Chapter 3

• The irony is delicious.
• A Nickel is going to save a Cooper. Though it is my fault I put her in a dangerous position. She still has a role in it, she sketched her way into my life, all along with her fake innocence. I wonder if she faked her virginity just to make her look more pure. I can't think or see straight my head is conflicted with all this thoughts.A small part wants to leave her suffer for all the lies and manipulation. The other part wants to save her and see her just for the last time. She is a beautiful twisted fortune cookie.
• Peter's call comes again as soon as I hit the road. I press loud speaker and wait for his empty threats.
• "You think this is a game?" He asks. "You have no idea what am capable of." He tries to sound intimidating and I roll my eyes.
• I decide not to give him the joy of knowing he won the minute he kidnapped... Just thinking of her name makes me mad all over again. I clench and unclench my jaw. I hate lies. Most importantly, I hate the person who speaks them. She lied repeatedly, looked into my eyes and pretended to be someone else. People show us who they are, but we blindly refuse to believe them. From the word go, she was secretive and mysterious. I thought it was sexy but now it sickens me, I ignored that as a red flag.
• "Hello, are you there." His voice is louder than the thunder and brings me back from my thoughts. "I will show you how serious we are." His words are followed by a series of punching sounds and a female cry of agony.
• My hand fist the steering wheel hard, am going to kill someone. My vision turns blur and I almost ram into a meat truck. "You son of a bitch, I will kill you. It is me and your money you want, so stop fucking hurting her." I step
• "You know what to do, for all of this to end." He hangs up.
• I can imagine the devilish smirk on his face as he ends the call. The sigh of victory that he releases as he pulls his polo shirt. People may imagine the devil to be a beast with two horns. The devil I know is in polo shirts with the topsy turvy collars and a missing button.
• I drive until I find somewhere to pull of. I check Peter's message, he briefly states where we should meet. He knows too well I can't involve the police. It will be a scandal for my family. We already have enough of that . Half of them thanks to the Coopers', yet here I am going to save one of them.
• I call our family driver, Anthony. He also acts as head of the family security. He is the only one I can trust. One day I came home from school bleeding, some bullies had beaten me when I tried to defend myself. He taught how to defend myself and fight. I tell him where to meet. Cara's betrayal has just left me in a mix, I can barely plan a rescue mission. My head is all reeling with mixed emotions.
• An hour later, Anthony pulls up in a range rover. Brian, came along with him. He is new, he was hired two weeks ago. I get into the range rover and Brian drives my Lamborghini back home.
• "So who is this girl we are going to save?" Anthony asks.
• "A pain in the ass kind of girl." I answer as he switches the lanes.
• "Is she beautiful?" Anthony asks.
• I snort.
• "The more beautiful, the more hard headed and pain in the ass." Anthony concurs. "Who are these guys and why exactly are they after you?" He additionally asks.
• I sigh and lean back further." You remember the underground fighting?"
• He nods, his eyes focused on the road, "Which I disapproved of, since the very start."
• I ignore his remark and carry forth, "There was this group that I fought under, only later did I realize that it was a gang involved in drug dealing, and when I realized they were even involving kids. I stole their money and donated to charity works and unanimously snitched them to the police." I turn to look at him and see if he is listening due to his silence. He is, so I continue." Sadly, this gang has it people in the police and they came to know of what I did. Now they want their money and I continue fighting for them until the "Losses" they incurred are returned."
• Anthony turns to face to me, his face has close to five scars, one being a bullet scar. He served in the military before he joined my family." How do you plan to save her and return the money?"
• "That is where you come in." I state.
• "Okay, just tell me how this gang operates and how many of them to expect."
• He nods diligently as I explain to him.
• "That's all?" He asks like what is ahead of us is as easy as ABC.
• "Expect them to be armed." I add.
• "So are we." He points at the back where I see guns.
• Am not a fun of gun, I like to fight my battles with my bare hands. It gives me power and satisfaction as I hear the breaking of bones within a close range.
• "I will pass. My fist works better." I say and flex my bicep.
• Anthony shakes his head.
• I text Maria asking about Theo before zeroing my attention back on the road. "Can you please keep this between us." I ask him.
• "You know you shouldn't ask, that goes without saying. Just hope this girl is worth all the risk." Anthony replies.
• I sigh, "For a liar, she is not. But, it is my fault she is in that position." I bitterly state.
• Anthony exhales before he responds, "Sometimes people lie to protect us."
• "Or to protect themselves." I spit.
• "Either way, it is bad thing for a good reason." Anthony tries to justify and get more agitated. There is no excuse for lying.
• "You were with us, the time my family was faced with the Cooper scandal, right?" I find myself asking.
• Anthony goes silent for a minute, "A scandal that send your grandmother to an early grave. So yeah I remember."
• "Yeah," I nod in agreement.
• His face is weary and his voice full of concern "Why the question?"
• I want to tell him about Cara but what she has taught me is no one can be trusted. Until I understand everything about the case, I can't talk about it. "Nothing," I shake my head.
• When he starts to slow, I realize we are at our destination. It is an abandoned warehouse with several go-downs.
• "Here we are, let's go rack them up." Anthony says and kills the engine.