Doctors Orders (Manxman)

Chapter 26

Tristan

Fear. Pure unadulterated fear courses through me, touching every small cell and tissue. The sky was still blue, the birds chirping and the day warm. The only thing different was the ice spreading through my vessels.

If I go to hell, I am taking you with me.

The words played over and over in my head and I barely noticed that Damien was back. It wasn't until he shook my arm that I noticed the ice cream cone he was holding out to me.

He was looking at me with puzzled eyes with slight worry in them. I offered him the brightest smile I could muster in my current state to reassure him. He relaxed and smiled back, putting an arm around me.

I gladly leaned back and snuggled into his warm body. The comfort was immediate and delightful. He was like a warm sun who thawed the ice of fear in my veins. With my body touching his, I felt surprisingly safe. Alexander was rich and no doubt powerful but he was in no way a match for my Damien.

"Hey your ice cream is melting love. You haven't touched it. Don't you like it? I thought bubblegum was your favourite?"

With a start, I saw that my ice cream was almost semi liquid by now. I hurriedly put spoonfuls of it in my mouth but I couldn't taste anything. I swallowed mindlessly, too preoccupied with thoughts of a powerful someone abducting me or worse forcing me to be his sex slave.

I tried my best to carry on a normal conversation and I must say I did a good job. Even Damien's observant eyes couldn't pick up on my inner turmoil.

My brain was running mile a minute to figure out my next step. I had no idea what Alexander would do but I did not want to wait and find out. A part of my brain wanted to tell Damien everything but I decided to tell him later.

I had no real information about the guy threatening me. I had never bothered to find out more about him before but now I was going to go all out. There had to be some information on the internet about an industrialist like Alexander.

I was going to find out everything I could about him before telling Damien of my plight. He wouldn't be able to help me if he knew nothing about the man we were against.

Damien kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye. He was probably catching on to my brooding. He thankfully he did not pry further. This was one of the things I loved most about him. He never pushed me to talk about anything. He waited patiently till I was ready to confide. It made him an excellent friend and an even better boyfriend.

We were back home before evening. Damien was staying over today. He was going to be staying in my room and the thought of spending a whole night alone with him sent delicious tingles throughout my body. He had of course slept over before. But then he was just my friend, not boyfriend.

As happy as I was, him being there also posed problems. I wouldn't be able to spend time looking up Alexander. I would have to do it now.

I excused myself to go to the washroom. Once there I hurriedly took out my phone and entered Google. I typed in Alexander Sturtevant.

Promptly a picture of him appeared with the title "American entrepreneur". His description was as follows : "Alexander Sturtevant is an American entrepreneur and business magnate. He is the founder and executive director of Sturtevant Inc. which deals in weapons and intelligence services. He is also a major stock owner of the Syndicate Bank."

I swallowed. He owned a weapons company. As if that wasn't bad enough he also kind of owned the Syndicate Bank. The very bank which both Damien and I used like thousands of other Americans.

Despair and terror gripped my body. It felt as if cold fingers were strangling the air out of my lungs. How was I supposed to fight a guy who could get any weapon he wanted?

His piercing green eyes were demonic even in the picture. They sent a shudder through me and I suddenly had the urge to take my family and run far,far away.

But that would be useless. A man like that had influence everywhere. I wouldn't be safe from him anywhere. I turned the tap on and splashed my face. The cool water hitting my skin felt heavenly.

There was an impatient tap on the door and my sisters voice sounded.

"Tris you have been in there for ages. Come out! I want to show you these orchids that just arrived."

I answered her and looked in the mirror. A frightened, pale face stared back at me with haggard eyes and girlish curls falling over his face. I wondered how on earth Alexander could ever want me. A guy like that could buy the best models if he wanted and he chose to go after me of all people.

I cannot go out like this, I thought. I looked like a terrified little mouse. I tried to smile. It came out rather peculiar. I tried again and again till it was close to normal. I tried to speak. My voice wavered and shook. I practised till my voice was close to normal too.

Then I went out. The world seemed like a dream. Everyone was happy and enjoying without a care in the world. Mother was laughing at something Damien was saying and Beth was excitedly chattering away. I felt trapped in my own world of misery and fear with no one to turn to.

Everything was a blur after that. I vaguely registered being shown some potted flowers and Beth smiling but that was all. It all seemed too trivial before the danger before me. Worst of all was the fact that I had no idea what Alexander meant by his words. He could just have wanted to scare me but I doubted a man like him could be anything but serious.

Damien could sense that something was off but he couldn't quite figure out what. I could see him looking at me from time to time with concern and bewilderment. He probably thought that it was his fault I was troubled. He was probably looking back on our day and trying to understand what he did wrong.

My heart went out to him and I wanted nothing more than to reassure him that he had done nothing wrong, he was perfect to me. Always had been.

In my turbulent mind, one thing was absolutely clear. I was not going to be separated from Damien. Not while I still had air in my lungs. If Alexander wanted me he would have to be satisfied with my dead body.