Leah's POV
"Miss Leah, your car is ready," Mr. Carson said. "Alpha specifically asked me to prepare this car for your first day of work."
I looked at the red Ferrari 250 GTO in front of me and frowned.
"Mr. Carson, I can't really show up at work by driving this car. It looks so flameboyant and I don't want to attract any unwanted attention. Do you have something low profile?"
"It's either this or the Lamborghini Huracán that Alpha gave you as a present the other day." Mr. Carson shrugged.
No Lamborghini. Definitely not the Lamborghini. I thought to myself.
"What's the situation here?" Troy Greer, my Father's Head of Security, showed up. He was in a sleek, well-pressed uniform and looked like the contract model on an army recruitment poster.
Finn withdrew as soon as he saw Troy. He had a phobia of uniforms.
"What kind of car do you drive?" I asked Troy.
"An Audi R8, Miss Lewyn." Troy replied.
"Cool. Can I borrow it for a few days?" I asked. "I promise to return to you unscratched and with a full tank of gas."
Troy looked a bit confused. "You want to take my Audi, Miss Lewyn?"
"Yep." I nodded.
"You have all the rights to make a requisition of my car, Miss Lewyn. But the thing is... I'll have no cars to drive." Troy scratched the back of his head.
"You can have this Ferrari," I said.
Troy looked even more confused.
"Miss Lewyn, you do know that this Ferrari costs 60 million dollars, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, but you've been working very hard these days and I want to thank you for the service you provided with me and Laura last night. So, have fun with it," I patted on his shoulder and said.
Troy looked at Mr. Carson with an incredible look on his face.
Mr. Carson shrugged, "What can I say, son. Wake up in the morning and get a Ferrari. It's your lucky day. Say thank you."
"Thank you, Miss Lewyn," Troy said with a wry smile. His facial expressions got serious as he took a glance at Finn, who looked intimidated.
"Are you going to take him with you to work?" Troy asked me.
"Yeah," I said. "Is there any problem with that?"
"I don't like people who look away when I look at them in their eyes, Miss Lewyn, if you know what I mean." Troy stared at Finn and said. "My basic instinct never fails me."
"Troy, Finn's just afraid of soldiers. Don't take it personally. Anyway, I'm heading for work, where both my brother and Jalin will be around with me. So please don't worry," I said.
Troy sighed and said, "I'll get my Audi ready in 10 minutes, Miss Lewyn."
"Why does it take so long?" I frowned.
"Let's just say that I've got something very inappropriate for ladies to see in my car and I need some time to get rid of them." Troy winked at me and walked away.
I chuckled and was about to walk away, but I found that Finn was pulling my sleeves from behind. I smiled at him and wrapped my hands around his arm.
"Don't worry." I looked up at him and said. "I won't let anyone hurt you."
Still looking scared, he nodded slightly.
The C262 was packed with cars snailing forward one inch at a time.
"Talking about rush hours." I mumbled to myself and looked at Finn. To my surprise, he was looking at me.
I immediately blushed.
"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked.
"That man... Does he like you?" He asked without taking his eyes off me.
Is he jealous of Troy? That's kind of cute.
"No. Troy is just a friend. He's like a bodyguard of mine. He wants to protect me. It's his job," I said.
Finn nodded and looked down at the safety belt across his chest.
"Is that too tight?" I asked and stretched out my hand to help him loosen the belt a bit, "You can adjust it like this if you like."
He took my hand and wouldn't let go of it. I liked it when he refused to let go of my hand. It was kind of sweet.
His hand was freezing cold, as always.
"You didn't answer me during breakfast. Is Sak Doyle your brother?" I asked.
Finn lowered his head for a while and eventually nodded his head.
I became furious and said, "How could someone do something to his own brother?! I mean, what kind of monster forces his own brother to..."
The scared look on Finn's face made me stop grumbling.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," I said. "I just don't understand. Isn't he supposed to protect you as your elder brother?"
"Sak did everything he could to protect me," Finn said in a low voice. "It's all my fault. I'm too slow and I can't do anything right."
"Don't say something like that. You aren't slow. You're kind and sweet. And it's definitely not your fault for him to slap you around like that in front of everyone." I said and squeezed his hand a bit.
He gazed into my eyes and said, "Why are you so kind to me, Leah?"
"Because you're my friend. And I want you to be happy," I said.
Finn lowered his head and said slowly, "I don't deserve to be your friend, and I don't deserve to be happy."
My heart sank.
"Don't say things like that, Finn. You deserve all the best things in the world," I said.
"If you really want me to be happy, just let me go, please," Finn whispered, with his lips trembling.
I was silent.
He continued, "I know you've paid a lot of money for me. I will find a way to pay you back. I will do double shifts and I swear I will pay you back."
I looked at him and said desperately, "I can't let you go back to Sak. He's got a license now, and he's entitled to force you to do unspeakable things. Do you want to be treated like that? Because I can't stand the thought of you being tortured by anyone..."
"Sak is the only family that I've got," Finn whispered. "Do you understand the pain of not being able to be with your family?"
I was speechless.
As a matter of fact, I could understand. I was away from my family for five entire years. Every second that I was away from my family felt like torture to me.
So who am I to take him away from his family? I thought to myself and bit my lips.
Despite the fact that there were a thousand reasons that I didn't want to let go of him, I knew I had to do the right thing.
"Finn. I told you that you're my friend. And friendship is like any kind of relationship. It is supposed to be mutual. Now I feel that I'm the only one in our friendship and I'm sorry for taking you away for selfish reasons. You were born free to this world, and you're not supposed to be anyone's possession." I took a deep breath and continued, "Finn, you're free to go now."
Finn looked at me with confusion.
"Do you mean that I can go now?" he asked.
"Yeah. Sure," I said.
"Right now?" he asked.
"Yeah. We're stuck on this road and we can't go anywhere else. If you want to go, you can open the door and get out of the car now." I said, feeling torn inside, when the real words I wanted to say were -
Please don't go. Stay with me, Finn.