Witness Protection ✔

2254 Stockert Hollow Road

From the airport, it took them another 3 hours to arrive at the small town where they'd be staying for the upcoming months. The house they'd been assigned was an inconspicuous one, the whole block seemed to be made of the exact same houses with the only difference being the yards out front. Nathalia could see why they had picked this place.

To her, however, the house seemed too big for just the two of them as the house would've been able to house a 5 person household easily. It contained two bathrooms and 4 bedrooms and it made her wonder if people were going to ask questions about their living arrangements.

Walking up the driveway she noticed a sedan parked in front of the garage, again a very inconspicuous and average one. But what truly caught her eye was the garden, which was void of plants and flowers. She briefly wondered if they were allowed to make any changes to the house and its garden.

Darius didn't seem impressed nor interested in the exterior of the house for now as he made a beeline for the front door. Pulling a key from his pockets he opened it and went inside, giving Nathalia no choice but to follow.

Nathalia had found Darius to be a man of very few words, he didn't really speak unless she spoke to him. But seeing he intimidated her slightly she was too shy to start a conversation and so the ride to the house had been mostly silent again.

As they went inside she took in the furniture and overall interior of the house and found it all to be perfectly average. She walked over to the kitchen area and found it to be surprisingly luxurious. At the center was a small kitchen island with Darius leaning against it, in his hands another envelope.

"Your personal items should arrive somewhere this week so get ready to go to the store." He looked directly into her eyes as he spoke but moved away before she could answer him. It didn't really matter as his tone of voice indicated there wasn't room for discussion and an answer wasn't needed.

How does he expect me to get ready? I don't have anything.

But apparently, he did need to get ready. So she just continued the rest of her tour around the house. Opening random drawers and cabinets she found a cabinet filled with board games and she immediately got excited before realizing she only had Darius to play with. And he didn't seem like the kind of guy that played board games. Or any games for that matter.

She made her way up the stairs and noticed the wall lined with pictures of people she didn't know, were these just stock photos of random people? One photo depicted a dog and a little boy which in itself was cute, but having photographs of random people in your home was slightly weird in her opinion.

Once upstairs, she went in the first door she came across. It was a small laundry room. Or a laundry closet. Closing the door she went over to the next one. It was a beautifully decorated bedroom with white furniture and a large kingsized bed against the wall. But none of that caught her eye because her focus was on the items on the bed. Guns in various shapes and sizes and boxes of ammunition were laid out on the soft fabric of the covers. Next to them was a very shirtless Darius. His deliciously sculpted body and tanned complexion almost distracted her from the guns, but in the end, fear won out.

"Wh- what are you doing?" she stammered.

From where she stood in the doorframe she saw he was meticulously loading the guns, not sparing her a glance.

"What's it look like?"

Strapping a few small ones to his body before slipping on a shirt he turned his attention to her.

"There are guns everywhere! They- I'm- That's unnecessary, right? They won't find us here, no one knows where we went." Her voice got stronger the longer she spoke and by the end, she sounded almost confident.

"The chance they'll find you is small, yes, but it's not impossible. And if they do find you I can't protect you with a butter knife, now can I?"

It seemed reasonable enough but she had always been opposed to the use of firearms, they brought on nothing but pain and sorrow.

"We should probably go over your cover again unless you want to tell me you actually did pay attention to what miss Verne told you earlier?" he half asked, exposing her.

Had it been that obvious?

Ever since she witnessed that murder she had trouble focussing and listening for longer periods. No matter how hard she'd try she always zoned out, missing large chunks of the conversation.

"Er... no, go ahead. I mean, I did pay attention. But just to be safe." she lied.

Deep in his eyes, she could see he didn't buy it at all but he didn't comment on it. Instead, he recited her cover story from his memory, telling her he was not only handsome but intelligent as well.

"Your name is Katherine Peterson, you're 21 years old and from San Jose, California. You're my fiancée and we've been dating for 3 years after which I asked you to marry me in March of this year. We moved here to start a family as the schools in this area are the best and the homes are affordable. Your parents are divorced, your dad lives in Canada while your mom lives back in San Jose and you're an only child. You studied hotel management in college but dropped out to take care of your now deceased grandma. Are you still following me?"

She hadn't realized exactly how much information she had missed until now, and she was grateful he told her again.

"Yes, but what about your cover?" she asked him.

"What about it?"

"Like what's your cover?"

The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly and she wasn't sure if it had been a small smirk or if she had imagined it.

"You think my actual name is Darius?"

She felt kind of dumb. Why would he give her his real name? It made sense he wouldn't tell her so there wouldn't be a chance of her slipping up and using the wrong name in front of people. She really should start using her brain, but it was so difficult to think straight when his scent invaded her nostrils and his grey eyes pulled all coherent thoughts from her.

Red from embarrassment she turned away, not daring to look at him anymore.

He didn't say anything at that, gods he must think her to be so stupid right now. Putting the guns he hadn't strapped to his person back into the large cases he closed them off and put them under the large bed. He walked over to the desk in the corner and grabbed his jacket from its place on the chair in front of it.

Walking over to the door he stopped right in front of her, towering over her.

"Let's go."