I needed to get away from here as soon as I could, but how would I even do that now that I appeared to be helpless from these drunkards.“Get your hands off me!” I immediately protested. Yet as I tried to struggle to free myself, the one with red head tightened his grip so that it was almost impossible for me to get away from him any longer.“You’re too loud! It’s so annoying!” The other one complained and he quickly covered my mouth with his filthy hands. I could smell the pungent scent of his palm that made me think if he even touched himself first before using this particular hand to cover half of my face.The stink has made me nearly throw up. I even had to wiggle m
“So, how did you even end up being in that place again?”The policewoman who had been trying to ask me the same question for over nth time was already growing a little impatient, yet I could see that she was still trying her best to understand my situation as her tone has not changed a bit.She was still calm and compassionate, especially whenever she asked me some sensitive questions that I dare not answer.“I came from an event inside the villa.” I uttered.It has been hours due since the nightmare with those drunkards happened. I had called my Aunt Lou, thanks to the cops who lent me their phone righ
“Don’t you know how terrified I was when you called me about what happened?” Aunt Lou instantly told me as the two of us were inside the police station. She even hasn’t at least taken her seat when she began crying for goodness sake. I wasn’t even dead yet. Although I do understand why she would eventually feel that way. As someone who truly cares for me after my parents departed, of course Aunt Lou would really worry about me after learning of the incident a moment ago. Aunt Lou was so furious that she immediately spoke with the policewoman, “I want those two to rot in jail. Do you hear me! What they did to my niece was unforgivable!”“Calm down ma’am. There is a due process for that and we need your cooperation as well.” replied by the policewoman.Her statement has left my aunt in silence. She carefully listened to the words that the policewoman has informed her right after.Following that, my aunt then retrieved me from my seat. Her entire right arm was wrapped around me as sh
“I don’t think I’m getting your point, Marga.” Aunt Lou quickly reacted.I moistened my dried lips before I clarified everything to Aunt Lou once again. “What I meant about that, was that not only I was framed for cheating on my husband. But I was also framed for betraying the whole Montefalco’s after this allegation that I sold off the multi-billion project of the Montefalco’s to the Alforques.”“You did what?” Aunt Lou’s eyes squinted from annoyance. “I didn’t do any of that, Aunt lou. I don’t even know how operations work in their company. Although, Justin indeed tried to intrust the project to me before the accident, but that was the last time I even had the chance to work on it. Following the accident i’ve been through, I never get the chance to be in the office anymore.”“If that’s so then why are you being framed up like this. That allegation is seriously damaging you entirely, Marga. It isn’t right that you just let them do as they please to you when you know for yourself tha
The question made me stare at Aunt Lou for the next moments. “I haven’t.” I honestly told her anyway. There was no sense trying to keep it from her in the first place since she knew that I didn't intend to speak about the child inside me. “I’m glad you didn’t.” She eventually reacted.“You know that I don’t intend to tell them about the baby no matter what. I just don’t think my in-laws, especially my husband, deserve to know the truth about my child.”“I’m glad you knew that. Now what do you plan to do?” Aunt Lou questioned me. And although that would seem to appear like a normal question, it was actually more like Aunt Lou’s way of telling me how she badly wanted me to decide that I should sue the Montefalco’s and to avenge myself against them.However, knowing the Montefalco’s, I would only be wasting my efforts if I were to make that move right now. They have all the riches that they could easily use against me. And surely, the wouldn’t just let someone like me get my way against
THE FOLLOWING DAY. I woke up at the delicious scent of the delicious breakfast she was preparing. I wasn’t even able to go to the bathroom first to have my face washed.Before I knew it, my feet was already able to bring me to the kitchen where Aunt Lou was currently busy toasting, frying and even making sure that the stew she was preparing were all good.It made me wonder what could be the occasion why my aunt was suddenly preparing something that was not only smell delicious but also feels like mouth-watering. “What’s the celebration for? You seemed to have prepared too much.” I went on to react the moment I saw the dinning table with quite a variation of dishes laid upon it. It surprised me really, because from what I could recall. Aunt Lou’s husband and two daughters were away in Vancouver where her sister-in-law was based. Her husband was relocated there due to work.Aunt Lou believed it would be more practical if she would just send her two daughters with their father in Vanco
