When evening rolled around, he informed me that we were going to his club. It was the one where he had the main office. I'd never been there and I was surprised he was asking me to dress up to go out with him but when he told me the real reason behind, my spine turned to steel. I got dressed in black ripped jeans, black boots, classic Chanel bag and a black crisscross strappy satin blouse that showed of my cleavage.

Running the straightening brush through my hair, I tried to bring some shape into my long mass of dark hair. We were going to the club but we weren't going there to party. I decided to grab my makeup bag and get into the Rolls Royce Phantom next to Tiago. I just used my finger to blend my touche eclat concealer and then just put on some mascara and lip gloss.

Getting out, I threw my hair to one side and shook it at the roots to give it some volume.

"You look so fucking beautiful." He whispered it in my ear making me smile. With heels, I was only 3 or 4 inches shorter than him. He introduced me to his bouncer before we entered. A couple of people cursed and shouted how unfair that was. The bouncer told one of his men to pull them out and tell them to get lost. Once we were inside he introduced me to the host and manager. The music was loud, people were enjoying themselves and the light side wasn't so start that it hurt your eye in the dark.

I liked that. It felt soft against the stark music. There were two seating areas. Private ones on the right, just raised up from main ground in the middle. They were for private parities where as the ones on the left were buy ins. Whoever can afford it, buys a table for an hour and heads up there. The ground was made of thick textured glass that was fully lit up in different colours. This place had a classy to fun feel to it.

We quickly headed up the stairs of the private sector and followed the silver railings down the length until we passed the D.J. down on the floor. I didn't know why we were walking into a wall when I realised that to the right, there were two bouncers who were guarding a brown door labelled staff.

He once again introduced me to his main guy there then ducked inside. There were two large decorated corridors one that went straight and one that went left. We turned left.

"This is my office. I'll show you the poker room in a bit, then I'll take you to your surprise." He explained when he pushed the wall next to the door and a secret pad popped up where he punched a code in.

"I'll write down the code for you." He opened the door for and welcomed me into his sanctuary.

"Nah!" I doubt I'll be here often.

"I hope not." He took me over to the bar and asked me for what drink I wanted. He opened the little menu book that gave the lists and how to make it.

"Can I do it?" I asked.

"Of course, go for it." He watched me make the drink while he drank his scotch on the rocks.

"What do you mean by I hope not." I just realised.

"I mean, I've imagined fucking you over that desk since I left you at home and came here. All I could think about was you and look at me, I'm totally breaking the no girls allowed up here rule." He feigned disappointment.

"You say the most romantic things ever." I has being half sarcastic. He was right, it would be fun to fuck in here. The dark dungeon type office was something I really liked. I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that I was the first girl up here. It made me feel special.

We sat behind his desk, him on the chair and me on his lap. He showed me all the different clubs he had on his Mac. He had 16 clubs, including strip clubs. They were all scattered over the country. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New Orleans, New York, L.A. Atlanta, Hawaii and many others that.

"Have you ever thought of going international." I wondered.

"I have. We have hotels around the world. Remember the Grand Plaza hotel, I'm part owner." I was genuinely surprised. I actually was enchanted by that place. It was so grand, it looked like it was built in the roman empire.

"Do they all look like the Plaza?" I wondered.

"No, they are all grand but they all have different themes."

"You need to advertise them because not many people know they even exist. It's like, just for exclusive people but do you know how much more you can earn if you opened it up to the public." He chuckled in my ear as I swiped over the images of his other hotels. The Hawaiian one looked breath taking. It was on water. The whole thing was a floating resort.

"Babe, they can't afford my price." He kissed the back of my shoulder.

"In this day and age, people will do anything to get into the most exclusive places. If people knew about it, they'd be doing everything they can to spend a night there. One night's earnings is better than none."

"Hmm. I'll think about it."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Santiago looked on his security monitor before pressing a button under the table to open the door. He was a butch man with dark skin and bald head. I tried to get up off him but he didn't let me.

Santiago introduced me to him. His name was Javier and Tiago's second in command.

"The packages are here boss." He gave me one of those male nod before adverting his eyes to Santiago.

"Let's go." He stood me up and urged me to follow him.

"Packages? How many?" I whispered when he was locking the door with his fingerprint.

"The other one is a surprise." We followed Javier down the long corridor, passed the main door and then carried down the other corridor. There was a door at the end of it and Javier pressed the wall next to the door so the keypad would emerge. Once it did, he typed in a code and the wall on the left started to open up instead of the door. Surprised, I looked at Tiago.

"Hidden in plain sight." He guided me down the stone stairs, it wasn't so narrow or daunting as I would have guess. The lights were on but there were no voices coming from there. Javier closed the door. Tiago and I carried on down the stairs until we reached the concrete ground that was covered in plastic.

