thirteen.

JOOYEON

"Welcome to Elite." the man stood in front of him with a smile on his face. Jooyeon didn't know how to react nor what to say. He just stared at him, unable to utter a single word. "You can call me Kai" he added as he extended his hands at him for him to shake.

Jooyeon hesitated at first but grabs Kai's hand and shook it. He noticed that he was in some kind of office, but there weren't any windows around. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he was still in Italy. "J-Jooyeon" He stammered which made Kai chuckle.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not your enemy. I'm someone who's going to be working together with you" He reassured him, sitting at his black cushioned swivel chair. He pulled himself closer to his desk and rested his elbows on top of it as he intertwined his fingers with his face touching his hands as he stared at Jooyeon.

His stare gave Jooyeon quite the fright. He knew that there was something about this guy that feels ominous that makes him feel the need to be very extra cautious in his presence.

Jooyeon cleared his throat as he averted his gaze elsewhere to avoid meeting his eyes. "So..." He trailed off, "What do you mean by us working together?" He asked.

Kai leaned back on his swivel chair, eyes not leaving Jooyeon's figure. "Luna told me a lot about you," Kai said.

Jooyeon, hearing the name Luna for the first time, fell into confusion and his face didn't bother to hide it. He didn't know anyone whose name is Luna. Hell, he doesn't even have acquaintances that are a woman besides Kiera.

Kai stopped, noticing his state of bewilderment. He cackles, as he remembered that Jooyeon knows Luna as Kiera. "My bad, I forgot that she's Kiera to you"

Jooyeon froze. Although he was already having speculations that Kiera - or rather, Luna was using a fake name but hearing now that it's the truth he didn't know what to say.

How much did she fake about herself? He questioned himself. A little bit disappointed to learn one of the truths about her and wondered if the times they spent together were all fake too.

"Anyways I-"

"Tell me the whole truth about Ki- I mean, Luna," Jooyeon said, finally looking directly at Kai. His eyes were pleading with him. Kai huffed, he's not giving information out that easily especially since it's a piece of information regarding Luna. Kai turned the swivel chair to the right and crossed his arms.

"I can't tell you. Telling you about her whole identity will only feel like invading her privacy." Kai coldly replied.

"Then I won't work together with you" Jooyeon confidently said, proudly lifting his chin as he squinted his eyes at Kai. Kai laughed as he turned his swivel chair to the front. Eyes sharp as he gazed at Jooyeon's eyes.

"Where do you think you are? You're at my place, my territory, my den." He smirked, eyes not showing any signs of weakness making Jooyeon gulp.

"Your life is in my hands now" he added, raising his hands as he opened it and faces it to Jooyeon.

Jooyeon couldn't speak back. His throat went dry. He avoided eye contact again which made Kai smile in victory.

"If you want to learn the real identity of Kiera, you should ask her yourself. Only she gets to decide whether to tell you or not. After all, it is her life and her choice. We, especially you, need to respect that." Kai wasn't playing, he was serious about what he said. He always goes serious when it has something to do with Luna.

Jooyeon sighed in defeat, "Okay, fine, I'll hear what you have to say."

-

FELIX

After the incident with that maid that attempted to kill Kiera rather than him, Ren started to do his research. Gathering information in Italy is hard since the power of the higher-ups from Korea doesn't reach here in Italy. The higher-ups still hadn't extended their connections to Italy so Felix can't freely dig up something here.

But of course, with Ren by his side, nothing is impossible.

He looks up at Ren who had entered his office, in hopes that he found something. Ren had connections here in Italy since he has been here a couple of times, allowing him to form connections with powerful people. Felix didn't bother to ask how he did it as long as he does his work right and is under him, working for him faithfully.

"As I've suspected, the one behind this attack is one of the new enemies you made here in Italy" he sighed, having about enough of Felix adding more new people that want his head. "I don't know how they know about Kiera but they mistook her as your woman and decided to kill her, assuming she's your weak point."

"Hm, then that only means one thing," Felix says, "There's a rat in my territory" he smiled, finding it amusing that someone actually had the balls to spy on him while pretending they're loyal working under him.

He stood up and started to warm up. Ren gave him a weird look, "What are you doing?" his face cringed as he looked at Felix doing a warm-up as if he's going to go on a long-ass jog.

"Ren, let's go rat hunting."

-

LUNA

I sighed. I feel like all I'm doing today is sighing, it might've become my talent. I know it's about time for me to escape this place. I don't even know how long I've been in here already, not bothering to count the days is what I regret the most right now.

I glanced at the wall clock.

It's about time a maid comes in from that door with food in her hand. I would take that as a cue to escape. I will knock the maid unconscious, swap her clothes with mine, and get out of this house while in disguise as a maid. I had never thought of this before which makes me want to slap my stupid self for coming up with a plan this late.

I should've come up with this plan sooner. Being near Felix distracts me from my goal to escape. I'm glad he isn't frequently coming in here like he always has.

I heard the door getting unlocked from the outside, my face lit up with joy as I saw a maid entering. She looked like a newbie, obviously not used to her job and seeing a prisoner being held by her boss. Great, I'm going for my plan and nothing can stop me.

