Chapter 32: Trouble welcomes itself in
"What do you mean we are in Johannesburg? How in the hell did we get here and why are we even here?"

"Relax. Have a seat and give me a chance to explain before blowing my head off after every two minutes." Pushing her down by the shoulders, his masculine strength forced her to go down. "Don't touch me!" she stood up again. "I don't get why dad would split me and Ziesha. It doesn't make sense."

Smart. She still continued to surprise him. "It was my idea...again. And you just wouldn't understand why love. Your world is uncomplicated remember."

"Dino, I don't have time for this...okay. I need to-I have to talk to Ziesha. And my dad." She said between pauses.

Yeah, he already knew that this was going to be an issue. Because she made everything an issue. She was better off handcuffed to that damn chair, maybe even with her mouth taped over. He did contemplate that many times in his mind. Just didn't have the balls to do it though. She was too fragile to hurt.

"Meera, you can't make any phonecalls. I need you to understand me. I do the talking and the checking up on your sister and father. Those men-the man-whose blackmailing your father to get revenge on Randal is dangerous. You need to understand that.

"So to the media, we are all missing. You, me, Caleb and your sister. Your father has to pretend to know nothing about it." Because the man really did not know a damn thing about this arrangement. They were buying time, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

And they were also running out of time. Dino still needed Ryan to capture a video of the 'kidnapped' Meera and 'hurt' Dino, he had to call Caleb to make sure everything was good on his side. Then, they both needed to send their videos to the news house aka Bruce Calbe's beloved office and afterwards, wait.

"So my dad has to fake freak out?" Not really. "Yeah," he lied again, "he's gonna pretend like he has no idea what's going on." "And how will the media know that we kidnapped? I mean, someone's gotta contact them right...with proof?" And her intelligence and beauty just pulled him in even deeper.

"Ryan's gonna capture a video of us just now so make it look real yeah?" Dino intentionally omitted the part where Caleb had already done a video of him yesterday since he was alone and had already said that it would be impossible doing stuff with crazy Ziesha around. Because unlike Dino, Caleb would never tie up his girl.

"Wait, Ryan?" "The guy that spoke to you moments ago," Dino did improper introductions. Meera's eyebrows creased as she tried to put it all together in her head. "Ryan? I saw him at the beach...he wanted to attack me..." Meera shot out a I'm-such-a-fool laugh. "I'm guessing that was planned too."

He smiled. "It was for good purposes princess. I got you back on the mission, didn't I?"

Then not wasting any further time, he handcuffed her again and called for Ryan. "So how are we gonna do this? Should I say anything Dino?"

He taught about it for a second. "How about 'daddy please save me...help me?' That sorta stuff." Ryan appeared with the video camera and a mask over his face. Dino chuckled. Despite Meera finding out the truth about his identity, Ryan still chose to play bitch.

"I don't believe I was talking to you!" Meera would of course respond back to him with a full-on attitude voice. "Oh well I guess I replied anyway sweetie pie." "Oh well I hope you become a man one day." Ryan had to know that this princess didn't back down from a fight. "Honey I'm one hundred percent man. I'm packed down there...want a view of how a real man looks?"

"Hey cut it out! That's enough-the both of you." Breaking his neck, Dino powered himself up for Ryan. "Ready to get fucked up?" Ryan asked. "Uh, ready for what?" Meera asked back. Without answering her, Ryan flung a forceful fist to Dino's mouth. A second one followed straight to the jaw.

"What are you doing?! Oh my god! Stop! Stop....Stttooopppp!" Meera's superhuman loud screams made them both freeze. "What?" they asked together. Instead of responding back, she just stared at them with psychotic eyes.

Dino sighed. "Princess, he has to make it look real. It's fine." "Fine?" she repeated, "Your lip is bust. It's bleeding...blood and your face is bruised. How is that fine? You could've used make-up or fake blood."

"Sure cause we got the time in the world for that!" Ryan laughed. "I don't think I asked for your opinion Ryan. You hurt him so when we done here, you gotta clean him up." "Oh sweet little honey, I think Dean's a big boy. He can clean himself up."

"Alright guys seriously, cut it out. We wasting precious time." But damn, Ryan got him good on the jaw. Stung like a bitch. Dino pushed himself back up on his feet, fetched a chair from the back of the room and signaled for Ryan to bring the tape.

"Wait, why doesn't he get handcuffs like me?" Meera broke the silence with her questions-again. "The handcuffs were actually Dean's idea. If it were up to me, I would've taped your mouth, hands, legs and body to the chair." Meera made a face. "What is your problem dude?" "No problem little princess," Ryan continued with the teasing, "I'm just being nice."

Dino bit back a laugh. He knew that Ryan was just messing around with her, keeping things alive. The amusing part was that Meera was unaware of that which caused her to react to every single thing Ryan said. And how much Dino loved that feisty side of her, only he knew.

***


"But she's beautiful." "Like I said."

"Bitchy too."

