THE MOON was hiding behind the clouds as the sky brought down the sparkling white snow, coating the balcony in her room. She could barely see the mansion grounds due to the darkness of the night, and the thickness of the snow. The air was freezing cold, every breath she let out created a cloud outside her mouth. She chugged another glass of alcohol. The time was ticking and she only had till the following morning to kill the mafia boss she is married to. "Shadow is in grave danger because of my father…" she murmured to herself as she held her throbbing head. "But how could I kill… Eros?" The man who saved her, the person who gave her another chance. The man who she thought was all ruthless and had no love, turned out to be the opposite. One will die regardless of her choice. She placed the bottle of alcohol next to the first two she chugged down. Her footsteps were light as feathers as she went back inside and closed the balcony door. Her eyes were droopy and she was walking a
KEISHA woke up from a terrible sleep and she had zero clue as to how she ended up waking up in the bathroom, by the toilet. She tried standing up and holding onto the toilet seat to help her. The first thing she noticed when she looked in the mirror was her hair that was tied up in a low messy bun. Her brows furrowed further and she looked around the room and still couldn't remember what happened before she passed out. She opened the bathroom door and lay down on her bed when not even a couple of seconds later, Taylor came inside with a terribly worried expression. "I-is it true?" she asked in a shy and unsure voice, looking down at the ground. Keisha looked over at her and slowly blinked to process the information. "What's true?" she asked the question back and Taylor tilted her head to the left. She walked over to Keisha and sat on the bed. She grabbed Keisha's hands and held them together. "Can you not?" Keisha asked in annoyance as she tried to take her hands away. "Eros annou
THE ROOM was filled with utter silence as Keisha sat across from the annulment papers on the table. She was quiet, staring at it, and contemplating what her decision should be. "You've been staring at that paper for an hour already," Eros, the person on the other side of the table, informed her. Keisha looked up and her gaze was fixated on his cold and emotionless expression. They kept eye contact before Keisha slowly groped the paper and pulled it closer to her. "If I don't want to sign it?" she asked with squinted eyes, making him scoff loudly. The room was filled with silence yet again and Eros uttered, "Why? So you successfully kill me this time?" Keisha looked away, her tongue cut off, and was lost for words. (I still can't recall anything from last night!) she thought to herself, almost in tears as she imagined the events that led up to that moment. How could she be so stupid? Her senses were hypersensitive as she could hear the clock from across the room, the sound of her f
KEISHA sat down and tears dripped down on her face, falling on the letter she was reading. In the big empty rooms of her apartment, she was the only soul living. Yet she felt lifeless. The letter contained Eros' final words, granting Keisha's request. The final sentence Eros wrote in the letter was, 'I hope my fabricated death helps you have a new life.' She was flabbergasted and filled with emotions she hasn't felt before. Was it wrong to be guilty? He's the only target she had that was sympathetic and the opposite of ruthless. She put the letter down and hysterically cried puddles on the floor. She wept till she couldn't anymore. Her eyes dried out, her breathing seemed to stop, and she stared into oblivion thinking, "Is this really the freedom I wanted?" Minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into a day. The sun rose from the left side of her apartment where a big window showed the sky. She stood up from the ground and walked around the apartment before grabbing a glass of
IT WAS daylight yet it looked like a gloomy midnight. The sky was darker than usual, and the thunder above the snow was covering the loud sounds of weeping and crying from Keisha as she hugged the casket of her husband. She was wearing a long black dress that barely protected her from the winter. Everyone watched in silence as she held his casket closer to her. None dared to make a sound. The sky was crying with her. Eros' death might be fake, but her sorrow was real. Pure. It felt like he died the moment she made the choice to sign the annulment papers– but it was all to save Shadow from harm. "Eros, please, don't do this to me!" she screamed her heart out. The funeral was rushed, almost done too soon without enough time for people to mourn. This seemed suspicious, so Keisha hid it by pretending she requested the funeral to be done so she doesn't need to feel sorrowful anymore. As they were burying the casket six feet underground, Keisha sat down on the grass and watched with muf
SHADOW gasped for air, his eyes shot open and he looked around. Another nightmare. "Fucking hell," he whispered to himself with sweat running down his face. He can't tell the time, he only knows days– weeks, or maybe even months passed. He was oblivious to the world while being kept inside the small room to help heal his injuries. He's been having constant nightmares about being caught again, to be tortured and killed. It's nonstop, almost becoming sleep paralysis. Shadow is already sick and tired of staying in this secluded room yet the fear of dying is slowly getting to him. The creaking of the door made him look. "You have a child?" Daimon stated as he walked inside while holding a photo in hand. Shadow clenched his jaw and when the man got closer, he saw the photo of the girl he was talking about. Shadow sighed before looking away. "That's my sister," he stated and Daimon's brows raised before he nodded. He handed the photo back to Shadow. "You don't mind me searching your hous
JAMES slowly opened Keisha's door when she didn't answer when he called. He looked around the place and finally spotted her. She looked to be asleep while upside down on a couch. He put down the food on the small glass coffee table before squatting down and looking at her face. She was sleeping with her mouth open, literally falling off the couch.He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back up. He scrunched his nose while smelling the alcohol on her, just like how he found Eros the other night. "Is this why you wanted to go out yesterday? To get some alcohol?" he asked the passed-out Keisha with a sigh. He shook his head in disappointment before standing up and grabbing the bottles around her and tidying up the messy living room. Once he was finished, he went back to Keisha. He squatted down in front of her and lightly tapped her shoulders. She didn't respond the first time until she slowly gained consciousness. "Hmm…" she moaned in annoyance as her brows met in the middle. He frown
SHE doesn't seem to know when to stop. It's been days since Elaine kept coming back for Eros. And every single day, he rejects her request but she's persistent and wasn't taking no for an answer. Arriving yet again in the mansion, she was let inside like any other time. Her heels clang against the floor as the staff inside twisted their neck to her direction, all thinking the same thing (Her again, the mafia boss seems to favor her,) they thought to themselves while quietly watching.She was happily going along the halls when a woman, a little shorter than her, stumbled back and hit her. "Hey!" Elaine screamed as she stumbled back but saved herself from falling. She fixed her clothes and didn't hesitate to grab the woman by her cheeks. "What's your name?" she asked with annoyance and a raised eyebrow. The young woman gulped while her heart palpitated in fear of Elaine as she gripped her cheeks tighter. "T-taylor," she whispered like there was no sound coming out of her mouth. Elain