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Chapter 13: Before
Last Updated:
2024-01-16 09:51:56
CrystalSnowHello, Crystals! I apologize for not being able to update this. I experienced writer’s block. For now, I’ll try to focus on this novel instead of the Werewolf Series: The Final Battle. Thank you so much! I hope you’ll read this until the end!
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“I’m going to meet my friend,” Annalise said while eating her breakfast.Zeno’s forehead creased when he heard what she said. “Friend?”Annalise nodded her head in response and swallowed the meat before talking. “Yeah. She’s Ciara Savannah Corpuz.”Zeno froze in his seat the moment he heard that name. For how many years had passed, this was his first time hearing it again. Thoughts suddenly filled his mind that he forgot to react to his wife’s reply.“Zeno?” Annalise called his attention, but he didn’t react. He was just looking at his plate, thinking about what he would do if there was a time that their path crossed again.“Zeno? Are you listening?” she asked, then placing her tiny hand on his wrist, causing him to get surprised.“Yeah.” He shook his head and smiled for a second. “What time are you going to meet her?”Annalise seemed confused at his sudden reaction, so she tilted her head for a second and furrowed her eyes.Zeno felt her stare, so he glanced at her. “What? Why are yo
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“Zeno,” Thaddeus greeted when he arrived at his condo.Elijah looked at his friend, who looked tired and cold. He was clenching his jaw because he could still remember how her face turned pale and how her forehead wrinkled when she felt her head start to ache.“Zeno!” Jake hissed when he saw how drowned he was in his thoughts.Zeno jumped in awe when he heard a familiar voice call him. He roamed his eyes at Thaddeus’ condo and saw his friends worried about him. Realization hits his senses to wake up from that nightmare. There’s a reason why he called them all to bring down the person who did all of this.“You seem drowned in your thoughts, Zeno,” Knight announced and simply drank the wine in his glass. “Care to share what happened?”Zeno didn’t hesitate to share what’s bothering him these past few days. He’s been with them ever since so why would he hide his problem if they were also involved before?“It’s a good thing that there is now progress in her situation,” Jake uttered, breaki
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“Why are you still here? Don’t you have meetings to attend?” Annalise inquired when she saw Zeno in the dining area, sipping his coffee while waiting for his wife to arrive.It was now lunchtime and Annalise was puzzled while looking at her husband, who was just chilling there as if he didn’t have any appointment to attend at his office.“I took a leave for a month,” Zeno clarified when he saw her face, baffled.“Why?” Annalise asked, then decided to sit on the chair.“There’s no reason for me to take a leave. I’m the owner, after all,” he retorted, which made Annalise shake her head in disbelief.She knew that he could just take a break all of a sudden, but it was rare for her. Annalise raised her left brow and asked herself. “Am I missing something?”“We’ll be having a tour in New Zealand,” he declared, breaking the deafening silence between them.“Huh?” Annalise reacted. She glanced at her husband and she saw that he had just declared it as if it was just nothing.Zeno felt her gaz
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“Thaddeus, there have been three white SUVs following us ever since we left my house,” Zeno said and glanced at Annalise for a moment just to check if she was still wearing her headphones.Annalise loves to use headphones or earphones whenever she’s traveling. The main reason is that she needs to isolate herself to imagine some scenarios that will fit her novel.“What do you mean?” Thaddeus inquired. His forehead is now crumpled because he can’t understand what his friend is saying.As far as he remembers, they deployed some of their bodyguards since they couldn’t trust Zeno’s bodyguards. They could sense danger in their aura, especially since they left Annalise when she met her friend.“They are not your bodyguards. You all lend me fifty bodyguards, right? You also gave me their information,” Zeno explained and fixed his eyes on the road while driving slowly. He’s currently thinking of a plan for how to escape them, but every time he drives fast, they always follow his car.“Before w
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“Here’s your ramen. I add two eggs, dried seaweed, then dumplings as toppings—”“It’s so good!” Annalise exclaimed when the soup touched her tongue. “How did you make it?”Zeno smirked at his wife, who was now amazed at the ramen he made for her. “It’s a secret.”Annalise pouted her lips and rolled her eyes at him. “Selfish!”Zeno laughed at her remark and just shrugged his shoulders off. Now that he remembered, he used to cook for her because Annalise loved seeing him in the kitchen, wearing an apron.Thinking about those old times makes Zeno smile, especially since Annalise is still the same as before. The only difference is that she lost her memories because of the incident.Zeno is still happy, even if she can’t remember him. At least Annalise was now lowering her guard and being able to show herself, just like before.Their dinner went smoothly. They are sharing different ideas for Annalise’s passion for writing, which Zeno supports.“Why don’t you try to write a novel that has a
