Sandy didn’t realize she had already dozed off from the chair until she felt her body jerked when her head bobbed down. She shook her head trying to clear the sleep off her and glanced at Adrian, still unconscious on the bed. She rubbed her eyes and leaned forward to check on him, gently removing the washcloth she had placed on his forehead and felt it with her hand to see if he is still on high temperature. He’s still hot to the touch but not as much as earlier. His face still looked pale and he looked like he had aged in just a few short hours but Sandy is sure he’s already gotten past the worst stage. Now he just needs to recover and regain his strength. And check with a doctor. She let out a yawn while stretching her arms high up and throwing her shoulders back. What time is it anyway? The clock on Adrian’s bedside read 3:30 in the morning. She looked back at Adrian sleeping form. It felt like what happened earlier when she found him bleeding is ages ago and not just a couple of hours. She dipped the washcloth on the basin again and wrung it but then paused, her ears picking up some faint sound.  She frowned as she tried to listen. It sounded… it sounded like someone is making some noise outside.

 

She dropped the washcloth on the basin and silently walked out of Adrian’s room, the voices now getting pronounced. It sounds like Nan’s voice.

 

“It’s early in the morning. Adrian is still sleeping.”

 

“Sleeping.” A man’s voice. And he sounds mocking. “Tell him to come down here or I’ll go up there and drag his out.”

 

Sandy cautiously went to the stairs and took a peek from the banisters, making sure she is not detected. There were 3 men looking scary as hell. And Nan blocking them from the bottom of the stairs. The two securities who was supposed to prevent her from going outside just stood on the side, just watching as if they didn’t know what is happening.

 

“You are disrespecting the privacy of Adrian and Daniella.” Nan is still insisting.

 

“I wouldn’t think twice of shooting you,” the man threatened Nan but Nan didn’t back down.

 

“You are welcome to. I’d rather face your bullet than the wrath of Daniella Romero. You know who she is right? The daughter of the man you are working for. And she hates to be disturbed in her sleep. But here you are making a ruckus at this early in the morning.”

 

“We didn’t come for Daniella, you stupid hag.”

 

Sandy immediately ran back towards Adrian’s room, gently closing the door, her brain working in overdrive. She understood what is happening. Or at least what she think is happening. These men looking for Adrian… Adrian stabbed and bleeding…. She clasped her hands together. What is she going to do? What can she do? Are they here to kill Adrian? To finish him off? She her suddenly dry lips, her eyes drifting towards Adrian’s closet. Thinking fast, she ran to it as she pulled off her bloodied shirt and shorts. She took the biggest polo shirt she could find and shrugged it on. She threaded her fingers through her hair and messed it up in a way that would look like she just got out of bed. Acting classes 101, don’t fail me now.

 

 

 

 

 

“They are still sleeping.” Nan is still insisting as she tried to block them from going up the stairs. They aren’t forcing their way in yet which Nan could attribute to the fact that they also did not want to cross Daniella’s ire. She knew who they were. They are the men manning the warehouse that Adrian had snuck into to get some data. He had been planning it for a while now and Nan had already warned him of the danger. Once David Romero found out Adrian is snooping around his illegal business dealing, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

 

Her fears had come true when she saw Adrian bleeding from a stab wound.

 

And Daniella herself seeing it.

 

And now these men coming in. If they see Adrian, they would instantly know it was him who trespassed in the property.

 

If they didn’t, then Daniella would definitely tell her father instead.

 

She was trying to stay calm but she was so afraid for Adrian that she couldn’t think straight.

 

“Tell him to come down.” The man went up in her face. “Now you fugly hag.” He pushed her on the shoulder and Nan almost her balance, her hand grabbing the stair’s railing for support.

 

“What the is all the noise?” A loud voice reverberated from up the stairs.

 

They all looked up to find Daniella on the stair’s landing, one hand on the newel cap, her face looking really annoyed.

 

Nan’s heart was beating furiously in her chest as she looked up at Daniella but before she can say something, the man, who appears to be the boss out of the three, spoke. “We’re here for Adrian Lee.”

 

Sandy cocked her head to the side, one of her eyebrow raising. “What do you want with him?”

 

The man smirked. “We just want to pay him a visit.”

 

“Aren’t you a little too early to pay him a visit?” Sandy tried to be as sarcastic and as y as she can. “What, too excited to see him?”

 

The man’s smirking face fell down and gazed at her at with deadly gaze, his pretense of respect already falling off. “We apologize for waking you up Miss Daniella but it is Adrian Lee we intended to see.”

