Cove's POV
At first, I planned to not pack a bag. Why in the world would I do that? There is no reason for me to listen to him, and I don't want him to think that he'll get away with what he's doing.
However, after a 2 hour talk on the phone with River, we came up with a plan:
"Pack a bag just like he told you to do. Pack three outfits along with some jewelry. Make sure to put the diamond bracelet that I gave you for your birthday in it, it has a tracker connected to my phone. That way, I can check where he takes the bag."
It's a very smart plan. If this happened a few months ago, I might of felt uneasy at the fact that River has a tracker in my bracelet that I wear often. Now though, I understand that he's only doing it for my safety and would never abuse the power of knowing where I am at all times.
At the mention of a tracker, I was reminded of something on the checklist.
"River, Xander wrote that the address he was going to send the pictures was messaged to him. Is there any way you can track that message?"
"Yes, I believe we already found the platform that they all talk on. I can try to find out which chatroom has the address, good thinking baby."
After that, we hung up and both went to do what we needed. While River is trying to track down the message, I'll pack my bag.
Crouching down to reach the bottom drawer of my dresser, I pulled out a pair of leggings. Im going to make sure the outfits are what I normal wear so he won't be suspicious.
10 minutes later, I had 3 outfits laying on my bed. The first is a pair of black leggings and a yellow t-shirt. The second is pink jeans and a white shirt. The last is a dark blue sweater with purple sweats.
My mom suddenly walked into the room. "Cove I have to- oh what's all this?"
Oh no.
"Oh I'm just looking through my clothes to see if I should donate anything," I quickly lied.
"Oh alright, just make sure not to get rid of the pink jeans. I love how those look on you."
"I won't mom, don't worry."
With a nod, she smiled and left my room. That was close.
I quickly shoved all of the clothes into a tan tote bag, then grabbed a smaller bag and filled it with jewelry that I wouldn't mind loosing if I never got the bag back.
After shoving the diamond bracelet into the bottom of the bag, I zipped the jewelry bag up and put it in the tote bag. I'll put the bag outside my door after my parents go to sleep.
Time seemed to pass by extremely slowly as I laid on my bed, waiting for the house to go quiet. It seems like my parents decided to stay up tonight and watch tv.
Finally, at around 11pm the lights were turned off and I heard my parent's door close. Quickly, I got out of bed and put the bag in front of my door.
It makes me feel weird to know that somehow someone is going to come take this bag. I know that someone is going to break into my house tonight, yet I'm doing absolutely nothing to stop it.
Laying back in bed, I planned on staying awake all night. I need to be conscious in case something doesn't go as planned. But as time passed and the clock turned to 2 am, I couldn't help but close my heavy eyes.
It's okay, I'll make sure to stay awake. I just need to close them for a few minutes.
However, I started to feel myself sink deeper and deeper into a relaxed state and the sound of SpongeBob playing from my tv seemed farther and farther away.
I picked SpongeBob to watch since it's my comfort show and makes me feel less anxious, but now I regret that decision since the familiar show gives just the right amount of comfort to fall asleep.
A sound snapped me out of my state just before I completely fell asleep. Quiet shuffling sounded outside my door, barely loud enoufh for me to hear.
The shuffling stopped and I heard my bag being picked up. I thought that the person was going to walk away, but instead I heard the sound of dialing and ringing as the person called someone.
Keeping my eyes tightly shut and forcing my breathing to remain calm, I listened as the phone rang a few times before the person on the other end picked up.
"Yeah boss, she doesn't have a jacket in here." The guy said quietly.
"It's too cold here for her to go without one, find a store that's still open and buy her one." I had to roll over on my side and listen very closely in order to hear the deep voice emitted from his phone.
"Boss there's no stores open, the closest one is 2 and a half hours away."
"Fuck, we don't have enough time. Okay, I need you to make sure she's completely asleep and go get a jacket from her closet."
He's coming in here?? No. I should've just packed a jacket but it completely crossed my mind.
"Okay boss.. I'm not sure if she's asleep though. I think she is."
"Well if she was awake I think she would've freaked out at the fact that there's a stranger in her house. Come on, don't be an idiot and go get her a jacket. You have 20 minutes to get back to the warehouse so I suggest you hurry."
I mentally noted that whatever warehouse they're referring to must be less than 20 minutes away as the sound of him hanging up filled the room.
A few moments later, my door slowly cracked open. I silently hoped that the sound of my tv would drown out my erratic breathing.
