Edited - 19/11/2024

Xavier marched over and pushed open the double doors with grand force. His body followed after his large bouldering belly, ready to crush those under. His boots thudded like thunder, making the ground shake like an earthquake with his shadow casting on to a sobbing Isabella.

Isabella was chained and stuck to the floor like a sunken ship. Her disheveled strands stuck to her face, like someone had poured water on it, except she felt like she had been dunked into an ocean of misery and sadness.

On catching the silhouette of Xavier in the gloomy light, her body stiffened. she retreated towards the wall like a frightened cat.

"Get away from me Xavier!" She spat at him. She clenched her teeth. Crimson rose, staining her cheeks just like the ends of her hair.

"Now Isabella." His voice softened a bit to his sister as he approached her slowly. "I'm sorry you had to see that but—"

"Sorry?" She screeched out, like she couldn't believe what she heard. "How can you do that to my daughter, and then have the absolute nerve to come tell me 'sorry?' I hate you Xavier!" She screamed while clutching her chest, where her heart was. It was completely broken by his actions and it felt like she had no more strength left.

"What did she ever do to you?" Isabella sobbed as her head hung low. Her cries got lower and broke apart like her words.

"She never did no harm to anybody," she continued with Xavier just staring down, waiting for her to finish. He checked his watch and then rolled his eyes, wondering when her outburst was going to finish.

"I know but—"

"And you even had to make me watch." She covered her eyes like she wanted to wipe out the memory from her head, but it was too late as it was permanently ingrained. "Like the monster you are..." She narrowed her eyes, making them darken towards him. "Just like—"

"Don't you dare say her name!" Xavier roared and raised his hand to slap her mouth shut, but restrained himself.

"Oh, so that's what this is about?" Isabella said, connecting the dots together and then slightly chuckling because she felt like she was going crazy. "Because of what happened years ago? If that's it, then this isn't going to do anything Xavier."

"Maybe for you, but to me, yes," Xavier mumbled and crossed his arms tight against his chest.

"You've changed too much Xavier..." Isabella mumbled lowly. "I can't even recognize you anymore. That you would be sick enough to do this to me. I'm the only family you have, and yet, you treat me like you hate me!" She broke down in tears, and her throat began to hurt.

"I don't hate you Isabella," Xavier said, calmly and collected. His breathing cooled down as he still stood all mighty and proud. "I actually came here to say that this is nothing personal."

Isabella scoffed. "Yeah right," she sarcastically said, "you probably came to kill me, didn't you?" 

Xavier stayed silent, proving her point with her face turning a ghastly pale. She quickly covered her mouth as she felt bile rising up her throat.

"I don't know what I did to deserve this." She exasperated out, like she had no more life left in her. "I just wanted to live peacefully with my family, but you couldn't even let me have that Xavier." She wiped her nose and then thought of all the things she wanted to do which she now couldn't.

"Sorry Issy, but its what needs to be done." He slowly revealed a gun from behind, which made her gasp out loud.

"When I said if you were going to kill me, I didn't think you were actually serious." She started backing away again but her back thudded into the wall, no way out.

"Time to say goodbye Isabella," Xavier said and then walked with it pointing towards her.

"No!" She screamed and turned around. She started banging on the wall, calling out for help.

"Someone help me please!" She cried out in desperation. Her fists were turning pink due to the amount of hits against the wall, hurting herself in the process. 

"No one's coming to save you Issy." Xavier developed a wicked smirk. "Time to face your fate."

"No! No! Please!" She cried out even more, using up her last few breaths. "Don't do this Xavier!"

But it fell on deaf ears as he was no longer listening and cocked the gun instead. Isabella laid her eyes on it as they filled up with tears. Her fingers then slipped down the wall as she returned to the melancholy state he found her in. She bowed her head towards the floor as there was nothing else to do. So with her last few words she said:

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you enough my daughter."

When Xavier was about to shoot, he stopped for a second as Isabella sobbed greatly and was in a pool of her own blood and tears, His hands started shaking and he just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

He sighed and then threw it to one of his agents. "You do it."

He then marched out the room and the last thing he heard was a scream and then a bang. He closed his eyes for a bit, until the last cry died down, and he walked away, sighing.

He then stormed into the security room, with the agents following him closely from behind. He plopped down on his reclining chair and watched the security footage.

He glanced over at the screen displayed by the camera in the surgery room where Mariana had been taken. Watching her sleeping figure, he knew that his men had sedated her.

Without taking his eyes off the screen, Xavier spoke to his men. "Where's the young agent we recruited from that restaurant? What's his name again? Michael?"

"Do you mean Micah, sir?" one of the men asked.

"Yeah yeah, Micah. Bring him over to me."

When the agent left to go fetch Micah, Xavier chugged down his beer straight from the bottle before slamming it down, causing his desk to rattle. The other agent stood by the door and stared at the wall in front of him.

Now that Isabella was out of the way; his plan was finally being put into action. Every time that witch crossed his mind, his blood boiled with anger and a need for revenge. Now that he had Mariana, his feisty, stubborn yet beautiful niece, his desires would be satisfied.

He opened one of the drawers and found a very old photo. he took it out and blew the dust gathered on it. the sight in front of him boiled him with rage. He tore it into pieces, without a chance to stick it back. this was the last thing he wanted to see today.

