KANE’s POV
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“Doctor, how is she?” I ask the moment the elderly man in a white coat steps out from behind the dark mahogany door. He looks at me and pushes the round rimless glass up to the bridge of his crooked nose, silently shaking his wintry white head.
I feel my gut clench. Why is he shaking his head?
Behind the doctor, I see his nurse tucking in the girl under a thick white comforter. The rays of the breaking dawn stream into the room through the stained glass windows and cast a pale haunting glow on her. Believe me when I say she looks like sleeping beauty. But I am no prince, and no amount of true love’s kiss can wake her up from the poison that Sergio cursed her with.
“I’ve administered the antidote into her and treated her wounds. She’s lucky to still be alive,” the doctor says. The nurse steps out of the ro
KANE’s POV “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” ―Lao Tzu It is the second day and sleeping beauty has still not awaken. In fact, she has contracted a fever and that is never a good sign. It means her body is waging war against an infection, and it is a war I hope she will win. The elderly doctor, Doctor Antonia came by again this morning but left saying the same thing, that he has administered the antidote and that it is up to her will to survive now. I sit in my favourite armchair by her bedside with hands clasped and elbows propped on my knees as I watch her. Her brows crease in her sleep and she murmurs incoherently. Is she having a nightmare? “What will it take to wake you up?” I ask. But of course, she does not answer. I lean forward and brush a strand of damp hair from her glistening forehead wondering when I will get to see those beautiful acorn ey
LILY’s POV Ibraco? Kane Ibraco? I frown. Why does the name sound so familiar? This man, Kane, releases his hold on me and allows me to take in my surroundings. Every move I make is painful, it is as if my body burns with invisible fire but I strain to move anyway. I am on a bed, a feathery comfy bed and there is a great wide window that has been opened to let in the gentle sunlight. The room is magnificently huge, bigger than my family house even, and every piece of furniture that inhabits this mahogany themed room oozes style and quality. My eyes return from the ogling of the room and I look down at my body only to realize that I am wearing a clean white cotton dress. From the corner of my eye, I notice a movement and my head jerks back up to see a big, tall man with light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and recognition flashes across my face. “You…” I whisper, ignoring the scratchy dryness in my throat. Isn't thi
LILY’s POV I am in the backseat of a luxurious sedan. The seats are black and leathered and the interiors are immaculately spotless; there is air conditioning and a heating system too. I have never been in a sedan before. Father and I used to dream about sitting in a car such as this; we would sit on a grassy spot under a shady tree at the top of the hill of our little village and he would tell me stories of the great vehicles that only the rich and powerful possessed and I would often wonder what it would feel like to be in one. Now I know. It feels like death. I feel no joy in being enveloped by such luxury and as the car gently hums along the rocky road that leads up a winding hill, I lean my weary head against the tinted window, not particularly focusing on anything that whizzes by the window. I look, but I do not see. I breathe, but I am smothered. I touch, but I cannot feel. I cannot do anything. I cannot even cry. The ab
KANE’s POV I look at the girl with my arms folded across my chest. Lily, that is her name. Lilies are supposed to be frail, beautiful and fleeting, but I see an unyielding fire burning behind her hazel eyes and because of this, I know that this is no ordinary lily. This girl is a fighter and no one on the face of the earth will be able to stand in her way until she sees justice served. So how can I reject her plea? How can I deny her the vengeance she so desperately seeks? How can I tell her that once you join the Mafia, you will forever be bonded to it for life? That there is no escaping the life of the damned once you take the sacred vow? The life of the Mafia is a dark and treacherous one; one wrong move and it can cost you everything. Everything. I once so desperately tried to run away from all this. But you see? I ended up coming back, back down this forsaken road. I ended up paying for the sins of trying to run away from my fate.
