ログイン“This will be your room” the older woman spoke as she pushed a door at the end of the hall way open
Daniella walked in her eyes observing the entire room, she said nothing to the woman and only nodded.
“Don’t you speak?” The woman asked honestly Daniella has been too quiet for her liking and it was getting on her nerves
“I am sorry ma’am but there’s nothing much I can say” for the first time inside the house Daniella spoke, her voice sounded so soft and sweet the woman smiled and walked away.
Daniella pushed her way through walking straight to the bed after closing the door behind her she sat down on the bed her memory flashes back to
13 Years ago….
“Daniella come here you’re going to fall off that tree” her father screamed as he ran after her
“Papa no I want to stay here I feel on top of the world” 5 years old Daniella giggled as she watched her father scream her name
“You’re going to fall down child” her father shouted worriedly but Daniella was lost in her own world of laughter and happiness.
The family was comfortable, they lived at the extreme end of the village, Daniella’s father had the biggest farm in the village he cultivated different types of crops and food being a hard working man ever since he was little he found his wife Emily few years ago before he moved into the village.
He had tried doing everything possible to court her, but Emily was such a stubborn lady. She’d watch him buy her multiple gifts allowing him to speak sweet words into her ears but she was never ready to settle down and obviously Derrick didn’t stop, he had developed such strong feelings for her he was doing everything possible to make sure she became his.
After a while Emily found herself falling for this man and she decided to say yes to his proposal, they both got married and a year after they gave birth to Daniella.
Daniella came into a world where she never lacked anything, she had both motherly and fatherly love, she was such a smart child while growing up but sadly her mother died of a terrible sickness three years after.
So yes it was just her dad left in the whole world to her.
“Papa I want corn balls” Daniella whispered as her father picked her up from the ground she was completely covered in mud and was looking all dirty.
“Well you’ve been a very bad girl today, you’re so stubborn just like your mother” her father sighed in frustration
“I am sorry papa” she whipped
“Ok fine promise you’d be a good girl tomorrow and I will give you corn balls”
“I promise” her sad pouty face lit up into a beautiful smile
Derrick loved his daughter so much, she was everything to him.
“But first you’d have to take your bath so I am going to give you to charity to go and give you a hot bath” he held her tiny fingers speaking.
“I wish mummy was here, she used to sing for me anytime she wants to give me a bath” the room went silent Derrick looked at his five years old daughter searching for the best world but couldn’t find it.
He missed his Emily so much “he remembered when she died he had locked himself up for a full month straight, everyone thought he was going to die soon but one thing that kept him going was his daughter so of course he’d do everything possible to make sure he protects her.
“Papa” Daniella called out as she held her dull and drifting sixteen percent of her attention to it
“Yes what is it my princess” Derrick answered cleaning off the mud on her face
“When is mummy coming back? you said she was going to travel for a long while, but daddy it’s been too long and I miss her already” she grumbled looking at her father innocently.
“Of course I know how much you miss your mother, she'd be back soon ok” Derrick lied again, he can’t bring his daughter to believing she has lost her mother forever. He was not going to tell definitely not now but maybe in the future.
“Ok ok” the little child nodded her head and walked inside following the maid to go give her a bath.
The day was getting drowned by the night when one of Derick’s workers rushed up to him, his face looking all worried and scary.
“What’s going on?” Derrick asked
“It’s bad sir… really bad” the young man in his middle twenties spoke trying to catch his breath because he had been running for a while now
“Bad? Come on let’s talk outside” Derrick whispered as he slowly pulled him outside to avoid his daughter from hearing the conversation.
“What’s really happening?” He asked again his face curving into worry
“Some men are here in the village and their intentions are not good, they are organ harvesters!” The man screamed his eyes popping out
“What? How …. How did you get to know about this?”
“I went for a drink and I heard them talking, they are looking for a child, according to them their boss isn’t feeling too well and they want a heart.”
The man trembled as he talked, he was completely terrified after hearing the men speak earlier.
Derrick swallowed, he knew something was wrong and somehow his heart pricked him hard.
“It’s fine thank you for this information, I will talk to my brother about this” he shivered trying to hide his fears away.
“Alright sir” the young man walked away and got swallowed in the darkness.
“Papa, what's going on?” Daniella who had been ears dropping in the conversation for a while now spoke up
She had followed her father when he walked outside to speak to the young man, she recognized the fear in his face; it was the exact fear he had when her mother passed. And Daniella being a sharp and calculated child knew something was definitely wrong.
“Ha! I thought I told you to go and take your bath?” Her father changed the topic immediately he saw her. Daniella was too little to get involved in things like this and he wanted to make sure she avoided it.
