Adrenaline rushed through my blood, like a flame over kerosene. I wasn't going to die here, not when I still had a baby that needed me. Not when I still had a lot of healthy years ahead of me. This wasn't the time to let fear override my thoughts and muscles. It was fight or flight and I was definitely going to fight.

I couldn't rely on my feet to keep me rooted, as my heels scraped along the floor. I stopped thrashing around and pushed all my strength to my elbows as I sent a forceful jab into the guts of my assailant. The man let out an 'oomph' sound and loosened his grip on me. I was down to seconds now. I pushed myself forward, nearly losing my footing as I tried to make a run for it.

"Amanda, wait" the assailant called from behind, in an oddly familiar voice.

I turned around and found Tom bent over his knees, clutching unto his bruised abdomen. He was clad in all black and blended well into the dark night.

My brows knitted together. "Tom?"

"Yeah," he wheezed out and coughed. "Man, do you have a mean elbow."

"What is wrong with you?" I glared at him as I massaged my throbbing tender scalp. "Why would you grab me like that?"

He gripped onto the wall of the building and pulled himself to an erect stance. "I'm sorry. I couldn't just walk up and start a conversation in the open"

What was he talking about? I frowned at him. "What?"

He winced as he pulled in air through his nose and held unto the area I had jabbed. He leaned his back against the wall and sent a sweeping glance over the area then focused on me.

He swallowed. "I'm not who you think I am . . . I was hired by Camille to get information on you"

What? My head reared backwards and I took a step back in shock and disbelief.

He ran a hand over his mouth as his eyes darted around the vicinity. "I got to know you and I couldn't go through with it," he sighed. "I've been in hiding, this whole time until I heard about the elevator thing. Look, all I was paid to do was get information, I wasn't up for the rest"

I opened my mouth and clamped it shut. My hands went to my head as I paced about a small area. "I-I don't . . . I don't understand" I shook my head, trying to make sense of what I just heard. "So, you're trying to tell me that, meeting me at the store wasn't coincidental?"

His head hung low, along with his slumped shoulders. "No"

I sent a slap across his face, shocking both him and myself. I was furious . . . and exhausted with people thinking they could lie to me and constantly deceive me. Granted, I had some inhibitions regarding Tom at first but he proved to be soft-hearted. Now, I wasn't sure if it was all part of his act. Was everyone putting a show around me?

My palm stung from the hard contact and I was sure Tom's face did as well. The slap sent his face to the side and he stretched open his mouth and poked his cheek with his tongue as he blinked back.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Okay, so what are you here for exactly? To confess?"

"I just wanted to warn you that she's deranged. I have no idea what she's planning right now but she's not playing games" He readjusted the black cap on his head and lifted his eyes to me. "I'll be skipping town after this before the police start looking for me. I'm sorry for everything. It was nice meeting you" he tipped his hat at me and disappeared into the night.

Oh, God. I stood frozen in the alley, dazed for a long second. The stench of trash bags in the far corner travelled to my nose and the shadows of inanimate objects began to creep me out. I dashed towards my car. My purse lay on the ground with my phone and wallet sprawled out. Luckily, I found my car keys right next to the hind tire of the car. I collected all my belongings from the floor and got into the car as fast as I could. My fingers trembled over the steering wheel the entire drive back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The state police force had been working tirelessly to track Camille and Tom. They both disappeared without a trace. I had no idea how Camille got to know the police were coming for her because even her parents couldn't provide her whereabouts.

Nicholas topped the security around the house. There was a patrol car stationed outside the house every minute of the day. He even had a police escort me to work for three days, but we had to dial back on that one. It was distracting from my work and jarring to the work environment. There was already enough action going on in the trauma unit, I didn't need my drama adding to it.

It was a little past seven o'clock and I was just getting started on dinner. Nicholas wasn't back home and it was just me and the baby. Kosiso was asleep and it was best to get things done while he wasn't alert. He had formed a habit of crying when he was put down on the bed. He wanted to be carried around all the time and it wore me out.

I pulled out a cutting board and a large kitchen knife. I placed a medium-sized onion bulb on the board and raised the knife to cut. The sharp footfalls of heels clicking against the floor came in from the living room. The house was supposed to be empty.

I gripped hard onto the knife handle and turned around one step at a time. Camille stood grinning in the centre of the room, an evil glint in her crazed eyes. Her long copper-red hair had been reduced to a black pixie cut and she had a black gun pointed at me.

"Drop it" she waved her gun at the knife in my hand.

I tightened my hold on the knife as my eyes skirted to my phone on the counter beside the chopping board. How do I get it, without being killed?

"Now!" she screamed as she took a step forward.

I flinched at the tempo of her voice and took a step back into the counter. I slowly lowered the knife to the floor and used the walls of the counter to lift myself up. With one hand already behind me, I slid my phone forward and dropped it into the waistband of my jeans. My heart pounded in my chest as I kept my eyes on her the whole time.

"Hands up where I can see them... and step away from there," she aimed the gun at my head.

My hands trembled in the air as I took slow steps away from the counter. God, please don't let the phone fall out. I glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the front door. How did she even get in here? Wasn't the patrol car outside?

