Chapter Four:Looks Can Be Deceiving.

"Valerie!"

The young lady zoned back to reality from where she stood behind the counter, to stare at the angry face of her manager pointing accusing fingers at her.

"What's wrong with you today? Everyone has been complaining about you working like a snail, and it's bad for my business. I shouldn't have employed you in the first place, you youngsters are so lazy!" 

Jonathan threw words at her as if she was his wife, who was no different from him. The odd couple are in a toxic marriage, and it's not a secret to everyone in the restaurant that he's the cause of it.

Not only was he accusing her of making business unsteady and slow today, the stench of his teeth made her shift back so as not to feel his spit on her face. He always spits whenever he talks. Just staring at him throwing insults at her made Valerie realize just how unlucky and pathetic her life was.

The image of seeing that gun in the bag of her twin sister still lived rent-free in her head. She was worried because she didn't know what and why that dangerous item was in her possession.

Years after years, things gradually started turning better for them. Valerie couldn't realize the source behind the money that Vanessa always comes home with. After-all, she was forced to believe that she had a steady job that was far from where they lived. That's why she never questioned anything that Vanessa did, until the past few months.

Valerie wasn't bothered about the gun because she knew her sister, Vanessa, would never use it on anybody. But she could still remember the look on her face while she asked about that money. 

She was…scared for her life, which added to her anxiety about the whole ordeal. To make the whole matter much worse, her number wasn't going through when she woke up this morning and tried calling her.

Despite everything that is going on, she's worried about her sister. She and Chad were the only people she had left. Watching her parents and brother die in that fire made her scared. If anything happens to Vanessa, she won't be able to live.

"Are you hearing me?" 

She heard Jonathan say, and she didn't put up much fight with him. She still needed this job and losing it was out of the question. Although, she wasn't able to hear anything that he said in the last minutes, and when she looked at her left-hand side to see Jolene, her best friend.

Valerie nearly burst out in laughter, but she held back before apologizing to the manager, who left with a huff and a relieved sigh left her lips. Jolene was the one who told her that Jonathan rains down spits when he's talking, and the look on her face moment ago made her forget about her problem moments ago.

"What's wrong, miss girl? You don't look okay?" Jolene said, coming to whisper while pretending that she was taking an order for a customer.

Valerie was working at a high-class restaurant that paid well. She met Jolene when they relocated to this part of the city and Jolene has been a great friend.

"Vanessa left." Valerie simply said.

"What do you mean by that?" Jolene scrunched up her face in confusion. Valerie couldn't blame her for not understanding, because Vanessa was never really at home. She just exists today and the next day she doesn't.

This wasn't the best place to talk about Vanessa's disappearance. But Valerie knew that she needed all the help that she could get right now. Jolene's father is a cop, and maybe he might be able to help her.

She tried speaking only to be interrupted by her phone ringing. It was Chad's homeroom teacher. She wasted no time in answering the call, and the information she got made her countenance change instantly.

"W.. What did you say happened to Chad?" She asked, and nearly fell had it not been that she was sitting down. But it was just her phone that slipped from her hand, but Jolene caught it before looking at her.

"You are scaring me, Valerie. What's wrong with you and what do you mean that Vanessa is missing?" Jolene asked, but Valerie was already getting rid of the apron before she took her phone from Jolene, her bag from the nearest table before leaving the restaurant.

"Valerie, stop it! You are scaring me." Jolene held her back, but when she turned around Valerie was already in tears. "Val.."

"Chad…he's in the hospital, something… please tell Jonathan.."

"Of course, I will. Be safe." Jolene said.

With that being said, Valerie left the restaurant only to hit a hard rock and nearly fell had it not been for the arms that held her, which made her know that it wasn't any rock.

"I'm sorry…" She said, pulling away from the stranger when she came back to her senses to realize that she was in the arms of someone.

When she looked up into the most emotionless pair of green eyes, staring right at her. All the hair on her arms stood on attention, and she felt goosebumps all over her body. She didn't like the sudden change around her, that was caused by this undoubtedly handsome man whose body language changed when he saw her face.

"You…" Marco mumbled, when he recognized her.

"Boss." One of his men stepped forward to do the necessary. It was her, the woman that was last seen with Ares, the woman that their capo was searching for. 

 Valerie pushed herself away from him, before she rushed into the waiting cab that she saw. She rubbed her arm together to warm herself up, and also to get rid of this eerie feeling that she gets from just staring at that man.

She didn't think twice about who he was, nor did she question the other two men that were at his side, all the young lady could think of was about her nephew.

Meanwhile, back there at the restaurant. Marco has to put out a call for his men to follow her; he doesn't want to tell the Don yet about who he just met, until he's sure everything has been concluded.

She didn't seem like an assassin, nor a spy sent by their enemy to kill Ares, but looks can be deceiving especially in their line of work. So, that's something that was left for him to find out who exactly she is, and what relationship she has with Ares.