Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 54: Thinking About Him

Chapter 54: Thinking About Him

Talia could not concentrate on her work and she received another message from Prince Edward that he’d be sending a car to pick her up and it all seemed weird for her.

So she tried to gather recent informations about Prince Edward from various tabloids and also her secret sources in the hacking community and in the end when she realised what he wanted, she wanted to tear him apart.

But she knew it would terribly backfire to oppose him openly especially among the people of Esteria since there were many people who were still the Royal family enthusiastics and would hate her more and in turn may affect her grandfather. She decided to play it safe.

Stacy was standing in front of her for sometime expecting to ask something and Talia inquired about it and she asked if she was willing to go shopping with her and Talia refused.

She doesn’t like to go shopping with others since it would be so loud and it was not her preference.

Talia tried to finish her work but was bored sitting at work. More than being bored, she was thinking more about Fred and wanted to be with him for some more time. She never used to feel that about anyone till now and she herself felt that change in her surprising.

But still she decided to follow her heart and as she tried to sneak out, Joe stopped her.

"Leaving already?" he asked in a slightly displeased tone. If she leaves, her work will have to be taken care of by him. He hated doing those administrative work.

"Yeah, planning on taking a six month vacation. I’ve been working here for more than three years and I’ve never taken a vacation. I’ve been slaving off here and..."

"Fine... Fine! Come back whenever you want! Just don’t quit... " his tone softened. He was in a serious dilemma if he should expose her identity as the heir of Northern Star or not.

If he exposed that it would be a very good for their firm and many people who want to be on the good graces of Northern Star will choose their firm for their PR.

But he was a sensible person and he knew the risks outweigh the benefits in this case. It seemed like Talia wants to keep that a secret and if he reveals the fact, she would leave the firm and he’d lose whatever he has now. But that’s not the most important thing. His wife will make him sleep in the couch for the rest of his life. So he would never release the information even by second hand.

Talia first went to the store where she buys her lingerie and after getting a set similar to the one that got damaged, she went to another store to get the sweater. She paid it using Fred’s card of course and somehow she felt the usual guards around her are reduced. She felt like she was being watched too.

She kept it in mind as she returned to her apartment. She could feel something odd these days as if the cogwheels have started turning and is about to make something terrible to happen. She just had this feeling in her heart.

As she entered her building, she wondered if Fred would be there or he was out. She thought about calling him but then decided to not disturb him and took the elevator to her floor.

’If he’s not home, it would be pretty boring! Ah! Why didn’t I think before leaving work?’

She rang the doorbell out of curiosity to find out if he was inside but as the door didn’t open, her mood fell.

’I should have stayed at work!’

With a sigh, she opened the door with her keys and dragging the couple of shopping bags she had, got in.

But the moment she stepped in, she was startled as a strong arm grabbed her waist while a big hand held her mouth shut with force while the door closed with a bang.

Her entire body was squeezed hard and she felt her breathing get difficult as the hand was closing her nose too. Because her breathing got arrested she could feel her heart beat getting erratic and her vision blurred a bit.

She never was a strong person to begin with. She is susceptible to upper respiratory infections often after she fell in the creek when she was five. She didn’t like working out or learning any defense arts because she couldn’t handle it.

Hence she was always surrounded by bodyguards and Cyrus stayed with her too. And with no one around her now, she is pretty vulnerable. If someone attacks her and she ends up being in a physical confrontation, she’d die. It was as simple as that.

With this sudden attack, Talia however was not scared and she didn’t even struggle. She could recognise the scent of the man behind her and even though he tried to be forceful, she could feel him holding himself back and being gentle.

After holding her for a minute, Arthur let her go.

"Geez, Iris! Can’t you even struggle a bit?" he asked, "Use your elbows, your legs, your heels... Something! Just don’t be frozen like a log of wood!"

He sounded despaired. If it was not him and actually someone who wanted to hurt her, she’d he dead now!

"I knew it was you.." she shrugged.

"You are not carrying anymore? Even that repugnant woman..." he paused and corrected himself seeing Talia staring at him, "Your friend...Rebecca... She carries. Didn’t you used to have a pocket pistol all the time in your skirt pocket back then? It’s not hard to get a license for you, right? Man, that day when we were chased by a mob of thugs, if you didn’t have that pistol, we both would have died! You were like James Bond.. Bang! Bang! Bang! ... "

Talia heard him speak nonstop and removed her shoes and stepped in. Even the word pistol made her remember that day.

That figure kneeling before her, with the prettiest of blue eyes, begging her to shoot him, when she didn’t want to. She wanted to kill herself before killing him but in the end...

Arthur saw Talia standing frozen near the dining table and realised he might have triggered that bad memory of hers and felt terrible for his lack of insight.

He’d received reports that there’s been a lot of movements in the mercenaries organisations and usually those people only chose high level targets. He wanted to make sure of her safety and ended up saying unnecessary stuff again.

She is a pretty great shooter. What she lacked in physical strength she compensated with her shooting skills..

He checked her purse before and was surprised she didn’t have a gun with her. There wasn’t a weapon in her apartment either. It is pretty dangerous for her to be this vulnerable and he wanted to motivate her to carry again and here he is...

"Iris..."

"Fred! Where do you want to visit today? Let’s go out!" she turned to look at him with a smile in her face.

That was not her usual smile and it seemed like the polite smile she’d put in front of strangers when she wants to draw a line. He was hurt to see that but it is better than her crying right?

" You’ll take me with you?" he asked rubbing his hands and looking at her face with expectations.

"Yes! I’m all yours today. Let’s do whatever you want," she bit her pink plumpy lips and grinned making his heart skip a beat.

This woman will stop my heart one day!

"Whatever?" he repeated since he wasn’t sure if he was hearing right.

"Yes, whatever!" she placed her purse on the dining table and he hopped to her side like an excited little boy.

"Then... Will you sleep with me?" his eyes were wide and twinkling making Talia’s eyebrows twitch.

This guy! Can he think with his brain for once?

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