7:45pm, Italy's Police Station Kirby breathed out a sigh of exhaustion as she sat in front of her desk. Resting both elbows on the table, she rested her head on it, massaging her temples with her fingers. "Hey, you okay?" A passing colleague asked, coming to a halt. "Yeah, I'm fine." "You sure? You look more distracted and a little worried today." He continued, flashing her a comforting smile. "I'm fine, Rio. You don't have to worry about me." She replied, looking up at him. Rio refused to give up as he rested on the edge of her desk and leaned on it, "Is this about your girlfriend? Did you two have a fight or you've broken up?" Kirby had her eyes on him for a couple of seconds before he scoffed, "You really should stop.""I'm trying to help you, Kirby." Rio also scoffed, "You have no idea what it's like to be with a man, do you? And here I am offering such a wonderful opportunity for you to do so.""Are you aware your action can pass off as sexual harassment?" "I'm a cop, I
Kirby knocked and opened an office door. "I see you finally decided to look at my business card." She heard someone say as soon as she got in. Kirby quickly turned to the mysterious woman who she hadn't talked to in the last few weeks. "Carrie was attacked by some men. She was beaten to a pulp, and is now in a very critical condition at the hospital. The doctor said he might be in coma for a few weeks. Or maybe a few months or years." The woman dropped her pen and pushed the paper in front of her away, "Am I being blamed here, Kirby?" "You've been after Carrie and Andrea for a while now. I don't know how long, but I do know it might've been a long time. Who knows if you tried to take laws into your own hands." Kirby chuckled. The woman stared at Kirby for a long time before she scoffed, "I will never do such a thing." "And why won't you?" "Because I've been laying low for a very long time and will not jeopardize my plan which I've been perfecting for years now by attacking Car
The silence in the room would've been eery and frightening for Kirby when she finished talking if she didn't have a lot going through her mind. "And she said her name's Aindrea Accardo Forbes?" Andrea suddenly scoffed, getting onto her feet. "Precisely." "And she kidnapped you once and revealed who Carrie was to you?" Andrea asked again and Kirby nodded. "So you kept something like this away from your girlfriend, why?" "I thought I could take care of it." "Why? Cause you're a cop?" Andrea hissed, the corners of her lips curling up into a mocking smile. "Yes, and what we do is to protect the common folks from the mafia and the danger they bring." Kirby responded in defense. Andrea tilted her head to the side a little and walked towards the winery which was just a few meters away from where she sat. She took out a bottle of bourbon and poured two glasses. Then she brought one back for Kirby and extended it towards her. Kirby looked up at her for a couple of seconds before tak
Andrea pressed the red button on the elevator repeatedly for it to open, but it didn't. Seconds later, it slid open and she rushed out to see she was a floor away from her room. Without minding the crowd walking into the elevator, she pressed the button to her floor. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor of the elevator as she waited to reach her destination. When it finally came to a stop, she sped out of it, running without stopping to her hotel room. The first thing she noticed when she got to it was the opened door. Aindrea didn't bother closing it like she knew Andrea would return. "Given your health, I didn't think you'd run all the way here." Andrea heard as she walked to where she had left Kirby and Cheryl. Cheryl was lying unconscious on the floor, a pool of blood forming around her head. While Aindrea had her hands on Kirby's hair. "Cheryl put on a hard fight, I'm impressed." Aindrea commented, shoving Kirby aside. Then she slipped both hands into her back pocke
Aindrea walked deeper into a tunnel. She had a flashlight in her right hand which she used to guide herself. It seemed she was a frequent visitor to the place as she wasn't lost despite the turns looking the same. Soon, she stops somewhere and turns to an inconspicuous button located just below her ankle. Pushing it in, a tunnel leading towards another place opened up right beside the button. She held up her flashlight again and walked in. The tunnel led her into a room. There was a man covered in his own blood, strapped to an electric chair at the center of the room. "What else do you want from me? I've told you everything you've asked. Just let me go!" The man pleaded weakly. "I'm afraid I can no longer do that." She breathed out, turning on the switch at a wall.The bulb hanging above the man illuminated the room, casting a shadow at him. Thanks to his face which was covered in blood, what he looked like wasn't that visible. "You promised to let me go once you've gotten ever
