Matt I wasn’t afraid of Ace. He thought he could scare me, but all my life, I had been ready for this. I would die before I told him where Theo was. The feeling of him not having power over me was keeping me alive. He was exhilarating. “I see you are enjoying this?” Ace said. “You have no idea,” I replied. I beamed looking at him. “Watch how you speak,” Filip said, and both men towered over me. Ace held a hand over Filip’s chest and he settled down. “I see you train your dog well,” I mocked, looking at Filip, who growled. “See you even sound like one,” I taunt Filip, who lunged at me and punched me, “Now that’s disappointing,” I spat the blood out laughing and coughing, “You punch like a bitch.” “Oh yeah,” Filip punched again. “Eh,” I shrugged, spitting again. I couldn’t feel my jaw and I could feel a few of my teeth might have chipped. “You didn’t even break my teeth,” I tried to grin and it hurt. “Enough,” Ace said, finally holding off his dog. He was acting calmer. He was h
Elisa They told me that because I suffered such a huge trauma that I couldn’t handle the business. The truth was, I was blamed because I shot myself in the head. My father always disqualified all my ideas and everything because I was a mere girl. I hated being treated like a princess with tutus and crowns. Guns and knives were things I loved to own. I grew around them and they fascinated me more than being an undefensive girl. It’s a man’s world, Elisa. Your brother will protect you, Elisa. Be careful, Elisa. It’s dangerous, Elisa. You are just a girl, Elisa. Your role is motherhood for your future husband, Elisa. My father's words always haunted me to a point that I had to prove my worth. I had Romano blood in me and I did twice as hard as my brother. That’s why I have surpassed them in an instant. All they ever did was plan, but hardly acted. Something they could have learned from me if they took the chance. If they had involved me because I make things happen. “Do you want
Ace Filip and I heard a gunshot from where Matt was and we ran. No one was supposed to be in there as per my orders and there was a gun sound. I breathed a sigh when I saw my grandfather and I frowned and walked to him and saw Matt coughing and wheezing with a chain on his neck. On the ground, there was the body of someone I didn't recognize. “How did you get in?” I asked. “Same way he did,” he pointed at the man on the ground. “What the hell happened?” I asked with a frown. This shouldn’t have happened. I looked at Filip, “This is all your fault. I thought I told you to fix security.” “Your security is weak,” Matt stretched his neck looking at me, “I wonder how you have survived this long.” he cleared his throat. “It’s because people fear the name, but you have been reckless. The both of you!” my grandfather shouted. “Untie him,” he ordered. “You must be joking. Don't come to my house and tell me how to handle things.” I said, looking at him. “That man is responsible for every
Filip We were not Spanish, but my grandfather loved calling me Nino. I wasn’t a kid anymore, but he had never stopped calling me that ever since I was young. Whoever the Spanish girl that broke his heart back in the day scarred the old man for life. Even after finding my grandmother, he still loved speaking a few Spanish words. “Nino.” he called, and I strode and walked in step with him, “What happened to that girl I heard you loved from your grandmother. The church girl. Are you still together or are you back to messing around with the secretary?” He asked. “Grandpa,” I whispered, "Keep your voice down," I sighed just as Ruby was pacing a few meters from us on her phone. She was frowning a lot, and I wondered if she was talking with Dave. Jealousy bubbled inside me and I wanted to chat with her, but I couldn't. “You know, when I met your grandma. She was dating a cop, but she chose me. She even convinced him not to arrest me for having a firearm. You love that girl, don’t you? W
Ace I hated acting irrationally, but he had to die. I was tired of his blabbering and there was something about my grandfather and the way he was looking at Matt that was rubbing me off the wrong way. He was showing signs of leniency. We never show mercy. I don’t have time for mercy, especially when the person was disrespecting me. I will take my chances of finding Theo without pounding the information out of him. “Grandpa. I respect you but need to stay out of this,” I asked, looking at Matt, who seemed happy to get me mad. “Matt is family,” he said. I scoffed and laughed as he continued, “My grandson,” he proudly declared. “WHAT?” I kept my gun on Matt as I looked at my grandfather. My ears were ringing at the words he just spoke. “Is this some kind of joke?” Matt said with a scowl. “I have a brother?” As I looked at him, I asked, almost choking on my own words. I shook as I tried to hold the gun still, but I couldn’t. I moved back, rubbing my temple. “NO.” I bellowed. "Now is
Matt Arnold spoke as he walked to stare outside the window. I couldn’t ask or speak as I waited for him to gather his thoughts before he spoke again and explained this ludicrous revelation. I looked back at Ace, who glared back at me. This was my truth to tell, but I wanted to know how he got to be in possession of the toy I lost when Constantine Romano took me. His explanation better be something else. I refuse to hear anything that aligns with us being a family. I can not be related to such monstrous people. They are heartless killers. Monsters who need to be killed before their spawns fester the earth. “I had a son, Silas,” Arnold began, and I looked at him with a scoff. Anyone can name their child Silas. This was a coincidence. "I found out too late that he was my son." I sat shaking my head at the lies of this old man. My father would have told us he had a family. “I met this girl, Sandra, one summer a couple of months before I met your grandmother,” he said, looking at Ace
