Is this destiny?

The drive to Ellie\'s villa was a quiet event.

The unconscious boss-man is tied up and locked in the trunk.

Aiden is in the back seat with a huge bouquet of red roses next to him. He is staring at his phone, at the dot in the middle of the forest close to the border of China with Kazakhstan.

Jasper and Ellie are at the front.

Jasper is driving and wondering who are those five guys are and who sent them. Aiden sounded confident that he can make that man talk. Also, Jasper remembered how Aiden broke that guy\'s leg like it\'s not a big deal. Jeff\'s words from the wedding that Sarah and Aiden are special and that there is a reason why two of them were in charge of security came to his mind. By the way Aiden tied up the gang leader, Jasper can tell that he did something like that many times before. He heard stories about Aiden getting into brawls and coming out unscathed, but hearing and seeing are two different things.

Ellie held onto Jasper\'s hand. She was shaken by what happened. Those five came to hurt her. Did they really want to beat her up with those bats? She shuddered at the thought what would happen if Aiden didn\'t show up in time. If he was a minute late, or if he didn\'t come… by the time Jasper arrived she would be hurt. Badly. The gang leader said that he knows she is EY designer, and he even knew her name! Who would want to hurt a fashion designer?

~ Chicago, Ellie\'s villa ~

In the garage, Jasper and Ellie are observing Aiden who placed a bottle under gang-leader\'s nose to wake him up.

The man stirred after a second and grunted in pain. As soon as he came around, he cursed when he realized that he is tied up to a chair.

"Who sent you to hurt Ellie?", Jasper asked through his teeth unable to control his anger.

"Why would I tell you?", the man mockingly responded.

"Wait!" Aiden stopped Jasper who was about to punch the man. "No need for that…"

Aiden injected the man with truth serum and explained: "In two minutes, you can ask him again. He will be unable to prevent himself from talking. After we get the information we need, you can do whatever you want."

Aiden didn\'t want to meddle. It\'s something that Jasper and Ellie should handle. He helped Ellie when she was in a pinch and that is enough. But he can see based on their reactions that it\'s probably the first time for two of them to encounter such a situation. Well, it\'s not like he has anything else to do (besides his work-work for White corp.). So, he might as well help out. Suddenly, Aiden feels like a senior in the room… a person with experience. Ah, if only Sarah is here. He went back to stare at the dot on his phone.

Few minutes later, Jasper repeated his question to the gang boss-man: "Who sent you to hurt Ellie?"

"I don\'t know."

Jasper looked at Aiden while demanding an explanation. The man is still not answering his question!

"He is telling the truth… Let me help." Aiden exhaled and approached the man. "How did you find out about this job?"

"Text message."

Aiden decided not to ask about specifics. With the truth serum working, there is a faster way: "Tell me everything about this job."

"Three days ago… that was Sunday, I got a message about the job to hurt EY designer, Ellie Young. As long as she is hurt physically, the person didn\'t care about anything else. Major injuries like broken bones were specified as a requirement. Payment of $5000 was guaranteed. Half of the payment arrived at my doorstep via courier on Sunday evening in cash..." The man told them that last three days they are practically stalking EY design building, but Ellie was never alone, so they didn\'t find a chance to attack her. And tonight they caught their chance when they saw that most of the people left, including the event security.

Ellie shivered involuntarily. "You came tonight with intention to hit me with those bats?"

The man looked at Ellie and answered like he is telling a pleasant story about his day: "At first we were thinking to break your legs. A hand also. The left one, maybe. But then we saw how sweet you are, and we agreed to intimidate you first and show you some good time before breaking your legs. As a leader, of course I get to have you first, and then…"

POW!

Jasper punched the man in the face so hard that the chair almost toppled. He was unable to control his fury. He looked at his fist, shocked by his own reaction before hitting the man again, and again, and again… Jasper knows that if Aiden didn\'t reach there in time, Ellie would be hurt, and part of his anger is coming from the fact that he would not reach in time to save her.

Ellie looked at the scene in front of her with mixed feelings. She wanted that man punished. He just said that he wanted to force himself on her, first… and she can fill in the rest of the story herself. How horrible! 

So far, she always thought that people like these exist on TV shows and movies. This is the first time for her to be close to a person who openly admitted such despicable intentions… toward her.

At the same time, this furious, violent Jasper is someone she does not know. She knows him as a sweet and a carefree man who likes to tease and crack jokes and thinks that he can solve all problems with a smile.

Ellie turned her head away and faced Aiden\'s stern expression who told her that she needs to keep looking. Ellie understood. Jasper is like this because of her and she needs to keep on looking at the man who wants to protect her.

Aiden thought how this is a good thing. Both Jasper and Ellie should understand that they need to increase their alertness. After all, Aiden never saw two prominent figures like Jasper and Ellie moving around without any sense of danger. They don\'t have a single bodyguard following them!

Man\'s jacket was on the floor. Aiden reached and got his phone.

He found text messages the man was talking about. From the messages, Aiden can\'t figure out who ordered the job, but he has his ways.

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