The mafia’s bride

CHAPTER 5

The thugs who held Jasmine had to trek to the abattoir as their car key was with the boss. Alex rode Jasmine's bicycle with utmost speed, though it was uncomfortable he had to ride it for Jasmine's safety.

He saw the thugs and Jasmine from a distance entering a building. He followed suit, carrying a rod for defense. Jasmine was kneeling on the ground, with her hands tied behind her back when she saw Alex enter the building.

He fought the five thugs again till they ran away. Alex went to where she was kneeling and untied her. He scanned through her robe, and it was intact.

"Thank goodness, I was early enough, they weren't able to hurt her," he thought to himself.

Jasmine tightened her robe against her body, shivering. Alex took off his shirt and put it around her. She looked up to face him as he did that, their faces were so close to each other that they almost kissed.

"Thank you"

"Hope you weren't hurt" they spoke together.

Jasmine smiled, "I wasn't hurt, thanks for coming to save me, Mr...." She looked him in the eyes waiting for him to say his name.

"You're welcome, Jasmine," he said

"You know my name?" She said

Alex regretted calling her name, truthfully he was worried but he didn't want them to become close. He was the boss of mafias in Italy, he was harmful.

"Your family called your name countlessly, that's how I knew your name" Alex defended.

"Since you know my name, what's your name?" Jasmine asked.

"My name ... .my name is Jeremy " Alex said, realizing what he said, he felt bad. For years, he had denied the identity of Jeremy Ostrander, Jeremy was the child abandoned by his mother, but he was Alex Tuandor, he had a family.

"Jeremy!!" Jasmine kept saying softly. It made Alex remember how his mother called him when he was still a child. He missed someone calling him that way.

"What are you thinking about Alex? '' he scolded himself. "You're a villain, a mafia, you're a murderer, how can you wish to be loved?" He smiled bitterly.

"So Jeremy, you're my savior?" Jasmine said smiling. "Funny how our initial letters are J's," she said.

Alex equally smiled at that realization, this girl was something, he had experienced a lot within a few hours of meeting her. He didn't want her to cry or get into trouble.

"Telling her my name is Alex Tuandor means selling her out to death," Alex thought. "I should let her call me Jeremy for her safety since we won't be meeting again " he reasoned.

"I should get you home before your family finds out you're out," Alex said to her.

"Uhm, okay" she replied sadly. As they moved a step, they heard a repeated banging on the door behind them.

"Help me, someone is here please "

Alex and Jasmine exchanged surprised looks.

"Someone is here, it's a lady's voice," Jasmine said. "Help her out, Jeremy. Please "

Alex sighed and went over to the door where the sound kept coming from.

"Please help me, is anyone there?" The voice kept pleading.

"Move back, I'm going to kick the door open, okay?" Alex said as he kept kicking, after the third time he kicked, the door flew open and a young lady with marks on her body came out.

"Oh my..." Jasmine exclaimed as she saw the lady's state.

"Thank you for helping me get out of those monsters' grip," the lady said looking at Alex and Jasmine.

"It's fine, take care of yourself," Jasmine said as Alex led her out of the apartment.

"Hey!" The lady called their attention again. "I'm Yvonne," she said smiling.

"Uhm, I'm Jasmine and he's Jeremy" Jasmine replied.

"I wish your relationship unending happiness" She prayed for them and then waved them goodbye before taking another exit.

Jasmine expected Alex to deny being her boyfriend but he didn't say a word against it. He only dragged her hands and led her to her bicycle.

**Coleman's mansion

"Thank goodness, the lights are still off," Jasmine said as she exhaled with relief. "Let's quietly go in before they wake up"

"You should go alone, I'm not welcome here" Alex replied.

Jasmine felt connected to her mother whenever she was with Alex, so she wanted to keep him by her side.

"He shouldn't get away from me, at least not right now," she thought. "Think of something, Jasmine, think!!" She yelled at herself inwardly.

Alex was sad, he didn't want to leave Jasmine either but he had to, for her safety.

"Goodbye Jasmine," He said as he turned around to leave.

"He called!!" Jasmine shouted behind him. "Your friend, he called"

She repeated as Alex turned back.

"What did he say? Where's your phone?" Alex asked in one breath.

"He said he'd call in the morning, " Jasmine lied. "So you should come with me, " she added.

"Alright, fine," he said.

Jasmine quietly opened the gate as she and Alex brought the bicycle into the compound. Rex came running as it heard sounds from the gate. Jasmine opened her arms to Rex as she ran her hands into its fur. Rex went around Alex, sniffing him and wagging its tail.

"Huh? Rex likes you Jeremy" she said to Alex.

"Well..what can I say? " Alex replied as he chuckled.

They packed the bicycle and decided to go into the house through the front door. Jasmine opened the door as she and Alex tiptoed into the house.

"My room is the first door from behind" Jasmine whispered to Alex

"Alright "

Alex quietly mounted the stairs as Jasmine tried to lock the door. As he got to the corridor, Alex got confused about which room to enter. He decided to open the first door on his left but just as he opened it, he heard the door on his right open. It was Madame Margaret.

"Shhhh!!" Alex muttered as he sneaked into the other room quietly.

"What was that?" Madame Margaret asked herself. She had seen a shadow get into her daughter's room. She opened the door to Kourtney's room and scanned the room thoroughly from afar.

"Umph! Maybe I was just seeing things" she said before closing the door gently.

"Phew!! That was a close one" Alex exhaled as he came closer to the bed. He brought out his lighter and turned it on, he looked around the room, it was beautifully decorated and Kourtney was fast asleep. He kept his lighter and decided to leave before he got caught.

As he came out of the room, he felt a warm hand cover his lips the other hand kept putting him gently till he got to the last room at the left side of the corridor. The hands pushed him in roughly and shut the door.

"What were you doing in Kourtney's room?" Jasmine asked.

"You asked me to go to the first room and I did," Alex replied.

"I said the first room from behind, anyways thank goodness you didn't get caught by madame Margaret" Jasmine whispered as she slumped on the bed.

Alex looked around the room, it was nothing like Kourtney's. It had the amateur cutting of butterflies and some lightning wallpapers and frames hanging here and there, but that was all there was in the room. One could mistake it to be a storage room.

"I guess my savior isn't well favored in this house," he thought.

"I should get changed since you're passing the night here," Jasmine said as she turned to leave.

"Wait! Give me your phone, let me call my friend," Alex said.

"Just wait till tomorrow, it's late already" she replied before walking into the bathroom.

Alex went around the room, it had a small space with little luggage. He sat on the bed and he loved the softness. He took off his shoes and rested his head on the pillow.

Jasmine was shocked when she saw that Alex was already asleep on her bed, she had changed into a black-colored jogger and sweatshirt. She got a mat from underneath the bed, then she laid Alex gently on the bed before covering him with the duvet.

"He looks so peaceful while sleeping," she thought as she looked up to the sky through the window while smiling.

Her phone beeped and she saw a message written in Spanish from a strange number.

"This must be from his friend after all" she whispered and sighed.

She turned off the bed lamp and went to sleep.

"Tomorrow is going to be a big day," she said before lying down.