Chapter 78: Chapter 78:

"Check her laptop Jake! I'm sure there could be something there!" I alert him and he quickly takes her laptop. We are presently in Tigress's study checking her files and stuff for any evidence she has in framing me and Jake. Thanks to Damian who offered to help us. Maybe we would be able to find something before she comes back in the morning.

So far I haven't found anything yet. Just old newspapers and some unnecessary documents.

"Hurry up! She is on her way here" Damian warns.

"What? I thought you said she would be back by morning" I query

"Yeah she always comes in the morning but I don't know why she is coming right now"Damian says looking at his phone. He's hacked into Tigress's phone and is tracking her location.

" So where is she now?"I demand packing all the stuff back. Jake shuts her laptop down and places it back at its original position.

"She is at the front door" Damian says.

"Yikes" I yell as the stack of files I just packed tumbles over.

"I'll distract her! Just stay here"Damian tells us and we nod packing the files again.

" did you find anything on her laptop? "I whisper.

" I didn't find anything. I think she has kept the evidence safe somewhere"

"Shit!"

"We need to keep looking" I tell Jake

"No we can't! She is in"

I hear her talking to Damian. She sounds like she is drunk.

"Make sure they don't escape Damian" she drawls and then there was silence.

Damian re enters the room.

"You two were lucky enough! She is drunk" he tells us.

"Have you found anything?" He asks

"Nothing" I say frustrated.

Jake looks through her laptop again. I look through her files again and a few documents. I finally find a small pen drive in her drawer.

"I've found a pen drive" I tell Jake

"Bring it" he says and I give it to him. He connects it to her laptop and looks through the files on it.

"I think I've found something" Jake says and quickly plays a video.

The video was about Kate beating up a freshman. It ends and another one plays. Now it was me beating up the same freshman that Kate was beating up. I get it now. This video was photo shopped! Kate is the real culprit here! She framed me!

An audio plays next and it's Tigress's voice. She was talking about the framing plan and she was telling Kate how to go about it with Cody, Caden and Aurora. Then another audio plays and the voice is changed to Jake's own.

Jake chuckles.

"I don't even sound like that" he tells me.

"It still sounds like you in a way" I point out.

"I wonder how she managed to put the audio and video on my phone as if I did it" Jake says.

I shrug my shoulders.

"She kind of hacked into your phone" Damian speaks up.

"Makes sense now! So how did she send the audio to Kate and video to the principal?"

"I don't know! But it took her long enough. She stayed in this room for hours" Damian tells us.

"Now we have the evidence and I can go back" I tell Jake and he smiles.

"Lemme download this evidence first" Jake tells me and I nod as I watch him connect some stuff.

"Thanks for helping us Damian" I say to him gratefully with a huge smile.

"It's alright"

❄❄❄

Jake and I are back to being tied up but we don't care cause we have all the evidence we need against Tigress. My mouth itches to tell the police what Tigress has been up to. But before I do that, I need to help Damian and make sure he isn't arrested too.

"She hasn't woken up yet?" I ask Damian who is still watching over us.

"No she hasn't."

"Damian, why are you a part of this? Why are you a part of this syndicate! You don't look like a drug dealer to me" I ask him and I hear his jaw tick.

"Can't tell you! Its my business! You have already found out a lot about me" he spits

"But what if you get arrested?"

"Shut it okay? Its my life! Not yours" he says rudely and I just keep quiet. I was just trying to protect him in a way.

"Damian you are in danger!" Jake tells him and he says something incoherent under his breath.

"He is not gonna listen" I say and I was right. Damian just stood there stiff–necked and I wonder why he is risking his life this way. Does he have parents? Because he would be around our age and he needs to have parents at all cost. Then my mind drifts off to Aaron. He is all alone in Jake's apartment. What if he dies from hunger or something?

"Jake! Did you leave Aaron behind?"

"No of course not. I left him with Aurora"

I heave a sigh of relief. I thought he left him behind. The poor puppy would have starved to death and would have died of loneliness. I cannot afford to lose another loved one because of Tigress. Speaking if the devil and she arrives skimpily dressed. She dismisses Damian and smiles down at us.

