CHAPTER 13

Marietta P.O.V

I was looking outside the window, where everything was moving but my mind, stuck at a point. Why was I feeling weird? As if, something big was about to come. As if, my sixth sense was warning me of something.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the headrest. I tried to again visualize that dream. Such a black atmosphere with a boxing ring and those dark blue eyes, even visualizing them was sending a shiver down my spine. But it was just a dream. That guy with dark blue eyes surely had nothing to do with me.

'I'm just overthinking.' I tried to convince myself.

"What are you thinking?" Veward asked, looking at me with concern.

We were driving towards that one-way highway where that accident happened and had stolen my siblings. Veward said he found something there and he wanted to show it to me.

"Nothing, just some random thoughts." I said, assuring him with a small smile. He nodded but I knew he wasn't convinced but chose not to ask further.

In five minutes, we were standing in the middle of a long road. It was a one-way path, a shortcut to our countryside mansion. On both sides of the road were tall trees. Sun was shining on top of us and its rays were radiating the leaves of the tree. Birds were chirping at a distance and the slow breeze was blowing, making the atmosphere so relaxing.

One could forget all worries here if you just close your eyes for a moment and feel the beauty of nature.

"So, what did you find?" I asked, looking back at Veward. He looked around skeptically and walked forward. Stopping near at a corner of the road, he pointed at a spot.

"Look!"

I angled my head in the direction and my brows creased when I saw a camera pole. What was so important in a camera pole? It was a highway and there was supposed to be a camera here.

"Veward, it's a highway, and having a camera here is a normal thing. What's so suspicious in it?" I asked, tilting my head and raising my brows.

"As far as I remember someone told me this place doesn't have any camera." He said lost in some deep thoughts.

"And having a pole without any camera. Isn't it strange?" He asked and stepped towards that long iron stick also known as a camera pole or camera stand.

"But... Why cops didn't find anything suspicious here?" I asked, stepping towards him. He jerked that pole a little bit hard and it landed on the ground with a loud thud. We both looked at each other not really confused.

"Someone must have plugged it out after the accident or maybe placed it back again yesterday. Because when I came here to visit I saw it here and the cops didn't find anything. Probably it was not here when they were searching." He said, eyeing the pole like a cop and explaining in detail.

My heartbeat quickened with the thought that someone did so much effort just to kill us. Why? Why did someone want to kill us? What we had ever done to him or her?

"Did it mean there was a camera present at accident time?" I asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

"And there is still a way to get the footage," Veward said, smirking.

'Isn't he smirking too much these days?'

"Control room!" We both said at the same time and marched towards his car.

Why that person would plug that pole again? Was he stupid enough because in this way, we could find him, and then he would be imprisoned? Was he mad? Or Was he.....was he......Oh My God!!!

"He wants us to find him," I whispered with bewildered eyes.

"What?" Veward looked at me with confusion.

"What do you think why else he would place it back again? He wants us to find him. He is planning something big, Veward. I'm telling you, I can feel it. I don't know how but I'm having a weird feeling. Something big is about to come." I said, panicking. Fear was visible in my voice as I tried to explain my inner feelings to him.

"God! Relax and don't worry." He stopped the car aside and turned towards me.

"Nothing is gonna happen. I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you. Trust me." He said, holding my hands and caressing the back with his thumb in a comforting manner. I felt electric shocks at my skin.

I looked at his face and his ocean eyes held commitment. He nodded at me and I nodded back. Eventually, I believed him. A weird feeling in my stomach again appeared as if lots of butterflies were fluttering inside it.

We looked at each other for a moment before he again started the car as his eyes fixed on the road. There was silence in the car, unwanted and awkward, so I decided to break it.

"Will they show us the CCTV footage?" I asked, looking at his face.

"Don't worry I have my ways. " He said, showing his stupid smirk again. Well, I was not complaining, he looked quite handsome.

'He always looks handsome to you.' My inner voice mocked.

"Stop smirking," I turned my face towards him and said with a frown.

"Why? Do I look handsome?" He asked, unexpectedly moving so close to my face that my breath stopped. But I managed to say,

"Hahaha Joke of the day, trust me you look quite ugly."

His smile disappeared into thin air as a frown appeared on his face. With the same unexpected speed, he moved backward and zeroed his eyes on the road. I burst into laughter looking at his pissed-off face.

"You know you have the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard." He said with a wide smile lingering on his lips. My heart skipped a beat. I knew I was blushing as I could sense the heat coming out of my cheeks.

"Excuse me? Are you flirting with me?" I asked mischievously, ignoring the deep blush on my cheeks.

