The trio arrived at a restaurant, with Hannah and Axel on either side of Penelope, holding her hands. Penelope was ecstatic as she kept jumping and smiling in the middle of the two adults. Axel led them to a table and helped Penelope to her sit. Being a gentleman, he also pulled out a seat for Hannah but she seemed too lost in her thoughts to thank him.
He didn't mind though.
He could sense Hannah's worries since they left her house. She was always looking around, trying to find someone or something suspicious and when she found none, she would sigh in relief only to start the whole process again.
Moving his attention back to the beaming child beside him, Axel fed Penelope and in return, she would do the same to him and Hannah.
Axel felt weird when he saw Penelope feeding Hannah with the same spoon she used to feed him, and Hannah, who was lost in her thoughts, would eat without saying anything. Axel shook his head, ignoring his crazy thoughts, and went back to feeding the child.
His attention was fixed solely on Penelope as he kept feeding her one thing after another until Penelope said she was full. He wiped her lips and carried the child, signaling to Hannah that they were leaving. The trio left the restaurant and headed to Axel's car when Hannah suddenly stopped.
As if in flight mode, Hannah carried Penelope into the car and strapped her safely. She opened her bag and brought out a small mask which she used to cover the lower half of Penelope's face.
"Don't take this off okay?" Penelope nodded even though she didn't know why she was wearing the mask.
Axel watched Hannah silently. He knew what was going on in her mind but he said nothing.
"Stay with her, I will be back soon". Axel nodded.
He stared at her for a while before asking, "Won't you wear a mask or something?". It was weird that she, who was going to fight, left her face exposed while she gave the mask to Penelope.
In response, Hannah shook her head. She was going to kill all of them anyway, so there was no use in covering her face. She patted Penelope's head again and turned to look at Axel. Nodding at him once to show that she was leaving, she turned around and left.
*****
Now that she was here, Hannah could feel the strong presence of those assassins. She was tense all night stressing over something like this happening and it did happen. Of course, she could ignore them and go back but she couldn't risk them following her to her home.
Now that she thought about it, Lucas should be here by now but he wasn't. No one from her gang was here which means Raymond really abandoned her. Though happy about it, Hannah would not help but feel weird since it was the first time she would be fighting without anyone keeping an eye on her. They were not there to help her but just watch over her and make sure that she was safe and she agreed to it because it was one of the conditions Raymond laid down before letting her leave the basement. Now, she was no longer a member of the gang and there was no one to help her.
Hannah thought her situation was quite laughable.
She desperately wanted to leave the gang, forgetting who she was, forgetting how much her enemies wanted her, dead or alive, forgetting how dangerous it is for her to be outside all alone without any form of protection and she was met with this fate; fighting all the days of her life.
Hannah didn't have any regrets though. As much as things were not in her favor right now, she was happy that she managed to leave that gang and now has a free life. She might have lost the protection of the gang but she still knew how to wield her knife and people were still terrified just by hearing her name, so she was good.
Hannah snapped out of her thoughts when she felt the familiar presence of the assassins getting closer. Taking a step back, she assumed a fighting stance, waiting for her attackers to come out and It wasn't long before she felt someone behind her. Without any hesitation, she turned around swiftly and placed her knife on the person's neck ready to slit his throat.
"Are you really going to fight with those?" The familiar voice made her freeze in place. Axel was standing close to her, so close that the slightest movement of either of them could lead to the knife slitting his throat which was why Hannah froze.
The upper half of his face was covered and only his thin lips were visible but Hannah recognized him at a glance. She could not possibly forget that sharp jaw of his and those captivating brown eyes that were staring down at her at that moment coupled with his raven black hair that was messed up, probably by the wind, and a few strands had fallen over his beautiful forehead.
"Why are you here? Where is Penelope? Is she alright?" Hannah asked in a single breath and Axel sighed before looking around them and he repeated his question.
"Are you really going to fight with these?"
Hannah looked at the small knives in her hands, trying to see if there was anything wrong with them but they were perfectly fine. These knives were always with her whenever she went out and if in any case she was attacked, she fought with these knives. They were her lucky weapons. Of course, she was going to fight with them!
"Yes, why?" Hannah asked.
"Use these instead". Axel held out two stilettos and Hannah looked at them in shock but the next second, she wasn't even surprised and didn't bother asking Axel why he had them or what he was doing with them.
If anything, she knows Axel was not an average CEO. An average person would not be able to unstrap her annunciator from her wrist without her knowing or deflect her attack like he did when she first met him. For all she knows, Axel could be just like her.