[This chapter is dedicated to darcy_Goodson for being one of the top 3 fans of our story. Thank you for the support!]

---

When Noah saw the familiar store logo of the coffee shop Jess frequented, his heart thumped painfully in his chest. He pulled up to the curb and his eyes searched for Jess from the store glass window and saw her in deep conversation with Ellise. Even from a distance, he could see that the two were having an argument.

"Parked the car properly," he told Markus as he unclipped his seatbelt and without a glance got out of the car, and with his long stride, everyone could see that he was in a hurry.

The bronze bells that were hanging on the store door rang as Noah entered the store. He was tall enough that his head even hit those little bells that were too noisy for Jess's taste but now she was glad for them. Because she saw Noah as soon as he entered the coffee shop, and her lips were torn into a wide smile.

Noah took the distance between the door to the table where Jess was sitting with a wide smile on her face—in just two long strides. He grabbed her from her chair and pulled her inside his arms, buried his face onto her luscious locks, and inhaled her familiar scent. He shut his eyes tightly as he exhaled a relieved breath.

His Jess was safe, warm, and wearing a pretty smile, inside his arms. Noah felt the terrible feeling that had been sitting in his guts dissipate the moment his arms touched her warm skin.

"Baby," he breathed, hugging her tighter.

"I can't breathe," she tapped Noah's back but instead of loosening his embrace, his hands caressed her back up and down as though if he felt the length of her spine, it would prove that she was fine.

She kissed the base of his ear and whispered, "I'm fine. Thank you for coming."

Hearing her voice made Noah's knees shake in relief. He pulled her and sat himself down on her chair, taking her in his lap. He has no plan to let her go for the next minute, or hour, or day— and if possible for the rest of his life.

He regretted letting her away from his eyes.

"Hello, Ellise," he greeted the girl who was sitting on the chair next to him, staring outside the glass window as if she wasn't seeing them.

"Hello, Tiefenbacher," she replied but her gaze was still glued outside.

Noah grimaced inwardly. Ellise used to call him Noah when they were in San Lucas, now, she just called him Tiefenbacher. He didn't have to ask to know if she was angry at him.

Jess must have felt his apprehension, she snaked her arms around her neck and lowered her voice, but still loud enough for Ellise to hear, "Don't mind her. She's mad at me as if I wanted to get sick," she rolled her eyes and then buried her face on Noah's shoulder blade. She sniffed his scent that she missed so much.

"I'm also unhappy that you got sick," he told Jess in a cold tone but his caress was as gentle as ever.

Jess pushed herself away from Noah's chest and cupped his jaws, "Just like I told Ellise, it was nobody's fault."

"You are wrong. Someone is at fault and I'm not going to stop until I find them," she said in a tone as if she was complimenting the coffee she was drinking.

Noah stared hard at Ellise, "What happened wasn't a random accident, was it?"

"If Jess almost getting killed can be called a random accident, then sure," she stated in a voice oozing with sarcasm.

Noah was taken aback by Ellise's tone. He glanced at Jess on his lap who kept on blinking her eyes as if telling him to let Ellise have her way.

He gave Ellise a small smile and said in a serious tone, "I can assure you that whoever did this would pay."

Ellise twisted her body halfway in her chair to face Noah and grinned sarcastically, "I would love to believe that if only you have an idea that Jess has been receiving death threats since San Lucas," she scoffed and stood up from her chair.

"Ellise!" Jess called her in clenched teeth. She felt Noah stiffened in shock.

However, Ellise just turned around and left the coffee shop without a glance.

She got up from Noah's lap but Noah pulled her back. "Sorry for Ellise's rude behavior. She has always been that way. She didn't mean anything bad, just that —"

"Tell me about his death threat and why I didn't hear about it from you."

The icy tone of Noah made Jess squirm and she cursed Ellise inside her head.

"I don't think this is the place for us to talk about it," she gave Noah a small smile, reached for his arm, and rubbed it.

But the dark expression on Noah's face just turned darker when she tried to downplay the topic of her death threat.

Noah held her waist and stood up from the chair, taking her with him when he stood up. He kept her within his reach and led her out of the coffee shop.

The bell rang as another customer entered the store.

It was Markus. "Sorry, I had a hard time looking for a parking space. I left Aadir in the car —"

"Let's return to the villa," Noah said, clenching his jaws. His blue eyes were screaming with murderous intent.

Markus darted his gaze from Noah to Jess who doesn't look like she got sick. He had too many questions but with the murderous glint in Noah's eyes, he kept his mouth shut and nodded.

He turned around and walked ahead of them, leading them to where he parked the car. He could feel the rage in Noah's aura even when he wasn't looking at him and there was about a three steps gap between them.

He sighed. Ever since Miss Zimmerman set foot in this country, he was like living in an action movie. He wondered when he could take a wink of sleep or even enjoy a damn cup of coffee.