Love’n’Lust

As usual, Belle opened her eyes to see herself in the same bed, her head hurting more than before. Memories of last night suddenly came to her and she grabbed the blanket which was already over her, closer to her chest.

She felt the least safe now than when she was first brought to this place. Tears started to form in her eyes as she wondered about her fate. She began to worry that she might never be found and rescued, she thought of her cousin’s sister, she thought of Ben, and unpredictably, she also thought of Mrs Johnson.

She thought more of Ben, was he thinking of her? Was he worried about her disappearance? Was he making any effort to look for her?

The room’s door opened and both Mev and Tiger walked in. Mev had a small bag with her like she always did whenever she came to check up on Belle, while Tiger had a stick of cigarettes in-between his index and middle finger.

Belle fidgeted with pre-existing fear the moment they both walked in. Tiger noticed it.

“Relax, he’s gone.” She heard him, and wondered, was he speaking of Crow?

“Some clothes for you,” Mev dropped the bag on the bed, next to where Belle lay.”What do want to eat?”

Belle didn’t reply to Mev’s question, making Mev turn to Tiger with her eyes asking what to do next.

“Leave,” Tiger ordered Mev, she glanced at Belle once more before leaving, closing the door as she left.

He strolled to the part of the bed where she lay and sat by her. Belle moved farther from him when he sat.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

“Crow’s gone, I made him leave, you have nothing to worry about.”

“I have nothing to worry about? I’ve been abducted by you and I don’t even know why. I don’t know what you plan to do with me, and you say I have nothing to worry about?” She didn’t know where she got the voice to speak.

“Please, let me go?” Tears formed in her eyes.”Please.”

He stood from where he sat the moment she started pleading with him. He didn’t want to give her any false hope of leaving because she wasn’t, the person who hired her didn’t even have a definite time fixed for her staying here.

*****

“Tell me you’ve found something so far,” Ben asked a man walking in, even before the man could sit.

“I have, sir.”

“I’m listening.”

“I accessed the security cameras on the street, the day Ms Miller was kidnapped, it wasn’t easy because the police were in possession of the only copy, her sister had filed a mission person’s report.”

“Any information from the cameras?” Ben asked again, impatient with him. He already knew that Brie filed a case and had a lot of friends helping to find Belle so he didn’t need to be re-informed about any of that.

“Yes.” The man set his laptop on Ben’s office desk, turning it to face Ben when a video started playing.

Ben leaned in to have a closer look at the video. He saw Belle walking with her phone to her ear when a minibus stopped by the road; he watched how she was been forced into the car, and his eyes flared with anger as he tapped on the table.

“I watched this video repeatedly, and I was able to detect a slight mistake of one of the kidnappers. Now, this video plays at a slower rate.” The man slowed the playing rate of the footage and Ben could detect what the man was talking about.

The man who had covered Belle’s mouth, did so while she struggled to get free of his grip. During her struggle, she lifted the sleeve of his shirt a little; Ben paused the video when that happened.

“Tiger.” Now, he knew.

“Yes sir, his tattoo betrayed him here.”

“I’ll kill him.” The man seated opposite Ben knew how true those words were.

“Uhm sir, as I mentioned earlier, the police also have this footage but they might not have noticed what we have. I mean, they have heard of Tiger but never caught him; they know what he looks like but most likely don’t know about his tattoo…. they might not be going to this Ms. Miller’s rescue anytime soon, and….”

“They don’t have to, I’ll do so myself.” Ben inhaled some air, he finally had a trace of where and how to find Belle.

“I’ll keep doing what I can to get Tiger’s exact location. I’ll let you know when I do that, sir.” With that, the man left Ben’s office.

As soon as she left, Ben’s assistant walked in after an inaudible knock.

“Sir, there’s a lady here to see you, do I let her in?”

“Did she fix an appointment, do I have a meeting with her?”

“Uhm, no sir.”

“Who is she?”

“It’s Ms. C…..”

“It’s me!” Ben’s assistant turned her neck when she heard the woman.

“Sir, I told her not to come in till after I was sure that you wanted to see her. Do I call security?” His assistant explained, when the woman stood there, now with a smile.

“Leave,” Ben told his assistant.

“Yes sir.” She did as she was ordered.

As she left, she got a threatening look from the woman who had been waiting to see Ben.

“What are you doing here, Alex?” Ben’s voice wasn’t pleasant when he asked but she smiled anyway.

“I came to see you,” She walked towards his desk where he sat. It wasn’t hard for her to notice that he wasn’t in that much of a good mood.

“Is Jenna okay?” Ben could only think there was probably something about Jenna because that would be the only reason he would permit her presence.

“Oh, Jenna is great, surely.” Alex shrugged now that she was closer to where he sat. She kept her purse on one of the chairs opposite where he sat behind the desk, slowly walking around the table to get to him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder from behind him, bending over and whispering in his left ear.

“I miss you, Ben.”