Chapter 1

8 years later…

The customers are enjoying themselves at a public club, including the notorious group of the establishment. The man named Eli Santiago grins and chugs a bottle, prompting cheers from his friends and creating more noise in the club. After finishing the bottle, he shouts and kisses his girlfriend, causing even more excitement from his friends.

The man smiled, grabbed another beer, and lit a cigarette. No one wanted to approach their group because they were ruthless when provoked. The night was fun until they heard a police siren. People ran to escape, and the group fled, raising their middle fingers at the passing police car.

“CARRIE, WHAT HAPPENED?”

Carrie just sat at the table, staring at her glass. They were at her mother's exclusive bar, which was also frequented by wealthy people.

“Hey!”

She annoyingly brushed off the hand of her cousin Lexie (Lux’s daughter) and took a deep breath.

“It’s been 8 years, but he’s still missing! Fuck! Where is my fucking brother?” she angrily asked, and just leaned back because she still hadn’t found her brother.

They paused and looked at Carrie, who was leaning on the sofa and gazing at the ceiling.

“Yeah, I almost forgot about him. He’s our eldest,” Lexie said, looking away, unable to blame herself for almost forgetting about Agustin, who suddenly disappeared and never returned to the manor.

“I tried to find him, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. Darn it!” Lorenzo Suarez (Claire’s first son) said.

They had tried to look for him several times, even on social media, but still couldn’t find Agustin. They also tried looking for him in other countries, hoping he might have returned, but Agustin didn’t come back to France or Spain.

“He’s smarter than we. A person who doesn’t want to be found won’t show up,” Jacques Knight (Carter and Jaguar’s son) said emotionlessly, raising his glass and taking a sip.

Rio nodded with his feet on the table, just like his adoptive father, Rios Knight. “He’s right. It seems like Agustin doesn’t want to come back,” he said.

They fell silent and glanced at Carrie, who was quiet, but they knew she was the one most worried about her twin.

“Damn you, brother! If I see you, I will kill you!” Carrie angrily shouted, kicking the table and storming out of the bar.

They all exchanged glances and grinned because the twins were equally intimidating.

“Isn’t she intimidating?”

“WOO!! GO ELI!” cheered the girls as Eli boxed with his friend in the ring.

Eli winked at the girls, causing them to scream even louder. His friends just shook their heads at him.

After the boxing match, many praised Eli for his skill in anticipating his opponent’s every move, as if he were a boxing expert.

“Did you used to be a boxer?” his friend asked.

He raised an eyebrow but burst into laughter at the question. “No, natuto lang ako. (I just learned.)” he replied and lit another cigarette and grabbed a beer.

His friends nodded, but Eli noticed that they were starting to suspect his actions. Especially since he still struggled to speak in Tagalog.

He just grinned and approached his girlfriend, and they kissed in front of his friends. The girl held on to Eli’s neck, and they kissed again, but they stopped when another member of their group arrived.

Eli stood up and approached a man who was panting as he approached him.

“Did he pay?” he asked.

Nervously, the man handed a piggy bank to Eli.

Eli furrowed his brow. “What the fuck is this?” he asked. The man bowed his head, sweating profusely.

“T-that’s his payment, boss…”

Eli furrowed his brow even more and looked at his friend. “Where is my gun? They think they can fool me,” he said with a smirk as he grabbed the piggy bank. “We will attack them.”

His companions shouted and grabbed their weapons against the person who owed them a large sum of money.

They arrived at the hideout, and Eli looked at his other companions and nodded as a signal to do their job. The men nodded and grabbed the gallons of gas, pouring it all over the hideout. They would wait for Eli’s signal to set the hideout on fire.

Meanwhile, Eli kicked down the barrier to the hideout, and they entered, surprising the people inside. The women screamed and ran out of the hideout.

Eli approached the person who owed them money and hit him on the head with the piggy bank. His companions then attacked the other members of the group, and Eli kicked the old man.

“Give my money back,” Eli said emotionlessly. His companions stopped and turned to look at Eli because of his dark expression.

The old man tried to crawl away from Eli, but Eli caught up to him and stepped on his back, causing him to scream.

“Where is my money?”

The old man didn’t answer, so Eli pressed his foot harder on the old man’s back.

“Where…is…my…money?” Eli asked forcefully and kicked the old man hard. When the old man still didn’t respond, Eli kicked him in the face.

