“Where are we going?” Alexa shouted over the noise of firearms that were constantly being shot at us. Apparently, some of the men had seen us escape from the restaurant and now we were being chased on the highway by four cars.

“Somewhere safe.” Curtly replying, I steered left and looked in the rearview mirror to see three more cars joining on this fucking car chase. Suddenly, three cars that were chasing us lost control and crashed. The last car soon joined the rest and I looked back to see the other cars, who either shot the drivers or the wheels of the cars following us, coming to a stop. Following them, I also applied brakes and looked over to Alexa to see if she was okay. Making sure she was okay; I grabbed my gun from my bag and got out of the car not before warning Alexa to not come out until I told her to.

I stepped out of the car, gun in hand, scanning the wreckage behind us. Smoke curled from the crumpled vehicles, and the groans of injured men filled the air. The stench of burnt rubber and gasoline lingered.

Moving quickly but cautiously, I approached the first car that had crashed, keeping my weapon raised. From my peripheral vision, I could see Natalia, Grayson and Michael coming out of their cars. I focused my attention back to the car from where a man was struggling to crawl out through the shattered window, blood streaming down his face. I kicked the door shut, pinning him inside. He groaned in pain, but I had no time for pity.

“You thought chasing us was a good idea?” I growled, pressing the barrel of my gun against his forehead through the window. “Who sent you?”

He muttered something coherent, coughing up blood. Annoyed, I slammed the butt of the gun against the door. “Talk, or I’ll make this worse.”

From behind me, I heard another man groaning as he staggered out of a second car, clutching his side. I whirled around and aimed at his leg, firing a clean shot. He collapsed with a scream, writhing on the ground.

“Stay down!” I barked, my voice sharp and unwavering.

The man from the first car began to beg, his words tumbling over each other. “Wait, wait! I’ll talk! It was Ramirez! He—he sent us! Said to bring you in, alive or dead!”

I clenched my jaw. Ramirez. Of course. The bastard couldn’t let things go. “Why? What does he want?”

The man hesitated, and I fired a warning shot into the ground near his head. “Answer me!”

“Y-you took something from him!” he stammered. “Something he needs. He didn’t say what, just said to bring you back.”

I stepped back, considering his words, and then moved to the second man. He was still writhing, clutching his leg. “What about you? Same story, or you got something else to add?”

“I don’t know anything else; I swear!” he gasped, his face pale with pain. “I’m just hired muscle! Ramirez doesn’t tell us shit!”

I sneered, frustration bubbling under the surface. “You’re useless.”

Turning to the wreckage, I noticed another man trying to limp away into the shadows. “Oh no, you don’t.” Grayson strode toward him, catching him by the collar and dragging him back to where we were standing.

“Please!” he pleaded. “I’ll tell you whatever you want! Just don’t kill me!”

“Start talking,” I said coldly, shoving him to the ground. “How did you know where I was?”

The man’s lip quivered, and he hesitated, but a sharp look from me had him spilling the truth. “There is somebody close to you who wants you dead. I-I swear I don’t know who that is but that person told us about you.”

I clenched my jaw and looked away. This was not something as simple as it looked like. There was something deep. Something I didn’t know about yet it was creating problems for me. I knelt next to the man, letting the barrel of my gun rest against his temple. “Is there anything else that you are not telling me about?”

He shook his head frantically. “N-no! I don’t know anything else, please!”

I stepped back and nodded at my friends. They looked calm but I could still see the questions and concern in their eyes. “Make sure there is no trace of any accident here and send Ramirez a small gift from my side.” They nodded their heads in understanding and got the work. I knew they had questions but I’m glad that they didn’t just bombard me with everything right now. I didn’t have the energy to deal with all of this.

I turned back to my car, my heart still pounding but my face calm. Alexa peeked through the window; her eyes wide with concern.

“We’re fine now,” I said, sliding into the driver’s seat. “But this isn’t over.”

I started the engine, and as we drove away, the screams of the men we left behind faded into the distance.

**********

Hi my lovely readers! I hope your are doing well. Here is the new update. I hope you enjoy it, even though I know it is not the best but I couldn't spare a lot of time for this so first the time being I hope you can bear with this one.

Also I had to address some things. Firstly, I was checking the reads on the previous chapters and instead of seeing a rise I saw a decline in that. Which made me think that there is something wrong with the story. If there is please let me know.

Second thing is supposed to be a good news. I don't if you find it that way or not but anyways, the news is that I have three to four stories in pipeline, including a sequel of VR. But seeing the response on this story I'm confused about it.

And lastly, u wanted to apologize for these late and haphazard updates. I have been really busy recently and that is why it was just difficult to make time to write. The response was also not good which further reduced my spirit to write.

Anyways, this is it for today. I won't bore you too much. Don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts.

Love you, Abeer