"Maybe... And I guess it's working considering the deep shade of red on your cheeks."

And here I looked towards the window, doing a useless attempt to hide my blush and smile. I heard him chuckle behind me.

We reached the control room in 45 minutes. It was a huge glass building, showing skilled architecture and reflecting the sky. As we stepped inside, people were running from here to there, wearing ID cards or headphones. Some were busy with bundles of files while a few were fiercely typing on their computer. You could say a full busy atmosphere greeted us.

We walked towards the receptionist's desk. There was a blonde guy typing something on his computer. Veward knocked on the table and he looked up at us. After staring for a good minute he finally asked, "Yes? How can I help you?"

"We'd like to see a recording of one of your cameras," Veward said in a way like he was ordering something in a restaurant.

"Sorry sir, but we are not allowed to show anyone any kind of footage. It's against our policy, I hope you would understand." That blonde guy said, politely with a small smile. A smile that had the power to convince anyone just like Mia's smile. I felt a pang in my heart but before I could go further with my grief, Veward answer made me look at him startled.

"Okay," He replied with a straight face and started to walk to the door. I blinked with my jaw hung low to the ground. Didn't he said 'I have my ways'? But when he moved out of the door, more prominently out of the building. I broke my trance and ran behind him.

"Don't worry I have my ways." I mimicked his earlier words sarcastically as soon as I reached him. Now, how we were supposed to find out what exactly happened that night?

Especially with me!

"Are you hungry?" He asked, ignoring my sarcastic comment.

I was indeed hungry because I had not eaten anything since morning. His words made the rats of my stomach alive and they had already begun to dance. But I lied, "No! I am not."

"Really?" He asked, shrinking his eyes to look deep into my soul.

"Hey! Don't change the topic." I said, trying to change the topic.

"Alright. I'm hungry and I need to fill my stomach to think properly." He said, unlocking the car then pushing me inside it. I sat quietly as my stomach was betraying with me by slightly growling.

We went to a small restaurant not so far. As we ordered a heavy meal to satisfy our appetite. Double cheeseburgers with fries and an extra chocolate milkshake. Chocolate was my love, I could never say no to it. After placing our order, Veward went to do a call while I looked around the restaurant to watch nothing particular.

It was a simple yet nice restaurant. Everything here was just so simple, two chairs with tables settled in front of every window. Lamps and soft decoration were giving it a decent and warm atmosphere.

I wish my life would be as simple as that. I wish nothing bad had happened, and we were living a happy normal life. But you knew some wishes were supposed to be incomplete.

From the window, I looked outside where my sight caught a man who was selling ice creams. A smile broke down on my lips, looking at that street ice cream as an old memory played in my mind.

When I was nearly 10 years old and Alessandro would be 18 years old. We used to go to Park. One day we both decided to escape from the eyes of guards just to taste the street ice cream as we had never eaten it. You knew an unhealthy food issue. Because the food we eat was made with healthy things and skilled chefs.

So we ran away from the back of the park by climbing the wall with the help of trees. I was a good climber and climbing was a piece of cake for me. All thanks to my yoga and ballet classes. That explained why Alessandro used to call me 'Monkey'.

When we were out of the park, luckily we found a street ice cream man not so far away. We finally ate it. Coming back to the park, some weird people blocked our way. They all were wearing black cloaks with attached hoodies, hiding their faces under those hoods.

They even had strange weapons like swords and long pointed arrows with them. They made a circle around us. I was scared and I started to cry. Allessandro hid me in his arms. He was scared too but he was ready to fight to protect me. Like a protective big brother he was.

When they were just about to attack, 'Masked Savior' came and saved us. That was the first time when Masked Savior saved me. Then attacks continued and every time she appeared to save me then she always disappeared into thin air.

She always saved me from those unknown strange attackers but I never got the chance to even know her name. That mysterious person came, saved me, and just like that disappeared. So I named her 'Masked Savior'.

Allessandro, Veward, and I, only we three knew about her.

"Ma'am your order." The waiter's voice put me back in reality. I looked back to found Veward sitting in front of me, actually, staring at me. The waiter placed our order in front of us and left.

"How long have you been staring at me?" I asked as I sipped my favorite milkshake.

"Since you are so lost in your deep thoughts with a smile on your lips." He smiled and started to eat his burger. I smiled back.

"What were you thinking?" He asked.

"I'm missing Allessandro," I replied as the tasty milkshake and burger became tasteless.

"I know." He smiled weakly and I fight the urge to cry.

The rest of the time went silently as we finished our meals. When the waiter arrived to took the payment, Veward paid him, stood up, and walked outside saying, "Let's go."