 

Her hands are getting clammy and she’s pretty sure if they focused enough, they would see it shaking so she decided to just cross her arms over her chest to hide it. She used her most piercing gaze on the man who is clearly not scared of Daniella Romero. She had to play her cards right. What would Daniella do if she gets disturbed in her sleep? And what is this all about? Okay, she’ll just tell them to leave. Fast.

 

“Get out of my house. Now.” The man started to open his mouth but Daniella went ahead, her voice as hard as steel. “Don’t make me tell you again.”

 

The man’s jaw clenched and he glanced at the other two hooligans before returning his attention back to her. “Someone snuck inside your father’s warehouse in Paranaque and stole some important data. I caught him in the act and stabbed him.”

 

Her heart beating furiously inside her chest, she still managed to snidely ask, “And this someone is Adrian?” God, Adrian wouldn’t be so stupid to trespass without some kind of disguise. Please tell me he’s not that stupid!

 

“His head was covered in a black mask,” one of the men supplied. “But someone was able to take that off him in the scuffle before he was able to get away. When we reviewed the CCTV footage, the man looked exactly like Adrian Lee”

 

“Looked like Adrian so you’re not really sure it was really him?” Thank god these men are giving her something to rebut with.

 

“There’s only one way to find out,” the first man said who looked like the meanest of them. “Tell him to come down and show himself. If he doesn’t have a stab wound, we’ll leave.”

 

“Tell him to come down?” Sandy forced out a loud chortle then immediately stopped and gave that man a really piercing glare. “Bold of you to order me around. And bold of you to assume it’s your call to leave or not.”

 

“Miss Daniella—” the other man started.

 

But Sandy interrupted him, her eyes still on the mean one. She really needed to get rid of them before her knees gave out. “But let me get this straight. My father entrusted you with that data but your lax in security ended up with it getting stolen, am I right? And now, you’re blaming your incompetence on my husband just because the culprit…” she narrowed her eyes mockingly at her next words. “…kinda looks like him.” She scoffed. “And from where do you get that? From a blurry, grainy resolution of a CCTV footage, am I correct?” She gave a thoughtful frown. “Not exactly the kind of thing you would want to tell my dad if I called him right now, would you?”

 

She guessed it worked because all three of them exchanged glances and Sandy instantly realized they haven’t told David Romero of the robbery yet. They are trying to do damage control. But the mean boss one is still not deterred as he still spoke, quite insolently, “Is there any reason why you don’t want to let us see Adrian Lee, Miss Daniella?”

 

“Let’s just call it… just because I don’t want to,” Sandy said snottily. The mean boss’s jaw hardened and Sandy racked her brain for something… powerful to make them leave. It will be a disaster if they called her bluff and contacted David Romero. She’s not sure what’s going to happen after that. “Have you ever had for six hours non stop?” Then she frowned at him. “I guess not. Not with that face”, she muttered. “But the man deserves a break. He’s exhausted since we have been ing each other since eight o’clock. Yes he’s been with me the whole night so it’s impossible for him to be in two places at once unless he had a twin I didn’t know about. Not that it’s any of your business but if he wakes up and sees you, he’ll lose the mood to me again and I’d be really pissed.” She looked at the security that Daniella’s dad had assigned to keep her in. Such a useless security even with all that beefy muscles and a gun. “You!” The security looked up at her. “If they step foot inside my house again, shoot them.” She looked back at the man who was practically glaring at her. “If they even attempt to show their face around me or Adrian, just kill them.”

 

She met the glaring eyes of the boss one, trying not to flinch at his gaze. eventhough her knees is already shaking too. If they stayed for another minute, she might break character or probably say something wrong. “Find your suspect somewhere else and make it fast before I change my mind of being nice. Now I’m only gonna repeat it once. Get. Out.”

 

The boss of the three just gave her a glare, the scar on his face getting more pronounced as Sandy could just imagine the rage he is trying to suppress from getting his plans thwarted. Don’t flinch, don’t flich. Lift your chin up!! She listened to her brain and lifted her chin up to evidently show him which one of them holds more power, imagining she is in a play where she is playing… well… a mob boss.

 

“You heard her,” her beefy security told the three men, his hand going to his gun. He nodded to the door.

 

Oh good. My security finally spoke. He could’ve done that earlier. Sandy watched as the three men walked out of the front door, her securities following close behind. Once the door was closed, Sandy finally gave in and sunk to the floor of the stair’s landing, gasping for breath. Okay, panic attack. It seems like air is closing in on her.

 

Nan had been on watching the exchange but rushed up towards Sandy when she fell into a heap on the floor, heaving.

 

“Miss?” She knelt down and put a hand at her back. She looked like she was choking

 

“So… sorry…” gasp. “I… I…” gasp. “I think… I’m…” gasp. “…panic attack.”

 

“I’ll get you some water.” Nan scurried down again to get her some water.

