Xavier was going to trade in disguise, hoping he could find her but there was rarely any sex trafficking trade.


    Everyone was overwhelmed by finding Anastasia and truly hoped they would find her one day.


    **


    Anastasia arrived at her hotel room. Julian booked two hotel rooms since it would be inappropriate to sleep in one.


    She opened the windows and breathed in the fresh air as her gazended on the beautiful city. Billboards popped everywhere with advertisements being promoted. The same as movies and pop artists.


    The city felt more alive and vibrant than Xattlewood.


    Julian had already informed her that Xander ran the city, making her wonder if he was the president or had someone working for him as the president.


    There weren’t many billboards or any beautiful lights.


    Due to her lost memories, Anastasia didn’t quite know if she’d been familiar with Xattlewood in the past.


    However, ording to Julian, the city was a very small one, almost a town and abandoned by the government due to its size.


    More than a decade ago, Xander had power and started building the city. But of course, no one knew it was Xander because his identity was hidden from the eyes of everyone due to obvious reasons.


    He shaped the government of Xattlewood the way he desired.


    Of course, Julian didn’t mention the main person that gave Xander such power because he didn’t wake up one morning and riches from heaven fell upon him.


    Anastasia had to check online and realized that Xattlewood was one of the cities with little to no crime rates, which was a fabricated lie because Xander didn’t want any external government leadership poke nosing into his turf. So he had to make it sparkly clean to not gain any attention.


    This also exined why Xavier hadn’t thought of going to Xattlewood. In the eyes of people from other cities, Xattlewood was a peaceful ce and itsck of beautiful scenery chased some tourists away.


    Anastasia watched the sunset, her scarf still hovering around her face, keeping her identity intact.


    Then a knock was heard on the door.


    It was Julian.


    "Let’s have dinner," he said as he opened the door.


    "Okay..."


    Anastasia followed him to the hotel restaurant. Julian had always been nice towards her but it made Anastasia ufortable sometimes because she had that feeling of him betraying her anytime soon. He was still friends with her kidnapper after all.


    The restaurant was bustling with people—some were families that fed their little children, some were couples, andstly, they were people who loved to eat their food alone, in peace.


    Anastasia took a seat, and a waiter approached them, handing over the menu.


    They made their order and the waiter left to go get them.


    "Do you recall anything, in case you’ve been to this hotel before?" Julian tried to break the silence between them.


    Anastasia shook her head. "I don’t recall anything. Although, when we were heading over here, the streets felt familiar."


    Julian nodded.


    "If you don’t mind me asking, what if Xander wants to speak with you all of a sudden, are you going to reveal anything about me?" The question caught him off guard, and he nearly choked on his saliva.


    "I wouldn’t reveal anything about you. I’ve already told you, your life is yours now and you can do anything with it, and Xander will keep thinking that you’re dead."


    "I thought you were his friend." Anastasia didn’t know why but she suddenly felt like asking him all these questions. They’d been at the back of her mind all the time, struggling with several other questions she wanted to ask, but not to Julian. "Aren’t you betraying him?"


    "I’m not. Like I said, what Xander had done to you wasn’t your fault to begin with—"


    "So you wouldn’t be bothered if I suddenly wanted to slit his throat?" Anastasia’s voice was calm butced with something Julian couldn’t quite ce. He frowned at her question, uneasy about where this was heading.


    "Won’t you be bothered if I wake up one day and decide to take revenge on your friends, Julian? What if I want to kill them the way they killed my soul, crushed it under their feet, and tossed it in the gutter like it meant nothing once they were satisfied?" Her eyes burned with a chilling intensity, leaving Julian momentarily speechless.


    The background noise had suddenly turned faint and all Anastasia could hear was her racing heart.


    "What if I want <i>revenge </i>for what they’d done to me?"