Matt “You are going to let me walk out of here. I need you to order your men to get where you were keeping me and lock them inside. Do it Ace or else I will kill him and take my chances.” I hissed, holding the paper knife, almost drawing blood. "I will kill him. You know I will." “You are out of your mind if you think I will let you out of this room,” Ace responded. "Your little treat does not work on me. Put the little knife down." “Ace put the gun,” his grandfather ordered. “I got him,” Ace said. I shifted my body to hide from any shots as I moved my eyes around, watching Filip point a gun at me, too. This is going to be tricky, but I will take my chances. “Do as he says,” Nico went and stood in front of Filip. “Grandpa, out of the way,” Filip huffed. “He won’t do anything,” Arnold said. “Put your guns down.” “You want to bet?” I tightened my grip and Ace moved forward. “Move and I will slit his throat.” I warned. “Put the knife down,” Ace said, refusing to stop. “I will k
Ace “I hope you are happy?” I said as we walked into the office. There was no point looking at the chopper that had disappeared into the air. Matt was gone already. I had to find another way to go after him. I rubbed my eyebrows with my fingers and stared at my grandfather. "Why did you help him get away?" I stood looking at him, trying to calm my inner rage but breathing slowly, but was not working. "Why?" I hissed. “He is a Torane just like you and it’s your job to make things right for our family’s sake.” my grandfather said, giving me a stern look. “He is not my family,” I growled, looking at him, my fists clenched. "Stop saying we are something that we are not. That man you let leave is no family of mine." “He is blood whether you like it and you have to promise me you will bring him back home, too.” I laughed, looking at him. This was a laughing matter, but there is no way in hell I was going to bring Matt home. Home? The man had no home with me or this family. Whate
AceI had just parked the car in the driveway when I got a call from the hospital. Diya was being monitored more extensively than before. I don't understand what went wrong because when we left; she had been fine. The monitors were functioning normally. She didn't cause any distraught to nurse Brenda, and she was doing better than she normally is when we leave.The drive back was harder than I thought because I didn't want to go over the speed limit. Celeste had refused to stay, and we were all going back to the hospital. I did my best to get us back as fast as I could.I didn't wait for them when we were at the hospital because I needed to know exactly how things had changed when all was fine. We spent over two hours with no beeping. I was so proud of her. They both have been doing great. "Mr Torane, you can't go in there.""Why not?" the old nurse rushed and blocked my path"Calm down." "I am calm." I looked at her."Take a deep breath and have a seat. The doctor is with her.""I
Diya"What are you doing out of bed?" Ace sighed, handing the Ezra to my mom."I was beginning to think all of you abandoned me?""And you decided to get out of bed?" he asked.Ace carefully led me to the bed. I huffed and sat back on the same bed I have been couped up in for the past four months."I wanted to walk for a while.""How did you get out of bed?" Ace asked, shaking his head."I can show you how I did it,""No," he sighed, "Stop getting out of bed. Jesus," he whispered under his breath."No swearing in front of the kids," I glare at him before looking at Theo, "Wanna sit next to mommy Theo?" I asked."Daddy said I could hurt you," he looked down at his shoes."Hmm?" I glared at Ace."How are you, dear?" my mother walked closer."Fine," I grit out and looked at Theo, "It's okay, Theo. You can come give mommy a hug. I missed you."Theo looked up, beaming, and ran beside me. He looked up and his father for approval first before he climbed on the bed."Careful with you legs," A
AceI was sitting on a chair watching Diya hooked too many machines. I had left for a while to cool off and came to this development. Something bad kept happening, and I blamed myself. Doctor Bowman had advised me to make my choice soon because they needed to know what to do. I didn't want to make a choice. I wanted both so badly that it hurt. This shouldn't be happening to us. We were fine a few hours ago. "Ace," I looked up and saw my grandfather, "Let's go for a walk.""I want to be with my wife," "I understand, but staring at her like this won't help. Let's take a walk.""The last time I went for a walk, I came back to this," I pointed at my wife."You can't blame yourself for any of this and -""I don't want us talking about this in here." I rubbed my brow."Come then. We can sit outside and talk."I begrudgedly stood. I walked to give my wife a kiss and walked, following my grandfather out. He walked past the chairs. I didn't have the strength to argue, so I walked behind him
