Chapter 35

"Boy am I glad I didn't leave!"

Asher said as he smirked. He turned to Jared who looked a little more serious. Jared was standing against the door frame, his eyes down, his lip busted.

Lori took several steps back.

How?

How did they know she was here? Why did they come at this exact very moment that she was in the apartment? Those were the questions that were running through her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about them.

And how utterly stupid she had been to believe that she was finally rid of the duo. She would never get rid of them.

They were the kind of past that kept haunting, never stopping, never letting her enjoy her life.

"What.. what are you doing here?"

She asked as she hugged herself, putting distance between the two of them, clutching the bag of clothes she held to her chest.

"What am I doing here?! Oh well, let's see, I came to say hi."

Asher said as he laughed. He walked into her apartment, his eyes roaming around.

"Sweet place you got here. Doesn't seem like you stay around much."

He mused.

Jared followed suit, he didn't say a word to her, he just glared at her and followed Asher.

Asher turned to her and snatched the bag from her hands, Lori jerked away in fear.

"Clothes. Are you going somewhere?"

He asked and Lori shrugged.

"Where have you been these days?"

He persisted. Lori stayed mute.

Asher sighed, his patience was running thin, she was testing his very last nerve.

"I asked you a question Lori. Now I wouldn't want this to escalate more than it already has. So when I ask you a question, you answer me."

"Understood!"

He barked and Lori nodded.

Asher sighed in relief.

He sat down on the nearest sofa, rummaging through her bag.

"So where have you been?"

"Work."

Lori was only able to muster a word.

"And where exactly is work?"

He asked as he signaled to Jared to check the house.

"It's far. In the city."

She lied and Asher turned to her, for some reason he always knew when she was lying, whether or not he thought she was lying this time, he didn't show it, he let it slide.

"And what exactly does work mean? Are you waiting tables or what?"

Now she had run out of lies. She didn't know what to say but she'd probably go with what he was saying. It was better he didn't know about Emilia or Gabriel.

"Yea."

Asher scoffed.

He dropped the bag and turned to her, giving her his full undivided attention.

"Are you lying to me? Because I can tell you are!”

“Look what I found!”

Jared called out as he came out of Lori’s bedroom with her phone in his hand. The one Gabriel had bought for her.

Asher’s eyes widened.

“Wow!!! How many tips did you have to get to buy a phone like this?!”

Jared handed him the phone and Asher examined it, a cruel smirk on his face.

“It was a gift.“

Lori answered and he raised his eyebrow.

“From who?“

“That man I saw you with the other?”

“Who is he by the way? He looked rich.”

Asher noted and Lori kept mute. She was in so much trouble.

So so much trouble.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

He asked as he narrowed his eyes at her.

He stood up from the sofa and started walking towards her, Lori felt her hands starting to tremble with every step he took towards her.

“He works where I work. That’s all.”

“Oh stop lying! You really think I believe that?!”

He shouted at her.

He grabbed Lori by the throat, tightening his grip on her.

Jared looked nervous.

“Asher…”

He warned but Asher ignored him.

“Please… please…”

Lori begged as she started choking and he released his hold on her, but his hand remained on her neck. He raised the phone to her face.

“Unlock it.“

If she unlocked her phone, he would see Gabriel’s name, he would see the pictures she had taken of Emilia. And God knows what he would assume. It was too big of a risk for her to take. Too big for her to risk Emilia and Gabriel’s life in danger.

She wouldn’t.

“Asher please. Just let me go. I’ve done nothing wrong..”

“Lori! I don’t care! Unlock this phone!”

He shouted in her face. Lori shook her head.

“Please. Please Asher. Just let me go…. There’s nothing on it! There’s nothing for you to see!”

She shouted back at him.

Asher groaned, raising his hand as if he was going to hit her and Lori closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact.

It never came, but something else did.

A knock on the door.

“Lori?! Lori?! Are you in there.”

Lori sobbed in relief. Gabriel! It was Gabriel, she had never been so relieved to hear his voice.

Asher and Jared exchanged looks.

“Who’s that?”

Asher whispered to her but Lori shrugged.

Asher elbowed her in her ribs, she doubled over in pain.

“I asked you a question.”

He whispered again.

“Lori?! Are you in there?!”

If she didn’t reply, Gabriel was going to assume she wasn’t and leave her there. Leave her with the two of them. And the mere thought of that was too much to bear.

“Gabriel help!!”

She screamed before Asher covered her mouth.

“Fucking bitch!”

Asher screamed as he delivered a steaming backhanded slap across her face.



He heard her. She was sure he heard her.

Because the next minute he was trying the door, the minute he realized it was locked he slammed into the door.


The door shattered. As if it was made of nothing but paper.

The wood splintered and Gabriel came bursting through anger on his face.

