CEO's Secret Babies

Chapter five: Car Ride From Hell

“So you mean she never touched anything while in the house?”

“Yes Miss,” the butler replied, bowing his head. “I went through her bag and found these two strands of hair rolled up on the sling balance of her bag. I'm sure it'll be of good use, Little Madam.”

She took the two dark strands of hair from him and smiled. It was a slow smile that reached her eyes.

Did Mom know about this? Would she be surprised or dismissive, or would she just tell her to focus on living her life without being a nose poke like always?

And how the hell had they managed to keep her in the dark for so long?

She rolled the hair between her fingers. DNA would serve as Evidence.

- _ _

Damian’s phone sat in the corner of the Maybach, vibrating quietly as the car rolled slowly beside Kiera. She had her head down the whole time, walking on the sidewalk like the world had ended.

Damian’s eyes shot to the phone as if to silence it with his glare. Seeing it was Mark, his assistant, he picked it up and swiped the answer button with a sharp click.

“What is it again this time?” He asked. His voice was low and intimidating. It made Mark go stunned silent for a few seconds. Cold sweat joined the ones from his earlier uneasiness, rolling down his forehead.

“Uhm… President… boss. It’s like this. Two more clients have withdrawn their proposals and another two have terminated their contracts. They’re stating that it was our fault and we have to pay the full amount for breach of contract…”

Damian’s eyes were fixed on Kiera. She was just a few meters away from the bus stop. A stone’s throw away. Alone.

He watched the way her shoulders were hunched. The way she clutched that black bag like it was the only thing she owned. Which, it probably was.

“Don't disturb me with trivial matters.”

Click!

‘Beep, beep, beep…’

Mark stared at his phone screen in shock. Trivial?

Forty million in lost contracts was trivial?

Had he offended the boss somehow?

- -

Kiera walked on the pedestrian lane, her head bowed in contemplation. Who knew I’d be here? Who had access to my bag?.

As smart as she was, she still couldn’t get the intruder’s motives.

To help her? What did she need help for?

Or was it Mrs. Haley and her dumbass daughter up to something shady? Something that could end her life… and whoever this was just kindly giving her a heads-up?

Could she trust them?

Trust. That word sounded so foreign. It had been so long since she decided to place trust in only two people. Her grandma. And… someone else.

She wondered how he was doing.

Even her own biological mother had abandoned her. Left her to suffer in the clutches of a wicked stepmother and a scheming b***h of a stepsister. Wasn’t that beyond heartless? Who else would ignore the ties of blood?

No one was to be trusted.

Not family. Not strangers.

Especially not an outsider who would only help with some kind of ulterior motive. What if they also demanded she repay them with something valuable? Her body? Her silence?

As she kept trudging towards the bus stop, lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the horn of the car blaring behind her.

Damian furrowed his brow. The careless woman. On the road. Deep in thought. Was she planning to get herself killed?

He sighed, a sound of pure irritation. Then he got out of the car. His long legs took long strides towards her in seconds.

Was she plotting something? Or was she just lost in daydreams and fantasies?

He lightly tapped her shoulder.

Kiera jumped in surprise, switching to defense mode instantly. Her fists came up, her eyes wide. She turned back to see her so-called ‘attacker’ but was surprised to come face to face with Damian.

“Huh?” She asked, looking behind him. He had really cut off her train of thoughts, dragging her back to reality with lightning speed. Her heart thumped faster.

“It’s you,” she said. Awkwardly, she placed her hand beside her and squeezed out a ‘polite’ smile. The kind you give to a teacher you hate.

Damian frowned in distaste at her weird smile. He adjusted his cufflinks, brought out a white handkerchief to wipe the hand he used to touch her, and threw it at her face. It landed in her hair.

Opening the car door, he threw out two words.

“Get in.”

Kiera stood there, stunned. Wasn’t he the one who kicked her a*s out earlier? Why was he asking her to get in now? He was truly unpredictable. Infuriating.

Her surprise was quickly masked by caution and suspicion as she looked into the car. The leather seats. The dark tint. Was this all a part of his plan? A trap?

Damian followed her gaze and looked inside. Just his tablet on the seat. Nothing else. Was she thinking he would stoop so low as to ‘kidnap’ her? Was her brain squished up?

He growled at her again.

“What are you looking at? Are you afraid I’ll sell you off to pay back your debts? You aren’t even going to cost much, so get in!”

Maybe it was because this was the first time Damian had spoken so much at once. Both the driver and Kiera looked at him in utter astonishment.

“I’m taking the bus." She finally responded in protest.

*Damian looked at her with eyes full of boredom as if to remind her what world she was in.

"The bus doesn’t pay 49 million. Get in."

Before Kiera could say another word, he grabbed her arm and pushed her in. Her head hit the interior roof of the car with a dull bang as Damian settled in beside her and clicked his seat belt.

“Drive!” He commanded in a low voice, and soon the car started moving. Smooth. Silent. Expensive.

“Don’t you know I’m a lady?” Kiera complained, rubbing the bump on her head. “You aren’t gentle… manly at all.”

Damian turned his eyes to her for a brief glance. Just one. Assessing. Cold. Then he shifted it back to his tablet.

“Heard you got a letter today?” He asked, changing the subject. His voice was casual. Too casual.

Kiera froze. Her mind went haywire. The note. The number. 555-235-556.

“Nope. I didn’t,” she replied. Her voice went up a few notches. A lie. A bad lie.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, his hand reached for the bag on her lap. He didn’t ask. He just took it. Unzipped it. And pulled out the folded note from the inner corner.

Damian held the small paper between two fingers like it was dirty. Like it was poison.

“Care to explain?”

Kiera met his eyes. Her heart was beating in her throat. She could lie again. She should lie.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “Someone put it in my bag at the gate.”

He didn’t blink. Instead, he studied her face for a few seconds. Looking for fluctuations. For a twitch. For guilt.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“No,” she said. Honesty, for once. “But it’s the truth.”

He studied her again for 5 seconds. The car was silent except for the hum of the engine. Then, without a word, he put the note in his suit pocket.

“Good,” he said. “Because if I find out who it is before you do... they won’t get to talk again.”

Kiera blinked, confused. Her blood ran cold.

“You’re going to kill them?” She asked, trembling a little. Was that the end of people who crossed him?

She gulped hard.

“Feeling sorry for them?” He asked, noticing the flustered expression on her otherwise usually calm and stoic face. His eyes narrowed.

555-235-556.

She repeated the number in her head over and over again to make sure she wouldn’t forget it. She absolutely needed to warn that person. Whoever they were.

And thus she didn’t see the darkening expression on Damian’s face.

She nodded her head once, just to show she understood the threat. But it was misinterpreted by the man sitting next to her.

Was that an admission that she was… feeling sorry for someone she had never met? Or was she just playing tricks with him?

His jaw ticked.

He picked up his phone and dialed.

“Mark.”

Mark picked up on the first ring. Reverence in his voice.

“Any orders, boss?”

“555-235-556,” Damian said. Just the number.

Mark paused, confused. Then it clicked. A trace. A name. An address.

“Ok sir. I’m on it.”

Kiera looked at Damian with astonishment.

He had just used her note. Her secret. To hunt someone down… and probably kill them?!

The car kept moving through Manhattan traffic. Neither of them spoke.

But the air between them had changed. It was no longer just contract.

It was war. And she was caught in the middle of it looking at him in astonishment.