“Brooks, someone is asking about you at table 50,” said Carmen, giving Brooklyn Davis a look of dread. Both of them were waitresses at The Chicago Lunchbox which was a glitzy and upscale restaurant in the poshest area of downtown Chicago. Brooklyn's eyes widened with apprehension. She hardly knew anyone in Chicago. Who could be asking for her? “Who? Brandon?” Asked Brooklyn hesitantly. Brandon Davis was her twin and he was the only one she knew here. Carmen knew her brother very well since he came by many times to collect Brooklyn after late hours of work. “No, no, a rude and arrogant as*h*le. Why don’t you find out for yourself?” said Carmen, getting back to work. Brooklyn sighed, not wanting to find out at all! Who could be the rude and arrogant a*sh*le who was looking for her? Her heart started dreading going over to table 50 but she knew that there was no escape. She hated this job

Brooklyn unlocked her door and rushed inside. For the last two days, her already hopeless life had turned into a worse nightmare. She collapsed on the floor, drenched, hungry and tired. The tears fell incessantly from her eyes and she just broke down completely. Why couldn’t her troubles lessen? It would have been so much better if she had died instead of her mom. Her teeth started clattering from the cold, thoroughly drenched clothes that she needed to get out of. Getting up, she walked over to her room to change. After ten minutes, she drank water and curled up on her bed, covering herself well. Her stomach grumbled relentlessly but she had nothing to eat apart from water. Exhausted, broken, and hungry, she might have dozed off to sleep when the sound of the doorbell woke her up. Who could it be? Fear gripped over her. She remembered the cold angry face of her stalker. She remembered her outburst a few minutes ago in front of him. Did he real

Brooklyn gazed at him with a shocked expression on her face. She slowly shook her head. She had no idea who Nikolas Ardolf was! She had never heard of him. She felt a little relieved that he wasn’t a criminal, that he wasn’t Jimmy Black. But the question that was utmost on her mind was why was he after her? “I f*cking don’t believe this! Haven’t you heard of me?” He asked with a scowl that denoted how angry he was. If he was angry before, the fact that the girl didn’t know him, made him angrier. Brooklyn’s eyes widened with fear. “No, I haven’t. So, why are you after my life? What did I ever do to you?” She asked, still at the far end of the room, her back flat against the wall behind her. Nikolas gave her a look of contempt and then slowly walked towards her, wanting nothing more tha

Nikolas rushed out of his room and down the staircase in a flash as if chased by some unknown power. He wanted to get to her before she disappeared. However, when he walked towards the koi pond, he didn’t see her anywhere. Was she even there or was he hallucinating? He looked all around the place but didn’t find her at all. Where could she have gone within such a short span of time? He was about to return when something white caught his eye. He walked over to the swing hidden by a canopy of bougainvillea trees but stopped in his tracks seeing Brooklyn on the swing. She was happily swaying gently to and fro, her hair blown off the face, her eyes closed as if she was in heaven! Nikolas was thunderstruck by the beautiful vision in front of him. He was dumbfounded, gazing at her from a few feet away. For the first time, his cold heart didn’t spew venom, his anger dissipated completely and he felt a strange flutter in the pit of his stoma

Brooklyn looked at him with surprise. How did he agree to her offer so quickly? Would it mean that she wouldn’t be a prisoner here anymore? Would it mean that she would be free? Would it mean that she wouldn’t be locked up in a room any longer? “Thank you, Mr. Ardolf. I’ll do any work that you assign to me,” she said, looking up at him expectantly. However, all her hopes were dashed when he hardly looked at her and kept on working at his laptop. She waited eagerly for him to say something but he didn’t. After waiting for five minutes, she got up to leave. Maybe he had forgotten about her. “Be ready in ten minutes. I want you to accompany me to my office,” he said in a tone devoid of any expression. Brooklyn nodded and got up to leave. As she walked over towards the door, she could feel the hair at the