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he had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she was trying her best to fight it off. She looked towards him, but he wasn't meeting her eyes, and it was giving her even more anxiety. She turned towards him and gently reached for his hand in the freezing cold around them. As soon as she did so, he wrapped his fingers around hers, and she felt his grip tightening on her; she knew he needed her now more than ever. She spoke up, and the words came out in a whisper.
“David, talk to me. What did you do?”
He finally raised his head upwards, and she could have sworn she saw tears lining his eyes; she gulped as the sight made her heart break a little. He spoke up in stutters.
"Angela, I was a kid. I didn't know what else to do at the time. I did what I thought was best; I offered myself to work for them."
The words fell onto her skin, cracking her heart up on the inside; slowly, she shook her head. She couldn't believe this. She didn't even know what to say; the words weren't coming out of her mouth, and even when she tried to wrap her head around it, she couldn't. A few moments passed in silence until she finally gathered the courage to say something.
"David, are you still working for them? How long has this been going on?"
She didn't even know if she was making sense; all the words were just falling from her mouth at once, and her head was fuzzy. She looked over at him, and he began to shake his head right away. He grabbed onto her hands tighter as he spoke.
"No, I swear to you I stopped working for them the day I turned eighteen. I was already on my way to building my empire. I used the contacts I had made from the drug rings and robberies they made me do along the way, and when I finally reached the point of establishing my own business, that was when I asked for freedom from them for both me and May."
She saw the same hurt flashing across his eyes, and she knew that there was more to the story. She looked down at the way their hands were intertwined, and she pulled herself closer to him and spoke.
“Let me guess, getting freedom wasn’t as easy as you thought?”
David nodded his head. He looked away from her and spoke up.
"Yeah, in cases like these, freedom usually comes with a price."
He trailed off, and the tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes once again. He was quick to wipe them clean this time around, and Angela spoke up out of habit, filling up the silence between them on the empty street.
“What was it? What did they ask of you?”
David turned to face her on the bench this time as he spoke.
"They asked for a part in my company’s operations. Sometimes some of the shipments that go through for my company transport their goods across seas as well."
She raised an eyebrow as she spoke.
“Goods?”
She knew that he was hiding something again, and he cleared his throat.
"By goods, I mean, weapons. Sometimes drugs, and sometimes even people."
Angela didn't know how to respond. She stood up from the bench, and David's eyes widened as she spoke up with a sudden urge of anger washing over her.
"The boy who died, he saw something, didn't he?"
She felt tears at the ends of her own eyes this time. David gulped; he simply nodded his head, and Angela felt anger coursing through her veins as she practically yelled toward him.
"You knew your company was involved in shady business, and you risked having young kids interning there? That boy died, David, and you covered it up, didn't you? I'm guessing you just slipped it under the rug to protect yourself since you couldn't protect him."
David began to shake his head, but Angela was overtaken with emotions once again. He reached forward and tried to grab her hand once again, but she was quick to pull away from him. He spoke with desperation in his voice.
"I swear, I tried to protect him, Angela; I had nothing to do with the way he died. I swear I found out with everyone else on the news. I had no idea he even had a target on his back."
Angela seemed to have put on her lawyer hat as she yelled at him in the middle of the street.
"You had nothing to do with the way he died but everything to do with why he died, David. Admit it."
She had tears falling from her eyes as he spoke up again.
"Angela, I understand that you are angry, and I know I'm not spot-free when it comes to guilt, but you need to know if you go down this road, you'll fall onto their radar as well."
He trailed off, but Angela was too full of anger; she shook her head as she spoke.
"If you knew me at all, you would know very well that I'm not a quitter."
Before she could go on, she was cut off by the sound of David's phone ringing in the pocket of his coat. He placed the phone to his ear, and she watched as the color in his face drained immediately. He turned to the other side and spoke up, but she could hear him clearly.
"What? When did this happen? Are you sure? Okay, pick me up right now; let's hope it's not too late."
She stared at him with confusion on her face. He tucked the phone into his pocket, and she spoke right away.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
She waited for a response, but he refused to look her in the eyes, and she knew that something was wrong right away. She moved closer to him and spoke in a more commanding tone this time.
“David? Answer me!”
His eyes were glued to the ground as he spoke up.
“It’s your friend Toby. There is word on the street that someone is after him.”
Angela felt her heart falling to her feet. Her mind raced back to the last time she had spoken to him and just how worried he was when he had told her he didn’t feel safe. She cursed under her breath and spoke up out of anxiety.
"Oh my God, I need to get to him right away!"
She turned towards the main street in the hopes of catching a cab, but he grabbed her by her elbow, pulling her body closer to his as he spoke up.
"Hey, I got this; my driver is coming to pick me up as we speak. It's better if you stay safe."
She raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head as she spoke.
“No, I’m coming with you no matter what.”
He was still holding onto her, and there were merely a few inches between the two of them when the sound of screeching tires distracted them. A black-colored SUV was soon parked by the street. David looked back at her as he spoke.
“Are you sure?”
She pulled her arm away from him, and without another word, she hurried towards the car, and he followed behind her. As soon as they got into the car, the driver pressed the accelerator, and Angela grabbed onto the seat in front of her to keep her balance. She noticed that the driver had a Bluetooth device placed upon his ear, and his grip on the steering wheel as tight as his eyes were fixated on the street. David spoke up, addressing him in a hurry.
“Did you bring it?”
The man replied instantly.
"Yes, sir, it's right under your seat."
She looked over at him and watched as he carefully knelt. He pulled out what looked to be a gun the size of his hand and carefully adjusted it into the inner pocket of his coat, and Angela's breath hitched.
They pulled into the parking lot of the apartment when David reached over and placed his hand over hers; he had sensed the anxiety she felt as he spoke.
"Hey, it's going to be okay."
She didn't get the chance to even reply to him as he reached forward and pulled open the door. She caught a glimpse of a gun placed in the driver's belt from the corner of her eye, and it gave her more anxiety. She pulled the feeling away and stepped out of the car towards the elevator. Just before they got in, Angela said a little prayer under her breath, hoping that he was okay.
