She still can't remember how she managed to escape.
The incidence was vague to her which she might remember with the passage of time.
A blast! Someone shut a gun
He fell down.
Blood smell.
The man with the gun suddenly shook.
And then nightfall.
By the time Eva woke up, she was seated at the back of a moving car.
Rain falling hard against the windows.
She had a headache.
She didn't understand why she was there in a car.
Then she remembered.
"Daddy!"
She sat up quickly and the clothe that was used to cover her fell on the floor.
"Daddy!"
The car veered a little.
"Easy, my dear."
She heard a strange voice
Eva turned.
Sited by her side was an elderly woman putting on a black cloak and her hair tied securely behind.
She was about sixty years with an elegant and serene quality around her.
However, Eva didn't know who she was.
"Where is my daddy?" Eva cried.
The woman turned to Eva.
She looked pained.
"I am sorry."
"No!" Eva angrily shook her head. "No, he is coming right?. He said we would be fine.
The woman gently took her hands in hers.
"My name is Margaret," she said softly. "I once worked for your dad."
Eva looked at her.
She continued, "He was aware he may not be with you for long" "It was arranged for me to protect you when he is no longer able."
Eva held her hand tightly.
"I want to see my daddy!"
Her face was wet with tears.
Apart from the sound of her cries, the car was silent.
Margaret didn't stop her.
She just looked out of the window.
As though she understood no words were strong enough to comfort her.
They drove throughout the night.
They had started at sunrise when they left the small village.
faraway from home.
Far from her father's grave.
Margaret took her to a different city and stayed in a small apartment.
It was simple and out of fashion.
And it doesn't compare close to the Laurent's Villa.
It was just nothing like the tiny house both she and her father stayed.
It had tworooms.
One bed and a kitchen.
And silence.
Eva didn't communicate much during the first week.
She stayed in bed.
She refused to eat.
She hardly slept.
She always saw her father dying anytime she tried to close her eyes.
She screamed from her sleep one night.
And Margaret ran to meet her.
"It's going to be fine," she whispered.
Eva cried, "No!" hitting herself against the wall. "They're coming back here!"
"They can't find you."
"You don't know it!"
Margaret waited.
Eva's breath was very fast.
She whispered, "You were not there." "I remember how they looked at me."
Margaret sat close to the bed.
"I am aware."
"You? how?"
Her voice not clear.
Margaret looked at her.
"Your father employed me to work for the Laurent family."
Eva froze…..
The Laurent family. Her stomach squeezed anytime the name was mentioned.
Margaret continued, "when I found out what they intended to do to you I left." "Your father didn't want that for you. He loved you so much.''
"What do they want from me?" Eva inquired.
Margaret kept silent for a long time.
"Your future," she said softly.
Eva frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means your life was never yours because you were born into that family.
Margaret's tone changed to being harsh.
"They decided who you would marry. How you would behave and what you would eventually turn out to be. That wasn't what your father wanted for you.
As she was repeatedly been treated like an valued asset.
Not a person.
An object.
She whispered, "He said I was free."
Margaret's gaze grew softer.
"So, be free."
Margaret cut Eva's hair short the next morning.
Her long curls fell to the ground.
Eva watched them silently.
It was a strange feeling.
As she watched her former life fade away.
Margaret said, "You need to change your name."
Eva looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because you can easily be identified with the Laurent's name."
She looked at the floor.
Who was she?
The little girl from the small village had changed.
she didn't return to her old identity as Eva Laurent.
That girl passed away together with her dad.
"So who am I?" she asked softly.
Margaret smiled calmly.
"You are whoever you choose to be."
Eva almost laughed for the first time in days....
Whoever she desired.
She didn't know what it looked like.
Years went by.
It became easier to hide the pain over time.
Eva was renamed when Margaret enrolled in a new school.
Hart, Eva.
Nobody asked questions.
No one knew she was from a wealthy family.
And that was how it was going to be
She learned to blend in with the others.
How to smile when people spoke to her....
How to act normal with her new self.
But she knew that she was never truly free inside of her.
Because every year, on the anniversary of her father's death a black car pulled up outside her school.
It didn't last long.
It never followed her home.
However, it was constantly present.
Watching.
Patiently.
The Laurent family wanted her to know that they remembered her always.
And they would never do so...
On her eighteenth birthday, Margaret gave her a small black box.
She continued, "This is for you."
Eva stared at it.
"What is it?"
"Your father gave me to keep for you."
Her heart temporarily stopped breathing.
She opened the package with shaky fingers.
Inside it was a silver key.
And a folded piece of paper.
Carefully, she unfolded it.
She identified the handwriting of her father.
Her father.
By the time you are reading this. It means I failed to protect you.
I am sorry.
You do not know certain important things about the Laurent family.
At the right time take this key and go to a place indicated below.
Never trust anyone.
Especially not a man named Adrian Cole.
Eva opened her mouth to breathe.
"Who is he?"
Margaret's cheeks turned white....
"You need to stop calling that name."
"Why?"
"Because if your father is warning you about him..."
Margaret turned her gaze to the window.
"It therefore means he is more dangerous than the Laurent family."