The guy scoffed, probably noticing what I was watching before taking quick steps to my closet. With his back faced to me, I felt comfortable enough to open my eyes a tiny bit.
A man dressed in all black skimmed through my jackets. His hand landed on a pink zip up and I really hoped he wouldn't pick that one as it's one of my favorites.
Unfortunately, he pulled it off the hanger and shoved it into the bag. I quickly closed my eyes again just in time for him to turn back around and walk to my door.
He stopped at the my door and it felt like an eternity as I waited for him to finally leave.
"If there's any chance you are awake, I want you to know that I'm sorry for helping with this. You are an innocent girl and I don't like the fact that I'm helping you get taken. It's not resting well on my conscience. I have no choice, though. I'm sorry. It'll be okay."
With that, he left.
I finally gained the courage to open my eyes after several minutes. When I did, I instantly regretted it.
On the floor by my door is my diamond bracelet. He took it out of the bag. Our plan is ruined.
River's POV
I've followed every lead. I've done everything I can to make sure Cove is safe. Yet, every lead is a dead end. As soon as I think I've gotten somewhere, it ends up leading to nothing.
When I tried to go back to the chatroom, the website no longer existed. Everything had been erased as if it was never there in the first place.
Every single warehouses in Cove's town along with the town over have been explored. Every single one of them is owned by people who we know for sure have nothing to do with this.
When Cove told me that they took the bag but left the bracelet behind, it felt as though my heart stopped.
This is officially out of my control.
My local gang cant handle this situation on its own, I need the help of my dad. But how in the world do I get him to help me?
Sucking up every last ounce of pride, I texted him. "Dad I need your help."
It's not the first time I've asked for help from him. It's just this time, I'm not sure that he'll give it to me. If he does, it'll come with a heave price to pay.
Within a few minutes, the message I sent to my dad was marked as read and an incoming call came from him. Here we go.
I quickly answered the call, knowing that it would annoy him if I took too long to do so.
"River? What is it this time, what can I help you with." His gruff voice immediately questioned.
"It's Cove.. there's a long story behind it but she's in danger and I can't handle it on my own."
"Oh, it's Cove. Well then I don't see a problem with her being in danger, let it happen."
"Dad no. Just please.. I need to know that she's safe. I'll do whatever you want, just please help me." I don't think I've ever begged my dad for anything before.
"Whatever I want? Oh well that's a big promise to make son."
"I know, and I'll hold up my end of the promise. What do you want me to do?"
"I save Cove and get her out of whatever trouble she's in, then you break up with her and move to Italy."
No. There's no way I can do that, never.
"Dad, no. I can't accept that and you know it."
"Oh? Well you said whatever I want. That's what I want. Are you going to back down?"
"No.. just give me some time to think about it, okay?"
"Alright, take all the time you need. Once you realize that you need me, call me back."
He hung up before I could respond.
What do I do? I need to save Cove, my one and only priority is protecting her. But at the same time, protecting her can only go to a certain extent.
What am I thinking? I'll do anything and everything to protect her. Even if that means letting her go..
A few hours later..
Before I was able to make up my mind about the deal, my dad called again. Usually he'd wait until I realize that I need him and call him, so this is weirdly out of character.
After the initial shock of his call, I answered.
"Today is your lucky day, River. Your mom found out about Cove's danger and is demanding that I help."
What? How'd she find out? I didn't tell her, and my dad would never tell her on his own. She must've overheard our conversation.
"I will send you an address to a safe house. It's 2 hours away, get her there by 4pm your time. Once she's there, we will begin looking for whoever is responsible for this."
Without giving the chance to get a single word in, he hung up. I guess this is really happening.
Cove's POV
After throwing a few outfits and my basic necessities in a bag, I quickly went downstairs. We need to leave in 5 minutes if I want to make it to the safe house in time.
When River first told me that he was going to take me to a safe house, I didn't want to go. Going there would mean that this situation is getting bad and I'm actually in a lot of danger right now. I don't want to accept that fact.
But, after a lot of talking I realized that I'd be putting me and my family in even more danger by staying here. So, I informed my parents I'd be staying with River for a few days and promised to call them every night.
They agreed, and a few minutes later I found myself getting into River's car. I feel bad for lying to them, but I have no choice. I guess this is what I signed up for when I got together with a gang leader.
River reached across the center consul and grabbed my hand once I got in. "Are you feeling okay?"
