THE HEARTLESS ALPHA

Episode 14 - The Escape

JAMES POINT OF VIEW

It was seven in the morning when I opened my eyes. I had not been able to sleep all night. There was only one restlessness in my heart. Alen. Today was her wedding and I had to reach 33 Number Street by any means. My friend had told me last night that she was being married to Robert. My heart wanted to bring her away that very night, but I wanted to claim her with honor. I had called the police and now I had to reach there myself.

I quickly put on my jacket, picked up the car keys and was about to leave the house when my father's angry voice stopped me from behind.

He scolded me and asked if I cared about my life at all, what I was doing on 33 Number Street two nights ago. Did I have any idea what a huge tragedy had happened there?

I was stunned. I could not understand how my father knew about my location.

He picked up the TV remote angrily and turned on the news. A breaking news was running. Another horrific murder had taken place near 33 Number Street. A sixty-year-old woman named Miss Rose had been half eaten by a wild animal.

My eyes widened. My father was trying to make me understand that such a big tragedy had happened there and I had been roaming in the same place. What would have happened if something had happened to me?

Hearing this, I got angry and asked, "Did you trace my location? Are you having me followed?"

Hearing this question, my father suddenly softened. His eyes became moist. In a heavy voice he said, "You are my only child. I have no one in this world except you. What is the use of all this money and wealth if my own child is not with me?"

Saying this, he hugged me with moist eyes. He looked very weak and tired. In a worried voice he asked what had happened to me, why I had been so troubled for the past few days and what I was hiding from him.

Seeing my father's love, I felt ashamed. I realized he had stayed awake all night for me and how much he loved me. I apologized and promised that next time I would never go anywhere without telling him.

Then I held his hands and said, "I will tell you the truth very soon. I will tell you everything. But for now just pray that I succeed in my mission wherever I am going."

My father looked into my eyes and said softly, "You will succeed, but go carefully."

I nodded, clutched the car keys tightly and quickly left the house. My car raced straight toward 33 Number Street, where my Alen was about to become someone else's bride.

ALEN POINT OF VIEW

My breathing was so fast that the chest of my red dress was shaking. Robert's cold laugh and Zooi's flattery could be heard from outside.

Then the door of my room opened with a soft creak.

I looked up in panic and saw my father. His face was wet with tears, his eyes were red and his hands were trembling. He came inside quickly and closed the door.

"What happened, Father?" I asked anxiously.

He held both my hands. His hands were as cold as ice. With sobs he said, "Forgive me, my dear. I could not save you. I thought I was saving you from Reyan. I did not know your stepmother had sold you for five million. Robert is not a decent man. He is the Mafia King. He has placed a pistol on the table."

As soon as I heard this, the ground slipped from under my feet. My red dress started feeling like a shroud.

He quickly took out an old folded paper from his pocket and placed it in my hand. "There is no time at all. You must run away from here right now. Do not ask me any questions. I do not have time to explain everything."

"Run away? Where?" I asked in confusion.

"This is the address of your real grandmother, your mother's mother. I have not been in contact with her for many years, but she is a very good woman and she will not let anything happen to you. Go straight there."

I held that paper with trembling hands.

He said these people were very dangerous. If I stayed, they would take me away by force. He told me to leave through the back door. The lane was empty. He would handle them somehow and make an excuse that I was getting ready.

His eyes were filled with tears. He said as soon as the situation got better, he would come there himself to get me. He promised me.

From outside, Zooi shouted loudly, "Alen, come out quickly. The groom is waiting. What are you doing inside?"

My father hugged me tightly. I was trembling against his chest. He whispered in my ear, "Run, my dear, for your father. Never look back."

I looked at my father with tear-filled eyes, clutched the paper tightly in my fist and ran toward the back door in my red dress. Behind me, my father stood at the door so that no one would see me running away.

And my desperate run for life had now begun. I did not know how cruelly life was going to treat me ahead

I clutched my red dress with both hands and slipped out through the back door. My feet were bare and the cold ground stung my soles, but I did not stop. I just kept running.

Then a sharp scream tore through the air behind me.

"ALEN!"

My breath caught. It was Zooi.

I turned to look and saw her standing in the doorway, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Stop! Where are you running! STOP!"

Terror froze me and for a second I thought it was all over. But then my mother's words echoed in my mind. You have to fight for yourself, no one can change your fate except you. That thought gave me new strength and instead of stopping, I pushed myself to run even faster. My heart pounded so hard I thought it would burst from my chest.

"ROBERT! ROBERT! SHE IS RUNNING AWAY!" Zooi shrieked toward the house.

Before she could reach me, a door slammed open with brutal force.

Robert.

He stepped out with a black gun in his hand and that same cold, dangerous smile on his face. He pointed it straight at me.

My feet refused to move. My entire body trembled and I felt death standing right before me.

Just then my father Jorge rushed forward and threw himself in front of Robert.

"Robert! Stop! Let her go!" He tried to grab Robert's arm.

Then he turned to me and shouted, "ALEN, RUN! Do not look back! JUST RUN!"

I was torn. How could I leave my father alone with that monster? Tears streamed down my face.

"Alen, if you love your father then run, my love. Do not worry about me, nothing will happen to me."

His voice forced me to move, but fear for my father and dread of Robert weighed so heavily on me that my legs would barely carry me.

I gathered what little courage I had and had just stepped forward when...

BANG!

A terrifying gunshot rang out behind me.

My scream caught in my throat. Darkness clouded my vision and my head spun. A thousand dreadful thoughts about my father flooded my mind, but I did not have the courage to turn and see who had been hit.

My legs gave out and I thought I would collapse to the ground, but before I could fall, strong arms caught me.

A warm, strangely familiar scent surrounded me. Someone had saved me from hitting the earth.

My blurred eyes tried to look up, but before I could see who it was, darkness swept over me.