“Do you really still have to go?” Aunt Lou asked for the nth time as I make my out her house. As soon as she told me about what happened to grandma, I immediately rush to get ready so that I could go and check on grandma. Aunt Lou was kind enough to inform me where Grandma was rushed today.“Aunt Lou, Grandma is different from all of them. She has been very good to me throughout my stay there.” I turned around to explain. And yet, the way that Aunt Lou looked at me says that she was not realy convinced. “If that is the case, then why didn’t she believed you?”Of course, Aunt Lou has a point. If my statement was truly factual, then grandma would have believed me first more than those framed up things that ruined my name towards the Montefalco’s.Suddenly, it made recall grandma during that night when I gave her those cookies she so longed to have. It reminded her of her late husband who worked so hard to become successful.“Grandma reacted the way someone who has been betrayed by the
Panic instantly coursed through my entire body. Regina was still trying to check on her phone about some messages that she seemed stressed to respond that she didn’t seem to bother that the elevator had already opened. Before she could even lift her head up and see me, I don’t even know why but a mysterious hand rapidly pulled me to the side and saved me from getting caught.My eyes followed Regina’s movement until she headed her way out of the lobby’s entrance.Following that, my eyes quickly turn to the side and found no other than Aunt Lou’s secretary Janine.“Good gracious, Janine. You scared me, but you know what, thank you for saving me back there.” I immediately told her after puffing out the excess air out of my lungs. I was relieved, really. Knowing that my encounter with Regina was too closer for her to finding out that I was actually here. “I saw you stammering before the elevator like you’re not on your senses. I knew I had to make some actions.” Janine immediately ex
The rain was falling again.It always did on days like this—days that felt like endings.I stood on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the stormy waters of Anacortes, my coat pulled tightly around me, the hood shielding my face from the wind that carried the scent of salt and something older—something like goodbye.Leon stood behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to feel him there. His presence was familiar now, carved into my skin like muscle memory. He’d been my gravity, my storm, my salvation, and my ruin—sometimes all at once.“It’s really over, isn’t it?” I whispered, more to the wind than to him.He didn’t answer right away. His silence was as heavy as the stormclouds above us.“I wanted to fix everything for you,” he said finally, his voice hoarse, like it had been dragged across a battlefield. “I wanted to give you a life that didn’t hurt.”I closed my eyes. The ache in my chest pulsed with every beat of my heart. “You did,” I said. “For a while, you did.”I heard the crunch
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “I’m not the same person I was before,” I said, my voice firm, unwavering. “And I’m not walking away this time.”The man’s eyes flickered with a moment of doubt, just enough for me to catch. And then, before I could even register what had happened, Leon moved.Faster than I could blink, Leon was in front of me, his hand grabbing the gun and twisting it out of the man’s grasp. The force of it sent the man stumbling back, but he didn’t go down easily. His bodyguards rushed in, but Leon was already a step ahead, disarming one of them with a swift, calculated move.I stood frozen for a moment, trying to process what I was witnessing. Leon—always so calm, always so careful—was ruthless. He was like a force of nature, determined to protect me at all costs.But the fight wasn’t over yet. The man recovered, his eyes burning with rage. “You really think you’ve won?” he spat, his voice dripping with venom. “You’re nothing but a pawn in a game you can’t ev
The sound of boots drew closer, pounding the floor with an urgency that echoed through the cavernous halls of the estate. My heart raced as the reality of what I had just heard crashed into me like a tidal wave. The man who had once been a part of my life—my family’s betrayer, the one who had orchestrated their deaths—stood there, calmly, as if this was just another night for him.Leon’s grip on my hand tightened, but I didn’t let him pull me away. I could feel the air thickening with tension, the walls pressing in as everything I thought I knew began to crumble.The intruders were only moments away.The man—he—smirked, watching us. “You think this will end well? You’ve no idea what you’re up against. My people are everywhere.”I took a step forward, ignoring Leon’s silent plea to retreat. “You killed them. And you thought I would be the next one to fall in line?” My voice was a whisper, but it held a power I hadn’t realized I had. “You were wrong.”The man’s face faltered, just for a
Next Morning at the Estate Archives. The basement was cold and damp, and the air smelled of mildew and secrets. Old boxes lined the walls, labeled in my father’s tidy script. Financial records. Land deeds. Correspondence.Leon sifted through a crate of documents while I dug through another.Then something caught my eye.A faded folder labeled: Project Thornfield.I opened it slowly.Inside were blueprints—plans for development across coastal land that was supposed to be protected forest. There were signatures from multiple board members, including names I recognized.And then, one I didn’t.N. Vallis.Leon leaned over. “You know that name?”I shook my head. “No. But look here—he signed off on the project two weeks before my parents died.”Leon pulled out his phone. “I’ll run a background check.”I kept flipping through the documents—and found something that made my blood run cold.An aerial photo.Of the cliffside. Our property.With a giant red X drawn over the coordinates where my p
