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He couldn’t even say the color, and he kept calling my name as if confirming to someone that he was calling me. I confirmed my thoughts.
I dropped the phone and got out of Jayden’s car. “Take Ariana and Kendal to your place, or anywhere safe, I need to see Yusuf.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Of course, I will. The real question here is, can I leave Ariana and Kendal with you? I’m serious.”
“Yes you can, I promise.” He said and I nodded. I didn’t need to ask, I trusted him, but it was me, so I had to ask first.
“Alright, I’ll see you in a while.” I turned to leave and as he called me, I turned back and saw a frown on his face.
“Be careful, please.” He was serious, he was worried. To keep his mind at rest, I promised and went to Trance’s car.
“Hey, can you please follow the other car to make sure they are okay?”
“Are you sure? I was hired to protect you.”
“That’s all of me in the other car. Please keep them safe. I’m going to Yusuf now, I’ll be okay.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Also, can I have your gun?”
“Yes,” he handed his gun without hesitation and I thanked him. I entered my car and drove off to Yusuf’s basement.
* * *
The gun entered the basement before I did and my keys fell from my hand at what I saw. Whoever this guy was –maybe the guard Trance was talking about, he laid on the floor in a pool of blood while no… no it can’t be. I was seeing things, NO.
Yusuf’s body laid beside the other guy, with his broken phone by him and multiple holes in his stomach, and I realized that the pool of blood was for both of them.
If he killed the guy, then who killed him? How many times was he shot for him to have a stomach this open?
I was right, someone was here. Someone was here right when Yusuf called me. Then why did he say it was Orange?
Orange was to say that it was bad now, but itmightbe good later. Did they promise to leave him if I came? They lied.
I moved to him and cupped my hands around his face, lifting his head up. He was good as gone. I breathed heavily as I waited for the tears that refused to come. Where was Gideon? Trance said they were together. Was he aware of this or was he dead somewhere too?
My hands carefully dropped Yusuf’s head and I stared at the blood in my hands, the weight of the situation dawning on me.
Yusuf was dead, someone killed Yusuf, someone shot Yusuf. I couldn’t believe it and I never knew I wanted him alive until I found myself looking at him, waiting for him to jump up and say it was a joke or a prank, while I shoot him a glare and call him a fool.
I didn’t know how much he meant to me until I was staring at the bullet holes in his stomach.
It was a trap. I searched around and saw nobody with me in the basement. I should leave this place, it was dangerous. It was a fucking trap that they had set for me. They wanted me to come and here I was. Anything could happen now if I stayed one more minute.
I stood up to leave and then it hit me. Not a realization, but a rod… or an iron? I didn’t know, but whatever it was, it hurt like hell. I grabbed the back of my head and groaned.
I was going to fall, I felt really dizzy. I fell to the floor and a blurred face showed up in front of me. It was a man, or was it? I didn’t know, I blacked out.
31
JAYDEN
Twelve hours.
Jordan had been gone for twelve hours. It was midnight and there was nowhere to call her. After dropping the kids with John and Trance –with Ariana throwing a lot of tantrums about how ‘Lexi’ would be so disappointed with me for dropping them with some random guys, I went to her house, but she wasn’t there.