"The plastic is so that there's no evidence. Tie your back." I did so using the hair band on my wrist. "Don't be nervous."

"I'm not nervous. I'm excited. I've been looking forward to this moment since you told me about the plan. I moved on, thinking I'd never get the ask the questions I have in my head but I finally get to do that. And I trust you enough to know that it won't come back on us."

He smiled. I wasn't honestly scared at all. I knew he would take care of me and that feeling on falling and knowing someone will catch you was a privilege which I don't take for granted.

There were opaque plastic sheets draped from the ceiling and when we emerged, I came face to face with a man that I thought I'd never see again.

Kalelo Barnabas.

My heart dropped. First emotion I felt since learning about the fact that he Santiago found the man who killed my parents. Looking at Tiago, I furrowed my brows, questioning his reason behind kidnapping a police officer.

"He's under investigation too. You can choose to let him go or kill him. Up to you. If he dies, he's on the run, if he lives, he works for us." Tiago shrugged.

The two men in front of me were bound and gagged, both eyes wide and red. They were duct taped to the chair. My eyes locked with the man next to Barnabas, his light blue eyes were terrified and I wondered if my little brother was terrified when he died.

"If I take the tape off, will people be able to hear him?" I asked Tiago, making sure the two men heard as well.

"Nope." Tiago leaned back against a wooden stool, just watching me.

Marching forward I ripped the duct tape off his mouth, hoping it hurt like hell. The bitch screamed and I punched him hard in his nose. That felt fucking amazing, to watch him bleed. Tiago handed me a wet paper towel and after I wiped my hand and handed it back to him. Instead of putting it in the bin, he went over to the right wall, opened up a metal box before throwing it inside.

When I realised what it was, I looked at both of the captors. By the look of horror on their faces, I could tell that they knew why they were down here. Tiago did it on purpose, to intimidate them and it worked. We were a fucking team.

"I know you don't know me but 6 years ago, you ran over a family and they all died in the hospital. You ran over them. Do you remember that?" I asked calmly. Understanding washed over his eyes.

"Oh shit, oh shit. I'm sorry..." He turned towards the detective who was staring at the ground. "...you're the daughter who was away at college aren't you?"

"Oh shit. SHIT SHIT FUCK." He kept cursing.

"I have one question for you." He seemed to settle for a bit.

"Did you even get out of the car to see if they were alive?" My heart broke a little, thinking of them, all wounded, on the road with no one to help them until a good Samaritan called the police. The guy looked down and I already got my answer. Miss Caroline had already taught me the art of body language and his was telling me that whatever was going to come out of his mouth was going to be lie.

"I did okay, I tried to help them and when someone came-"

Detective Barnabas whipped his head towards Scott as he rambled on. I put the tape back on his mouth to shut him up.

"He's lying, isn't he?" I took the tape off the Detective's mouth.

"What does it matter, you're going to kill us any ways." He had a bravado that pissed me off. The cop mentality that radiates superiority and they could get away with whatever the fuck they want.

"You know you should have shown this much bravery when you were taking bribery from the Judge. You're not a fucking cop, you're just a scum who puts money over his duty but that's useful to us. He can let you and your family live if you give me what I need." Barnabas's eyes went to Tiago, he studied him for a while, not recognising who he was. It was better that way.

"You live on South Kensington road in China Town." The Detective's eyes widened. "You have two kids, a girl and a boy and a wife that I could sell to the Triads. That would be a nice profit, not as good as the kids though." Khalelo fought against his restraints. Tiago didn't hurt kids, that was his hard line but the woman was fair game to his business. "So, what's it gonna be?" He challenged the man in the chair.

If looks could kill, Tiago would be dead. I wanted them dead. Both of them to burn alive. After a while, he looked up at me and then looked down. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did. I had a young family-"

"I really don't care about your excuse. Just tell me if he ran or helped them." I didn't growl or shout. The calmness in my voice scared me slightly. How could I be so cold?

"He ran. His dad told me everything after I started to investigate. He gave me huge sum and checks for scholarships for all the kids I have in future." He looked down. "I chose my family."

"Hmm. Guess the best revenge for you would be that I kill both of your family and watch you live with a life without them. The pain and the suffering, they first cripple you." I put the tape back on his mouth. "Then they make you want to kill yourself but you carry on. Each day, your heart gets colder and as months and years pass by, you forget what emotions feels like." I explained. The both men started to fight against the restrains.

"But..." I turned, indicated for Tiago to turn the burners on. There were two on each side. "As a father, it's your job to take care of your family, not the other way around. But imagine what will happen when the scholarship goes away, mother's job's gone and the mortgage isn't paid?" I gave him a wicked, cold smile. A side of me that I didn't know I had. Barnabas looked horrified.

