Prologue

Jessica

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Tonight would definitely be one of the best nights for me. Well, not like it was something new for every fourteen year old. But yes, it was new for me. Finally, my dad had agreed to the fact that it was high time I started dating. It took a whole lot of effort to make him understand that I wanted a boyfriend already. I had to take a mini-exam, had to do an IQ test, and even had to sign a childish contract with him. Wasn't that crazy? Definitely. Anyway, it was a normal thing for a billionaire to be protective of his precious little girl. 

"Gosh!" My best friend, Jojo, squealed over the phone. 

I chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I'm also very excited. Don't worry, I'll tell you about it once it happens. And, by all means, I'm gonna make sure he kisses me."

"You're silly, chipmunk." As usual, she sounded like a defaulted machine as she laughed. 

I sighed, leaping from the L-shaped, leather sofa I was seated on. Grabbing an apple from the small basket on the glass table in front of me, I walked to the rail on the balcony, leaning my elbow against it. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Gotta get ready for my date."

"Bye."

Hanging up, like the excited chic I presently was, I spun around, hopping into the corridor. I slid my blackberry torch phone into the pocket of my peacoat jacket, heading straight to dad's office. I needed him to tell the driver to drive me to his private boat, close to the sea, which was where I would be having my dinner date. 

About taking a turn to the next hallway, I halted when I spotted some men walking into Eduardo's office. They were dressed in casual, wretched-looking denim jean pants, and some old shirts. I squinted my eyes in confusion, wondering why such huge and ugly looking men would be walking into his office. That was pretty suspicious. No one dressed like that would ever dare to come into the company, speaking of walking into dad's friends' office. Were they here to attack Eduardo or something?

The thought of that made me gasp. Only last week, one of dad's workers had been attacked by some unknown men. What if those dudes had come to attack Eduardo? That wouldn't be good at all. 

Though I knew I needed to call for help, I only decided to take a glance at what was going on in there. I was ever confident, so spying on them shouldn't be such a big deal. After all, I just needed to be sure everything was okay. 

I peeked in through the tiny opening of the door, making sure I was as silent as possible. My body was clinged to the wall, only my head poked forward so I would hear them properly. 

"You guys got here at the right time," Eduardo stated. To my surprise, they were standing a few feets away from his desk, and even more surprisingly, he was exchanging handshakes with them. 

"Our pleasure," a bronze haired man said to him. The man cleared his throat, putting his hands behind him. "Should we assassinate him? Cause, tampering with his car brakes isn't possible at all. Heard he's got so many men to guard him."

Eduardo nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Larry is quite smart and rich. Before getting to the airport, he might discover that something is wrong with his brakes. In that case, our plan won't work out. So yeah, assassinating him is the best option."

Shocked, my jaw dropped. I quivered like a frozen turkey, my heart racing fast as if a rock was being grounded in a crusher. Being shocked was an understatement to what I felt right now. My dad's best friend was planning to assassinate him? But, why?

"No one must find out about this,"Eduardo added. 

Noticing that they were still discussing their dangerous plan, it knocked my senses that I could save my dad. Eduardo was a man of his word, which meant that if he was actually planning to kill dad, he would achieve it. 

Drenched in fear, I ran past his office door, running towards dad's office. Tears dunked in my eyes, my fingers balling up in a really hard fist. I was shaken, bitter, perplexed, furious, and broken. These mixed feelings were making me weak, but keeping Dad safe was the priority. I had to be strong. 

With so much force, I barged into dad's office. 

"Dad!" I cried. 

He stood beside the tall window that was almost the size of a door, his mouth widely open as he spoke to someone over the phone. "What?!" He cried at the top of his voice. For some reason, his voice was shaky, holding some fear. "Wh-What're you saying? Eduardo wants to—"

"Dad!" I hurried over to him, gripped his hands, and stood in front of him. "Dad…" Tears left my eyes. "Let's leave here right now! I know you might think I'm naive and little, but I can swear that I heard Eduardo telling some men to assassinate you."

Tears welled his eyes. "Wh-What?" His voice sounded faint. "You also heard that? Your mom just called, saying—"

"There's no time to speak," I cut him off, tightening his hand in mine. "Let's get you out of here, please! I can't bear to see that happen. Please, let's leave. Please!"

He nodded swiftly. 

For the first time in forever, he paid attention to my words. We ran out of his office, dashed into the corridor, and made our way into the elevator. Getting to the last floor, we began running out of the company building like maniacs. Since it was past seven already, there were hardly any workers around. 

As soon as we stepped out, mom rushed over to us. She had been standing behind the door, but seeing us, she motioned in our direction. As if all of this had been planned, my elder sister, Nora, ran out of the company as well. 

"Saw you guys running crazily." She squeezed her face, keeping her phone in her pocket. She was obviously confused. 'What's up?"

I grabbed her hand, panting quite hard. "No time to speak. Let's leave." I turned to dad. "Dad, please call your men over. They'd all gone for a break, so I guess that's the reason Eduardo decided to make use of the opportunity. There's literally no one to guard us."

Dad turned to mom. "Honey, do you have enough strength to walk to the car? The doctor said you should only be in bed. You're too heavy for this stress. I knew I shouldn't have let you come here."

