Chapter three: The transition

The words I heard from Mabel pierced through my heart like a sharp sword as I didn't know what to believe, " Tell me this is a joke. Addams is forcing you to say this right? Tell me it's a lie!" I pleaded with Mabel.

"No sister, he is now mine and mine alone." My sister laughed and cut the phone. My head spun and became hot immediately after I finished making the call.

I blinked back the tears in my eyes, "No I don't believe this!" I repeated and tried calling Mabel again but she bounced the call on me. "What's wrong Ava?," Lucas asked, snapping me out of my reverie as I was deep in thoughts.

"Just..I'm okay! I'm fine." I lied

"I know you are not fine and you can confide in me, Ava. Remember we were best friends?" Lucas cooed, taking my palms in his hands and looking into my eyes which held buckets of tears and pain.

"I can see the pain in your eyes, you can always talk to me. Even though it's not now, you can tell me later about it, I'll always listen." Lucas added and stood up next to me, pulled my neck close to his lap in a hug, and then he stretched his two hands and grabbed my face up, our eyes locking in themselves. Immediately, tears rolled down my eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay Ava. Everything is going to be fine," Lucas patted me and patted me. After a few minutes of sobbing, Lucas moved to the kitchen to bring me some food.

While he left, I took out my phone and began screwing through my I*******m pictures, my tears rolled my eyes as I see myself and my children in the camera roll. I deleted the one that I took with Addams and began clearing some photos.

Still busy with the task of deleting the memories which brought me pain, Lucas came in bringing my favorite food with him. "Ava, here you go." He dropped the food on the dining table and I stood up, already moved by the savory aroma from Lucas's culinary skill.

"I am hungry already Lucas. Your food smells nice but I doubt that it's going to be tasty." I teased, taking a spoon of the food and chewed on it softly. "I'll rate you a five over ten," I lied and Lucas chuckled softly but stopped.

His face changed into shock, "Look what I found here Ava. Who wrote this?' Lucas asked passing his phone to me. "Read this."

I collected the phone from him, and read, "WE SEE YOU, EVEN THOUGH WE DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME BUTT RELEASE AVA SMITH AND TELL HER TO COME BACK HOME. THIS IS JUST GOING TO BE A TENDER WARNING AND WE ARE WATCHING YOU.

WE WILL FIND YOU AND WE WILL GET YOU BOTH." Unconsciously, I dropped the phone which almost fell but Lucas caught it. "Take a deep breath now Ava, tell me what's going on?"

At that moment, I felt it was best I tell him about the situation I was going through, "......so that's why I ended up here in New York. To start a new life but it seemed like Addams wanted me dead. What's more surprising is the fact that my sister is involved in this. I barely know where my children are and I guess they are still with Addams. I'm just tired of everything," I concluded.

Lucas smiled and flickered a pen as I spoke, when I finished talking, he said, "So what are your plans? You are the next target and that's evident."

"Plan, plan, plan." It rang in my head as he spoke. The first plan I had was to move to a new place before making sure I plot out well for Addams.

He dropped the pen and tapped softly on the table, then he said, "Firstly, I'll get you a guard to protect you wherever you go. You don't need to go out without being covered!"

"No don't worry about me, Lucas. I am a survivor. The only thing we should be bothered about is you. You have no hands here but you are being targeted. Your life is at stake too, not as mine is." I retorted, slamming my hands angrily on the desk.

"Lucas. I have a plan. A good plan. I'll change the way I dress. Stick to a hijab and mask. That's the first plan." I whispered and Lucas let out a loud cackle.

"That plan is so funny and good at the same time but that won't make me stop at getting you a guard," Lucas firmly spoke.

Three days into staying with Lucas, I didn't go out for anything. Lucas got me whatever I wanted as he said, he was doing that to protect me. On the third night, Lucas and I decided to go out on my demand.

Lucas agreed and as we drove out that night, we arrived at our destination and as I stepped out of the car, a hand pulled me flinging me on the floor.

This came as a shock to me, and I could see Lucas hurriedly rushing toward me. He pulled the man who flung me down and hit his face, giving him punches, "Run Ava." Lucas ordered.

"No, I am not going to leave you." I cried and saw some figures in the dark rushing towards us. From what I saw, some were with guns and rifles. Lucas ran swooping me off my feet and he opened the door and dumped me in roughly, then he hurriedly turned to the other side of the car and immediately hit the pedal.

As we drove, bullets were fired at us. The bullets hit the car but bounced back because it was bulletproof."Drive drive drive!" I screamed.

