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“I know, buddy, I know,” Liam comforted Rambo for the second time before rushing back to his phone. He had been cooking eggs when the phone rang. Determined to tell whoever it was that he would have to call back, his whole plan was completely thrown off when he found out the police were on the other end of the line. He was so perplexed, he completely forgot about his breakfast on the stove.
“Hello?”
“Yes,” Jerry answered, quite annoyed for being on hold for so long.
“Sorry about that, I thought my apartment was about to burn down,” Liam countered, a bit annoyed himself. "So if I understand that right, you need me to come down to the station to get her?”
“Pretty much. She said you are the only person she knows.” How bizarre the whole thing was. Liam was just about to put that strange and peculiar encounter with Isabella out of his mind, but now the police were asking for his help. He tried to make sense of it all, but it only left him even more confused. The night he met her, he was driving home from another depressive night shift trying to save his company. His mind had been drifting into endless thoughts about his company and all the people who depended on it and before he could even blink, he saw a woman bent over in the middle of the road. He kicked the brakes with all the force his leg had to offer, coming into a hard stop strong enough that it would have pulled him out of his seat if it wasn't for the seatbelt. The car slid across the pavement and managed to stop just in time.
He could swear he didn’t hit her that hard, if at all, but when he jumped out of the car to check, she was unconscious on the floor. In a freaking period dress! No, not one of these cheap online Halloween dresses. That thing was legit. The real deal. Never in his life had he ever seen one of those things except in the movies. As if that wasn’t bizarre enough, Isabella was talking about horses, and carriages, and lanterns like everything around her wasn't meanderingly normal at all. Nothing would have been strange about this if he wasn’t certain that he barely hit her. If so, then how did she get that head injury? But then, what’s certain these days? If he was being honest, he couldn’t even remember what he had for lunch yesterday. Trying to keep his struggling business afloat was more than enough stress to make him question his judgement.
“Is there a problem? Don’t you know her?” Yes, Liam, is there a problem besides that you don’t know her at all and that the police are asking you to pretty much hide her from a possible dangerous stalker? Every other man would have said no to the whole thing. Every other man would have told them that it would be better to not get entangled with the victim of a recent car accident who could potentially still file a lawsuit in court against him. He sighed, knowing the answer to such an unbelievable dilemma. Liam was Liam, a man who not once but on several occasions had risked his own life to save a fellow soldier or pretty much anybody else who needed it during his five-year service in the military—and afterwards.
“No. There is no problem. I'll be there right away.”
The officer hung up before saying another word. For a moment, he just stood there in silence, wondering what the hell he was thinking. But then, Isabella’s sad words came back to him repeatedly, more than he liked to admit throughout the past few weeks. ‘Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’ve done. Besides my brother, who isn’t really around anymore, nobody has ever been this nice to me. I’ll never forgot your kindness.’
Those were her exact same words. Coming from a victim he had just hit with his car, most likely causing a head injury that made her think she was from a time when horses still pulled carriages. She should have been angry, threatened him with the police, a lawsuit, anything… But to thank him for driving her to a hospital stating it was the nicest thing somebody had ever done for her was one of the saddest things he had ever heard. What kind of a man would he be to not do whatever he could to help? There was a chance that he was the cause of her confusion. At that moment, he was aware of every beat of his heart. It felt like he was sinking. He knew the feeling… It was guilt.
“It’s just for an hour or two. I don’t want you to fall out of the open window.” Rambo instantly protested with a heartbreaking meow from the other side of the door like the poor cat was being tortured. He loved sleeping on the mattress, but like every other cat, only on his terms—not with a door closed by a human.
For a moment Liam considered changing from his jogging pants and sweatshirt into one of his nicer outfits. He shook his head, surprised by the fact that he’d even considered it. It was seven in the morning and he was on the way to the police, not a romantic dinner date. He grabbed his keys amidst the smoke that still floated in the air and left his empty apartment, as the door closed behind him.
