CHAPTER 72

"HERE....", Lauren's voice startled me and woke me up from the nightmare I just had.

I took a deep breath and received the cup, gosling it steady between my hands.

"What's going on?" she asked and I placed the cup aside. I lied back down and faced the wall preventing her from seeing my tears.

I was troubled by the sight I just saw in my house.

Shattered pieces of glass everywhere on the floor, I could barely see the tiles.

The walls were stripped and quoted in very monstrous scratch marks. The curtains were torn to shreds and unrecognisable. My couch was burst open with the cotton stuffings everywhere in the house.

I went to my room and it had suffered the same fate. All the cloths I had left were torn and some burnt in my bathtub, which was filled with water to the brim and was over flowing. The entire house had been drenched.

The food in my freezer had gotten soiled and rotten producing the stench that I smelled the moment I just got in. All my kitchen ware was broken and lay on the floor in a million pieces.

My ceiling was covered in small openings that resembled bullet holes.

My windows were shattered and broken, so much that birds had come in and did even much more damage.

To the look of things, this was done a very long time ago and of course no one couldn't get in as the security was so tight. But how did the person who wrecked my house get in?

And now, Ivan was dead. Whoever murdered him was definitely the culprit behind all this.

How did I not think of this before.

Ivanovich was in the police. The most unsafe place he could ever be. He was a member of a world famous criminal syndicate and obviously they had connections everywhere even in the police.

To hide their crimes, they would so much as kill anyone like the girl in my bathtub and here was another. Ivan Ritchie Valens.

I wept as fear crossed my mind and rewinded all the bad tapes I had seen. The girl in the bathtub and the terrible view in my house. Everything was happening so fast not giving us time to process it.

I hugged a pillow and held onto it tightly. Someone wanted to separate me from Adam. Who was it and why?

"Eleanor...." a warm hand landed on my wrist causing me to jump in fear.

"It's...it's just me..." Lauren lowered her voice and I woke up sitting with my back in the head board.

"Is everything alright? This is the third time am bringing your coffee and it gets cold each time. What's going on??" she asked anxiously and I couldn't help but cry.

I was worried sick about myself that I realised I was also a threat to others.

Someone was after me and being in Lauren's house meant something bad was going to happen to them too, like it did with Ciara.

I have to leave as soon as possible.

"Are you going to reply to my questions at all??" she asked in a harsh tone and I ignored her anyway. I pushed my sheets off and landed my feet in the flipflops.

I stood and began matching outside the room when she grabbed my hand and forcefully tossed me into the bed.

"Do not okay games with me. What the hell is going on? You arrive back from Florida and you're acting weird. The way your responded after the phone call was really a cue that something was wrong and now, you just call me and say you don't feel like living in an apartment, you miss the comfort of a home and am like 'well yeah....I can offer that'. I bring you into my house and you keep having black out spells acting like an assassin is on the loose after you!!" she told me off and I realised I actually heard her but didn't have much time to process everything.

Assassin? Yes, someone was sent after me and was seeking to take away my life. Adam was my life, without him I was as good as dead and this person was willing to have to kill all people just for me and Adam to separate. What was our separation going to do to him ??

"Eleanor!!! Am talking to you!!" she squeezed my hand and I yelped in pain

"Ouch!" I snatched it back and rubbed my wrist.

"That's more like it....Now answer me! What the hell is going on...??"

"I...I need to leave....you will be safe if I leave...." was all I managed to say and headed for the door.

Without warning, she pushed my and with force, I pushed the door shut. She was able to come and pull me away, locking the door and tossing the key into her pocket.

"What was that??" she screamed back.

"I will not let you go until I get answers. What's going on?" she asked and I could tell she was serious about it.

She was a very decisive woman and I knew that pretty well. Once she ties a knot there was no untying it and my excuses had better be well cooked or she won't buy them.

"Well...." I began rubbing my fingers together when I realised lying wasn't going to help me. A problem half shared is solved. I had to tell her the truth if I needed help and that would mark just the beginning of the end. But won't telling her prove to be something dangerous?

"Well???" she asked shoving me out of my world again.

I took my phone and unlocked it, showing her just about the picture I took after the horrible site in the bathtub.

She shrieked in fright and clasped her mouth. Her expression changed and I looked out the window.

"Someone left this for me in the bathtub, in Peru, when I went for my anniversary with Adam. It had a note that said, Leave Adam or die...."

"Oh my goodness....." she exclaimed and took a seat on the bed.

"There was no trace left to catch who did it. The CCTV footage was also broken and we couldn't see who did it. We returned to Florida and unfortunately, I received a carton with an evil clown head inside scaring to take me to the underworld since I didn't heed the warning I was given..." I explained and through it all, I was in pain.

I didn't know where to run to or where to stay or what to do or what not to do.

I explained the rest of the story to how Ciara was involved and how she came to fix the pieces together and expose Ivan. I also told her how I found my house in ruins in the morning and Ivan's murder before he could leave a testimony rendering the entire investigation back to square one.

"A lot has happened and you didn't think to tell me...." she cried giving me a hug.

"I wanted to but...I didn't want to involve anyone else in fear of endangering them....." I defended myself.

"But it doesn't mean you can suffer alone...."

"Am sorry...." I apologised and she pecked my forehead. I love that I had Lauren who was a mother figure and was always there for me. I thanked her enough and one day hoped that I could repay her back.

"I might not know for certain but I have a doubt to who exactly is doing all this....someone who wants you for himself..."

"You do??" I asked my eyes dim and my vision blurred.

"Yes..." she wiped my tears and showed me a smile. "Drake Anderson"