Sweet Temptations

-3 days earlier-

"What do you mean she's in hospital?" Ava screeched asking the tall policeman. Her breathing was ragged and she felt her chest tightening. "Oh my god."

"Ava calm down." Fernando hushed, holding her close to him. He noticed how shallow her breathing had become.

"We got a call around 7am Sunday morning. Mrs Granger your next-door neighbor heard unusual sounds coming from inside the house. She spotted the smashed windows and the broken front door to the back entrance immediately. Unfortunately, your friend Miss Adams had been knocked unconscious and was taken. Luckily the van the suspects took her in didn't get very far. They were caught with her body on CCTV." The policeman explained.

Ava broke down in hysterics and Fernando pulled her straight in for a hug to comfort her. Fernando didn't have the right sort of words to say at this kind of time. Nothing he'd say would change anything until something improved first.

"I think it's best if you both go to the hospital. There's nothing much we can do for you here other than stay close by as we'll need your full cooperation. In the meantime, we suggest you stay safe, perhaps with one of your friends." The policemen instructed hinting towards Fernando as Ava continued to sob in his arms.

-

Shortly after, the pair had made their way to the hospital were an anxious Juan was waiting outside Latoya's hospital room. He looked completely torn. Once his eyes perked up at the sight of Fernando and Ava, guilt washed over his face.

"Ava, I'm so sorry." He spoke. "I didn't know this was going to happen, I did-"

"No Juan, it's okay." Ava reassured. "You being here right now is more than enough, I appreciate it."

"Mate, how long have you been here?" Fernando asked. Seeing his friend suffer like this crushed him.

"Since the day she was admitted but they still won't let me in." Juan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Perhaps they may change their mind seeing as we're the only ones here."

"Friends of Latoya Adams?" Dr. Cambridge asked stepping into the waiting room from recently appearing from Latoya's room. "I see you're still here Mr. Mata." Juan silently nodded.

"Is she going to be okay?" Ava asked her.

Dr. Cambridge sighed, "Miss Adams has suffered some minor and some major injuries. Her wrist is broken so we had to put a cast on it. She has two fractured ribs including a broken rib and she has 24 stitches on a cut from receiving a blow to the back of her head." The doctor explained. "We'll continue to monitor her blood pressure, we've done several blood tests which have come out fine. For now though, she'll need a lot of time to recover as she'll be quite in some discomfort and it'll take her a while to come around properly. She's awake but her vision isn't perfect, her speech is slurry so I advise you not to bring up anything back up on her attack that could cause a trigger, it could send her into shock." The trio nodded understandingly at Dr.Cambridge's explanation.

"Thank you," said Ava. Dr. Cambridge gave Ava a curt nod. "We'll inform you if anything changes." She said before returning back to her duties. Ava sighed in relief while Fernando messaged her shoulders.

-

Ava was the first to visit her friend. Seeing Latoya lying there batted and bruised, fragile more than anything, crushed Ava completely. Latoya's dark eyes adjusted onto Ava's and a sad smile appeared on her face.

"I understand if you don't want me here right now after all, this is kinda all my fault."

"No Ava it's not." Her tiny voice mumbled. She sounded so weak. "I'm glad you're here."

"That still doesn't make me feel better, I should have known this would happen."

"You couldn't have known," Latoya told her. "There was no way of seeing this coming." the brunette sighed as Ava sat in the chair beside her bedside and took a hold of her hand.

"Latoya look at you, this is tons worse since the first time I met you in therapy." A small smile glowed on Latoya's face and she let out a small laugh but stopped quickly as she winced at the pain from her broken rib. Ava grimaced and apologized.

"I know I'm not supposed to talk about what happened, but I need you to kn-"

"No Latoya, the doctor directly said you weren't supposed to speak about it."

"Ava you need to know now otherwise it'll be too late."

"Too late for what?" Ava asked. Latoya bit her lip and sighed.

"They were trying to find you A, I didn't tell them anything...I couldn't," she began to tear up. "There was a gang of them, I couldn't see the guys face properly but he had that creepy voice just like you described the time when he rang you." Latoya's breathing had pitched up by now and she was struggling to talk. "Ava you have to do something, if they could find me...then they'll find you too and they'll do the exact same...as to what t-they did to me, he'll torture you for answers and-"

"Shh tori, it's okay you're safe now, they can't get to you."

"No, you don't understand. They are after you, he wanted me to give you something." Latoya reached over to her bedside table and picked up a brown envelope. She passed it to Ava who simply eyed it curiously. "I haven't opened it yet so I have no idea what's inside." She said.

"I'll open it later but for now, you need to rest."

"Will you be here when I wake up?" Latoya asked. Ava thought about it for a while and smiled back down at her.

"I promise." Ava answered. A gentle smile emerged on Latoya's face before she closed her eyes and slowly went to sleep.

