Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Monster's Nemesis: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

DOMINIC Hangover and early morning were a bad combination. I was quite aware of it, but I experienced it first-hand when someone was banging on the door non-stop as if the whole house was on fire. Even if it did, I couldn't care less right now.I ignored it once, pressing the pillows against my ears, and then twice, thrice. But it wouldn't just-fucking-stop!Groaning, I pushed off from the bed and stormed towards the door.If it's a maid, she is getting fired today.I wrenched opened the door, almost ready to launch the verbal attack but stopped. "Mia? What's going on?" Behind her was Marco, judging me silently with his grey eyes."We need to talk."I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but I was too worn out to refuse. And it didn't look like Mia would take no for an answer."Fine, come in," I said, and both o

LILLIANA - 7 YEARS OLD I stood by the window and watched all the other children play in the park. They were so happy. I wanted to be there, but I knew Daddy would be so mad at me, like the last time. I saw the pretty blonde girl, wearing pigtails, sitting on that red swing. It was my favourite swing. Nanny would take me to that park sometimes, at night, because I was supposed to go out—ever. Daddy said if I ever go out, they would kill me like they killed my Mommy. “What are you doing by the window, girl?” Nanny stormed in as I quickly got down from the stool.“She is sitting on my red swing.”“It is not yours, Lilliana,” Nanny scolded. “Besides, I took you last week already. And you know the rules.”Rules. There were so many I couldn’t remember all at once. All I had to remember is that—no one can see me or they kill me. So, no friends,

DOMINICEvery bone in my body knew how wrong I was to go by her words. She was the fucking storm who could pose trouble for my family, yet I found it impossible to stay away from Lilliana. I felt the walls slowly closing in on me. It was trapping me into itself, and I, like a fool, was walking towards it. As I drove back home and marched straight into Viktor’s office, it was uncanny at first, for I had hardly seen my brother like this—sipping wine, his legs resting on the table as he leaned back against the chair. His eyes were trained on the computer screen, but knowing Viktor, he must have heard me walking into the office. He didn’t just bother to look up.“If that’s porn you are watching, at least lock the door,” I commented.He finally raised his gaze, lazily, as he took a sip of the red. And somehow, it wasn’t a good sign. One might think that I was overreacting, but I wasn’t. Viktor was too primitive to drink wine. He always preferred scotch, sometimes over water. And since

LILLIANA When I saw her first, in person, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mia Romano looked far from a rescued woman; in fact, she looked like someone right out of opulence. Dressed in a Dior sheath dress with a matching pair of Jimmy Choo heels and a Chanel bag, she was indeed the golden girl of Chicago. But there was something in her—a careful amalgamation of innocence and wickedness that laced her features. Mrs. Romano took the mic, spoke her lines and the people around her ate the words like some fucking unicorn candy. Wealthy socialites fluttered around her like bees over honey, and the organizers left no stone unturned for her hospitality as well as for security guards she brought with her. I believe the people cheered, clapped, and praised even more when she smiled and handed over the seven figurescheque for the welfare of the homeless women and betterment of Chicago.

LILLIANA I knew how to fire a bloody bullet; I didn’t know how to take one. And whoever said taking one in your arm doesn't hurt, didn’t know anything about getting shot. It hurts so fucking bad, even with morphine injected into my system. And this whole getting-shot-in-the-arm wasn’t good enough that I had to listen to Viktor yapping, on and on, about how he wanted to kill me. Seriously. Getting killed seemed a better choice than listening to Viktor. Right now, lying on the hospital bed, I wondered: how many enemies did Mia inherit when she married Viktor? Given Viktor’s crazy state, he should lock away his wife forever because someone someday is going to get lucky with a shot. And that day, I don’t plan on being around. For a brief second there, with bullets flying everywhere, I thought maybe Dante had something to do with it. But th