Chapter 6 Chapter 6

Nicole:

This man was much more than I thought. That bit was now as clear as day to me as I sat down, watching his eyes trail over me softly with a smirk of familiarity I did not understand.

I cleared my throat, preparing myself internally for the questions I had to ask as I looked through the question sheet.

"Where were you on the day the murder occurred?”

"In one of my other casinos across town," he said curtly.

"Do you have an alibi for that?"

"About a hundred people, yes."

"Do you know the deceased personally?"

“No."

"Maybe he was a worker?"

"My workers are complete"

His answers were short, almost unnerving with each word that left his lips, his eyes still trained on me with brutal familiarity.

My confidence began to waver as the paper's pages grew blurry.

"I would need you to present at least three alibis that can testify to your location. It should not be very hard since as you said, you have a hundred alibis from your other casino across town"

He shrugged.

"You are a tough woman, Nicole. But sure, you will get your alibis "

The way he called my name caused something in my bile to rise as I got up abruptly, shocking even myself.

I have always been extremely collected when facing people like this but this man!

"If that would be all then, I will be calling it a day. Thank you for your time." I said, turning around to leave with that nagging question still deep-seated in my chest.

"Well, certainly that cannot be all?" He called.

I whipped my head around back quickly.

"What?"

He leaned back into his seat, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face as he shrugged for a second time.

"I'm just saying, are you sure that is all you have to ask me.? I am open to other questions. "

My heart dropped.

He knew it. He knew something about my kidnapping, and he was using it to taunt me!

In that split moment, all I saw was that dark room and the feeling of suffocation that sat embedded in my chest while I slowly counted down the days.

I rushed over to his desk, my hands finding their way to his collar yanking at him, eyes leveled against his.

My yanking did little to nothing on his being, instead, he was still staring at me with a fully formed smile like he was enjoying my crash-out, a small huff of his shoulders showing that he did not care so much.

I went ballistic.

"What do you know about my kidnapping?! Was it you?! Tell me!"

He shrugged.

"I don't know what you are talking about. But you seem agitated, why is that?"

He spoke to me like a fucking therapist, every word intended to break the last shred of my resolve.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"

I tugged at his shirt again, this time, my composure slipping out of my hands as I glared at him.

"Whoa, Nicole!" A voice said.

It was external, a voice I did not realize had joined us as I still held on to his shirt, refusing to let go.

In my eyes, he was now my captor, that taunting voice I had heard for twenty one days while I tried my hardest to hold on to whatever shred of sanity I had left.

Jacob yanked me away from him, his eyes filled with surprise as he gave a sheepish smile to Mr Alister.

"I apologize for her behaviour, we will be on our way now.”

My chest was heaving and I could feel my vision growing blurry as I stared at him.

"This is not over yet," I said simply, turning around to leave with Jacob.

"What the hell was that?" He called out the minute we exited the company.

I shrugged.

"He said something that tipped me off, I'm sure he knows more about this than he is letting on" I said simply.

I watched him open his mouth to form words before closing it back again.

"I see what Mr Coleman has been saying. This is not right," he said solemnly before turning around and walking off.

What the hell did that mean? I knew that the minute he got back to the station, I would be reported.

But by now I really did not have the strength to care.

I was left standing there, chest still heaving from that moment I just had, my body giving off a slight shudder as I felt the wind whip through my being.

I stared around the empty parking lot, my eyes dashing through the few cars that sat there until they stumbled on a van.

I felt my chest tighten, so hard that the air around seemed bent on suffocating me.

I knew that van.

My feet did not wait for me before they started clamouring towards the van, forcing the door open and feeling that familiar scent instantly hit me.

This was the van I was kidnapped in.

I could tell from the pungent scent of fish and the way its oddly shaped roof kept clamouring when the wind hit it.

That has been the sound I was hearing all through the drive to the location where I was later locked up.

At first I had thought of it as all imagined, after all I was injected with drugs to keep me high, and my head was concocting scenarios that didn't make sense in my head.

But it was real.

I snapped out of my reverie quickly, pulling out my phone and taking pictures of the car and its registered plate number.

Since everyone would act like I was insane, I would find out the truth of all this.

Myself.