River's POV
I had finally fallen asleep when the sound of my phone going off woke me up. It's been really hard to sleep knowing that Cove is so far away from me.
With a small groan, I opened my eyes and clicked on the notification once I saw it was from Cove. A picture popped up, and it took a few blinks to clear my vision before I saw clearly what it was.
She sent me a picture of a list, it clearly wasn't written by her due to the sloppy handwriting.
As I read the list, chills went up my body and my hands clenched unconsciously. What the fuck.
A chat appeared from Cove and I quickly read it, feeling anger course through my body the more I read.
Whoever this guy is, he must be really stupid to think he'll ever get away with doing this.
Once I asked Cove to try and sleep, I got up and opened my computer. I then spent some time composing an email with everything I know about Xander with the instruction to find out more about him, then sent it over to my tech guy.
It should take him at the most an hour to get back to me with valuable information. He's really good at finding things, he taught himself ways around the dark web a few years ago, and now works for me.
I stared at the ceiling blankly for the next 50 minutes, willing myself not to fall back asleep. I won't rest until I know that Cove is safe and sound.
A ding sounded from my computer, and I quickly saw a new email. When I opened it, a bunch of writing popped up. He's really outdone himself.
Hey boss, this is what I found: Xander Keen Black is his full name. He has one sibling, Luke Lee Black. Here is a link to his Instagram: https://instagram.com/Luke.black_?utm_medium=copy_link.
His mother, Cherry Reem Black (maiden name "Pell") has a recently deactivated Facebook account. Before it was deactivated, I found some of her old posts.
He proceeded with a long list of pictures that had captions at the bottom. I don't know how the hell he even found this.
Here is the interesting part. His father, Alex Deen Black, seems to have had connections with your dad's old business partner. I found an old yearbook photo of Alex and Kai Lopez (the old business partner) together voted as "best friends." Of course, this could all be coincidental, but it leaves the possibility that Alex may have met your dad before. I'll look further into this, but I wanted to give you all of this information now while I dig deeper.
Kai Lopez, I recognize the name. I've heard my Dad talk about him before, they use to work hand in hand. I haven't heard about him recently, though. All I know is that they went their separate ways once their contract ended.
I just don't understand why my dad would have anything to do with Xander's dad Alex. I need to know what Alex does for work, maybe that will give me some answers.
Find more on Alex. I want to know what he does for work, all of his past jobs, where he went to college, and what he majored in. Also, let me know if you find anything or anyone else that connects Alex with my father.
After sending my instructions, I put my computer to charge and got up. It's almost 6 now, I should get my day started.
Once I got downstairs, I saw my dad sitting on the counter drinking coffee. He's leaving today around noon, I can't wait to have the house back to myself. Well, me and Azalea.
"River," dad motioned me over when he saw me enter the kitchen. I sighed quietly and sat on the stool beside him. Silence filled the room as I waited for him to say something.
"Do you remember Daisy?" He kept his eyes trained on the magazine he was reading while asking the question nonchalantly.
"Um, no I don't think so."
"She's Irene and Scott's daughter. You've met her in Italy, she's around your age."
"Oh, yeah I remember her. The one with pink hair?"
"Yes, her. You used to like her."
I frowned. "I don't think I did. She's weird."
"She's not weird, she's good. I like her."
"Okay.. what about her though?"
"The next time you come to visit, you will ask her out. You will treat her well, and she will like you."
"What?"
"You and her will be a good match, River. I want you to make her happy so she'll want to be with you."
"Dad, I have a girlfriend, you know that."
"Cove will be no daughter of mine. I will do anything and everything to separate you two."
"You'd have to kill me before I ever even think about leaving Cove for someone else."
"Would I though? What if.. let's say her life was on the line." He looked down at his ring while innocently saying the threat.
"You will do no such thing. You will never lay a finger on a girl, no less one that is completely innocent."
"Oh? But I wouldn't be the one doing the hurting."
I scoffed. "Do you hear yourself, dad? Do you really want to hurt a girl who has done nothing, just because you want me to 'save the bloodline'? What would mom say about this?"
"Your mother has no interest in what I do. She doesn't want to hear about any of that stuff, so you will not tell her a thing."
"I think she'd want to hear about it if she knew what you were planning to do to my girlfriend."
"Look, just do as I say and Cove will be okay. It is in your best interest to stop calling her your girlfriend and move on"
"No." I got up, pushing the stool in roughly before leaving the kitchen.
"You're making a big mistake, River. I do not take being disobeyed very lightly-" I got upstairs before hearing the rest of what he was going to stay.
He must really be fucked in the head if he thinks he can do anything to my girl.
2 days later...
Cove's POV
The rest of the trip felt like a blur. When Cassidy woke up again, we decided not to tell my mom what happened since I already told River and I didn't want to worry my mom when it wasn't completely necessary.
