The Forgotten Heiress novel Chapter 10

They were a family, whole, complete, with no room or need for her.

"I'm sorry. I have to get out of here. This is turning out to be harder than I thought. I need...I need to leave. I'll come back when I feel more under control."

Before they could argue she stepped outside and closed the door in their faces. Berating herself for the spectacle she'd just caused, she ran to her bike and took off. She just wanted to be as far away as possible before the tears really started flowing.

Jessica rode around with no destination in mind. It wasn't long before she realized that someone was following her. She couldn't explain how she knew, she just did. It was like a sixth sense and it'd never led her wrong before.

Deciding to test the feeling, Jessica shifted to the next lane, barely managing not to swerve into a car, and quickly turned onto the intersecting street. At the next cross-way she took a left turn followed by another left.

Keeping an eye on her side view mirror, she watched a car turn to follow her. For the next fifteen minutes Jessica kept making last minute turns, but no matter how fast she went, how many sharp turns she took, she couldn't manage to lose them.

Slowly terror started to creep in.

She felt as if she was in a horror movie or a nightmare. The kind where no matter how fast a person ran, the monster was always a couple of steps behind. No matter how long you held your breath, how well you thought you'd hidden, the monster always turned the corner and found you.

She hated this! She hated this day and she hated feeling like a weakling.

Fear was clogging her throat and it was making it hard to breathe. Nervously she toyed with her lip and took a couple of deep breaths; she knew that now was not the time to panic. If she was going to get out of this she needed to stay calm.

As calmly as she could, she drove around until she found what she was looking for, a deserted dead end alleyway. As soon as she spotted it, Jessica parked her bike, took of her helmet and left it on the seat, a block away and ran at top speed towards it. Once in there she went to crouch behind a couple of dumpsters all the way at the end of the ally. She dropped her back pack and pulled out her knife.

She was done running.

He opened his mouth to speak but his eyes suddenly widened when he looked at something over her shoulder. Jessica noticed it and she realized that someone was coming up behind her. Knife in hand, ready for battle, she pivoted on her toes in a crouched position and froze.

"You!?"

******

Nick held his hands out, palms open wide towards her and took a step back, trying to indicate his lack of desire to harm her. In response she stood up slowly and turned enough to keep him and the man that was awake and still lying on his back, in her sights.

"Good to hear I made a big impression." He told her, trying to defuse the situation. One quick look at her adversaries and he knew they were harmless. They weren't trying to harm her; they were trying to protect her. Apparently he wasn't the only one worried about her safety. "I'm glad you remember me." He confessed to her with a pleased smile.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, the annoyance in her voice was self-directed because she had no better comeback.