The sound of water dripping in a bucket echoed in the empty, dingy, and moldy room. Mateo sits on one of the rusty chairs while Faith was still knocked out – laying on the dirty floor. Mateo didn’t even bother to put her down on something comfortable or slightly clean. She was laying there – on a dirty and smelly floor without any care.While Faith was still out cold, Mateo had a gun in his hand, the same gun he used to knock her out. He was apathetically staring her down. He hasn’t moved his gaze since he got her here. His eyes were still filled with tears, but they were leashed in his eyes. No one knows where Mateo brought her, except for him. He didn’t even tell Levi about it – just a couple of his best men, the men whose loyalty would never budge. Levi is loyal to him as well, but he knows that the minute Levi will know about his plans – his friend would not waste a minute before he would jump in to save Aldo’s girl.That’s what Mateo has decided to call her from now onwards, Aldo
“What you are doing is extremely stupid,” Faith commented again as she felt being driven to an unknown destination. She couldn’t see where they were going because she was blindfolded. Her hands were tied behind her and her ankles were also tied with a rope. She squeak and fell on her face in the backseat when Mateo took a sharp turn. “Jerk,” she muttered under her breath. Whenever she passes a snarky comment at him, Mateo always takes a sharp turn to make her fall, but he never answers him verbally.Faith’s head was still throbbing. She asked for a painkiller, but Mateo didn’t provide her with one. He is acting chillingly cold towards her. He has been dragging her, pulling her, tossing her around – without any care. With each passing minute, Faith feels like she is losing the old Mateo. With each passing minute, her heart sinks into her chest as she thinks about what he told her earlier. She has been searching for her family’s killer along with the killer himself. Maybe Mateo had noth
~Flashback~A Few Days Ago“Dante, where the fuck are you?” Mateo muttered under his breath as he entered his office after once again trying to reach his elder brother, who he last talked to a couple of days ago. The last the brothers talked, they had a huge disagreement. Dante accused Mateo of being a traitor to the family, while Mateo told Dante doesn’t care for the family. He only cares about his revenge. Before Mateo stormed out of Dante’s room, he told his brother that he will be taking a few days away from him. He asked his brother to think everything through, and that’s when he last heard from Dante.Mateo was about to leave his brother a text when Levi walked into his office, “Dawson is missing. He was the one that would give Ethan food and water. I think he is the mole. He was not in his apartment, and his roommate said that he hasn’t come home since the day before yesterday. Either he ran from the fear of getting caught, or someone got to him before we did. Either way, he i
“I might get a little late tonight. Will you be okay all by yourself?” Piper spoke softly to Benji on the phone while she and Blaire waits outside the ICU. “Yes, I am going to read the new comic book Kai gifted me,” Benji replied. Piper frowned, “What new comic book?” She asked. She clearly remembers that when Kai asked her to give Benji the new comic book he got for him, she refused to accept it. She asked Kai to stop giving him any more gifts. “When did he give it to you?” She asked next. There was a small pause before Benji replied, “Umm, six days, fourteen hours, and fifty-two minutes ago.”Piper heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. Kai didn’t listen to her. He gave Benji the comic book even when she asked him not to. Piper was feeling irritated towards Kai. She already explained why she doesn’t want him to spoil Benji with gifts, but there he was – not listening to her. After everything settles down, she needs to have a conversation with her boss again. “Fine, yo
Jeremy was transferred to a private room, even though he didn’t wake up yet. The doctors told Blaire that he was out of danger, and should be resting more to heal his wounds. She was finally allowed to be in the same room as him. Since he has been shifted to the room, she has been on his side.She sat on a chair by his bed and clutched his hand in hers. “Hey, I think you have rested enough. Please, wake up. I miss you. I love you,” Blaire softly spoke with tears in her eyes. She leaned in and placed a kiss on Jeremy’s pale forehead. “I promise, I will not forgive whoever did this to you, babe. They shot you twice, I am going to shoot them a thousand times.” She promised him as she brushed the hair off his forehead.Blaire checked her phone once again. She has been doing it a lot for the past few hours. After Piper left, she texted Levi – asking him if everything was alright to which he replied with a simple “yes” – when she asked him where they were, he didn’t answer her back and sinc
Kai’s phone cannot be tracked. Since he has been hiding from the world – pretending to be dead, everything that could track his location – Kai doesn’t have. Piper rushed back to Kai’s penthouse from the hospital and immediately called Carla. Although, Carla is the one that commands around when Kai is not around, this time Piper switched the roles. After trying everything, from trying to call Kai, and the men he went along, with to trying to reach Mateo and Levi – they decided that it was time to find Kai and Faith on their own. Piper along with Carla and a few of their men have been on the road to look for their boss who has gone missing. Piper does not doubt that Mateo and Levi have kidnapped him. She feels stupid for letting Kai go along with Levi. She was also disappointed in Levi, but then again – they never worked for two different people before. Now that she thinks, he has always been very loyal to Mateo. It is Piper who feels like a fool for not thinking this through.“Can Lev
