His Lovely Ward

Chapter 19

“Chanty…I…we…” Angelica stuttered, trying to think of some excuse. But how the hell could anyone make a light excuse when there were two guys lying unconscious on the floor?

“Ange, what the hell is this?” Chanty asked again, her eyes travelling from Mr. Black Guy to Mr. Scarred Face, to her, and then to Henry.

Angelica looked at Henry. He looked as stunned as she was and she desperately wanted to melt down the floor and disappear into thin air.

“Ange!” Chanty cried out, snapping her out of her panicky thoughts.

“I…we…” she stuttered once again. “These men tried to harass me,” she blurted out the best one she could think of.

“What? How? Do you know the fire alarm rang out? We have to get out!” Chanty looked at them suspiciously. “And why are you here? Oh my God, what the hell is happening here?!” she looked pointedly at Henry.

“I heard Angelica scream and luckily, I came just in time.”

“Oh my God, there’s a gun! Ange! There’s a gun!” Chanty shouted hysterically, jumping up and down when she spotted the gun at the corner. “There’s a gun!” her eyes had gone wide now.

“Chanty, calm down…” Angelica told her, and then she threw Henry a look and talked with her eyes. He got the message and he sighed.

“Chanty, calm down…police are coming. I called them,” he explained, walking closer to her friend.

Chanty still had her eyes closed, as she leaned her right shoulder against the wall, her hands fanning her face. Henry looked back at her with a pleading and frustrated look.

“What?” she mouthed at him.

“Handle this!” he mouthed back.

“You’re so useless…” she hissed under her breath only for him to hear as she rushed toward her friend. “Chanty!” she shouted to get her friend’s attention. “It’s over now. These guys came in, we handled it—lucky for us—and police are coming. We better go outside,” she took Chanty by the shoulders and turned her to the direction of the door.

“You better explain how this happened, Ange,” Chanty rasped out.

She nodded. “Yes, yes, once you calm down.” She looked back at Henry. “Handle this!” she mouthed, pointing at the two men on the floor with her finger.

  *****

For the first time since he met her, Henry was thankful for Angelica’s quick mouth. It was a nice good excuse she blurted out to Chanty.

He looked down at the two unconscious men and sighed. How the hell did they find them here? Of all places! And they bothered to go through a lot of trouble just to get to Angelica.

Who was desperate enough to want her dead?

The local police came in time, just after everyone in the airport had been relieved by the announcement that the alarm was just a false one. Henry talked with the authorities and settled the matter, making sure that the men be transferred to New York immediately.

Their flight was delayed but not cancelled, much to everyone’s relief. He was not able to talk to Angelica yet because she was busy calming down Chanty.

“Please, there’s no need to tell everyone,” he heard her tell her friend.

“But why? You almost got killed!”

“Chanty, please…”

He walked past them. He knew she could handle it alone.

He had himself to calm down as well. The realization that Angelica almost got killed was eating him up.