“Esmé you wanted to know why I did this? I wanted my daddy to prioritize me. I should have been the heir to the ravij organization! I was his eldest daughter! It wasn’t fair!”As she said that, Callan took a shot from the revolver she got from me, the shot left a dent on her chest as she looked upward towards me muttering soft voices leaving a faint fake smile on her face as if she was grateful.I then hugged Callan, replaced my face on started crying Callan patted my head and he tried to calm me down, “It is over, my wife. It is over.”Immediately afterward, someone spoke from the black boxes in the room, “What a great show this was. It is certainly not over. Definitely not. Please move upstairs.”Callan shouted, “Bastard, I will kill you for killing my men and for hurting me and I will break your limbs for hurting Don Thoron.”Callan laughed, “Whoa, well, you should be very careful what to say next. Move upstairs. I am right here waiting.’“It must be a trap. Husband, let us go bac
I COULDN’T believe that a day like this would still arrive in our lives. I was standing in the middle of the airport with people roaming around. While Callan had just paid our travel tax and was smiling widely raising our first-class plane tickets up in the air. He looked better than he did weeks ago, I must say. He could smile now. Joke things with me. His face has more color time, and the dark circles under his eyes start to fade away. As for me, I still wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares of the chaos we experienced. I remember there were nights when I dreamed of the people I killed. That night when I shot Aldo Cato. Things haven’t been easy for us to return to living our normal lives. We had been deeply affected by the loss, battle, and exhaustion that we had gone through just to sort out the mess in the mafia world, at least in our lives that involved dealing with the Cato clan and resolving things regarding the order and structure in the ravij organization. We
TWO MONTHS after staying in our new house in Chicago, I have grown much closer to my husband. Our routine was basically waking up and preparing meals for us both. On some days, he’ll be joining me in the chicken, and on other days, he’ll still be there but will be doing work on his laptop. Callan had been hands-on in collecting real estate properties in our area as part of the expansion project of Chevalier Holdings. I love staring at Callan as he gets lost in his work, conducting meetings with his colleagues. While I cook in the kitchen and prepare snacks for him. Then I would get lost in doing my own tasks as well. On these days, I have seen Callan in every mundane moment that I could think of and I have loved him more. The way we lay in each other’s arms around evening after all our tasks are accomplished it certainly felt like home. Ever since I lost my family, I have learned that life must go on even if you feel like the world has just collapsed on your shoulders. A significan
Growing up, I have had a sense of good and bad in the world. I learned that people make choices and sometimes they make bad actions, which makes other people label them bad. Yet, there’s more to people being and choosing to do bad things. I had never seen people do the most brutal bad things until I saw men barge into our house and fired bullets at my father’s already dead body. And my mother—which wounded my soul to the point of not even knowing if I could ever get back on my feet once again, only to discover that I have been betrayed by my own mother. She’s already dead. For real this time. I have not forgiven her, but I have learned to move forward. But the sudden turn of events of my life allowed me to grow in ways I wouldn’t have imagined and led me to the arms of the man that I could trust, fight, and grow old with. And today’s our 5th wedding anniversary. Even if we had to go through hell and fight for our lives, it led us to this paradise that I wouldn’t trade for anyth
NOT A SINGLE preparation could prevent anyone from bowling into tears when you see your father on his bed fighting for his life but you can’t do anything. “Father, you got this,” I mumbled while choking in tears. “Are you hurting? Where? Let us help.” I was leaning onto my father’s shoulders and my mother sat beside him on the bed muffling her cries. Outside, the rain is pouring heavily as darkness slowly engulfs the surroundings. It was way past evening and almost midnight when I was about to help Dad take his medication, but I was horrified when I saw this. We were shedding tears as heavy as the downpour. This might be the night that I was so scared of. But I can’t lose my father like this. We have been to several hospitals in the past year. Yet we were told that his body couldn’t make it anymore—his disease had already spread throughout his organs and that any kind of operation would be futile. His medication is only to alleviate the pain he is enduring, not a cure. Thunder
“DON’T!” my mother shouted in the middle of limping from pain. She attempted to get up writhing in pain but her eyes glared at the men that shot her. “She’ll be the fiancé of the Rajiv clan’s first son! They won’t spare your lives if you kill her!” I hugged my mother as she shouted at them. She was doing her best to keep speaking but every bit of her body was already shaking. I tore a portion of my shirt to cover her wound on the side of her stomach. I pressed on it and she squirmed. She’s losing so much blood! “Please… what do you want? Why did you do this to my mother!” “Darling…” my mother’s hands caressed my face. She was still lying on the floor. “Hey!” I shouted again to the men in masks but they did not answer. “Are you robbers?! Do you want our money? I will give you a lot of money…” My anger melted into tears and my pretentious anger dissolved. This time I looked up to them, begging. “We always keep some money on the bolt. You can have them all. Just let me call an ambul
I CRIED and begged the driver. “Please. Please get me out of here. I need to get some help for my parents.” “What happened to you, woman?” No words left my mouth. Instead, I pulled out the taxi’s door. As I sat in the backseat of the taxi then I stared at the driver. His eyes stared back at me but landed on my now-drenched shirt. I suspect my boobs are now showing underneath my shirt that got drenched by the rain. Fear jolted inside me once again, making my stomach churn. I slowly covered myself as I looked out through the window and gave the address to the driver. Westbent Street. The biggest mansion I could see. It didn’t help that the streets were dark and damp from the rain. It was almost empty with only lights from the lamp posts. I kept my hope. I prayed for my safety. And my mothers. Even if it sounded impossible. With no cash in my pockets and not even a phone in my hand. I unlocked the gold necklace that my parents gave me when I turned eighteen. Soon, the driver slowed d
I SHIVERED under the piercing gaze of the man—his presence so eerie and cold, who just stared at me in disbelief. Then I saw him raise his eyebrows and scan me and my entire body once again. “You’re sexy underneath those already-drenched clothes. I could understand if you wanted to get fucked. But you’re crazy enough to tell me you’re marrying me.” Then he laughed in disbelief. His actions were timid and so were his expressions. But his words… hit a mark inside me that I have to collect my thoughts. Swallow my guilt and shame. Maybe I was indeed irrational to be right here. In the middle of the night, standing in front of a car, with guns pointing at me. But I had reasons… I had my last words and my mother’s command. The man, in a well-tailored suit, smirked at me as he motioned to his bodyguard to drag me away from their car. “Get her away. We won’t splash blood in front of our gates for tonight,” he said with a low voice. If I was not in a position of pain and panic, I would ha