CHAPTER 406: CIARA

"So, what were you discussing with my grandparents in my absence?" Athena turned to Ewan after a stretch of silence had dominated the car for a while.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, searching his face. "And don’t say nothing, because I heard your lift of voices before you lot had gone quiet... must have heard my footsteps."

Ewan shrugged casually, though his gaze lingered on the road ahead. "Nothing much. We were just talking about your recent engagement with Antonio. You didn’t inform them?"

Athena bashfully turned away, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "It was a secret affair. I had planned to tell them after the party tomorrow. Don’t want it on tabloids yet."

"If you say so," Ewan murmured, about to wind down the partition when Athena questioned his choice of words, eyes flashing.

"Do you think I am lying?"

"I don’t know, Athena. I don’t know." A pause, heavy and quiet. "But I guess, congratulations are in order."

And then he wound down the partition, leaving both of them to their thoughts.

Moments later, they were in the familiar street leading to the house cum lab.

"Don’t you think we can be followed?" Athena spoke, her eyes darting around, looking at the sparse number of people in the street. It was midday on a Thursday, so most people were bound to be at work or taking a nap.

"They have tried..."

Athena’s head snapped to Ewan with such speed that Ewan feared for her neck. "You mean the few times I have come here, I’ve been followed?"

Ewan nodded once. "They have never gotten past the Wix junction, though."

"And why is that?"

The silence that permeated the car then, even seeping into the driver’s seat, was enough to alert the occupants to what had been done to keep intruders away from the lab.

Athena widened her eyes, shook her head slowly, and looked out of the window. "There was no other way?"

"Unless you are planning to take them in, maybe question them, recruit them in your army..."

"Stop it," Athena insisted firmly, noting the sarcasm that was beginning to creep into Ewan’s voice.

"We are at a war, Athena. You don’t get to judge me for doing something you would do if your family was threatened."

"I was not judging you."

"Maybe. But your face was doing just that."

Athena sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Ewan, you are more sensitive than usual today."

Ewan kissed his teeth in frustration. "I’m just getting used to not having things my way."

Then, to Rodney who was watching the exchange from the top center mirror: "Make sure you don’t shift loyalty to anyone that is not us, unless you will be paying that cost with your life. Am I clear?"

Rodney nodded like an agama lizard and focused on his driving, wondering if taking the job had been worth the threat and possible death hanging over his head.

"So, I take it that your men are all around us."

"Yes," Ewan agreed, opening his door and stepping out. They were at the lab.

"You don’t have to follow me in," Athena mused as Ewan walked her to the door. She slid the key into its hole and twisted it.

"I wasn’t planning to." Ewan cleared immediately, causing Athena to exhale wearily.

"Are we going back to the time where we don’t see eye to eye, where we don’t talk to each other?"

Ewan’s eyes, which had been fixed above her head all this while, found hers then, steady and searching. "You determine the nature of our relationship, Athena. What do you want me as?"

"A friend. A business partner. A father to the children."

Ewan nodded stiffly. "Okay then."

And then he attempted a smile, but it looked like a grimace, and Athena burst out laughing, triggering him to chuckle too.

"Heavens, look at the both of us..."

"Yeah... that..." Ewan tucked his hands into his pockets to prevent them from reaching out to her, from offering solace. Instead, he told her to be careful while running tests and walked out of the porch, aware that she watched him until he entered the car.

"Where to, boss?"

Fast learner, Ewan thought, before showing Rodney the coordinates. It was time to get things done.

–

Ciara’s hands fidgeted as she waited for the person her boss had promised would come for her, two phones lying right before her on the center table.

And she wished, for the umpteenth time that day, that she hadn’t taken the secretarial position at the hospital. She would have just done something else, maybe gone to a lesser hospital...

She sighed, letting go of the thought. No need dwelling on the unknowns; there was no way she would have known that something like this would come up in the nearest future. Receiving her appointment letter had been one of the best things that had happened to her.

Then a knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. Her heart pounded, her hands yet shaking, as she got to her feet and smoothed invisible creases on her shapeless gown.

The knock came again—knocks now—bustling against the door, insistent, sharp. She frowned. Was this the person the boss had promised would take her out of the house, away from the watchful eyes?

To be on the safe side, she tucked the burner phone into the side pocket of her bum-shorts, which she had worn as inner wear, smoothed her gown again, and walked to the door.

And when she peered through the peephole, she knew that her fears had been founded well. The rough-looking fellow with a red bandanna around his head couldn’t have been sent by Mr. Giacometti.

She wet her lips, breathing unevenly, asking for strength, for courage. "Who is there?" She tried—and succeeded—in steadying her voice.

"Open the door, Ciara. The boss has some questions for you."

Ciara willfully stopped a tear from leaking, as that would reveal that she had done something wrong, something contradicting the terms the evil gang had set for her. Breathing deeply, calming her fraying nerves somewhat, she opened the door with a blank face.

"Is there something wrong?"

The man gave no answer. He rather pushed past her roughly and shut the door behind him.

"What is the matter?" she asked again. However, this time her voice had taken a scaredy quality when she noted the lustful gaze in the man’s eyes.

No. The evil boss hadn’t sent this psychopath.

His evil desires had driven him to her instead.