Chapter 83: Chapter 83:

Jake POV:

I stare out of the window watching the snow fall at the same time thinking about Nicole. I miss her and I hope she comes  back.  I want to get out of this hell hole as soon as possible! I need to go back to England! I have to see my sister and my mom. I miss them too. A miracle has to happen!

"Hey buddy" I hear Damian say and I look up to see him holding two bowls with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Hey Damian" I say. His name is  Harry but he said I should still call him Damian since we are in Tigress's quarters.

He hands me one bowl of what looked like noodle soup. I smile  gratefully and dig in.

"I've finally found out what Tigress is trying to hide from me" he speaks up.

"What?"

"She is partnering with one of my boss'  worst enemies! She smuggles drugs for them too hence earning double income and my boss doesn't tolerate that" he states and I just look at him.

"This girl is a real tigress! No wonder that's her name! Wait! Is that her real name? I've never bothered to ask anyone"I ask Damian and he chuckles.

" I know her real name! She just doesn't like being called by that name! She prefers Tigress" he explains.

"So what is her real name?" I ask curious to know.

"Roberta Venancio"Damian says and I'm gobsmacked. She had such a simple name. It was a nice name too.

" Is she Mexican?"I ask.

"I dunno but that is her real name"

"How did you find out?"

He chuckles.

"She said her real name to our boss when I was with him in his office. That time, she was applying to be a drug dealer"

"Oh! Then that's too bad for her! Because from now on, I'll call her Roberta"

"No don't! She knows I'm the only one who knows her real name!" Damian warns.

I chuckle.

"It's worth it Damian! I just want to mock her "

"I think you are starting to have interest in her" Damian mocks and I suddenly feel like throwing up.

"Who? Me? You must be crazy" I tell him.

"I'm serious because you want to know everything about her" Damian spits.

"What? No! I ask because I know absolutely nothing about her! Just cut the crap! There is no way I'll fall in love with such a .....a girl"

Damian shrugs with a small teasing smile.

"So are you gonna tell your boss what you found out about Roberta Venancio a.k.a Tigress?"

Damian cracks up.

"What's with you people and changing your names? It makes it difficult to use your old names" I scoff.

He laughs harder at me.

"Damian! What's with the laughter?" I hear Tigress no Roberta yell as she infiltrates into my room and Damian straightens up. I took it as the cue to tell Tigress her new name to her face.

"What's it Roberta? Is he disturbing you?" I mock her and I see the colour in her face drain. I could feel Damian's heated glare behind me but I just smirk at her.

She chuckles nervously.

"Excuse me but who are you talking to? Because I know there is no Roberta in this room" she says with a cheesy smile.

I laugh in amusement and stand up. I stride towards her and I stop right in front of her.

"I'm talking to you Roberta Venancio! aka Tigress" I point out just to spite her. She looks like she has just pissed in her pants.

She is perplexed and perturbed now as she glowers at me.

"I'm not called Roberta! Who told you that lie?" She barks at me

"No one! I just found out myself! Tell me, are you Mexican sweetheart?" I taunt tracing her neck with my index finger and she recoils a bit and smacks my hand.

"You are nuts! I'm Tigress!"

I chuckle amusedly and she turns red and looks like she is about to explode like a grenade.

"Damian! See me right now" she says. "And Jake!, Kate is here to see you"

I grin at her. She stomps out of my bedroom. I turn to see Damian with a furious look on.

"Why did you tell her that?" He screams at me.

"Look man! The moment I saw her plastic face, I just said it! I acted on impulse"

He growls.

"You shouldn't have told her! Now what am I supposed to tell her? What plausible explanation can I possibly give her?"

"Just tell her you were ....." I trail off thinking. God! I put him in a mess!

"I was what?"

"Maybe you said it by mistake"

"She would know we were talking about her!" He yells at me

"Okay just calm down!"

"How am I supposed to be calm? You put me in this shit!"

"Lemme face her! Take care of Kate for me"

"But...." He trails off and I leave the room.

❄❄❄

I open the door to Tigress's medium sized study and her back is faced to me. The place is cluttered and it looks like she is holding a gun.

"How could you Damian? You know very well I hate that name and I told you to keep it a secret" she says and her back is still faced to me.

I remain silent.

"You told that jerk my real name! How could you?" She yells and her face is still towards the wall.

