Chapter 73: Meeting Adam
Vanessa
’You are nothing,’
The words echoed again and again in my head and there was no way to stop it as I made my way back to the underground car park, led by the guard assigned to me.
I had looked deeply into his eyes and I knew beyond a doubt that he meant every word. I could disappear and he wouldn’t care.
Heck, from the rumors about him online, he could make me disappear.
I stared at my phone as I walked.
There were stories about how cold and cruel he was, but at the end of the day, he was simply a rich man who thought the world revolved around him.
My hands tightened against my phone as I headed through the parking lot and toward the car, recalling how he had threatened me and my mom.
Was that the kind of person I wanted to put my trust in? I wondered, aware that I still had all the extra money he gave me, which would be more than enough for my mom’s treatment while I got a job.
The sole bodyguard assigned to me pulled open the car door and I stepped in, watching him get into the passenger seat in front beside the driver as the car zoomed off.
I stared harder at my phone again and even more at the time, which was still very early in the morning, around 10.
I didn’t want to head back to the estate, aware that Carmen wasn’t there and still a little terrified that it might get attacked again, especially since Nico was also away.
"Can you head to the central mall? I’d like to do a little shopping!" I told the bodyguard, who glanced at me before nodding at the driver.
Clearly he hadn’t received any instructions not to allow me to move freely. Realizing that my anger at shouting at Nico had almost cost me my freedom too.
’Urgh,’ I groaned under my breath as I turned my gaze back to the window beside me. I was in an expensive black car people would die to ride in, but I didn’t care.
I just wanted a good life. Finish my degree like I set out to do and then get a job in a tech company like I was supposed to. Earn enough for my mother and I, living a happy life.
"Is that too much to ask?" I muttered under my breath, realizing I couldn’t even see my mother often since she was being treated in Tryton City, which was less expensive but with the same care.
I knew enough to understand that avoiding anything mafia related was the best way to remain alive, something my mother wouldn’t shut up about.
It didn’t take long before we arrived at the central mall. I got out and the black-suited bodyguard with shades got out beside me as I did my best to ignore the gaze that instantly flickered toward me.
Aware that it would fade once I got inside. Still I headed in, looking around as I typed away on my phone sending messages to the number I had called.
"I’m at the mall now! Is now a bad time to meet?" I asked him as I looked around, bored.
I wanted desperately to be able to call Lara or Cindy, my two best friends, and have them head over to keep me company, but again they were in Tryton City. My university was there too.
Instead I found a good ice cream place and moved over to the fountain to sit close by while waiting for a response.
The ice cream was good but the waiting was not as I looked around hoping to find the man especially when I didn’t get a response.
My bodyguard sat a few tables away but I knew his eyes were trained on me, something I did my best to ignore.
I had on a pale yellow gown and not red as I wondered if the man would even recognize me.
’If he’s truly an agent then he should be able to,’ I thought to myself, taking another spoon of my already dwindled ice cream and relishing it, especially since only a few spoons were left in the cup.
But by the time I was done with the cup, not only was he nowhere in sight, but I had also not gotten any response back.
Annoyed, seeing as I was wasting my time, I got up to leave, moving toward the waste bin to empty my cup when someone walking in the opposite direction with his eyes on his phone collided into me.
He was big and tall and it was all I could do not to fall to the ground as I clutched my phone tighter. The last thing I wanted was to get robbed.
Only to feel his hands around my waist, catching me and preventing me from falling as he began to apologize.
I looked up at the face underneath the black cap when I mentally gasped. He seemed a bit older, in his thirties, but he looked good.
Very good. He had a chiseled face and blond hair, the kind of face that was hard to forget, as I met his dark brown eyes while he fixed them on me as he spoke.
"I apologize! My eyes were fixed on my phone and I..."
"No, it’s fine. I didn’t fall so it’s all good," I told him before he could continue apologizing, as I stepped away and he did the same.
He had a soft demeanor, but there was something about his eyes that made me excessively wary as I looked at him properly.
His clothes were black and he had on a black coat that didn’t seem expensive but was well made enough that I felt it might be.
"My name is Adam!" he said, stretching out his hand which I shook as I responded with my name.
"Vanessa," I responded as I shook his hand before letting go. Nico had already warned me about meeting other people for the simplest things and as good looking as he was, I knew better than to get Nico angry twice in a row.
"It’s nice to meet you," I told him, about to move and leave when I heard him speak.
"Let me buy you a drink!" he offered, but I was already shaking my head when I stilled as I heard his next words.
"I was supposed to meet a woman here in a red dress but she ditched me. I’m very good company!" he said as my eyes widened in shock, glancing at my bodyguard out of the corner of my eye before I nodded and agreed.
Realizing that instead of walking up to me, he ensured that our encounter looked more like one that happened by chance.
