'Are you at the airport already?' It read,
'No! I had to pick Anaya first. The men I assigned to guard her informed me that she was at a Starbucks cafe near the hospital'
'There isn't time to stop for beverages and tea time snacks. One of the maids has already told them that Anaya went to Manhattan Specialist Hospital to get her eye checked'
"Shit!" Don muttered to himself.
'They just sent some men to come after her. So if you plan on leaving this country with you and your wife's lives intact, you better get the hell out of there and run as fast as you can to the airport' he advised.
'I've informed them about your flight. The jet is ready. All that is left is you and Anaya. Your mum, sister, and brother are staying in your dad's villa in Queens. Hurry!'
He picked up Anaya's handbag and went to the counter where she had already received her order.
"We need to leave now!" he said sharply and held her hand as he walked out of the cafe with long fast strides.
"Why?" "I'll explain once everything is alright" "Can you at least slow down? I can't walk as fast as you. Why are you in such a rush anyway?"
"If you want me to carry you, I will. But we need to leave this place right now!" he continued walking, pulling her along with him until they reached his car.
He waited for her to enter first, then he scanned the area carefully before entering and driving off.
The first few minutes were silent and awkward. Not until he decided to break it.
"You said you needed to go to your eye specialist for an urgent issue. What happened?"
"I needed to change my contact lenses. They were getting blurry"
"So all this time I've been staring mindlessly at those gorgeous blue eyes, not knowing they were actually covered," he said playfully. She blushed a little.
"So what is the color of your eyes?"
"Blue"
"Without the lenses"
"Blue! My lenses are clear" she replied and placed his coffee in a cup holder.
"And what was that your aunt was saying about you being 'hooked up' after seeing me?"
Her face turned as red as scarlet once again. 'Great job, Aunt!'
"She was just overreacting" She glanced at him and caught him smirking smugly. Her treacherous eyes wandered south of his body. Making its way down his muscular arms to his veiny hands and long fingers wrapped firmly around the steering wheel.
"If only those fingers could do what they did to her before," she thought in her mind but immediately fell ashamed of herself for thinking such.
To distract herself, she pulled out the snack she bought; a white chocolate bread roll covered in brown chocolate glaze and ground nuts.
She took a huge bite out of it and threw her head back against the head of the chair in pleasure.
"Amazing" she breathed out and continued eating until she was done with both her frappuccino and the roll.
"Why did you come to see me?" she asked while wiping her hands and mouth on a tissue.
"I missed you" He answered unhesitatingly.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously!" he replied with his eyes still on the road.
"I missed getting you annoyed and ticked off, I missed wrapping my hands around your waist and holding your hips, I missed kissing you hard until we were both out of breath" She bit her lower lip.
Heat was enveloping her core, and she was getting hotter with every word he said.
"I missed making your eyes roll back in pleasure and making you moan. To be honest, you're all that has been in my head since I left your room this morning. I couldn't think straight after everything we did"
At least it was good to know that he was thinking about her too.
"I don't think much about sex after I'm done, but with you..." he paused. "Even though we didn't go all the way, I won't lie by saying I wouldn't go for a second time with you" He slid his hand into her inner thigh and began making caressing movements on it.
'Slap his hand off' her mind screamed at her, but her body seemed to be enjoying his actions just fine, if not yearning for him to go further.
"And the second reason was to save you" he added.
"From what? Running away and accidentally falling into the hands of some kidnappers who will place a ransom on me and probably try raping me in the process?" She chuckled.
His eyes immediately became dangerously dark. He shot a look that clearly told her he was not finding what she said amusing or funny in the tiniest bit.
He turned back to the road. "After you left, Isa called me crying. I heard gunshots from the background. She was crying so much that she could only manage to get out a few sentences clearly"
Her heart slammed against her chest. "Is she okay?" she found herself asking.
Isa was the only one who kept her from being lonely in the ginormous villa. Sometimes she wondered how she wasn't friends with her back when they were in high school.
"Now she is. One of my enemies' men attacked the house with the goal of kidnapping you" "I wonder what I did to this one?" she chuckled.
"It's not a joke, Anaya!"
Now she understood that. It was the first time he called her by her name since they met, and he called it with so much seriousness.
"They held my Mum, Camilla, Isa, and everyone in the house hostage while searching for you, they killed some of my men and workers and were even willing to burn the villa down if no one told them where you were. That was how desperate they were to get you" he said pained.
"Everyone could have died if a maid hadn't heard you saying you were going to check your eye"
"Calm down, Don. They still didn't get me. I'm right here with you"
"That's because I barely made it in time to pick you up. They had already begun searching all the Eye Specialist hospitals for you. If I had been a few minutes late..." he couldn't finish his sentence.
"They could have taken you away and done who knows what to you"
'Does this mean he actually and genuinely cares for me?'
"I couldn't think of anything other than saving you when Andrew informed me of the situation" he continued.
"I rushed to that cafe as fast as I could, earnestly praying that you were still there" he looked at her with soft eyes.
"Imagine my joy when I saw you calm and unbothered with your aunt" he said huskily, still mindlessly and sensually stroking her inner thigh.
"The thought of losing you before I could even get the chance to know you better terrified me. I wouldn't have been able to live my life peacefully if anything had happened to you" he confessed.
She was speechless. Her heart was too full with his affectionate words to even say anything.
Why had he said all that though?
He was usually cocky and proud, always teasing and indirectly treating everything like a game he would win, but now that she in danger, he became softer and more affectionate. It was a new side to him that warmed her heart.
Hearing how he got scared of the thought of not saving her in time made her feel like she really mattered to him.
She slipped her hands into his large ones that were on her thigh and held them tight.
He stared at her warm eyes, taking in the first genuine show of emotions he had seen in those deep blue rings... They were lovely.
"Like I said, there is no need to be scared or worried anymore. I'm safe now that I'm with you, and I trust that you can protect me"
What had prompted her to say that ? She didn't know. The words just poured out of her mouth and she had no regrets about it.
He pulled her hand to his lip and placed a kiss on the back.
Colour tainted her cheeks.
"Are you sure you trust me?" he questioned with an arched brow, and she nodded.
"Good. Because whatever I am going to be doing from now on will be for our and most especially 'your' safety"
She shrugged, not even bothering to know what he was planning.
After all, someone was scared of losing her! How could she think of anything else?
She snapped our of that thought when the car began driving on a rocky road shortly before it came to a halt.
She saw a wired gate in front of them.
"Where are we?" she asked, "We're leaving New York City. It isn't safe for any of us to be here right now" he answered and pressed the horn.
*VROOM!!*
The loud roar of an engine shook her in her seat. She looked in direction of the sound and saw an airplane taking off a distance from where they were.
"We're at an airport?"