“Why are we waiting here? What happened?” Carla asked Piper, who was leaning against the hood of her parked car. When Piper stopped the car in the middle of the nowhere a little ahead of the exit they took from the Highway, Carla thought there was something wrong with the car – but instead of checking on it – Piper stood against the hood of the car while doing something on her phone. This made Carla curious, so she stepped out of the car as well. Piper squinted her eyes under the sun as she glanced at Carla. Her eyes fell on the other car parked just behind them – ut none of the men exited that car. She heaved a sigh, “We can’t go further than this,” Piper informed. Carla knitted her eyebrows, “What do you mean we can’t go further than here? Why did we even get here? And why can’t we go further, again?” Carla frustratedly asked with her eyebrows screwed together. “If we drove ahead of this point, we are definitely going to get killed by Mateo’s men. No one can pass this point excep
Ethan was given something. He knows that he was given a drug to fall asleep, but he didn’t know if Levi knew about it. He slipped into a deep slumber with a fear of never being able to open his eyes ever again until, he woke up – once again tied to a bed – but this was a different bed. He let out a low groan as he tried to adjust his eyesight. The room was cold, but it smelled better than the last two rooms he was captured in. His eyes went to a shut window before he dragged his gaze in front of him and almost had his heart stop beating when he saw Faith, in the middle of the room – on a chair she was tied to, glaring at him. “Jesus, what?” Ethan squinted his eyes and tried to lift his head, but since he was feeling dizzy – he lay it back on the pillow. “What the fuck is happening? I thought Mateo killed you,” He muttered. He wished his hands were untied so he could rub his temples because they were aching. Faith huffed. She has been watching this man unconscious on the bed for the
A good day came months after. The people of the village finally got their freedom. When that happened, week-long celebrations were held at the village, and all of them were invited, especially, Faith, Mateo, and Kai. It was a joyous occasion. Even when everyone was dreading back where they all spend the worst days of their lives, of course, they went anyway. Hesitant at first, everyone had a great time. Faith had never seen the people of the village have such a festive spirit. It was truly a beautiful week. Faith spends most of her time with her grandmother, Kami, and his family. Benji didn’t want to go with them, but when Kami asked – he couldn’t say no. Lora (Kami’s sister) was there to welcome everyone. Everyone could see how excited Benji got when he saw her. Piper and Kai exchanged a knowing glance. Benji has a crush on Lora. He had it since he came here for the first time. After he returned to the city, he kept in contact with her in one way or another. Faith was happy to see
(One Year Later)Even today when Faith closes her eyes and thinks about her recent past, she can’t truly process it. She can’t believe that so much changed in the past couple of years. From losing her entire family to almost getting killed to find a new family – a new purpose – everything in her life was nothing less than a lesson – a brutal and painful lesson. Currently, she was sitting in a meeting along with Kai and Mateo – but they weren’t the only ones there. The three of them were hosts, while the other distant members of the Ricci and Bianchi clan, a few mafia leaders, and a couple of correspondents from the village were in the room. The debate was on – whether the village/island should be given its independence or not.Faith was sitting in between Kai and Mateo. She averted her gaze to the other side of the room where Kami sat along with a few young faces representing the village. Faith could tell that the young boy was nervous. She shoots him an assuring smile. Kami smiled ba
Kai didn’t say anything in return. He just impassively stared at Mateo before they were interrupted by Faith and Piper’s loud laughter. Both looked at the girls to find that Ethan had managed to pull Levi into the pool. He grabbed Levi’s ankle and pulled him in, making the water splash around and the girls laugh. Mateo heaved a sigh and shook his head as he watched his friend emerge from under the water, not looking much impressed. Noel was standing behind Levi when Ethan pulled him in, he was now watching them two. Ethan laughed and splashed some water towards him with his hand, “What are you doing up there loser? Get in!” Noel shook his head, “No, and you need to come out too.” He looks at all of them, “You all do. It is chilly and the water is cold,” he added. “It is not that cold,” Piper replied. It was because Kai switch on the heater to warm up the water, but that’s mean it was okay to be in a pool on a chilly night under the sky. Just at that moment, Piper sneezed. That was i
