Chapter 6:THE CAR RIDE
1371 Words
The night air hit my lungs like freedom.
Cold. Sharp. Real.
Elias didn’t stop running until we were past the gates.
Until the mansion lights were just a glow behind us.
Until the only sound was our breathing.
He pulled open the passenger door of a black SUV I hadn’t noticed before.
“No questions,” he said.
His voice was low, but not cruel.
Tired.
I slid in.
He followed.
The doors locked with a soft click that felt louder than gunshots.
For a full minute, neither of us spoke.
The driver didn’t turn around.
Elias just stared out the window, jaw tight, hands gripping his knees like he was holding himself together.
I should’ve been terrified.
Two days ago, I was.
But tonight?
Tonight I watched his profile in the streetlights and realized something dangerous.
I trusted him.
“You fired me on day one,” I said finally.
My voice came out steadier than I felt.
He didn’t look at me.
“I know.”
“You said I was a liability.”
“You are,” he muttered.
Then he turned.
And his eyes met mine.
Dark. Heavy. Honest.
“But you’re my liability now.”
My heart did something stupid.
It jumped.
The car moved through empty streets.
Lagos at 2AM looks different.
Quieter. Like it’s keeping secrets too.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Somewhere safe,” he said.
“Define safe.”
His mouth twitched. Almost a smile.
“Not the office. Not my house. Not anywhere they can trace.”
“They?”
He went quiet again.
The kind of quiet that means the answer will get me killed.
I pressed my forehead to the cool glass.
“Elias… why did you come back for me? You could’ve left me in that hallway.”
He didn’t answer for a long time.
When he did, it was barely a whisper.
“Because for the first time since I was fired on day one… I wasn’t running scared.”
I blinked.
“That’s my line.”
“I know,” he said.
And for the first time tonight, he looked at me like I wasn’t just a girl who got caught in his mess.
Like I was the reason he stopped running.
The SUV slowed.
We pulled into an underground garage.
No signs. No cameras.
Just concrete and shadows.
Elias opened my door himself.
“Come on.”
“Where is this?”
“A safe house,” he said.
“Yours. For now.”
He led me to a steel door.
Typed in a code.
Inside was small.
One bed. One bathroom. One table.
No windows.
But it was clean.
And it was quiet.
He dropped a keycard on the table.
“No office. No fear. No looking back.”
He repeated my words back to me.
“But rules, Amina.”
He used my name.
Not ‘girl’. Not ‘liability’.
My name.
“Don’t leave. Don’t call anyone. Don’t trust anyone but me.”
I picked up the keycard.
“Or what?”
His eyes went dark again.
“Or I’ll have to come find you.”
That should’ve scared me.
Instead, my pulse did that stupid thing again.
He turned to leave.
“Elias.”
He stopped.
Didn’t turn around.
“Thank you.”
This time he did look back.
Over his shoulder.
And the look on his face…
It wasn’t boss.
It wasn’t dangerous.
It was something softer.
Something that scared me more than the mansion.
“Get some sleep,” he said.
“And Amina?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re not looking back.”
The door closed.
Locked.
I was alone.
Safe.
And for the first time since day one…
I wasn’t running scared.
I was running with him.
The silence after he left was louder than the mansion.
I stood there with the keycard in my hand like it was a weapon.
Steel door. No windows. One bed.
Safe house.
His word.
But safe from who?
I dropped my bag on the floor.
The sound echoed.
This room was too quiet.
Too empty.
I walked to the bathroom first.
White tiles. Small mirror.
The girl staring back at me didn’t look like the Amina who walked into that office two weeks ago.
Her hair was messy.
Her shirt had dust from the hallway run.
Her eyes… her eyes looked alive.
For the first time since day one, I wasn’t running scared.
I splashed water on my face.
Cold.
It grounded me.
When I came back out, I noticed it.
On the table.
Next to the keycard.
A folded piece of paper.
Elias left it.
My hands shook a little when I picked it up.
No name. No signature.
Just three lines in his handwriting.
Rule 1: Stay inside.
Rule 2: Don’t answer the door.
Rule 3: If you hear my name, hide.
Hide.
My stomach dropped.
I looked at the door.
Steel. No peephole.
I was trapped and protected at the same time.
I sat on the bed.
It was firm. Clean sheets.
He planned this.
Before the mansion.
Before the run.
He knew I’d need somewhere to go.
Why?
That question kept circling.
Why did you come back for me?
Why did you say I’m your liability now?
Why did you look at me like that at the door?
I pressed the paper to my chest.
The ink smelled like him.
Clean. Expensive. Dangerous.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
I don’t know when I fell asleep.
But when I did, I didn’t dream of the office.
I didn’t dream of being fired.
I dreamed of car headlights.
Of a locked SUV.
Of a voice saying, We’re not looking back.
---
Morning came without sunlight.
No windows meant no time.
I woke up because my phone buzzed.
One message.
Unknown number.
Eat. Shower. Don’t leave. -E
That’s it.
No Good morning.
No Are you okay.
Just orders.
I should’ve been angry.
Instead I laughed.
Because for the first time since day one, someone was checking on me.
In his own toxic, bossy way.
I followed Rule 1 and 2.
I ate the food left outside the door.
Rice. Chicken. Water.
Whoever brought it didn’t knock.
They just slid the tray in through a slot I hadn’t noticed before.
Smart.
Paranoid.
Elias.
After I ate, I sat on the floor and counted the walls.
Four.
No way out except the steel door.
That’s when I heard it.
Footsteps.
Outside.
Not Elias’s.
Heavier. Slower.
They stopped right at my door
My blood went cold.
Rule 3: If you hear my name, hide.
I didn’t hear his name.
But I heard voices.
Low. Male.
“Is this the one?”
“Agent said the girl. Check inside.”
Agent.
My heart was in my throat.
I looked around.
Bed. Bathroom. Table.
No closet. No vent.
Nowhere to hide.
The footsteps got closer.
A key slid into the lock.
No.
No no.
I backed against the wall.
My hands were shaking.
The lock clicked.
The door started to open.
And just as light spilled into the room…
A gunshot.
The door slammed shut again.
Yelling.
Chaos.
Another shot.
Then… silence.
The door opened slowly.
Elias stood there.
Gun in his hand.
Chest rising and falling.
Blood on his sleeve.
Not his.
His eyes found mine immediately.
Wild. Furious. Relieved.
“Rule 3,” he said, voice rough.
“You didn’t hide.”
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
Because for the first time, I let him run to me.
The room smelled like gunpowder and rain.
Elias stepped inside fully, kicking the door shut behind him with his boot.
The sound echoed like a verdict.
He didn’t lower the gun right away.
His eyes scanned the room.
Bed. Bathroom. Table.
Like he was checking for threats even after he killed them.
Only when he was sure did he breathe.
Really breathe.
And that’s when I saw it.
His hand was shaking.
This was Elias.
Boss. Dangerous. The man who fired me on day one without blinking.
And his hand was shaking because of me.
“Did they touch you?” he asked.
His voice wasn’t rough anymore.
It was careful
- Writer
