CHAPTER 37: IT'S OVER

HAVEN'S POV

My head whipped to look at the door when the television went black. I didn't notice that Allessio was already standing there, looking like he just came back from a run. He was holding the TV remote that I had placed on the accent drawer near the door.

I woke up with him gone. I know I'm not completely alone in the giant penthouse he rented here in Manila since I could hear voices outside the room, but instead of going out to face the world, I decided to just stay in the room and turn on the TV.

Allessio, however, proved that he knows me more than anyone else in this world because there was already breakfast on the bedside table waiting for me when I woke up this morning.

I set down my fork. "I was watching that."

"You don't need thrash like that this early."

The first thing I saw when I opened the television was the news about my family and the Kensington family. There was even a footage of my parents being taken back to prison, their bandaged hands clearly visible.

Even though I know that he wanted a worse outcome for them, Allessio has been more merciful considering that he didn't take both hands of my parents. He just cut off their right hands.

Allessio crossed the distance between us, and I watched him lean down to take my hand, which is holding the fork. I watched him take the piece of food pierced on it with his teeth, his tongue flicking out to lick the juice from his lips.

I don't think food is what I'm craving for breakfast anymore.

"Everything's okay now, Haven."

I was pulled back to our current situation in a snap of a finger. Sighing, I pierced the tomato in my plate more forcefully than I intended to. "Now that everything's done, I don't know why I'm feeling like this."

The bed dipped a little when he sat down. "Feeling like what?"

"Mad."

He stared at me quietly for a second, before a faint smile appeared on his lips. "If you're not, I would have been more worried. I like it that you are mad."

"You do?" I asked, confused.

"Because the alternative is you being sad."

Some women dream of a prince. The one that is riding a white horse and will charm them with his smile, and say nothing but sweet things to them. Some prefer a knight. Someone brave that will fight for them until his last breath.

But what I got is a dark king. He is not charming, but rather, he's magnetic. He'll get his hand bloody and raw to give me a sweet life and not simply sweet nothings. And like a knight, he will fight for me. But not until his last breath. He will fight for me, and he'll make sure that he'll win because not even death could keep him away from me.

He doesn't have the qualities of a hero. In fact, he's an anti-hero. And yet, I don't mind that a single bit. Maybe I should, but I don't.

One would say that Allessio's hands are dripping with red like the rest of them out there. But his hand is one that I decided to take. If that makes my own as tainted, then so be it. This life had shown me the ugliest parts that a person wouldn't wish to see and Allessio feels like a sliver of peace and light away from all of them.

"What will happen now?" I asked.

"Theodore Kensington was the one who helped your parents escape. He spoiled his son rotten that he did everything as he asked, which is to break your parents from prison so that he could convince you to come home and later on, force you to marry him." Allessio's eyes flashed dangerously as if the mere thought made him want to set Asher on fire. "You didn't want to get married, and he went crazy. He killed his father, who was the one who told him to break it off with you when your family got ruined by your parents crimes, blaming him that you don't want anything to do with him now. After that, he cut his mother's tongue for badmouthing you and then the right hands of your parents, saying that those hands are the reason for the crimes that took place, which led to you being taken away from him. He also took their wedding rings. He wore one while he put the other on your finger."

My forehead knotted. "What?"

"He stated all that to the letter he left so that the world knows your tragic love story. After that, he drove the car you were in together to a cliff where it exploded, killing the both of you."

I gaped at him in shock. I didn't watch what he did yesterday but I heard every scream. It didn't take long, and when he was done, he whisked me out of that place and brought me here.

"Did... did you leave when I was asleep?"

"To go out running? Yes," he answered as he took the fork from me to eat from my plate.

"And last night?" I shook my head to clear it. "How did all of that happened?"

"I had you wrapped in my arms last night, gattina. There's no way I'm letting you go after spending days without you." He lifted the fork and aimed it at my lips. I open my mouth, letting him feed me. "Fierro did the finishing touches. He's good at that."

I shivered a little, remembering Fierro yesterday. He is usually set on an exhausted-from-having-a-boss-like-Allessio mode or the other one, which is his fun mode that includes him usually trying to plan my wedding. But what I saw yesterday was an unhinged version of him. He was like a mad man who's laughing at the demise of the world. It makes him perfect to work alongside Allessio to be honest.

"So... I'm dead now?"

"You're very much alive." Allessio wiped the corner of my lips. "But to the world? Yes. Including those that are interested in you or might be interested because of your parents."

My back straightened when I thought of something. "How about the bodies? It's not like I'm really dead, and... and I thought Asher was still alive."

"That fucker will come with us back to Italy, so yes, he's still alive." He forked another piece of food and fed it to me. "Fierro made sure that the authorities will find bodies in that car."