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“Are we going to inform Zeno about this?” Ciara asked when the meeting was done.Everyone stares at her as if they didn’t expect her to ask that question, but Kazimir still answers the question. “Yes, but not now. They are both busy strolling in New Zealand. Maybe when Annalise called you, you better inform us so we could talk to Zeno.”“He still needs to know since he’s been craving to kill them,” Thaddeus uttered.…“Where are we going?” Annalise asked when Zeno decided to use his car.“We’re going to the mall. You said you wanted to experience watching a movie, right?” Zeno glanced at Annalise and when he saw that she nodded her head, he focused on the road again.“Yes, but I wanted to eat ramen again,” Annalise whispered.The corner of Zeno’s lips lifted, but he tried his best to act a fool. “We’ll eat later, but for now, we need to watch a movie.”But everything went too fast when a white van, two SUVs, and three motorcycles appeared in front to block their way. Their bodyguards
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“Rose, let’s eat,” Zeno said after preparing the ramen. When they arrive at Kazimir’s house in Nome, Alaska, Annalise doesn’t communicate with Zeno as if she became distant after she witnessed how cruel he was when she killed most of the people who blocked their way.However, she knew that he needed to be heartless to survive that ambush because being soft-hearted would kill him. But she didn’t know why she needed to be distant from her husband. Aside from absorbing the incident, she remembered what Rose had said.“I can’t marry a cruel man.”Annalise closes her eyes as tight as she can. That phrase lingers in her head after locking herself in her room. She just wanted to think, but why was she feeling anxious? Is it because she married a cruel man?“Am I regretting the decision I have made?” she whispered to herself. “I just wanted to help, but why is this man being chased by a bunch of people who looked trained to kill people?”She gritted her teeth upon thinking how clueless she was
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“Annalise!” Zeno exclaimed when we arrived at this luxurious house.I can’t tell if I can be happy now that I have finally seen him because of the incident. I wanted to cry about the situation we have because things are now getting worse than I expected. I thought we would live peacefully, but it seems like it’s now impossible.“How are you? Are you hurt?” Zeno asked when he reached for me before glancing at Czyanne. His eyes became soft and tried to touch Czyanne.Zeno’s face and body are still the same as the last time I saw him. Good thing he’s doing his best to maintain his body and health while dealing with our enemies.“How’s Jake?” Ciara asked, so our attention darted to her, who was now looking at Kazimir.“He survived. He only got a slight wound, but he will come here immediately when he is sure that no one will follow him,” Kazimir replied.I examined our companions and noticed that there were a few people I didn’t know. Maybe it’s their allies, but I have no time to know th
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“Annalise! You better hide!” Jake exclaimed when he opened the door. My forehead creases when I glance at him because he’s pale and he’s breathing so hard, as if something happened. He immediately picked up Czyanne, who was peacefully lying on the bed, before handing him to me.Ciara suddenly entered my room while also panting. I’m confused. They look confused and scared for some reason that I don’t know. Why do they look so tense?“Damn it! Kazimir! They found us!” Ciara screamed while holding a gun, which made my eyes widen.“Annalise, open your signal so they can track you,” Jake commanded, and I followed him right away, only to find out that they were now in a panic.“We didn’t expect them to locate Annalise that fast!” I heard Keifer say.“Ciara, go with Annalise,” Jake uttered.“Jake, that’s dangerous! You need to come with us!” Ciara yelled at him.“I need to pester them so you can go to the location that Kazimir has sent! You both need to go there as much as possible!” Jake sh
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“Oh! You’re here. I was calling you a while ago. You didn’t hear it?” I heard someone ask, so I glanced at the door to see Ciara, who was looking at me.“No, I was preoccupied,” I answered.“About what? You’ve been zoning out lately. If ever that something was bothering you, you can share it with me,” Ciara uttered.I let out a deep sigh when I remembered my parents’ suspicious acts. The guns, the bodyguards, my father’s business at night. Everything seems to have a meaning behind that. So instead of thinking about it, I’d rather ask them if my parents are connected to them and if they are also a member of their organizations.“Ciara, do you think my parents died because of the mafia? Are they connected to your organization?” I asked frankly, and she was taken aback as if she didn’t expect me to ask that question. Her eyes widened, her lips parted, and it indicated that she was surprised by my question.Based on her reaction, my parents seem to be members of a mafia organization, and t
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“What is the news about Kazimir’s house that exploded or burned in Germany?” I heard Ciara ask.I am currently cooking our food. I’ve been cooking for a few days now and I can say that I’m getting used to it. Except for baking because I’m having a hard time, but at least I’m making progress. When I felt Ciara’s presence, I suddenly looked at the kitchen’s entrance and saw Jake beside her, who had just woken up. Fortunately, I was about to finish cooking so I also prepared the plates and utensils that we will use. What I cooked was also simple. I prepared a roast beef sandwich and a chicken sandwich. For drinks, I prepared a bourbon spiked hot chocolate for us and it was all thanks to Zeno’s cookbook.“They didn’t find any evidence there. Keifer tried to find the footage in that house but found nothing. Luckily, Elijah deleted all the footage from where we were still living there before he transferred everything to his laptop,” Jake retorted and sipped his hot chocolate. He glances at
