Chapter 3

“Hello Eve”, he smiles as he greets me.

I do everything I can to hold in my growl. Through gritted teeth and a low threatening tone, I demand, “What do you want”.

He’s trying to be gentle and reassuring but this does nothing to calm me down. “He wants to see you”.

“I don’t care what he wants”. I just glare at him while using my peripheral to decide on an escape plan. 

I look across the table at my girls and get a mix of excited and angry faces. They had missed some huge gossip in my life after I just said I had nothing going on. 

Michelle as usual is the first to pipe up. “I’m sorry, our friend here has clearly not filled us in on the details. Who wants to see her”.

“Billionaire Conrad Strongheart”. 

Their eyes are so wide now that with the smiles on their faces, they look like Disney characters.

Kimberly instantly goes into her sickly sweet voice, “Why don’t you join us and tell us all about him and what he wants with our Eve”.

I protest as they don’t know the risk he poses or that they need protection right now. “What about girls only for the first two hours”. They quickly look around at each other and they give each other knowing looks.

“You’ve been outvoted. He’s joining us”, Michelle says proudly. “Firstly, what’s your name and what is your link to Mr. Strongheart”.

He pulls up to the seat next to me and starts addressing the group. “My name is Connor, and I work in his security team. My specialty is surveillance and intelligence, so I scope out and gather information to ensure the safety of the team”.

Kimberly and Michelle are currently swooning over his words and batting their eyelashes for attention. Willow seems to be deep in thought and analysing his words. 

“Does he run the Strongheart foundation. There are several artifacts on display at work in the museum from his collection”.

“Yes, he does, among many other things”. He turns to me as he can now feel the blade I am holding against his femoral artery under the table. Let's him know I have control of the situation and that if he does anything to threaten us I will either kill him or cut off his manhood. He starts to squirm slightly in his seat to move away but I just apply slightly more pressure. 

The girls don’t notice this interaction at all, while Michelle is furiously typing on her phone.

“OH. MY. GOD. Is this his picture? He’s Gorgeous. Is he really a billionaire? What does he want with Eve? How did he meet Eve? Why didn’t he come?”

Connor starts laughing. “That’s a lot of questions at once. Yes, he really is a billionaire. He met Eve a week ago during a mission and was very impressed. I think he has a bit of a crush on her as he has been moping around his house since then hoping she would come to him. He didn’t come as he tries to keep a low profile as he is very recognizable and that is why he sent me”.

With my anger growing, I ask him the only thing I needed to know. “How did you find me”.

“All soldiers wear cameras so we have footage from that day. We got a still of you and sent it to a hacker friend. He searched your picture and found your driver’s license. That gave us your license plate and your address, so I followed you here”. Connor starts to look at me very concerned as he can sense me getting angrier. He keeps trying to talk in a low calming tone which is difficult when I'm holding a blade to him. “We’re not your enemy Eve. He just wants to see you and make sure your OK”.

“I’ve been OK for years and don’t need him or any of you”. I stand up to leave hiding my blade from view under my jacket.

“You know he won’t do that”. 

“Then I’ll just disappear again”.

He grabs my arm to try and stop me. I use the knife to slice his hand just enough for him to let go, get the message, and pull away. I re-sheath it before anyone in the bar notices but my girls are staring at me in shock. They look very concerned and scared now as they have never seen me like this before. 

I start to storm out of the back of the bar making sure my girls are in front, and I can hear him yelling after me.

“He will keep looking for you if you don’t go see him and you know why”.

“I already told you, I don’t care what he wants or why. I’m not going back”. 

As soon as the cold night air hits me I start to feel like there is not enough air in the world. It gets more difficult to breathe and the world gets smaller as my adrenaline rushes through my veins. I need to get home. I need to get us to safety. The girls know not to argue with me and get in the car. 

As we pull out, I see Conner watching from the entrance, wondering if he has done the right thing.