Trapped In The Wrong Arms

Chapter Four

Ava’s POV

“What’s the update now?” I asked Daniel as I settled down on the dining table. He was on his phone and looked pretty busy on it, but he shouldn’t even be on his phone while we’re on the dining table.

“Update on what?” He asked me without taking his eyes off his phone at all.

“Leo. You’ve not said anything about him since that day.” The moment I mentioned the name, he looked up from his phone. He kept his emotions at bay, but I could see that he was conflicted.

His eyes traveled through my body, I was dressed for work and I had to put on one of my best dresses today. I’ve stayed at home all week as I was given a break from work.

Since that day at that basement, he never mentioned anything about Leo to me again. The trauma of seeing someone killed was still etched into my memory. I wasn’t sure what to do or fell, all that I knew was that I was married to a dangerous man.

“That’s because we’ve not uncovered anything about him yet. If I heard anything about his whereabouts, I’d tell you.” He answered curtly.

I shouldn’t be surprised that he was still so cold to me, seeing as I’ve known him for years now and he was just that way. But it seemed he was getting colder as each day passed by.

The last time he was mildly nice to me was the day we got married when we got here and I kind of lashed out at him.

“You promised to let me know of each step you take, and even though you hadn’t gotten anything on him, I expected that you’d at least let me know what’s happening now.” I told him.

He stared at me for some seconds without saying anything at all, almost like he was trying to read what was going through my mind.

“I’d inform you if we take any major step. But don’t you think you’re hurting yourself by doing this? I mean, it’s really obvious that he ran away and wasn’t kidn*pped. It seems he was trying to escape from you and the wedding.”

That hit like a punch, my chest tightened.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll give up on him. He might have been forced by anyone. Leo loves me and wouldn’t just run off like that. He looked forward to the wedding more than I did. Why would you even say something like that? Isn’t he your brother?” I was so shocked, I didn’t expect him to say something like that at all.

I really knew he had a dark heart and didn’t think like normal people do as his ways were different from ours. But he should at least have compassion for his brother, right?

“The world is a very dark place and you can’t just trust anyone regardless of who they are to you. You’d never know what’s going through their mind, they’re the only ones who know that.” He said, maintaining that dark look.

“You’re trying to say you don’t trust any human on earth?” I asked him.

“Yes, even myself.” He answered curtly.

I wanted to pick offense with what he said about Leo, but I realized that there was nothing I’d say that’d make him see that what he said was wrong. He saw it as a normal thing, that was how his own mentality was, he grew up that way.

“That’s really tough. You should at least have a few people close to you that you can count on. How do you even live or cope without having friends?”

“And who said I don’t have friends?” He asked me back.

My eyes widened at that, “You do? How’s that even possible? You really have people who are you as their friend?” Shock gripped my entire form, I was really surprised that he had friends.

He smirked slightly, “People are just as shocked that someone married me.”

I rolled my eyes. “And a lot of people are still very suspicious that it was an arranged marriage. You seem not to know how mysterious you look to people.” I shrugged.

He was about to reply me when a call came in for him. The moment he saw who was calling, his facial expression changed completely. It wasn’t even like his face was relaxed before, it just worsened.

Without taking an excuse, he stood up and pressed the phone to his ear.

“What happened?” He asked authoritatively on the phone. I frowned a bit at that but I shrugged anyways. It’s his business who he talks to.

I grabbed a toast and an apple then I walked out of the living room. I was kind of late to work and I didn’t have it in mind to be late for my first day again.

I got to office in no time, driving myself. I started work immediately, trying hard to catch up on everything I had missed. After working tirelessly for hours, I took a break.

A message came in for me from the private investigator I had hired for Leo’s case. He sent me a number then he sent a follow up message that the number he just sent was the one that called Leo last.

My hand hovered over my keyboard as I contemplated whether or not to call the number. That could be the person who knew about his whereabouts, I really had to try it out.

For some reasons, my mind traveled to what happened this morning with Daniel. His reaction when I mentioned Leo was kind of suspicious, he wasn’t pleased that I even mentioned that name.

I didn’t know Daniel at all and I wouldn’t even deny that, and so I didn’t trust him one bit. Could he have something to do with Leo’s disappearance?

My brows furrowed as even more questions came up in my mind. My thumb went down and I clicked on the ‘dial button’. I pressed the puone to my ear, hoping the call connected.

The dialing tone came on and more tension coursed through my body. I barely breath till I heard the call connect.

No sound. Silence. That was all I heard from the other side.

“Hello-” I wasn’t allowed to finish what I was trying to say.

“You shouldn’t be calling this number. Your lover boy is gone for good, he doesn’t want you.” A very deep voice said from the other end.

“Who is-“ The call ended just like that, the person didn’t allow me to finish my sentence again.

The voice. It was so chilly and scary that it felt like the person was right next to me. Whoever that was, they were dangerous. But what could have been Leo’s involvement with them?

Hours later, I was done with work. I drove straight home, I was really tired that I just wanted to sleep. I was on my way to my room when I caught sight of a slightly opened room, it was Daniel’s office.

He wasn’t at home yet which means he didn’t lock it while going out. I didn’t know why, or what I was looking for, but I went into the office.

I searched his table to see if I could find anything but everything were just papers that he scribbled random words on. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a brown envelope peeking out of his drawer. It wasn’t very obvious but I saw it.

I was only able to see the first letter on the envelope before the office’s door opened. I saw ‘L’. Daniel stepped in, a frown on his face.

“What the f*ck are you doing here?”

Panic gripped me immediately, “I didn’t- I was looking for my charger. Yes, my charger. And I wanted to see if you had an extra one here because I didn’t want to enter your room.” I lied smoothly.

“Don’t you dare try this again. My office is a sacred place and you should never come in if I don’t invite you.” He said to me in a serious tone.

“Noted. I’m sorry for barging in!” I ran out of the room, my heart racing so fast like it wanted to jump out of my chest.

Just as I entered my room, my phone pinged. It was a message from the same number I had dialed at the office.

It was a picture of Leo and a lady on a boat cruise, he looked so happy and carefree.

I had never felt my heart shatter as much as it did when I saw him kissing her. He really left on his own accord, he did it on purpose.