Bound To Him

Dimitri did good on his promise, the special team had arrived at the location ahead of Tristan.

The special team belonged to the Mafia family and they worked in dangerous environments all the time, involved with search and retrieval, facing death every day, so for them finding Ava will be a piece of cake.

The Santoris special team is the best in the world. Nobody can make use of their services aside from the Aristocratic families. So when Tristan asked Dimitri for help, he agreed right away. 

Each minute Tristan spent inside the car on his way to see Ava was hell for Tristan. For the first time in his life, he was scared to death, he could not imagine something bad happening to Ava, he just found her, and he was not ready to live life without her.

She gave him hope in this otherwise bleak life he had been living. And he prayed that she was unharmed by the time they reached her, finding her won't be a problem, he knew that the special team would find her, but he hoped that they would find her in time. 

He vowed that he would be more careful with her from now on.

At the mountain, the special team arrived and took over the search, the forest rangers were baffled why these men that looked like the military came to look for this one student. 

They blocked anyone and everyone from impeding their search, informing Tristan that no civilians were allowed to enter the area.

"He is Tristan Ambrosio, a friend of your boss," PA Jack informed the person in charge.

"Sorry sir, what would you like to do?" He apologized for not recognizing one of the Aristocratic heirs.

"I want to know the progress of your search," he said, but then there was a commotion coming from the trail. 

Two team members had Ava on a stretcher, she was too weak to walk, and they had to carry her down the mountain. 

She was unconscious when they found her and when they were trying to figure out if she was hurt, she came to. She did not notice that she had fallen asleep out of grief and fear.

She tried to scream, but her throat was so dry nothing came out. She was terrified that these people had come to harm her, but they explained that they were here to help her get down the mountain. 

They tried to make her walk in the beginning, but she kept on tripping and falling even after they gave her water to drink and something to eat. She was too weak, and she shivered a lot, her clothes were not made to withstand the cold, she had dressed for the morning hike and did not bother to wear a jacket.

They had draped a jacket over her, and Tristan did not know the extent of her injuries, but he felt like needles were piercing his heart. He felt anger, sadness, and joy at the same time. 

Ava opened her eyes as they stopped at the bottom of the mountain, and before she even saw Tristan, she knew he was there. 

She tried to get out of the stretcher to get to him, but he had already scooped her out, holding her close to him. 

She started sobbing as she held onto him tightly, she didn't think she had any more tears left in her.

"Shhh... Shhhh…, I'm here now," he said as he rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head. He blamed himself that she got lost in the mountain. "You are safe, nothing will happen to you," he said as he hugged her tight.

And that only seemed to make her cry some more. She thought she would never get out of the mountain and would never see him again.

"Trust me, nobody will harm you ever again," he said. Finding Tristan was like finding an oasis in the desert.

"Little one, your Tristan is here, don't worry!" he softly murmured in her ear as he tried to break their hug, but she wouldn't let him go. He understood she was scared and did not want to get separated from him, so he carried her to his car.

PA Jack thanked the special team as he sent them on their way, and as for the professor, he said that Ava's family was taking her back home and that her things should be sent to her dorm.

When he deposited Ava in his car, Tristan tried to divest himself of his jacket because he noticed that she did not have enough layers to keep her warm. But she wouldn't let go of him. 

He sighed helplessly. He knew that she wanted to hold on to him to assure her that she was not alone. After she came back from that hell, having Tristan gave her the security to make her feel safe.

"Let me put my jacket on you so you can stop shivering. It'll take a second," he says.

His jacket was warm when it came around her shoulders, and it smelled like him which helped take off the edge a little. But she was still shaken, so as soon as he put his arms around her she nestled against his chest and grabbed onto his shirt. 

He held onto her cold hands and kissed her forehead, "Sleep little one, and I will be right here," only by touching him can she be reassured that she was out of danger.

Tristan wrapped his arm possessively around her, with love in his eyes he vowed to do everything to make her safe.

Even a blind person can feel the love emanating from Tristan at this moment, one didn't need to see to know that. Unfortunately, Ava was asleep and could not see Tristan right now.

When they reached Tristan's Villa, Ava was still asleep, so Tristan had to carry her into his room.

She was still holding on to his shirt very tightly, but he had to call the doctor so she could check Ava for any injuries. As he slowly uncurled her fingers, she made a whimpering noise.

"I am here my little one, shhh…," he whispers for her to go back to sleep. 

The doctor arrived half an hour later. This was the same doctor he had since he was a kid and the same one that was on call 24/7 for the Aristocratic families.

When he gathered Ava in his arms, it did not seem like she was injured, but he still had to check. He could not take a chance with her well being.

The doctor who came even though it was very late at night, was in her mid 50's and had been seeing Tristan since he was a child. He asked her to come but had not mentioned on the phone that he was ill, so she was pleasantly surprised to find a young woman in Tristan's house.

"Is she your girlfriend?" the doctor asked while checking Ava, she thought of Tristan as her son and has never seen him with anyone, so she wanted to know even though she already guessed the answer. But Tristan just stayed silent, not accepting or denying anything.

The doctor smiled and understood that she was indeed his girlfriend when she saw the worry on his face. She was used to him not saying anything most of the time, so she just continued inspecting Ava.

"So the young lady is dehydrated, she needs to drink a lot of water and rest.

Her injuries are topical, no broken bones, they're just scratches and scrapes. I will give you an ointment you can apply to them so she wouldn't have any scars.

Her throat is a little bit swollen, but it's nothing to be worried about. I don't need to give you any medicine, she just needs time to heal, if she gets a headache you can give her a pain reliever," explains the doctor.

He was relieved to know that there was no major concern, otherwise, he would not know what to do, but she might have missed something.

"Check her one more time, you can't miss anything," he commanded.

The doctor knew about his stubbornness so she did not argue and checked Ava one more time for his satisfaction.

"Tristan she is fine, there is nothing to worry about," she said endearingly. Ava had minor scratches here and there, scraped hands and knees probably acquired from falling or tripping. 

"I can clean her up, rub the ointment on her wounds and change her clothes if you'd want to step outside," the doctor said. If Ava was to stay for the night, she needed to get cleaned up and have clean clothes, so she could be comfortable.

"You cannot change her clothes, nobody will undress her," Tristan did not want anyone to look at Ava's body, not even a woman.

"Tristan, I'm a doctor and I've done this a hundred times, changing patients' clothes is just an everyday thing," she reasoned out.

He frowned and did not move from where he stood, not wanting to leave Ava and having her wake up with a stranger taking off her clothes.

"The sooner you leave, the sooner I will finish," she said, convincing him to leave right away. 

He was still unwilling, but if it will make his little one comfortable then he would do it. He stood outside the door, so he could hear if Ava woke up, he could not wait for the doctor to leave so he could have Ava all to himself. He wanted to hug her and cuddle with her all night. 

He was pacing outside the door by the time the doctor was done, thinking that she was taking longer than she was supposed to. 

"Go see your girlfriend," the doctor smiled as she walked out the door, and he ran without further encouragement. He did not thank her, but she was okay with that, she knew that Tristan had a good heart.