Seeing dad sounding this weak, and mom feeling so scared, I sniffled. Eduardo had really planned this well. He had known that dad's car wasn't in the building, and had also known that all of dad's men had taken a break. This felt so unbelievable, but we would deal with this impromptu betrayal later. First, we had to save ourselves.

Mom swallowed, obviously trying to put on a confident look. "It's fine, Larry. I might be pregnant, but that doesn't make me any weaker. Let's go to your car."

With that, we all began to run towards the parking lot. Dad didn't like seeing cars in the company, so he had decided to make sure that the parking lot was a bit far from the building. And now, that was what was causing a problem here. 

"There he is!" Hearing someone hurl that out, I shivered even more. For a moment, my heart jumped to my throat. Had they seen us?

"Honey, we have to hurry up," Mom whimpered. "I think they've seen us!"

"Oh my gosh! I don't wanna die!" Nora cried. 

Soon, luckily for us, we managed to reach the car. We hopped in as fast as we could, and dad started to drive. He drove into the silent road, driving so fast. Mom gasped for air, weeping so hard. I felt very bad for her, knowing that it wasn't good for her health. She was eight months pregnant. 

"Oh, Lord, help us!" She burst out crying, leaning her head into her seat. 

"Honey, please, calm down, okay? We'll be fine," Dad said. 

I turned to Nora who sat beside me, raised my hands to pat her back, and gave her a curt nod. "Let's be positive," I said. 

She sobbed. "I can't."

"Oh, gosh. Seems like someone's following us," Dad announced. He glanced at the side mirror, violently hitting the accelerator, and changing the speed gear. There was no doubt that he was so tense. 

Again, I sniffled. This wasn't something a fourteen year old or a pregnant woman should be experiencing. It was so traumatizing. 

"Dad, please, try to drive a little bit faster," Nora pleaded. 

"I'll take—"

And, that was it. A jeep appeared in front of dad's car, which made him hit the brake rapidly. We all bulged our eyes open, my fear exacerbating. Things became even worse when a bunch of men began jogging out of the jeep. What were they planning to do now?

"Pull the car over! Fast!" Mom panicked. 

Immediately, without thinking twice, dad maneuvered the car with so much force. So hard that the car's tyre made a screeching sound. My body jerked forward, but I tried to maintain my balance. 

At this point, I was losing so much hope. Dad was driving recklessly, as if he was planning to get us killed. He was too scared. And, worst of all, I could do nothing. 

"They're getting closer! Goodness! Take a turn to the right. Quickly! Oh, gosh, I knew there was always something fishy about Eduardo! I knew it! But why—" Mom lamented. She burst out in tears, probably feeling hopeless. 

"Let's be hopeful, honey. We can still—"

"Ah!" Nora hollered at the top of her voice. 

Hearing the loud honk of a truck, my eyes widened even more, gently moving to the direction of the sound. Abruptly, the headlight of the truck overshadowed my sight, which forced me to cling my eyes shut. I leaned into my seat. Despair was all that ran through me. 

"Ah!" Once again, Nora cried. She wasn't the only one. Mom also cried. 

Before I could fathom all that was going on, everywhere began to shake sporadically. I opened my eyes, and that was when I realized that the clashes I had heard, had been the sound of the truck hitting our car. I couldn't even tell if the car was undergoing a stunt or a somersault. Everything felt very confusing. 

I whimpered.

Something caught my breath, literally blocking my pharynx. Overly weak, my eyes slowly closed. Darkness was starting to dominate my sight, but I was struggling to live. Even if I would die, I had to save my family first. Being without them was as good as being dead. 

I tried. I tried so much. But, in the end, I passed out. 

***

The faint, beeping sound around me slowly grabbed my attention. It made me open my eyes, though I couldn't see or hear properly. Although the ventilators were connected to my nostrils, I didn't feel like I was breathing anymore. My body felt tight, seeming as if I was soaked in pain. Blinking a little, being a bit observant, I realized that I was at a hospital. I was in bed. 

"Sir, what's going to happen to her?" I glanced at the middle aged woman who stood beside me, a bunch of files tugged to her chest. She looked up at the man beside her, who was dressed in a police uniform. 

The man sighed out loud. "Unfortunately, she was the only one who survived the accident." Hearing that, my heart stopped for a moment. No. This had to be a nightmare. A crazy one. He cleared his throat, and continued, "She was able to hop out of the vehicle, we assume. But, the rest of her family burned to death. We're so hurt to know that the person who sat in the passenger's seat was pregnant."

I froze. I was completely speechless. 

The woman, who I guessed was the nurse, pulled her hand over her mouth. "My goodness. Does this mean she's alone? What's gonna happen to her?"

"Once she recovers fully, she'll be taken to an orphanage. At least, for the meantime," he declared. 

I shut my eyes. There was no reaction that could explain my emotions. I was only fourteen. The billionaire's daughter would now become an orphan? So unreal. 

A tear rolled from the corner of my eyes, down to the helix of my ear. I just wanted to die as well. And, hopefully, that would happen soon. 

If only there was no Eduardo in our lives, none of these would have happened. I would probably be enjoying my date by now. 

I felt unconscious. Was I… dead already?

***

(Phew! A new book! Let the story begin! And, don't forget the comments/reviews!)