Sorry this one is shorter than the previous two. I'm working on the next chapter already and the meeting between Kolhara and Stephen is happening in the next chapter! I'm also hoping to make it longer to make up for this one being so short! Thank you!
She signed the papers happily at her new kitchen counter, she finished signing the last one and handed them over to the landlord, Gene. "Thank you so much for working with me on this." She said again. "I didn't think it would be this hard finding a place."
"Well you're a little more difficult of a case." Gene said. "My daughter went through something similar once. She had a hell of a time finding a place too."
"Glad she got out." Kolhara said genuinely. "What's my move in date?"
"Oh," said Gene thinking to himself. "Well, it's the 20th of May right now, how about you give me the next few days to get this place swept and cleaned out good and you can start the 25th?"
Kolhara nodded, that sounded perfect. "That's great, it'll give me enough time to find a couch and desk and get internet set up to be installed."
Gene nodded and they both made their way outside. Gene limped his way towards his car and Kolhara got in her car and started back towards Pepper and Tony's place.
Kolhara blasted music the whole way back to Tony and Pepper's place. She hadn't felt so good in a while, her freedom and independence with in her hands, and she had no plans of letting them go anytime soon. She pulled into the garage and got out, the garage was quiet, uncomfortably quiet. Tony was usually always working on something,, and the lack of noise coming from below the garage made her heart pound. She looked at the clock in the garage, it was just after 2PM. Pepper wouldn't be home yet for another couple hours, she took a deep breath and tried calming herself. I don't live here all the time. Maybe Tony is just taking a snack break. She said to herself hoping to calm herself down. She looked towards the door that led inside, she felt nervous, someone was on the other side of that door, she could feel it. She walked out of the garage and went towards the front door, she looked in from the windows on the side of the door, she could see a shadow coming from the hallway to the garage, her heart dropped into her stomach. She moved off to the side, she could hear Tony's voice coming from inside.
"Sorry Buddy, as you can clearly see, Kolhara isn't here. I told you she moved out yesterday. And if she wanted you to know where she was she'd tell you herself." Tony came walking out of the kitchen followed by Cyrus. Kolhara felt like she was going to throw up.
Cyrus gave Tony that disgusting smile he had when he knew he was being lied to but had no proof. "Well I'm sure she'll let me know soon." He clapped Tony on the back, Tony looked at him with disgust when he looked away. "Good seeing you T." Cyrus said as he started towards the front door, Kolhara ran as fast as she could diving behind a bush next to the side of the house, just as the door opened and Cyrus and one of his body guards stepped out.
Cyrus looked around and looked at his body guard, "That little bitch can't hide forever. She'll fuck up eventually." They got into Cyrus's car and they took off. Kolhara waited in her hiding place for five more minutes before going around to the side door that let in through the kitchen. She closed the door quietly and tipped toed into the living room where Tony stood his phone out, probably texting Pepper.
"I saw him." Kolhara felt herself shaking, on the verge of tears she felt her voice crack. "Tony, I saw him."
Tony put his phone away and turned on his heel. "Come on sit down." He paused changing his mind. "Actually, lets take this downstairs to the lab." "Friday." Tony said as they started towards the garage. "Run a diagnostic for any foreig technology that wasn't here this morning."
"On it, Sir." Friday's voice rang.
"I don't trust Cyrus Wright as far as I can throw him." They went down into Tony's lab and he locked the door behind him, a large hissing and clunking noise sounded the dealing lock.
Kolhara found a seat and sat still shaking, her heart raced in her chest, and she felt flush in her face. "I'm sorry, I don't know why he showed up here."
Tony patted her on the shoulder, "It's not your fault. I had a feeling he would eventually." He pulled up something on his phone. "Doesn't look like he placed anything here. But he says he's in town for work, so just be careful while you're out."
"I just signed on a place today. I'll have to look into getting cameras." Kolhara sighed and leaned back in the chair. "I was planing on getting some anyways but I didn't feel the urge to do it so soon."
Tony walked over to the door and unlocked it. "I was already planning on installing some. We'll do it before you move in." He opened the door. "Let's head back upstairs, Pepper is already on her way home."
The rest of the night was quiet, Pepper fussed a little but not as much as Kolhara expected, and despite the fact that Cyrus was in New York and looking for her didn't darken her mood nearly as much as she thought it would. As she laid in bed scrolling through couches and beds on her iPad she felt the excitement stir in her stomach. She rolled over and opened the drawer in her bedside table and touched the external hard drive, double checking it was there. Soon she could get back to some normalcy, working on her next book would be normal. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, her mind wondered as she felt herself getting tired, feeling heavy she rolled over again, plugged in her phone, iPad, and turned off the light. She let her mind wonder with the thoughts and memories of the day, just before falling asleep the man she saw across the street reading the big book came to mind. His face was always just out of focus, his lips moved but no noise came out of it. Before she knew it she was asleep.