...Sienna POV...It's been over a year since Rylee was killed. There isn't a moment that goes by that I don't blame myself for what happened. The treatment centre has really helped me; I'm slowly becoming my old self. But even with their tactics, I still can't stop blaming myself for Rylee's death. I close my eyes, not allowing myself to go down that path once again. My focus is on today and planning for my future. With the help of the center, I was able to transfer my pain and torment into something constructive. We soon realized that I had blamed myself for taking a prodigy surgeon from our world. While it wasn't their goal, I decided to take it upon myself to fulfill Rylee's shoes. If Rylee wasn't able to achieve her dreams, then I would do it for her. Soon my mission to follow in her footsteps became my reason for living. Rylee was gone; there wasn't anything I could do to change that. But I could change my impact on the world. I didn't want to be known as the Stone Princess or r
In just under an hour, Maverick had already arrived, curious as to why I had asked him to come. "Hey, Half Pint. How are you doing?" Maverick asks, pulling me into a firm hug.I let myself relax in his embrace, feeling myself calm down. The familiar feeling of home washed over me as I let myself be held by my brother. Maverick seemed to understand, as he didn't push me away or try to hurry the process up. Rather it was almost as though he needed this hug as much as I did, and from the look in his eyes, I could tell he did.We stay like that for a while as we both seem unwilling to let each other go. I hadn't realized how much I had missed Maverick until now. It was as if everything that had happened in the past year finally caught up to me as I crumbled in his embrace.To my surprise, Maverick doesn't say anything. Rather, he continues to hold me. I wrap my arms around him tighter as if feeling that if I let him go, I won't see him again. I feel Maverick softly stroke my back in a re
...Three Years Later......Sienna POV...So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I was released from the rehabilitation centre a week after I got my acceptance letter from Harvard. With Maverick's help, I moved to Massachusetts, where I studied my ass off in order to fast-track my way into becoming a general surgeon. In order to fast-track the program, I had to take double the course load. It was difficult, but it was worth it. If Rylee was here, I know she would be impressed.After my year at Harvard, I managed to apply for a residency at Johns Hopkins Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. I chose this one in particular as I was closer to home. After being away from my family for so long, I started to miss them. However, I couldn't deny how powerful it felt to be independent. Being away from my family gave me the chance I needed to find my own identity. With my residency in full swing, I had begun to get back into some of the activities I had enjoyed prior to the accident. I s
...Kevin POV...I couldn't believe it. It's been nearly three years since I first managed to get Hunter on my side to go against the Stones. I was running out of patience. Why was this taking so long? Hunter had managed to take down the entire Triad in a manner of months. So why couldn't he take down one stupid family? I found myself pacing my office as I went through all the reasonable explanations as to why this was taking so long. This must have to do with the girl. What was it about her that made the infamous Reaper cower before her? "Val!" I shout, interrupting my thoughts.The familiar clacking of Val's heels as she rushes into my office, alerts me of her presence."Sir?" Val responds, wondering why I called her into my office."What's the update?" I ask, referring to the Stone Empire. I had Val filling me in on a regular basis, waiting to find out when their stocks had finally taken a hit.Val remains silent, and I can hear her fidgeting behind me. I turn around, annoyed by h
...Sienna POV...A few months have gone by, and I haven't heard a word about my application for the International Surgical Residency Program. I'd given up hope on getting in, not that I thought I would in the first place. I was mainly obliging Maverick. Though I couldn't deny that I had started to think of what my life would be like if I did get into the program. Maverick's words had gotten to me. I soon found myself dreaming of completing my residency with no hurdles like the bullying I was constantly having to endure. I would be able to become a surgeon without any hassles. It was an absolute dream of mine, but one that was short-lived as I would never get into the program anyways. So why dwell on what could be?I was thankful to have Maverick in my corner. He believes in me far more than I believe in myself. But he also doesn't understand how hard it is to get into programs like this. This program is extremely prestigious. They don't just let anyone in. You have to be the best of t
...Sienna POV..."Wait a minute... Colombia?" My dad asks, grabbing our attention."As in the most dangerous country in the world, Colombia?" My dad asks before we even have a chance to respond to his previous question."Ya. Why? I thought you knew about the program. The purpose of the program is to train surgical residents in third-world countries where we won't have everything at our disposal. It allows us to become better surgeons and learn to find other solutions to the problems." I say, not sure why my dad wasn't aware of this."I know that. But why Colombia? Why not somewhere safer?" My dad asks, visibly worried. I walk over to my dad and hug him. I know he's worried about me, but I need to do this. Even though it wasn't something I had planned on doing, didn't mean I didn't want to do it. Rather, I just never thought I would even be considered. But now that I was, I was over the moon ecstatic."I know you're worried. But I'm a big girl. I know how to protect myself. I'll be fin