"I bought your food, ma'am," she says. Her eyes couldn't rest in one place as she kept on glancing all over the room making it obvious that it was her first time being in this lewd room. I didn't waste any more time and stood up.

I smacked the side of her neck with all my might, knocking her out pretty easily and quickly. Her body dropped to the ground but I swiftly caught it to avoid any unnecessary noise that'll risk the chances of me successfully escaping from here.

I immediately started to strip myself and strip and swap our clothes. I contemplated but I still went for the decision of pulling her up to the bed, covering her unconscious body with a blanket in case someone enters the room too early while my plan to escape is happening and I get caught.

I glanced back at the room, checking if everything was in place before going out of the room, lowering my head so no one can recognize me. I just have to avoid bumping into Felix or Ren then this escape plan will succeed.

"Hey, you!" I froze, not turning to whoever called me. "Why are you still here? Sir Felix specifically told every worker to meet in the living room."

Ah, fuck.

turning on my heel, I faced her with my head hung low. "I apologize. I need to go to the bathroom, it's a number two" I croaked, trying my best to change my voice in case she's familiar with the sound of my voice.

"Well, okay then. Make it quick!" that was all she said before walking away from me, finally leaving me alone. I gave out a sigh of relief and quickly made my way to the back door of this house.

The backdoor was near the bathroom so if that lady kept her eye on me -- if she found something suspicious about me, she will eventually conclude that I was telling the truth, that I was going to the bathroom to do a number two.

Problem solved.

I made my way straight to the door that'll lead me to the back of the house. Before I knew it, someone was behind me.

"The maid outfit looks good on you."

motherfucker-

I abruptly turned myself to Felix, doing a roundhouse kick but he saw it coming. he grabbed my foot effortlessly, smiling at me "I don't really have a kink for women who wears a maid outfit but seeing you in it will probably be my new favourite sight to see."

"And I have a kink for a man that learns how to shut the fuck up" I spat back, bending my leg to bring myself closer to him and I punched his head making him let go of my foot. I took this as an opportunity to make a run for it.

"Stop!" shit, the guards had already caught up with my escape plan. What's worse is that they had guns pointed at me. Even if I am an assassin, I can't miraculously dodge bullets as if it's nothing.

Fuck it.

I ran as the guards chased me. It was weird since they weren't shooting their guns at me as if they were purposely not shooting at me. I was almost at the gate, I could feel the warmth of freedom greeting me as I ran towards it.

"AH!" someone screamed and a gunshot erupted. My running slowed down as I came to slowly realize that I had been the one that got shot. My shoulder was bleeding, I didn't feel the pain at first but it all started to slowly come.

I lost my balance and fell to the ground, my other hand grabbing my shoulder that got shot to stop the bleeding. Instead of screaming in pain, I started to laugh. Getting shot brings back memories.

I rolled to the side, catching my breath as I stared at the vast blue sky. "What did you do!? Sir Felix told us not to shoot her at any cost!"

"I'm sorry sir I panicked!"

"Ah, I was so close," I muttered, feeling that I'm going to pass out any moment now. My vision was starting to get blurry the more blood I lose. Someone was yelling, I couldn't make out what he said but it sounded like he was calling for my name.

The last sight I saw was Felix yelling something while running toward me and I passed out.

-

FELIX

"Kiera!" he ran to her, not stopping. He knelt on the ground. He saw her unconscious, blood gushing out from her shoulder with her hands over it in an attempt to stop the bleeding but she still passed out.

His hands made its way to hers as he clenched around it. He couldn't understand what he was feeling seeing her body on the ground. He felt like something was stuck on his throat, and a sharp pain in his heart.

He saw what had happened. A newbie guard fired at her even when he specifically told them not to even if it means letting her escape. He stood up with Kiera's blood on his hands and snatched one of the guards' gun.

He stopped in front of the newbie who shot at her. He raised the gun to his shoulder and shot at it. The young man screamed in pain as he dropped to the ground, but Felix wasn't done yet.

He aimed the gun at one of his leg and shoots without saying anything. Ren watched the whole sight, for some reason Felix was ten times scarier right now compared to all of his years eliminating his enemies in the most brutal way possible.

Usually, he would smile while eliminating his enemy but right now he's not. His expression was ice cold, sending shivers down your spine. His eyes were cold, empty, as he gazed down on the young man that shot Kiera.

"Take her inside" Ren told the workers and fetched his phone to dial a professional doctor that he's close with.

Felix, on the other hand, was occupied with applying pain into the younger man. He stepped hard on the leg he had shot and applied force on it. The man yelled non-stop, begging him to stop and apologizing to him.

"Felix!" Ren decided to step in, knowing that if he let Felix continue that newbie will end up dying. Felix wasn't listening to him but continued to push his feet further into the young man's injured leg.

He made his way towards Felix and grabbed his arm, "Felix, stop it!" he yelled.

"You don't get to tell me what to do, Ren." Felix looked at him with eyes that looked like he could murder anyone who went in his way, even his friend. Ren was scared but he didn't let go of Felix's arm.

"I can." the familiar voice made Felix froze, his eyes shaking as he slowly looked at the woman who was now making her way towards them.

It was his mother.