13. Unmasked

"Shhh. It's okay baby. You're safe now."

If she didn't know better she'd think it was Xander who spoke. But it was Adam Taurus.

His hand still on her mouth, he took a peek outside. She didn't notice his form was tensed until he relaxed. Then he slowly removed his hand from her mouth, his other hand still on her waist.

He then turned them around, with her back to the wall and leaned over her with one of his hands on the wall above her head. Even in the dark, the faint light peeking in through the small ventilator danced on his black and red mask, making its edges more pronounced.

He wiped her tears gently, his touch is so feather-light. It was then she noticed his eyes properly.

Blue crystals like sapphires.

Xander. His name barely left her lips when he pulled her to his chest, his arms locking her in his embrace. He would have her to this extent at least before he looses her because of his life.

"Please trust me." his voice held an emotion so strong, so desperate as if his life would leave his eyes if she doesn't believe him. He sounded so vulnerable, almost af if those three words were his ultimate weakness.

He tightened his hold on her once before stepping back. He didn't wait for her reply as he pulled her out with him, as if he couldn't bear to hear her answer or make her regret it. Especially after what he was gonna do with her.

There were few more sounds of bullets being fired but not a single one touched them. In fact, some of the men who were csyyinf guns stopped that they were doing and bowed their heads to him in respect.

"He's waiting by the end master Knight." one of the men said, his head still bowed.

Xander nodded. "Alert Draco and my uncle."

"Where are we going.?" she asked finally as they neared the far end of the amusement Park where some of the rides were undergoing repairs or were in construction.

"To your uncle."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she asked, "My uncle?"

"I'm going to show you his true colours."

Three cars stood at a distance away with men flocking around them forming a protective barrier. Jordan Villin came forward as they moved to let Adam Taurus and her near.

Jordan raised his eyebrows in surprise. His eyes held disbelief at first which then turned into something sinister. He curled his lip up in a sneer. "So stubborn just like your mother." his eyes drifted to the person standing beside her. "Perhaps it wasn't stubbornness at all. Just like in the past."

Xander rolled his eyes, taking out his gun. He then did something that made Alexandra stiff with fear again, the feeling of betrayal hurting more than the thought of what could possibly happen next.

He had just pulled her in front of him with his hand firm on her waist and put the cold metal of the gun to her temple.

"Where is Daniel Amanar?" Xander asked, his tone cold and demanding.

Jordan rolled his eyes. "How would I know? He's probably dead."

Xander shot him a bemused glare. "Your niece will be dead if you don't tell me the truth." he dragged the cold metal against her temple so lightly, she wondered if he really wanted to kill her.

"This was your trust?" she murmured loud enough form him to hear. He stiffened, afraid to look at her eyes. The hurt and the accusation in her voice were ice cold thorns prickling his heart.

He pulled her back to his chest, as if they weren't already close enough. "I told you I'm a dangerous person." Maybe this would be the best thing after all. If she startes to hate him like this, maybe he could keep himself away from her, no matter how much it hurt.

A voice in his head scoffed at him. He was fucking powerless in front of her. Fuck staying away, he couldn't even stop his own fucking eyes from straying to her.

"And I still trusted you."

Before he could give in and tell her the truth, he heard Jordan speak. "You really think I care about her? After everything I did to try to kill her? How naive are you?"

Alexandra wasn't as surprised as she should've been. Her uncle had just admitted that he tried to kill her, she should be feelings pangs of betrayal and hurt but all she could feel was disappoint on not being able to record his words and show them to her dad.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked him, really calmly for a person who was being pointed a gun at. Perhaps she still believed in Adam Taurus behind her or perhaps it was because she already found out that her uncle had tried to kill her when she was just born, she was actually feeling relieved, as if a semi transparent wall had been broken completely, giving her a clear reason to hate him openly without faking it.

Jordan wasn't a tad bit remorseful as he ordered his men, "Kill them."

Xander immediately pushed her behind him, shielding her completely. "Yeah you're gonna have to rething that with that shit brain of yours."

A red dot appeared on the centre of Jordan's head before he could turn to his car. Noticing his men getting tense but not daring to make a move, Jordan understood. He cursed, seething at Xander who's lips were curled up in a cocky smirk.

" I'm the fucking Crimson heir." he said, "You really think I came unprepared? How naive are you?" he mocked, throwing his previous words back at him.

Jordan made a move to hide behind his men but stopped the moment Xander spoke. "Take a single fucking step, and you'll be bleeding from your fucking head."

"You'll have a full blown out war if you harm me even in the slightest." Jordan gritted out, his hand slowly going to his phone.

"The war was already started the moment you fucking stepped in my soon to be territory and bombed it. So shut your fucking mouth if you want to live any longer."

Xander slipped in a small box in Alexander's hand before he let it go. He stalked forward as he removed his earpiece and the recording chip with which he'd been recording the whole conversation.

"Daniel fucking Amanar. Now." he demanded.

