In Debt To The Devil

Chapter 31

"Why did they attack us?" I asked. My voice was hoarse and I had not even cried.

"They were after me." He answered.

"You do have a dark past." I said.

"I never lied to you." Stefan said.

"They were out to kill you." I said.

"They were out to kidnap me and let their boss do the killing." He answered.

"I want to go to my family." My voice broke and my vision became blurry.

"I can protect you. They will come after you nonetheless." Stefan said.

"I was better off in Marble Falls." I said as I bit my lip and blink away my tears so that I don't break down.

"It was a few days before they found out that you lived in Marble falls. They knew you had gone to Austin." He said.

"So, what? Until they can't have you, they will come after me and take you and kill you?After that what will happen to me after you get killed. He said he would bargain for me." I asked.

"No. We will be going somewhere safe and everything will be okay. No will take you." Stefan said.

"How?" I asked.

"I have people that will clean all the messes back at home. They are already doing that. We will go to a safe house." Stefan answered.

"They can still kill you can't they?" I asked, "They can come in more numbers and kidnap us. Kill you and then god knows do what with me. Let me go back home." I said.

"That is not an option. I know the man. He will take you no matter what. We got married for fuck's sake. That says something to everyone." He said.

"We can get divorced." I suggested.

"Right after we get attacked? That will not stop him. That will make him come after to you more strongly. Because if we get divorced now then it makes him think I did it to make it seem that we don't like each other and I will be a liar." Stefan said.

"Why? We don't like each other any way. I despise you and you feel the same way. Divorce will confirm it." I said.

I turned to look at him. He was clutching the steering wheel tight and his knuckles were turning white. He was fuming. His jaw clenched. His eyebrows forming a crease on his forehead. His eyes were ablaze with the fire of anger.

"Stefan..." he punched the steering wheel.

"He could have killed you!" he shouted. He suddenly pressed the break and I jerked forwards. Luckily the seatbelt held me in place. He got out of the car and slammed the door. He walked forward and yelled in frustration. I removed my seatbelt and got out of the car. I walked towards him. I kept some distance before us.

"Stefan." I said.

"He was close to killing you. He could have just shot you if he didn't look away and see me aim. You would have had a hole in your head and you'd be lying on the floor dead. Bleeding!" He shouted.

"But, I am not." I said.

"They are ruthless. His boss is the definition of cold- hearted. He can get anything done. Anybody he wishes will be tortured to death. Divorce is not the answer because if we do get one right now he will now it is put him off his track and he has seen you. He spied on us no doubt. He knows we are trying to protect you. He will take you even after the divorce because he fancies every girl around me." He huffed as he ran a hand through his hair. I walked a little closer.

"It is okay to be scared of your past. All the bad things can cause you trauma. Stefan you can go to the police and tell them that we were attacked. We never even got to call the police. They will protect the two of us. He won't take any of us then." I said. We just packed things and ran.

"They can't protect us! The man from my past is dangerous beyond imagination and there is only one person who can beat him. He is long gone." Stefan said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"We can learn from his story how he faced this man. We can do it. We can be free of running away and wait till the man gets what he needs to." I said as I got a step closer.

"That man was a monster Diana. The actual Devil. If we use his methods there is no coming back." Stefan said as he turned around to face me. I looked up at him and cupped his face in my hands.

"We will be alright. We will find a way to not become the devil. We could do it. You saved my life." I said.

"After putting it in the danger." Stefan said.

"You told me you didn't know he was coming back. You had no idea. You told the correct authorities to put him where he had to. Where he couldn't hurt you. You were able to do it once, alone. You can do it again. I know I am not going to be of great help right now. But, you could tell me how to help you. You have a plan. We are going to a safe house and everything will be alright. If you don't have a plan we will take it step by step until we reach the safe house and then we can create a plan. I remember the time before Caleb sold me to you I was-" he cut me off.

"I was sitting in my favourite café and I met this old man. He saw me working on some business deal. He said he taught business and he told me using my extended metaphors of us; that if these two assets combine, they can learn something from each other. If I share my idea with you and you do the same, we have two ideas instead of one idea to ourselves. That is when I thought that maybe we could make it work." Stefan recited my thoughts.

"How did yo-" he cut me off again.

"Your letter. I remember every word." He said. I was taken aback. He knew everything about the letter. That entire thought made me smile. He remembered my words. I gave him a small smile and then hugged him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He didn't reciprocate but, I felt that his one sided hug was just right. We got back in the car and were going to safe house. Staying next to Stefan felt safe no doubt. But, the gut feeling about the lies he fed me and the feeling that the danger Stefan warned me was way little than what was actually to come at us. We could die was the worst feeling. Because, I knew that I was still in the dark about Stefan's past. I had no idea what it was but, it was bad enough to make my body tremble at the unknown and make my breaths heavy and short. It all felt wrong. The darkness I was kept in seemed to be filled with unknown dangers that Stefan was lying to me about. I was no doubt in danger but, I didn't know if it from Stefan or the mysterious past man who had men with guns come at our door.