fucking with me, and im going to find out who it is. How did he know about the gun? Marcus never knew about it until I told him, and the getting out of prison so quickly, was strings pulled to get him out? Did that cop work for them? Either way, Claire was going to find out.
His fighting skills are exceptional, and there is something about Jack that made her more eager to find out what he was hiding."
Claire hung up the phone and swiped her premium card at a local cafe, "you must be really high up if you can own one of these," said the cashier, "is it limitless or has a limit bar?"
Claire grabbed her card, placing it back in her purse. The cashier turned and saw the guy standing by the door. And gulped, "sorry, I meant no offense; I know they made 12 of those cards but have never seen one."
Claire took her drink and walked out, climbing into the bulletproof range rover.
"I so wish I was her." said the male cashier. "Fred, get back to work and stop dreaming ." said his boss.