Chapter 2 Destined Meeting

"Are you joking with me?" Don asked with brows cocked up whilst holding his gun high. He poked his chin with its muzzle, looking as if he was playing the damn weapon like it was just a toy.

Understanding their native language pretty well, she shook her head vigorously and felt a sob coming out from her throat.

"I am not joking with you, Sir. Please, we are harmless."

The man with the blue helmet shifted his stance, still listening to their exchange.

"Sorry Beautiful, but we need the child," Don answered. "We can fetch a great amount of money with him."

Cielle felt herself choke. She had just crossed paths with a kidnap-for-ransom group that was for certain.

Then Don, acting as if he was the leader, gestured something to his comrades with his head, and even though she heard no words, Cielle knew exactly what they were about to do.

"Please! Please!" she begged, feeling her hands suddenly cold and clammy. She stood breathing deeply, acting as if she was a wall able to block the men's advances. "Let us go!"

But the two snickering guys only shoved her roughly to the side and pulled the boy out of the car.

Cielle's ears immediately numbed with the child's sharp cry.

"Please don't hurt him!" she begged again, looking worriedly at Alex, who was flung over the shoulder like a potato sack by one of his captors.

"You know woman, you shouldn't worry about the child. He is money in our eyes. Instead, you should be worried about yourself. You have seen things you are not meant to see," the man in the black helmet said.

Cielle shuddered in reaction. Of course, she had been so worried about the boy that she had forgotten about herself.

With this, realization hit her and in desperation, she sprinted in haste to the back of the Fortuner hoping she'd be able to escape from there, but then a gloved hand shot out and grabbed her wrist tightly.

"Ah!" she whimpered.

In her line of sight, she saw the man with the blue helmet stepping out.

How? She didn't even notice him move from his spot near the car's hood! Or was she just too preoccupied with escaping that she didn't care at all?

Under the fluorescent light, the helmet gleamed, but it didn't show the man's face as he towered her.

"Let me go!" she shouted as she fought back her wrist.

She kicked him in the heel, kneed his groin, and pounded his back as if it caused any difference. She could hear the men shouting, whistling, and mocking her meager strength, calling her a spirited cat that could only make a small scratch and nothing more.

The man silently ridiculed her by just standing there looking unaffected. She already hated them the moment they showed themselves, but this man in particular who held her captive and made her helpless just by holding her right wrist created an even bigger hatred inside her heart.

"Nic, put that woman in her SUV but you drive," the man in the black helmet instructed. "Let Arthur take care of your motorcycle."

Cielle saw the one addressed nod curtly and then felt herself being pulled towards her vehicle.

"No, please, let me go! I am innocent! I swear I won't tell a soul! Please!"

But her cries fell on deaf ears along with the boy's shouts of fear.

"Silence that child!" she heard Don shout to his fellow kidnapper before she was pushed inside the front seat of her SUV. Through the windshield, she saw the man holding Alex produce a white handkerchief from his pants pocket and pressed it into the boy's mouth.

Seconds later, silence enveloped the area.

Oh, God.

Tears streamed down her eyes. She was really in a tight mess this time. These men were genuine bad guys who wouldn't think twice about killing a poor soul.

The sound of the door shutting behind her caught her attention. She whirled around to check, and amidst the pooling tears in her eyes, she saw a kidnapper she hadn't seen earlier settle himself next to the chicken buckets.

"Hmmm, the smell here is delicious," remarked the man who sported a goatee. Cielle clenched her teeth in a rage. Any seconds now, it would be no surprise he would sample one piece of chicken in his mouth.

He looked in his late twenties with little muscle and fat as readily seen in his limbs. He had narrow shoulders and chest, which complemented his high forehead and receding chin. He was close to being a lanky man, but it didn't reassure Cielle one bit that this man was a little less wicked than the others.

All kidnappers were in fact wicked, especially her captor who rounded her SUV and slipped into the driver's seat.

Cielle's attention diverted from the goatee man to him who, in a swift move, pulled the blue helmet out and placed it in between them.

Her eyes briefly flickered with something akin to surprise.

Her captor looked nothing like his comrades. Although some soft dark brown stubble peppered his jaw, he was all in all what society would call a 'handsome hunk of a man'.

Yes, handsome.

For a kidnapper, he was handsome with well-trimmed brows, defined jawline, shapely nose, and slender neck. Not to mention his unruly dark brown hair that ever so lightly curls around the edges.

He almost looked like a welcomed apparition, if not for a hard scowl set on his face.

"Oi Theo, what are you doing there?" Nic, as called by his fellow criminals, shot a glare in the front-view mirror. Though using the native language, his voice sounded fluid and soothing to the ears. He had an accent there, maybe British, maybe American, but it was so faint, Cielle couldn't make out what.

She blinked probably numerous times just to pull herself out of her uninvited physical inspection of the man.

What was she thinking? A criminal is still a criminal, no matter how handsome he is!

"Eating chicken. Why? You want some Nic?" said the goatee man named Theo.

Nic sighed and shook his head. "Suit yourself."

Cielle's brow arched.

British! There was definitely a British lilt to it!

As much as she hated the man, this new tidbit about him really made her curious enough to cease her from crying.

"Oi, woman," Nic turned to look at her with not an expression on his face and added, "You know what happens when you try to escape right? Just sit there silently and be a good girl."

Oddly, for whatever reason, it gave her the courage to scoff. "You know I end up dead anyway whether I pretend to be a good girl or not."

"True," her captor agreed in a snap, "But at least it prolongs your lifespan. You care for the boy, right?"

Though she was unrelated to Alex, her kind and sisterly side made her nod once without hesitation.

"I thought so," he stated. "So I suggest you act obediently. The child needs a woman's care while in this situation."

Cielle's brow flinched. Now that was not what she expected from a criminal.

She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when the goatee man suddenly inserted, "Nic, what you probably mean to say is that we are the ones who need her service."

From the front-view mirror, Cielle saw Theo's reflection smirk at her. Then, he thrust his tongue out and moistened his lips in a perverted kind of way.

It made her skin hair crawl in alarm. God, no. With her arms pressed against her chest, she pushed herself to the side as much as she could in the hopes of hiding herself from his blatant examination.

"Let's get going, " Nic broke out, appearing nonchalant as he gripped the steering wheel and stepped on the gas pedal.