LOGINEnzo:The train moved slowly along the tracks. Everyone else was conversing in low tones while I was looking at the security footage. From what I could see, Tabitha had left her room for the kitchen. She was sitting at the kitchen island, talking to Edwardo, who had just made a tray of samosas.Nothing looked out of the ordinary. I had checked the time stamps, and everything was in place. There was nothing strange going on. Maybe whatever Edwardo told her must have lifted her spirits a little. Maybe we would actually have a better chance of figuring this mess out as soon as I got back. “So are you sure that you have no idea of what the Ma..”The girl was pinched sharply, and she immediately kept quiet and looked around. Even though we were alone, we couldn’t risk talking so carelessly. “If I had the faintest idea of what they were after, then there would be a point to me dragging you all along on this,” I muttered, not lifting my head. “I would have given them what they wanted with
Tabitha:I opened my eyes, and the first thing that hit my lungs was the smell of wine mixed with cigarette smoke. I tried to stand up, but my head hurt, and my wrists felt raw. I looked down at them; they were red like someone had used a sponge and aggressively scrubbed them.“Where am I?” I sat up, and I looked around. This wasn't a familiar place. The ceilings were too high. The furniture looked old and distinguished. The rug smelled slightly of alcohol and smoke. This was not a place that I knew.I tried to stand up, but my knees gave out, and I collapsed to the floor. My mind was going haywire, questions popping in and out, and slowly, I began to remember how I got there.Edwardo…I was talking to him in my room, and then he gave me some samosas to eat, and then the next thing I knew, it went dark, and I ended up here. I sat up and hugged myself tight, looking around the dimly lit exotic ancient room. Why did he have to do this? Who was asking him to do this? What did they want
Enzo:“Let me get this straight. You want us to follow you to Westlean Avenue Road so that you can search the house of your old friend to retrieve some information that he might have had about the Red Mafia when he was working for them back in the day?”I nodded slowly. And here I was thinking that I was going to have to explain it multiple times before they could understand what I was saying.“And what makes you think that we would want to put our lives on the line for you? I mean, look at Sandy. She didn't even do anything serious apart from helping you decode a piece of paper, and they slit her throat for it.”“I am well aware of what the Red Mafia did to send Sandy,” I said calmly, “but if we don't stop them they are going to do something much worse and do you think that they will just stop at Sandy, or me, or my ward?”They all looked around the room at each other, and I allowed the question to sit in the air.“I am not asking you to put your lives on the line; I'm only asking yo
Tabitha:The knocking stopped. My heart was still racing. Who was at the door? Had the person gone? Was it a burglar?I moved on the bed, and then a soft voice came from the other side of the door.“Tabitha? It’s me.”“Edwardo?”Without a second thought, I hurried to the door and flung it open. Edwardo stood at the door, oven mitts on his hands while he held a tray of samosas. I wanted to cry right then and there. I wasn’t alone anymore. Oh, thank God!“Are you alright?” he asked, coming in, setting the tray on the bedside table and taking a seat in the chair at my desk. The door was wide open. I wasn’t surprised. After the last incident, there was no way that he wanted to incur Enzo’s wrath.“What’s happening, Tabitha?” he asked, passing me a samosa. I tasted it. It was just as amazing as the first time I tasted it. I didn’t even know when tears began to roll down my cheeks.“I’m a failure, Edwardo,” I cried, still stuffing my face with samosas because what else was I to do? “Enzo is
Enzo:The hospital was fortified like a fortress. I had guards posted at every level of the hospital, and there were two standing next to Sandy's door and Andrew's as well. There was no way I was going to take any chances with their lives.I paced the hallway trying to reach Tabitha, but there was no answer. What did I even expect? Of course, she was ignoring me on purpose. Sometimes that girl could be so infuriating.“Trying to call your other woman?”Natasha came up behind me, smiling from ear to ear. She has gone home, had a bath, changed up and come back to the hospital, which was very surprising for someone like her. I thought that once she got the opportunity to go home, she wasn't ever going to come back. It seemed like she cared more about her nephew than I thought.“Tabitha isn't the other woman,” I replied firmly, folding my arms across my chest, “and Sandy is helping me with something important.”“Sandy?’ Natasha tested her name and made a face. “Did I ever tell you that yo
Tabitha:Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! How could I have been so stupid?!I wanted to scream, to shout, to punch a wall, but what good would it have done? Enzo was right. I was a terrible person. I have friends in danger, I had disobeyed everything that everyone was trying to tell me, and now Andrew was lying in the hospital clinging on to a sliver of hope that he would live.“Why didn't I just listen?” I screamed into my pillow as tears ran down my face. “Why didn't I just allow things to be the way they were?”And the sad thing was that I knew deep down that Enzo was right. If he had told me about who Collin was, his affiliations to my dad, I was almost certain that I would have gone after him, that I would have done something stupid and reckless in a bid to avenge my dad's death, just like I did today with Andrew.I buried my face deeper into my pillow and cried even louder. Everything else hr had said was true, and I wasn't sure that I could even blame him for it.He saw me as a
Tabitha:I hated sleeping in the hospital, hooked up to all the machines. I couldn’t even sleep a wink. My eyes were still wide open until the first rays of sunlight flooded into my window. My thoughts were pulled away by Enzo, reflexively squeezing my hands in my sleep. He had asked the driver to
Tabitha:The room seemed to be spinning. The beeping machines made my skin crawl. I had never felt so weak, so scared. My stomach hurt so much. Everything hurt. “Tabitha, are you okay?”It was Enzo. His figure looked blurry, and it didn’t clear up no matter how many times I blinked. He took my han
Enzo:"Sir? Sir? Mr. Ross?" I was jolted back to reality by Office Sandy. My pen was in my hand, hovering over the paper on which I was writing my statement. I couldn't stop thinking about her. I couldn't stop thinking about Tabitha. The Sergeant who demanded to ask her questions was standing te
Tabitha:Enzo stayed with me. The silence between us lingered long after the stitching was complete. My body ached like crazy. I was kept in a lying position and asked not to sit up. It hurt so much that I felt handicapped. The monitors around me were still beeping, and I hated it. I wanted to say







