Caught Redhanded

Panicked, I turned around. Nathan had a way of sneaking up so silently on me. Now, he had done that at the worst time. Was he a ninja or my sworn enemy in his past life?
Upon meeting his fiercely burning eyes, I rushed backward, gripping the balcony’s iron-wrought railing. “Ouch!” I retracted my burning hands. How could I forget the simple rule of never touching iron in the scorching heat of summer, especially at the sun’s peak hour?
“If you are trying to run away from me, do better and get on the other side of the railing,” Nathan sadistically suggested.
My chest raised and fell. I was taking rapid, deep breaths. Perhaps my body was on the verge of a panic attack. If one after another spawn of the devil kept coming after me, my body would end up in a grave soon. “I am innocent, I swear!” I shouted.
“Really?” Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Why should I believe a word you say? Mother is doing a terrible job at background checking before hiring people. I am too precious to be held for ransom or have my throat slit in my sleep.”
“No! No! I am not a criminal. I promise. There has been a misunderstanding,” I defended myself. My quavering voice made me look more guilty than innocent.
“Let me judge that,” he said, charging at me. I put my hands over my eyes and screamed. His aggressive skepticism triggered a haunting memory in me of the day the police came pounding on my door. They had arrested my husband in the middle of the night and taken me for questioning the day after that.
I heard him come to a halt. Then why were his hands not around me? Was he calling the police? I peeked through the spaces between my fingers to find him doing something similar. Instead of his phone, he reached for mine on the ground.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “You are allowed to go through it. I don’t have anything to hide.”
Nathan flipped my phone and studied it like I was hiding something illegal there. I had half a mind to unlock it for him when my phone rang again. I prayed to God not to let it be my horrible ex’s call. John wouldn’t hesitate to blame me for his crimes. That man could do anything to save himself.
“Hello. Who is this?” Nathan answered my phone without hesitation. He was kind enough to put it on speaker to let me hear their conversation.
“Tell your girlfriend my men are at her house,” the gangster replied, and I went white. If I had stayed there one more day, they would have killed me. “Where is she? She needs to pay her debt.”
“Interesting,” Nathan spoke calmly. He was a fool for not being afraid of the person on the other side of the line. “She has never mentioned this to me. How much does she owe you?”
“Her life is the payment. It’s unnegotiable,” came the response.
Nathan didn’t appear bothered by his answer. “Not even a million dollars will change your mind?” What was he doing? I didn’t have that kind of money on me.
The gangster laughed in his ugly, deep voice. “Nothing is more important than loyalty to us. She should have thought about that before her snitch of a husband opened his mouth in court. Be a good boy and tell us where she is. We would find her eventually, so let us both save some time and unnecessary bloodshed. We don’t spare anyone who gets in our way.”
My life was now in Nathan’s hands. He could take his revenge on me for turning him down. He seemed the kind of person who would keep a grudge over the smallest things.
“Call me back in five minutes. I need to talk to someone before responding to your kind threat.” Nathan ended the call with that and moved his attention back to me.
“Before you hand me over to them, think about whether my crime was big enough to receive a death sentence,” I spoke in one breath.
Nathan shoved his hands into his pockets and took a few steps toward me. “You tell me, Amelia Walter. What is your crime? Who are you? And why is someone after your life?”
Tears poured like a hurricane from my eyes. I had no words to explain to him how unfair life had been to me. One night is all it took to have everything taken away from me. “My ex-husband is a convicted drug lord. I don’t know when he entered the life of crime. He never told me. Now, his ex-business partners are holding me responsible for what he had done. I don’t know why…” I choked up on emotions.
“How can I know you are telling the truth? Do you have any proof?” said Nathan, ignoring my emotional breakdown.
I looked at him with slightly annoyed, moist eyes. “Wouldn’t I be in jail as well if I had any involvement in it? The gangsters probably think John still cares about me, or perhaps he made them think that to buy himself some more time.” I wiped my tears. “Tell them whatever you want. I don’t care. I am so sick of life. Maybe it’s better to end it right here.”
My eyes went round when Nathan put his arms around my waist and hugged me. “Amelia, I am not a sadistic monster. I may not be the law, but I will help you.”
“What?!” I couldn’t hold back my shock. “You want to help me? The girl who said no to you less than an hour ago?”
Nathan smiled, nodding his head. “People make mistakes all the time. I am not the one to keep a grudge.” He cupped my cheeks and gazed at me with affection. “Do you want me to help you?”
“Yes,” I answered. It’s not like I had a choice to say no to anything.
“Good.” Nathan’s mouth spread into a smile of satisfaction. “Let’s get engaged and make this your permanent home. What do you say?”