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“Even so, I shouldn’t just assume in this day and age. Is there anything else I can get you? Perhaps a nice bottle of chardonnay or sauvignon blanc?”
It did seem like a nice idea to enjoy some wine this evening, especially as it was a Friday night and I was supposed to be taking Richard out this evening. But a nice cosy evening snuggled on the sofa together sounded far more enticing.
“You know what? That sounds perfect. I’ll take a bottle of each. Then I can decide this evening. I will take your recommendation on which will go best.”
Again, Aria walked from behind the counter and over to the wine section. Picking up two bottles, she walked back to the counter and rang everything into the till. After I paid the bill, we wished each other a good day, and I headed back towards the apartment to get ready for the evening.
As I slowly walked along the street toward Richard’s apartment building, I had a strange sensation come over my body. It almost felt creepy, as though I was being followed. I casually turned my head to take a look—well, as casually as I could with my heart beating uncontrollably in my chest—and saw a man in a grey hoodie a little way behind me. His hood was pulled up over his head, despite the heat of the summer afternoon, which meant I could not see his face. I was sure it was a man by both his height and the way he was striding down the street. Not a very ladylike way of walking at all.
Deciding I didn’t want to lead him to Richard’s home, and to also see if I was indeed being followed, I stopped at the edge of the pavement and crossed over the road, continuing past the alleyway to the apartment. I carried on walking along the street at the same pace, not wanting to draw attention to either myself or let on that I knew I was being followed.
I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end as footsteps started to sound just behind me. I wanted to look and see if it was the same man who I thought was following me, but I dared not look around. I could feel myself starting to sweat—not from the heat, but from the fear that was starting to course through my body.
I was just passing by an alleyway to my right when I felt an arm come around me and a hand slap across my mouth as I was pulled into the alley and away from the main road. I felt his warm breath on the side of my head as he spoke to me in a deep voice.
“Don’t make a sound and listen to what I have to say. I have a knife, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
I felt a slight depression against my back with what I assumed to be the knife he was carrying being pressed into it.
“Do you understand?”
I gently nodded my head, not wanting to make a sound. I would give this man whatever he asked for: money, even the code to my credit cards, as long as I got away from here unscathed and in one piece. I could feel myself starting to tremble as he continued to hold both my mouth and the knife into my back.
“Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully, Daniel Cooper. Yes, I know who you are. I also know that you are staying with Richard White in his apartment down the street, so your little diversion hasn’t stopped me from knowing where you both are.”
That immediately got my attention. Especially that he not only knew my name, but that I was staying with Richard. I could feel my legs starting to buckle underneath me as the fear started to take hold of me.
“Now, now, Daniel. Keep yourself together. I’m not going to hurt you…yet. However, I can’t promise that will always be the case. I suggest you keep very quiet about everything. You wouldn’t want everyone to know that you are gay, now, would you? How would that look to the rest of your staff at the office?”
It was at these words that I started to breathe a little easier. Whoever this was, or whoever had sent him, didn’t know me as well as I thought, or they would have known that it was no secret that I was gay. I wanted to ask him what he wanted, but with his hand still over my mouth, it was impossible to speak and be heard. I didn’t have to wait long before I had my answer, though.
“Now, I expect you are wondering why I have grabbed you in this way. Well, certain people are seeking revenge for the way they have been treated by both your and Katherine’s families. As you already know, revenge has already been sought on Katherine. I guess you will have to wait and see what revenge is sought for you. However, I expect you can guess.”
Did he mean that I was going to be murdered too? Or that they were going to do something terrible to Richard?
I couldn’t bear either of them, because either way, someone would be left behind to mourn another loss. How either of those outcomes would hurt my family, I had no idea. It seemed to me that the only person that would be hurt by my loss would be Richard.
I started to think then. What if my punishment was to be framed for the murder of Katherine? That would certainly hurt my father’s business. No one would want to deal with the father of a murderer.
“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we are watching you and yourboyfriend. We know who he works for and where. If we get any inkling that you are coming after us…well, let’s just say the retribution will have dire consequences. Now I’m going to let you go with a reminder of what we can do.”
I felt the knife being drawn across my back and heard the ripping of the t-shirt that I was wearing. I could feel the fear building in me as I waited for the pain to come. My body shook, my heart rate increased, and my breaths became short and shallow. Then the knife was taken away and I felt a blow to my back, causing me to crumple to the ground. I lay there for a moment, unable to move, the fear I was feeling freezing my entire body.
I waited for something to happen. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my heart, ringing in my ears, but everything was quiet. Slowly, I managed to pull myself up from the ground and turned to see where my assailant was, but the alleyway was empty. He had completely disappeared.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the adrenaline left my body and turned to worry about what was to come. Carefully, I managed to pull myself up from the floor and stood for a moment, breathing deeply to calm my nerves and try to stop myself from shaking.
I grabbed the bag of shopping that had dropped on the ground and slowly headed back towards the main street. All the time, I was waiting for him to grab me again. Thoughts that it hadn’t been just a warning, but that he would carry out his threat here and now, were running through my head. I stepped out of the alleyway and onto the main street, looking around to see my attacker, but he was nowhere to be found. All there was, was people going around their normal lives.
I walked back towards the apartment, listening out for footsteps behind me and looking at everyone I saw on the street, checking that I wasn’t being watched. As I arrived at the alleyway leading down to Richard’s apartment building, I felt a sudden cold shiver come over me, as though I was being watched. I looked around the whole area, but there was no one anywhere near me. The whole alley was empty, along with the street next to it. I walked quickly up to the entrance of the building and entered the lobby. Knowing the only way into the building was either entering the code, using a fob, or someone letting you in gave me a slight sense of ease as I headed over to lifts to get up to the apartment.
I walked inside and shut the door behind me, then stepped into the kitchen on autopilot, my body and mind numb from what had just happened to me. I placed all the fresh items I had bought into the fridge and put everything else on the counter ready to cook dinner, then headed into the front room.
It wasn’t until I had done all of this that I finally collapsed onto the settee, the realisation of what had happened taking over my thoughts. I sat there and allowed the tears to fall down my face as I waited for Richard to arrive home for the weekend.
Chapter Twenty-One
Richard