I actively avoided Xander for the rest of the trip which was successful since I only saw him once more when we were leaving.
He stared at me intently when I got into the car and smirked, then turned around and walked away. I hope that was that last time I'll ever have to see him again.
It was late at night when we finally arrived at home. My body ached from being in the car for so long, and I was so ready to go sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow I'll finally get to see River again.
Somehow, I made it inside and plopped on my bed without even bothering to change out of my clothes. It only took a few moments before I fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.
I'm finally safe again.
The next morning, I was in a rush to get ready. Having planned to meet River at 11:30, I'm running late since it's now 10:40 and I have to leave in 10 minutes to get there on time.
"Cove, we're off to work now. Can you please bring in the mail before you leave?" My mom called from downstairs as I ran a brush through my unruly hair.
"Yes, mom," I responded while my fingers quickly braided my hair into a Dutch braid.
"Okay, I'll be back by 9." Before I had a chance to respond, the door closed. With a sigh, I slipped on my shoes and ran downstairs.
The cold air made me shiver as I opened the door and went to the mailbox. Since we've been gone for a few days, envelopes nearly fell out once I opened it.
I somehow managed to grab all of them and placed them down on the kitchen table. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a pink envelope addressed to me. It didn't have a return address or anything, though, just my name in big letters on the back.
How was this even delivered? Whatever, I'll have to see what it is later. I think it might be from a neighbor and they simply placed it in the mailbox instead of going through the process of having it mailed out.
My neighbors are very kind, so I wouldn't be surprised if one of them sent me a Christmas card. I wish I had time to open it right now so I can thank them on my way out, but I'm running late.
Without giving the pink envelope another thought, I slipped on a lavender colored coat and locked up the house before going to my car.
It took several minutes to warm up since my car has been sitting outside in the cold for a couple of days, but once it was warm enough to get in, I started driving.
35 minutes later, I pulled up in River's driveway. I've really missed coming here. Rushing out of the car, I ran to his door and rang the doorbell.
Bubbles immediately started barking at the sound, but as soon as River opened the door, her barks silenced and were replaced by a waging tail.
"I missed you!!" Without wasting another second, I wrapped my arms around River. His arms quickly wrapped back around me, and we hugged each other tightly for what felt like hours.
His hand stroked my hair as he placed kisses on the top of my head. "I missed you more, so much more."
"Okay little love birds, can you please come inside now? You're letting the cold air in." Azalea called from the living room.
I laughed and pulled away from River, quickly walking inside and closing the door behind me.
"Happy new year to you too Azzy."
"Yeah yeah, happy new year."
River gently placed his hand on my lower back and lead me to the couch where we sat down next to each other.
"What did you do for New Years?" I asked.
"There was a firework show in the town over so we went to go watch them with some people we know," Azalea responded.
"Yeah, I got to meet Az's new girlfriend too." River smirked as Azzy glared at him.
"We're not together yet, you know that."
"The way you were looking at her tells me differently."
Making eye contact with Azalea, I wiggled my eyebrows which made her let out a breath of amusement.
"Well, whats her name? What does she look like? How old is she? I want to know everything."
"I'll tell you later when someone isn't around." She got up and glanced to River, showing that that's who she's talking about.
"What? I don't get to hear all of that too?"
"You already know who she is, you were there dumbass."
We all laughed as she walked away, and once she was out of the room I turned to face River.
"So, what'd you get for Christmas?"
"I got a few things. A watch from Az, a new car, and guess where I'm going for spring break?"
"Where?"
"Miami. My parents are going to pay for me and 4 other people to go to Miami this spring break, you're going to be one of them."
"What? Oh my gosh River you're crazy! I really want to, but I don't think my parents would ever let me."
"Well good thing you have almost 4 months to convince them."
I smiled and hugged him tightly. "Ill try my hardest, who else is going?"
"I'm not sure yet, probably Azalea, maybe Ryan. I don't know."
"You definitely should invite Ryan and your friends, you rarely hang out with them."
He hummed in agreement and gently started to play with my braid.
"I'd much rather spend time with you than any of them, though."
"You can still hang out with me, there can be a balance just like the one I have with my friends."
"I guess so."
Just then, his phone beeped and he went to check it while I stayed put. After a few minutes, he came back and looked at me with a strange look in his eyes.
"Hey Cove, by any chance did you receive something weird at your house today? Like maybe a package or something."
"Hm.. nope. Not that I can think of."
He sighed, sounding a bit relieved. "Okay, if something like that does get to you, can you please make sure to tell me?"
"Yes of course I will, but why are you worried about it? How do you something like that is coming?"
River sat back down next to me and put his arm around my waist.