Ryker raised a brow in surprise. "Why? Is the almighty Gabriel Accardo running from a confrontation by his daughter who he hasn't seen for more than a decade?" Ryker asked, finding the whole talk silly. Gabriel stared straight at Ryker for a full minute before he responded. "I do not mind going head-on with Aindrea, what I do mind is that my grandson will be caught in the crossfire." Grandson. The only word that made sense to Ryker and wiped the taunting smile off his face. "Does Aindrea have a son?" "Yes, she does. And that person is Newton. Obviously." Gabriel scoffed. "But you don't seem pani—" Ryker paused, "But that's not the grandson you're talking about." "Aindrea has Luca with her. I don't know how, but she does. And that's the reason she dared to spew her plans to Andrea because she knew we won't do anything in fear of hurting Luca in the process." Gabriel breathed out and walked past Ryker. Ryker rubbed his hair as he walked behind Gabriel. "I'm still thinking of ho
"I think we should find somewhere comfortable to sit in while we wait for your friend." Andrea suggested, looking down at Anna who held onto her left hand. Anna tugged Andrea's hand as she shook her head, "I don't think he'll be able to see us if we leave here." Andrea could only sigh and await Luca's presence. After a couple of minutes, she took out a wad of dollar notes from her pocket and directed it at Anna. "Why don't you run along to get us ice-cream? The sun is pretty hurt and I'm sure our bodies need it." Andrea mentioned. Anna took the money and left. Andrea found a shade closeby and relaxed on it, then crossed both hands across her chest as she glanced around her. She waited for two minutes before she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. "The hospital said I was in the same room with Carrie, but when I woke up minutes ago, I searched the whole ward and there's no record of her." Kirby's worried voice came through as soon as Andrea answered the phone. Andrea went sile
Not long after Luca left in the BMW, a silver Porsche stopped right where it had been and a nervous Ryker alighted from it. He glanced around him a couple of times before catching sight of a familiar figure. Without hesitating, he followed behind her. "Andrea, just give me a chance to explain to you. Just listen to me, please. Andrea?" Ryker said consecutively. However, Andrea who was seemingly walking in front of him didn't bother turning. He frowned slightly as he got closer to her. Suddenly, she turned to face Ryker and smiled broadly. Ryker came to an instant halt as his face darkened. From a distance, Aindrea looked a lot like Andrea. Even the face looked the same except that the sight of insanity in Aindrea's eyes was absent from Andrea's eyes. "What a pity, Ryker. You missed three of them." Aindrea tsked, walking around him. "What do you mean by I missed three of them?" Ryker asked, turning his body to wherever she walked. Aindrea stopped and raised three fingers, then
Three months later Carrie and Andrea sat on the roof of Ryker's house overlooking that buzzing city. Life had gone back to normal for them. Or at least for the moment. Gabriel had taken back his entire after Andrea refused to take over it just like before. Elaine also bailed out of being the head of the Forbes and the mafia boss. And so did Andrea. Hence, it fell on Carrie's shoulder. Carrie held up the jug of coffee in her hand and chuckled sheepishly, "I've always hated coffee, but for the last three months, it's been my very good friend." "It must be hard finally being at the top of the pyramid, isn't it?" Andrea grinned. "Hard isn't the word you should use. I think difficult and impossible should fit just right. At the rate at which my life is going, being the boss will soon become an impossible task for me. How did you deal with it when you were there?" Carrie breathed out in exasperation. "As a woman, it was hard. Marco dared me, a lot of men in the mafia also dared. All I
"What do you intend to get with all of these, Aindrea? I mean, with me, father and mother gone, you'll have no one on your side. That's going to be such a sad and pathetic life, don't you think?" Andrea tutted. "I've been living that pathetic life since the day I was born because my parents thought my younger sister was the cuter twin. So they did a lot of things for her." "You always talk about being the firstborn and everything. The responsibility of being the first born is to be self-sacrificing. You certainly do not have such quality." Andrea chuckled, her eyes almost losing. Aindrea smiled and squatted beside her, "Do you think I care?" "I know you don't, which is why I'm offering you the best thing that could ever happen to you; take as much money as possible and go far away from us. Start up a new life with your son and live the luxurious life you've always wanted. You can start up your own empire and in the future, we will act like we have no idea who we are to each other.
