Lorenzo Kim

Present Day

"Leave me!" a woman’s cry echoed in the air, bringing a knocked out Zane back to his senses.

He blinked his eyes to clear his vision, to see what was going on. His hands straining against the ropes that restrained him ,

Though, the severe pain in his head prevented him from opening his eyes properly. It didn't take him long to realize that his wrists and feet were tied. Even his mouth was taped shut.

After some attempts his vision finally cleared. The sight in front of him made his stomach drop, that too, for the first time in his life.

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

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.

Lorenzo Kim was not just Zane’s rival. He was Vanessa’s husband. And 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.

The poor fellow couldn'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, noticing Zane's open eyes.

Zane clenched his jaws, seeing how Lorenzo threw the distressed female on the concrete and began approaching him.

A snide grin on his face as he knelt at the level of his detainee and removed the tape off his mouth.

"Renzo, 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 asked, his voice turning soft as he gazed briefly at Vanessa, his wife. "Tell me! Was there ever a time when I hurt you or did something wrong?"

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

"Then why?" He yelled, causing Vanessa to almost jump 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 her. "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 visibly shuddered at his words and her eyes briefly caught the 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. 

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

"Nn-no," she managed to utter. 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-storeyed building! Zane gasped, instantly looking around. 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 you 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. 

"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 admitted, 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." Lorenzo broke into laughter. "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 in disbelief.

"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... We even decided the names of our future kids." He blinked his eyes fast, maybe to prevent the tears from falling.

"You should be nominated for best actress," he drew away from her, clapping, as if impressed by the lady and shook his head.

"It's not her fault." Zane interjected. 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. 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 jerk."

He reached into his pocket to fetch out the gun, 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. "Not me," she added as she swiftly snatched the gun from his grasp.