4

"You failed the last job" Julian turned on the light. I squinted my eyes trying to adjust it to the brightness. 

Apparently, he thought locking me up with my hands tied to a chair would be the best punishment for me. So, there I was - tied up. 

"You should've just said you needed to fuck me. That would've been easier than disguising to be a different person. How low!" I sneered, glaring at him through my eyelashes.

He scoffed, his shoe clicked on the ground as he approached me. "You don't even feel remorseful. You almost killed me!" 

"That was luck there, nigga. Give me a real fucking job." 

"I paid for your service." He growled, rapping his hands around my neck. 

"Only for it to bounce back to your bloody account. So awesome" I said sarcastically, looking straight into his eyes. 

"Seems like you want to join your poor little boyfriend." He nodded, releasing my neck roughly. "Russo..." 

Julian stepped back for Russo to step in front of him. Russo smirked at me as he pointed the gun to my face. 

I gasped loudly, my mouth falling open. "What? You.. you want to kill me?" I stuttered, swallowing my fear immediately I noticed it seeped out. "How would you recover your money back?" 

"I don't need it anymore." Julian looked at me sternly. His eyes were cold as ice. 

He wasn't in his merciful mode

'Since when did Julian even get like this?' I wondered.

"Should I hit?" Russo asked, turning to face Julian.

"Wait! I will.." Before I could finish my statement, the sound of gunshot rang loudly making my heart beat to go wild. "Ahhh" I screamed, seizing my breath.

How did I get myself into this, unprepared?

"Keep talking!" Russo dared.

Oh Lord! I was alive.

Slowly, I raised my eyes up to meet Julian's eyes briefly before turning towards Russo who had this smirk on his face. Ignoring him, I turned to Julian again. "You ... You almost killed me" i snapped at Julian because he gave them order. 

"Not tough for that one, no?" He scoffed, tapping Russo to step back. "Leave us" He looked at Russo through the corner of his eyes.

Russo glared at me once more before leaving. I didn't return it this time because I was still trying to process what had just happened. I began to cough continuously, squeezing my eyes at the pain it caused to my chest.

"Are you okay?" Julian asked, holding my forearm lightly.

"I... I'm fine" I nodded. 

Quickly, he loosened my hands. Immediately he did that, I clutched on my shirt still coughing out hard.

No, not now! 

Not here... With him.

"Sel are you sure you're good?" He said softly, pushing my hair backwards. 

I wanted to scream at me to leave me alone to breathe, but I couldn't.

"Can you get me water?" I managed to choke out. I sucked in air, still clutching my chest. "I ... I can't ... I can't breathe" I cried out 

"You can, baby. I'm here okay?" He placed his hand in mine. I squeezed tight still trying to steady my breathing

It was getting worse

"I'm here. Just breathe in and out, okay. Let's do it. Breath in" His thumb rubbed the back of my palm as he talked to me. I inhaled greedily, trying to pay attention to his voice. "Now, Exhale" 

I did as he said. We did it continuously before I regained consciousness. However, I felt a pang of headache. 

"I'm good now, Julian." I snatched my hand away from his immediately, rubbing it on my thigh. 

He got up quickly and scurried out of the room. Few minutes later, he arrived back with a glass of water. I snatched it greedily from him before chugging it down my throat. 

"I needed that" I smiled sheepishly, handing the glass to him.

"Spill" He eyed me, taking the cup from me.

I raised my eyebrow, resting my back. "Tada! I just wanted you to remove this" Raising my free hands, I smiled at him

The way his eyes were trained on mine made me feel uncomfortable as I shifted in my seat. I felt transparent under his gaze. 

"Stop staring at me." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Without wasting much time, I stood up, moving towards the door. 

Before I could open the door, I was being pulled back by my forearm. "You must think you're so wise" Julian's face was so close to my face, his hot breath fanned my face as he spoke.

"I don't think, Hunnie. I know" I smiled at him, titling my head to the side, as I looked at him

"Sel, I am -"

"My name is Grisella. Not Sel nor fucking Ris" I said through gritted teeth. 

Using the other hand, he held my cheek and pulled me closer. If I stretched my lips further, I'd be kissing him. "Don't fucking cut me off again. Also, I'd fucking call you whatever and you'll answer. Understood?" He yelled.

I rolled my eyes, not giving me a response. "Do you fucking understand me, Grisella" He roared sternly 

"Yes, I do." I nodded, not wanting to anger him further

"Good. Like I was saying before you fucking interrupted me. Don't think I'd treat you different because we had a past together" He sneered, looking directly into my eyes

"I've never thought about that" I replied. "Besides, did we have a past together? We were practically siblings" I scoffed

As if that angered him, his grip on my chin got more firm. My mouth was now shaped in an 'O' form. "You know we weren't any fucking siblings. We were more than that. Don't you dare deny me" 

I couldn't say anything with the way my mouth was, so I just kept quiet. "Don't you ever do that. We shared something strong" He rested his forehead on mine, releasing my chin from his grip softly.

I shut my eyes, breathing in and out softly. Later, I opened it but refused to look into his eyes because I was scared of what I'd see or what I'd let out.

"For me, you were just a brother to me" I stepped away from him, snatching my hand away from his grip. 

The sound of the chair crashing against the wall made me jump up, my heart beat racing faster as my eyes slowly drifted to the broken chair which laid on the ground.

"Stop saying that." He yelled, pointing at me. "You and I - Siblings don't FUCK themselves!" 

Okay, that was a good point.

"Grow up!" I huffed, recollecting myself. I made sure I hid my emotions properly, not wanting to betray any more sign of weakness. 

He scoffed, eyeing me scornfully. "Since you want to play this game. We'll both play it. Shame on you if you don't keep this up" 

"Yes, Master" I clamped my hands together and bowed down dramatically. "I need to shower, can you show me to my room?" 

I could see the vein in his temple pop out as he glared daggers at me. His wristwatch beeped. I watched as he looked at the smartwatch, before a smile crept to his lips

Weirdo.

"One of your fuckers spammed you nudes?" I folded my arms. 

"No, you'll see" He smiled, leading me out of the room. "Hurry up!" He said, beckoning on me to come.

I followed him carefully. A feeling of unease settled in my stomach but I tried to push it aside, looking at everywhere suspiciously.

My eyes trailed to the visitors in uniform who nodded at him curtly before darting their gaze to me. 

"You're under arrest for stealing Mr. Raniero's Gold."