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I stepped away from Luca almost abruptly as another loud bang came from the door.

"Who is it?" Unfortunately for me, my nose turned extra red when I cried like such, leaving behind a faint ache in my forehead. And I was probably looking like a blotchy mess right now.

Luca's gaze lingered on my face for few more seconds before he backed away, walking out of the bathroom. I silently followed behind him.

The knocking got louder and the door knob was rattling like crazy. Few more knocks and I was sure this door would break down.

"Lucius Jackson! Open the door!" Someone yelled from behind the door. "We know you're in here! Hiding won't do much good this time."

I didn't know who it was. All I knew was that the person -or maybe more than one person- behind the door was angry. Really angry.

Luca walked ahead towards the door. As he neared towards it, I opened my mouth to stop him. Almost. But instead of opening it, he looked over from the peephole.

I frowned at that.

He pulled back before groaning in frustration. "Fuck."

Another bang on the door almost made me jump up in my position.

Luca looked at me pointedly. "This is what happens when you say fuck you to Chase Denver."

Oh well.

Without waiting for me to respond, he went over towards our bags. "We need to leave. Right this second."

"Can't we confront him?" I asked, copying his actions and stuffing my things in my bag. As quickly as I could've.

I noticed him giving me a really bad look at that. "Him? There's not just one person behind that door, Rose."

I was busy zipping up my bag and putting on my sneakers when another loud slam came from the door. I looked up at Luca frantically who had moved over towards the window now, opening it up and looking outside.

"It's not that high." He murmured before looking at me. "Come on."

Making sure we hadn't left anything behind, I went towards him, looking out of the window. It was high, in my opinion, but I didn't say anything.

Luca motioned at me to slip out of the large enough window, over towards the small balcony.

Without wasting any second, I swung my legs over the window and slipped outside. Soon after, Luca joined me. I found myself glancing back inside our room towards the door. I could hear faint shouts of Chase's men and I was so sure that door would be breaking down any second now.

"Jump when I tell you to jump, okay?" Luca spoke up before throwing both of our bags down from the railing on the almost empty street below. Almost immediately, he gripped the railing before swinging his legs over it. And before I could've tried to stop him, he jumped down.

I would've looked down where he had jumped off to but at that exact moment, I heard a loud thud back from inside our room. Glancing behind my shoulder, I was a little surprised to see the door flung open. Probably broken.

"Grace, jump down!" I heard a familiar shout from below. Placing my hands on the smooth railing, I saw Luca looking up at me. My stomach clenched a little when I saw how high this actually was.

The old Grace wouldn't have even cared before jumping down from up here. But I wasn't her anymore.

I was scared.

"Grace—"

Inhaling a sharp breath, I pulled my legs over the railing and stood over the edge of the balcony. I saw Chase's men running around the room. I saw them advancing towards the balcony where I was standing.

Hoping that I really wouldn't die, I let go of the railing and jumped down. The cool air hit me from almost every direction. And surprisingly, the next few seconds were carefree as I fell down. A feeling that I wished would stay with me forever.

Before I could've met the ground, which I really thought I'd be meeting face-first, I felt strong arms around me. Pulling me against him.

And I really didn't die.

•••••

We stopped by a café. Mainly to get ourselves together after the hour-long ride. And since we had just woken up before being forced to leave that hotel, I was really craving a cup of coffee.

This morning had turned out to be anything but nice.

"What if they're still after us?" I asked Luca just as the waitress walked away, placing down our orders. I was a little surprised to know that he had ordered the same black coffee like me.

It still struck me every time knowing how much he had really changed.

"Let's just hope not." He replied, running a hand through his tousled curls. I wrapped my hands around the warm cup and took a small sip.

Not like I would ever take back the words I had said to Chase. He deserved it. That guy also deserved a punch on his face. But I didn't think I would've been here if I had punched him yesterday.

The café was barely filled up with people since it was still quite early in the morning.

"You should eat something." Luca spoke up, eyeing me with a small frown. "Aren't you hungry?"

I knew that he was referring to how I had thrown up first thing in the morning.

"No." I looked away, thinking how better it was to keep it short. There was this uncomfortable silence around us ever since the car ride.

Deep down, I was dreading his questions, which for some reason he wasn't asking at all. Regarding the little incident back in the hotel and how I had bawled my eyes out in front of him.