"Where?" I asked, walking after him.

"Of course to watch the footage." He said with his stupid smirk, indicating that he again did something stupid.

Soon, we were standing in front of that blonde guy again. He looked at us with a frown on his face but nodded at Veward. Then he grabbed a laptop out of nowhere and motioned us to follow him.

We followed him and he led us towards a silent corner in the parking lot of that building. He stopped at a corner and we stopped too. Then he turned towards us, his face had the expression which only meant trouble.

"Sir, I'm really sorry but I'm still unable to show you the footage you wished to watch." He whispered enough loud to hear. Veward and I exchanged a look when he added, "Because I don't have it."

"What?" Veward yelled, out of confusion. While I knitted my brows with unwanted frustration.

"What do you mean by 'don't have it'?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I will tell you everything but you don't have heard anything from me." He said, terrifyingly.

"Deal!" Veward said and I nodded in agreement.

"A guy came here almost 3 hours ago. He asked me to delete the footage of that highway. First I refused but when I looked at him carefully, I recognize him. He was the same person who stole the camera from the highway and he was asking for the footage of that stolen camera." He paused and placed the laptop on the neared car bonnet and opened it.

"I warned him that I will call cops. It will be better if he back off but instead, he pulled out a gun. He aimed it at me and I was freaking scared so I did what he said." He whispered enough loud to hear with fear dripping in his voice.

"Everyone loves their own life and I love my life. I don't want to die, fear of death is enough to make a man compelled. So I did what he said. If... If he knows that I have told you guys everything he will kill me. Forget it that I have told you something." He winced. "I deleted the video." He sighed.

"Why didn't you tell your supervisors about all this?" Veward asked, frowning.

I looked at that blonde guy who sighed at Veward question.

"Of course, I did but they warned me to keep my mouth shut. An accident had happened on the same road after that someone stole the camera." He added, "They clearly warn me that if I leaked even a word they would not waste a second to fire me and I have my reasons to work."

My heart clenched at the mention of the accident. But I listened to him silently unable to give any reaction. What could I say? Every person had reasons to did things. That person would be much dangerous who carried a gun with him.

"If cops happened to find out a connection between the camera and accident. Then surely the reputation of this agency will get ruined and... Our boss will never spare us for that." He said, sighing again.

People were scared about their reputation. What about others? This world was full of mean peoples. No one was here to care if someone was dying or living. They just cared about their own life, nothing else mattered to them. I hate those people who played with the life of others only for their own sake.

"That guy... How did he look like?" I asked, feeling my blood boiling with anger.

He typed something on his laptop and turned it towards us. "I can show you. My desk has a secret camera but I'm afraid it's of no use either." He said and played a video.

There was a man who stood in front of the camera covered in black from head to toe. A black mask covering his face and a hat covering the remaining area of his forehead only revealing his eyes. His eyes... My own eyes widened at the color of his eyes and I froze at my spot. I blinked once, twice, again, and again but the view in front of me didn't change.

He had as same eyes as the person in my nightmare - dark-deep blue eyes. I tried to convince myself that it was a coincidence but I couldn't. I tried to tear my eyes away but they seemed fixed on those deadly blue orbs.

How it could be possible? Who was he?

"Man in black." Veward chuckled, looking at the person.

"Man in black seriously! Have you seen his eyes? They are dark-deep blue." I snapped angrily and angled my head to look at that blonde guy.

"Anything else, which might help us Mr..."

"Antonio." He said immediately, quite terribly.

Veward looked at me confused. I knew I was been aggressive but I had my reasons. Veward looked at me for a moment, trying to find the reason for that huge frown on my face. When he found nothing then he turned towards Antonio and they exchanged numbers. He told him to call us if he found anything else. He also gave him his dad's company card to contact him for a job as he deserved to work in a better place.

When we walked out of that building towards the car. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about those blue eyes. Of course, a person who could kill someone. He surely had enough powers to do anything. But... What was the connection between my nightmare and reality? Why everything was messing up?

In my nightmare, those dark-deep blue eyes with a boxing ring and... In reality, the circumstances were different but those eyes were as same as if the person came out of that nightmare. I again cringed at the horrible shiver which ran down my spine.

I had to find him at any cost.

'Could it be possible this blue-eye guy is the person behind all this? Why does he want to kill us? Who is he? What we have ever done to him?'

With lots of new disturbing questions, I silently sat in the car. My mind was spinning and my temples were throbbing hard. God help me...

"Marie." Veward sat on the driving seat and looked at me. I just hummed in return.

"Is it possible this guy and your super cool mysterious Masked Savior are one?"