...Two Months Later...Today was the day. I finished saying my hour-long goodbyes to my family before boarding the plane to Colombia. As promised, my dad hired a new security guard for me. I had only just met him and hadn't had a chance to learn much about him. I know my dad said I couldn't lose my tail, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try. I just needed to spend some time with him and get to know him to see what his weaknesses were. That's how I managed to evade each of my other guards in the past. Once I learned more about them, I could use their lifestyle and habits to find a way to escape. For example, my first guard was when I was five. He hated waiting for me whenever I would go to the bathroom. Said I took too long. So he would often frequent coffee shops or nearby newsstands to pass the time. I had gone into the bathroom and kept watch for when he would leave. Once his back was to me, I ran off to the playground nearby. I had seen some kids from my school and wanted to play w
...Hunter POV...I was growing increasingly annoyed. I had been going after Stone Enterprises for over two years now and was still no further ahead. It seemed like no matter what I did, I was always ten steps behind. I ordered my team to attack their shipments knowing that without supplies coming in, they would take a large loss. My plan worked at first, as their clientele began to turn on them and seek out their competitors. However, once they caught onto my plan, they managed to find an alternate way to get their supplies and resume production. I'd hit a dead end. After my attack on them, Stone Enterprises had fortified their stronghold, preventing any of my attacks from succeeding. I needed a new plan. Some way to get to them so they wouldn't see it coming. "¿Patrón?" Boss. I hear Gonzalez call out to me."¿Qué pasa, González?" What is it Gonzalez?"Mira este." Look at this. Javier says, reaching toward me with a paper in hand. I grab the paper from his hand to analyze it better.
About an hour later, Silvio reenters the room, looking directly at me. Though the odd thing is he seems neither surprised nor upset to see the sudden disappearance of Ash and Hunter. Were they captured? Is that why? I wonder to myself. "Ah, good. I see we're right on schedule." Silvio comments, making me turn my head to look up at him. "Don't look at me like that. I know you're a smart girl. You don't actually believe that I would be as stupid as to confess my ultimate plan with you, then to let you escape?" Silvio asks, making me quirk a brow. I remained silent, unsure of what to say. I didn't understand what was happening. I could feel my mind working to figure out what I had missed. "I told you what I wanted you to know." Silvio comments, making my eyes go wide. A thought suddenly comes to mind. Silvio had gone into detail about his plan and then left us unattended. He wanted us to escape, which could only mean one thing. Hunter and Ash's freedom was nothing but a delusion. Si
“Mariposa.” Hunter comments, making my desire for him increase. It’s been so long since Hunter last called me that. He used to only ever call me that. But with everything happening lately, he switched to calling me by my name. I couldn’t even be mad either, as I would’ve done the same thing if I were in his shoes. He tried desperately to give me the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how much incriminating evidence there was. So to hear Hunter calling me his Mariposa once more makes me far happier than I could imagine.Without realizing it, I had closed the distance between us. My lips found Hunter’s with no abandon. Time seems to freeze as we deepen the kiss. So many unspoken conversations are taking place in unison with this kiss. I can feel all of Hunter’s emotions. His desires, his anguish, but most importantly, his love. I can feel his uneasiness when it comes to my plan. As well as the dread he feels knowing that this may be our only chance. While he may have put up a fight abo
The more time I spent in this room, the more familiar it was becoming. I just couldn’t place how. I’ve never been here before. So why does it look so familiar? I looked around the room, trying to pinpoint what it was about this room that looked so familiar. Which is when one thing caught my eye. The chair Hunter is sitting on is the same chair Ash was sitting on in the video that Silvio and Kevin had shown me earlier, which could only mean one thing. Silvio’s taken us to where Ash was tortured. This could end up being a good thing. Silvio hasn’t said a word about Ash which probably means that Ash is still alive. If Ash were dead, Silvio wouldn’t hesitate to let me know. So the fact that Silvio has remained quiet about Ash’s presence means that Ash is very much alive and could be our way out. I’ll just need to make yet another distraction. This one, however, will have to provide us with a lot more time. I’ll need to figure out how to get Hunter out of here. I already have an idea in m
