•
Ruptured brain aneurysm.
It was what killed her best friend. Poor Kyle...
So young. So full of potential. Lost in a blink. He was gone. Just like that.
The shock didn't run out. Unless she saw him with her own eyes that moment his time of death was officially announced, she might never fully accept the painful reality that his life was over.
Veronica let herself melt onto the cold floor while her head was trying to figure out a way to make her deal with the current circumstances.
Her chest still felt painful and heavy with guilt, disbelief, and a fair amount of self-hatred. Fresh tears wouldn't stop coming out
•The earsplitting noises of actual gunshots destroying the front of the house left her feeling like the entire two-storey home was going to cave in on them.Her heart almost jumped into her throat when one of Rafa's guys took a bullet to his chest and ended up bleeding on the kitchen floor.Darn it! It meant the armed criminals outside were making their way to the left side of the house, where she and Rafa stood by while he waited for their ride."Call an ambulance! Just call the cops!" she pleaded while Rafa gripped her by the arm to keep her behind him, seemingly shielding her again from incoming gunfire. Veronica glanced to the injured guy being towed away from the windows by another masked man."The driver's gonna get us out of here. We'll run past the yard through that small gate, then get in the backseat." Rafa pointed to the edge of the tall, all-white
• Rome, Italy • A long, boring, back pain-triggering flight back to America was what she thought would be wasting her entire day when she got out of bed this morning. Veronica could only scowl at what fate had in store for her and her ex. It felt like it was the longest morning of her life. She couldn't even tell the time. After stealthily handing her phone to Théo, she pretended to be busy inspecting Rafa's gunshot wound while leaning over his upper body, her right knee pressing against the backseat cushion. She was intentionally blocking Rafa's view of Théo to obscure Théo's first attempts at contacting the authorities with an SOS call, or some texts to his friends here in Italy. She, on the other hand, didn't even know the emergency number here in Italy. "Cazzo... Non mi hanno mai sparato." Rafa grunted and tensed his shoulders and arms. H
• Being held hostage at gunpoint again while his ex-girlfriend was being escorted into another car just left him imagining the worst case scenario. His brain very much stayed in overdrive; he couldn't help it. But at least Veronica wasn't beside him right now, scared shitless and about to have her brain obliterated, just scattered all over expensive Bermuda grass. Théo kept his breathing steady despite the spine-chilling imagery stuck in his head. Now his fingers were intertwined while he held his arms up, his sweaty palms touching the back of his head. The prick was no longer pressing the mouth of his gun onto his face, casually threatening to shoot into his brain. But not knowing where Veronica would be taken only terrified him as much. Despite his anger, Théo knew he shouldn't show absolute indignation. He actually had to make the guy think t
•"Someone pregnant"?What? Was he talking about Veronica? Or just bullshitting him again?Was the guy simply trying to rile him up till he flipped the lid? To see him go ballistic on his criminal ass? Probably. Then the prick would have a good reason to use his gun.Théo glared at the guy, frowning at the lies and the prick's poor attempt at stroking his own ego. But what if Raffaele wasn't bluffing? It was the second time today that he hinted at Veronica being pregnant. Why?For fun? To watch him squirm? To watch him hate himself even more?"She's been begging me all morning. Something about her bandmate being in the hospital." Raffaele glanced down at his bullet wound and kept his loaded gun resting on his left thigh. "Guy just died. I heard. Thedrummer just called her," he
•He was free to go? Just like that?The guy was probably just playing mind games with him again. But when Raffaele simply left the study room without another word, Théo was convinced he now had a shot at freedom.He would escape this place alive no matter what dangers awaited him outside. He still had a job to do, and he still needed to find Veronica. Théo backed away from the door and ignored the aching muscles in his limbs.Now that he was completely alone in the room, Théo sat behind Hugo Valtieri's desk and subtly put his arm under the hardwood. He extracted the listening device he stealthily installed a week ago after he tricked Ana.He sighed and got up from the swivel chair as he tried not to glance up at the CCTV camera. He had to talk to her and apologize before he had to go back to France. Hopefully he would be able to check up on her a
•Worthless piece of shit.As painful as it was, Théo couldn't think of a better way to describe how he felt right now. He could easily be the most worthless, selfish human being to ever exist.In her eyes, he might be that useless and self-centered. Especially after he just hung up on her when she couldn't stop crying over the phone. She didn't explain why she let herself get pregnant. She didn't tell him he was the father, either, which could only mean...it was Kyle's baby.Why else would she just leave him here in Rome without telling him her real situation? Maybe Veronica thought he wouldn't understand her decision. Théo tried to ring the payphone number again.To no avail. "Pute. Idiote," he reiterated to himself, his chest aching badly again. He stopped trying to call her back when he realized how stupid he was for hanging up on he
•"Just do what I say, Althéo.""You sayin' I just can't say no? Why not?" Théo let out a scornful chuckle, minding the flat but peremptory tone his own mother was using to persuade him. It was almost too predictable and familiar."You seriously need another explanation?""I'm staying.""Why?" His mother made a face. "Is it your job?" Claudia sighed.If she was indeed his boss' new boss, he ought to hear it straight from Gillaume. He needed a lot of clarifications which his own mother clearly didn't have the time or patience to elaborate. She couldn't even make a quick drive to visit him here in the hospital to actually see how he was doing.Nothing new, though. He'd learnt long before that her job was always her priority. Not her children. Not her family. Some people were just that se
• New York •Her best friend was in a better place now. A better place free of pain, suffering, and everything else. Rest. Although Kyle's death had been a shock to everyone, at least he was no longer suffering. He would cross over to a beautiful plane, and his soul was going to be in peace forever.Veronica stared at the old photos of her, Dan and Kyle on her photo gallery. Kyle wasn't always smiling in their pictures, but anyone could see the kindness and sincerity in his brown eyes, the undeniable passion for music in all the work he'd left behind.So young and a beautiful soul, so full of talent and drive to succeed and achieve great things..."So much wasted potential," her mother had said. But...at least now Kyle was no longer dealing with a lot of pain on a daily basis.Veronica reiterated the sentiment in her hea