"But why?" I couldn't help but ask Elian.

"Because you said you need something for protection," he simply said.

"But didn't you say afterward that you were going to keep me safe?" I asked.

"Let's be realistic here, Ms. Fleur. Even if I try my best and stick with you 24/7, which I know you won't like at all, I can't always protect you. Sometimes, you need to be your own savior. And for that, you need a weapon, no matter how good you are at self-defense," he explained.

"Wait, how do you know I'm good at self-defense?" I questioned.

"That's all you got from my speech?" he let out dryly.

"No, I understood what you meant. But how do you know—"

"I don't know. I was just saying hypothetically," he clarified.

It was still strange, but I nodded my head in understanding nonetheless.

"So now, can we go? We have to be back soon," Elian urged, walking towards the door, but I remained intact in my place. "What's wrong?"

"How do I know you are not taking me somewhere quiet to kill me off?" I blurted out.

"If I wanted you dead, I could shoot you right now and no one will still never know a thing," he sharply said.

Little did he know I told Anya to call my mom if I didn't come back in an hour, and I wasn't about to let him know.

"It makes sense, but..." I trailed off.

"You are scared of me, aren't you?" Elian interjected.

Was I scared of a cold-blooded murderer? Nope. Absolutely not. Why would anyone be scared of him?

Since I couldn't actually say that aloud, I stayed quiet.

Elian sighed and walked up to me. He stood right in front of me as he said, "Ms. Fleur, I'm not going to hurt you."

"But why won't you?"

"Why, do you want me to?"

"No, I mean, you have no reason to not hurt me. I'm just the new COO of your company. You can easily find another one. You don't need me. Nothing should stop you from killing me," I let out honestly.

"You're a valuable employee of Storm Dynamics, Ms. Fleur, and no one can replace you. For the past two years, you have worked hard for this company, and you have worked even harder ever since you became the COO. That's why I don't want to lose you."

I arched an eyebrow as his voice got uncharacteristically soft at the last sentence, but he completely ignored that. "You might just be bluffing right now."

"Ms. Fleur, you can trust me—"

"That's what a serial killer says to his victims before slicing their throats open or what a butcher says to the animals before sacrificing them," I mumbled.

Elian let out a frustrated sigh and placed his hands on my upper arms. "Trust me I won't hurt you—cross my heart," he said sincerely.

Sharp pain, similar to yesterday, shot up through my head as a contorted voice rang in my ears,

"I'm always going to take care of you—cross my heart."

"I won't do that ever again—cross my heart."

"Cross my heart—"

A jerk to my shoulders snapped me out of that trance, and I found myself staring at concerned green eyes.

"What happened, Ms. Fleur?"

"I just heard some—" I paused, realizing how close we were standing, and backed away from Elian instantly. "No, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." My head was still fuzzy, and I needed to splash some water on me. "I need to use the washroom, Mr. Storm. After that, we can go wherever you want."

Due to my legs being shaky, I almost tumbled over Elian, but thankfully, he caught me. "You can use my washroom, Ms. Fleur," he offered, pointing at the washroom door at the corner of the huge cabin.

I nodded my head and started to make my way towards it but stopped briefly to ask, "Do you always say that?"

"Say what?" He looked at me in confusion.

"Cross my heart?"

His eyes widened in surprise, but he covered it soon enough to not be suspicious. "It's a pretty common phrase, Ms. Fleur. Everyone uses that," he brushed it off.

I nodded, believing his explanation because I didn't want to overthink otherwise. I went to the washroom to splash water on my face.

I stared at my reflection with water dripping from my face and asked myself, "Am I going crazy?"

Was the incident of Elian murdering someone so traumatizing to me that my brain was making up fake scenarios? Or, was I possessed by someone and their memories were what I was seeing?

Only God knows what was going on with me.

I was now sitting in Elian's car, and he was right beside me.

Outwardly, I was calm and composed. Meanwhile, internally, I was chanting prayers to God.

But for some reason, I felt a little like trusting Elian after he said he wouldn't hurt me with so much sincerity. He couldn't be that good of an actor, could he? After all, I had always been good at looking through people's facades.

Just like how I have always felt that Elian was constantly hurting inside. As if someone hurt him badly in the past and he has been unable to get over it.