THREE WEEKS LATER...The investigation moved faster than I’d expected. With the board fully on our side now, the paper trail unraveled like a thread pulled from an old sweater—each piece of evidence exposing the next. Shell companies. Forged contracts. Witnesses who had remained silent out of fear but were finally coming forward.Still, no one had seen him since the day of the summit. He had vanished without a trace. No flights. No offshore activity. No messages. It was like he’d disappeared into smoke.But Dorian didn’t believe in ghosts. “He’s hiding,” he said as he handed me a thick folder. “And this—this will force him out.”I flipped through the documents. Bank records. A property registered under an alias. Hidden deep in the woods outside of Anacortes. I felt my stomach twist.Leon stepped up behind me, his hand grazing my shoulder. “Let’s pay him a visit.”The cabin was barely more than a shadow tucked between trees. No lights. No car. Just silence and the thrum of insects in t
Sunlight crept cautiously through the cracks in the blinds, casting golden slivers across the hardwood floor of the safe house bedroom. I sat curled up on the edge of the bed, a blanket draped around my shoulders and the journal heavy in my lap. The cover was cracked, worn with age and secrets. My fingers hovered over the first page for what felt like an eternity.Leon was nearby—he hadn’t slept much, either. He stood at the window with a mug of black coffee, watching the world outside with quiet alertness. When I finally opened the journal, he turned slightly but didn’t speak. He knew I needed silence for this.The first entry was dated nearly two decades ago.July 14th. We signed the contract today. Two families, one future. The woman from Delmar Holdings is more cunning than I expected. She knows we’re desperate—and she used it. I told Mariana to trust me. That this was the only way. God help me, I hope I’m right.My breath hitched. Mariana—that was my mother’s name.I flipped thro
MARGARETTE'S POVBefore we could react, the door behind us burst open.Three armed men rushed in, dressed in black, their movements precise and rehearsed. Leon shoved me behind him, drawing his gun up in an instant. Dorian, who had been lingering near the entrance, took cover behind a cabinet, gun already out.“Elise’s father wasn’t bluffing,” I breathed, my heart hammering. “He had backup ready.”Leon fired the first shot, catching one of the intruders in the shoulder and sending him crashing to the floor. Chaos erupted. Dorian ducked low and returned fire, narrowly missing another attacker who retaliated with a spray of bullets that shattered the windows.I crouched behind an overturned table, the sound of gunfire drowning out my thoughts. The locket in my palm dug into my skin, its edges sharp—a painful reminder that I couldn’t afford to lose control now.“Elise’s father!” I shouted to Leon. “He’s escaping!”Through the haze of smoke and broken glass, I saw the man slinking toward
The sound of footsteps pounding in the hallway was the last thing I heard before the door slammed open.I barely had time to react before a rush of armed men poured into the room, their eyes scanning every corner, landing finally on me. There was no mistaking the intent behind their cold stares.“Get down!” Leon’s voice crackled through the earpiece again, but there was no time to obey. I couldn’t allow myself to hesitate—not now, not when the truth was within reach.I raised my gun, my hands steady despite the chaos unfolding around me. I wasn’t going down without a fight, not after everything I had lost. Not after everything Elise’s father had taken from me.Before the first man could react, I fired. The sound of the shot echoed in the confined space, the bullet finding its mark in the man’s chest. His body crumpled to the ground with a sickening thud, but the others didn’t hesitate. They moved in faster, their guns drawn, but I was ready.I ducked behind the desk, using it as cover
Dawn came in silver slivers through the cracks in the window. I hadn’t slept—not really. My mind was too loud, looping the footage over and over like a broken reel.Leon sat across from me at the table, sipping his coffee like it was the only thing keeping him grounded. Neither of us had said much since the footage. We didn’t need to. The truth had cut so deep, it didn’t leave room for small talk.But I had questions.And I needed answers.“How long do you think he’s known I survived?” I finally asked, voice hoarse.Leon didn’t look away from his mug. “Long enough to start covering his tracks. But he didn’t expect the locket to resurface.”My hand instinctively reached for it. The locket was warm now, like it had absorbed my grief and fury. Inside was a picture of my mother and me—her arm around my tiny shoulders, her smile soft but tired. A photo I hadn’t even remembered until last night.“He killed her,” I whispered. “He killed my father. For what? A project?”“Not just a project,”