-

-Present Day-

After visiting Latoya for several days in-between her working hours, Ava felt more anxious about the information her friend had told her. Someone was looking for her? This made Ava's skin crawl. Wherever she went or wherever she looked, Ava's senses became paranoid as if someone was watching her at all times. Fernando had offered Ava to stay back at his home till the investigation was done and her house would be refurnished. Later that day coming home from work, Ava still had the letter Latoya had given her. Fernando advised Ava not to open it but this didn't stop her from becoming curious as to what was inside.

When Ava returned home, she went straight to her room and grabbed the letter off the desk. Just as she was about to peel the slip open, Fernando bustled into the room, catching her in the clear. "What are you doing?" He asked sharply, walking straight to her and snatching the envelope from her hand.

"I need to open it." Fernando glared and shook his head at her.

"I can't let you do that." Ava stood still and then she rolled her eyes at him; she tried to grab the letter back but Fernando blocked her hit and she winced at the force.

"I just want to know what's inside." Fernando eventually gave up and took a deep sigh.

"Together then?" He asked. They both nodded and Fernando slowly opened the slip, only to discover a neatly folded note inside. He took it out and unfolded the note which revealed finely printed bold handwriting. "I need to see you. Eddington Road, 8pm, come alone." He read.

"An address?"

"It's a trap." Fernando stated.

"Whoa, hang on, it might not be."

"Ava! This guy whoever he is, he's dangerous ok, it's obvious he wants something with you otherwise he wouldn't have given this to Latoya." Fernando said, walking over the the fireplace and throwing the note onto the fire. Ava's eyes widened.

"So you expect me to do nothing?"

"It's safer that way."

"Sure, since that's been working perfectly." Ava replied sarcastically. "The whole thing with my parents and now Latoya? Not to mention the fact that our house was broken into, do you call that safe? I just can't sit back and let this psychopath get away with it."

"You're gonna get yourself killed." He argued. "I can't let that happen."

"Well I can't pretend like nothings occurred."

"Ava, I forbid you from going and that's final."

"I'm 21 years old, you can't keep telling me what to do." She yelled in his face.

"Watch me." Fernando snarled as he turned round and walked out of the room. Ava glared at the door Fernando had slammed on the way out and she gave out an irritated groan.

-

Since their outburst, Fernando hadn't spoke a word to Ava. She kept herself locked up in her room, refusing to talk to anybody. She soundlessly watched Fernando from the balcony as he acted cheery, playing happily families with his wife and both of their children on the patio. She'd glance away when the couple would share a kiss. It made Ava sick to the stomach as well as bring tears to her eyes. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the stone railing and scowled.

"I'm not gonna sit on my sorry ass and wait for him to come get me." She muttered angrily before heading out of her room and down to her car. She typed the address into her Sat Nav and drove off to the location.

-

When Ava finally arrived, she was in the middle of nowhere but in the front of an old large building that looked abandoned. Ava grabbed a torch from the passenger seat and got out of her car; she took small steps up to the house and entered her way inside. Ava found herself in a dark eery passage. The room had several tall pillars running down the length of the tiled stone floor. Along the walls were works of fine art and old statues.

"Hello," she called out but she got no response, instead a small echo from her voice. A set of steps led Ava up to the second floor of the building where the faintest sound of classical music was playing. She bit her lip and slowly carried on walking. "Is anybody there?" She asked, getting nearer to the song. Ava inspected the ground until she found what she'd been looking for. She picked up a large metal rod and took small steps to where the music was leading her. As Ava appeared in what looked similar to a library, she noticed two middle aged people unconscious resting up against a wall.

“Jesus Christ,” she whispered in panic. She ran over to them and checked to see if they were still alive. She pressed a finger to each of their necks, desperately trying to find a pulse. They both looked extremely weak and they were in urgent need of medical assistance. Ava placed her torch and the metal rod on the ground before reaching for her phone; she dialed 999 immediately and they answered quickly.

"Emergency, what service do you need?"

"Hello? yes I need an ambulance right away. I have two people here unconscious, they're out cold and they need immediate assistance, hello?"

"Ma'am you're breaking up, please speak louder." The voice on the other end was muffled. Ava could hear them talking but the line kept fading. She checked her phone and saw that her signal wasn't too great. She groaned in annoyance.

"Listen, I'm at Eddington Road, I'm at an abandoned-" Ava was interrupted as the line cut off and her phone started beeping signaling she was out of range. "Shit," she muttered. Her heart began to race as she grew more nervous. Her breathing halted though as she heard the sudden footsteps closing in on her. Ava reached down for her metal pole but she panicked when she couldn't feel it.

"You wanna know some advice?" The creepy voice asked. Ava looked up in fright and she gulped. He was right behind her. "You really should never turn your back on someone." Ava stood and turned round to face the mystery guy until she was whacked around the head, knocking her out cold.