Chapter 39

The sound of the phone text notification finally gets into her ears, her heavy eyelids lift slowly. She runs her hands through her messy hair and sits straight, her dull eyes look around the empty hall. The phone beeps again. A low weary sigh leaves her lips, Aiden stands and walks to the shelf. Her brows meet looking at the phone screen, an unknown number. She clicks on the message, a current location shared: the underground parking of her apartment. She checks on Emma, a slight smile makes it's way on her lips to see Emma asleep peacefully. She puts on her shoes and leaves with her phone. The underground parking was closed for a couple of weeks due to construction, the dark alley is brightened with one or two lights which makes the large space dim, some places pitch dark. Aiden holds her phone in the air, with the torch on. She walks through the exit door of the apartment, her eyes observe her surrounding. She doesn't know the sender of the message but decided to face the music as she knows it has something to do with Chloe. She walks in further through the dim path, the noise of vehicles outside echoes in the closed underground. She stops and looks around the empty large space, few damaged vehicles parked. She licks her lips and bows her head, her ears focus on the specific sound, the sound of footsteps. Her hands form into fist as she waits for the sound to get closer and when she feels the presence of someone behind her she decides to spin around. Before she spins around, a large arm wraps around her neck. Immediately she grasps the arm and tries to pull it down, her action made in a bat of an eye not astonished or frightened. She grips tight onto the arm around her neck with both her hands, the other arm of the stranger slides forward with a folded piece of chloroformed material in his grip. She stops his arm with one hand and slips the other hand behind her neck to get a hold on the person's head. She bites her lower lip when her palm settle at the back of the person's head, she bends which makes his grip on her neck to loosen. The very next second he is pushed to the ground. Aiden rubs her neck to ease the stiffness of his tight grip and looks down at the person, Kevin. Her fingers run through her hair, a loud weary sigh leaves her lips when two men comes to her view, their short sleeves vest shows off their tattooed arms. She steps aside when one of them jumps forward, she blows a punch on his template before he makes another movement. Aiden turns, her feet freeze when she felt the sharp objects strike into her stomach flesh, her left hand moves up to the spot, pain doesn't shoot up until the knife is pulled out her skin. She grips the man's shoulder and pushes him behind, her feet wobbles backwards. She steadies herself and looks down at her hand, hot sticky blood whooshes out, she ignores it as the pain doesn't overwhelm her. She keeps a step forward to fight back, taking her situation as an advantage the man holds her and quickly covers her mouth with a chloroformed material. She struggles in his grip until the edges of her vision turns dark. 'What the fuck did you do?," Kevin yells out of his lungs, he runs his hand through his messy hair furiously, his eyes fixed on Aiden laid on the ground, crimson red liquid flows below her. 'Isn't it difficult to fight her, this is what we can do?" The man who stabbed her argues. Kevin walks to her and squats, his eyes clouded with fear at the thought of Chloe, his words repeat in his head ‘Bring her safe.' 'Put her in the car, you've dug your own grave," he warns. A little rays of light lightens her vision as she slowly lifts her heavy eyelids, her brows meet at the feeling of someone carrying her, pain shoots up her spine when her body collides on the cold floor, she cringes and moves her tied hands to her stomach. Her head throbs and her vision is still unclear. She lets out heavy breaths and squeezes her eyes shut to calm her pounding heart but the pain never eases. She opens her eyes when she feels a pair of shoes beside her, her eyes scan up the figure. 'Who did this?" Chloe growls his face contorted in rage, he takes out the gun from his torso and aims it straight at Kevin, the two men by his side. 'Who did this?," He asks again, his nostrils flare as he glares at Kevin. 'Sir, ' Kevin falls on his knees 'I'm sorry, it was a mistake," he begs. 'Who did it?," Chloe repeats, his lips curl, his upper lip quivers in rage. His hold on the pistol tightens, his finger on the trigger. He moves his gaze from Kevin to the two men standing beside him, one of them keeps a step back. 'Who the fuck did this?," Chloe grunts, his jaw clenched. 'I'm sorry" the man who stabbed Aiden falls on his knees, he bows his upper body and stares down at the floor 'It was a mistake, we couldn't fight her," he explains 'Please spare me," he begs 'I've worked for you for ten years, this is my first mistake," he reminds 'Please forgive me," he begs for his life, he has been loyal to Chloe from his first day of work since the day Chloe got him and his brother out of prison to get a job done. He lifts his head and looks at Chloe, the gun point aiming at him. Aiden moves her body to a comfortable position, the rope tied around her wrists and ankles cuts through her skin, she turns herself to the right slowly to the other side where the three men who kidnapped her are present. Click! The bullet strikes into his neck, his body drops to the floor. The other man, his brother grabs a hockey stick from the basket by the corner of the room and runs toward Chloe. Click! Kevin flinches, his body shudder when his body drops to the ground the very next second in front of his eyes. Aiden blinks and looks away, a low groan leaves her lips when she moves her body 'Aiden," Chloe sits on the floor beside her 'My god," his voice comes out low, he moves his hands to her stomach, his fingers grip the edge of her shirt 'You're bleeding," he says, his eyebrows dragged down. 'What are you doing?," she snaps, her voice low yet stern. He removes his over shirt 'The bleeding should stop," he says, his voice low, his eyes fixed on her bloodied shirt 'Does it hurt?," he asks worried, he bites his lower lip and grips the edge of her shirt again. Aiden stares at him, his actions bring back her memories, how he was worried about her when something happened, he treats her wound when she got into a fight, he made sure that she is fine after she fell ill. She comes back to reality when she feels the sticky material removed from her skin, she pushes his hands away. 'Don't touch me," she warns, her voice never shows pain, the tone is dry yet strong. She begins to draw large amount of oxygen and lets out as her breaths get heavier and louder. 'You should stop bleeding," Chloe says 'Please let me treat your wound," he begs his eyes fixated on her blood 'I don't know why," he continues, his voice low barely audible like talking to himself, Aiden frowns and looks down at his side features, his hand with the crushed shirt in mid air 'I didn't hesitate to kill my parents but when it comes to you," he faces her 'I can't, I can't think of hurting you. I don't want to see you in pain, I'm afraid to lose you," he takes a moment of silence 'Is it because I love you?," he asks his own heart. 'Love me?" Aiden scoffs, her eyes never leaves him 'If you love me why did you kill my dad?," her voice turns low and desperate at the mention of Johnson. 'It's because you took away what's mine," he answers, his tone calm like they are having a casual conversation. 'What's yours?," she snickers 'The company was never yours" she states 'You stole it from your dad. It was never yours. Chloe," his name rolls down her tongues in hatred 'You just killed the person who treated you as his son just for revenge," she breaths and continues 'You killed the person who taught you driving, you killed the person who cooked for you," she pauses again, her uneven breaths makes her difficult to talk but she continues 'You killed my father," tears roll down the corner of her eyes, tickling against her ear, she bites her lower lip to hold in her sob 'You killed him," her voice cracks. 'This was how I felt when people try to take down my company, it was my hard work and only I know how much I suffered to be in this position right now, Everyone wants to rule the world" he moves his gaze down to her stomach 'Aiden," her name rolls down his tongue affectionately as always 'I lost everything what's mine," he lifts her shirt but she pushes his hand again 'But I'm not ready to lose you," he faces her, the blue icy orbs moisten 'I love you," he confesses, his voice low like he has been holding it on for a long time 'I've prepared the ticket for Italy and I'm taking you with me," he says. 'Taking me?" Aiden repeats her brows furrowed, she ignores the pain rising in her, she ignore her uneven breaths and pounding heart 'I would rather die than to be with you,"