She chuckles.

"I am Roberta Venancio but no one should know! Absolutely no one Damian! Apart from you and the boss, no one should have known! Traitor!" She  yells and turns around abruptly. She shoots but I hear her gasp when she realises it is me.

The bullet enters my shoulder and I gulp. An excruciating pain shoots through my hand. I watch her shudder as she drops the gun on the table.

I smirk at her.

"So you are really.....Roberta huh?" I tell her and she is still speechless.

"Maybe its worth it if you die! So that you wouldn't tell anyone my real name" she spits with an evil smirk and picks up her pistol. She points it directly at me and I try to mitigate the pain in my shoulder. Blood oozes out and soaks my shirt.

"Tigress! What the....?" I hear Kate's voice and she trails off when she sees me.

"Step away Kate! Lemme shoot him"

"No! Are you crazy? You have already shot him! He is bleeding!" She yells at Tigress.

"Do you want a bullet in your brain dear Kate?" Tigress taunts pointing the gun at her.

Kate instantly backs away. I groan as another pain shoots through my hand.

"You shouldn't gave gotten in my way Jake Winters! Say your last words because I'm about to kill you" Tigress threatens and I laugh to her surprise.

"Tigress would you drop the gun? What's going on with you?" Kate yells.

"Shut up Kate!"

"My last words would be....." I trail off as I hear the sirens of police cars. Tigress's eyes grow wide and her grip loosens around the gun a bit.

She looks out of her window and her mouth almost hits the floor.

"That son of a bitch reported me! I should have relocated" she yells whiles ruffling her hair.

"You are surrounded! Come out now" I hear a voice say.

Tigress paces back and forth.

"What is happening?" Kate says as she helps me to stand up.

"The police are here"I hear Damian say.

" Would you guys keep quiet before I shoot you! We need to pretend as if we aren't here!"she says pointing the gun at us.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" Kate asks in a whisper whiles touching my left shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

"A lot" I reply in a whisper.

"We need to get you to the hospital" Damian whispers.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me? I said don't speak" Tigress threatens again with her gun.

"Drop the gun Tigress!" A manly voice says and she  flinches but she doesn't drop it

"I said drop it!" The voice commands again and she obliges.

"You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Mr Winters and Miss Anderson! And for illegal drug peddling"

"Handcuff her!"

I watch as two officers walk towards her and handcuff her.

"Roberta Venancio, prepare to rot in jail! You've been a nuisance to this State!"

She growls

"That is not my name!"

The officers drag her out and I heave a sigh of relief. Nikki did it! I have a feeling she did this! But where is she? I feel dizzy all of a sudden. My vision becomes blur  and everything goes black.

°~•~•°

"Jake! Wake up" I hear someone say and I open my eyes to see Nicole. She yelps.

"Oh sweetheart! Are you alright?" She asks sweetly at the same time massaging my head. It felt so good.

"I think I am" I reply trying to feel the pain in my shoulder but I cannot feel it.

"Can you feel your left hand?" She asks worriedly. Seeing her face alone has got my hormones raging.

I try it and I can feel it.

"Yes I can"

She smiles.

"That is great news"

"Nikki! Were you the one who reported Tigress?" I ask weakly

"Yes I am! She is in jail now. I heard she is called Roberta Venancio" she says with a chuckle.

"Where is Damian? Did they arrest him too?"

"No! On the contrary, he is here too"

I smile.

"Are we still going to England?"

"Yes! Your dad has everything planned! We are leaving the day after tomorrow"

My dad enters with my step mom.

"Son! How are you doing?" He asks me and takes my hand.

"Better dad"

My dad and my step mum smile.

"We thought we were going to lose you" my dad says.

"That horrible girl is gone to jail together with her boss" my step mom says.

I smile.

"And we found out Damian is the son of that couple his boss murdered. His real name is Harry Wilson! He wanted to take revenge but then they said he could only press charges" My dad narrates.

"So he said he wants the man to spend the rest of his life in jail" Nikki says.

"And Tigress?"

"30 years in jail" my step mom speaks up.

"Oh. Maybe I would visit her before we leave for England" I say with a chuckle

"Me too" Nikki says.

"You better be careful! That girl is vicious" my dad warns

"When would I be discharged?" I ask them in general

"Today" Nikki replies and as if on cue, a doctor enters and they all leave me alone with him.

