Chapter 2 2

Although the day was beautiful, there was something unsettling in the air, as if she was being watched from somewhere. She felt her anxiety was playing a trick on her again, so she ignored that feeling and continued on her way.

But it wasn't just her anxiety giving her that impression. In fact, there was a car that had been following her for the last few weeks, a large black truck that not only looked like it belonged to the mafia, but it actually did.

Inside the car, a man with a disturbing glint in his eyes licked his lips as he watched the way the girl walked, lost in her own world. The innocence of this creature, who almost skipped instead of walking, generated a strange excitement and a deep obsession.

Evan was the eldest son of a large group of arms, drugs, and human traffickers that operated all over the world, but mainly in China and North Korea, the Asian countries that moved 70% of the entire black market. China handled the business, and Korea was responsible for manufacturing weapons and removing obstacles.

Although he was far from home, in a third-world country full of detestable people, he couldn't help but stay as long as possible. One day, by chance, he saw a girl reading in the middle of a park in front of the restaurant where he had scheduled his business meeting. Something about her had tied him down, and now he only sought to make the bond stronger.

That's why, after days of watching her through the window of his car, he had decided to talk to her. He had already planned how he would approach her and had imagined a thousand ways in which this beautiful girl would fall in love with him at first sight and he would take her to China to make her his.

Only his, he didn't want anyone else to see the beautiful smile of the girl or the way she wrinkled her nose when she read. So, he advanced towards the bookstore, giving her a few minutes so she wouldn't feel scared when approached by him.

Everything was ready; he knew which floor she was on. She was always on the third floor, looking at painting books, then moved to the fourth floor to see books in other languages, and finally ended up on the second floor choosing romance books.

Evan entered causing a great impression, not only because it was very evident that he wasn't from that country, but also because of his great imposing presence. He was tall, with piercing black eyes, and a suit tailored to his measurements. He looked like an actor but with a dark aura

He ascended rapidly to the third floor of the bookstore, scanning through the various rooms but she was nowhere to be found. His heart raced with anticipation as he had seen her enter, yet she wasn't where she was supposed to be.

Being an avid art enthusiast, he knew that striking up a conversation about the subject would be effortless and certainly leave a lasting impression. He would then offer to buy her any books she fancied, take her out for dinner, and end the night exchanging contact information or possibly even with a kiss. However, if she wasn't there, everything would go down the drain.

He called upon Cheng, his right-hand man, to ask if he had seen the girl leave, but the nearly 40-year-old man replied negatively, stating that Jeanne was still there.

Evan took a deep breath and decided to search for her. He went up to the fourth floor, but still couldn't find any trace of the girl. Now knowing where she was, he quickly descended and saw her browsing books on the second floor. He felt furious that she had chosen that day, his day, to change her routine.

Although he wanted to go and yell in her face, to confront her for ruining his plans, he forced himself to calm down. Of course, the sweet scent of her perfume that reached him after a gust of wind from the fan inside the store brought it to him was comforting.

He fixed his hair and checked that his suit was neat, drawing a friendly smile on his face as he took a couple of steps toward the girl. However, his steps came to a halt when he saw a scene that made his blood boil and made him want to kill the man who held his woman's waist.

It all happened so fast that he only saw the two of them walking towards the cash register and the man paying for a couple of books before they left. He was paralyzed, his body not allowing him to go after them and demand an explanation for what had just happened.

What Evan clearly didn't see was when the girl arrived at the bookstore, the minutes she gave herself to settle in, the time he spent looking for her, and the delay he had caused by following her from a street behind so she wouldn't notice him were all decisive factors in forging another story.

Jeanne walked as usual to the bookstore, greeting Mario with a smile. Although he wasn't the original owner, he had inherited the store from his father and managed it with his sister. "Yesterday's shipment brought in some interesting titles for the second floor," Mario said.

Mario knew that Jeanne always looked at the art books first and then some in other languages, but she couldn't afford to buy them. Instead, she secretly read some of the books in other languages, but always bought only the romance novels that were the cheapest and that she could afford. Jeanne spoke English and French almost perfectly, but she had always wanted to learn more languages, but it was expensive and she couldn't afford it.

Upon hearing this, the girl rushed upstairs to see the new books that had arrived. She was excited because she had a little more money left over this month and could buy two or maybe even three books, which she hadn't been able to do in a long time. She saw the list of new books, and one name caught her eye. There were two copies of this book, so she hurried to try to get one of them.

But the location of the book was the problem. She was barely 5'2" and the book was on the highest shelf. She had a giant fear of heights, so using the ladder to get it down was impossible. Instead, she decided to stretch as much as possible, and as a last resort, she would prefer to jump or call Mario for help.

As she reached out to grab the book, she lost her balance and someone grabbed her waist tightly to keep her from falling. She quickly turned around to apologize, but the most attractive green eyes she had ever seen hypnotized her, and she couldn't say anything.