She sent a quick glance behind her, following my line of sight. "Don't even think about it. No one is coming to save you, I made sure of that" she sent a wicked grin my way.

It was then I noticed the dark spot on the lower part of her rumpled army green shirt. Was that blood? My stomach went flaccid at the thought that she had probably killed someone. Whose blood could that be? The fact that the front door was wide open and I didn't see any policeman rushing in, didn't speak positively for the patrol officer outside. I prayed so hard that Kosiso remained asleep upstairs. She was capable of anything, I didn't want to imagine anything horrific at the moment.

"Camille, please lower the gun. You don't want to do this." I lowered my hands down to the sides of my torso. My voice came out soft and pleading.

"Shut up," she snarled, her voice laced with venom. She narrowed her eyes at me and released a loud cackle. "Oh, how I have prayed to have you in this position, helpless and begging for my mercy. I have dreamt every night to end you and now it's finally happening." She cackled again. "I had been waiting for the perfect moment to come back into Nick's life and have him take me back but you... you just had to ruin it by roping him in with that stupid child of yours"

She waved her gun, loosely at me. "I had to get rid of you so I sent that foolish Tom after you. But, like a whore, you charmed him just like you charmed everyone else." She took a step forward. "You really had to turn Rosa against me, huh? You stupid bitch.

I shook my head and took a step back.

She paused for a second, then smiled and chuckled. "Anyways, unluckily for him, I had tapped his phone, so I heard everything he told you and I knew he had to go. What a waste."

Bile rose up to my throat and I had to push it back down. My voice quivered. "Did you k-kill him?"

"He was running his mouth way too much. I had to tie up loose ends" she shrugged a shoulder as the corner of her lips tugged up.

"Please don't do this" I begged as she returned the gun back to me. Never in my life have I ever had a gun pointed directly at me, I was terrified. I didn't know if she could notice but my legs violently trembled and it was taking all in me to keep upright.

"Oh, I won't kill you first" she gave me a sweet smile. "I'm going to start with that little brat of yours, then after I see you suffer a little bit, I'll end you. And finally, Nick and I would go back to how things used to be"

My heart stopped at the mention of my child. If I had to die to protect him from the hands of this deranged fellow, I was ready to do just that.

"I missed those times ....." she started, speaking to herself and gesticulating in the air to no one in particular. It was then it clicked. Her pupils were dilated and she looked disoriented. She was clearly not in her right senses and had some kind of mental problem but I didn't have the luxury of time to guess what.

I subtly moved my hands to my phone behind me. I bit the inside of my lip as I pulled out the phone and brought it down to my side. My eyes darted from her to the screen of my phone. She was still going on to herself, so I pulled myself together and dialled 911.

She turned her back to me, waving the gun loosely in the air as she spoke to no one in particular. It was a golden opportunity. I lowered my phone to the ground and took silent steps toward her. The gun flew out of her hands as I jumped on her, knocking it away in the process.

She lost her balance and we both tumbled to the floor. We thrashed about on the floor, rolling over each other. My box braids came loose from the bun in the process, falling over me like string curtains. She rolled on top of me and head-butted me to the floor. Black dots appeared in my vision and my grip on her loosened as I cradled my forehead. She crawled off me and towards the gun. I shook off the dots and scampered after her. She sent her heel back in the direction of my face and I missed it by a hairsbreadth.

I took the opportunity and pulled her back by that leg. At that moment, Kosiso cried out, probably startled by the ruckus going on, down here. My heart pounded in my ears and my focus shifted to him as I lifted my eyes to the stairs. Camille sent a hard blow to my face and though pain seared through my skull, I didn't loosen my grip on her. She wasn't going anywhere near my baby.

Anger bubbled in my chest as I climbed over her body. She had been attacking and all I'd been doing was defending and holding her back. I gripped the sides of her head and slammed it down hard on the floor.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR MY CHILD" I sent a stinging slap to the side of her head as I sat over her body and held her head down on the floor. I didn't care if I had to break every bone in her face to stop her.

Despite the assaults, she was still struggling under me. It was like she was some kind of bloody hybrid human. I moved two fingers to the pressure point of her neck and pressed down on it, till her body went limp. I made sure she was truly unconscious before I scampered toward my phone.

Pain thundered over my head so I couldn't trust myself to stand upright. My left eye throbbed and watered, I could feel the lids swelling up. There was a little blood that trickled from the side of my lips and I could taste metallic liquid in my mouth as well. Just as I picked up my phone to redial 911, loud sirens filled the air and drew closer. Relief flooded through my entire system.

I could still hear Kosiso crying in the background but my vision blurred by the second. I tried to crawl up to the stairs but my hands gave out underneath me and darkness pulled at me.

The sound of feet rushing into the house made me relax a little. I felt arms wrap around me and I knew from the scent of his cologne that it was Nicholas.

"Come on, open your eyes baby. Stay awake for me" he chanted as he shook my body.

"The ba-by . . . get the baby" I slurred out, taking in shallow breaths. I heard the paramedics urge him to let go of me so they could put me into a stretcher. I swallowed and gathered the last dredge of strength in me. "Go"

Then I embraced the silent, comforting darkness.

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