Aiden’s POV


    “Alessa, what are you talking about?” I asked


    I heard a little voice say something in the background. Someone was saying something to Alessa.


    “You know what I’m talking about, Aiden.” She said,


    I hadn’t noticed before, but I could hear her sniffle as she talked; she was crying.


    “Alessa, are you okay?” I asked.


    I get that I had been a bit of a jerk, but then it didn’t warrant her tears.


    I could hear the background voice again; someone was definitely talking to her. Were they the ones causing her to cry? Or was it a friend?


    “Just leave me alone, Aiden. We can never go back to the way we were at the stream.” She said


    Again with the stream.


    I decided to test to see if my suspicion was true-if she was really in trouble and was trying to tell me something I needed to know.


    “We really can’t go back there, can we?” I said that and waited for her response.


    “I can’t; you can go back to relieve those moments, but you’ll have to do it without me.” She answered


    It was confirmed that she was trying to tell me something. To go to the stream?


    The voice in the background said something again, and then the call ended.


    Something was obviously off, but what could I do? There was no way for me to check for myself, and it could have just been a mistake on Alessa’s part.


    I dialed her number again, and this time it went straight to voicemail. That only made me more worried, but there was nothing I could do about it right now.


    “She’s probably fine.” I said to myself, fighting all the warning signs that were going off in my mind.


    I rested my head back on my pillow, and soon everything went ck.


    ________


    I reached for the towel by the door, wrapped it around my waist, and stepped out of the bathroom.


    The sun was up again and bathed the room in its brilliant hues. It should have been a beautiful morning, but I didn’t feel so good on the inside.


    I wasn’t just tired now; I felt drained and lost. I had a meeting to attend, so I would have to bear with the feeling while appearing strong.


    I got dressed and did a quick fit check in the mirror. The three-piece suit added a touch of business to my overall appearance, exactly what I needed.


    Slowly making my way to the door, I remembered I hadn’t called Frank toe pick me up.


    I dialed his number, but it didn’t go through. Things were slowly starting to go downhill.


    I had gotten to the entrance of the hotel, but there was no limo or Frank in sight.


    I had told him to take a few days off a while ago, but that was when I thought it would take weeks before I got ess to see the man in charge, and now my little act of charity hade back to bite me in the ass.


    I was standing by the street, dressed in a suit, and trying to call Frank, who was currently not reachable.


    I would have just gotten a cab, but I was trying to give an impression; that was the point of the limo, the suits, and the bodyguard.


    After standing there like aplete idiot for a while, I decided to call Fiona and inform her that I might be a few minuteste.Exclusive content ? by N?(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.


    “What happened to your ride?” She asked when I told her to buy me some time.


    “I gave my driver some time off; it seems like he took it a bit too far.” I exined


    “Well, how about I send someone to pick you up? The boss won’t appreciate being made to wait.” She said


    I thought about it for a while; I didn’t exactly have a better choice in mind, and I didn’t want to mess up the opportunity, so I agreed.


    “I’d appreciate that.” I said


    “Good, you owe me two things now. Send me your location; the ride will be there in a minute.” She said that and ended the call.


    I sent the hotel’s address and patiently sat on a bench, waiting for it to arrive.


    Eventually, a ck Jeep pulled up in front of the hotel, and a big dude with tattoos littering his neck and hands stepped out with his phone in his hand and looked around.


    He locked eyes with me, took one more look at his phone, and then walked over to me.


    He looked like we’d make a great bouncer for some cartel drug dealers. He stopped in front of me and looked down.


    “Miss Fiona sent me to give you a ride.” He said, I did not expect the sound that came out of his mouth.


    Seeing him, you’d expect a husky, manly tone, but he sounded almost feminine. I had to hold my breath to keep myself fromughing.


    I stood, and we both walked to the Jeep. I got in the back, and he started the engine.


    I couldn’t take my eyes off him the entire ride-actually,  off his tattoos. Something about the ones on his neck looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite ce my finger on it.


    There was a little fang tattoo that had a half moon drawn inside it. It seemed like a tattoo you’d remember when you saw it, but I just couldn’t.


    The rest of the ride was silent, and I sent the details of the meeting to Frank just in case he took a break from whatever it was he was doing and decided to be there when I was done.


    The car came to a halt, and I stepped out. My eyes swept over the building in front of me. It was a skyscraper. I was expecting an underground bunker or some run-down factory, but this was something.


    If the organization already had this much money, why in the world would they want mine? What were they really nning?.