But what made him like that? Did something tragic happen to make him kill people? To be honest, I still wasn't even sure what he was or why he murdered that man. But none of that was my business.

I was studying a file when Elian spoke up, "Despite what you said yesterday, if you have any questions, which I'm sure you're full of, go ahead and ask."

I looked up from my file and said innocently, "I have no questions regarding these documents."

"Ms. Fleur, you know what I mean," he said, his eyes locked on his iPad screen.

I sucked in a deep breath and answered, "Yes, I do have plenty of questions, but I'm not going to ask. Like I said yesterday, what you do outside of the office is none of my business. The more I know about you, the more I'm going to endanger myself. And by that, I don't explicitly mean you're going to hurt me. I mean your enemies. If they think they can get information out of me about you, they are going to kidnap me, and then God what they are going to do to me—"

"You're right," he mumbled, and I observed his face. At that moment, he looked a little pale and scared. "The farther you stay from me, the better."

Yeah, tell me about it. I have been trying to avoid you since this morning, but look where I am right now.

"But that's not exactly possible, considering I work directly under you—" he cut me off sharply.

"This is exactly why I told you not to try and befriend me."

"Yes, I'm not trying to do that anymore. I learned my lesson." I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the file in my hand.

"Good," he said, and that was the end of our conversation.

Neither of us spoke another word until the car came to a halt.

When we got out of the car, I still wasn't sure where we were. But our company's logo was on its banner. This wasn't our weapons manufacturing facility or products warehouse.

Elian started walking inside without any hesitation, and I followed after him.

Once we were inside, my confusion was cleared.

"Are we going to practice shooting?" I asked.

"Yes. What would be the point of getting you a gun if you don't even know how to shoot properly?" Elian said.

"So is this where all of our guns are tested?" I inquired curiously.

"Yeah. I believe you have never come here before," he said.

"I have never needed to. You're always making me go back and forth between the manufacturing facility and office, when do I have time for beta-testing?"

"Well, you will learn today, then you can do beta-testing as well if you're interested," he said as we walked to the shooting area.

He greeted the in-charge and started talking in a low voice so that I couldn't hear.

A few minutes later, a trainer came to hand me a set of noise-canceling headphones and safety glasses and left.

"Why did he leave?" I asked Elian when he got near me.

"Because I'm going to teach you," he simply said.

"Huh? Why?" I asked in surprise.

"Because you're a fast learner and I know exactly how to teach you."

"How do you know any of that?"

"I'm your boss. I have observed you for two years. Now, stop asking too many questions like a child and put on the glasses."

I nodded and obeyed, then he handed me a semi-automatic handgun made by our company. Storm-19.

"This gun seems perfect for you at the moment. It's moderate-sized and easy to use," Elian said.

"True," I agreed. "So now what?" I asked, holding the gun in my grip.

Elian shook his head. "That's not how you hold it. Don't hold it low. Put your fingers here, or else, you're going to have the gun knock yourself in the chin."

When I furrowed my brows in confusion, he sighed and put his hands over mine. I got goosebumps from his touch. During the meeting I hadn't realized it because of my panic, but now... God, help me.

"Put your index and thumb finger on the slide high so that you can control the recoil effectively after shooting. Get that?"

"Yeah."

I tried not to concentrate on the feels of his hands as he started explaining which was what and how I needed to aim.

"Let's practice inside the shooting range first," he said, and we walked into the practice area. "This is not a movie and it's a real gun, so be careful. Don't close one of your eyes. Keep your grip firm and fingers where I taught just now."

I nodded and raised the gun.

"Put the headphones on," Elian said, standing a little farther from me.

I set up the headphones and aimed at the target, keeping my dominant eye directly in the center of the valley with the rear top like he taught me.

I glanced at Elian, waiting for him to give the signal, and when he did, I made my first shot.

It hit right near the center.

I grinned, then prepared for the next shot. The next shot hit the center accurately. I knew I was good with throwing darts but never guessed I would be good with shooting bullets.

After a few more shots, I glanced at Elian out of the corner of my eyes, only to find him smiling proudly, and I didn't know why that smile did something to me—it made butterflies flutter in my stomach.

I didn't realize my fingers lowered from the side and my grin loosened, so the next shot had the gun hitting me right at the chin and nose.

"Ms. Fleur!"