Alexandra heard the sound of a motorcycle nearing them as she was about to turn and run. The man riding it was wearing a dark mask covering the lower part of his face and had a bandanna on his forehead. A few strands of his pale blonde hair fell over the bandana, covering up the Griffin carved at the centre on a metal plate.

He came to a stop beside her. "Get on."

Glancing back at Adad Taurus one last time, who seemed to be interrogating her uncle, she asked. "And where will you take me?"

"Don't worry. I'm taking you to your parents. George knows who I am."

Reluctantly, she got on.

Just like he said, he took her to her parents who were waiting anxiously outside the amusemt Park. The moment she got down, her eyes immediately searched for Cole. She was almost knocked off her feet when he wrapped his arms around her, meeting her halfway as she ran to him.

Closing her eyes to hold back the tears, she patted his back gently, something that had been their comfort gesture. "I'm okay. Don't cry." she said softly.

"Don't do that again." Cole sniffed, tightening his arms around her. "Do you know how scared I was?!"

George extended his hand towards Jeremy, a grateful look in his eyes. "Thank you."

Looking down at his hand, Jeremy's eye twitched. He glanced back at him, his sapphire blue gaze clashing with George's grey one, an invisible animosity between them like a barrier. "Go thank your brother."

He turned his bike around, casting one last seeing glare at George. Then he was gone.

Fisting his outstretched hand, George put it back down to his side. He turned to Alexandra who was now hugging Sophia as she fussed over her. George felt his heart grow cold at her tearstained cheeks. He had heard every bit of what Jordan had said to Xander.

His own brother... Feelings of hurt and betrayal hit him like a truck. What if his brother had succeeded? He could've lost his Alexandra. He could've lost Cole. He couldn't physically bring himself to imagine it. It hurt too much. He would rather die.

After breaking the bug with her mom, Alexandra fixed her cold eyes at George. He felt as if he had become someone else in his daughter's eyes, a complete stranger. "Your brother did this." she said, pointing her shaky hand at him. Her voice cracked as she further said, "My brother could've died today. You're responsible for this dad. Only you."

The journey home was silent. No one spoke a word to each other, even Cole stayed quiet.

Scenes of what happened today played in Alexander's head like a movie. His desperate voice when he'd asked her to trust him and the completely contradictory move of what he'd done before, by pointing his gun at her and also his previous statement where he said he was going to reveal her uncle's true colours... Why had he done these?

He'd saved her life as well. Just who was he? His eyes were the same sapphires as Xander's, whom she hadn't heard from all day.

Was it because they were the same person?

She opened the box he'd given her. In it were three things - a folded piece of paper, a chrysanthemum flower and a key. She opened the paper first. In it was an address of a book store in West Village.

Then she took the Chrysanthemum in her hand. A flower that meant truth.

She immediately asked George to drop her at that bookstore. "A bookstore in West Village?" he frowned.

"Its near us and the book I need is sold there."

He agreed reluctantly. As they reached the street with cobblestones, Alexandra fiddled with the key in her hand.

The bookstore was in the centre of the road which divided into two on its either sides. The glass windows covering the one storey building gleamed in the rays of the evening Sun. The name "Paper Airplanes" hung on metal chains a few inches above the entrance door along with two metal wires shaped like paper airplanes.

"I'll come home by myself." she said before she got out of the car.

Ignoring George calling her name, she walked to the door. When she didn't answer nor turn back, George severed the car around in defeat. Letting her have some time to herself would perhaps be for the best.

Alexandra twisted the key and the door opened with a small clank. The bell chimed as she walked in, further opening the door.

There wasn't a reception desk. In fact, the there were wooden stairs in a spiral leading up to the first floor. She could see the book shelves made of dark mahagony arranged neatly beyond the stairs. There were three huge windows on the wall, each between two book shelves through which sunlight flooded in. In front of the window in the middle was the figure of a person with his back to her.

Alexandra walked forwards, the sunlight being obstructed by the person flowing through the empty space beside him as if it wanted to take a look at her. He turned around.

Both of them were silent, yet their eyes spoke a number of emotions, their hearts matching the rhythm of a warning drum.

"Once you know...there's no going back." he said in a breathless voice.

"From what?" she asked.

His mouth curved up a half smile as he took a step closer to her, his hand raised to her cheek. He caressed it so gently, the feeling invoking a strange sense of familiarity in her heart. Especially since those sapphire blue eyes held the same piercing gaze as Xander's, freezing her in her place.

"You'll know soon enough."

Those same words he said before.

Alexandra slowly raised her hand to his mask. "Can I?"

"Yes."

But he held her hand before she could even touch the mask. He moved it behind his head, to the tied ribbon and let it go.

She pulled off the knot and his mask fell, just like walls of his heart.

Uncertainty showed on his face, the fear of her leaving haunting his thoughts.

She, however, felt her heart go still for a second before it beat again to the rhythm of his own, the only difference, her heart was full of relief and joy.

She wrapped her arms around his neck in the next instant. His eyes widened in surprise yet his hands rose on their own accord, locking around her like it was meant to be. What she said next made him close his eyes at the overwhelming emotions erupting in his heart like a volcano.

"I knew it was you."