"Bodies of who?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? He didn't kill for those bodies if that's what you're asking."

I rolled my eyes. As if I needed to be reminded of the fact that they hate unnecessary deaths. "I know he wouldn't. I was just curious how he got them that fast."

"It's all part of the plan."

From the looks of it, they're good at planning for this kind of thing. In the kind of world they have, this is probably not the first time they need to fake a scenario.

"W-What if my parents talk? What if they try to do something to you?" Worry grew inside me. It's a possibility that I don't know if I could handle. I just want everything to be over.

He sighed when he saw my panic. He took the food tray and set it aside before silently pulling me closer and carrying me into the bathroom. When we got there he put me down on the rim of the bathtub before he let me go for a moment so that he could fill the tub and then he was back to my side at the next second.

"They're not going to do anything to me, gattina. Especially not to you. Your parents saw what I could do. They witnessed what I did to Theodore. I made it fucking clear that I wouldn't lose sleep doing it again to them."

"But—"

"They also know that someone that works for Idalion is working inside the prison where they will be brought to. They wouldn't talk, Haven. They will be in the brink of their deaths before even a word could escape their mouths about everything." He put my face between his hands tenderly. "You don't need to think about them ever again. You don't need to worry. They know that prison is the safest place for them than the outside because I am here."

My lips trembled as a long tear trickled down my cheek. "So it's really over?"

He wipe the wetness and he murmured. "It's over, gattina."

MY MOUTH FELL open at the numbers I was reading in front of me. I glanced back and forth between them and Allessio and Fierro who are waiting for me to say something. They don't seem to look like they're pulling my leg for whatever twisted game this could possibly be.

"This is... this is a lot of money," I whispered.

A lot is an understatement. There's a lot of zeros written in the paper that they almost ran out of space.

"That's all yours."

My eyes snapped to Allessio. "What?"

"That's the money your parents were hiding. We found it."

No wonder that a mafia group was interested in breaking them out. The money could go places. It could fund a lot of things, including a possible alliance with a bigger organization.

It wasn't long that I felt what it's like not to have money enough to feed myself. This is heaven compared to those days. And yet I also know a different life. The one I had before where I have the power of countless possibilities because I don't run out of resources. A time that, despite everything I own, I felt empty.

Money mattered to the past Haven, who loved to shower herself with things that would fill the empty void inside her. It also mattered to the Haven, who lost everything. But to the present me, somehow, it just feels so... insignificant.

"I don't want it."

Fierro blinked at me, his mouth gaping. Then he turned to Allessio. "I think your bride has a concussion."

"I shot him a glare, but Allessio quickly drew my attention. "Gattina, this is your money."

"No, it's not."

Fierro pointed at Allessio. "If you're worried that your money is tainted, I hate to break this to you, but his money is the same as well."

"That's my parents money. Not mine. One, it caused them to go to prison and made my life hell. They protected that money, hiding it from the people they took it from, while letting me out the world unprotected. They even use me as a bargaining chip for that money. Second, they use it to do a business deal with the Kensingtons, which includes selling me off like I'm some kind of cattle. So no. That money is their money, and I don't want it."

Fierro scratched his head with a grimace on his face. He has no comeback to offer when he can see why I detest my parents' money this badly.

"That's a lot of money," Fierro murmured, mirroring my thoughts earlier.

I crossed my arms. "My daddy has more."

Allessio cleared his throat, but it couldn't completely mask the smile playing on his lips. He always enjoys how I casually say that word when others would feel embarrassed, but I'm sure that's not the only reason this time. He's probably finding my clap back to Fierro amusing. What? It's not like I'm wrong.

Fierro just shook his head and stood up. He pointed at the paper in front of me. "We can't throw that away, and we certainly can't return it to your parents. If you don't want to use it on yourself, then so be it. But think about what you're going to do with it."

When he finally left, leaving me alone with Allessio, the man turned to me. He reached for my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. "He has a point. We have to do something."

I let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. Don't you want it? You can take it if you want."

His lips tip up from the corners. "I have a lot of it, just like you said."

I scrunched my nose at him which made him grin wider. "Can we use it to fund a charity institution in secret?"

"Of course we can. But what kind?"

"One that is focused on the provision of food for those in need. Maybe another one that provides training and funding as entrepreneurial support for people in underprivileged areas."

He kissed my palm, and I instantly melted. "We can do that, gattina."

"Okay," I whispered.

"But first we need to do something." When I inclined my head on the side in confusion, he explained, "We need to visit a friend."

"Who? And where?"

The smile on his lips transformed into one that oozed with threat. "Sable."