"Would your daughter sell herself out to pay the bills?" Barnabas was pleading now, his eyes were fogging over. "Just like I did. Did you know the day you screamed at me to leave you alone was the first time I agreed to have sex for money so I could pay for the debts my parents left for me. Would your daughter do that for you? Or, maybe I should sell her and your boy? For the full amount that I had to earn on my back."

They both looked horrified. I shook my head, not caring any more. I walked over to Tiago, whispered in his ear. "Burn them alive."

He didn't even flinch, like it was something he often did. He nodded then called Javier on the phone. He came down with another man. Tiago instructed them to put each of them in the burner alive. They both looked like they'd definitely done that before. He knew how to hold them when they were flailing like a fish out of water. It took a while but they were finally stuffed inside. Each operated the two machines separately.

Barnabas was placed into the burner on the right wall while Scott was on the left. He was scared as a mother fucker and all I could think about was my brother. He must have been scared as well, knowing he was dying.

"Light it up when you're done."

With a loud swoosh, both of lit up. They screamed from inside but the tape held their mouths closed. Santiago wrapped his arm around my hip as we watched each of them burn alive.

"Let's go, they will suffer and die like your family did. You shouldn't waste your time waiting while they die, when they didn't do that for your family. By they, I mean Scott." He was right. Also, I couldn't bare the screams. The tape on their faces had melted and they were screaming on top of their lungs.

"You know I would have been okay if they were still out there. If I didn't avenge their death." I said.

"I know, I can tell by your calmness." He put his hand on my back. "I thought you'd take longer."

"No, I made my mind up that he was going to die. I didn't know Barnabas was going to be there. He sealed the fate when he didn't do his job. I told you, thinking with a calm mind, gets things done faster."

We headed upstairs and then went into his office. I could feel the vibrations of the music and it felt nice. A contrast against the stark silence in the sound proof room. He sat me down on his leather sofa, forced me to face him.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "I thought you would have asked more questions." He looked worried.

"No, I made peace with the fact that they are all dead. I've actually moved on. I didn't feel any pain or sadness about my family being dead. They were at peace. Death is for the living and not the dead. They were at peace while I suffered. I don't really have to feel sad for them anymore. I don't feel much anymore." He nodded, understand what I meant. "Will you be able to make sure his Barnabas's family gets kicked out of their house and his children's college scholarship is gone too?"

"You were serious about that?" He asked.

"Yes, is that a problem?" I hoped it wasn't. I knew it wasn't fair for the kids to pay for the their father's crime but he didn't have to choose money over his duty.

"No, I'll get that done." He nodded. "That's not going to be so hard. A detective, under investigation for corruption who "ran away" is already a disgrace. His family will be the pariahs."

"Well, they can grow up hating their parents like I did. For making a choice that hurt the kids, for not protecting the kids and making the kids work like a mule. All I think about is my brother, all he wanted to do was make my parents proud but no matter how well he did in school, my parents were never satisfied. Being number one wasn't enough. Granted they worked a lot but at the end of the day, if they couldn't handle their life, they should have found a different way instead of dumpnig all the responsibilities on the kids. On me and my brother." I blurted out a spiteful truth that burned like acid inside me.

"We don't come from normal world where people sit down for dinner or have their parents make breakfast. We come from the world where sometimes, parents are the worst abusers because they are supposed to take care of us and they don't." He agreed. "I love my family but sometimes, I wished that we were just a normal family, they all would be alive if they were." He shrugged.

"I'm not upset, angry or feel like I've gotten justice. Like I said before, I've already made peace but with them dead, I know that my brother's soul can rest easy." I sighed. My stomach rolled thinking about his smile. It lit up our tiny house.

"Like you said, he's at peace and you were left to fend in this cruel world, all alone." He rubbed my cheek with the back of his hand.

"I'm not alone any more, am I?" I smiled at him. Knowing someone was burning alive downstairs, didn't bother me one bit. I wasn't even thinking about them anymore. I was thinking of a future with him. A life where I don't get the sick feeling of dread when I had to do something new by myself.

I had him.

"No." He smiled wide. "You are not alone anymore." He leaned forward, placed a kiss on my lips. "You never have to be alone, ever again."

I believed him. If there's one thing I was sure about in my life was him. He kept his words and there was no way I was letting him go. He was my sanity. The love I felt for him was twisted and coiled with murder and revenge. We were meant to find each other, Two broken souls, joined together to become stronger.

I was fearless with him. He gave me that strength and courage. He was my everything and I was starting to realise that I couldn't live without him. If anyone came in my way, I would hesitate to burn them alive, just like him.