The Kidnapped Bride

With no further exchange of words, Shawn gazed at the black man with his hard eyes. His veins started to pop out on his hand where Alice could feel alarmed... "T-..there must be some kind of misunderstanding... Shawn.." 

"Do not be afraid, Alice. It's fine.." he mumbled to give her a relaxed feeling but in contrast to his face, he wasn't even a bit calmed. At the same time, Alice already saw the gun that was pointed against Shawn's stomach. Her eyes roamed here and there at the people who passed from the place but none paid attention to them. 

On seeing the lady getting distracted for help, the man in the black commented, "Lady, it will be better for you to actually stop looking for anyone and stand still and….quiet." 

Hearing the statement made Alice feel stuck in her own place. No words came out of her mouth with fright already crawling under her skin. Her entire back was filled with dread and uneasiness, the fear that the gun will be fired…

As her heartbeat at the highest speed, she gulped the saliva to slowly nod her head. Afterward, the black man once again asked Shawn, "Sir…will you cooperate with us now?" 

At last with no other option that surfaced in front of him, he ended up nodding his head. But before that, he turned around to face Alice whose face was already giving him the sight of horror., "Sh…it's alright. They are my people.." 

"But why do they have guns?! And pointing at you? If they are your people..why will they try to kill you?" she was scared with the multiple questions arising in her mind. But to her dismay, Shawn had no time out to answer any of them. 

"I will be fine. Take the ice cream and go home. You don't have to worry about me. I will be fine..and contact you myself.." with this saying, he handed her the ice cream while blinking his eyes twice to give her an understanding look. 

"Ma-am…this late?" Abbey asked in surprise. 

"Why not? I have worked for such a long time. I surely need a break and why not try out a bar here?" Alice came here on very short notice. She hasn't searched anything out about this place. 

Except knowing that it is still in its growing stage, she was very much excited to try things and the culture of this place as well. 

Without revolving, Abbey said, "It is very close. I will instruct your driver to take you to that place."

"That would be wonderful. But why don't you join me as well?" she asked, in response to receiving a little hesitant look from Abbey's side, "Um…someone would be waiting for me at home.."

"At least I can be unhappy by the fact that she has someone who.. is in love with her." A faint smile lifted Ryan's lips but only Ellen realized how much pain he held behind the same.

There was no denying in this, that his friend was also a strong person. However, his strength collapses when it comes to Amaira.

Letting out a sigh, Ellen wrapped his hand around Ryan's shoulders to press them, the act to show he is there for him. "Probably you are thinking wrong…"

"She doesn't have anything for him, unlike that Shane guy," Ellen told, in the hope to lighten up his mood.

"Oh, so she is your boss as well?" Sandra asked with slight displeasure on learning the same.

In response, Ryan simply nodded his head without trying to explain any further. Yet, the wording brought a sour and distant expression over Amaira's face.

'Boss's daughter? So you mean to say that I'm literally no one to you? Not even your friend?' At this thought of hers, Amaira's lips turned into a thin straight line.

It was a fact, hard to digest where she found this statement all lewd, "Not daughter but sister. Brother Javier is my brother and you work for him." 

She answered with the same aloofness mixed with a tinge of sarcasticness. Moreover, her eyes glowed with the glint of annoyance already.

"Just tell the guards that you are Ms. Anderson and they will ultimately let you in." the driver confidently told her, making her eyes twist. Was this so easy? Won't they ask for more information? She found it strange since she rarely worked abroad. 'Or probably we owned one of the clubs…I never thought about this..' 

But alcohol was what will make her calm and worry about her office going down.

Getting out of the car, she looked there at this hustle and bustle to go straight at the bouncers with her heels ticking against the ground. Coming face to face, she opened her mouth, "Mysel Alice Andreson. My secretary must have made arrangements." 

....

"Oh, you must be Brother Javier's friends. That is good to hear." The man smiled but the smile never reached his ears as well. 

In contrast to him, Ryan was already feeling slight uncomfortableness around him. Uneasiness started a crawl under his skin where he didn't like the appearance of the man at all. 

'Why is he talking to Amaira as if they are close?' his eyes never missed how this so-called Shane kept his hands over Amaira's shoulder to press them. 

Already, his lips turned into a straight line, "May we know who you are then?"

"Javier!" 

Charles shouted on the of his lungs to give Javier a contact glare, in the hope to remind his brother about the consequences.

To his dismay, Javier didn't pay even a glance at Charles to look.

Rather, his eyes were already stagnant at his father who seemed amused to hear his words. 

"May I know what the meaning of this is, Javier?" Shawn's question stirred the alarms of Charles who was scared that his brother might reveal things.

'No, this is the right time for him to do..' 

Knowing about the current scenario around them, this would be the worst option to consider. He feared that in hurry and sentiments of the flow, Javier might blurt out about his marriage.

"I...I'm alright. It was just that the wind was too fast and this made the vase fall on the ground. Otherwise, everything is fine and perfect."

Jennifer kept a bright smile over her face but from inside, she was deathly afraid. Looking at the man, who held the gun like it was a piece of cake for him, she knew that lying is the best option to save herself.

But the maid didn't look entirely convinced by her words either, "I thought that I had heard your scream as well. I thought that you were afraid of someone."

Jennifer's hand on the door tightened after hearing this.. She looked at the man behind who was sending her glares to not speak the truth and she chose the same thing for herself.