It was a quiet evening when Gloria sat down inside the crowed restaurant, she had not told Aemilia about her blind date. But she did not hide the fact either. Still, her best friend was so caught on her own cloud nine, that it was impossible to make anything clear to her. Gloria's mother didn't know what no, meant and kept on insisting that she was not getting any younger. But her mother did not threaten to engage her into an arraigned marriage, like Aemilia's parents had done, but her parents were not that rich. It worked out for Aemilia though, she was clearly in love with Sebastian and she wished she would feel the same thing for her partner. The same type of love, the same devotion, and she hoped that her partner will honor her with the same thing. Only her blind date was not here yet and she was already on the later side. She looked at the menu before her, she was going to order one glass of wine. To help with her the nerves, she rolled with her eyes. It was a bloody expensive, but she could handle one wine. The waiter arrived at her table.

"Good evening, madam. Do you like something to drink?" The man asked. She sighed.

"Yes, one glass of Radacini Vintage, please." She said. "I am waiting for a date." The man nodded, and walked away. She knew that the man did not need any more information. He would serve her drink, but will only come back after that when her date arrives. Or when she requested the check, something she would do after fifteen minutes, that is how long she was willing to wait for the man, for any man who was late for a date. Even she herself got there just in time, the waiter came back with her drink and basket with garlic bread. She might get a bite out of one of these, she was after all hungry and she did just that. The door of the restaurant opened and a man she did not expect to see entered. It was the bloody, good for nothing, best man, of Sebastian. She only had forgotten his name, he looked over and froze when the host of the restaurant pointed towards her table. No, that man couldn't be her date. But her disbelieve started to change into a slight frustration when he came to her table, or rather their table.

"Did not expect to see you here." The man said, she rolled her eyes and took another piece of garlic bread.

"You are late, did your mother not teach you that it is rude?" She said, and there was no mistake about her tone. He sat down and nodded. "Good, then, she might also tell you that I am only doing this to keep my mother off my back. Of course, she did not say who I was supposed to meet. Otherwise, I had flat out refused to come here." She said.

"Do you think I wanted to be on a date with you." He said. "But my parents insisted, and now that we are here, let's have a meal. It was a long day at work, and Sebastian left me no room to have a proper lunch."

"You work for Sebastian? I thought the two of you were friends." She said, taking a sip of her wine. But the man opposite of her started to chuckle.

"I am his personal assistant, the closest thing he has to a friend. But we are not friends, he might tell you a different tale. Because the poor man has no male friends." The man said. Gloria narrowed her eyes, she was starting to hate the man more and more. "But it is nice that he thinks so highly of me, but that those not prevent him for working me to the bone." He lowered his head. "I know he is not well liked inside the company, all that nepotism, although he works harder than any other employee. And from what I understand about his own family, well let say the man has never got it easy. Not even when he was pushed into marriage with your best friend. She is liking him, from what I gathered."

"She does a little more than only liking him, I know her as good as she knows herself. She is falling in love with him and he is a very nice person." She replied.

"I know he is nice, I never said he wasn't...." He said, he wanted to say more, but the waiter interrupted him.

"Do you like to order something to drink, sir?" The waiter said.

"The same as her, please, and I will take the lamb. What do you want?" He asked her. "I can recommend the lamb, it is pretty amazing." She shook her head.

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"I will take the duck with orange sauce, and I see you also have sweet potato fries." She said, "can I have those instead of the regular once?" The waiter nodded.

"Sure madam, and sir, I will come with your drink in a matter of seconds." The waiter replied and backed off.

"I am paying for the meal." He said, but she shook her head.

"We are going dutch." She said. "I am not the type of girl who wants a man to pay for her meal." He nodded slowly, but she could see that he didn't agree with her. It was only not up to him, this was up to her. "But I am not here to talk about, Aemilia's and Sebastians marriage." He nodded again. "So tell me a bit about yourself."

"Alright, I am Adam. You know where I work and who I work for. I love running in my free time, hiking and taking my four legged friend out for a walk." Adam said.

"You have a dog?" She asked, this was the third time that he nodded. "I love dogs, it was because of Aemilia's allergy that I could not take one myself." He leaned forward.

"Really, which kind of breed did you have in mind?" He asked, she shrugged. "No prevents, normally people do have a clear view about the pet they want, or rather a more crystal view about the pet they do not want."

"I rather go to the local shelter and adopt one." She said and he gave her a very large smile. "I know most people want a puppy, to shape them in the dogs they want them to be. But there are so many dogs inside shelters, and if I adopt one from there. I will create an opening for another one who needs care and attention." He nodded again.

"It is funny, I thought the same thing when I adopted mine. He is a mutt, I believe there is a German shepherd inside the mix. But he is a sweet and waits for me when I get home. My mother had promised me to walk him, that is why I am able to meet you here." Adam replied.

********

The food was indeed good and she wouldn't change how the evening went. To her surprise, it went well. They talked about their hobbies, their jobs and now shared friends. But most of the time they were talking about dogs. And she can not believe that she is even agreed to a second date, this time to take a hike with his dog. Maybe it was time to adopt a four legged friend of her own. Or maybe she needs to talk that one over with Aemilia, she was still living in her apartment after all. But it was already late and Aemilia would be sleeping. Gloria sighed and entered the building, and it took a while to get into her apartment, which was empty and lonely now Aemilia was gone. Maybe a pet wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. She closed the door, but then heard something. It sounded a lot like someone inside the apartment, someone at this hour. She quickly opened her bag and took out her deodorant spray, it might not be pepper spray but it worked just the same.

"Just to warn you, I am armed and do not take any prisoners!" She screamed. The stumbling became louder, so the unwanted visitor came towards her. She raised the hand with the deodrant, ready to attack. The door of what supposed to be Aemilia's room swung open and three men flocked out. The first, and largest one of the lot, came running towards her. She pressed the button and the spray landed in his eyes. He screamed, but still came at her. He smashed her towards the ground, her head hit the ground hard. Maybe one of the neighbors heard the screaming and slamming, so maybe they would call the cops. Something she should have done, but she never had expected that there were three of them inside her house.

"It is not her." One of them said. "This is not the Quince brat."

"She might know where she is, though." Another said. They were after Aemilia, but why? She didn't need to think long, money. They were after Aemilia's money.

"She is no longer lives here." Gloria said. "And I do not know where she is living now, I am just a tenet." She was not stupid enough to think that they believe her, but Aemilia was her friend so she needed to try.

"As if we believe that, Gloria." One of them said with a low voice. "We know you are her best friend, so tell use and we let you life." They knew who she was, and her relationship with Aemilia. This was getting worse, and she did not know how to get out of this. But she was not going to give them shit. So she kept her mouth shut. "Are you really trading your life fore hers. Knowing that she will trade yours for hers in a heartbeat." This was not true, but she was not going to tell them that.

"Forget it. She is loyal to the brat. Maybe we should take her instead, she will not get use, not such a high reward. But it is worth trying." The man who was holding her down finally spoke up. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her and himself up.

"You are right about that." Again another said. "And we better go, quick. I believe your little fight with the woman has coursed some calls towards law enforcement." Gloria wanted to protest and scream, but some kind of cloth was placed over her nose and mouth. Her head started to get lighter and it did not take long before she was overtaken by a pit of darkness.