"Good morning my little ones! How was your night?" She mocks looking at us through the gate of the small cell but we do not respond and she chuckles.

"I'm sure you are missing your babies" she says holding up our phones. She has our phones! How do we call for help now?

"Nikki,You have five missed calls from your mother and three from Trina?" Tigress says looking at my phone with a bored expression.

Why did my mom call? Was she calling me to tell me to come back? Well if that was the case, I wouldn't have answered anyway because she didn't even listen to me and threw me out of the house like a foreigner. And I'm sure Trina called to tell me she's missed me.

"And Jake, you've got three missed calls from Alec, eight from your papa and two from Aurora?"

Jake sighs beside me. Why did his daddy call? Maybe he has noticed Jake isn't in his apartment.

"So that's it but l cannot give you your babies now. Maybe you wouldn't see them again. I am running late for a meeting right now so see ya!" Tigress says and walks away.

"Shit!!" Jake yells as soon as she is out of sight.

"Why?"

"Today is 15th December! Ten more days to the trip back to England! I'm sure my dad is already making preparations right now but I'm trapped in this damn house and I cannot go and help him! Maybe I wouldn't even go on the trip" He narrates with his eyebrows scrunched up with his jaw clenched. I didn't notice November has already come to an end and we were already in December. That's why my mom was calling. She wanted to know if I was okay. She cannot spend the Christmas without me. Serves her right. But I still didn't notice I have spent so many days outside the house. Maybe 6—7 days.

I hear a loud thud and I jump out of my space. Jake is standing there with his fist on the wall. His knuckles are bleeding from hitting the wall so hard and I think I see a slight crack on it. His eyes are a darker shade of grey as he stands there with his eyes trained on the spot he just hit. His jaws are clenched so tight that I'm afraid the skin around that area would tear apart. He looks dangerous.

"Jake?" I call softly yet tentatively

His dark grey eyes meet mine but his lips are drawn into a thin line.

"Are you alright?" I ask still scared as he just glowers at me with his dangerous grey irises.

"Do I look alright?!!!" He practically yells at me and I shudder and back away from him before I serve as his scape goat.

"Crap!!!" He yells and hits the wall much harder than before and his knuckles bleed even more.

He continues to hit the wall repeatedly. Is he planning to break the wall with his fist? Well he is making progress because I see cracks developing but he is gonna get hurt.

"Jake Stop!!" I shout at him and he stops alright but then he turns to face me. His expression still dark and I swallow a thick saliva. His breathing is heavy as he just glowers at me. I suddenly regret for getting his attention.

He strides towards me still dead serious with his eyes trained on my face.

"Jake! Jake can you hear me! You are scaring me"

He doesn't stop and continues to stalk me like some zombie. I shriek as he gets closer. He looks creepy.

"Jake!" I yell and he swings his fist. I shut my eyes tightly.

"Back off" I hear someone say and I open my eyes to see Damian. He is holding Jake's collar and has him pinned to the wall. Both of them have dark expressions on. I heave a sigh of relief. Damian saved me! Yes!

"What is wrong with you?" Damian yells at him and leaves his collar

Jake still has that dead serious expression and his eyes are fixated on Damian's.

"You better let us out of here before I screw your brains out" Jake states coldly and dangerously that  my blood suddenly runs cold.

Damian chuckles.

"Tough huh? Look here Mister! I can't do that! You know very well. I helped you already! I can't help you again"

Jake chuckles in amusement but this chuckle is different. Its kind of like an evil chuckle and I have never heard it before.

"Have you ever dealt with a real gangster before?" Jake whispers to him and Damian smirks. I remember Jake told me he has been part of a gang before. Maybe a real dangerous gang back in England.

"Relax man! I'm also a gangster in this drug syndicate. But I'm in the spy department" Damian says with a smirk.

"Spy department" Jake says with a chuckle and Damian just stares at him. The cell is still open and I feel like running away but I cannot leave Jake here. What if he is doing all this to distract Damian so that I can run and find help? He should give me a sign at least.

