"Yeah. I'm going into the office." She said, an idea suddenly popping into her head as she spoke. She hesitated, but after a second long pep talk, she spat it out. "Wanna meet us and grab sbreakfast?" "Breakfast?" She nodded her head, knowing fully well that he couldn't see her.
"Yeah." As she waited for his answer, she bit down on her lower lip and tapped her finger on her thigh.
"Mhm, that sounds like a great plan." He responded, and just like that, she felt the air in her lungs return. "Would it be okay forto pick you up from the office?" "Yeah, yeah that can work." "Alright. Two hours, would that be okay?" "Yes, that would be perfect." "Alright. Leonica whispered and cut the call, looking at the screen and sighing.
"What are you doing?" She asked herself, her brows furrowing and her finger pressing against her temple.
She was doing it again, letting a man into her life. But then again, Owen wasn't just any man.
She knew him.
He wasn't Gabriel, he was different, and she wasn't going to let her past experiences dictate her life.
"Letting yourself go, is a good thing." She reminded herself, looking at her reflection. "You can't live forever, afraid of being hurt. That's no way to live. If you keep doing that, you're gonna lose people. People that matter." She shook her head and turned away from the mirror, heading downstairs for breakfast, which she didn't intend to stay long for.
"Good morning, Ms. Romero." Grace greeted and placed a plate in front of her, a cup of freshly brewed tea beside it.
"Good morning." She replied, picking up the cup and taking a sip, the warm liquid instantly warming her.
As she ate, her phone buzzed again. She picked it up and groaned when seeing it was a message from Kennedy. She opened it.
[Ms Romero, there's a problem] narrowed the message and she placed her cup down, 1, using both hands to type a response.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt[What is it, Kennedy? A few seconds passed before Kennedy replied. [Earlier this week, you had requested 1 do a background check on Mr. Reeds, well I did...
Reeds, Stuart Reeds. Seeing the nmade Leonica swallow hard, all seriousness being stirred up by the eerie feeling she had been feeling all morning. [And what was the result?] She replied after the rest of Kennedy's words had taken quite a while to come.
A few seconds went by. A minute, two minutes and yet no response.
[Kennedy? She texted again, growing slightly worried.
Was the information so bad, Kennedy couldn't bring himself to type it? Or maybe she was being paranoid and it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.
As she waited for the reply, she found the feeling of anxiousness growing more and more. With one last forced spoon, she shoved her meal away from her.
"I'd be leaving now, Grace. Make sure Ashley has his dinner." She instructed as she stood up, grabbed her keys and headed for the doormat, slipping on her heels and rushing out the door.
"Have a nice day, ma'am." Grace yelled after her.
Leonica didn't hear her, her mind too focused on the fact that Kennedy still hasn't replied and the fear was starting to becmore real By the tshe arrived at the office, there was yet to be a reply and Kennedy wasn't waiting for her by the usual place.
She narrowed her eyes and instead of going straight to her office, she walled towards the receptionist. "Good morning Ms. Romero." "Morning. Could you helpfind out if Rennedy's arrived at work?" She asked.
"Sure." The receptionist replied and typed something into her computer. "According to the security system, he cin an hour ago. But she didn't see him anywhere As Leonica was looking around, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Kennedy. [Ms. Romero, I won't be able to cto work today. I'm sick, I apologize.] Leonica's eyes narrowed and as she read the message over r and over again, she f Her head snapped up and almost immediately, she locked eyes with Stuart.
He was standing a few feet away, his gaze hard and cold as be stared at her.
felt a pair of eyes watching her.
Her phone buzzed again, pulling her attention away from him and onto the new message.
Seeing that message, Leonica knew something was off. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Stuart walk away, his steps slow and steady as he disappeared around a corner in a sluggish way as if telling her to follow him.
"Ms. Romero, Is everything okay?" The reception asked.
Leonica bit her lower lip, glanced in the direction where Stuart had walked off in, and then back at the receptionist.
"I have a few matters to take care of, informif you see Kennedy.
Although, spart of her told her that wasn't a likely occurrence to happen "Yes, ma'am." The woman replied, and Leonica hurried off in the sdirection where Stuart had walked.
before he walked off.
Turning the corner, she found him standing by the end of the Hall, staring at her with a simile on his lips b Her eyes twitched at his action. For a few seconds, she remained rooted in her spot, wondering what he was doing Leading her on? Where and why? She wanted to know the answer to those questions, despite the red signs in her head, alarm going off and telling her not to follow after him, she ignored them and walked forward.
Following after him, the more they walled, the more her anxiety y rose and the faster her heart beat.
When they arrived at the storage room, a place Leonica never liked visiting, the door was open, the light was on and Stuart was nowhere in sight.
Taking a deep breath, she entered.
It was a large room, boxes upon boxes of files stacked everywhere and a small couch placed beside the door.
Leonica walked in and searched, finding nothing out of place not even Stuart was present. Yet she was sure he had stepped inside here.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe certainly hadn't hallucinated the entire thing.
A light bulb flickering above caught her attention. She looked towards it, but then something else caught her attention The reflection of a stainless steel behind. Her eyes widened as she saw Stuart raise a baton. Before she could do anything, the weapon was brought down and all went black.
Leonica regained consciousness with a throbbing pain at the back of her head, and a slight blur to her vision.
She groaned, trying to move her hand to reach up and touch the back of her head, but her wrists were bound together by rope.
Her eyes slowly fluttered open and the sight she was greeted with wasn't a pleasant one.
"Well, you're finally awake." A voice spoke, a voice she was all a bit familiar with Slowly, her vision returned and her surroundings were clearer.
She was no longer in the storage room, instead she was sitting in a chair in the middle of what looked like a basement.
In front of her, stood Stuart, the baton he had hit her with, now placed in a bag at his feet.
"What is going on?" Leonica muttered, her eyes narrowing as she took in the look of satisfaction on Stuart's face. "Well, it's quite simple," He murmured, crouching down and meeting her at eye level. "You've been kidnapped, Ms. Romero." "No shit, Sherlock" She retorted. "My n main question's why?" Stuart shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? This isexerting revenge for what you've done." "Revenge? What for?" At her question, he walked over to a table by the corner and picked up a picture frame. He threw it by her feet when he had gotten closer.
Taking that as her answer, Leonica lowered her gaze to the picture, a m look of superconfirmation" taking over her expression as she spotted Angelina in the picture and Stuart had his arm around her in a loving marmer. So these two were indeed connected, she thought.
"You killed my child," Stuart began, walking closer to her. "Put Angelina behind bars for something she wasn't guilty for. You ruined herm ё eptire life and mine also." As he spoke, Leonica narrowed her brows when she clearly recalled Angelina's lovers nbeing Stuart Campbell and even when she had checked him up, he appeared different from his current form. "You're Stuart Campbell." She accused