3 - Remember The Favor
1192 Words
The skyscrapers and coastline were remarkably breathtaking but the smallest details couldn't be missed either. I held my breath overlooking the breathtaking view from the huge balcony, Colt had brought me to.
"If you like it, it could all be yours." My newly discovered father's voice came from behind and I averted my gaze immediately.
"I would prefer to be as far away from you and all this as possible," I replied. With a nod, he dismissed Colt.
How could this even be possible? How could I have a father who was a gang leader? Was Mom a part of all this too? Yet at the back of my head was still the man from earlier... Who was he in all this?
I looked at the man standing beside me thinking how would I ever disassociate myself from him? His face resembled mine more than I could have expected.
"Are you afraid of me?" he asked suddenly and I gulped. "20 years without a father only to find him as a gang lord." laughing he continued. "You're afraid of this life just like-" he paused and lit a cigarette.
"Avery." Mom's name rolled off his tongue lowly and I felt anger build up in me but I knew better than to speak that way to him.
"What did you even know of her? Or what she liked or disliked." I snorted, tears filling my eyes. "You left her before I was even born."
"Is that what she told you?" his question took me off guard and I spared him an astonished look.
"We were young and stupid. We had a fling and months later found her in a grocery store with a pregnant belly." His eyes were focused somewhere far as he spoke and I couldn't help but listen to him carefully. "She denied it that I was the father and I let her off until I saw you with my own eyes." He inhaled deeply and so did I. "I thought you hadn't seen me until a while ago." I stepped in.
"Let's just say your Mom had no idea whose child she was carrying and I had spies onto her." Was he for real? He got someone to spy on Mom, I should not even be surprised.
"My doubt turned out to be true when I saw a picture of you. The next thing I knew, I was offering Avery to let me support her but realising who I was, she didn't even let me hold you." I could see his jaw clenching with each word and he seemed pissed at Mom. Some part of me pitied him for getting snatched off his right. While the other was against believing his words.
"But weren't you-" I began to say but paused mid-sentence choosing the right word to describe it.
"In jail? No not until you were one month, after which I had no intel on you for 20 years." He sipped on his drink, which was probably his second glass.
It was pretty funny how he was talking about me like I was some sort of his property that he lost custody of. Like he knew I would be okay if he didn't have "intel" on me. For all, I knew these men might not even respect women and worst- what if he was involved in human trafficking?
"What now? Let's assume I believe that story of yours then what?" I turned to him with folded hands.
He looked at me long, then reached under his coat and took out a gun. I froze and gulped.
"Join me. Stay under me and one day when I die, you can have all this." He pushed the gun towards me and observed.
So this wasn't just "you're imprisoned here" anymore. I had a choice, a rather dangerous one but I did.
Gulping, I took a step back.
"I can't. This doesn't seem right- all of this." I muttered breathlessly. Mom never allowed him to have access to me and there must have been a reason why she didn't.
"Noelle!" His voice boomed but in an emphasizing way.
"Mr Gonzales, I can't! All of this- this world of yours, I don't belong here!" I said running my hands through my hair. "I never even saw a real gun until today. This is a crime! All of this, how can you ask me to be a part of this?" Freaking out, I stepped further away from the gun until my back collided with something hard and in a moment, strong arms come around me as I toppled.
When I opened my eyes again, ..deja vu hit me. It was him, the stranger I had met earlier. A raspy breath escaped my lips as I trembled a bit in his arms, my body crashing with his. There he was saying to me again but this once he immediately pulled me to my feet but never let go of my waist.
My cheeks heat a little when I tried to squirm out of his grip but he tightened his hand. "You didn't tell us that you had a daughter." His deep, demanding voice echoed.
Great, even he can see the resemblance.
His eyes bored into mine and his jaw clenched suddenly when I licked my lips nervously.
"Who are you?" Gael Gonzales said and I gulped slowly.
Just great. What if he's one of the enemies and that was why Colt asked about him earlier? I would be damned if that's true. I shouldn't have covered up for him earlier. - I thought looking at his stone-cold yet deeply attractive face.
His gaze flickered to me and for a moment a hint of a smirk appeared on his lips but it vanished just as soon. He leaned into me a little and slowly whispered into my ear, "I will remember the favour." with that his hands slipped a little lower by the side of my waist and I almost closed my eyes when he let go of me all of a sudden.
"Give me a moment with your father Bella." He said straightening his shirt and undoing his sleeves. "We have some business to talk about."
My mouth gaped open. After a minute or more of holding me close to him and making him think of all the bad things, he was doing what now? asking me to leave just so he could talk business and that too in the most impossibly teasing way, by calling me Bella, beautiful in front of my father.
What an asshole.
Are you sure, because your heart seems to be thumping a little too fast? - an inner voice resounded in me and I immediately left the room before any more thoughts could cross my mind. I had only turned a corner when some whispers reached my ear.
"Get in! Hide." A woman's voice came.
"Colt will kill us and it will be on you." said another.
Oh God... are they also the enemies who are hiding here? An enemy had already made me almost lose my senses and now I was eavesdropping on another. Could this get any worst?
- Writer
