"Boss." Dane walked in with another young man beside him, breaking Vernon out of his dangerous contemplation.
Nixxia felt relieved by the men's entrance, they removed that monster's attention from her, she looked at the men and recognized Dane immediately but couldn't recognize the other person beside him; the new guy looked scary but not like Vernon, but still scary, his black leather jacket added to his fierce look.
The fierce-looking guy walked forward and bowed to Vernon, "Boss, here are some pictures and documents regarding Raja's recent mission," He spoke in a deep but controlled voice.
Vernon took the pictures from him and scanned through them; he was expecting to see pictures of people and faces for identification, preferably Nixxia's face; it would make everything easier and end faster. Instead, what he saw were pictures of a car; different views of the car were captured, but none of the person driving the car.
"What does this mean, Damon?" Vernon asked, raising the picture to Damon's face.
Damon straightened up before speaking, "Those are the pictures captured of the spy Raja sent to you a day before you found this girl." He paused and pointed at Nixxia.
Nixxia shifted uncomfortably in the chair; she didn't like this Damon guy; he reeked of danger; he was just a little less frightening than Vernon.
"And how does this picture prove that she is the one in the car?" Vernon questioned, frowning.
"Our spies were not able to capture the person's image due to situations, but they did describe her, and from what I'm seeing, this lady does fit their description: Fair skin, dark long hair, blue eyes." Damon's eyes scrutinized Nixxia from hair to toe.
Dane suddenly cleared his throat. "They also did mention that it wasn't just the lady in the car that was sent to you, Boss," He informed.
Vernon narrowed his eyes at him. "Go on," he said.
"I did manage to get a few pictures of the other spy from our men that had been planted in Raja's men. Here it is. Our men confirmed overhearing Raja instructing his spy to find out all your hideouts; again, their description did match Nixxia's image, and this picture looks so much like her, even though it's just the back profile; it does look much like her." Dane handed Vernon another set of pictures.
Vernon took it and stared at it, he was a hundred percent convinced that the person he was staring at was Nixxia. He was glad he chose to keep Nixxia; now he knew that she was completely pretending with her amnesia.
He smirked and looked at Nixxia. "Do you still insist on playing dumb, Ms. Amnesia?" Vernon moved with purpose as he strode toward Nixxia.
Nixxia shrank back as Vernon lowered himself in front of her, trying to lean away from him as much as she could.
"Answer me!" Vernon pushed the pictures into Nixxia's hands, his face twisting dangerously.
Nixxia's heart was racing, she curled her toes as she felt the smooth material of the pictures in his hands, she glanced at Dane for help but she felt helpless when she saw that Dane wasn't even looking at her, his face was lowered, almost an if he wanted no part in whatever Vernon was doing to her.
Nixxia gulped and looked down at the picture, her thumb tracing over the smooth copy; she immediately started to compare it to how they preserved images back in his kingdom; they used carvings and statues, while these humans used some sort of thin material; she feared she would tear it if she held it tightly.
She slowly looked up at Vernon's face, staring into his gray eyes. "Not me," she said quietly.
"Stupid!" Vernon was about to hit Nixxia when his phone suddenly rang.
He scowled and stood, sliding his phone out of his pocket. "Lock her up in there, guard his door," He ordered and walked off to answer his call.
"Get up and follow me," Damon said to Nixxia as Vernon left.
Dane sighed. "She can't walk. Give me a hand; she might look lean, but she weighs a ton." She glanced at Damon before going over to help Nixxia up.
Damon hesitated before going to pull Dane away from Nixxia's side. "I'll take her," He said and knelt in front of Nixxia.
Nixxia had already learned the back climbing technique from Armani, so it wasn't hard for her to cooperate with Damon.
Dane walked behind them as Damon carried Nixxia back into her room.
**
Outside, Vernon stood in front of his house with his phone held close to his and a cigarette between his lips. His face was set hard, jaws clenched as he listened to the person speaking from the other side of the phone.
"What do you mean, Zee?" He asked in a low voice.
