Chapter Two: Flee

All I could seem to do in those long moments after, was sit in an extremely expensive car which appeared to be Justin’s, my new security detail beside me, in complete silence, I still couldn’t quite understand what had happened in that office and why such a thing was happening! I knew my father was a very power hungry man and seemed to always have a multitude of plans to gain even more of that power he holds so tightly, but I didn’t think he’d go so far as to ship me off with the first man he could find whose daddy had a lot of money!

I should have known this would be my fathers next plan, all he has spoken about each time we have seen each other for the past couple of months was marriage, telling me that it was about time I settled down. At first, I thought he was saying those things to be spiteful, I had just broken up with my longtime boyfriend Peter, a man I thought I would marry one day and we’d live happily ever after. It appeared Peter as like my father, had different ideas and now Peter is engaged to some other woman while my father is forcing an engagement to this random Justin man!

My breaths still came out in shaky pants but this time not out of fear for my father's condition, but fear of my own life and also, deep sadness and betrayal I felt in that moment. Your father is supposed to be one of the main people keeping you safe but mine, he has planned to ship me off with the first man he could find from the very start!

Watching as the car drove us through the more populated area of town where my friend Rebecca was waiting for me at a coffee shop, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking as I rose one up to wipe the stray tear that began to cascade down my face, none of this was fair. But as I pulled my hand away, that is when the large stone looked back at me, even in this moment I refused to take in the beauty of the rock, to me, this only solidified the feeling of betrayal and entrapment I was in. Marriage is supposed to be this happy thing, but I was left with the deepest sinking feeling.

As the car came to a stop at a set of traffic lights, each fibre of my being repeated continuously in my mind to run, why was I simply sitting in this car and accepting what my father wanted from me? This was my life to live; he did not have the right to sit on his throne of power and dictate what I am to do with it.

Staring down at the huge ring on my finger, I slowly and quietly slip the ring from my finger ensuring to keep my eyes out of the window to not raise suspicion to any of the huge men who sat in the car with me, all thinking this as a very easy day for them. Slowly placing the ring to rest on the middle seat which separated me from one of these men, I take a deep breath getting my head in the right mindset to take off and sprint as fast as I could.

In one swift movement, I take the silver doorhandle in my hand and pull it open, my body fleeing the car faster than I believe I’d ever moved it before. My heels pounding the street floor as I headed for a back alley, I didn’t know where I was going or what my plan was, but I needed to get away.

“Hey!” One of the men enlisted in keeping me contained shouts from the car and begins his own sprint in attempts to catch me, but the understanding that I was indeed being chased, it only pushed me to run even faster as I reached the alleyway and bolted downwards.

All the stars seemed to be aligning once I realised this wasn’t a dead end and I was able to weave my way through the backs of shops and apartments, hoping to bag myself some time, after each bin or other miscellaneous box that I would pass, I threw it behind me blocking the men’s path.

My plan seemed to work as they were forced to stop and push all the items away giving me time to fully leave the alleyway and head down the street, but in my panic stricken brain and the overwhelming feeling that I needed to escape gripping so tightly onto my senses, I didn’t realise that I’d run in a complete circle and soon spotted the car I had bolted from parked on the pavement in front of me, all the doors open and each man seeming to be out of the car to chase me.

Instant panic washed through me and tears forming in my eyes as I scanned my surroundings for any signs of help, all these streets looked the same with not very many places to hide, I would be found eventually. But from a seemingly derelict warehouse, a male's voice called in my direction.

“Hey Princess, come here!” The voice called allowing my attention to turn to the side, the old and rusted metal door wide open with a huge man, dressed in a black tank top and jeans, covered in tattoos, with the darkest of black hair and the most piecing blue eyes stood in the doorway, his hand outstretched towards me.

On any regular occasion, my brain would scream at me not to run into some creepy warehouse with a man I didn’t know, but being in the situation I was in right now and the looming fear of those men coming around that corner and taking me with them, any logic was gone.

Running across the road to meet him at the door, I take his hand and allow this mystery man to pull me through that old, rusted door and into a dark stairway type corridor which soon dipped into even more darkness once the rusted door was closed behind us blocking me from the outside world.

My breathing was still fast paced and panicked as the mysterious man in front of me placed his finger to his lips telling me to be quiet, swallowing a little but nodding my head I attempt to relax my breathing. I was nearly pulled into a haze from the lingering smell of this man’s cologne but running from right outside of the door snaps me from that trance.

“Where the fuck did she go?!” One of the men who had been in that car with me asks, he too completely out of breath from the sprint we all took and a slight anger and frustration due to my running.

“She can’t have gone far, look around!” Another one of the men shout from a little further away allowing me to see how close I was to be caught, whoever this man was stood with me in the stairwell truly saved me from being caught.

With his hand still in mine as we silently stared at the door, he once again brings his finger up to his mouth but gestured for me to walk up the metal steps leading up into the warehouse. Ensuring to not put the heel of my boot too hard down on the metal steps to remain as silent as I could, the door at the top of the stairs is opened for me, and I’m led into the main section.

I didn’t know what I expected when I walked up those steps but it certainly, was not what I walked into. From the outside of the warehouse, you would deem derelict and forgotten about, but the inside seemed relatively modern. It was open plan with a kitchen and a living room and two other doors off to the side, the large windows covered slightly by the large curtains.

Releasing my hand from his, the mysterious man heads towards the windows and pulls the curtain open slightly to look out into the street but not so out in the open that he would be seen.

“Those men are beginning their search of the street; you can remain here until they leave.” The man spoke still staring out of the window down at the street below, the men whose boss wasn’t going to be very happy with them searching each area of the street for me.

I had escaped one danger outside, but it was this moment that stepped me into the most life alerting stage of my life, all at the hands of my rescuer.