He looked around.

Lori was on the floor, holding a hand to her cheek. There were two men. One he recognized and the other he did not.

“Who the fuck are you?!”

The one he didn’t recognize asked as he ran towards Lori and grabbed her. Lori protested but he only held her tighter. A hand to her neck and the other holding her hands behind her waist.

Oh he should have known. He should have known that something was wrong.

When it was late and Lori didn’t come home, during that moment he got really worried and he checked the spyware. It was too late, she had spent way longer than she had said she would spend outside and he had a feeling something bad had happened.

Her phone location showed that she was in her apartment and that baffled him, he decided to check it out anyways, calling her multiple times while he was on the way. She didn’t pick her calls.

Now he wished he had come sooner.

“Unhand her now.”

Gabriel said in a calm cool voice and Asher chuckled.

“Or what?”

He asked as he slightly raised his shirt up. He was carrying. A glock 9mm. He had a cruel smirk on his face, he probably thought that Gabriel would be intimidated, but no, Gabriel had never been scared of guns.

Why would he? He was an alpha. He could heal from a gun wound in a day or two, if it wasn’t so severe. And if it wasn’t a silver bullet, it was practically useless. It would be just like he was taking an off day.

Still, Gabriel pretended to look intimidated while he examined his options.

“Let her go. If you do, I’ll give you whatever you want.“

He pleaded as he raised his hands.

Asher seemed to be considering his options. On one hand, he was very curious, he wanted to know what the relationship between this man and Lori was. Were they dating? Was she seeing someone new? Is that why she was so tight lipped about him?

He was a rich man, even from his casual dressing, Asher could smell someone who was born in money from a mile away. The way he carried himself, the way he talked and the way he seemed to look down on people.

Yes he was rich all right. Which meant he probably had never experienced hardship for a day in his life. He would be easy to beat.

But the way he had burst into the room, Asher looked at the door again, that couldn’t be normal. Either the door was really brittle or the man was freakishly strong.

“Who are you to her?”

He asked as he casually brought out the gun pointing it slightly at Gabriel.

Oh he was going to regret that. Gabriel thought as he clenched his teeth.

“A friend.”

Asher laughed.

“A friend?!“

He scoffed as he turned to Lori.

“You say he works with you and he says you’re friends. Which do I believe?”

“Tell me Lori?!”

He asked and Lori sighed. She was exhausted and Jared was practically squeezing the life out of her with his death grip.

She blamed herself for coming to the apartment in the first place. And putting not only herself in danger, but Gabriel. Asher was carrying a gun. How could she forget, he almost always had one with him.

And now she could get hurt, even worse, Gabriel could get worse.

He would be in the situation if not for her.

“Please just let him go. It’s me you want right?”

She asked.

Asher shrugged.

“I don’t know. Depends on if there’s something you could offer me in the first place.”

“But there’s really nothing is there Lori? You lost our baby...”

Lori fought the urge to gag.

Our baby?

“Our baby?”

She said as she chuckled. Jared elbowed her again, whispering in her ear that she should be quiet. She ignored him, wincing through the pain.

“I don’t know what you want. I don’t know why you’re here. But I’m tired.”

“If you want to hurt me, do whatever you want with me, but please let him go.”

She said and Gabriel glared at her.

“Lori…”

He said in a warning tone but she didn’t listen.

“It’s not him you want. And he doesn’t even know who the two of you are so there’s no point.”

She said and Asher chuckled.

“You seem really eager to protect this man.”

He mused while glaring at Lori.

That was his chance, Gabriel thought as he saw how distracted Asher was. He could disarm him in seconds.

Gabriel lunged at him, pushing Asher on the floor. Asher lost his balance and fell, but quickly tried to reposition himself and fire a shot but he missed, he fired at the wall next to the door instead and Gabriel slapped the gun away from his arm.

With the gun away from them, he lifted Asher up with the collar of his shirt and punched his face. Twice.

He gave him another punch in the stomach.

“Hey! Hey! What are you doing?”

Jared asked nervously as his eyes darted around nervously. The gun was at the opposite end of the room.

If he had to pick it up, Gabriel would notice, besides, dragging Lori around would be cumbersome.

He threw Lori to the side and went for the gun anyways.

Big mistake.

Gabriel had anticipated the move.

He rushed towards the gun and picked it up, pointing it at the both of them.

Asher was on the floor struggling to stand up, blood dripping from his mouth. Jared stood next to him, his hands raised in surrender.

“Don’t fucking move.”

He warned in a low deadly tone that Lori had never heard him use before.

He turned to Lori, beckoning her with a wave of his hand.

“Come here.”

He said and she ran towards him.

Gabriel hugged her with his free hand and put her behind him.

“You’re safe now.”

He whispered gently to her.

Lori held on to him with all her might.