AceWhat was I thinking?That’s right, I was not thinking but reacting. Doctor Bowman had suggested that Diya could be pregnant, but we both know she could not be pregnant. She can't because of Elisa. That psycho bitch was still bringing hell to my family.Even now, as I stood and watched the doctor, I knew I should have agreed to forget about this with Diya. Things were great between us. We just welcomed our son. It hasn’t been a day yet, and we were doing an ultrasound for Diya.I ran my hand on my chin, and I watched my wife. I was afraid to look anywhere else. This was going to wreck my wife. I don’t know how I will pick up the pieces. All the words I told her were encouraging, but if I cannot keep my word, then my family would never recover.“Ace,” I heard Diya’s strained voice.I looked at her and grabbed her hand. Nothing was happening, no matter how much he moved. I was not this type of man anymore, but I would have killed this man for making us briefly believe in something we
DiyaAce’s suggestion to have a baby through surrogacy had been so random, and I had been against it because it was soon and Theo was not even five yet. We had struggled with Theo before and the vacation had helped the three of us. We had only got our bearings and bringing another baby seemed like a stretch. It looked impossible, but I was glad he convinced me I agreed.Watching Ace turn into this big teddy was worth this. His happiness made me see how much he wanted a huge family. I don’t mind or feel hurt that I can’t carry children because we have options. Options I would gladly be open to doing again soon. This house was still small for us four alone.I fished my phone from my pocket and took a photo. It was adorable seeing him and Theo together, watching the baby sleep. I couldn't get over such cuteness. We had been worried Theo would be jealous, but he was happier and always asking to hold his little brother Ezra.I was surprised too because we hadn’t discussed baby names. My gr
AceI was watching Theo ride his bicycle. He has been growing up so fast. Every day, he seemed to grow an inch. I had missed two years with him and I don't think I was ready to see him grow older yet. I wish I could freeze time and get as much of him like this as I can.“Are you looking, daddy?” he shouted, looking back. "Look! See!"“Watch where you are going. You will crash.” “Are you looking?” he asked again.“Theo, watch out,” I sighed when he almost hit a guard, but he stopped his bike. “Move! Move! Move!” he shouted.“Theo?” I called, “What do you say?”“Please,” he pouted.“That’s my boy.”I smiled and watched him move his bike around again. My phone rang in my pocket before I could answer. Theo shouted again. “Daddy, you are not watching.” "We are on our way,” I responded on the phone quickly and hung up.I smiled and looked back at Theo, but he was not on his bike and he was walking to me with a frown on his face. I smirked and raised my brow. This boy was me in every sen
Diya One year later, I paused and stared at the long table set before me that was filled with laughter. I smiled and looked around, my heart relieved. The past couple of months, if not years, since the night I saw Ace kill were rough. Ace slid his hand under the table to lace mine before he leaned in closer to my ear. “You okay?” he asked as he kissed my cheek. “I’m okay,” I smiled at him as I looked around the table before looking at him, my eyes shining, “How can I not be happy?” “Mommy,” Theo screamed and my head snapped to him, but I wasn’t frightened because we were safe. We had been safe for a while now. “Faster, run faster Theo. Make the old man sweat.” Ace shouted beside me and I shook my head. Theo was running as Arnold chased him around the table, making everyone around the table laugh harder. My grandparents who I had finally met were sitting at the table laughing at something my mother had said. “Sorry guys we are late,” Ruby walked in with Filip in tow. “Slow down
Ace I opened my eyes and looked at the blinding light. I closed my eyes trying to speak, my throat dry, like someone had forcefully shoved a sandpaper through. As the sound pierced my ears, I tried to speak, but my heart rate spiked and I couldn't. The next thing I saw were people towering over me. It took me a few seconds to remember everything that had happened. Elisa. The shoot out. Matt, the fight. Diya. I tried to shove the people off me and get up. I needed to see her. Someone held my shoulders, and I felt a push back. Two people came on both sides to hold me down, as I was still fighting them. I have no idea how long I was like this, but I need all the tubes and wires off me. I was fighting a losing battle. I could feel whatever drug they had injected in my veins, and I relaxed. The pain I had felt earlier was fading slowly. The machines quieted down as I unintentionally closed my eyes. ***** The next time I opened my eyes, I was reclined, not laying flat on my back anymor
Ruby The metal benches at the hospital are colder than the howling wind outside. I got up and paced as I bit my nails. I was trying to think of everything and how it all went wrong. The doctors had said nothing. Things were looking bad. I tried to think of something else. Filip seemed aloof toward me. He looked at me as if it was my fault. I wiped the tears away. It was my fault. I was the only one who was still walking. Most people I knew were dead, hurt, or fighting for their lives. The emergency room swarmed with people in a short period. My breath hitched as I clung to the wall, trembling like a leaf. My legs felt weak before I saw Celeste walk in with the armed men. “Ruby,” she ran to me. “What is happening?” I whispered in my weak voice. "Are we still in danger?" “Where are my grandsons?” I was blinking and looking around as Celeste held me and helped me to have a seat. I looked at the men as the flashes of my first encounter with Elisa rushed through my head. All the p