The Billionaire's Whispers Of Pleasure

Chapter 16

“Woah, it's me.” Nick steps back and raises his hands up in the air, his eyes widening at the gun pointing at him. I quickly take the gun back and tuck it into the back, apologizing, “I'm so sorry, Nick, I thought you were someone else.” s**t. I almost killed Nick. What was I thinking?

“It's okay, hm, you were not texting back, and I got worried about you, so I thought I'd check on you,” he responds, his voice still jolted. I might have traumatized him.

“Oh, I didn't know you texted me. But I'm okay, thanks for coming.”

“I didn't know you owned a gun,” he comments.

“I had this for a while already. I thought I needed one,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek.

Nick just bobs his head up and down in agreement before he looks over my shoulder and glances back at me. “I'm relieved to know you're okay. That's what I really came for. I'll be leaving now.”

“Thank you, Nick. I'm really sorry if I scared you with the gun,” I say, feeling immensely sorry.

“Don't you want to come inside?” I offer, at least to ease the guilt I was feeling.

“No, thanks, Val. I also have to go somewhere.”

When Nick has departed, I go back inside the apartment. I should be careful next time. I was thinking of enrolling myself for a shooting class. At least an hour a day. I need to practice holding a gun and shooting at targets. It's not only enough that I possess one; I also need to know how guns work and also to get myself accustomed to using guns. If I had panicked a bit more, I would have pulled the trigger on Nick.

With the amount of money I have in my bank account, I can literally start a new life—own a business and move somewhere where no one knows me—but the bar has been part of my life, and it's what helped me when I literally had no one and was barely surviving. I think I should quit part-timing as a cashier. I'm thinking of Luz's security, as I might get her involved even more with whatever danger I'm in if we keep seeing each other. The other day, I found myself in my car on the way to our old house. I can't shake the feeling that I might have missed something when Luz and I went there.

When I arrive, I pull into the driveway, take the key out of the ignition, and get out. I look inside the house through the mirror as I make my way to the porch. Looking at the keys in my hand, I open the door, and the same dusty air wafts into my nose, and I cough, trying to clear my throat of the dust. Covering my nose, I decide to call for a home cleaner to clean the living room and the kitchen. The rest, I can just clean it myself. The home cleaner arrives a few minutes later; it's a woman in her late thirties. I instruct her to clean only the living room and the kitchen, and when she starts, I tell her I'll just be in the room if she needs something. She looks and sounds professional, and she asks me a few questions to make sure she understands what I need.

Inside my room, it's the same as how we left it the last time: things are lying strewn across the floor; however, I narrow my eyes when I notice red droplets on the floor—it's blood, and it looks fresh. I look up and see a pointed object poking out of the broken cabinet, and there's blood on it. Whoever came here after we left the other day must have sliced their skin from it, and I plan on catching them today. I take a picture of the blood.

The cleaner finishes in two hours, and she leaves after I pay her, and I can't remember how the living room used to look. The air is fresh and breathable once again. In the kitchen, it's even more shocking to see how it transformed: she also disposed of what was inside the fridge. Everything looks new once again, just like how it used to look when my parents were still living. I leave the house to buy groceries, and when I come back, I fill up the fridge and cook food, and when I'm done, I can't help as tears start to pour out of my eyes when I sit at the table.

“Mom, dad, I wish you were still here so that you could eat the food with me,” I mutter, sniffing like a child as memories of my parents and me eating at this exact table flood my mind. However, just when I stand up a few minutes later to place the plates in the sink, I hear the front door open. Slowly and quietly, I place the plates in the sink, careful not to make a sound. I didn't lock the door. Stepping lightly to the door, I look through the screen, and I see the back of a woman facing my direction—it's Luz.

What is she doing here?

She moves slowly as if she's afraid to make a sound. I watch as she goes upstairs, heading for my room. I walk out of the door, questions filling my mind. Why is she here? I feel for my gun at my back just in case before I walk to the front door and look outside to see if she's with someone before locking it and following her upstairs.

“Val, where are you?” she calls out.

I wait for her to walk out of the room, and when she does, she jumps in surprise to see me. She places a hand on her chest and lets out a breath.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, suspicion coating my tone.

“I thought you would be here. Why didn't you answer when I was calling your name? You f*****g scared me,” she says.

“How did you know I would be here?” I ask, still suspecting her. How would she know I was here? I never told anyone, and why would she come here without texting me?

She must have sensed that I'm being serious. “I'm sorry, Val, I didn't mean to freak you out. I tried calling you, but your phone was turned off. I came to your apartment, but you were not there, so I figured you would be here. I'm not some spy or anything,” she explains.

I exhale. I realize I turned off my phone. “I thought you were the person I was waiting to catch.”

She laughs. “Are you serious? So, you're here to catch the person?”

“Anyway, what did you want from me?” I ask, hedging her question. I did plan on sleeping here overnight to catch the person. I just want everything to be over.

“I wanted to tell you something, but let's keep that for later. I noticed the house has been cleaned. Did you do it yourself?” she asks.

I roll my eyes at her before turning around and climbing downstairs. She follows suit. “I hired someone to clean the living room and the kitchen,” I say, heading for the kitchen.

“Wow. Who did you hire? Everything looks spotless. I was surprised when I entered. I thought you did it,” she responds, sounding impressed as she follows me into the kitchen.

“I'll send you the link. They're pretty professional and know their job. Sit at the table, since you're here, you'll have to eat everything I cook.” She goes straight to the fridge and opens it. “Wow. You even bought a grocery. Are you planning to move back in here?” she asks, closing the fridge and sitting at the table.

“Nope. But I'll be staying here overnight,” I reply as I place the food in front of her and sit across from her, crossing my arms over my chest.

She quickly devours the food. “What kind of dish is this? It's delicious.”

“It's an Asian food. It's my favorite, so I tried learning how to cook it. It's just easy to learn as long as you have the recipe, but I had multiple tries before I achieved the taste that I wanted.”

She looks pretty impressed as she eats it. “So, what did you want to tell me?” I ask as she drinks water from a glass.

“I decided to quit my job and move to another state,” she announces.

“Was it because of the text?” I ask, guilt crawls up my spine.

“No, not really. I had been planning to quit and move to a different state before I even received the text, but I took the text as my sign to finally decide. Don't feel guilty,” she explains.

“When did you send your resignation?”

“Just this morning. And I'm moving out in the afternoon,” she says, sadness in her voice.

“Do you want my help?” I offer as sadness washes over me. Luz is akin to a sister to me, and now that she's leaving, I feel even more guilty that I'm never completely honest with her about the bar.

“No, Val. Thanks, though. I already have someone who will help me move out. I know it's sudden, but I will really miss you. I hope you take care of yourself.”

“I will miss you, too. Before you leave me, I need to tell you something.”

She frowns. “What is it?”

“I have not been honest with you. I have another job... I work as a stripper at a bar every night, and about the money I paid for the apartment, I met someone who offered me money in exchange for my body.”

Surprised, she covers her mouth, and her eyes enlarge. “Wait. So, you mean to say you work at a bar as a stripper, and you had s*x with someone so that you could pay for the apartment?”

I nod.

“b***h, oh my god, why did you just tell me this now?! I feel so betrayed,” she exclaims, angry.

“So, I was right about those men?” she asks, her eyes widening even more when she realizes it.

“You were only half right. I only had s*x with one of them.”