LILY’s POV “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” ―Sun Tzu I have witnessed too many deaths lately. Far too many. I should be immune to them by now, but I am not. Truly, how can one ever become numb to a life that is lost? Every life taken was once precious to someone, was once a joy bringer to a loved one and was once filled with hopes and dreams. And if you asked me what I thought about the Mafia going trigger happy a week ago, I would gladly tell you that they are sadistic, vile creatures without an ounce of humanity in them. But this is not a week ago. This is today. And today, I pleaded to become one of them. Today, I did nothing while watching Kane Ibraco shoot a man without batting an eyelid. The gruesome image, along with all the others will haunt me to the day I die, but I have made up my mind. I will sell my soul to the devil just to lay waste on the man who took everything from me. I w
KANE’s POV The night is cool and the breeze is calming, but there is no sense of peace radiating from Lily. As I wrap my arms around her to steady the gun in her hand, she stiffens and I know all too well why. It is because of Sergio. That man scarred her, hurt her and broke her. And he haunts her even in her dreams. Each night I wake up to hear her muffled cries through the walls that separate our rooms. I had specifically arranged for Lily to sleep in the room next to mine; away from the rest of the men’s and foolishly thought it would give her more sense of security. I was wrong. She thinks no one hears her when she wakes up screaming from her nightmares, but I hear her. Her dreams are relentless and they are eating her alive. Every night when she stifles her cries, I want nothing more than to kick down the door to her room and take her in my arms, to wipe away every tear and tell her that everything will be alright. But tha
LILY’s POV “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee” ―Muhammad Ali I look to my left and right, sizing my competition up. All around me are men; big, tall and strong. Apart from Ian, I am probably…no, I am definitely the most petite in this group. But that does not matter. Having trained alongside most of these men the past few weeks, I have come to know of their strengths and weaknesses; and I am sure they know mine as well. But what I do not know are the strong and weak points of the other men who just came in today. Apparently, they had trained elsewhere. “Hey sweetheart, how bout we have some fun after all this is over?” one of them snickers, his dark brown eyes roaming me from head to toe. I take an instant dislike towards him. He is tall, lean and sports a shaved head, unlike the rest of the men here who wear their crowning glory with pride. There is also a tattoo of a serpent on his neck. I choose to
LILY’s POV “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?Then do not be eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” — JRR Tolkien I step onto the ring and all around me, the men quieten down to a hush. A gentle breeze picks up and blows at my hair, sending a few stray strands to dance around my eyes. Dance…yes. This is only a dance, I tell myself. Except it is a dance of blades. Baldy makes his way to the ring and takes his stance opposite me. He winks at me and licks his lips in the most obscene of ways. Maybe I should aim for his tongue first. I tuck the strands of hair behind my ear and stretch out my right hand in front of me with the blade held tight. The tip gleams under the sunlight, it momentarily blinds me and I stagger back slightly. This elicits a laugh from Baldy. “Sweetheart, why don’t you just give up? You can’t even stan
“We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.” —Vera LynnLILY’s POVThe instant seems frozen in eternity. I hear the blast of explosion from the pistol and a thud is heard.And then a wail.It is Wendy’s.I open my eyes, not realizing that I had closed them earlier and see Kane holding the child in his arms. There is blood on his shirt. He had wrestled the gun out of her hand and she had shot him.“Kane!” I yell, running towards him only for Rose to swing the pistol in my direction.“Stay back! Don’t move!” she screams. She seems confused, scared even. The blood on Kane’s shirt blossoms like a red rose.“I shot Kane….” she whispers, her fingers start to tremble. Her eye remains fixated on the pistol in her hands and she looks as if
ROSE’s POVMOMENTS BEFORE ROSE’S SCREAMS.Night has come and I sit in front of my dressing table, combing my hair but I cannot concentrate. Is this the tenth or eleventh stroke?It is too noisy downstairs, I am unable to concentrate.Then I hear them laugh; Lily, Kane and even that annoying Russo. I know they are laughing at me, they’re all hiding in the study room talking about me and plotting to get rid of me. My hand grips the brush so hard that my knuckles turn white.Wicked…they’re all wicked people.Wendy starts to cry in her rib and my head snaps in her direction. I just fed her, why is she crying again?“Shut up!” I yell at her but she too does not listen to me. No one respects me.“Shut UP!” I yell again, throwing the comb at the crib. It lands at the side of the crib, breaks into two and drops onto the flood with a thud. Wendy’s wails escalate to the point w