Faith and Piper were wasted. If having one drink after another wasn’t enough, they were now drinking straight out of the bottle. “We should go swimming,” Faith slurred a suggestion to which Piper enthusiastically nodded her head, agreeing to it. Before anyone could stop them, an equally drunk Ethan got on his feet and threw his fist in the air, “Hell yeah! Let’s go!!” he yelled out and hooted. Everyone else was so concerned about Faith and Piper that they didn’t even notice just how much Ethan was drinking. These three were completely wasted. Noel was slightly tipsy. Where else, Levi, Mateo, and Kai only had a single drink so they weren’t drunk at all. They decided to stay sober to keep an eye on girls, and well – now Ethan as well. “Excellent,” Levi muttered under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. He moved to Ethan, who was swinging from one side to another with a bottle of one of the most expensive whiskeys in his hand. Kai glanced at the bottle in his hand. He didn’t
Faith was in her room, changing with there was a knock on her door. Her room was now filled with done and undone boxes. She will be moving out tomorrow and there is so much left to do. But currently, she wasn’t focused on it. She is certain that she will be able to pack before the movers arrive. She was concerned about the dinner party they were having tonight. Faith had already invited everyone and now she was changing for the night. By the knock on the door, she was certain that Mateo has arrived. She quickly picked up the clothes she threw on the floor and put them on the bed before she spoke, “Yes?” The door opened and indeed it was Mateo. He looked good. Fresh and well-rested. It took everyone over a month to get over what happened on the island. The exhaustion and trauma (for some) didn’t leave for days. Mateo was looking like he did when Faith first met him. The difference between then and now is that then he had a hard scowl on his face, and now he was smiling. Then he threw
“Are you all packed up?” Piper asked Faith who came to her room to visit. Faith looked at Piper and smiled. “Yes, almost. Just a few things are remaining to be packed,” she replied. In two days, Faith is moving in with Mateo. For the past week, she has been very busy. She didn’t realize how comfortable she has gotten at Kai’s place, that now that she was winding everything up here, she feels sad to be leaving. When she started packing, she was excited. For her, moving in with Mateo is like a new chapter of her life, but as she proceeded, she realized how uncomfortable yet relieving it is to end this brief, daunting, and challenging chapter of her life. Piper was sitting on the bed, reading, when Faith knocked on her door. She exhaled and smiled broadly at her, “So, are you excited?” She asked. Faith chuckled and sat on the bed beside her, “I am.” She nodded her head, “But I am also nervous. There are so many ifs and buts in my head that I can hardly sleep at night,” she replied hon
“Thank you,” Piper hugged and thanked Faith, before she looked at Mateo, “Thank you both of you. I don’t know what would have happened if it wasn’t for you two. I would have been living on the streets,” she added. “Hey!” “What the hell?” Levi and Kai spoke at the same time. Piper pulled her eyebrows together and looked at both of them. Kai was frowning while Levi stepped forward, “What do you mean you would have been on the streets? Are you kidding me? I would have never let you be on street. Damn, I thought you thought of me as a friend, but boy was I wrong.” Levi scoffed. Where Kai just watched her dumbfounded. She softly chuckled at Levi. “Oh, I would have never bothered you. You already got your hands full,” she told him bobbing her head towards Benji’s room. The door of Benji’s room was open and inside everyone can see Benji and Ethan playing video games. They were so engrossed by what they were playing that they didn’t even notice the people outside looking at them. Ethan and
Kai squinted his eyes. When he was coming out of Piper’s room, he did not expect Faith, Mateo, and Benji right outside – watching him walk out of the room. Their curious gazes made him feel like he was sneaking out of her room after a one-night stand. Mateo was shamelessly smirking at him. Faith was curiously watching him, and Benji had his eyes narrowed at him. Kai cleared his throat and ignored Mateo’s comment and Faith’s question. He was about to tell them that they shouldn’t be so nosy when the doorbell rang. Faith and Mateo pulled their eyebrows together and looked at each other, “Who is here so early in the morning?” She muttered and watched as one of the helpers opened the door. It was Levi and Ethan. “What are you two doing here so early?” Mateo asked with his eyebrows knitted together. Levi didn’t look good. He looked like he didn’t sleep all night. Ethan looked tired as well, but not as exhausted as Levi. Levi glared at Ethan at Mateo’s question. Levi heaved a sigh. His sh
Kai has been inside Piper’s room for an hour. He was now sitting on the floor while she was sitting on the floor as well but she sat by the window. She was watching outside the window while her knees pressed to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. While her eyes were fixed outside, Kai’s eyes were fixed on her. They have been talking for the last hour. No yelling or name was calling. There were no accusations, nor did they completely patch up – they were just talking, which was due for some time now. They fight. They have had sex. They have done everything, but they never get the chance to sit and just talk about themselves. About their insecurities, about their feelings, about everything they bring to each other. Piper last put forward a very interesting point, “Aren’t we toxic for each other? There is just too much we don’t agree on.” She had muttered. Her point was quite simple. She told him that even if Jeremy hadn’t attacked her or anyone else, and even if he was just try