 

Few seconds later, Sandy was drinking the water feeling the panic ebbing away and her breathing returning to normal though her hands are still trembling. She can’t tell about her legs yet. She’s never been so scared in her entire life. So scared for Adrian if they got their way and saw him. The securities that was guarding her are scary but these men, the leader in particular, are of another matter entirely. He looked like he already killed a lot of people and didn’t lose sleep over it. In fact, it looked like he was close to killing her too and probably would if there are no witnesses to see that he had killed David Romero’s daughter. David Romero is probably the only one he couldn’t cross. Not if he still wanted to live longer.

 

“Are you okay?” Nan asked looking concerned.

 

Sandy nodded as she wiped . “That was really scary,” she said then gave Nan a wide smile. “But I did good right?” Adrian is safe.

 

Nan studied her for a minute before giving her a small smile. “Yes, you did.” She had felt inexplicable fear as she watched Raul, that ruthless man guarding the warehouse, confront… this woman. But as Nan watched her standing there looking so haughty, that familiar disdain on her face,  she thought for a minute that this is really Daniella Romero.

 

Until Nan noticed her shaking hands before she hid it by crossing her arms. Thankfully none of the men detected it.

 

Sandy gave a chuckle. “Thank god I joined drama club in high school.” She held onto the balustrade to stand up but her knees still buckled and Nan steadied her.

 

“You need some rest,” Nan told noting the paleness on her cheek.

 

Sandy waited until she found her balance. “Yeah, I think I need to rest for a bit.” She nodded. “I’ll just check on Adrian first.”

 

Nan gave a nod, her thoughtful frown deepening as she watched Daniella or whoever she is staggered up the remaining stairs to go into Adrian’s room.

 

 

 

 

 

His whole body hurt. His head hurts. Is he already dead? No, if he’s dead, it wouldn’t hurt like this… would it? He slowly opened his seemingly heavy eyelids and took a few minutes for him to recognize the ceiling of his room. He tried to sit up, still feeling disoriented and felt that searing pain at his ribcage. He winced as he weakly removed the blanket covering him and saw his stab wound neatly bandaged though there was a dot of blood at the gauze covering. He frowned as he remembered exactly who had tended to him.

 

If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve left you bleeding to death.

 

I’m going to stitch your wound. Since you don’t want to be taken to the hospital, I’m the best bet you got to stay alive.

 

He was already slipping out but he remembered her saying that. He didn’t know what to make of it. His brain is still not together to come up with a conclusion. All he knew was that he came so close to getting the information to begin the downfall of the Romeros but the download was stopped halfway when Raul, one of David Romero’s henchmen and the boss of the lot, suddenly walked in the room. It was miscalculation on his part. He thought Raul was out running errands for David Romero and didn’t realize he was in the vicinity. He patted the pants he was still wearing for the flash drive containing what information he was able to download at that short time.

 

He looked up with a start when the door opened, immediately on his guard and let a small sigh of relief when he saw Nan entering with a basin of water.

 

“You’re awake,” Nan said walking over and placing the basin of water on his bedside table. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Like I’ve been stabbed. What time is it?” His voice sounded weaker even to his ears.

 

“It’s 1:25 in the afternoon,” Nan answered.

 

Adrian nodded then felt a little dizzy at the action. He had been asleep for… what, at least 12 hours? His gaze went to the empty chair beside the bed where he had seen Daniella dozing off to when he regained little consciousness sometime that morning. Nan followed his gaze. “I told her to take a rest.”

 

Adrian removed his gaze from the chair. “I wasn’t asking.”

 

Nan just shrugged before going to his closet to take out some sheets. “She didn’t leave your side the whole time until your fever went down. I had to assure her I will take care of you before she conceded and retire to her room to finally get some sleep.”

 

Adrian was silent. He was going in and out of consciousness and all those times, he saw Daniella by the chair tending to him. Feeling his forehead, wringing a washcloth, washing his face with it. He even felt her gently touching his face murmuring something that he couldn’t understand with his befuddled brain.

 

Nan went to his side holding some sheets and a pair of pajamas with a buttoned up shirt. “I’ll help you change into clean clothes. Your pants are bloodied up. I should change the sheets too.” She pulled the chair closer to the bed for him to sit on while she change the sheets.

 

“I’ll change clothes myself,” Adrian said slowly transferring to the chair with Nan’s help, careful not to make too much movement.

 

“Raul stormed in here last night looking for you,” Nan said. “He was sure it was you and wanted to confirm his suspicion since he stabbed the man who snuck into the warehouse.”

 

Adrian clenched his jaw. He got sloppy and got stabbed by that good for nothing lowlife. He had expected