…Sienna POV…This was beginning to feel like a pattern. Being knocked unconscious and waking up somewhere else. Though this time, I couldn’t figure out where I was. All the other times, I had known that Hunter was behind it, and I was at his estate. But now? I couldn’t say the same. For whatever reason, something felt off about this. I don’t know why, but it was as though I could tell that I was no longer in Colombia. Which made me question how long I have been out.Shouts of anger and aggression can be heard from somewhere in the distance. My head is slightly dizzy, and I feel partially lightheaded. However, I know I need to figure out what’s going on. I see a stream of light coming from the far side of the room. I take a quick look around to get a better feel of what I’m dealing with. To see if there’s anything nearby that I could use as a weapon. After scanning the room as much as I can, I can’t seem to find anything that would make a decent enough weapon, so instead, I focus on
...Hunter POV...I paced the floor of the hospital for what felt like hours. I had yet to see or hear from any of the medical personnel that were helping Tomás. I couldn't deny that not knowing almost seemed worse than what the final outcome would be. Every bloody scenario rang through my mind. Will Tomás make it out alive? If he does, what will happen to him? If he doesn't, am I prepared to live without him? While I may not exactly know the answer to that final question, I do know for sure that if Tomás does die, then I'm beyond prepared to burn everything around me. There's nothing that won't face my wrath. The memory of seeing Sienna standing over Tomás lifeless body will forever haunt my mind. I couldn't believe I'd been so reckless. I had singlehandedly brought the traitor into my house. I had given up my weak point to the one person I thought I could trust. To this day, I don't even know why I did that. It was as if just being near her made me feel, for the first time ever, th
....Sienna POV...The moment I saw Kevin, I knew he was here for one purpose and one purpose only. To kill me. Now that I had executed the last part of his plan, he no longer needed me alive. As they say, dead men tell no tales. So with my death, Hunter would be forced to believe what Kevin has continually fed him. I tried to move my arms and legs when I realized that they were immobile, and it wasn't just because I was once again strapped to the ceiling. Rather, my entire range of motion was gone, which made me realize that Kevin must've administered some sort of temporary paralytic. Well, I hope that it was only temporary. Otherwise, I'll be in far more trouble than I'm already in.I knew Kevin would want me to beg for my life. But I wouldn't allow myself to do that. No amount of begging would save me anyways. I just had to hope that Hunter got here soon. While there was a strong chance that Hunter would kill me, my only chance of survival relied on Hunter giving me a chance to ex
...Kevin POV...When I saw Silvio slowly crawl his way out of the dungeon, I knew for a fact that my plan was right on schedule. From the state of Silvio, I could see that Sienna happily took the bait. She must be on her way to save Tomás as we speak. The house was in an utter frenzy. From the moment Hunter opened the door to reveal a panicked Sienna, chaos erupted. Hunter started shouting commands at anyone within earshot. He attempted to get to Sienna. However, she managed to evade him. I had to hand it to her; I didn't think she'd have it in her to be able to fight back to the extent that she was. I thought for sure that her body would be too drained from the torture that Silvio had been dishing out to her for nearly a week now. It took everything inside of me to hide the smile that continually threatened to escape the more I watched from the side. Hunter was chasing Sienna out of the house toward his car. I couldn't lie; even the fact that she was able to think so quickly on her
...Hunter's POV...Javier's question had thrown me off guard. Why was Silvio in the dungeon with her? Since meeting with her, I had relieved Silvio from his torture duties. I didn't want anyone down there with her, other than Javier and myself until I had decided on what to do with her. I had reassigned Silvio to look after Tomás. It was his original assignment before Sienna arrived, so it only made sense to put him back on that task. I wanted to make sure Tomás was safe. He was vulnerable enough as it was. I didn't want to exploit that fact.No one was as stunned as I was when I opened the door to see a panicked-looking Sienna on the other side of the door. My mind was flooded with questions. Why was Sienna there? Why wasn't she tied up? How did she escape? What happened with Silvio? Did he let her escape? Before I could get an answer to any of those questions, a bloodied Silvio stumbles down the hallway behind her, taking my attention off her momentarily and providing her with the
...Javier POV...Hunter had requested that I personally see to Sienna's well-being and inform him of any changes. I could tell he still cared for her, regardless of what happened down there. It was as though he was pretending to be cruel to her to keep up a facade. Which made me wonder why? Did Kevin have a much larger hold on Hunter than I had assumed? Whatever the reason was, I knew to keep any findings to myself and Hunter. If Hunter wasn't able to trust anyone else, then neither would I.I was heading toward Hunter's office when I saw Silvio turn down the hallway to the basement. I was about to meet with Hunter, so I didn't have time to investigate further. However, his presence in that hallway had my nerves on edge. I don't know why, but something just felt wrong. Once I had finished the meeting with Hunter and the others had left the office, I closed his door and talked to him about my concerns."Hunter?" I called, using his first name instead of his title.Hunter immediately s