Chapter 97 - Late Night Visitor

Later at night.

Zaria was done reading a book and was preparing to go to sleep when she heard Des' whines. He slept in the room next to hers, which she had improvised from being a guests room to the puppy's room, and he had been staying there calmly. She wondered what the whining was all about. Was it perhaps too early to let him sleep on his own? Maybe he felt scared without her?

Deciding to ask Ximena who knew more about dogs than her, she sent her a text message to ask if the latter was still awake, but Des' whines grew louder. It wasn't anything like his usual attention-seeking whines, but more like yips for help.

She got off bed and went to his room to check on him.

"Des?" She softly called, and the puppy ran to her in the semi-dark room that was dimly lit by the moon outside. Before she could pick him up, he rushed to the door and then back to her, once again faced the door.

She was having a hard time understanding his actions. Was he hungry? Or maybe he wanted to go potty?

"You want me to follow you?" She finally understood when he nudged her leg, so she followed him through the hallway. When he butted his head against the door of the storage room, her blood ran cold. What was in there?

She carefully pushed the door open while instinctively picking the puppy up to protect him.

"Stay back." Her shoulder was suddenly tugged, her dad stood in front of her, shielding her as he entered the storage room to inspect it. She peeked in as he turned the light on, only to see a man come out from the shadows.

She was surprised when she saw the tall frame and almost cursed under her breath, until she saw the man's face. Thank goodness, it was not Desmond. She had almost thought that the man was crazy enough to climb into her house through the storage room window, especially when she remembered how aggressive Des looked a moment ago. It turned out that the little pup didn't like the eldest of the Fort siblings either.

He was an intruder. Of course, the puppy wouldn't like him.

"I would have come and gone undetected. However, some wretched fool in the name of a dog had to ruin the fun." Jaime cursed as he glared at Des behind Theodore.

"If you ever think of hurting my puppy, I will chop your legs off and shove them where the sun never shines." Zaria threatened with her eyes narrowed.

"Only an obsessed woman would protect the dog before caring about how they will escape the claws of death." Jaime found it ironic that one would think of protecting a dog.

Zaria patted Des to calm him before he could rush to Jaime to rip him to pieces—she knew that it was beyond his ability and Jaime might just hurt him. "Only a fool would enter the devil's house to check whether there's anyone home."

Just as she taunted him, she noticed that Theodore pulled a gun from his waist and aimed it at the intruder.

"Dad, wait." She placed a hand on his shoulder so he would calm down.

"He is here to hurt you." Theodore's eyes were full of anger. The last thing he wanted was to spare the man who was here with the intention of hurting his daughter.

"I know. But let's talk about it, okay?" Zaria coaxed, and Jaime found her foolish. Didn't she know how much she risked her own life by having her father pause the attack?

"Let's have a good word with this Mister." Zaria led the way to the living room, and Jaime followed with Theodore's gun pointed at him. Any stupid movement and he would be shot through his brains.

Theodore checked that the window was properly closed before leading the man to the living room, and he pointed the gun at Jaime's temples even when the latter sat down.

"You can relax. I only wanted to have a chat." Jaime laughed.

Theodore found him annoying. "This is how we have chats over here. Didn't your father teach you to follow the rules of the place you visit? He must have been quite a useless man. If the best he could do was teach one son to be a player and another how to invade people's homes in the middle of the night, then Marchal did the most sloppy job at parenting.

"Forget about Marchal for now. All I want is a video from your precious Zaria." He smiled at Zaria. "She took a video of things she shouldn't. How naughty of her."

Zaria frowned at how lewd he made it sound. "It's just a video that would make this man rot in prison. No wonder he wants it so badly. The idiot."

"Do you have it?" Theodore asked. Killing a Fort would never be a sane option no matter the circumstances. He was willing to go the insane route if it would save his daughter's life but if there was a peaceful way out, he would want that instead.

Of course, he was not so naive as to believe that Jaime would leave Zaria alone as long as she handed over the said video that was in her possession. Heaven knew, handing it over might only prove that she knew something she shouldn't, and the Forts might soon create an 'accident'.

Zaria shook her head at his question. "I deleted it. I don't know why Mr. Fort would still stalk me."

"You…" Jaime was about to speak when he paused. He stared at Zaria for a while and suddenly didn't know how to attack her. He wanted her dead just a few hours ago, so he had wanted to hire another team after Samantha's idiots failed. However, he was yet to know just how strong she was. He didn't want a half completed job anymore, and he couldn't do it himself. That was not his style.

"I'm leaving." He announced and headed towards the door like an ordinary invited guest.

"Tell me what the devil looks like." Theodore pointed his gun at Jaime's head and just as he fired, a movement by Zaria distracted him and he missed, shooting the idiot's shoulder instead.

"We need him alive. Otherwise, the truth will never come to light." Zaria explained why she had grabbed his arm as he fired his shot. She then glowered at Jaime who had to leave with a bleeding arm.

"Thank me for saving your life, you fool. But don't worry. I will come for it soon. Now, off you go."

…

When Jaime left, she was in disbelief.

"He really left. Are you sure he didn't leave behind some 'extra special' gifts like bombs and grenades?" Zaria asked, feeling paranoid. How could Jaime come and leave without doing anything? He had to have been up to something.

"I checked and there wasn't anything harmful." Theodore responded, knowing what she was worried about. "He was probably here to get familiar with our house structure so it will be easy for him to come back next time." He concluded, since Jaime was unarmed earlier.

"He will probably return some day...and hurt you." Theodore felt his body tremble at the thought of someone being after Zaria's life. She was such a kind woman. What did she do to deserve this?

She massaged her temples and Des sat on her lap to pat her head. She laughed and glanced at her father. "Dad, how come you own a gun? When did you learn to use it and…"

She sighed and didn't know just how to express her shock. "Never mind. As long as you're not using it to hurt innocent people, it should be okay, I guess."

Not everyone could own firearms in Olphire. One had to have a license to own one, and they would be serialized—and one must have a convincing reason to explain why they needed firearms. Aside from aristocratic families and government officials whose lives were constantly in danger and who the government usually allowed to own guns, the other owners were mostly smugglers and owned unserialized guns.

She knew that if she asked for too much detail, it might ruin the image of a gentle and perfect dad that she had etched in her heart.

"Don't worry, it's for self-protection." He assured her, and she nodded.

"Many years ago, war and firearms was an important, compulsory topic in schools. Everyone learnt about it and so did I." He explained how he knew how to use a gun and why he was so accurate at it.

She once again nodded, finding his explanation plausible.

After thinking for a while, she knew it was time to sleep but before that she suggested, "Dad, let's move out. We need to do so as soon as possible."

He would have said to wait but seeing as they were getting more frequent 'friendly visits', he could only agree this time.