Witness Protection ✔

Old Friends

She watched Cassius leave through the front door and couldn't help but feel jealous. He could do what he wanted and go where he wanted because there was no one after him. She could barely remember the last time she was able to put on her shoes and throw on her jacket and just leave.

So now she just sat on the stairs facing the door like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home.

When everything was over she would go out and visit all her favorite stores, she promised herself. Wherever they'd have her move she was going to make most of it. She'd get a job again and talk to new people. The excitement of these prospects died out as soon as the thought of having to do it all without Cassius got her down again.

"Trust me, you don't want to go outside. I had to run some errands yesterday and I got stuck in this awful rainstorm and my phone died. Wouldn't turn on at all which is weird since phones are supposed to be waterproof these days. Anyway, you should've seen Darius's face when I had to request a new one, I thought he was going to kill me."

She didn't have to look up to know it had been Nico who said it. Although she appreciated his efforts to make her feel less bad, it didn't work.

"It just sucks," she replied. "I wouldn't mind getting caught in a rainstorm again. I don't have a phone to kill either."

He moved around to take a seat next to her. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. But hey, look on the bright side. The trial's almost here. Julia is coming over with some people to help you prepare and it's just smooth sailing after that."

She wished she could tell him the thing she dreaded the most was after the trial. To just tell him she wasn't ready to let Cassius go and she didn't want the trial to happen at all. Instead, she just smiled back at him.

"Yeah, you're right. Everything will be fine."

She knew she hadn't sounded too confident in her own words when his smile faltered a little. He opened his mouth to say something but the doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting him. She knew better than to try and open it herself so she just stood up and waited for Nico to open the door.

The first one to step through was Julia, her caseworker. It had been months since she'd spoken to her but she looked exactly the same as she remembered. Her blonde hair and kind eyes were her most prominent features and Nathalia wished she could be half as pretty as her.

Julia was followed by a man in a suit carrying a suitcase and she wasn't sure who he was. They both greeted Nico who lead them back to Nathalia.

"Oh honey, I'm so glad you're okay. I couldn't believe my ears when they said there'd been a break-in at the courthouse! How does something like that even happen? You must have been so scared, I wouldn't have known what to do in a situation like that." Julia gushed. Nathalia had spent the past few months surrounded by men and almost forgot how different it was to talk to a woman again. Julia didn't hide her emotions and her face wasn't hard to read at all.

"It was a little scary but Darius knew what to do so I didn't have to feel unsafe," she replied with a small smile.

"Yes, I am so glad they picked Darius for this case, if it had been anyone else they might not have been able to get you out in time," she shuddered before grabbing Nathalia's hands. "But the most important thing is that you were gone before they got there."

At that last sentence, her blood ran cold. They'd been at the house. The house where she'd been just before that. The men that were after her had actually come close to getting her.

Cassius always claimed he had no idea what happened after they left, and she believed him. He didn't have any contact with the outside world then. But there was no way he still didn't know this. She suddenly wondered how safe she'd actually been all this time and if she was even safe now.