Lorenzo Kim

Present Day

"Leave me!" Gut-wrenching sobs of a female echoed in the air, bringing the earlier knocked-out Zane back to his senses as he began blinking restlessly to clear his vision, to see what was going on and strained against the ropes that restrained him.

However, he struggled to open his eyes properly owing to the severe pain in his head, but it didn't take him long to realize that his wrists and feet were tied. Even his mouth was taped shut.

And as soon as his vision cleared, the sight in front of him scared him to death. That too, for the first time in his life.

Vanessa was right there, in front of him, sobbing, her eyes red and puffy, a single cut across her cheek causing blood to drip. She was struggling in the grasp of Lorenzo, who had roughly clutched her hair in his fists and was now marking a cut across her neck, right where Zane had left his mark.

The white shirt she wore was drenched in blood, with a tear in it precisely at her left rib cage, the spot of her Lorenzo Kim tattoo. Several other cuts all across her thighs and even calves, making her appear much like a walking corpse.

Considering she was a skilled martial artist, trapping her defenseless would have been no joke. But she was no match for Lorenzo's strength and agility, since he was a skilled combatant himself and not to mention, the woman was unarmed.

Yes, the person to knock Zane's senses out, to tie him down and to cut Vanessa's skin until it bled was none other than Lorenzo Kim. Vanessa's husband and Zane's persistent enemy for over two years.

He'd caught them red-handed. Thanks to Vanessa's bodyguard, José, whom she had recruited herself, assuming he was loyal to her since she had once saved his life.

However, the poor fellow can't be blamed. He was loyal indeed but Lorenzo already had his suspicions and the guard didn't want to be killed.

"Oh look who's up!" Lorenzo chuckled as soon as he witnessed Zane's open eyes.

Zane clenched his jaws at the sight in front of him, a faint sense of compunction moving him as he witnessed how Lorenzo had erupted his rage on the female he claimed to love.

And Lorenzo, throwing the distressed female on the concrete, approached Zane, snidely grinning at him and kneeling at the level of his detainee, he removed the tape off his mouth.

"Lorenzo, it's between you and me. Let her go!" Zane gritted his teeth, struggling against the rope that restrained him.

"Who do you think you are?" Lorenzo arched a brow, his voice calm yet stern. "She's my wife, you m*ther f*cker. And you used her against me."

"Tell me, sweetheart, did I not love you enough?" Lorenzo questioned, his voice turning soft as his gaze swiftly shifted from Zane to his wife. "Tell me! Was there ever a time when I hurt you or did something wrong that caused you to betray me?"

"N-no." Vanessa mumbled, gulping a knot down her parched throat as her body trembled at his voice.

"Then why?" He yelled, causing Vanessa to almost leap at her spot at his sudden raised voice. "Tell me!" He clenched his jaws making his way back to her.

"I love you, you unfaithful b*tch," he muttered, his eyes dark with rage yet moist with sorrow as he looked at the female. "The sight of you wearing his shirt right now is making me so furious that I want to rip it off you and have you right in front of him."

Vanessa's heart sank in reaction to his words, while a shudder rushed down her spine upon witnessing a bulge in his pants.

"What are you looking at?" Lorenzo asked Zane who too was caught staring at it. "Wanna help me with it?" He wiggled to which Zane rolled his eyes.

"Why did you have to dress so minimally?" He pouted while the cold edge of the knife he had in his hands wandered down inside her shirt, feeling her skin. "You know how agonizing it is for me, baby? I didn't let my men here because of you." She shuddered at the contact of the knife at her bare breasts, letting out a whimper as her body froze in terror of what was about to follow.

"Ahh!" Lorenzo jerked her and yelled, angry by her reaction. "Do I appear as a r*pist to you?"

"Nn-no," she managed to utter, swallowing her fears and pain, while her eyes endured the urge to cry but Lorenzo squeezed her cheeks, causing them to hurt with the pressure. "This is awful, you're treating me as some villain when the real villain is him," he gritted his teeth. "I'm your husband, but you're flinching when I'm touching you. Didn't you flinch when f*cking with that jerk a while ago?"

"Lorenzo!" Zane yelled, fighting back tears he didn't know he had for the woman in front of him. Never in his life had he felt so helpless before.

When he started this game, he never envisioned or cared about Vanessa and what Lorenzo would do to her if he found out.

Over the course of his 28-year life, he'd witnessed too many deaths to be bothered by one more, besides for someone like him who himself was responsible for deaths of thousands of people, it was no big deal. And he didn't wish to be bothered either. He could buy himself plenty of Vanessas. As beautiful as her, and as smart as her. They would give him the same pleasures and far more.

But as he saw her clothes drenched in blood and his own death in front of his eyes, with no backup in sight, he was smacked straight in the face with the harsh truth. He had put his everything on the line. But, above all , he had put the only person in the world who loved him, on the line. He could buy a lot of other women, but none of them would be Vanessa. Nobody can be her.

