Chapter 28

Nick felt like every ounce of him was working overtime to stop the paralysing fear enveloping him again in the moments after Jennifer walked away from him. He watched her go, too angry and too stubbornly proud to call her name. He knew she wouldn't have looked back anyway, even if he had called out to her. Soon she was gone completely from his sight, and he remembered the last time she had walked away from him and not looked back. That time he had held her beautiful engagement ring in his hands as she walked away – the ring he had spent weeks choosing and enlisting the help of Angela to find the most perfect one. This time his hands were empty, but it hurt just as much, if not more.

Because Jennifer was not the only one with fears and pressures and reservations. He too had them, but she never seemed to notice, too caught up in the whole drama she made so many things out to be.

She never realised that he was so insistent on, and eager to, get married and have babies, because he knew that she was the right person to do all that with. He had always known, right from that New Years Eve party, that she was the one that he should spend the rest of his life with. He just knew. And because he was so certain, perhaps it made him a bit pushy about the issues. But so much of him was afraid. He wanted to be with Jennifer and have kids with her, and feared that if he wasn't, and didn't, that it would never ever happen for him. It was Jen or nobody. No marriage. No family. No nothing. If he missed his chance with Jen then that was it – all his chances were gone.

Nick knew it was probably just a silly, irrational, unwarranted fear, but it was still his fear, and it plagued him everyday, especially during moments like this. If anyone else was in his position, surely they'd be this protective of her too? Nobody else mattered to him as much as Jen did. He would do anything for her. Anything. And as she disappeared from his sight, he knew that one way or the other, he had to let her know this.

He couldn't stop her from stalking off and doing her own thing of course, so now was not the right time. But he had a fair idea of where she would go, and knew, when the opportunity arose, that he would meet up with her again and together they'd be safe again and put an end to this maddening life undercover.

Nick knew the opportunity would not just be presented to him on a silver platter though. He knew he'd have to wait and work for it. But what happened next shocked him, and immediately pushed everything he had planned, back indefinitely.

He'd been too busy watching Jennifer that he'd failed to realise he was being watched himself. Cold and calculating though, just watching their prey, they waited for the perfect opportunity to pounce. It was an incredible gamble, but in Nick's state it was easy to tell that it'd pay off. His mind was pre occupied now that he was alone, and his reactions and choices were not as sharp as they usually were. He was making it all too easy for them.