The Origin (Book 1 Of The Series 21)

Unanswered questions

James POV

I am in a hospital waiting room again, hoping that I don't lose a loved one.

Nina is giving her statement, with her father close by. She is the last to give her statement to the police. I understand that the police are just doing their job, but seriously, they were getting on my nerves by asking us all of their questions while we waited for my father's doctor to leave the surgery room.

An hour passed and still no news. Nina's father keeps looking at me oddly every now and then. He never really liked me, but this look he is giving me is different. It's like he knows something against me, but what is it?

"Is there someone here for Mr. Simpson?" announced a doctor as soon as he entered the waiting room. Jessica and I quickly jumped out of our chairs and asked him about my father's condition.

"I am so sorry, the bullet hit a major artery. He suffered major blood loss when he arrived. We tried helping him, but we couldn't do much. I am sorry."

My father died. He is dead.

I felt empty. I kept staring forward. Not believing what happened. I came back to reality when I felt Tom's hand on my shoulders. Looking around, I saw Jessica crying while Kevin held her. I kept looking around, expecting to see Nina approaching me, but I saw her just standing far away, with her father's hand on her shoulders, as if he were barring her from moving.

I looked her in the eyes, trying to understand what she was feeling, but as soon as I looked into her eyes, she looked at the ground.

"I am sorry, guys, but I am leaving," I said.

"Should I come with you?" asked Tom.

I shook my head, not saying, "I want to be alone."

And with that, I left.

Nina's POV

I don't know what is wrong with dad, but he keeps pulling back whenever I try approaching James, and I don't know why.

His strange behaviour started after his talk with one of his police friends. After this talk, he told me that we were leaving. I obviously refused. I wasn't going to leave James when he needed me the most.

I kept asking my father quietly to stay, but he was so against it until I told him that I would make a scene and the only way to get me out of here was if he forces me out. He agreed only because he really cared about his image. I knew that when we went back home, I wouldn't hear the end of it.

Knowing that the reason Mr. Simpson is in this situation is because he is saving my life was eating me alive, and leaving James would make me feel even worse, so I had to fight.

When he looked at me, waiting for me to comfort him after receiving the news of his father's death, I really wanted to run to him and hold him close. But Dad wouldn't allow me.

All I could do was look at the ground, hoping that he would forgive me.

At home

As soon as we reached home, even before the door was fully closed, Dad erupted.

"HOW COULD YOU DEFY ME WHEN I TELL YOU TO LEAVE?" Dad screamed.

Dad, how could I leave my boyfriend when he is in such a situation, especially that his father was in that room fighting death because he was saving me?" I replied.

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN THAT SITUATION FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. You shouldn't have been in harm's way. You shouldn't have been in death's way." He continued screaming.

He then took a deep breath to calm himself down and continued, but this time calmly. "Do you know who was the one attacking you?"

He didn't even give me the time to tell him that I didn't know before he told me that it was the Vipers, the same gang that attacked me previously.

"After your attack, the police had their suspicions that James was a part of a gang, so they kept an eye on him. He was seen training in his father's warehouse with other known gang members. That's how their suspicions were confirmed. He is a part of the Eastern Snakes."

I just looked at him. Opening and closing my mouth like a fish that was just pulled out of the water, I couldn't say a word.

He approached me slowly and said, Honey, I am going to ask you to do a very hard thing. I need you to break up with James. For your own safety."

James POV

It's my dad's funeral today. Everyone is here. My mother, friends, his work friends—everyone he knew was here. He was a really loved man.

"Today we are here to say goodbye to a loving father and a supportive friend." Started priest John, who also happened to be one of dad's close friends.

I tuned out what was being said. I didn't want to hear it. I felt someone coming to stand next to me. I didn't need to look to know who it was. Her vanilla-strawberry perfume was enough to know that it was Nina.

I haven't talked to her since my dad's death. She, too, didn't try to talk to me. I had messages and missed calls from everyone but her. I found that odd, but I didn't comment on it. I didn't exactly have the energy to think of anything.

After the funeral ended, I saw Nina coming towards me. She looked normal, yet she wasn't. There was something in her eyes that I could recognise.

"James, you are a lying asshole, and we are done." "You didn't just lie to me by not telling me that you are a part of the Eastern Snakes," she said while shoving a picture of me and Tom's friend in my face.

"You also put my and my friends' lives in danger by throwing your mafia shite at us." "I was not attacked just once, but twice, because of you."

And just like that, she left. I didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but I did agree that we needed a break so I could concentrate on getting my revenge and ending the threat on her life.
I had to know what she meant by gang while she was showing me a picture of me training, though. And an even better question: who took these pictures and how did she get them?