A Stranger Worth Saving
805 Words
Adrian’s POV
I should’ve left. That was the smart thing to do. The responsible thing. The thing every rational, disciplined part of me screamed for. I can’t be involved with Dario.
But I didn’t leave. I couldn’t leave
I followed the SUV in the shadows. Watching the girl, Ava walk with her arms wrapped around herself, shoulders trembling ever so slightly. I had no business watching her. I had even less business caring. I wasn’t supposed to be here
The SUV was behind her, Slow. Predictive. Focused.
A deliberate tail. What does Dario want with her.
Ava didn’t even notice.
She was too busy wiping her face.
Too busy fighting whatever storm had already ripped her apart today.
My headlights stayed off.
No need to alert them.
No need to let them know I was behind them.My eyes darting between the SUV’s tinted window and Ava who has no idea she is being followed
Suddenly they made a sharp turn to a main road.
“Good”.
I drove slowly now, eyes flicking between the road and the shadows around her path. She moved fast, like she was trying to outrun her own heartbeat.
When she finally disappeared into a narrow residential street, I exhaled.
For the first time tonight, I allowed myself to blink away the rush of adrenaline.
Why? Why was i feeling this way? Why do
i feel the need to protect her?
This was supposed to be a simple evening.
A drive home.
A quiet night.
But Ava Brett changed that without even knowing it.
I parked a few streets away, letting myself breathe before heading back toward the city. As soon as I turned onto the main road, my phone rang.
Martin.
“Tell me what you found,” I said.
“Ava Brett. Twenty-one. Final-year physiology student on scholarship. She also does part time at a grocery store. Her father died two months ago. Leaving Ava and her sick mother, no siblings. No criminal record, no suspicious activity, well… until today.”
“What happened today?”
“Her father,” Martin replied, voice tight. “A debt tied to the Capone ledger. Old. Large. One they don’t plan to forgive.”
I frowned.
The Capones never forgave debts. You will pay with your life if you ever fail to pay on time.
“How long is the debt” I asked
“Three years.”
“A lot can happen in three years.”
“Yes,” he said carefully, “and with the Capones… it usually does.”
I drummed my fingers along the steering wheel, the sound sharp in the car’s silence.
“And Dario?”
Martin hesitated. “He personally visited the Brett residence earlier today.”
My stomach knotted.
Dario Capone didn’t visit civilians.
Not unless he wanted something,
or someone.
“What did he want?”
“Exact details unknown,” Martin said. “But witnesses heard raised voices. The girl argued with him.”
Of course she did.
Even with fear in her eyes, she didn’t seem the type to bow.
“Anything else?” I asked.
Martin exhaled. “Sir… Dario left his men behind hours later. They’ve been watching the girl all evening.”
My fingers stilled.
They’d been watching her.
Including the SUV.
A coldness settled in my chest, the kind I hadn’t felt since my father died and the board tried to take control of Walton’s darker operations.
“She’s not involved with them,” I said. It wasn’t a question. It was a fact I felt in my bones.
She didn’t fit their world.
She didn’t dress like it.
She didn’t carry herself like someone living under mafia protection.
“No,” Martin agreed. “She’s an outsider.”
Which made her vulnerable.
And the Capones loved vulnerable.
I knew exactly what the Capones did to women tied to unpaid debts.
And the thought of Ava being dragged into their world made my pulse hammer against my ribs.
I hung up and leaned back against the seat, swallowing the frustration building in my chest.
Dario Capone was dangerous
That alone made her a target.
My phone vibrated again, a message from the board of Walton Industries.
Shipment schedule adjustments needed for the midnight run.
A reminder.
A threat.
A headache.
I ignored it. All i could think of was her face in the headlights.
Her shaky exhale.
Her trying not to fall apart.
Ava Brett
A girl I should never see again.
A girl who didn’t belong in my world.
A girl I couldn’t shake loose from my mind even if I tried.
I turned the car toward Walton Tower.
I had a company to run. And a girl to protect from a distance
Just from a distance
At least, that’s what I told myself.
- Writer
