Reiner - Warm Welcome

“This wasn’t what we agreed!” Reiner shouted exactly when the line connected.

The old man on the other side of the line winced at the loudness and aggression in Reiner’s voice.

Although he was expecting this reaction from Reiner, he didn’t think that it would be this bad. It was extremely rare for Reiner to raise his voice like this.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about…” the old man said passively.

“I’m sending her back!” Reiner shouted loud and clear into the phone.

“You can’t do that…” the old man stated.

“Of course, I can. You knew about this, didn’t you?” Reiner said accusingly.

“Does it matter?” the old man replied without a care.

“I’m sending her back. She cannot be here,” Reiner repeated his intention again.

“The client specifically ordered for her to be delivered…” the old man countered sternly.

“I don’t care!” Reiner roared into the phone.

“Even if I tell you that the client is your father?” the old man asked followed by a low laugh.

“…What?” Reiner exclaimed in shock.

For a moment, Reiner truly prayed that he had just misheard. His father ordered for Natalia to be delivered to him. Why? This was just insane…

“You’re going home anyways. Just deliver her to your father. You can both share a ride. Of course, your father already arranged it. Your…escorts should be arriving shortly…if not already…” the old man said calmly.

“No, she needs to go back…” Reiner repeated.

“You can tell that to your father. This time, I’m hanging up,” the old man said before he hung up.

Reiner looked around to see armed men closing in on him. With a resigned sigh, he slowly raised his hand up above his head. These men were probably the escorts that the old man was referring to and that meant that they worked for his father.

“Welcome home!” one of the men shouted loudly before laughing.

“This isn’t exactly what I envisioned for a welcome home party…” Reiner replied while aware of the guns being pointed at him.

“I don’t want to do this either. I’d rather be chilling on the beach…” the man replied.

“Same as always…” Reiner muttered underneath this breath.

“You two, go grab the girl,” the man said to the other in his team.

“Don’t you dare touch her…” Reiner said threateningly.

“I see. Well, then we’ll leave it to you to deal with her then…” the man said with a sigh.

“Why does King want her here?” Reiner asked.

“You can ask him that yourself. If you ask me, he probably saw some hot bikini photos of her, and you know the rest…” the man replied with a hearty laugh.

…

I think I heard the sound of people talking outside, but I wasn’t sure. The walls of the plane must be very thick because I could hardly hear anything at all. I wasn’t sure if it was just my own imagination.

Placing my ear against the door, I tried to focus on listening to the sounds coming from outside.

Suddenly, I heard the sounds of the door unlocking from outside. It must be Reiner. Finally, he’s going to let me out. I guess he’d already recovered from his initial shock of finding me here.

“R…” I called his name when the door opened.

“Do exactly as I tell you. Your life could be at risk,” Reiner stated matter-of-factly.

What is going on? I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him, but the very stern look on his face told me that this wasn’t the time. At least, he’s letting me out so that means that he’s not taking me back home. I nodded obediently.

Reiner grabbed my wrist before opening the door wide and pulling me out of the plane. I gasped in shock at the numerous armed men that surrounded us and the plane. So, it wasn’t just my imagination when I thought I heard people talking outside. I’ve seen armed men before such as our bodyguards and such, but they were all dressed in suits. These men looked like soldiers or mercenaries and they probably were.

“Let’s go. If you follow obediently then we probably have no need for blindfolds and restraints. Is that, ok?” one of the men said to Reiner.

“No need,” Reiner replied immediately.

The man turned and beckoned for us to follow him. Reiner began walking slowly and I did the same to keep up with him. While the other armed men slowly moved along with us, their guns always pointed at Reiner and me. Who are these men and why are we being treated like this?

Soon we arrived at the cars that were waiting for us. Reiner and I were ushered into one of the cars and the driver started driving immediately. Reiner seemed calm enough, but I could tell that he wasn’t expecting this either. I glanced over at him but he just ignored me, so I decided to focus on the view outside instead. The road we took was probably along the coastline because I could see the beach and the sea from here.

The sunrays reflecting off the blue surface of the sea made the water seem to sparkle. The sand on the beach looked golden and appealing; however, there were hardly anyone on the beach. Perhaps, this place isn’t a very popular tourist destination.

Soon we arrived at a large gate with super high walls. After some safety inspections conducted by men carrying big guns, we were admitted inside. The place was so huge that it was like a community of its own inside the walls. The car continued to move as we drove past various buildings and houses. The building and houses were well organized and shared a similar look and feel that reminded me of the French architecture styles and the riviera. White walls with tones of blue and black railings on the balconies. The beautiful gardens with flowers everywhere. It was such a beautiful and orderly place.

“Where are we?” I whispered to Reiner.

“My home,” he replied in short.

--To be continued…