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Don't miss chapter 11 and 12, please. They're published on the same day.

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CHAPTER 13: Free!

"This is unbelievable," said Albert stunned. He couldn't believe that he went to another building trough underground tunnel.

"Sly bastard," said Elisa referring to Eois.

They discussed what to do for the next step. Neal watched the barn door to see if it's safe to run outside while Albert watched the basement door.

Soon, one bad guy appeared from the basement door. In a flash Albert gave him a knockout punch at his jaw. The bad guy fell. Albert hurriedly removed him so he couldn't be seen by the next one. Elisa tied him up. Another one soon appeared and Albert delivered a stinging overhead punch to knock him out, moved him, and Elisa tied him up. No one else seemed to appear. They then closed the basement door, put a heavy old dresser on top of it and sneaked outside the barn.

Neal took Elisa and Albert to run to his car but to their disappointment they saw one man stood next to the car. Albert got an idea and whispered his plan to the siblings. Neal nodded, agreed. Neal would allure the man and serve as a bait.

Neal as a bait? Nonsense! Why not William instead?, thought Elisa. But they had left before she could bargain.

"Be careful Neal," whispered Elisa.

Suddenly she's overcome by weird feeling. Worried that this would be her last chance to see her brother alive, she pulled to hug him emotionally. Brotherly, Neal patted her back.

"No big deal," he whispered.

He then pushed her back to the bushes and, she imagined, grinned in the dark.

Hiding behind the bushes, Elisa watched them leaving. Her heart beat so hard, cold sweat permeated all over. Inside her heart, she's busy praying, vowing, making pledges,… anything… telling herself all good promises that she would never do anything foolish anymore for the rest of her life if Neal stayed alive and they could safely go back home together tonight.

Worried stricken, Elisa witnessed her brother and Albert walk cautiously forward. At one tree, Albert climbed up quietly. Albert then whistled like an owl three times as a sign to Neal that he's ready. Neal then came out from his hiding place, pretended sneezing to attract the man's attention.

"Who's there?" brawled the man.

The man shone his flashlight to the noise direction. He saw Neal. Quickly, he lifted his gun, pointed it at Neal to shoot. Elisa heard the clicking sound of the firearm being loaded. She almost collapsed gripped by intense fear. She's so sure that she'd hear something explode soon and then see her brother collapse, dead.

I shouldn't just stay hiding, Elisa thought. Stupid plan!

She was about to run to push Neal to make him dodge the bullet… But then she saw Albert jump and drop himself on the bad guy's back. Albert swiftly delivered a blow to his chin. The man got unconscious instantly.

"Elisa!" She heard Neal call her in a low voice.

Extremely relieved, Elisa ran directly to her brother. Neal pulled her hand and the three of them ran to Neal's car. The sound of the engine was very loud that it brought other men's attention. They hurriedly went outside the house and chased them.

"Fly, Neal , fly...," said Albert.

"Hurry, Neal," said Elisa.

Neal pushed down the gas pedal until it couldn't go any deeper 15, 20, 25, 30... The engine hummed tormentedly in the point of breaking apart but the car merely crawled.

"It can't go faster," said Neal.

"But I heard you have a formidable collection of high speed cars, Rolls Royce, Dusenberg, Maserati (-)?" asked Albert.

"I was in disguise. Didn't use any of them."

"I know how it feels," said Albert in sympathy. His mind wandered to the distant past when he bought that terrible car so Candy didn't know that he's Sir William.

Soon, the bad guys closed in and started to shoot. In front was a railway track and a train was passing.

"Oh no, not again. We lost you because of this fricking train, too," said Neal to Albert.

Suddenly Neal got an idea.

"Hold on tightly," warned Neal to Albert and Elisa.

As their distance neared, Neal suddenly pressed the brake and had the car move backward. The bandits were stunt. They pressed sudden brake and made a sudden turn to avoid collision. Their car skidded and left the main road, rotated, almost got turned over.

Neal then continued driving forward. The train had passed and soon they reached the good patrolled main road. Afraid of the police, the bandits stopped chasing them.

Neal, Elisa, and Albert drove to the police station. They called their family to tell them that they're fine. They stayed in the station for a while to give useful information for police investigation. While waiting, they did a small celebration where Albert hugged Neal and shook Elisa's hand to thank them for helping him.

Elisa hugged her brother. "You're awesome, Neal," said Elisa.

"You too," said Neal. "Did you see their faces when you threw the car key and slammed the door? It's like they're going to pee in their pants and run to their mommies."

