Chapter 42: Missing piece
Meera

She woke up to the sound of a baby crying. Blinking away the darkness, Meera adjusted herself to the current light and time of the day. Half expecting Dino to come through the door any minute, it took more than several minutes for her to realize what was going on.

Brad Wyatt.

That was the only name that came to mind. Okay, Meera examined herself and her surroundings. She was not chained, tied up or locked which should be a good thing. Because it meant that Meera could react and defend herself if worse comes to worse. And worse was that she was with Dino's enemy and that he was also aware that she'd just suffered an incredible painful stab to the stomach. He could use the wound against her.

Ignoring the I-feel-like-I'm-dying pain on her whole chest-stomach area, she forced herself to get up. Great, she could not even stand properly. How the hell was she supposed to run if she needed to. Looking around her, Meera was smart enough to know that she should at least carry some sort of weapon on her. If this journey taught her anything, it was that nothing was safe out there.

Perfect. A small pocket knife lay on the table about three feet away. Limping her way to it, she grabbed it and-

"You won't be needing that."

Meera had had to have jumped about three feet high. She spun around, knife still in her hand. Her tension only eased a bit when she saw a baby in his arms. His face held laughter but still remained serious. "Like I said, I'm not gonna hurt you. But if you wanna keep it, I'm fine with that too."

Meera swallowed. "Where am I?"

Brad copied her actions by looking around them. "You are safe if that's what you're wondering and uh-you must also be hungry. I'll fix you something to eat." He headed back for the door, stopped after two steps and muttered without turning around to look at her. "You welcome to bring the knife and come."

So glad that he found her amusing but she couldn't resist asking. "Err...the baby? What...where?"

Brad looked at her for this, brows raised. "She's mine. Tara...that's her name."

"Tara," Meera couldn't help but smile, "Means..." "Star." They both said together. Brad chuckled. "It's a beautiful name," Meera admitted, "She's beautiful too."

The kitchen was not that far from the room but the place seemed large and spacious. Definitely not something you were likely to find in a hood. "Er, are we still in Johannesburg?" Brad, once again, met her confused gaze. He nodded, still holding back laughter.

"How's your side? Is it still sore?"

Meera's hand immediately moved to her abdomen. It was only then did she realize that she was in a different set of clothes. "Who changed me?"

"I did." He placed the baby on a carrier, buckling it up before working around the kitchen. "Excuse-I didn't give you permission to touch me or undress me." Her voice rose at the last bit as it hit full circle. Brad inhaled deeply, focusing on the contents inside the refridgerator. Something about his expression told Meera that he was expecting this conversation.

"Actually you did give me permission. I asked if I could clean your wound and you said yes. I also asked if I could bring you here and you also agreed to that." Walking upto her, he stood not more than an inch away-bodies brushing. "And even if you didn't give me permission, I would've cleaned you up anyway. Stomach wounds bleed like a bitch. You could've died. I had to do something."

He placed the bottle of apple juice in her hand, telling her to help herself to a glass. "Your stab was pretty deep so...