"How is your arm Jake?" The doctor asks.

"Much better. I can't feel the pain anymore"

"You were immensely lucky! You were close to having your arm amputated. Right now, you are free to go home" he says as he disconnects those wires and stuff.

"Thanks doc" I say to him and he smiles as I walk out of the room into the waiting area.

"Brother!" Alec yells and embraces me in a tight hug.

"Are you alright?" He asks when we break apart and I nod.

"Jake, what happened?" Thomas asks behind Alec.

"Yeah! We saw blood on your shirt" Lucas adds up and I smile.

"I just got shot"

Both of them gasp

"Tell us! Was it painful?" Lucas asks giddily.

"I've never experienced a gunshot before! How did it feel?" Thomas asks curious.

"Stop bothering him okay? He needs rest" Alec says warding them off as they grumble under their breaths and I chuckle

"Hey bro! I wanna say thank you for saving my life" Damian tells me as he walks up to me.

"It's okay Damian! I was the one who got you into that mess"

He gives me a small smile.

"Call me Harry! That is my real name"

"Okay Harry" I reply with a smile.

"So what are you going to do now Harry?" I hear Nikki ask as she comes to stand beside me.

"Jake's dad has offered to employ me in his company and I'll be working for him! He promised to give a good salary too" Harry tells us.

"That's great!" Nikki pipes up.

"I'm really grateful" He says with a smile and I hug him.

"Jake?" I hear a soft voice say and I look up to see Kate.

"What are you doing here? Haven't you done enough?" Nikki shouts at her.

"Nikki let her speak" I tell her and she glowers at Kate.

"I'm so sorry for what I did! I was madly in love with you and I still am! I just wanted to win you over" she apologises and I hear Nikki snort. Nicole walks away with Harry leaving me with Kate.

"Can you forgive me?" She begs.

"You are forgiven Kate! But you need to forget about me"

"I can't! I'm obsessed with you! Can you—"

I cut her off.

"Don't start Kate! I'll just go"

I walk away and she calls me but I don't reply. I wanted to be with Nikki! She owns my heart! Period!

💜💜💜

Later that day.....

Nicole gives me my phone as we are on our way back to my apartment to pack our stuff for the trip but then, I need to pass by Aurora's house to fetch Aaron.

"Why are you so quiet? What did Kate say to you?" Nikki asks at the back.

"Someone is jealous" Alec taunts at the backseat.

"I'm not!" Nikki snaps with an eye roll and Alec laughs. I chuckle amusedly.

I pull up in Aurora's driveway and get down.

"I'll be back" I say simply and Nikki growls.

"You didn't answer my question" she snaps again.

"I'll give you the answer when I come back"I convince her.

" or more like, I would never give you the answer"Alec mocks with a snort.

"Shut up brat! Why did you come with us anyway?" Nikki snaps and Alec laughs again raising his hands in mock surrender.

I snicker and go to Aurora's house. I step on the porch and knock on the door. There is no answer.

"Hello? Anybody here? Aurora!" I yell knocking louder but there is no answer.

I sigh and call her number but it is unreachable. Where is she? I walk back to the car and sit in the driver's seat.

"She is not there?" Nicole asks.

"Yeah! We need to wait for a while" I reply.

"I think I'm seeing something interesting here" Alec says and Nikki and I stretch our necks in the direction he was pointing to.

Caden and Aurora were sprawled on the grass together playing with Aaron.  It was like they were having a picnic together and I see Caden pull out a tulip and he hands it to Aurora.

"Caden and Aurora?" I blurt

Alec snorts "how did she manage to attract such a rock hearted guy?" He says.

Nikki chuckles.

"Looks like the twins found love" she coos.

"What do you mean? Cody is also...." I trail off

"Yes! He and Claire" Alec spits.

"And now, Caden and Aurora are together" Nikki adds up.

"What happens to Red?" Alec asks and I furrow my eyebrows.

"Who is Red?" Nikki asks puzzled.

"Melissa" he replies.

"Oh yeah" Nicole says realising.

"I'm sure she would find someone else" I state.

"She really liked Aaron" Nikki admits sadly.

"Yeah" Alec agrees. We turn our attention to Caden and Aurora again watching them chase each other around and having smooches almost every ten seconds.