“It may take a year or it might take a day, but what’s meant to be will always find its way.” —UnknownLILY’s POVI walk towards Kane ever so cautiously, taking one step at a time. And with each step that I take, I tell myself that this is not a dream. Kane called out my name.This is reality.I stop in front of the mahogany desk he is sitting at and he looks up from the paper he is scribbling on. Our eyes meet and my heart starts to pound with a mixture of both joy and fear. Do I go to him or do I stay? What if it wasn’t my name he had called out? What if the physiotherapist heard wrongly?Kane drops his pen and stands up, towering over me. I had forgotten how tall he is.“Lily…” he says my name and at that instant, my walls come crumbling down. Tears line my eyes and my lips quiver.“You remember me?” I whisper. I can barely breat
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” — Sun Tzu,The Art of WarLILY’s POVThere is no point arguing with Rose. It’s like talking to a brick wall. I don’t want to risk another innocent life either. One doctor’s death was enough, the thought of Dr Chase’s grieving grandfather is more than enough to stop me from pressing on with the paternity test.I close my eyes briefly and pinch the bridge of my bode between my thumb and index finger. Ian comes out of the room and leans against the corridor wall next to where I stand. He does not speak, he merely places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.We stay like that for a very long time before Ian finally speaks. “So what next?”I sigh. “We wait, we wait for Kane to truly awaken.”*****The wait is a long one. Days tu
“So brief a time we have to stay, along this dear familiar way. It seems to me we should be kind, to those whose lives touch yours and mine.The hands that help us who may know, how soon the long, long way must go? And might we not their faults forgive, and make them happy while they live? So many faults in life there are, we need not go to seek them far. But time is short and you and I might let the little faults go by.And seek for what is true and kind, in those whose lives touch yours and mine. It seems to the better way, then why not friend, begin today?” – Anonymous. LILY’s POV I stand at the edge of Kane’s hospital bed as a physician tends to him. My feet tap nervously on the ground and my fingers dig into my palm as I stare at Kane who lays motionless with his eyes fixated on the ceiling. The physician is shining a mini torchlight into his eyes and calling out his name. “
LILY’s POV“A strong person is not the one who doesn’t cry. A strong person is one who is quiet and sheds tears for a moment and then picks up the sword and fights again.” - UnknownI stare at Kane’s unconscious form, gently stroking his fingers as I lay my head on his bed.“Please, wake up Kane. I need you.”But of course, he doesn’t. This isn’t like some movies where the male lead wakes up, kisses his beloved and they live happily ever after. This is real…and I hate it.The door to Kane’s private room opens and I do not have to turn to know who it is.“Lily.” It is Ian. He is here to pick me up.I sit up and give Kane a peck on his forehead but he does not stir. Sighing, I stand up and straighten my blouse.Then I turn to face Ian and say, “Let’s go.”I need to see Rose. I have an inkling she was
LILY’s POVThe hour is late and the casino is doing well. It is a full house tonight with patrons all abuzz with excitement as they enjoy drinks and try their lady luck at the gambling table. I should be happy, money is rolling in.But I am not.Instead, what fills my heart is a sense of dreaded anticipation. I stand in my office with the lights down low as I drum my fingers against the full-length glass that overlooks the gambling den.Three days ago, Dr Chase had done a swab on Rose and sent her DNA to the hospital lab for analysis to determine if the unborn child truly belongs to Kane. If all goes well, I should be expecting a call from Dr Chase any time now.I turn away from the glass window and look at the plain white clock hanging on the wall. The second-hand ticks away all too slowly, as if it is taunting me.I sigh. I hate waiting.The phone rings and I jump. Clenching my jaw, I walk towards the phone ever so cautiously.
CHAPTER 61“One lie has the power to tarnish a thousand truths”– Al DavidLILY's POVOnce upon a time, I championed a vision. A vision where life would be full of smiles and handshakes, a vision where life would be only a bed of roses. And as a child, I had told father of my dreams to live such a life and he would always laugh in return, ruffling my hair before stooping to my then childish height and tell me, “Lily, have you forgotten that even a bed of roses will have thorns?”Father was right. There is no such thing as a perfect world full of happily ever after. Worlds like that exist only in fairy tales. The time for dreaming is over and I need to wake up.I need to wake up and realize that life is while life may not have turned out the way I wanted it to, I must stay strong.It has been an agonizingly long week and Kane has yet to awaken. I will not go into the night, I
LILY's POV “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ―Lao Tzu The room falls silent and every pair of eyes in the room follow my steps when I make my way to the head of the table. I stop there with my feet rooted to the ground and let the silence hang as my eyes roam the room, returning everyone’s gaze. Some of the men nod at me wordlessly, giving me the assurance that they stand by me; others avert their gazes when my eyes meet theirs, they do not trust me. Then I see Russo and Ian, their eyes tell me everything. They believe in me. Even Big Bob whom I thought would side Tore gives me a fist pump and a smile. In doing so, I am filled with a feeling of both gratitude and confidence. I am filled with hope. I am filled with a surge of both gratitude and confidence. “Gentlemen, we stand here victorious against the traitor Sergio who paid the ultimate price for his betrayal. We