UNTIL YOU BECAME MINE

CHAPTER FOUR (Glimpse of Hope)

ANA'S POV

The guys noticed me before I could decide whether to run or keep walking.

"Look at this," the one who had been watching me said as he stood up. He was the tallest, with scars on his face that made him look dangerous.

"Young girl, you're out here all alone."

I didn't answer. My dad had always taught me to avoid men like them, but I couldn't avoid them now. I didn't know whether this encounter would bring regret or help, so I had to be careful with my choice of words.

Even though I was thinking about running, my feet had stopped moving before I even realized it.

I didn't know if I had made a mistake, but I felt rooted to the ground.

"What are you doing out here at this time of the night?" the second one asked.

I looked around and noticed he was standing behind me.

"Pretty girls like you shouldn't be roaming the streets at this hour."

"I... I'm just passing through," I tried to say.

My voice didn't sound like mine.

Then again, it hadn't sounded like mine all night.

"You're just passing through?" the tall one repeated with a laugh.

I would later learn that his name was Carson.

He laughed in such an evil, mocking way that it made my skin crawl.

"No one just passes through here at this time of the night."

I sensed danger.

I took a step back.

I bumped into someone.

They had already surrounded me before I even realized I needed to run.

"Let her go."

The voice came like a glimpse of hope.

I thought I was trapped.

Then I looked up and saw the youngest among them.

He wasn't looking at me like prey.

He looked at me with mercy.

"She's just a minor. Let her go."

"A kid," Carson said with amusement. "You're getting too soft, Benson."

"Call it whatever you want, Carson, but let her go. She's just a kid."

He refused to back down, though he didn't move any closer either.

"She may be a kid, but she's out here alone at midnight. Nobody cares about her or is looking for her."

Carson gestured toward me as though my loneliness was permission.

That was when I truly understood that I was in danger.

Not imagined danger.

Real danger.

The kind that would destroy me if nothing changed within the next few minutes.

I thought about running.

But where would I run to?

I decided it was better to stay still and watch them.

Before I could even finish that thought, someone grabbed my wrist tightly.

It was one of the men who had been silent the whole time.

His grip was so rough that I forgot what pain even felt like.

"Leave her alone."

Benson's voice became firmer. He looked at me with a determined expression that suggested he meant to see this through. He stepped forward and placed himself between me and the man gripping my wrist.

"I mean it. Not like this."

"And if we don't, what will happen?" Carson asked, sounding more than ready for a fight.

He shoved Benson so hard that he was forced to take a step back.

"You want to fight all of us because of one street girl you don't even know?"

"Then that's what I'll do."

There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, but he said it anyway. His words made the other two men glance at each other instead of at me.

It still wasn't enough.

Carson grabbed my wrist himself and shoved me hard enough to make me cry out.

That cry broke something loose in Benson.

He moved before I even realized he was moving.

He slammed his shoulder into Carson's chest, sending both of them crashing into the wall behind them.

The others hesitated.

They didn't know whether to help their leader or let him handle the fight himself.

While they were distracted, Benson grabbed my wrist and pulled me in the opposite direction.

"Run."

That was all he said.

Just one word.

Run.

I had no choice but to run with him.

As we ran, I heard Carson shouting behind us, furious. Then came the scrape of hurried footsteps.

They were chasing us.

Benson never let go of my hand. He pulled me through pavements and narrow alleys I would never have found on my own. We jumped over a low fence before squeezing into a narrow space between two buildings that swallowed almost every sound from the street.

We stopped only when we could no longer hear the voices behind us.

Neither of us could catch our breath.

"I'm sorry about my friends. Are you hurt?"

He asked between breaths, looking around as though Carson might appear at any moment.

I shook my head.

My wrist throbbed where they had all grabbed it, and my whole body trembled in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

I was frightened.

Who would have thought I'd escape that moment alive?

"Why did you..."

My mouth refused to finish the question.

Why did he stop them?

What made him protect me?

Why, out of all of them, was he the one who chose to help me?

He looked at me for a long moment, as though deciding how to answer.

"Why I did it doesn't change anything," he finally said. "I won't leave you out here. Not tonight. Not like this."

"I don't know why," I admitted, "but I don't have anywhere to go."

His expression softened.

Not with pity...

But with something close to it.

"I can take you somewhere," he said. "I know a kind-hearted couple who live nearby. Maybe we can go there. They're better than anyone you've met tonight..."

He paused before adding,

"Including me."

I was grateful.

Not because I wanted to be handed over to strangers, but because I had no other choice. I needed a roof over my head.

Standing on that pavement, with my wrist throbbing and my legs trembling from fear and exhaustion, I didn't know what kind of home I was about to enter.

I also didn't know why Benson, a complete stranger, had chosen to protect me.

But I knew one thing.

For the first time since I wandered onto the streets, someone had looked at me...

And chosen to help.

"Thank you so much," I whispered.

"Take me there.”