39 The PursuerÂ
Reed stepped out of the car, and the man approached, casually using a Zippo to light the end of his cigar. Something about him clearly screamed dangerous, especially with the tattoo peeking from his neck and covering his hands, the rings donning them too.Â
1Â
Yet, I got a feeling Reed knew him.Â
I eyed the button. Without delay, I leaned into the driver’s seat and pressed it. The window came down a bit, just enough to hear what they were saying.Â
“Hello, soldier boy… quite a chase there.”Â
“Isaac.”Â
Isaac grinned broadly. “So you do remember me, even though we have only seen each other a few times.” He looked behind his men. “HeÂ
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39 The PursuerÂ
remembers! And yet he runs.”Â
“A response to a pursuit.”Â
“Pursuit? We were just following, not until you decided to go furious.”Â
“What do you want, Isaac?” Reed asked with a repressed annoyance.Â
Isaac took a slow drag from his cigarette. “He would like to see her. We’re here to bring her in.”Â
He?Â
“You’re not in the position to do that,” Reed replied sternly. “Neither am I to comply.”Â
Isaac sneered. “You are just like me; we’re both following orders here. So follow.”Â
“I follow Mr. King.”Â
“Haa…” He scratched the back of his ear, where I caught a sparkling piercing. “Are you really gonna be like that?”Â
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39 The PursuerÂ
At his words, others stepped out, all dressedÂ
neatly in their black suits, compared to him, who had on a leather jacket for casual.Â
“Do you really want to cross Mr. King?” Reed threatened. “Because that is exactly what you’reÂ
doing.”Â
Isaac’s eyes moved to me, and I stilled, swallowing a lump in my throat.Â
There was something about his black eyes that unsettled me. I have seen true crimeÂ
documentaries because it was Tori’s idea for a movie night, and those eyes reminded me of aÂ
killer.Â
“Ah, yes… the rumored Mrs. King.”Â
“Not a rumor,” Reed countered.Â
Isaac snapped his gaze back to him. “I’ll be the judge of that. This is how it’s gonna be… eight against one.”Â
<Â
39 The PursuerÂ
Oh no… I grabbed the doorknob on the verge ofÂ
opening. I’m not thinking, but I didn’t want Reed to get hurt because of me.Â
Reed wasn’t backing down either. This was a lonely street, and there was no car in sight; a bloodbath might happen!Â
“Boys… let’s have some fun. I’d love to ruin that face.” He stepped away, smoking as the menÂ
clustered around Reed.Â
I opened the door, but a loud screeching came through, and a white Porsche came into view, grabbing their attention.Â
Athena emerged, adjusting her white sunglasses, cat walking to them, not the faintest of fear, and a strange thing happened.Â
They parted like the sea and lowered their heads.Â
“Boys…” she cooed. “Whatever are you hot heads doing?”Â
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39 The PursuerÂ
“Princess…” Isaac greeted.Â
She slapped him, and I flinched. Is she fucking crazy?Â
I was expecting him to retaliate, but he did nothing, just rubbing his cheek.Â
“Nice to see you too.”Â
“Hello, Isaac,” she said sweetly, like she hadn’t just struck him.Â
Issac flashed her a far too knowing smile. “The last thing I wanna do is make you mad, princess.”Â
“Oh, but you have. What is this ruckus about,Â
huh?”Â
“We’re all in good spirits.”Â
“Then what the fuck are you doing?”Â
“Following orders.”Â
“Hmph! Why would Daddy send his lackey?”Â
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39 The PursuerÂ
Daddy? The “He” Isaac talked about was Ares andÂ
Athena’s father?Â
“Who else would he have sent?” he reasoned.Â
“Maybe the one who has brain cells.”Â
“Ouch!”Â
“So shoo!”Â
“No can do, princess.”Â
Suddenly, there was a shift in the air. Athena took off her sunglasses and stepped closer to him. Without batting an eye, she pulled out his gun, which I now knew he had, and pointed it at hisÂ
dick.Â
Holy shit!Â
“Oh, Isaac, I’d really hate for you to lose it.”Â
The idiot smirked. “Why? Because you—‘Â
She stomped her heel on his foot.Â
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“Fuck!” He swore.Â
“Now chop, chop! Tell daddy, wifey will come see him when the time is right. “Capice?”Â
I gulped, expecting this to go sideways, but Isaac retreated.Â
“I’ll be seeing you around, soldier boy,” he said, limping to his car.Â
My heart was still beating fiercely as I watchedÂ
the cars retreat.Â
“Oh my poor Reed. Off you go, Isaac won’t be a problem.”Â
Reed stroked a nod. “Thank you.”Â
Athena looked at the car, blew a kiss at me, and walked back to her Porsche and drove out.Â
When Reed moved, I quickly pressed the button to close the window.Â
I stayed still as Reed got in. Silence took over theÂ
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35Â
car, more from him, not until he broke it.Â
“I’m sorry for this mess,” he said softly. “You shouldn’t have seen that.”Â
“Should I be worried?” I asked, acting as if I hadn’t heard their conversation.Â
“No, Mrs. King.”Â
“Mind telling me who they were?” I tried my luck.Â
He paused. Great! But I wasn’t backing down from this, not when I have witnessed something likeÂ
this.Â
“Who was he, Reed?”Â
Reed gulped, mouth hanging a few times before he surrendered and said. “Mr. King’s father’sÂ
men.”Â
“What did his father’s men want?”Â
“To bring you to him.”Â
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So far, so good, he was honest with me, and I respected him for that.Â
“Right, father and daughter–in–law meeting, though, isn’t stuff like that made on free will? Sounds like they wanted to kidnap me.”Â
Reed’s silence told me that was what could have happened if Athena hadn’t intervened. It was far worse than I thought.Â
“You have nothing to worry about, Mrs. King,” he reassured me.Â
However, I’m still on edge about this. I know nothing of Ares‘ father, only that he was a business tycoon before Ares took over.Â
Ares proposed this marriage contract because of family, then I thought how bad could it be dealing with rich folks, but now it seems like I’m gonna get far more than I bargained for.Â
2Â
Reed’s phone rang, and he picked up quickly. IÂ
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could only assume it was Ares.Â
“Yes, Mr. King.” He ended the call and started theÂ
car.Â
“W–What did he say?”Â
“He told me to drive you back to the company.”Â
“It’s already late, shouldn’t it be the penthouse?”Â
“His orders were specific.”Â