Neal was about to crack up. But then stopped abruptly, suddenly he remembered he's using an improper word in front of Albert.

"Oops excuse me, William," Neal said.

Neal tried so hard not to laugh but failed. Soon he burst into a roaring laughter. Elisa giggled then laughed out loud together with her brother. She shared her own jokes and both laughed louder and louder immersed in their own conversation deeper and deeper.

Albert was watching and listening to the siblings for a moment and then joined in. He participated in exchanging jokes too and laughed out loud together with them …

The police allowed them to go home but requested to meet again the following day.

They then went to the Ardlay mansion first...

oOoooo

"Neal, you're back," screamed Candy excitedly.

Candy ran to hug and kiss Neal. Elisa threw her face to avoid looking at the gross scene.

"Of course! Someone has to stay alive to spark your soul," Neal answered. He hugged her tightly. "Candy, William is here too…"

For the first time Candy noticed that Albert was there too. He was at the other end of the room hugging Beatrice. Candy excused herself from Neal to go and welcome Albert. As soon as Beatrice released Albert, Candy ran to hug him.

"Glad to see you, Albert," said Candy as she ran to his arms.

"Thank you Candy, you never let me down." Hugged Albert.

"We will still work to compete with the Ardlays, right?" Elisa whispered in her brother's ear. "Promise me."

"Promise!" Neal whispered back.

Suddenly they heard the door slammed opened and a woman's voice shriek entering the room.

"Neal! Neal!" screamed Nichole and ran as fast as she could to Neal's arms to hug him tightly. "I was so worried about you."

It was too obvious. There's so much affection in that hug more than just an ordinary friendship. For a moment Candy thought he's going to lift her, kiss her, and carried her outside the room for a private moment.

Candy bit his lips so it wouldn't tremble against the quiver emotion inside her. Her heart was breaking seeing someone care so much for Neal. For the first time she admitted that she hated competitors because she wanted him for herself. She thought Elisa was lying when she said about Neal's lover from Florida , but now she saw with her own eyes how could she not believe it?

Aunt Elroy who just arrived at the door witnessed what she considered as obscene scene open mouthedly ready to blast the girl with words. Display affection in public! In my house, under my roof? They're not married!, she thought boiling. But seeing Nichole tenderness in hugging Neal, she forgave her. Instead she opened her eyes wide with inquiring look at them. After welcoming Albert she turned around to face Nichole.

"Ms...?" asked aunt Elroy.

"Nichole. Nicholette Dupont. Neal's friend from Florida," said Nichole. Cluelessly, she still had that big happy smile on her face and leaned her head on Neal's shoulder, put her hand against his back.

Aunt Elroy turned to Neal.

"You took Nichole to come here?" asked aunt Elroy.

"Yes. We came together from Florida," Neal said.

Elisa came to approach Candy and whispered in her ear.

"That's his date I was telling you about. Who knows that they might get engaged soon."

"Engaged?" asked Candy.

"Why not? Didn't you see how affectionate they are together?" added Elisa cunningly. She seemingly had forgotten all good pledges she made just now from inside the bushes.

That's too much. Of course like everyone else in that room, Candy saw it. Seeing the two together standing side by side, she didn't feel like staying anymore. She felt like a fool for wanting him. Hurriedly she excused herself to Beatrice who stood next to her.

"I need to go now. Have a night shift in the hospital," said Candy.

"Candy, it's late now, let me accompany you," said Beatrice.

But Candy just murmured something and hurriedly disappeared from the back door which was just next to her. Beatrice's sharp eyes caught sparks from water reflection in her eyes.

She's crying?, Beatrice wondered.

Meanwhile aunt Elroy said to Albert, "I trust William will give another announcement in a more proper time and setting?"

"Anytime, let me know. I have to be the one who has the honor," Albert said all smiley. Suddenly he liked this one nephew so much.

"Well William, you must be tired. You and Neal should get a proper rest tonight," said aunt Elroy. She excused herself. Albert hugged Neal one more time to show his gratitude before leaving. Then, he left with Beatrice.

Nichole felt weird that everyone smiled and looked at her in that peculiar way, she wondered what that meant. Meanwhile, Neal looked around to see Candy but couldn't see her.

Where's Candy?, he wondered.

"What announcement?" asked Nichole suddenly, startling him.

"Well Nich ... they...," said Neal paused briefly.

