Page 79 of Deadline for Love

“I want you to tell me where the women are now,” I ordered, which made him sigh.

“There’s a secret passage in the back room; they should be there. Unless Julian had something else planned. The key is in my pocket.”

Limping, I knelt in front of him and rummaged in his trouser pocket, and sure enough, I found a key. Fernando closed his eyes in agony and made no effort to move again.

I looked over at Nathan, who was still holding his chest and trying to get his breathing under control.

“Nathan, I’m sorry,” I finally managed to get out, but he shook his head.

“No, you’re not.”

And before I could say anything, he breathed, “I don’t want to see you again.” I paused in my position, and my eyes started toburn. My heart broke into a thousand pieces all over again. The disgusting air in the room, mixed with the metallic scent, choked me. My grip got loose, and the gun fell to the ground. I didn’t want to feel or think about anything anymore. I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out... So many thoughts and feelings flowed through me, but the moment I almost lost my will, there was a new sound, as if a door had been broken open. I lifted my eyes and found Jeffrey Morgan with another officer. Both armed and alert.

I continued to stand still and exhaled with relief. Mr. Morgan quickly came to my side, and his colleague secured the scene.

I frantically explained the situation, breathing heavily. The officer stopped before Julian and looked around while Mr. Morgan picked up a radio and called for more police and paramedics. When he was finished, I grabbed Mr. Morgan to free the women.

With an oppressive feeling, I left Nathan behind and explained everything to Mr. Morgan a little more calmly until we arrived at the secret passage.

We opened the door and found a room filled with aster flowers and clothes. Poems were stuck to the walls, and two women lay tied up on the floor with their eyes covered.

Mr. Morgan ran to them first and confirmed they were both still alive. I almost sank to the floor in relief but pulled myself together and held on to the door. Then I took a closer look at the two women, and my jaw almost dropped when I recognized the second person next to the missing one. I hobbled over and covered my mouth to keep from screaming.

“Oh my God, Nia! What are you doing here?” I touched her body and tried to shake her awake, but she seemed to be unconscious.

“Backup will be here soon, don’t worry. They are still alive; they’ll be taken care of soon.” Mr. Morgan came next to me andput his arms around my shoulders to comfort me. “Thank God that went well. Excellent job.”

I sat next to Nia in the hospital room. My physical injury wasn’t that bad, but mentally, I was not well. The pain in my heart was worse than anything I’d ever experienced.

My eyes wandered around the room to the yellow-painted walls and the table with two guest chairs. Right next to it was the balcony door, where you could see the slightly cloudy, starry sky. Then I kept looking, and at some point, my gaze caught on Nia lying on the hospital bed. Her face looked peaceful. Her eyes were closed, and her dark skin shone with the light in the room. The doctors said she had been sedated, just like Jessica Rue. Neither of them had any other injuries, and they would recover quickly, which was reassuring, but still my body began to shake. The room wasn’t cold, but my endless thoughts circled around and made me shiver. So much was still to come, including the press and the reactions of our friends and family. Enzo and Maria... I couldn’t imagine how shocking this news would be for them. Because even though we had the killers, one of the perpetrators was a person we had loved. It was still hard for me to digest that Fernando was involved.

I couldn’t believe that these young women lost their lives to their so-called art.

But Nathan was also a big part of my thoughts. His reaction broke me; I only remembered his cold expression. When the paramedics and reinforcements arrived, Nathan only glanced at me briefly and simply turned around and left. He didn’t want to be treated, he didn’t want to talk to anyone, he just wanted to go.

Mr. Morgan tried to stop him so he could get a statement, but Nathan just said he would handle it through his lawyer, and then he left.

I was about to cry, but when I realized that Nia was moving, I pushed my thoughts aside and tried to stay strong.

“Nia, just what on earth did you do?” I whispered; my voice was barely audible anyway.

She stretched once, and then a second later, her eyes snapped open. She went into attack mode and jumped up far too fast for her circulation, and she almost fell over.

I caught her and gave her a tight hug. “It’s okay, you’re safe,” I mumbled, and it took Nia a moment to realize where she was.

Then she pulled me closer and started crying.

“Oh my God, I thought that was the end for me. Bella, you don’t know how good it is to see you.” She sobbed loudly and threw herself backward, causing us both to fall onto the floor.

I drew a sharp breath and then patted her comfortingly on the shoulders. “Ah, Nia! We didn’t even know you’d been kidnapped,” I admitted, hugging her even closer to me.

“Bella, if only you knew. I didn’t realize what happened… I followed a lead yesterday, and I went to your apartment. I was going to wait, but then I saw Janette being threatened by this guy. It was all so confusing, and suddenly I felt a hand behind me and something on my mouth, and everything went dark—”

I interrupted her by pushing Nia slightly away from me. Then I looked into her brown eyes and thoughtfully stared. “Weren’t you the one who told me not to do anything alone? And then you do something so dangerous!” I reprimanded.

She didn’t answer but just looked at me with teary eyes and started sobbing again.

“Okay, sorry, Nia. You were lucky!”

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