Daniella couldn’t take her eyes off the photograph.The man standing beside her father and Thomas Harper looked painfully familiar, but she couldn’t immediately place him. He wasn’t a stranger. That was what frightened her most. Somewhere in the years she had spent searching for answers, she had seen his face before.Christian took the photograph from her and studied it carefully.“Who is he?”Evelyn remained silent.“Evelyn,” Christian said firmly. “You said he was the person your father trusted most. I need his name.”Evelyn finally looked at him.“Richard Hale.”Daniella’s stomach dropped.“No.”Christian’s expression changed.“Richard?”Evelyn nodded.“The same Richard Hale who carried you out of your father’s house the night Derrick died.”Daniella stared at the photograph.The man who had always claimed he was trying to protect her.The man who had admitted making a deal with her uncle.The man who had disappeared when they needed answers most.Richard had been there long before
The cemetery was almost empty when they arrived. The sun had already disappeared behind the horizon, leaving the sky dark enough for the cemetery lights to cast long shadows across the rows of graves. Daniella stood beside the car without moving, staring at the path ahead.She had avoided this place for eighteen years.Not because she had forgotten her father.Because she remembered him too well.Christian stood beside her, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. He didn’t try to force her forward. He simply waited.“You don’t have to do this alone,” he said.Daniella looked at him.“I’ve done everything alone.”“I know.”Something in those two words made her chest tighten.She looked away and started walking.Marcus remained near the car while Christian followed her. Evelyn walked several steps behind them, her face tense.Daniella eventually stopped in front of a large stone.DERRICK CRUZ.Her father’s name stared back at her.For several seconds, she couldn’t breathe.She
The black vehicle stopped several feet from them, its engine still running. For a moment, nobody moved. Daniella stood beside Christian, her eyes fixed on the passenger door as the silence around the old training house grew heavier.Then the door opened.A woman stepped out.Daniella’s breath caught.“Evelyn.”Her aunt closed the door slowly. She was dressed in dark clothes, her hair pulled back, and there was a pistol firmly held in her right hand.Christian immediately moved in front of Daniella.“Stay behind me.”Daniella barely heard him. She could not take her eyes off Evelyn.Her aunt looked at Christian, then at Marcus, and finally at Daniella. There was something different in her expression. She did not look triumphant. She did not look angry.She looked terrified.“Put the gun down,” Christian ordered.Evelyn’s fingers tightened around the weapon.“If I wanted to shoot you, Christian, I would have done it before stepping out of the car.”“That doesn’t answer my question.”“No
Silence filled the locked room.Daniella stared at the photograph in front of her, trying to make sense of what she had just heard.Her father.Thomas Harper.Samuel Reed.All standing together.Working together.Investigating the same enemy.For years, she had believed the Cruz family and the Harper family stood on opposite sides of a war. She had built her entire life around that belief. Every lesson her uncle taught her, every lie he fed her, every ounce of hatred she carried had been built on the idea that Christian’s family was connected to her father’s death.Now, another truth stood before her.Their fathers had been allies.Christian picked up the photograph again.“My father never spoke about this,” he said quietly.Samuel Reed sat down slowly in the old wooden chair.“That was intentional.”Daniella looked at him.“What do you mean?”Samuel sighed.“Your fathers agreed that if something happened to them, some secrets would die with them.”“Why?”“Because the wrong people alr
Daniella stood completely still.For twenty years, Samuel Reed had existed only as a name buried in old photographs and fragments of conversations. She had never expected to see the man himself, let alone have him appear at the very place where she had spent her childhood being trained by the man who murdered her father.Christian moved toward the window.“Stay here.”Daniella shook her head.“No.”He looked at her.“If that’s Samuel Reed, I’m going with you.”Christian studied her for a moment before nodding.Marcus moved ahead of them, weapon ready, while the others secured the room. Daniella followed Christian out of the training house and into the cold night air.The man standing beside the vehicle did not move.He was older than he had been in the photograph, his hair almost completely gray, his face marked by years of exhaustion. He wore a dark coat and held both hands where they could be seen.When his eyes landed on Daniella, something changed in his expression.He looked at h
The old training house stood in complete darkness when Daniella arrived.She remained inside the car for several seconds, staring through the windshield at the building that had once been the center of her entire childhood. Every wall held a memory she wished she could forget. Every room reminded her of the person she had been forced to become.Christian stepped out beside her and closed the car door.“You don’t have to go in if you’re not ready.”Daniella looked at him.“I’ve been ready for this since the day I found out my uncle lied to me.”Christian nodded.“Then we do it together.”Marcus and his men spread out around the property while Christian and Daniella entered through the same door they had used before.The training house was silent.Daniella switched on her flashlight and slowly walked through the corridor.She remembered being seven years old, standing in this same hallway while her uncle shouted at her because she had refused to continue training. She remembered the bru
“Stand straight. If you slouch again you’d walk out of that door and never return.” The girl behind Daniella adjusted herself immediately.“I’m sorry,” she whispered, turning her face around to make sure she didn’t embarrass herself in front of the other girls. “Sorry? Really?” another voice scof
“Boss, are you okay?”David's voice sounded distant, more like it was coming from under water. Christian didn’t answer immediately. His fingers tightened around the glass, his jaw clenched as he stared into thin air unfocused. He wasn’t ok, he couldn’t take it anymore, his
The hot liquid hit her skin before her brain could process what was happening. “Aharhhhh!” Daniella staggered back instantly, the tray slipping slightly from her grip as the coffee soaked into her cloth. She glared at him hard, tears building up in her eye lids, a smirk escaping her lips, of
The knock came at the door, just as Derrick had finally put Daniella to sleep, his heart froze for a moment, but he forced himself to relax. But then again his mind started to play the what if game, I mean it was past midnight who would be visiting this late. He swallowed as he heard the loud ba







