LONG CHAPTER ALERT!!

*****

Chris unlocked his apartment door to see something absolutely shocking.

What the heck happened here?!

*****

The lights were switched off and the entire apartment was silent. The walls were decorated with celebration lights.

Red, yellow, silver.

Every color.

The sofa was blooming of rose petals and  the floor was beautifully scattered with even more colorful petals.

In the center of the hall a designer table was placed with flowers all around the edge and a gorgeous cake was kept on it. It was a chocolate one.

But what struck his heart the worst was the woman he loved standing in front of him wearing a glamorous pink dress and smiling at him lovingly.

Chris closed the door behind him and just stared at her with his mouth agape.

"What... Stephanie........ How?", he stuttered.

The fact that his wife could sometimes look like the glorious woman she was had still not registered in his head.

Stephanie put her hands behind her and walked up to him like a little girl. 

"Well we barely spend time each other anymore. It's not even been a month yet.", she said sweetly.

Chris felt as if someone was stuffing honey into his ears. 

Stephanie came up to him and encircled her arms around his neck. She raised herself on her tippy toes and and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Chris still in a daze was simply taken aback.

"You're wearing a dress!", he managed to get out in a whisper.

He did not trust his voice. It was a miracle he could even talk at that point.

"You like it?", she asked nervously.

"Love it", he whispered again.

Stephanie smirked at this. She stepped away from him.

"What happened?", she taunted him. "The ferocious lion turned into a scared little kitty by looking at a little flower?"

That snapped him out of his daze.

He smirked.

"You don't know me well, do you now?", he growled.

Stephanie gulped. Never poke a lion they tell you.

Stephanie you really don't wanna live. 

Chris covered the distance between them in one long stride and smashed his lips onto hers. Stephanie who wasn't ready for that yelped before she was cut off.

Chris continued to push her so her feet stumbled backwards until her back hit the wall. A slight moan escaped her lips and she could feel Chris smirking into the kiss.

God can save me now.

Chris however broke away with a wide smile on his face. Stephanie wanted more. She bent forwards but Chris avoided her.

Guy knew what he was doing.

"Why and what are you trying to do?", she asked disappointedly.

"You sure about this then?", he raised an eyebrow.

"Yup", she shook her head furiously.

Chris bent down and whispered in his ears.

"Because I won't hold it back you know"

Stephanie was immediately flustered.

She looked away and pointed at the cake.

"At.. at least let... let's e-eat that", she stammered.

Chris ran his hand up his hair.

"Why is it chocolate?", he wondered.

"Because I love chocolate", she exclaimed with a mischievous wink.

He obviously did not understand what she meant by that.

After that, they were eating. Peacefully.

"You'll need that energy so eat up. I'm going to make you regret saying that to me", Chris said softly.

Stephanie blushed even more and stuffed her face with cake.

"The.... the baby Chris", she reminded him sheepishly.

That's when he realized he couldn't really handle her roughly. But she didn't need to know that. So he played along.

"Oh that's no problem hun. You just wait", he warned her.

That is when he got a phone call. He picked it up and went to the kitchen. There was sufficient light to see his way into the kitchen without a disaster happening on his path. It was like a beautiful candle-lit place.

Stephanie, too busy on eating the cake, didn't even notice him gone until she heard the shuffling of feet from the kitchen.

She looked up to see Chris rushing to her in a panic.

He loosened his tie and opened his mouth to deliver the news. She wished he hadn't spoken that night. That he hadn't gotten a phone call that night. At that instant.

"It's Nathan. They killed him."

*

"How could you get the wrong guy!", Brandon screamed on the phone.

"It was the wrong house! Your fault at that mister", Peter furiously countered.

He was being deprived of his sleep. Again. 
That too by the same man. Again.
For the same damn reason. Again.

"You lis- Hello?", Brandon said.

He stared dubiously at his phone as he was cut off.  

"What's wrong sir?", his secretary asked.

"Where is Nathan's body currently?", he asked instead of replying.

"The police has recovered it now. Just like you wanted to", the secretary replied.

Brandon threw his phone out of the window out of frustration. The secretary yeeted away from his boss out of fear.

"Sir? What's wrong sir?",he asked.

"It's not Nathan that we killed. That bastard outwitted us. We killed one of ours who looked a lot like him. The white folder was just a fake one.", he said.

"So now?"

"Now we form another plan", Brandon replied grimly.

*

Nathan paced the rented room back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

He had been right. They were targeting him and perhaps had threatened Stephanie too. It had been easy. He had just introduced himself with a guy who looked like himself, worked under Brandon and so had invited him to his original house. Black guys got along with each other really well. It was supposed to be a game night. Nathan had left the door unlocked so that the guy would go in there and wait until morning.

Nathan was not there when he got there so the guy called him only to know that Nathan couldn't come then. A lie. Nathan then told the guy to just chill out in his apartment and come to a nearby pub in the morning with a white folder kept on the table.

The guy had surprisingly been an obedient one and did as he was told. As soon as he got out of the apartment in the morning, unfortunately he was shot. 

It was so easy to trick Brandon. Just a simple tip off as an informant to him via a phone booth had made Brandon trust him fully.

Now he was only worried for Stephanie.

Poor her.
Stephanie I hope you understand and realize that he is not me. Please do not fall into a trap now. I can't call you now as my calls and motions will be recorded and tracked.
Please Steph!

He had to just stay put here and no one would find him. At least he thought so. 

He knew where her parents were and was disgusted at Brandon's actions.

Just wait a bit more and this will be all over.

*****

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