"I'm going to be honest, baby. We're trying to figure out who the guy is that Xander was telling you about. By we, I mean me and this guy that works with me. He's super good at finding things out about people, kind of like a detective. We can't find anything about who Xander is working for yet, but we did get a lead. We found a couple more people who are working for the same guy, and we found a chatroom that they have together online. After going through all the messages, we found that very early this morning one of the guys said 'I'm on my way to deliver it to her house, let boss know.' I thought that maybe something is being delivered to you, but I'm not 100% sure yet."
"Oh okay, thank you for telling me. I'll be sure to let you know if anything does happen or if I see anything weird at my house."
I gave him a soft, reassuring smile and he returned it with one of his own.
"Alright, I just want to make sure nothing happens to you. You are my only priority and I will do anything and everything to protect you."
"Thank you, River. I'm promise I'm okay though really. Pinky promise." I held out my pinky.
"Pinky promise." He smiled and held his out too, then crossed them together and kissed the back of mine.
ð ð ð
After a while of taking with River, Azzy came and dragged me away so we could talk. We're now sitting in the room she's staying in, it's a nice room but lacks personal touch.
"Okay, tell me everything about her. You have been withholding information from me for way too long now."
"Alright alright, I just want to make sure things were actually serious before I told you."
I turned my chair towards her bed and watched as she sat with her legs crossed and back against the headboard.
"So, her name is Gracie. She has these beautiful dark brown eyes, they're almost black. And her hair is super curly, her skin is soft and smooth. She's really into yoga, science, and gardening."
"She sounds pretty, you know a lot about her."
"Yes she's beautiful. And she likes to talk a lot, I just listen and she tells me a lot about herself without really noticing."
I smiled and got up from the chair, then sat next to her on her bed.
"That's adorable, have you kissed yet?"
Azalea's cheek started to turn a bit red and she quickly covered them with her hands.
"Yes, on New Years."
"Aw!! That's so cute, you need to ask her out."
"I think I will, definitely in person though. I'll probably ask her the next time I see her."
"I can't wait, one day you guys will get married and maybe adopt kids or pets-"
"Okay okay don't get ahead of yourself!" She laughs and I do too.
"Seriously though, Azzy, I'm very happy for you and I wish you the best. I found my love and it's time for you to find yours."
ð ð ð
After spending almost all day at River's house, I finally decided to head back home around 7.
The drive back was calm, I love how quiet it gets once rush hour passes. You can experience the nice view without honking horns and noisy people.
As I walked back inside, I saw the pile of mail in my peripheral vision. Oh right, I still have the card from my neighbor.
Quickly grabbing the pink envelope, I went up to my room and sat on my bed before carefully tearing it open.
To my surprise, a letter fell out instead of a card like I expected. This is a bit.. strange.
I was briefly reminded of River's words from earlier, but decided to read the letter before jumping to conclusions.
Dearest Cove,
I find it adorable and extremely fitting that your favorite color is pink. The color fits your personality; sweet, soft, delicate. On the other hand, I like black. It's dark, harsh, intimidating. Funny how 2 colors, or people, can be so different. Yet, it somehow works together perfectly.
I read the first part of the letter over and over again, trying to think of who could've possibly written this. I don't think it's anyone I know.
There are no words to describe how happy I am to be writing to you right now. Happy, something I'd never think to describe myself as. While you, Cove, are so precious and delightful, I must say that I am not. I'm quite the opposite actually. Enough about that, though. One day you'll experience it for yourself. Don't worry, I won't be like that towards you. I can't imagine being anything except for soft and loving towards you, my darling. You deserve the world and I'll make sure to give it to you, even if everything else is crumbling down in my hands. You will remain unharmed and loved.
Oh.. oh I know how this is. I feel so stupid right now.
Can't he leave me alone? River will never let him even come near him, he should know that.
I really could go on and on talking about you, sweet girl, but I'm sure you're wondering why I'm sending you this letter. You see, it's only a matter of time I'll have you in my arms and I want you to be ready. I'm taking care of most things for you, I want this to be as easy as possible for you darling. But there is one small thing I need you to do for me.
If this guy thinks I'm going to do anything for him, he's completely and utterly delusional.
I need you to pack a bag with 3 sets of clothes and leave it by your bedroom door. You'll understand why very soon, my love. I just need you to do this for me and I promise everything will make sense very soon. I know you're my good girl so I don't even have to worry about it.
I'll see you soon, sweet girl. I'm very much looking forward to holding you in my arms and finally having you all to myself.
What. Why do I need to pack clothes? Is he going to take me or something?!
You know what, he can write all the letters he wants and take all the pictures his heart desires. But if this boss person thinks for one second that I'll comply and just let him have me, he's very much mistaken.
My parents did not raise me to fall for tricks and do everything i'm told, especially not by a man.
Whatever kind of overly submissive girl he thinks I am, I'm definitely not her. He's going to get his eyes opened and sick little fantasy destroyed real soon, just wait.
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