Part Five
1165 Words
Eva's POV
"You've got a visitor", the nurse told me and I creased my eyebrows together in wonder. Was it Quince? My family?
The door opened and I was confused to see an unfamiliar guy walk in. His strides slow and cautious as though scared of me.
"Hi", he greeted.
"Hello, who are you?" I enquired.
"I'm Linos", he had a British accent, just like Quince. He stood a few inches away from me and I noticed his blue eyes and dark hair that was much similar to Quince's, but he didn't look much like him.
"Do I know you by chance?" I asked as he seemed to relax a bit, but I was still confused as to who exactly he was.
"No you don't. But you know my cousin", he responded and I grew even more confused.
"I'm not sure who you're talking about?"
"Quince", the name itself had realization dawn upon me. That explains the hair and the eyes. But it also meant danger. What if Quince had sent him to keep watch on my family and I? Then, why did he seem scared of me when he came in?
"Why are you here?" I asked defensively as I sat up on the bed. I didn't want to be around anything remotely related to Quince.
"Oh, no. I'm not going to harm you", he moved closer and I instinctively moved back on the bed.
"Then why are you here?" I demanded once more.
"The snail..."
"Do you want it too?" I cut him off. Where had the nurse disappeared to?
"No!" He exclaimed.
"Then why are you asking about it?"
"Because I'm afraid Quince wants it to hurt me!" Come again.
"What?" I wasn't sure I just heard that right.
"The snail, he wants it to hurt me", Linos responded.
"Why?" I continued to enquire.
"I don't know if I can trust you", he looked down as not to meet my furious gaze.
"You can't trust me! But you came to me about the snail! I'm sorry, but you need to give me a good reason why I should tell you squak about that snail!" I exclaimed furiously at him. We had barely met a minute and we had gotten of the wrong foot already. He really was Quince's cousin.
"Just promise me you won't tell Quince I came to you?" he looked up and pleaded at me with his eyes.
"Do I look like associate with Quince?!" I was to angry to try and be nice.
Linos breathed out a reluctant sigh before he began, "My cousin and I never got along. We were young when our fathers had a feud over who'd take our grandfather's business..."
"You mean the medicine firm?" I cut him of to ask for conformation. Linos arched an eyebrow at that.
"Is that what Quince told you?" I nodded and he shook his head.
"The business is a gang"
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My mind was still on my encounter with Linos. I couldn't believe it. Linos was afraid Quince would have used the snail to harm him, possibly kill him. I knew Quince had motifs behind wanting the snail, but this was beyond my imagination.
How could such a handsome face, be running a gang? How could those mesmerizing blue eyes that seemed to hold yours captive, watch his cousin and want to kill him? How was any of this not adding up?
I was thrown out of my imagination by a knock on my door.
"Come in", I reluctantly stated. My dad entered soon after and plastered on a smile.
"How are you feeling sport?" dad asked in a worried tone even if I was home already and just prescribed bed rest. He sat near me on my bed and patted my head as though I was a little child he was putting to bed. I didn't mind, it showed how much he cared.
After loosing mom, I had become his top priority. He never wanted to see any other woman after mom had passed. The business was beginning to go downhill. Then he met Nancy when I was ten. She and dad hit it off instantly and continued to date until they finally decided to tie the knot five years later.
Dad and Nancy had a lot of issues having a kid during their first three years of marriage. Nancy's only brother died in a tragic car accident and it led to her stress levels increasing by each day. I watched her almost bleed to death twice and have a couple miscarriages.
It was a main reason I was more than ecstatic when she gave birth to Azzy without any complications. It was a miracle.
"Much better. How did the meeting go?" I was almost afraid to hear the answer.
"We had to call it of", he responded and I sent him a sorry look.
"Sorry dad", I apologized.
"No big deal. We can't have a meeting without the host now can we?" he ruffled my hear playfully. I loved it when dad still treated me like his little princess. I was glad we still had relationship anyways.
"Davin called", dad told me looking down solemnly.
"What is it?" I asked beginning to worry. That look on dad's face never meant well. The first time I saw it was when mom died and then I saw it every time after when Nancy lost a baby.
"The snail arrived a while ago", he looked into my eyes that were very much like his, "Are you sure you want to bring that thing in?"
I didn't even know my answer to that question anymore. On one hand, Quince was out there after the little creature, on the other, Trevor trusted us out of all the zoos he was partnered with. And somewhere on a third hand, that slimy creature was poisonous.
"I don't even know anymore dad", I answered honestly. I felt tears pooling in my eyes, "I don't want to ruin Trevor's trust in Davin and I. He can demolish our names and the zoo with the snap of a finger. I don't want that to happen to the zoo after mom worked so hard for it to be there in the first place."
Dad pulled me in for a tight hug and I hugged him back as I cried into his shoulder, soiling his plaid shirt in the process.
"Sweetie, everything that zoo is, is because of you. It's your decision to make. Don't beat yourself up about it", he told me while rubbing my back consolingly.
"But I can't let Quince take the snail either. God knows what he wants to do with it dad", I wasn't about to tell dad about Linos and what he had told me, not yet at least.
My phone began ringing from on the side table. Startled, dad and I jumped apart from the hug.
I hesitantly reached for the phone and answered.
"Hello"
"Eva, we have a big problem"
- Writer
