Not strangers

"Boss, boss, bad news, really bad news, the boys we sent after the woman have been captured and they are in police custody" came the voice of a young looking boy as he stood behind a man who looked like he was in his late fifties as he smoked and he scoffed.

"That woman thinks she's smart enough to fool me, fool me and get away with it?" asked the man as he scoffed.

"Boss, aren't you worried that the boys will blame you?" asked the young boy.

"Not at all those boys won't dear squeal on me, they know better than to do that, or else, I will deal with them accordingly" replied the man.

"But that woman, that woman will pay, pay for thinking she can dupe me, a whole me" said the man as he turned around and he walked away.

…

"Here, this should help you calm down" said Pete as he handed Lia a cup of hot coffee as she was sitting in his office.

"Thank you Peter" said Lia as she smiled and she took the cup of coffee from him and she drank it.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Pete as he sat down at his desk.

"Yes, I am now…" said Lia to herself as she sighed.

"Are you sure?" asked Pete.

"Yes Peter, I am, thank you" said Lia as she smiled.

"Alright, so your statement has been taken, and the men are in custody, there were three of them, and one was armed, he was probably the one shooting in the air" said Pete as he explained and Lia nodded.

"Lia… I mean Miss Thomas, I apologize for being so informal with you" said Pete as he realized that this was an official case.

"No it's fine, you can call me Lia, I prefer that, we are not strangers anyway" said Lia as she smiled and Pete nodded, she was right, Natasha did set them up on a date once, which was not bad, although they had not met after that.

"Lia it is then" said Pete as Lia smiled.

"I just want to ask for the record, have you offended anyone lately, or did anyone threaten to hurt you?" asked Pete as Lia shook her head.

"No, not at all, I haven't offended anyone, and no one has offended me" said Lia.

"I see, do you work?" asked Pete as Lia nodded.

"Yes I do" said Lia.

"What type of work do you do?" asked Pete.

"I own my own security company, I supply, companies, businesses and private clients with security equipment" said Lia.

"And do you deal with your private clients?" asked Pete.

"Yes, I do, either by meeting in public places, or their houses, wherever they prefer" said Lia.

"And have your clients offended you lately, or have you entered into an altercation with them?" asked Pete.

"No, not at all, my clients are not like that" said Lia.

"I see, and where were you going when the incident happened?" asked Pete.

"I was on my way to Dom's office to drop off some flies, he recently contacted me for some security cameras" said Lia as Pete nodded.

"This actual raises a lot of concern for me, it's odd for men to start chasing after you with no reason" said Pete.

"Either you have a secret enemy, or a trend has started for targeting drivers on quiet routes" said Pete as he sighed, and the second option scared him, he remembered when Natasha was faced with the same fate, at least she was able to protect herself, but Lia, well it was clear that what happened scared her.

"I don't even know at this point" said Lia as she sighed and Morales walked into Pete's office without knocking.

"Oh I'm sorry commander, I have the files here" said Morales as Pete nodded and he took the file from him as Morales walked out of his office and Pete looked through the files as to say he was surprised would be an understatement.

"Lia, do you happen to know Donny Fredo? And I mean do you have any ties with him at all?" asked Pete.

"No? who is Donny Fredo? I have never heard of him" said Lia in confusion.

"Donny Fredo is a notorious criminal, has a lengthy criminal record, was released a while ago, ran away from the law" said Pete as he summarized.

"And the men who were chasing after you happen to be his men, their records are right here, petty theft, domestic violence, a lot of things actually" said Pete.

"Oh my" said Lia.

"So you are telling me that you have never ever seen these men before? Or had any form of contact with Donny Fredo?" asked Pete.

"No I haven't, I have never seen the guy, don't even know him, I don't know why he would be after him, I don't know anything" said Lia.

"Well then, I need to look further into this case, question the culprits, and see what I can find" said Pete.

"Yes please do Peter, because this makes no sense to me" said Lia.

"Alright, well Lia, you can go home now, to ensure your safety I will ask one police officer to accompany you home" said Pete.

"No Peter, that is not necessary, I'm not going home, I'm actually going to stay at a friend's house nearby" said Lia.

"Alright then, I will keep you posted on the case" said Pete as Lia stood up.

"Yes Peter, thank you so much" said Lia as she smiled.

"Just doing my job" said Pete as he replied.

"And you do it so well, thank you" said Lia with a smile as Pete smiled and she walked out of his office as he sighed.

This didn't make sense to him, Donny Fredo had been out of city for months now, why return and send his boys to catch someone like Lia?

"Or maybe he didn't send them and they were just preying on someone and it happened to be her?" asked Pete to himself, he had to get to the bottom of this.

…

Nine parked his car in the garage as he pressed a button on his keys and the garage door closed as he walked outside and he saw a notification on his phone as he heard the sound of a car pulling up into the driveway as the car was switching off and the sound of a door opening and closing could be heard, as well as the clicking on heels.

"Oh Nine, Nine" called Lia as she rushed to Nine and he looked up in surprise to see her here as she threw herself on him and hugged him as he almost lost her balance.

"Nine, you can't imagine how scared I was, there were some men and they hit my car, there were gunshots and the police…" said Lia as she ranted.

"Wait a minute Lia, take a deep breath" said Nine as Lia held onto him tightly.

"Oh Nine, I was so scared, some men came after me, and that was why I was calling you, but you didn't pick up" said Lia as Nine was surprised, he should not have switched off his phone, Lia was here shivering.

"Are you alright?" asked Nine as Lia nodded.

"Yes I called the police and Peter the commander came and everything, I'm just so glad that I'm fine" said Lia with a sigh.

"Right Lia, something about this doesn't make sense, why were those men chasing you?" asked Nine as he removed Lia from hugging him.

"I don't know Nine, it makes no sense to me, just hug me, I need a hug right now" said Lia as she hugged Nine again and he sighed, he could tell that she was scared.

"Do you want to go inside? Natasha can make you some warm tea to calm you down" said Nine as Lia shook her head.

"No I don't want to bother her, I am going to a friend's house, I don't want to go home, not alone" said Lia as she hugged Nine and he wondered how she could be so cruel.

"You want me to drive you there?" asked Nine as Lia nodded.

"Come on, let's go, I will drive you home, you want to go home, trust me" said Nine.

"Oh thank you Nine" said Lia as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Keys" said Nine as Lia handed her keys to him as he walked to her car and she got in the passengers seat and Nine started the car.

"What would I do with you Nine?" asked Lia as she smiled.

"A lot Lia, just know that I don't trust any of this, and I believe you did something for that to happen to you" said Nine.

"Nine, I didn't trust me, I beg you, trust me" said Lia.

"Right Lia, right" said Nine as they drove away.