The Substitute Bride of the Mafia Tycoon Chapter 40: Suffer
Zeno is heading back to our country. It feels awful, but I endure it since I realized he was doing it for the sake of us, so I ought not to complain. He was done gathering all of his possessions and gazing at me as if I might vanish into his existence.“Have I never said how lovely you are?” Zeno inquired, using his raspy voice. I don’t know why his voice sounded different to me. It appears to be capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, but perhaps I am not.I shook my head lightly and tilted my head, waiting for him to explain it but the corner of his lips curved until it turned out to be a wide smile before approaching me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him like he used to.“You have a glistening reddish tan skin, almond eyes with natural long and curly eyelashes.” His fingers caressed my eyes until his fingers went down to my nose. “A cute nose that suits your face and then my favorite part,” he smiled before giving me a sweet and passionate kiss
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“Oh my! We caught a lot of king crabs! They are so huge!” I exclaimed when Zeno finally placed the trap on the frozen sea. It’s just nice because it’s just one trap. As far as I remember, Ciara bought ten traps that she commanded from our bodyguards.When we woke up, we immediately got ready to check the traps that Jake and Ciara had set. They also placed a blue flag beside the baits, so we knew where we were going. We were also lucky to catch numerous king crabs today. Sometimes you get nothing, sometimes you will catch tons of king crabs. Surprisingly, the first trap we visited was almost full. Fortunately, we also had a lot of bodyguards with us and they were carrying many coolers.Our bodyguards helped remove the king crabs from the trap. You will not notice that they are bodyguards because they look like ordinary people like us. Maybe that’s one of their disguises, so they won’t be mistaken for our allies.We returned the small king crabs we caught to the hole they made yesterday
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I slowly opened my eyes, and Zeno’s face welcomed my sight. When my vision adjusted, I noticed that he was staring at me while there was a smile written on his lips. “Good morning,” he greeted while using his breathy voice.“Good morning,” I greeted and closed my eyes when his lips reached mine.I was clinging to the bedsheet tightly because of the shock. It’s still early, but this man kissed me suddenly! I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet, and he does this! Sometimes I really can’t help but be surprised if this man wakes up in the morning, staring at me until I wake up, then kissing me without a warning!Gradually, his head slowly moved away, indicating that the kiss we shared was over. When I met his eyes, I just frowned because of what he did. But the crazy thing is, he just smiled at me as if he liked my reaction.“What? You didn’t expect me to get my morning kiss at you?” he asked me mischievously. He even raised his eyebrows repeatedly to tease me. He couldn’t even erase the sm
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I opened my eyes when I felt that someone was staring at me and, to my astonishment, it was Zeno. He was carrying our son, Czy and it suits him being a father. To my surprise, I almost sat up immediately as my eyes widened. My mouth was barely open when it suddenly occurred to me that this was not a dream.“Zeno?” I uttered while looking at him, baffled. “How did you get here? Didn’t they follow you? I thought you were busy protecting your friends in digging for data that would help you find the person behind this matter?”Two weeks have passed, if I’m not mistaken. After the meeting that night, Kazimir flew back to our country to continue their agenda.We’ve been trying to adapt to this place and I often fall asleep in the daytime because Czy has always been awake at night even if I try to flash him his father’s photo.“They didn’t. Kazimir assured me that I could visit you and our son.” He sat next to me and kissed my forehead, and I closed my eyes for a few seconds to feel his warm
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“Where are you?” Zeno asked when I opened the signal of the earphone that Kazimir gave. I gently close the door so that Czy doesn’t wake up. He was currently sleeping because he was tired of playing with Ciara and Jake.When I closed the door of my room, I inhaled deeply. “I was in Finland because Ciara said we had to leave right away because she and Jake felt like someone was following us. Kazimir could do nothing but agree and we evacuated immediately. I just didn’t expect that we would be leaving in the morning.”“What do you mean? Do they feel like someone is following you?” Zeno asked and I could hear that he was bewildered by what he heard.“Yes,” I answered.“It turns out that Kazimir was just going there. Fortunately, he felt good and quickly. I don’t know what I will do if something bad happens to you two,” he mumbled, gritting his teeth. “Take care always. If something bad ever happens, just leave your signal on so we can track you right away.”My forehead creased at what he