He couldn't even count the number of times she'd put her life in danger to save his a$$. He was accustomed to relying on her since she had always been there to protect him when he faced death. She always said she owed him her life and proved it each time. There would never be anyone who could equal her loyalty.

"We can talk it over," said Zane, trying to sound calm.

"Talk what over?" Lorenzo scoffed. "About how you made a fool out of me?"

"I'm sorry, my friend, but I've been planning this event for quite some time. To ensure that if not these bullets, this 30-storeyed building completes the job, which is to ensure that you will not be able to make it out alive."

A 30-story building! Zane gasped, instantly taking in his surroundings, which he had previously overlooked. They were on the rooftop of the same hotel where he was staying that night and his heart fell in terror when he realized it was still under construction and had no fencing at the edges.

"You're making a huge mistake. You're not going to make it out alive if my men find out about your being here," Zane warned. Although he knew he was doomed, he was not ready to let down his guard. He had to put on a brave face.

"Bold of you to assume I'm unarmed, and I don't have my men around to be scared of your shallow threats," smirked Lorenzo, unimpressed by his captive's warnings.

"If you want to kill me," Zane replied following a brief pause, looking his captor boldly in the eyes. "Let her go, you've hurt her enough."

"I didn't hurt her? It's just my style of showing affection," Lorenzo chuckled, derisively blinking his eyes as he pointed at her bleeding spots. "I can never hurt my sweetie." He shook his head before gently stroking Vanessa's face with the knuckles of his fingers and gently pecked her lips. "She was tricked by you, and now it's time to kill you to make sure my sweetie learns her lesson."

"I was not tricked." Vanessa confessed, leading Lorenzo to cock his head in her direction and loosen his grasp on her hair. "I-"

"Van-" Zane interrupted, a look of horror on his face as he watched the woman struggling to even stand.

"No, let me tell the truth," she screamed, cutting him short. "We're going to die anyway."

"I'm his girlfriend," she accepted, looking back at Lorenzo. "We've been working together for the last 7 years. Trained in firearms and a variety of martial arts. My expertise is deception and assassination."

"So you're not a pianist," he broke into laughter, drawing blank stares from the other two. "I should've known..."

"You're not the first person I've fooled," Vanessa added, her face devoid of expressions, not even pain at the moment. "But you're the only person I've ever been romantically involved with besides him. I never imagined I'd have to marry an enemy and-"

"Enemy!" Lorenzo sneered, his heart not ready to accept the truth she had just spilled.

"My boyfriend has struggled to become the king of Korea, to become the biggest mobster. He earned the title because he deserves it. And you, you got it all served on a silver platter thanks to your family's wealth, and I don't like the idea of a rookie like you, dethroning my king."

"Your king?" Lorenzo reiterated her words as a scoff escaped his mouth. "Your boyfriend? And-and I mistook myself for your-"

"I never hated you, Renzo," Vanessa sighed, dropping her head. "I just-"

"The tattoo of my name..." The knife fell off his hands as he grasped her arms, causing her to whimper in pain, while his pain-filled eyes stared at hers with a look of disbelief and disappointment in them.

"Cooking my favorite meals for me, buying me gifts, being needy for me when I was away... We even decided the names of our future kids." He blinked his eyes fast, fighting back tears as he recalled all that time he had spent with her, blindly believing that she loved him.

"You should be nominated for best actress," he drew away from her, clapping, as if impressed by the lady, while shaking his head in disbelief at how dumb he had been.

"It's not her fault." Zane interjected in defense of his girlfriend. Until now, he never appreciated the concept of loving someone so much that you'd be willing to die for them.

But he was the one to put her through this. He was the one who began it all. And everything had to come to an end with him. He was unconcerned for himself. He just didn't want Vanessa to suffer the repercussions of his choices.

And now, ironically, he was ready to die for her.

"I told her to- I'm the one who played you, kill me," said Zane.

Vanessa's eyes widened in shock at the words of her lover, and she looked at him in disbelief. But he returned her a look of reassurance, a look that not at all suggested that he'd be intending for second thoughts.

"Of course," grinned Lorenzo as he raised on his feet. "Since you're the one she loves instead of me. You must die for her to love me."

"I don't care if you hate me or not, sweetie," he added, looking back at Vanessa with a sly smirk at his lips. "I want you. For me, only. I'll make sure you never miss this douchebag ."

He reached into his pocket to fetch out the gun, to waste no time in killing the guy and finish it all, but that was when out of nowhere a knife crept around his neck from behind.

"Guess who's gonna miss you?" Vanessa smirked, holding the knife that had slipped from Lorenzo's grasp earlier, on his own neck. "No one," she added as she swiftly snatched the gun from his grasp as well.

Zane beamed proudly, wondering how he didn't realize that earlier she was not confessing, but rather deftly diverting Lorenzo's attention, causing him to let his guards down in the influence of emotions and lose sight of the weapon.