"All I'm saying is that the patient needs to be kept close to you at all times to help her brain recall if there's any memory of you in her mind, and she also needs to avoid witnessing or facing hostility as it might inflict a sense of fear which will make her feel insecure in the environment; and if she feels insecure, her recovery might never happen as she would never be comfortable to let herself heal. All these are just my suggestions, Mr. Vernon. I'm no one to tell you how to rule your home," Dr. Zee's polite voice cautiously spoke through the phone.
Vernon's anger had just skyrocketed after hearing Dr. Zee's words; his lips puffed his cigarette continuously, the evening wind scattering the tendrils of his smoke.
"You shall not call me for such reasons again, am I understood?" Vernon questioned in a calm voice, but his body language screamed with rage and undiluted hatred toward Nixxia.
"Yes, Mr. Vernon, I understand. I apologize," Dr. Zee replied.
Vernon ended the call, his eyes staring at the trees in the distance, watching them dance to the wind; the gurgling sound of his fountain traveled into his ears, trying but failing to calm his emotions.
He loved nature, that's why all his houses were built close to or with nature. However, the scenery wasn't as appealing as it used to be; he was now more concerned about uncovering Nixxia's true identity.
Now, Dr. Zee dared ask him to treat his suspect with kindness and gentleness; he'd rather kill Nixxia than show her any of those.
He frowned and looked away from his fountain, entering the house.
**
Up in Nixxia's room, she was sitting on her small bed with a tray of food in front of her, and Armani was sitting across the table, teaching her how to eat the food with a fork.
The journey to finally finding something Nixxia could eat hadn't been an easy one. Armani had first brought him a sandwich, but Nixxia almost barfed, and she had the same reaction to ten more foods that Armani had brought into her room.
Armani almost gave up, and as he brought the last set of food to Nixxia's room, he promised himself to quit the food quest if Nixxia rejected it again.
However, his fear was cleared when he saw the look in Nixxia's eyes the moment he entered the room.
"Food!" Nixxia had announced excitedly when the familiar smells of fish, crab, prawns, and oysters reached her nose.
"Oh, finally! You love seafood?" Armani asked as he placed the food down on the table he had placed in front of Nixxia.
Nixxia didn't understand the term, 'seafood,' but she nodded, aware that she loved the food Armani had brought to her.
She was so surprised and delighted when she discovered that humans also ate the little sea creatures the Mermen consumed down there. She guessed it was a food chain; just as the eaters prey on them because they're smaller, they, too, also prey on smaller life forms.
"Awesome, just like that." He patted Nixxia's head.
"You're a fast learner," He praised.
Nixxia nodded with a smile, not looking up from her plate; she busied herself by forking the food into her mouth, not waiting to swallow first before she filled her mouth with more food. She'd never tasted anything this yummy before, they ate their meals raw.
In her kingdom, the hunters caught food for them, and the only thing they did before they served it to them was to cut it into tiny chunks, and that was all. She was used to eating with her hand, not with the weirdly shaped object in her hand, but it worked fine; it made her eat faster, too.
"Woah, hey, hey, calm down, easy, good, easy. Finish with that in your mouth, and I'll give you some water, okay?" Armani placed his hand over Nixxia's, stopping her from stuffing her face with more food.
Nixxia nodded, looking at Armani with her cheeks puffed out as she chewed her mouthful of food.
Armani laughed quietly. "You're cute." He was about to touch Nixxia's face when the door slammed open.
Nixxia choked on her food the moment she saw Vernon's figure walking into her room with a cold and menacing aura.
She coughed, her eyes red as she forced the food down her throat.
Armani was on his feet, rubbing Nixxis's back and feeding her water to drink.
"Leave," Vernon ordered Armani, his eyes locked on Nixxia.
Armani bowed and left without a word.
Nixxia felt a cold chill run down her spine as Vernon walked over to her, drew her table of food away, and stood right in front of her. Her eyes were at Vernon's stomach level, and she stared at him, scared and confused.
"Get up." Vernon's face was unreadable as he offered Nixxia a hand for the first time.