The Accardo's Manor Gabriel glanced towards Andrea's room where Aindrea now occupied as he heard the sound of so many things smashing and breaking. "Does anyone have any idea what's going on?" He asked no one in particular, but his workers who were in front of him shook their heads. Even those in the mafia who had come into the house on Gabriel's order had no idea. They couldn't go up to check up on Aindrea as she was now their boss. "She's obviously upset and breaking things." Damon said walking into the house. Gabriel tilted his head to look at him before taking his eyes away. He no longer had any control over who came into the house and who didn't. And since Damon was with Aindrea, there was nothing he could do about his appearance. "You don't look surprised to see me? You probably knew I wouldn't spend the rest of my life in jail, didn't you?" Damon hissed, inching closer to Gabriel. "If you're working for Aindrea, you're making the wrong choice. A very wrong choice which
Presley rushed to the station less than ten minutes later, but to her dismay, she found Carrie seated beside Luca as they drank sodas. Luca squirmed closer to Carrie when he saw Presley. He recognized her to be the woman who led him to the warehouse. Carrie takes another can of soda beside her and extends it towards Presley. "I think he recognizes you." "And I think you should return him to me." Presley responded, sitting beside her. Luca held onto Carrie even tighter when he heard Presley. "You're scaring Ryker's son and you're actually admitting to have kidnapped him. Are you, perhaps, tired of loving?" Carrie hissed. "I didn't kidnap him, I only took him in and kept him in a safe place for his parents." Presley corrected. "You took him in without the consent of his parents and have kept silent all these while despite being aware that's one of Andrea's realism for coming to New York, a city she vowed never to visit." Presley snorted, opening her can of soda. "I don't care a
The following morning, Carrie walked out of the ward's bathroom fully dressed to meet the doctor in charge of Cheryl inside the ward. Cheryl was still fast asleep."She seems a whole lot better now." Carrie was the first to comment. The doctor agreed with her as he nodded. Then he pushed the file in his hand towards her, "Her vitals are stable and we've monitored and checked her numerous times to see if she'd have any relapse in the future, but our system states she won't. However, we'll require her to come once a week for regular check-ups until we deem her fit to return back to her normal activities." "Okay, sure." Carrie mumbled, taking the file. He handed her a file and she took and signed on it. Afterwards, they were ready to leave the hospital. Carrie sat on a chair waiting for Cheryl to wake up. Cheryl woke up an hour later, prepared and they were ready to go. The ride back to Carrie's place was slow and silent as none of them wanted to talk about the events of the past few
One hour after Ryker left, two lawyers had been summoned; one for Gabriel and the other for Georgina.Georgina stood defiantly on the other side of the room, her eyes locked with Aindrea's. "I want what's rightfully mine," she insisted, her voice laced with anger. "I deserve half of everything Gabriel owns.""Georgina, you have to understand that Gabriel doesn't have anything anymore. He gave it all to me. There's nothing left to divide. Frankly speaking, since you're the richer spouse, you should be the one giving to my father." Aindrea tutted. Georgina's face twisted with disbelief. "How can that be? He was wealthy. I won't walk away empty-handed. I won't allow it!"Aindrea didn't expect Georgina to understand, so she could only nudge at the family's lawyer to draft out a divorce agreement which would favor both of them.The lawyer quietly began drafting the divorce agreement, carefully outlining the terms and conditions. The pen moved swiftly across the paper as he kept a blank fa
The Accardo's Manor Early that morning, Valerie heads out of the building to jog within the vicinity. Two hours later, she turns and jogs back. However, she is forced to stop when she sights a familiar figure standing in her way. Taking off her earpiece, she tuts silently and asks, "I didn't know you were out of jail. Did Gabriel release you?" "No, he didn't. Aindrea did. She even brought me to live here until I get an apartment." Damon responded, taking slow strides towards her. For each step he took, she took two steps backwards. Seeing this, he scoffed and stopped walking. "Why are you moving away from me? You don't think I'm going to hurt you, do you?""I heard people pick up bad behaviours in jail. I don't think we should continue our relationship. I think it's best if we both go our separate ways." She stated in a righteous voice. "Go our separate ways? Are you trying to abandon me now that I'm worth nothing?" He hissed and continued walking towards her. "Don't take it pe
The Forbes' Manor The next day Elaine walked down the stairs the next morning and straight to the dining room to see Andrea seated already and enjoying her breakfast. "I didn't know you were still around." "I'm not leaving until I find what I came for." Andrea stated, forking a pancake into her mouth. "Why do I have a feeling you're about to do something crazy? Maybe like, umm, snatch my empire from me?" Elaine chuckled, taking her seat opposite Andrea. "I have no business with your empire." Andrea thought she should clarify. "And you're not also upset that the more you hesitate to do what we talked about the other day, the more things you hold dear will keep getting snatched from you?" Elaine inquired, and raised her phone provocatively. She tapped a few things on it before sliding it over to Andrea. "Seen it?"Andrea dropped her fork and took up the phone. When she saw the heading of the news, she paused the video and slid it back to Elaine. "I watched the live broadcast.""
The Forbes' Manor Andrea slipped her phone out of her pocket when she felt it vibrate. It was a text message from Ryker. She read the words on it with a blank face before slipping back into her pocket. "You should respond to his messages." She heard Presley say behind her, but didn't turn to acknowledge her presence. "I'll talk with him when I've organized my thoughts." Andrea breathed out. Presley chuckled and walked towards her. She stood beside her and sighed. "You think you know Ryker Darius, don't you? What if I tell you there are a lot of things you don't know about him." "I'll believe you." Andrea replied almost immediately, catching Presley off guard. "Then you should know better than to believe any word that comes out of his mouth." Presley admonished, getting a grip on her emotions. "Thank you very much, aunt. I'll do well to keep that in mind." Andrea turned to her and smiled. "You're welcome." Presley nodded, returning the smile, "I also know you've been snooping