Dino chuckled. That she definitely was. It was sometime past two in the morning. Ryan and Dino were standing at the top of the old building, waiting for the transport to pick Ryan up and get him the hell out of here. By morning, he had to already be in Durban, in his bed because the blue and white were obviously going to question the friends of the kidnapped Dino and Caleb.

"Do you think this is gonna work Dean?" "Hard to tell but it's a risk worth taking." He inhaled the cigarette, blew out the smoke. As long as Meera understood some part of the plan, he didn't see a reason as to why it shouldn't work.

Although this place really had his blood turning cold. "There's some awful memories Ryan. Can you feel it?" "It's running through my veins man," Ryan read his mind, "since I stepped foot in this town."

So he was back in his hometown, way sooner than he ever intended to, but he chose not to bring Meera to the place where he'd grew up. It was too risky, too many people to face if anyone caught that he was back. And he could never put Meera in that type of danger.

It was Ryan's idea to stay in this old apartment building. The old landlord still running the show around here knew them well, didn't hesitate twice to give them shelter. Now it was on them to keep it discreet. They stayed at the highest floor in the building, took the last apartment to avoid running into people-not that he would make it a habit to leave the small room. He'd only come out when he needed to.

A car circled the road and came to a stop in front of the other apartment building directly opposite theirs. Strange, Dino thought, hardly anyone owned fancy cars in this side of town. And it was too early for Ryan's lift, he admitted, leaning further over the balcony to get a closer look. He didn't like this neighbourhood, would make it his duty to watch over this street for as long as he was going to be here.

"Fuck!" The cigarette between Dino's lips fell to the ground as he ducked behind the small balcony. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

He watched as the guy got out of the car, followed by two other guys he didn't recognize, and walk up to the opposite apartment building. He didn't look the same, something had changed. That evil spark in his eyes were no longer there, pain and hatred seemed to be in its place.

"What the hell is Brad Wyatt doing here?" Ryan gripped the balcony railing until his knuckles turned white. "He doesn't live on this side of town Dean, that's why we chose this area. If he sees you...!" "He's probably here for some dealings," Dino said the first thing that came to mind.

"Doubt it. You know that Wyatt gets his men to do his dealings for him. Do you think-" "He does not live here!"

Which would explain why Brad Wyatt just pulled out a metallic disc from his pocket to allow him access into the building. He had an apartment there. The blood drained from Dino's face. He knew trouble when he saw one and Wyatt wasn't just trouble, he was hell himself.

"This is bad Dean." Besides Dino, only Ryan knew the Wyatts upclose. "Maybe we should find another place."

"There's no time for that. We gonna be all over the news by sunrise. No landlord or hotel receptionist can see us, this is the safest place for now. We'll stay here." He decided. He'd make sure that Meera never leaves the apartment because if there was one thing Dino excelled in, it was how to watch his back. Being alert all around was engraved in his soul.

"He can never see you Dean." Ryan made it clear. Dino nodded. "What the hell is he doing on this side of town anyway?"

"Don't know," Ryan muttered, "Maybe hiding from the cops or s'thing. Just keep a low profile Dean, at all times." But he was without his gang, Dino wanted to say, that was something he'd never seen before. He didn't like this. They were in a mess already, they couldn't afford another slip up.

Ryan's ride back to Durban arrived some time after. Luckily, that passed by peacefully. Now back on the mission that had already hit a huge dilemma, Dino setted up the prepaid phone he'd kept in his pocket all day.

"Sunshine...confirm." Yeah, they'd made code words to identity each other. Pretty genius-ish. "Toaster."

Dino shoved on his hood and leaned against the railing. "Ryan left?" "Yeah but we got a problem. Brad Wyatt is staying on the opposite building. I have no idea what he's doing here or why he's on this side."

Caleb swore on the other end of the line. "Did he see you?" "No." "Meera?" "She's safe for now but she thinks Bruce knows that she's here."

"Yeah so does Zie. Got your video, forwarded it to the media. Dean...you good?" "I'm good," he inhaled deeply, "When are we gonna confront Bruce?"

"Day after tomorrow." "And all is fine with the girl?" He could tell that Caleb was out of it. "Fucking upset but I'll handle it. Check with me tomorrow, this time?" "Sure."

Removing the sim from the phone, he destroyed it and threw both the phone and sim over the balcony. He made his way back to the apartment. The place looked like a dump-torn curtains, cracked windows, scraped off walls and it smelt like shit. Definitely not for a princess. He hated bringing Meera here, knew she hated it too.

Tomorrow, Dino decided, he'd make this place look a little like home. He opened the door to the only bedroom and found Meera asleep on the tiny bed with the bed lamp on. She was feeling hot because she'd kicked out the blankets. Of course, the windows were all jammed and there was limited air available.

Moving the hair off her face, he switched off the lamp and headed for the door.

"Dino..." Meera's rose-like voice had his heart melting. "Yes princess?"

"We'll get Randal out."