SAMANTHA’S POV

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, not even daring to stop for as much as a second until I got to my house. I opened the door and slumped on the chair immediately. My heart was beating in my chest and I struggled to calm my breathing down. The image of the two men begging for their lives before he had silenced them were still very fresh in my memory and the very fact that he even had a gun on him all the while made me shudder.

Who was Lucas Storm? Why did he keep a gun with him? Who were the men that had attempted to kill him? Why did they make such a daring attempt at a public place? Tons of questions flooded through my mind and I knew that no matter what, I wouldn’t be able to answer as much as a single one of them. I did a quick sign of the cross and thanked mother Mary for giving me the courage to run away from him. He was too dangerous for me.

I heard the sound of a phone ring from a distance and I turned around quickly, searching for my own phone. It was not in the pocket of my jacket or in my purse. Wait. My purse! I spun around quickly, searching for my purse and then I remembered. In my haste, it had fallen down at the garden and I didn’t turn back to pick it.

“Good heavens!” I cried, remembering where it had fallen. The purse had fallen some meters away from where the dead bodies were and when the police came, it was going to be the first clue for them since criminals always left some of their personal belongings behind at a murder scene.

I buried my face in my palms and wept bitterly. Being tied or even affiliated to a murder case would destroy my reputation that I had suffered to build. I would be banned from attending charity organizations. Even the orphanage homes and book clubs that were my only source of joy and comfort in recent years wouldn’t want to see a murder suspect prowling around their premises. I wept bitterly, realizing that my life had gone down the drain in one night, one night with Lucas Storm.

I heard a knock on my door and I raised my head, alert. The police were already after me? It didn’t even take them that long to find my apartment. I walked to the door, defeated, and pushed it open ready for whatever they were going to throw at me and as the door opened, my eyes met a familiar pair of eyes – my friend, Valerie.

She wore a frown on her face and her jet black hair was dripping with water.

“Valerie?”

She pushed past me, muttering obscenities and walked into the house. I locked the door as soon as she had entered and I turned around to face her.

“You.. you’re wet,” I said.

“I’ve been calling you!” she exclaimed as if that explained why she was wet. “I got stuck in a taxi with flat tyres when the rain started pouring and I called you!”

I strained my ears and for the first time, I heard the sound of rain. It had subsided already, but taking a good look at her soaked clothes, I could tell that the rain had been heavier a few minutes ago.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered and sat down beside her. “I went on a date.”

“That doesn’t explain leaving your best friend stranded!” Valerie cried. “And yes, you told me about Lucas.” Her eyes softened immediately. “How was your date?”

I shook my head in the negative. “Well, I didn’t tell you before but it’s nothing serious.”

Valerie cocked her head at me. “What do you mean nothing serious? You’ve not seen a man since Fred. I bet you’d have cobwebs growing down there…”

“Valerie!” I complained.

“I’m kidding,” she laughed and sat up straight immediately. “But why did you say its not serious? Didn’t end up well?”

“Well, it was a contract…” I started.

“A contract?”

I nodded and looked up at her. If she was disappointed, she did a very good job hiding it. Valerie was never one to hide her emotions. She was the most blunt person I had met.

“Then why did you tell me it was a regular date?” she stared at me.

“I don’t know!” I cried throwing my arms in the air in frustration. “Maybe I thought he would take me seriously after seeing me. Turns out he even has a girlfriend, some dumb bitch named Audrey.”

Valerie sighed and I nodded, knowing that it was coming. She was disappointed in me.

“So what did you two do?” she asked finally. “Had a few bottles of drinks and talked about the contract?”

“Well, we didn’t take any drink,” I frowned. “He beat up a man who tried to harass me and we talked for some minutes about the terms of the contract. He must have been surprised that all I could come up with was charity organizations, orphanage visits and book club memberships.”

“That would surprise any man,” Valerie replied.

“I guess so,” I shrugged. “And he’s actually rich. Not like I care about that but he’s the son of Javier Hernandez.”

“No way,” Valerie eyed me. “What did you say his name was again?”

“Lucas,” I replied. “Lucas Storm. I think it’s a fake name or something. He’s got a Spanish accent.”

“He’s a fraud,” Valerie laughed. “Javier’s got two sons, Lucas and Andres, and they’re both Hernandez. Not storm or rain.”

I laughed at her joke. Valerie always had a way of easing the tension in the air. But that was not all. I contemplated telling her about the murder of the two men for a while and when I finally decided I was going to tell her, she was already ranting about how naïve I was to fall for another scammer’s tricks.

“That’s not all Valerie,” I said, looking her dead in the eyes.

She saw the fear in my eyes and she concluded that we had finally gotten to the most interesting part of the story. She shifted closer to me as if she couldn’t hear me already.

“What else, Sam?” she asked.

“Lucas,” I mouthed. “He killed two men tonight.”

She stared at me, wide eyed and I knew that it would be very hard for her to believe.

“I watched him shoot them,” I continued. “They wanted to kill him. They shot first but he dodged it. He ran after them and caught them somehow…”

“This is very serious, Sam,” Valerie said. “Are you sure of what you’re saying?”

“Would I play with something as serious as death?” I frowned. “It happened right in front of me. He called me but I ran away.”

“Oh God!” Valerie muttered. “So he knows that you saw him?”

I nodded. “Is that bad?”

“How can you ask me if that’s…” Her phone started ringing, interrupting our conversation and she opened her purse to bring it out Valerie stared at the phone in her hand for a second and turned to face me.

“Why are you calling me?” she frowned.

It took me some time to understand what was going on and when I did, I opened my mouth in shock.

“The police!” I squealed. “They’re after me now. You called me last. That’s why they’re calling you.”

“Why is the police after you Sam?” Valerie asked, her eyes fixed on me.

“Lucas…the murder…dropped my purse,” I stammered.

Valerie handed the phone over to me silently and I put it to my ear. I could hear the sound of my heart thump in my chest as I picked the call.

“Is this Valerie?” a familiar voice came from the other end.

I recognized the voice immediately. “Lucas?”

He paused for a while before talking again. “Is that you, Samantha?”

I stared at the phone not knowing whether to lie or tell the truth and he spoke again.

“Samantha,” Lucas said. “We need to talk. Meet me at the second floor of Java. I have some of your stuff with you and I would love to hand it back to you.”

My breathing normalized again. At least, it was not the police. It was Lucas, and he only wanted to give me my stuff back.

“Okay,” I managed to mutter before hanging up the call.

I turned to face Valerie and she stared at me, expecting an explanation.

“Lucas,” I said. “He asked for a meeting tomorrow.”