He looked at her innocent face and certainly he couldn't bear to hurt her feeling. So he said really carefully, "They thought we're getting engaged..."

"Wow!" her eyes and mouth opened huge in disbelief.

"You do understand don't you that aunt Elroy governs certain standard of etiquette in our family," he said softly. "Your hug was too emotional to be done in public for her standard between friends."

She was shocked.

"Then you need to chase Candy to apologize for me," she said calmly after a while. "I was too excited to see you, well, alive… after hearing those rumors," explained Nichole. "Forgive me. I know no etiquette, especially when I'm with you. I forgot that you belong to a high class family."

Neal shook his head and wanted to say something. But Nichole put her hand in front of his mouth to prevent him from talking.

She remembered seeing a girl who left abruptly just now. "I saw one girl left through that door." She sighed with a guilty look. "Must be Candy."

"Nich... And you?" Neal asked.

"I go to New York tonight. Thanks for your hospitality."

"Tonight? Already? Sorry, I didn't take you around Chicago personally. I was too occupied with … uhm… William's case, so I…," Neal stammered.

Having his mind so occupied with Candy, suddenly he realized that he hadn't seen his guest for days. What a bad host, he thought embarrassed.

"I should at least take you to the train station," said Neal.

"No Neal, you should look for her instead," she said kindly.

"But, Nich...," said Neal.

"Neal, do you remember how we became friends?" cut Nichole. "Everyday, I saw you sitting alone looking far to the ocean with the saddest face. Although you never admit it, I swear I saw you crying many times."

He grinned.

"Everyday, I saw you writing. After that incident we chatted," responded Neal.

"Your story with Candy fascinates me. It gave me an idea to write a book. It became an instant best selling novel and secured my position as the best selling author in Florida."

He grinned again, nodded, remembering those fun times.

"Neal, Derek came from Florida. Could you believe it?" asked Nichole gently.

"Wow!" Neal gave a short whistle in surprise. It's her turn now to surprise him.

"He said, after I left with you, he realized how foolish he was for not proposing to me. He dropped on his knee saying he couldn't live without me. He regretted that he didn't tell me earlier." Nichole wiggled her finger ring to show her engagement ring. "He proposed to me… finally."

"I accepted," said Nichole. "We plan to get married really soon, after I settle this New York deal," she sobbed. "Unlike you, he needs me." Nichole forced herself to smile.

"I should thank you, Neal. Without this trip, who knows when he'd propose." Nichole tried to joke. Then, she paused to firm her voice. "From now on, we are just the best of friends. This time, I'm committed to my words."

"Congratulations," said Neal after a brief silence.

"You break so many girls' hearts, Neal. Candy is lucky. I'm sure you really love her," said Nichole.

"Nich, Derek is the luckiest man. You are the best."

She shook her head with a cynical smile.

"Is this another one of your routines when saying good bye?"

"No, Nich. This is just for you," said Neal. "I was born again on that day, three years ago, when you pulled my head from the water. No one else could cheer me up, make me think, and make me listen except you."

She smiled.

"No one else wanted to finance the publication of my first book either except you."

He grinned.

"I deeply wish you all the happiness with Derek."

"You're handsome, tall, tanned, wealthy, many heroes in romance novels are modeled to a man like you. Trust me, no woman can resist your charm including her," convinced Nichole. "Go after her, Neal. I'm sure her heart is breaking. Furthermore, I don't think you want another separation from her."

"Nich, thank you," Neal said softly.

She hugged him lightly then walked away. At the door, she suddenly turned around to look at him. She then ran back at him to hug him as tightly as she could.

"I'll never forget you, Neal," whispered Nichole, sobbed mildly.

"Nich... same with me," whispered Neal. "I will never forget the person who breathes new life to me. Believe me." He truly meant it. "Thank you for being a true friend."

They hugged tightly... Silently, remembering all the memory they had together, the happy times like when they shared exciting news, the challenging moments when they encouraged and supported one another during difficult times, the fun times like when they shared funny jokes, … and the intimate moments when they touched. They knew that they'd enter a brand new world separately from now on.

Finally, Nichole kissed his cheek, touch the other one with her hand gradually releasing it as she walked away. Her eyes kept holding his as she walked to the door where she stopped to wave one more time. This time with a smile... then she's gone.

Neal sighed.

-TO BE CONTINUED—

NOTE:

- Brands of luxurious cars famous for their racing speed.

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Thanks for all the readers. We're almost done. Thanks for still being here…. :')

oOo

Thanks for my generous reviewers.