HIS CLAIM

52

Elsa

I could feel myself getting more and more anxious the closer we got. The gun behind my back didn't help to ease my nerves, making me constantly think what if something truly were to happen, even in broad daylight? What if someone was still there, keeping an eye on the house and hoping someone would be back to finish what they had started?... But they weren't after me.

They were after my mother and they got what they wanted. The thought of me having to use the gun to defend myself didn't settle that well with me, but I knew I had to do it if I wanted to stand a chance. I was not a killer... I was still traumatized by what I had done, and the image of the man's bloodied face still haunted I took a deep breath when I felt nausea building up.

"Hey... Hey, you're going to be fine." Asher glanced at me and took my hand in his as I kept tapping my hand against my thigh in uneasiness.

"I don't know... I'm starting to think it's a mistake. What if something does happen?" I kept rambling on, sharing my fears with him instead of keeping them to myself.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Trust me." He gave my hand a small squeeze, but I was still thinking that we should have gotten extra protection with us.

Just as I thought about that, I looked in the side mirror, trying to see if any cars were following us. I still haven't spotted any of Nicholas's men so far, making me wonder if there were even anyone watching me, or if they were truly keeping themselves out of my sight. I also just realized that they would be reporting every single thing back to him, and he probably already knew Asher was with me. But I had no idea if they had managed to follow us. We had taken a flight, it was short but still, and now we were in the car on our way to the house.

"It's highly unlikely someone would do anything during the daytime. It's too easy to get caught like that." Asher said, pulling me out of my dark thoughts.

"I hope you're right." I sighed and tried to relax. I felt my heart beating just a little faster as we neared my house. I squeezed his hand in an attempt to comfort myself in some way. We drove closer and closer, only to get confused when he drove past the house and didn't stop.

"Wait, why are you not stopping? You just missed it." I looked at him confused but he just looked focused as he scanned the area.

"I'm just going to drive around the block to make sure it's safe before we get out. Just in case." He slowed down a bit as he kept looking around.

I did the same, my eyes scanning the area to see if anything looked suspicious. Asher was being careful and thorough as he drove around a few times, then stopped and parked somewhere further away from the house to see if someone would have started to follow us.

Luckily, there wasn't anything and he pulled up in front of the house. My heart started to beat like crazy when I got out of the car, and I could feel my legs losing a bit of strength as I looked around. Every single thing came back to me; gunshots, screaming, running, and blood. I knew this would be hard but I hadn't even taken a step inside the house and I was already feeling like this. Asher pulled me close to his side as he kept looking around, and I noticed he had his gun in his hand but still hidden if anyone were to look our way. I let out a breath as we stood in front of the door, and I hesitated a little before I pulled the handle down. Only to find it locked.

"Huh, that's weird..." I muttered out and tried again in case it was just stuck, but it was locked.

"Who could have locked it? It's not like we had the time to lock the freaking door before running for our lives." I frowned at the door but then it hit me. It could have only been him. Who else would bother to do this?