I slowly nodded and frowned a bit. "Yes.. I guess I'm feeling alright. I'm just scared."
"Don't be scared baby, I promise everything will be okay. I won't leave your side."
His words made me frown more and I looked at him sadly. "I know.. I just feel like something is wrong. We're missing something, I know it."
"There's still a lot that we need to figure out, but for now all we can do is make sure that you're safe. Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do."
"Then trust me when I say that nothing will happen to you, I'll keep you safe always."
I nodded and a small smile made its way to my face. "Okay, I believe you."
"Good." Softly squeezing my hand as he merged onto the highway, he brought our hands up and kissed the back of mine.
I felt a bit uneasy at how he was going 15 over the speed limit while only driving with one hand, but I chose to not say anything since I know he's just trying to get us to there on time.
A comfortable silence filled the car and I shifted in my seat so that my left cheek is resting against the cold leather. I blinked slowly, forcing myself to keep my eyes open while quietly watching River drive.
"Are you tired?" He asked after a while. I nodded and brought my other hand down to play with his ring while squeezing his hand a bit tighter.
"Sleep, baby. I promise I'll wake you up when we get there."
I frowned and quickly shook my head. "No, it's okay. I want to stay awake."
"Why's that?"
"I don't know, I just don't really feel safe enough to sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I feel scared and worried."
River frowned and soothingly rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
"I'm so sorry, I really wish I could fix this. I feel so useless, situations like these have never gotten out of hand and I just don't understand why now of all times I can't fix it."
"It's okay River, really. You're trying your hardest and as long as I'm with you, I'll be okay."
His frown went away with my words and he briefly looked in my eyes.
"We'll get through this," River whispered. Although he physically said the words to me, I think he was mostly assuring himself that.
"Yes, we'll be okay. I'll try to take a nap because I haven't slept, you'll wake me up when we're there right?"
"Of course, get some sleep. I'm right here."
River's words brought me enough comfort to finally close my eyes. It didn't take long for my breathing to slow, and soon enough I was asleep.
ð ð ð
I was woken up a little over an hour later. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that we were now in a driveway and River was gently shaking my arm to wake me up.
I rubbed my eyes and smiled up at him. He instantly smiled back before undoing my seatbelt and grabbing my hand, carefully pulling me out of the car.
"C'mon, let's go inside."
After grabbing my bag, we walked up to the gate. There's a tall metal fence surrounding the entire house.
A security guard typed in a long combination on the keypad, then the gate slowly swung open. Once we walked inside, it quickly closed behind us and locked again.
The house is decently sized with only one-story. I'm guessing it can't be too big because then it would be harder to patrol.
River typed in another password on a keypad, then inserted a key and twisted it to the right instead of to the left like you usually would. The front door made a clicking sound before unlocking.
"This is so fancy," I laughed.
"Yes it is, we need to make sure you're all safe baby."
Pushing open the door, we brought our bags inside. River lead me down a hallway, then opened the door on the left and walked inside.
In the middle of the room is a big bed with comfortable looking bedding. There's metal bars over a window on the left of the room, and the door has a bolt lock from the inside.
"You can lay back down if you want to sleep more, once you wake up I can show you around."
I shook my head at River's words while setting my suitcase down next to the bed. "No that's okay, I'm not super tired."
"Alright, do you want me to show you around now then?"
"Yes please."
River took my hand and left the room. "The door across from this one leads to another bedroom. There's 3 bedrooms in this house, the third one is all the way at the end of the hall."
I nodded to show that I understood as River lead me out of the hallway. "If you go to the right from here, you'll find the kitchen. To the left is the living room."
We went into the living room which has a few couches and a flat screen tv. There's also a glass door leading to the backyard, through the glass I can see a lawn and a patio with a few chairs.
"This is meant to be as comfortable as possible while still being safe. Everything is fenced in and all the doors and windows have locks. There's an alarm system that needs to be set every time you go to sleep, if any door or window is opened while it's on it will emit very loud sound."
I nodded again and smiled, feeling better about the situation now that I know I'll be safe in this house.
"Thank you River."
"Of course baby, don't even thank me. I'm doing what in supposed to, protecting you. I love you so much Cove, you have no idea what lengths I'll go to just to make sure you're safe and happy."
I wrapped my arms around him in a hug and kissed his shoulder. "I love you more River, always."
3106 words
ââââ
I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out. There's only supposed to be one more chapter after this one, but I think I'll do three since I'm not ready to finish writing this story.