Eli wasn’t satisfied, so he continued to kick the old man’s face until it started bleeding.

“I repeat, where…is…my…money?”

Instead of answering where the money was, the old man wailed loudly and begged Eli to have mercy on him.

Eli grinned and leaped towards the old man, looking down to look at his face. He grinned even wider and grabbed the old man’s hair before standing up and dragging him.

“What I hate the most is being fooled,” Eli said with a smile, as if he was enjoying playing with the old man. “I won’t end your life. I just want my money,” he said, releasing the old man’s hair and kicking his face again before leaving to find the rest of the money the old man had taken from their client.

He took a bag and opened it, dumping its contents on the table, revealing several grams of drugs. He took a gram of drugs and lit it with his lighter, grinning as he dropped it onto the other drugs scattered on the table, causing the fire to spread and his companions to shout in joy.

Eli then took another bag and opened it to see its contents, grinning even wider when he saw thousands of pesos inside. He took a stack of money and showed it to his companions, who were even more delighted because they had a lot to share.

Eli put the money back in the bag and closed it before slinging it over his shoulder.

“Let’s go before the police catch us,” he said, lighting another cigarette as he left the building.

He signaled to his companions outside, and they took their lighters and threw them into the gas to start a fire. They shouted in joy at their accomplishment.

Eli grinned before heading to his motorcycle, with his girlfriend, and they sped away from the building.

They returned to Eli’s room, their hangout spot, and divided the money they had obtained without any losses.

“Salamat, boss! (Thanks, boss!)”

He just nodded and high-fived his companions before they left after receiving the payment. He looked at the money and the other drugs they had on the table and leaned back on the sofa.

His girlfriend sat on his lap, and they kissed as if there was no one else in the room.

Eli’s friend was already feeling uncomfortable and stood up, scratching his head, afraid that he might disturb the two.

“I’ll go back to my room. Thanks, dude,” he said, raising the money he was holding and grinning before leaving Eli’s room.

Eli just grinned and went back to his girlfriend to continue kissing. He carried the girl to his bed, and she laughed as he dropped her onto the bed. Eli just grinned and took off his shirt before kissing the girl again, but they were interrupted when someone knocked.

“Fuck,” Eli muttered, running his hand through his hair because they were disturbed again. Annoyed, Eli stood up to open the door, but he stopped when he recognized who was disturbing them.

“Can we talk?”

Eli didn’t move for a few seconds, then he sighed and glanced at his girlfriend, who just nodded. He signaled that he would be back and had someone to talk to, and the girl nodded, so he left his room.

He followed the man into his small office.

“Eli, or should I address you as Agustin?”

Eli stopped in his tracks when he heard that name and looked away.

“Agustin no longer exists,” he said firmly. The old man nodded and smiled.

“But you can’t change the fact that you are still Dominican Agustin Knight-Stone.”

Eli swallowed hard as if the name were stuck in his throat.

He took a deep breath and glared at the old man. “What is the reason for your call to bring me here?” he asked.

The old man shook his head and took a deep breath.

“You threw away your life just for this mess. You don’t belong in our world, Agustin. You are different from others, and you are different from those around you. Your world is different compared to this.”

Eli fell silent and clenched his fist because he knew those things, but he had no intention of returning to his family.

“Don’t you even remember your life before? Have you completely forgotten who you really are?”

Eli’s face darkened, but he still didn’t speak.

“How about your sisters? Especially your mother? What did they feel when you suddenly disappeared from their lives and never came back?” the old man sighed and took a deep breath again. “I’m sure your whole family is looking for you.” he smiled and looked at Eli, who still didn’t react.

“Even if you change your clothes or your identity, or hide under a different name, you can’t change the fact that you are a Knight, the eldest child of Mi’lady Scarlett Knight.”

Eli was even more stunned when he heard his mother’s name.

“You won’t stay here forever…”

Eli quietly returned to his room and noticed that his girlfriend was already asleep, so he sighed and took his wallet from the bottom of his drawer, where he kept his credit cards and a picture of his family.

He took the picture and just stared at it. He couldn’t deny that he missed his family, especially his siblings, but he was no longer the old Agustin, he was now Eli Santiago.

He stopped and put the picture back in his wallet when his girlfriend hugged him. Then, he placed the wallet at the bottom of the drawer. He glanced at his girlfriend and whispered to her to go back to sleep. He sighed and lay down next to her, thinking about what the old man had said to him.