Chapter 4: Weighing The Sudden News

Nadine Black's POV:

I clutched my purse in my chest, as if that would help conceal the buzzing sound it was making. Finally, after I inhaled sharply, I opened my clutch purse and pulled out my phone, my hands shaking when I heard the lady clerk tell Kelly Anne one last piece of advice.

"If you happen to change your mind, they will be there in about 45 minutes to an hour," the lady told her before finally walking away to help someone else.

Kelly Anne didn't say anything as she held tight to the papers, turned around, and walked out. My phone was still buzzing, so I pulled it out of my purse and looked at the screen. It was Shane calling me.

I nervously answered the phone and watched his wife walk out when Shane yelled at me, "What the Hell? Did you get it done?"

"You are not going to believe this!" I told him as I lay my back against the wall.

I could not believe my eyes. All I did was breathe as I heard Shane yell into my ear, but I was too much in shock to hear his words clearly. Can you believe the nerves of that woman?! She thought she had the gumption to escape my brother and the rest of my family. She married him, well, more forced to do what I was about to have to do with Damian, but still.

Hell, in the back of my mind, I couldn't blame her, really. I would try to get away from Shane and the other men in my family if I knew I had the chance to, but who are we kidding? On top of that, I was going to try to do that, but who in their right mind would be willing to help me?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Shane yelled at me over the phone. "Did you not hear what I asked you? Did you take care of what you went to that place to take care of?"

Just then, Andrew, my driver slash 'bodyguard', walked in and right up to me and asked without any hesitation, when he asked me, "Was that Kelly Anne who just left here?"

Someone hit me in the chest again, or so I thought, as it was like all the air was forced out of my lungs without my permission. There was no way Shane didn't hear his words. I knew that, as there was no way I was going to get out of telling Shane what happened now. I know for certain that Shane heard Andrew loud and clear, even though he didn't say it that loud, but in a normal tone.

That's when Shane asked me plainly, "Who did he say he saw?!"

I was forced to weigh the sudden news in my head as I listened to how my brother asked his former question. His words were slow, and he made sure I didn't mistake them when I closed my eyes briefly. Well, shit. There's no doubt in my mind that this would be anything but a horrific conversation if I ever had one on the phone.

"Miss Nadine, it's time for us to head to our next appointment," Andrew said as he reached for my arm and turned me toward the door to leave the courthouse. "I already met with the contact, and he gave me the receipt for Shane. He did say he couldn't find you, though, so I came in to look for you."

"I am not going to ask twice, Nadine!" Shane shouted at me as I walked away in silence, with the phone still pressed against the side of my head.

With my eyes closed, guided by Andrew, I lightly told him, "It was Kelly Anne."

I said it lightly, knowing I would receive more yelling and cursing over the phone from my brother's rants. However, when I told him her name the second time, he asked me, just to clarify, who Andrew had seen a moment before when we started walking, and the phone went dead quiet. I knew this was not something my brother did all that often.

It could have been one of two things. He was either muting the phone, so I couldn't hear him ranting and raving, as I was at a courthouse after all. Or, it was the latter, where I thought he was about to blow things up and go on a total killing spree, which was his usual way to deal with it when someone pisses him off.

"Are you still there?" I asked out of respect, considering Andrew was listening to my side of the conversation.

That's not to say he couldn't hear Shane yelling, as my phone was on that side of me. Andrew knew my brother's tendencies all too well, which is why I wasn't allowed to go anywhere on my own. I had a driver's license, but that was only when I took my exam. I knew how to drive, but to see me driving out there now, as Andrew does. Ha, that's a funny joke to anyone but me.

"Let me talk to Andrew," Shane commanded me as he was gritting his teeth together.

I reached up with the phone and said, "Andrew, it's for you."

Andrew was still holding onto the side of my arm. With his other hand, he still held the paper and reached out, taking the phone in his hand. He placed it on the opposite side of his head so I couldn't hear what my brother told him. What was my brother concocting? From my conversation with him, I wondered how he would talk to Andrew, but I couldn't hear anything.

However, I could tell I was not going to like what he was saying, as Andrew glanced down at me before we reached the building's exit. Suddenly, as we were a short distance from the door, Andrew stopped walking and listened to Shane a moment more before he said anything.

"I will keep that in mind," Andrew said, acknowledging Shane before he handed me back the phone. "We'll stop by there briefly before we head on to your next appointment."

Andrew said as he reached over and gave me back my phone. When I looked at the screen, the call had surely ended with Shane hanging up. I scoffed as Andrew started walking toward the door.

"I can walk on my own, you know," I said as he pushed me out the door first.

Andrew looked down at me, saying, "Then start walking."