Page 53 of Deadline for Love

He gently kissed me on the same spot and held me tighter. A short time passed, in which I listened to his calm heartbeat until he spoke again.

“I’ll protect you, Bella. Don’t worry.”

His words made me feel safe and took away my fears. I was really eternally grateful to Nathan for that.

Chapter 19

I noticed that he fell asleep much quicker than usual and didn’t wake at all during the night. Maybe this was worth making a habit of…

I took a long stretch and then got ready for work. First, I prepared breakfast for Nathan before leaving his apartment and getting to my car.

Today, I had planned to visit my neighbor shortly around noon. Janette was confident, loud, and always had a wisecrack, but I worried she might have been reclusive after the incident with our hallway creeper.

Today, I was the first one to arrive at the office, so I had to switch on all the lights and open the windows to let in some air. The warm, morning breeze rustled in the room, and the sun’s rays heated my skin.

I prepared my coffee and sat armed with my cup at my desk. The first thing I did was work on my emails. As I hadn’t been in on Friday, a few had piled up.

Some emails were from James, who informed us about last week’s sales figures. We managed to come in first place; weonly had a slight lead overInsight News, but we achieved it, nonetheless. In addition, our readers’ opinions were very positive and supportive. Aicha’s articles received an outstanding response, as many wanted a change from the latest news in Steel Valley and not just bad news. A lot of people liked the variety of the different categories. My articles received praise, too.

James sincerely expressed his gratitude for our hard work and gave us the old deadline for the new publication, which allowed us a little more time to chase leads. Still, he had left a small note in bold print that we should not let down our guard, and if something extraordinary occurred, we needed to be the ones who broke the news. I was mentioned by name in this sentence, and I couldn’t help but let out a long, annoyed sigh. “That was obvious...”

I took a sip of my coffee and leaned back in my chair a little, then checked out the online articles thatInsight NewsandSentinel Publishinghad put out. They had done their own research in the last week and written exaggerated things, scandalous suggestions that a cult was performing rituals to make our city unsafe. Both of them had written similar articles, though they usually had opposing views. Our reports were totally different. Now it looked like they were working together to make us look like liars, but all their efforts were for nothing. Well, at least they hadn’t mentioned me in their articles, so I didn’t care about what lies they wrote.

“Good morning, Bella. Good to see you.” Eric’s cheerful voice greeted me, followed by a warm greeting from Aicha, who entered the office simultaneously.

“So, how was your vacation?” they both asked straight away and positioned themselves before me. “Is it true that you got married?”

I nodded. “Yes, it was nice to get away, and yes, we got married,” I replied, and showed them my ring.

They both congratulated me, but I could see that there was also uncertainty in their eyes. Aicha thought Nathan was great, and Eric liked him too, but they still felt my decision to get married was too quick.

“Well, I wish you all the happiness in the world.” Eric patted me on the shoulder and went to his seat, but Aicha stood before me.

“But why are you here so early? Trouble in paradise already?”

Confused, I shook my head. “No, not at all! I’m just a workaholic.”

She tilted her head. “Uh huh.” Then she looked at my gold wedding ring and smiled gently. “Nevertheless, I wish you all the best, my love. We should have a little celebration soon. Even though you’re already married, it’s nice to celebrate with all your loved ones and share the joy properly.”

Her words gave me a bittersweet aftertaste in the back of my mouth because she was right. I would have loved to have all my friends and family. But we had an ulterior motive and finding this murderer was the priority.

“Gladly, Aicha. But for now, it’s important that we help Steel Valley receive good news again,” I said. My words had a deep meaning that Aicha wouldn’t understand because she didn’t know that I was doing all this to lure the killer out.

Her smile was bright, and she nodded. “Yes, we should do that.”

We all got down to work, chatting in between when we took little breaks or asked for opinions. When we broke for lunch, I went to my car.

“Bella, wait!”

Nia ran up to me and grabbed my wrist. “Where do you want to go?” she asked, out of breath, and bent over slightly to catch her breath. She must have been running to me, entirely out of breath.

“I just wanted to visit my neighbor,” I replied, slightly confused.

“You can’t be traveling alone—always in pairs.’’ She raised her head and looked at me with a serious expression. “Don’t forget that there’s a solid chance you’re the focus of a serial killer.”

I had no idea what to say to that, I wasn’t naive, but I didn’t think I should go out alone in broad daylight either.

Nia saw the look on my face and guessed what I thought as she said directly, “Terrible things happen in the daytime too. I’m glad I saw you. Otherwise, you really would have gone out alone,” she hissed in annoyance and let go of my hand.

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