Chapter 6 ** Looking For An Old Friend **

Chapter 6
**VERONICA'S POV]**
I saw the glimmer hope die behind his eyes. I felt it too. Victoria… Was she alright? What if we couldn’t find her? Panic started to fill my heart. No matter how she saw me, I always thought of her as my angel. I had to find her…
He stood rigid against the car. Maybe he needed a few minutes to collect himself? I slowed down to give him more space. I used the time to think back on the old couple’s confession and what the inspector had said. We needed assistance from the military to be able to get inside the Raven Mafia’s territory. There was something in the back of my mind trying to scratch to the surface. Military? C Nation? My eyes widened as I remembered something important and an unexpected smile formed on my lips. Breaking from my train of thought, I heard Blake open the car door for himself.
“Get in the car. What are you standing around for?” he asked impatiently.
I hurriedly hopped into the car and we drove back to the mansion. Blake seemed utterly frustrated and acted like I wasn’t there.
“Oh please, do continue to ignore me until I get the hell out of this mess!” I thought.
I didn’t care. I had bigger things to think about.
When we finally arrived back at the estate, I hastily went upstairs and barged into my room making the door bang against the wall. Finding my suitcase, I crouched down and began to shuffle through my things. Then my hand hit my notebook.
“Thank God!” I said, letting out a sigh of relief.
I hastily flipped through the pages. My mood instantly soured when I couldn’t find what I was looking for on any of the pages. Cursing under my breath, I chucked the notebook to the far side of the room.
“Shit! Shit! Why can’t things go my way for once?” I groaned.
Getting up off the floor, I went to shower. As the warm water fell down on my body, my tensed muscles relaxed. Considering the past couple of days I had, I was running low on sleep. So I took a nap. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long due to the loud voices coming from the hallway. Yawning, I came out of my room and saw a few men chatting with Blake.
The man, wearing a blue retro suit, anxiously said, “Blake, they are the heads of C Nation! Challenging them would cause a huge uproar, not to mention it would place you in extreme danger.”
Another man, who wore a black suit and a vacant expression, nodded his head in agreement.
“Blake, we admit that you are like a god in B Nation. However, here in C Nation…things are more complicated. The police aren’t even getting involved anymore,” he said.
Blake reached for his black coffee and after taking a sip, he said, “I don't care. I don’t have anything to lose, not anymore.”
Silence fell and a pain pricked my heart as I heard the indifference in his voice. Family was the only thing that mattered in this life and right now he didn’t have one. I knew he had sincere affection for my sister and that encouraged me to help him out even further. Even though my resources were very limited, I had a few friends.
I went back to my room, grabbed my phone and scrolled through the contacts. Dialing the number of my old friend, Lucas, I paced back and forth waiting for him to answer. At his chipper greeting, I started the conversation normally and then headed straight to the point.
I lowered my voice, and asked, “Lucas, you remember the blonde hair boy from our class. His name was Asher and we were all friends until he returned in A Nation to serve out his military time.”
After a moment, Lucas replied, “Uh...Yeah. I remember. But why do you need to find him? Is anything wrong, Veronica?”
“Well, I needed a favor from him. Could you give me his contact information or maybe where he might be stationed now?” I asked.
Lucas took a long while to answer my questions.
“Uh… Lucas?” I asked making sure he was still there.
“I don't have his phone number anymore, but I heard from a mutual friend that he is in C Nation stationed as General or something along those lines…” he said.
My eyes lit up with excitement!
“That's awesome! Please let me know if you can get his phone number. Until then I will try to find him on my own.”
After he agreed, Lucas changed the subject and we chatted for a while before ending the conversation.
…
For the whole night, I didn't step out of my room and Blake was probably too busy asking for help from the C Nation military to bother me. The housekeeper delivered my food to my room and we chatted for a while. I found out that he and Victoria would visit here often during their holidays together. Remembering at how happy they were, the housekeeper became emotional. I offered her a few consoling words as she struggled to keep her tears from falling. Soon after she left, my eyelids started to feel heavy. I was exhausted and I instantly fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
It was early in the morning, when I heard a barking sound. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I saw the warm sunlight slipping through the outlines of my curtains. Getting off the bed, I trudged to the window and peered outside. I saw Blake working out while his German Shepherd was barking. The poor dog was probably just asking to be petted by his master, but I was certain that Blake didn’t care.
Excited by the sight of the dog, I made my way down to the garden after getting dressed. I passed by Blake, who was busy in doing pushups, and I immediately stopped as I noticed his well built figure that could rival that of a Greek god. Sweat glistened on his strong back and eight pack abs. I wanted to observe his body for a while more, but his eyes suddenly glanced over to me. I jerked my focus from him and made my way to the chained up dog.
Moving to a sitting position, he warned, “He doesn't like the presence of others.”
“I will just try touching him. He is already chained up,” I said.
I was so excited to pet the beautiful dog and I grinned widely as he continued to bark at me. Hesitantly, I moved closer while muttering encouraging words to myself. He growled at my intrusion of his personal space. However, I was determined to tame this little pet and make him like me. I bent down in front him and ran my fingers sweetly across his fur. The dog continued to bark a few times, but it was more out of habit than a threat. I smiled at him and spoke in a childish tone to help him relax. After a lot of coaxing, the dog let me play with his fur and was soon begging for more belly rubs. I giggled at his cute reaction, but my smile fell when I noticed the metal chain around his neck. It didn’t look all that comfortable to me.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I glanced quickly over at Blake, who was still working out.
“Is it painful for you?” I asked my new friend.
The dog snarled slightly at my words and I took that as yes. I released the chain from his collar, expecting him to come over and play with me. However, I was shocked as he took off without a backward glance. He was fast too. My face paled and I knew I was going to get in trouble for let him loose.
“Wait! Stop!” I called out desperately as I started chase him. “Shit!” I cursed under my breath.
The dog continued running despite my calls. I had no time to be afraid of Blake as I was more scared that the dog would hurt someone or himself. Horrified, I watched as the dog jumped into the swimming pool.
“No!” I cried.
Without caring about myself, I jumped in the pool to try and save him. The cold water surrounded me and I felt my body sinking. Oh crap! I didn’t know how to swim! What idiot jumps into pool who doesn’t know how to swim? Oh yeah… that’s me.