~ Jane’s POV
I turned and almost cried in relief when I found Lily standing in the doorway, concern etched on her face. She took one look at my purple face filled with bruises and understood what I was doing. With a sigh, she closed the door behind and forced me to sit on my bed before taking over and packing the essentials I needed.
I watched her, tears brimming in my eyes, grateful I had at least one single person by my side to keep an eye on me, comfort me, and even hold me as I cried.
“Is this all you need?” Lily asked, and I nodded, staring at my best friend, wondering why and how the hell she became an assassin. Whoever met couldn’t, for even a second, guess the profession she was in…she was a born healer.
Everyone was used to seeing Lily in and out of the mansion every now and then, so no one questioned her, but I knew it wouldn’t be the case if she walked out with a suitcase, with me trailing behind her. She went to the bathroom and brought out the first aid kit, mending my face however she could in a short amount of time we had before everyone else went onto their nightly routines.
“Jane, my sweetheart, are you sure you want to do this? I can get you out of this hellhole, but I can’t say the same if they catch you and drag you back.” She was right, I had to think of the consequences. But what else would they do except beat me up? I see and go through it every day; it’s not like they’d kill me. A shiver ran down my spine when a memory from the past came back of my brothers beating me so badly that I’d almost taken my last breath, and for the first time, my father had beaten them back for taking things too far.
I swallowed and finally raised my head to look at Lily, determination clear in my eyes, “I can’t do this anymore, Lily…I want out.”
Lily nodded without asking any other questions. That’s what I liked the most about her: she never questioned my decisions and only left when she made sure I wasn’t having any weird thoughts.
After a while, when the silence of the night took over the mansion, we made our moves. Lily and I had exchanged clothes, and I wore a cap to hide my face. Lily would sneak out of the mansion—the one skill I have to master if I want to stay alive—and I would walk out unscathed, pretending to be Lily. Thanking God for the luck I had in not encountering my family members, I rushed into Lily’s car and met her a few miles from the mansion, and we exchanged seats.
A breath I didn’t know I was holding crashed out of me as I finally embraced the cold wing. A small smile spread through my face when I realized I had made it out, and I could choose the life I wanted now.
~ After a Few Weeks
“Yo, Gen!” Someone called out from the counter, and I turned around, finding another waiter at the back, waving me over. I walked to her and raised my brows. “Can you get this over there?” She asked, and I nodded, taking the tray from her hand and moving over to the table she wanted me to be.
With the help of Lily, I had changed my name to Gen. She even helped me fake an entire academic and personal background. She got me a job at a mediocre restaurant that had been in the place for a very long time, and I was glad when they hired me on the spot without being too suspicious of the fading bruises on my face.
Setting the tray on the table of the customers, I walked back to the counter and stood beside Amy, the other waitress I’ve befriended over my time here. I’d only been working here for a week and Amy acted as if she’d known me her entire life.
“So, you never tell me anything about yourself? Do you have a boyfriend?” I stared at her wide-eyed, a shiver running through my body simply at the thought of a boyfriend. My last boyfriend was a jerk and ran like a puppy with its tail between its legs when he found out who I was. After that, I had taken an oath to just stay single and possibly take matters into my own hands when it came to pleasure…though I was still a virgin.
“I don’t like that concept. I like being single.” I shrugged as if it were the most common thing to say, and Amy stared at me as if she’d heard the most absurd thing ever.
“Then I guess we just need to find you the Mr. Right Man.” Amy was a hopeless romantic, and who could blame her? With looks as pretty as hers, guys would be salivating after her. I cringed at the vulgar imagination that just ran through my mind.
“No need!” I raised my hand in front of her. “I’m perfectly capable of being the Mr. Right Man for myself.” Amy scoffed at that, rolling her eyes and went to clear the table of her customer while I stood there, wondering how the hell my family hadn’t noticed I wasn’t at the mansion.
I had talked to Lily, and she said everyone acted as if nothing happened, but then she also said it could be an act, and in the background, they could be rampaging through the city to find me. But then again, it was Lily who hid me, so I knew I had at least a good few months before they even got near my vicinity. Thanking my own computer skills, I was even able to set up a social media presence after altering my features a bit because I knew Nora, if not Alina, would be surfing through the internet to lay hands on me.
“Ooooh, hottie incoming~” Amy slurred as she walked back to the counter, cutting me off my trails and my breath hitched when I realized the person walking through the entrance of the restaurant.
‘Oh, God, no…’ I whispered to myself, watching as the man in complete black attire moved through the entrance, an old lady walking behind him, and they seated themselves in the far corner. I swallowed, lunch threatening to reappear while I tried to calm myself down.
“Do you know who that is…?” Amy asked, rhetorically, already know what THAT was and I nodded, lost in a trance.
“Blake Knight”