"You better behave yourself because you know I'm also a gangster" Damian says and Jake laughs loudly in his face. Should I leave or just watch in silence. Even if I decide to leave, I don't know my way around this house! But wait Claire's house is just around the corner! I just need to find it! I dash out without Jake and Damian seeing me. Claire's words ring in my head as I maneuver my way through the house.

"Yes. Actually her house is four houses away from mine to the right and her parents live on another street! They just gave up on her" Claire says with a shrug.

Four houses away to the right! Just four houses away! I descended the flight of stairs that Tigress used to taunt me yesterday to the hall.

"Hey! Get back!" I hear someone yell and I quicken my pace heading for the front door. I swing it open and get out. I breathe in the cold air. I shiver a little due to it but I don't care. I needed to get Jake out of there.

A guy in a dark suit chases me and I ran faster. I never knew I had athletic  legs like this until now.

"Stop!" He yells and I hear a gunshot. My heart leaps. He's got a gun! He's got a gun!  I hear another gunshot and I yelp as I ran out of the house and appear on the street. I look to the right! Claire said the right! She is our only hope!

I ran towards the right but then the man grabs my hood and swings me back. I don't hesitate to give him a hard blow on the face with my fist and he loosens his grip around me. I ran away.

°~•~•°

The cold air hits me as I draw nearer to Claire's house. This neighborhood wasn't familiar to me.   I begin to shiver uncontrollably as I head to Claire's front door. I think I'm freezing. The snow is all over me and I feel so cold. My knees are weak from running so fast and my breathing is laboured. I feel pains in my chest. I begin to wheeze. I cannot breathe well. I knock lightly on the door and try to breathe but oxygen doesn't reach my lungs. Then I collapsed on the floor.

I wake up and I'm in a medium sized room which was purple in colour. Everything here was purple. From the wall clock to the desk to the couch to the bed to the walls and even the carpet on the floor. Who's bedroom is this? I look down at myself and I'm tucked into a huge purple comforter but I'm still in Jake's hoodie.

The door opens and Claire's face comes into view with a small smile.

"Can I come in?" She asks and I nod still confused. Then I remembered I ran to her house for help yesterday but then I had an asthma attack and collapsed at the doorway.

She enters holding a steaming mug of what looked like a hot chocolate drink. She hands it to me and I smile gratefully.

"Thanks Claire but you shouldn't have bothered" I tell her as I take in deep breaths. I can breathe well now. She gives me a sympathetic smile and sits on the edge of the bed.

"You got expelled from school. I heard. I'm so sorry"Claire says softly and I nod.

" its okay Claire. I was framed"I tell her and her eyes grow wide

"So you didn't beat up the freshman? I knew you wouldn't do that since you signed an agreement! I knew it. Since you left, there has been a protest at school to let you back in. Troy,Kimberly and Danny are the ones leading it. Melissa, Jenna and I are also doing our bit"

"A protest?" I blurt

"Yes and its for you! The school board is still looking into your issue to see if you are innocent"

"I am innocent! I got framed Claire" I say.

"By who? Jake? Because I heard he sent the stupid video to the principal! I cannot believe he did that! Everyone is mad at him"

"Its not him Claire! He was also framed by the person who framed me!"

"Then who is that asshole?" Claire demands tucking a loose strand of her sandy blonde hair behind her ear.

"Tigress and Kate! They framed us! Just to create confusion between the two of us" I spit with rage as my blood boils.

Claire gasps.

"The drug addict and the whore? I can't believe this! But how? How did they do it? Then they really planned everything well"

"Yes they did"

"Okay, everything makes sense to me now but I have to scold you for what you did yesterday! You gave my mom a heart attack when she saw you lying at the doorway! Why did you walk in the cold? Why didn't you stay home? You should have called me if you needed me? ". Claire snaps at me.

" Because I don't have a home anymore Claire "I reply as my heart gets swallowed with bitterness.

" what do you mean?"

"I got expelled from my house too" I state as tears roll down my cheeks and Claire is stunned.