With my heart beating with speed, we drove home, and as soon as we got inside the gate, I took in a deep breath and looked at Lucas. " I'm sorry Lucas," I said, as my conscience panged me because It was my decision to go out that led to this.

My chest hurts, he said, coughing slightly. I struggled with him to get inside the house, "I'm sorry Lucas. Shit!" I said, immediately I saw the blood on his shirt.

On getting inside, I removed his top gently, as I removed his top it became clear that he was shot closely on his arm and the bullet point was just a few inches close to his chest.

"I'm so sorry Lucas...you must really have a superpower to drive the car and you didn't act like you were shot," I said, laughing in between to relieve the tense environment.

"I'll have to call a doctor or do you have one already?"

"I'm a superman. You should know already." He coughed again and held my hand. "Yes ...I have a doctor. "Here's his number and call him, "Lucas screwed up and showed me the doctor's number.

After calling the doctor, he came and treated Lucas and he advised that Lucas would have to be brought to the hospital the following day. After the doctor left, Lucas spoke up, "I think you'll have to leave New York today. You have to"

"What about you?" I asked and he waved his hands and sarcastically he responded, "Hello! Ava .. it's your life at stake and not mine. Tomorrow, I'll make sure you leave. Go somewhere far, you can go to the UK and make sure no one sees you. And you'll have to change your looks. Okay?" I listened attentively as he spoke.

"Surely I'll change my looks but I am still worried about you." Fear of the unknown crept into my heart.

"Don't worry about me, Ava. I'll be just fine." Lucas acknowledged me, then he added, "I have a brother there in the UK. If you want to go there, and I have a sister too. If that's okay with you, I think it's going to be best if you stay with someone. Can you make a decision now so that I tell them about your arrival?" He asked, looking into my eyes as he spoke.

"I think, I'll be better off fine if I stay alone. I don't wanna bother anyone. See the damage I just caused to you already"

"See I was the one who invited you over and I have no regrets or whatever. The only thing I am bothered about now is your safety. Don't bother about mine." Lucas responded and slowly we drifted into another conversation till we fell asleep.

The following morning, after Lucas was taken to the hospital, I flew to the UK. Immediately I got there, the first thing I did was, look for where to change my looks. When I mean my looks, I am talking about changing my face to another different face as this was the only way I could secure myself and also take revenge.

From what I searched on the internet, I found a location where I could conduct a cosmetic face surgery. "Are you sure you really want to do this? You look so beautiful as you are." The surgeon who was in charge asked. I nodded, my heart beating with every breath I took.

"I know I am beautiful, make me more beautiful," I responded, I didn't really know the right word to say to her. "Okay... it's going to take three days before you go back home."

"Three days?" I asked, I didn't expect it to be that long. "Yes, three days... so eat enough food now honey"The female surgeon responded playfully as she brought out a slide of what I was to choose to look like.

Without hesitating, I said, "I'll pick this." The surgeon nodded her head and smiled, "That's a good pick. It would really suit you." She said with a smile and made me rest on my back.

I didn't know when the surgery began but I woke up after three days and that's all I could recall.

As I blinked my eyes open to the light, the surgeon lifted me and presented a mirror before me. "This is the new you."

Looking at the person before me, I felt like a different person. People who knew me would barely recognize me anymore because of the change. Immediately, I took a picture to send it to Lucas even though I never discussed it with him as it didn't really matter. After all, it was my fight.

I sent the picture to him but he didn't respond as he was last seen two days ago which troubled me. I tried to call his line but it was switched off, immediately I began to sweat but tried to kick away every negative thought.

As I was about to leave, a man walked in with his silky suit which stunk with money. Two men who looked like guards walked behind him as he walked into the room, "Welcome sir."

"Why are you just staring?" The man rudely said to one of the attendants in the room and she shivered running to him and dusting his feet before he sat down.

He turned around and looked at me, and he averted his eyes after I gave him a hard glare which lasted up to ten seconds. " You know with that look on your face, you'll really fit to be a model." The rich dude said and stood up with his arms wrapped.

My lips didn't part, as I acted like he wasn't talking to me at all, "I'm talking to you. You look like a model. Don't you talk or are you dumb? Here take this."

He handed over a business card to me, "I don't want it. You can go to hell with it. You lack manners, so disrespectful of you."I slammed angrily at him and got to pay the cashier.

"Don't get any payment from her. I will get that." He commanded and the cashier shook with fear, "Get this..and let me leave this place." I yelled.

"No I'm sorry I can't," the cashier said in a hushed and fearful tone, as she exchanged glances at the man and me.

Angrily, I took my bag and stormed out of the place, "get her for me!" I could hear the man say when I left.