CHAPTER THREE

THE NICE YOUNG SIR

In the burning house, Isabella ran out of her hiding place crying.

" mummy! There's blood everywhere, let's go get a doctor " she cried hugging her mum.

" get on the ground, Isa... Bella. .." She breathed weakly and the girl laid flat on her stomach.

"Get me a pen and some paper from the drawer, get down... be careful " she wheezed, Isabella crept towards the drawer, opened it, and got a pen and a piece of paper.

Her mum took up a pen and scribbled something on the paper.

" run to the underground room, crawl as I taught you, when the fire goes out, run to the station and tell the police to take you here ok. ... go Isabella" she gasped shoving the paper into her hands.

" what about you and daddy..." she whimpered

" we'll go somewhere else now go, take off your sweater and go, I'll come to get you in the morning," her mother said in between breaths.

"Mummy..."Isabella cried in fear, her whole body Quivered, everything was in ruins and the house was burning down

"C'mon go! go!! go!!!" Her mum yelled, Isabella crept steadily towards a backdoor in pain as some burning piece of wood fell on her back, she winced in pain as tears rolled off her eyes, she turned back to take a last look at her mum and dad and she wished she hadn't.

Her mum rested her head gently on the shoulders of her dead husband and the burning roof fell on them, Isabella wailed, her body convulsed in fear, she crept into the underground room safely and cried herself to sleep.

At dawn she abandoned the piece of paper lying on the floor and rushed out to look for her parents, all she could see were ashes and some bones... She peeked through the door of the underground room, she heard voices. A large crowd of reporters surrounded the house, in fear she ran towards another hidden back door as the images of last night flashed in her head, her eyes were flooded with tears. She sat on the floor crying when suddenly the door flung open, she jumped up and turned towards the door only to come face to face with a huge scary man.

He shook his head gently with his eyes full of pity... she was just like her mother, the eyes, the way she moved cautiously.

" A Friend, of your mummy and daddy Isabella...., don't be scared okay " he replied with his hands spread out, Isabella hesitated before running to embrace him bursting into tears,

"Please take me away, those men might come back" she cried. The man frowned as he stared at the ruins.

"Don't worry We'll get them! All of them." He sneered as he carried her to his car, She sat quietly in the front seat, her eyes weren't filled with fear but with something unfathomable, she rolled the sleeves of her torn and partly burnt smokey clothes, and she didn't bat a lid, her eyebrows creased as the car zoomed off, she was a strong one, a fighter, a survivor just like her mother.

The present.

someone tapped Bella gently and she snapped back to reality.

"Miss, are you all right? A warm, deep voice called and Bella raised her head. Her eyes met with a pair of blue sapphires, oh! yes, she was drunk but these eyes were real and they belonged to someone, and that someone was right in front of her.

" Young sir, she's just one of those attention-seeking whores, let the guards handle her if she refuses to leave", the chauffeur Mr. Ted said impatiently.

"But she doesn't look Fine, I think she needs help," the man said trying to help Bella up and she pushed him away drunkenly.

"I d.. don't need...help, I can walk" She sneered weakly trying to put her legs together and they wobbled but he was swift to hold her.

"I'll drive her home" he announced and Mr Ted gulped in fear.

"Oh no Sir Ethan, we can't possibly leave you alone with that...that slut, she could rob you.. or do something even worse...".

"Something worse like what, Hurting me? C'mon Mr. Ted have a heart. What If we leave her and she gets run over by a vehicle, at least let me take her to her place, Alone" he stressed.

"Alone? young sir, at least go with a guard" The chauffeur panicked.

"Mr. Ted I'm not a teenager, I'm a fucking adult" he rolled his eyes.

"I'm just doing my job sir, the world is a scary place you know," Mr. Ted said moving towards an identical car with the guards behind him.

The young man unlocked the car and gently helped Bella in, and when he entered and sat at the steering, Bella giggled drunkenly.

"So Mr. Young Sir, what are you going to do to me?" The man smiled at her puffy eyes.

"I'm taking you home," he said.

"Hmmm really? " she raised a brow only to wince in pain from a throbbing headache, everything around her spun".

"To your house, Miss, so just give me your address, where do you stay? " he asked.

"Don't worry, I'll just take a cab" she said attempting to unlock the Door, he mustn't know where she stayed, nobody must. It was one of the rules she had to follow to conceal her identity and that of the gang.

"Would you rather want to wake up under the bridge or on the side of the road, or worse get robbed or hurt?" He asked with concern evident in his gorgeous eyes.

"Why would I tell you my address, you heard your driver, the world is cruel, you could be a robber or something right?" She replied the man wondered how she could talk so well and listen even in her drunken state, but she couldn't even stand on her own.

"So where should I drop you off instead? " he asked so concerned.

"Arcade Hotel" she replied, yeah it was a very unpopular (4) star hotel, she didn't want any form of suspicion she couldn't give him her address, it was in her nature and job to be discreet.

"Ok" he replied humming a classical song from Backstreet Boys, Bella watched him with her weak eyes, her body on its own felt comfortable in the car, unlike in other cases her eyes and ears would be alert.

This one was an innocent homeboy who knew nothing about the world, if only he knew who he had in his car. Her eyes scanned his neatly shaved jawline to his thin almond lips which were forced into an O as he whistled joyfully without a care in the world.