chapter 3

I smile at him nervously.

"So I guess I may take your leave now. I have some work left to take care of," saying so he picks up Bruno from the table. I walk towards him and pat Bruno's head.

"I am hoping to see you soon Nicole," he says.

"Yeah sure. See you Mr. Smith." smiling at me one more time Peter leaves my clinic.

As soon as I am done with Bruno I head towards my home. Its already 7 in the evening and I feel a bit tired. On my way, I pack some sandwiches from a nearby bakery so that I don't have to make dinner. I like my house very much. it's not just mine, Becky lives with me. she is basically my housemate and a really sweet friend but sometimes she can be a little annoying, that I don't mind at all. its a double story house, with a huge living room where the couch is placed in the center and a LED TV opposite to it. at the end of the hallway, there is a staircase. and across from it is our kitchen along with a dining room that isn't separated by a wall. a door from the kitchen opens for our small backyard. upstairs we have two rooms. The first one is Becky's and the second one is mine. the peach-colored walls and floral curtains give it a homely ambience which I like very much. As I reach the door, I take out keys from my purse and unlock the door making my way inside. I gasp at the sight of my friend making out with her boyfriend on the couch.

"Ewwww guys for god sake get a room," I say closing my eyes with my hand.

When they hear me they immediately get away from each other and straighten up." I am sorry Nikki I didn't think you would come this early." Becky says looking a little embarrassed.

"Hey, Nikki!" Becky's boyfriend, Kayden says.

"At least you guys shouldn't be doing that on our couch," I say narrowing my eyes towards him. " Anyways I am going to my room guys, Goodnight."

After saying that I head upstairs to my room. As I sit on my bed I begin to feel hungry so I take out the sandwiches that I bought. I am about to take a bite of it when I hear a knock on my door. after a moment Becky peeks in from the door. "Can I come in Nikki?"

"You don't have to ask becks. Is he gone?" I say as she comes in.

" Yes. Sorry, you had to see that. we weren't planning on to scare you." she says apologetically sitting next to me.

I smile at her and say "Next time at least don't forget to warn me earlier that you guys are going to bang on my couch so I wouldn't be this shocked. I was preparing to watch a movie there. that would have been so gross if I didn't know what you guys were doing there." We look at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"So how was your day?" she asks me. Becky is a teacher at kindergarten school. so she has off at weekends.

I tell her everything that Samuel said to me in Cafe and about how I met Peter at my clinic.

"I knew that kid was hitting on you," she says grinning.

I roll my eyes at her and say "He isn't a kid becks."

"Whatever, He is still studying in a school so he is a kid for me." she frowns. " So how was it meeting the hottest billionaire bachelor of the state? is he really that sexy in person as much as he seems to be on magazines and tv shows?" she asks with curiosity.

"Better than that I must say," I tell her stuffing a sandwich into my mouth and offering one to Becky. she grabs it from my hand.

"I can't believe this. You just met Peter Smith, every woman's dream man," she says with her twinkling eyes.

I frown at her "Okay becks I am tired now, I need to sleep, We will talk later. Goodnight"

"Goodnight Nikki. I hope you get peaceful sleep." she smiles at me sheepishly and leaves the room. I know what exactly she meant.

I lay on my bed feeling sleepy. As I close my eyes I recollect everything that happened today, from Sam asking me out to meeting Peter at the clinic. I am feeling really happy after a long time. for once I feel like I can forget everything that has happened and move on. I don't want to be scared of anything that I went through. I smile thinking about starting a new life from now. I want to live my life freely. I want to forget him. I have to forget him. Why can't I forget him? He isn't going to come and I am not going to see his face ever. A little part of me feels sad at the thought of not seeing him again. there hasn't been a single day since I met him that I hadn't thought about him. I miss him I guess. What are you saying Nichole? are you out of your mind? No Nichole, don't think about him, just don't. even after restraining myself from thinking about him, I still fall asleep dreaming about those grey eyes.

Christopher's mesmerizing grey eyes.

The Devil's mesmerizing grey eyes.

____

Dark knight club has always been packed up with a wild crowd. And people here aren't the normal ones, they are mostly those who are involved in illegal businesses. Starting from smuggling of drugs to human trafficking and even worse. You would hardly find any innocent soul in here. you can say that it is a hangout place for all the criminals around the state. I take a sip from my whiskey glass sitting on one of the bar stools. At one of the corners, I can see a bunch of teenagers getting high on drugs, losing their shit completely. The loud music and the smoke around here along with men having glasses in their hands and drooling over the strippers dancing on the pole give an absolute nefarious aura to this place.

You guys must be wondering who am I ? so let me break the ice to you. I am Christopher Harris, another name for the devil you can say. I work in a mafia gang called Cobra which is run by Richard Scott. Richard has been running this business for the past 25 years. but now he wants to loosen up the burden from his shoulders by handing over it to someone capable of managing it as responsibly as he did. he has only one daughter, Sophia whom he doesn't want to be involved in this profession. he loves her very much. I've known always that Richard believed in me so I am the one next in line to be the Don. People call me devil because there is a reason behind it, they know about my cruel and unapologetic nature. My ruthless aggression and torturous ways. They know the extent to which I can go to get what I want. I love to see people being horrified by my presence. I enjoy seeing that scared look in their eyes. I take pride in being known as THE DEVIL. But nobody knows the real man beneath the facade of this devil.

Nobody knows the truth about me, nobody knows the obscure secret of my life. Hell! even I don't know about it. the thought keeps haunting me that I am still not able to discover it. the secret that doesn't let me sleep at night. little did anyone know that I was never like this before, I never wanted to be like this, to be the man that I am today. But sometimes people don't get to choose the life they want to live, it's their destiny which forces them to take up the path that they never aim to walk on. I always wished to have a normal life with a family. but it never happened to me. How funny it is that I don't even know who my parents were. I never intended to be the cold-hearted person that I have grown into. It had been an upshot of this brutal world that turned me this way. but I never regretted it. I never felt bad about it, I accepted the harsh reality and was always fine with my life. I believed that my life is going to be a black hole and that not a single soul will mourn my death once I leave this obnoxious world, I believed that wholeheartedly until I met her. Until I met Nicole.