Take My Breath Away

Joshua rolled in bed lazily. "I'm gonna pass. It's midnight and I'm already in bed."

Sheffield calmly walked towards the door and said, "All right. Where shall we meet?"

"What? I said I'm not coming, dude!" Joshua was exhausted. He had been very busy lately and just wanted to sleep.

"Got it. I'll be there soon."

As soon as Sheffield put his hand on the doorknob of his front door, he heard a noise behind him. He tried to open the door quickly, but the lock had been deliberately tampered with.

All of a sudden, the lights in the living room went out. A figure rushed towards him in the dark, and a shining dagger came at him.

Sheffield briskly dodged the attack.

He moved a few feet away from the attacker and measured him up. The person was wearing a long black latex overcoat, with its hood over his head, and a ghost-face mask covering his entire face, except his eyes.

Normally this was where anyone would run screaming, but Sheffield was fearless.

He reacted quickly and threw a kick. The attacker deftly dodged, and so, the fight began.

After a few moves, Sheffield was sure that this was the man who had tried to kill him in the suburbs last time. "Who the hell are you?" he asked.

Without answering, the man lunged forward to stab his target.

Sheffield jumped across the sofa to put some distance between them. "I have to know why you're doing this. You tried to kill me two years ago, and here you are again. Tell me, is this personal or did someone send you?"

The masked guy seemed to be highly skilled in kung fu. Every move he made was aimed to kill. From his moves and seeing how he had sabotaged his apartment, Sheffield was sure that this was definitely not the first time this guy had done this. He was a professional.

Again, the attacker remained silent. He took something out of his pocket and tossed it in the air.

Sheffield was quick to realize what it was. 'Damn! That's drug powder! This can't be good!'

He held his breath and ran towards the study to stay away from the poisonous powder. The attacker sped to catch up with him.

When Sheffield reached the study, to his dismay, he found that the wires in the study had been cut. He had intended to use some tools to protect himself, but that was not an option anymore.

Knowing that the man was well prepared, Sheffield concentrated on dealing with him first and waited for an opportunity to subdue him.

He attacked the man head on and they fought with their bare hands for a few minutes. The whole study was a mess by the end of it.

Out of the blue, the man ran out of the study as if he had run out of patience.

Sheffield was taken aback. Confused by what the man was up to, he followed him out of the study.

The man stopped at the front door of the apartment. In his left hand was a burning lighter.

And he was holding something in his right hand too. Sheffield looked closely. It was the ring he had bought for Evelyn.

His neighborhood was always safe, and he was planning on proposing to her very soon. So, Sheffield had put the ring in the drawer of the night stand.

The masked man put away the ring and the lighter into his pocket, took out a key or some tool and quickly opened the door. He rushed out without a second thought.

Sheffield followed after him without any hesitation.

But by the time he reached the hallway, the elevator on the left had already arrived at the underground parking lot. He entered another elevator and followed the man to the parking lot.

Everything was quiet. The man was nowhere to be found.

But Sheffield knew that the guy must be lurking somewhere, waiting for his chance. Standing in the lot, he surveyed the surroundings carefully, looking for the trace of his attacker.

At that moment, a silver-grey car burst into life in the right corner of the parking lot.

Sheffield ran over to it; the car had no license plate.

And it had been parked right next to his own car. He got into his Maybach and followed the car out of the parking lot. That was when he realized that something was off. It seemed too easy.

He reflected on the entire incident and concluded that the man had been trying to lure him out of his apartment, showing him the ring was a part of that plan. Obviously, he had succeeded in getting Sheffield on his tail.

It was pretty clear that continuing to follow the man would be dangerous. But then, he thought of the ring with his and Evelyn's names engraved on it, and followed the attacker's car anyway.

He called Joshua. "I'm in trouble. Get up! Bring some men too! I'm at Imperial City Avenue!"

Joshua jerked up from bed right away. "What? Didn't you just say that you wanted to grab a midnight snack? What happened?"

"That was just a ruse to leave my apartment without alerting the man that broke into my apartment. But I didn't expect that he would tamper with my locks. I couldn't get out."

"Then, how did you get out now?" Joshua asked. He put his phone on speaker, grabbed his clothes and put them on as fast as he could.

"That asshole took the engagement ring I bought for Evelyn and lured me out."

"Stop chasing after him, Sheffield. It's too dangerous. You can just buy another ring. You can afford it now. Get back home!" Joshua urged. It was true that Sheffield was rolling in dough right now. But Joshua had no idea how expensive the ring was.

"Sorry, I can't do that. It's not just about the ring. There's something about this guy that makes me uneasy. He was the one who had attacked me two years ago. I have a feeling that if I don't settle this once and for all this time, he will come after me again," Sheffield explained as he sped after the attacker.

"What car is he driving? Keep in touch. I'll bring some people over now!"

"It has no license plate and I can't make out the model. He is driving along Imperial City Avenue right now. At the end of this avenue is the intersection which leads to Lush Hill Road and Sward Road. I'm guessing he will head for Lush Hill Road, since it is in the suburbs and there will be very few people there."

"Got it! I'll be right there." With his hair still messy, Joshua grabbed his jacket and darted out of his bedroom. He was in such a hurry that he had buttoned up his shirt all wrong, but he couldn't care less.

When he walked past his father's room, an idea struck him. He turned back and pushed open Darius' door. Darius was asleep. "Dad! Someone is going after Sheffield. I'm heading to Imperial City Avenue to help him. Send some policemen over!" Joshua said loudly into the dark room.

Darius turned on the bedside lamp. Hearing that Sheffield was in danger, he cleared his head and said decisively, "Okay, you go ahead. I'm on it!"

Joshua drove in the direction of Imperial City Avenue. On his way, he called some others for help.

Sheffield followed the other car to the end of Imperial City Avenue. As expected, the masked man headed to Lush Hill Road.

However, soon after, several other cars started showing up out of nowhere, following him closely behind. 'It was a trap, ' Sheffield realized.

He turned at an intersection and pulled into a path leading to a secluded area.

It was not until the next afternoon that Evelyn heard about what had happened to Sheffield. She had just dressed Gwyn up in a beautiful pink dress. Her hair was so short that it could barely be tied. But Evelyn managed it and tied her daughter's hair with two adorable hair ties.

"Sweetie, you're going to meet your daddy soon. But you must listen to Mommy, Gwyn. If I ask you to call him 'Uncle, ' you should call him 'Uncle.' And if Mommy tells you can call him 'Daddy, ' then you can call him 'Daddy.' Okay, sweetie?"

Gwyn nodded quickly. Her reaction had become more and more normal these days, which made Evelyn happy.

If Sheffield's being around could help Gwyn return to normal and give her a complete family, Evelyn was willing to propose to Sheffield herself.