Even though she was long gone, the fury in his heart was far from gone.

The sound of a door slam jolted him from his thoughts. Xavier snapped his head in the direction of the door, through which Micah was being escorted by the agent.

The agent was gripping Micah by the arm, rather too tightly. Micah shrugged himself out of the older man's grip.

"You wanted to see me?" Micah asked in a monotonous voice. Standing at six feet and 5 inches tall, he was lightskin with hazel eyes and pink, full lips with broad shoulders. His Afro hair and lightly trimmed beard made him look older than he truly was.

Xavier motioned for Micah to come closer. Without saying a word, Micah obeyed this silent command. Xavier pointed to the screen displaying Mariana, who was still lying down on the bed, dead to the world.

"You see her? That's my little niece.  I want you to keep an eye on her, in case she tries to make a run for it."

Micah gulped. Then he contorted his face into a disgusted look. After what he just witnessed earlier, he felt as if he couldn't stand another second working with Xavier. There was a chunk of ice in his chest where his heart ought to be.

Almost all (if not all) relationships that Xavier had were parasitic. In every relationship, he was the parasite, and the other person was the host. After he saw that the person was no longer of value to him, he dumped them as if they were merely trash.

However, out of all the cruel deeds Micah had ever seen the Mafia leader do, this was probably the worst; especially since the victims this time were his own blood.

"Um, sure." He mumbled his reply, although he had something else in mind.

"Good." Xavier then pulled out a folder and shoved into the young man's hands. "This folder contains everything you need to know about the girl. Now get out of my sight."

Rolling his eyes—discreetly of course—Micah headed for the door when the Mafia leader's voice rang out again.

"Oh, and Micah?"

Micah turned his head slightly to look at the older man. "Yes, sir?"

For a moment Xavier looked surprised, an expression which did not puzzle Micah. He seldom addressed his boss as 'sir' or anything formal.

Xavier recovered quickly from his shock and spoke in a serious tone. "Try to use your gun again. And this time, shoot properly."

Micah exhaled through his nose—a slow, deep breath—in an attempt to ease the anger building inside him. "Yes, sir."

He was not going to get his hands on any weapon. If he were working for a normal organization with a normal leader and normal employees, he would have felt guilty for lying to his boss.

However, the organization he was working for was not normal; his leader was smart but used his intelligence for evil purposes; and the men he worked with were all a bunch of strongly built yet thick-headed minions.

Once Micah was out of the security room, he let out a deep breath, this time through his mouth. He did not know about his co-workers, but he always felt uneasy just breathing in Xavier's presence.

He began skimming through Mariana's files while making his way to the basement area. During his whole trip to the room where they had her locked up, he was mentally devising plans on how to help her.

Micah pulled the latest IPhone from the back pocket of his jeans. He opened an app, which he used to scrutinize the map of the entire building. He remembered walking by a narrow pathway when he was given a tour on his first day here, which was around three months ago.

His supervisor's words to him at the time echoed in his mind.

"Thirty-five years ago, the Boss had plans to turn that area into a storage room. But so much was happening at the time, and more important plans were being given priority. The construction guys never got to it, and the plan to build a new storage room was eventually forgotten."

Micah furrowed an eyebrow. "Thirty-five years ago? I thought that Xavier has been working here only for like twenty years."

Joey, his supervisor, stopped in his tracks and appeared puzzled for a second before a smile appeared on his face. "Oh, I wasn't referring to Xavier. I was talking about Edmund, the leader who took over when Xavier and Isabella's father passed away." He paused as the two men resumed walking. "You won't be seeing him around here."

Micah glanced at his supervisor, who was looking ahead of them. "Why not?"

Without looking at him, Joey said, "He was murdered twenty-two years ago. Then Xavier reclaimed what belonged to his family."

Micah then remembered his conversation with Brandon, one of his co-workers who was only in his mid-thirties. It was no more than a month ago when they were in the canteen, seated at a table in the corner.

"They cut off his head, his arms and legs. There was also a thin, long gash that ran from his neckline down to his stomach. It looked like a gigantic strip of beef jerky! Boy, if you were there..." Brandon shook his head as if trying to get rid of the image in his brain. Then he picked up his eating utensils. "Change the subject. I don't want to think about it while I'm eating."

Though there was air conditioning in every room of the warehouse, including the hallways, a bead of cold sweat trickled down the back of Micah's neck. He thought of Xavier.

Suddenly, a tremor took over his body. Because of fear or rage, he didn't know. Probably both.

It just dawned upon him that Xavier could have been the one who murdered Edmund.

One day, Xavier shows up. Several weeks later, the leader is murdered. Doesn't seem like a coincidence...

Then Micah shifted his thoughts back to Mariana. How was he going to rescue her? Micah might have been working for the Mafia, but it was only to save his little sister, and by the fact that he was forced to do so by his father, who thought it would teach him a lesson by being so disrespectful to Xavier at the restaurant.

Perhaps there was a way he could get not only Mariana but also himself out of this situation. After all, he couldn't just leave her dead on the bed, especially since she reminded him of his own sisters back home.

He stopped at the door to the room where Mariana was being kept. If he was going to come up with an escape plan, he had to think quickly. He hoped that the girl would trust him, so she would cooperate.