"Hey! Watch out!" Amanda yelled before she dashed forward on the tarred road admist car horns and curses, lights flashing and beaming as she grabbed a little girl of no more than four years off the road.
She grunted as she hit the ground hard, rolling to the safe side of the road, feeling the peebles pierce her skin painfully.
By the time she got up, holding the child, she suddenly burst into tears and engulfed Amanda in a hug, shaking badly.
"Oh baby... you poor thing. It's okay. It's okay." Even Amanda was shaking as she tried to comfort the child. She thought she would have died, but she knew the oncoming vehicle wasn't going to stop, and the little girl who careless crossed the road to pick her ice cream wasn't going to move, so she had no choice.
Her body felt sore from the fall, but nevertheless, she still looked around, hoping to find someone who would come to claim the child, but no one did. She only got looks of shock and admiration from people who had seen her stunt just now.
The child was still shaking badly in her arms, so she moved to the park close by and sat down on a bench before cradling the little girl in her arms.
"It's okay. Shhhh. It's okay... " She repeatedly said, cradling the girl close, though she couldn't.
"What do you think you're doing." Amanda froze as she heard a chilling, unfriendly voice behind her.
For a few seconds, she couldn't even move or breath, but she was certainly aware of the choking aura of the man behind her.
Bracing herself, she turned and was left further breathless seeing him.
The tortoise shelled-glasses he had on made his piercing black eyes Intimidating and fearsome. His brows were furrowed into a dark frown, and she could evidently see the muscle ticking off in his hardened jaw, but overall, her eyes betrayed her.
She was scared, but she just couldn't stop staring. God was truly an artist! He was beautiful beyond comparison.
"I believe I just asked you a question." His cold voice snapped her out of her daydream and also dragged her up from where she sat.
With the bench in-between them, she held onto the child who was still hugging her closely and gave the man a deadly stare.
"Who are you?"
"The father of the child you just kidnapped. Now hand her over and let's get this over with." His voice was as cold and unfriendly as ever.
"Excuse me. I did not kidnap.. " she suddenly paused, and her frown deepened. "Wait... did you just say you're the father?"
"Yes." His reply was curt.
Amanda narrowed her eyes at him before looking at the child and then moving her eyes back to the man who stood a foot and several inches taller than her before scruntinizing him.
"I don't believe you."
The man suddenly grabbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.
"Every damn time, I swear this happens like two times a week." She heard him say under his breath before he finally drew a hand down his face, taking slow breaths.
"Angel. Get down this instant and let's go. I'm not playing games with you."
He seemed to be talking to the child, but the girl didn't even budge an inch.
When Amanda was sure this man wasn't joking about not leaving without the child, she suddenly held the child up Infront of her so she could be able to see her and the man as well.
"Honey... do you know this man?" Amanda carefully asked the girl who was staring at the man with a blank expression on her face.
The man's brows twitched.
However, he wasn't surprised when the girl shook her head so quickly, her neck would have snapped right off.
"Look at him carefully. He doesn't look familiar to anyone you might know or might have across in your life?"
The girl nodded and Amanda cast the man a stern glance before cradling the girl again.
"Your type of people sicken me. You actually have the audacity to lie to my face just to attempt to kidnap this poor child and probably sell her off or do something horrible to her. Do you think I'm a fool?"
For some reason, the side of the man's lips finally lifted up into a devious smirk before he said.
"So, what are you going to do If no one claims her? Will you adopt her? Take her home? Isn't that kidnapping as well?Her loved ones might be out there worried about their child while you're keeping her hostage."
"I'm not keeping her hostage," Amanda snapped, but when she realized she had a child with her, she took slow breaths and tried to calm down. "I just... can't leave her out here. For God's sake, the little girl is traumatized, and I would have been If a vehicle was coming straight at me and... "
"What did you just say?" The man suddenly cut in, and just before Amanda could say another word, he went around the bench and without thinking, grabbed the child from her arms and looked her all over.
"What are you doing?" Amanda's face darkened.
"The vehicle... did you see who was in it? How he looked like? How did she looked like? Did you get a hold of the plate number?" He ignored her as he kept checking for any scratches on the girl and surprisingly enough, the girl didn't struggle or tense up like she would have If she didn't know him.
But the moment, he touched an open wound on her knee which she scraped when Amanda had pushed her off the road before rolling down the side of the tarred road with her, the little girl screamed out.
Amanda took the chance and without missing a beat, shoved her knee up the man's groin, grabbed the child as the man crouched down and groaned in pain before running away.
However, before she could finally escape, she ran into three men. Two, dressed in tuxedos and dark shades were standing on either side of one man who had a smirk on his face- similar to the one she had just seen some seconds ago.
The same smoky black hair and charcoal black eyes- but he was evidently the younger brother. The physical similarities were obvious.
Amanda suddenly stepped back few paces, holding onto the child with her brows furrowed into a serious frown.
"Don't come any close. I took karate classes when I was 12.. a- and I can throw a mean punch."
"Cute." The man looked amused. "But I'm not here to fight. I'm here for my niece. Angel, did you lie to this lady and tell her Lucian isn't your dad?"
Angel nodded in Amanda's arms with a shy expression on her face and Amanda was horrified.
Did she just maul the child's real father and try to run away with her?
Oh goodness!