ELENA Apparently, we were taking a trip around the island the next day, around late noon, and we had the rest of the day to either rest or do whatever we wanted.I stayed back in my room, going through the new videos Deluca had sent me after I requested them last night. He said these were the last ones, and although I shouldn't have been too surprised or shocked by what I saw, it was still heart-wrenching to watch those kids being smuggled away. Many of the clips showed them being auctioned off, their faces masked to prevent any identities from leaking.A tear slipped down my cheek again, and I furiously wiped it away. This wasn't the time to cry. I needed to find a way to help these kids or stop this from ever happening again to innocent children."Please step out to the buses in ten minutes," the new lady said through the intercom, her voice filled with excitement.I stood up, shut down my laptop, and deleted the videos from it—just in case anyone searched through my things. I didn
DELUCA As I strode down toward the lobby, my phone rang, and I picked it up without checking the caller ID.“Brother!!” Colton’s excited exclamation made me pause. I gave the area a quick once-over before continuing my steps—more slowly this time.“What’s up?” I asked. I couldn’t afford to say his name out loud in such an open space, where anyone could be listening—especially Dante or one of his men.“You’re trending,” he said, excitement tinting his tone, and my brows furrowed.“What do you mean by that?” I asked.“The Variety Contest is live. Don’t you know this?” he replied.A sudden chill ran down my spine. That meant every move I’d made was being broadcast live. Everyone would be watching.I thought I had taken care of that. Clearly, someone wanted me to slip up and reveal something. A small smirk crept onto my lips as my strides became more relaxed. I’d been playing this game for far too long, and a live broadcast was nothing. I just had to hold myself back from punching someon
ELENA REALITY“I—I don’t know what you’re saying,” the lady stuttered, shooting a quick glance in Camilla’s direction. Interesting.“So, I’ll ask again. Why did you react so strongly?” I drawled. Honestly, I was enjoying myself at that moment.But then Camilla screeched with rage and stomped over to me.“You rigged this, didn’t you? You think you can play us for fools?” she yelled, raising her hand and swinging it toward my face.I caught it just in time, pushed her back, and slammed my fist into her face.She screamed in pain as she stumbled backward. The other ladies around her caught her just in time, preventing her from falling. I felt disappointment roll through me.“You bit—”“Listen here, young lady,” I cut in coldly. “We are on very different levels, and the next time you try to raise your filthy hands on me, I will not be kind.”Her eyes widened, but she still got to her feet, clutching her nose—it must have been broken from the punch.“You’ll pay for this!!” she exclaimed,
ELENA My eyes flitted over the guests before me and stopped right at Deluca, whose penetrating stare was already pinned on me. A shiver ran down my spine.“We invite the contestants to the stage, please,” a voice rang out. I glanced back at the stage to find a man holding the microphone. What had happened to the other one? I gave Lucas a short look, and he sent me a small nod, which I understood perfectly.Something had happened—either the woman had been killed or captured. Either way, I’d find out by the end of the night.A quick glance beside Deluca and I found a seething Dante, who was clearly trying to keep his composure. Meanwhile, Deluca kept randomly twirling side to side in his office seat, and the rest beside him looked like his subjects. That made me smirk before I stood and walked up to the stage, where the rest of the contestants were already situated.“Look at the screen, please. The vote count is about to begin.”Although I wasn’t usually the type to participate in thes
DELUCA "The contest will be divided into two types. The First Bikini Contest and The Second One. Each having their own votes and winners. Begin!" She exclaimed with a smile that I noticed was strained and the girls all squealed and ran off, save for Elena who just gave a glance at the whole place and I could detect a faint hint of amusement in her eyes as she watches the other women ran around, rummaging through their things and rushing into the resort. She shook her head and walked in too and I immediately stood up and went after the woman who had shown such hate towards me, Lucas falling behind me easily without question."Something's up" I simply said as I stepped into the dark room she had disappeared into just to immediately dodge a bullet aimed at my head and Lucas did the same too with a grunt.She was using a Silencer so the shits were very very dull, impressive really."I knew you'd come after me" her voice rang out loud and in the darkness, I could still make out Lucas' 'th
DELUCA Early the next morning, I was already up and out of the building, taking a simple walk in the orchard surrounding the whole place. This place was giving me the creeps for real but it was also a nice getaway from all the stress I undergo back at the city. Well, with Dante here and stuff, it was still a tiny bit okay.An intercom blared from somewhere behind me and announced that we should begin the gathering at the pool side for the first event of the day.This was a bit weird and if Dante Morreti wasn't here or Elena wasn't in attendance, I wouldn't even bother about all this.I should be searching for the real location of Dain Saints, not thinking of the next move Dante Morreti was plotting.Stepping out of the orchards, I walked across to the pool that was already crowded with some people and a path cleared for me easily as I took long easy going strides towards my seat.As I came towards the seat, put in the midst of others, Dante Morreti stepped before me and went to take