Jesus, why did I have to do that?

"You came here for something." He was still eyeing me and it was taking everything in me to not look back at him. "Related to that...murder you told me about."

"Yeah, I didn't find it." I spoke up before he could've said something more. I didn't feel like drinking the coffee anymore. I just wanted to go back.

Go back where? To that same empty house?

"Whose murder was it?" He asked, curiosity quite evident in his voice.

I looked at him this time, trying to hide my surprise at his direct question. "I don't—"

I didn't get to add anything more to it when his phone rang, filling up the silence. The frown came back on his face as he took it out, his eyes looking over at the screen.

I looked away then, aware of something sighing in relief inside me.

"Hello?" He answered the call.

I looked away towards the waitress who had gone off to someone else, to take the order.

"Who's this?" I heard him say.

I placed the cup back on the table between us and ran my hands through my unruly hair. My hair had grown past my shoulders at this point.

Maybe I should cut it again.

"Yeah. She's with...me." I looked back at him to see him already staring at me. Few seconds later, he pulled his phone away from his ear and passed it towards me.

I took it with slight hesitation. Placing it on my ear, I spoke up, "Hello?"

"Grace?" It was Alice.

I inhaled deeply. "Yeah, it is me."

"Oh, I'm sorry for calling so early." She replied. "Who are you even with? You know, I did kind of recognize that boy's voice. You're out with a boy?"

"Alice, why did you call?" I tried sounding polite. Believe me, I really did.

She snorted on the other end. "Well, I needed to ask you something."

"Go ahead." I replied, noticing that people were slowly starting to fill up this café now. Luca leaned back against the chair, looking at nothing in particular.

"Was somebody supposed to come at your house yesterday?" She asked.

"No, why?" I asked, looking down at my pajamas. I was still in my pajamas. But at least the hoodie was comfortable.

"Like you know, any relative or friend?" She asked.

"No, Alice."

Who would even come at my house? I had no one.

Surprisingly, she went silent for a while. It almost made me think that she had ended the call.

"I saw someone at your house yesterday night." She spoke up then. "In your driveway."

I frowned at that, my heart beating a little faster for no reason. "What do you mean?"

"A guy. I thought it must be some guy you knew." She added.

"You saw him? What did he look like?" I saw Luca glance at me with a frown.

Alice hummed in response. "I didn't actually. I couldn't have anyways since he was dressed in black. And it was nighttime. I couldn't have crept up on him."

Dressed in black.

I felt my eyes widening a little. "Did he—"

Did he break into my house?

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"I think he left after some time. I didn't see him the next time I got out of my house. Must've left since you weren't there." She said.

I felt my heart running feverishly.

"When are you coming back?" She asked.

Could it have been one of Chase's men?

How the hell would he even know my house address?

I looked down at my lap, pushing my hair away from my face. "I'll be coming back in few hours."

She got excited at that. "All right then."

When I ended the call, there was just one thing I could think about. Only one thing. Which horrified me to a whole new level.

Man in black.

It couldn't be him. I'm just thinking too much into this.

"We should get going." Luca spoke up, breaking me out of my thoughts. I blinked and nodded, giving him his phone.

We were almost out of the café when the same waitress stopped us. "Hey, wait." We both turned around, looking at her. She wiped her hands on her red and white striped apron and took out something from her pocket.

"Somebody dropped this by for you." She held a folded paper in her hand, looking at me then at Luca. When I made no move to take it, Luca took it.

"Somebody?" He asked, furrowing his brows at her.

She just shrugged and went away. I stepped closer towards Luca knowing that I was blocking the entrance of the café. I watched Luca as he slowly opened the white paper, his brown eyes roaming across the words.

I looked at him, waiting. I really wanted to leave. But I also didn't want to go back home. Something was gnawing inside me, a strange yet familiar feeling.

It took him few more seconds to finally look away from the paper in his hand, at me. I saw his eyes widening a little. I saw him clenching his jaw. And the look he gave me, it almost made my stomach clench.

In a bad way.

He blinked, giving me the paper. "I think this is for you." And there was this strangeness in his voice that almost made me step away and not take that paper from him.

I frowned and took it anyways, looking at the paper.

And then my breath hitched.

I'm being forgiving this time.

If your parents weren't dead,

I really wouldn't have shown any mercy, Collins.

- Chase

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Crystal 🌿