A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys. I was just kinda busy lately. Anyway, i hope that you like this chapter. HAPPY READING! 

Who already got their copy of SHE'S MINE, EXCLUSIVELY MINE and read it? How's the story?

Want a tagalog story? BLAZING DESIRE 2: GAVRIL CABALLERO II is up! Hope you read it too😎

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MARCO's POV

"Ah!" Maggie screamed in terror. Thankfully, we were at the corner of the restaurant so we easily crawled towards behind the pillar for safety. If my father's bodyguards weren't there, those men would've gotten us for sure. They tried their best to shoot back but they went down one by one.

I didn't notice the presence of the enemies because I was preoccupied listening to my father.

"Stay here, my queen!" I commanded and pulled the gun that I was hiding from the hidden pocket of my suit.

"You have a gun?!" Maggie asked with widened eyes.

"For protection." I answered before firing back. Then, my eyes went wide in shock when I saw my father already lying on the floor next to our table, already bleeding. He got shot! I felt like my heart was about to explode. I've never felt this scared my entire life.

He wasn't moving anymore. I wanted to fly into a fit of rage. Who the hell those men were? How come they knew our location?

I was about to approach him to check if he was still breathing but they shoot at my direction when they saw me. Thankfully, I managed to quickly hide from their eyes.

"Damn!" I hissed and then pressed my smart watch to call someone. "Where the fùck are you?! Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on us?!" I roared thunderously to Falcon. I couldn't believe that the enemies outwitted us. Unless, those men were already here before we even arrived. But how? Did they follow my father perhaps?

"Sorry, Unu, but we're currently fighting the other enemies outside. We'll be there after we kill these b*stards." I clenched my jaw. The gunfire was echoing everywhere. I balled my fists as my breathing became hard in anger.

"Make it quick! I don't have an extra ammo here!"

"Okay, Unu." I ended the call and faced my wife. She looked pale yet she was obviously trying her best to stay calm. I caressed her cheek. Her forehead was slightly drenched with cold sweat.

"Don't be afraid, my queen. I' here to protect you. I'll kill them first before they could get you. Just stay still, okay? This will be over in a minute." I said and she nodded her head. I then carefully peeped on the enemies through the pillar and I saw them furtively approaching our direction.

"Check if he's still alive!" I heard one of them commanded, referring to my father. One of them was about to do so when I found that as an opportunity to take them down. I needed to do it precisely because I only had a couple of bullets left.

Before they could react, I shot the two front men and bull's eye. They fell on the floor, groaning in pain. The other two men left shoot back at me but they didn't get me because I managed to hide back to our hiding place without a hitch.

I waited for them to stop shooting while still hiding behind the pillar and when they finally did, I went out of my hiding spot once again and was about to retaliate but I saw them already dead on the floor.

I saw my men at the doorway. They were the ones who killed the remaining two enemies.

I approached my father right away when I learned that we were already on the clear. My heartbeat almost stopped when I saw him already unconscious as blood continued pouring out of his wound.

"I'm sorry, Unu. We're late. We got almost outnumbered by them, but we managed to kill them all." Falcon explained quietly but that didn't register on my mind. I hesitantly checked if my father was still alive and I sighed in relief when I felt his pulse.

"Marco, we need to take him to the hospital." It was Maggie. She looked worried. The fear on her face just a while ago replaced by concern. After what happened, I thought she would be too scared to get out of our hiding place but I was wrong. She's such a brave woman.

Without a second thought, I carried my father onto my arms. "My queen, let's go. We have to get papà to the hospital." I said, almost in a panic mode, as I began to walk towards the exit. "Falcon, get the car ready! Quick!"

"Yes, Unu." He complied right away. I instructed my other men to take care of the mess while I told the remaining others to escort us to the hospital.

I wasn't sure who sent those men to kill us but I was almost certain that they were Apollyon's minions. But how did they know that we had a meeting there at the restaurant?

While we were on our way to the hospital, I was holding my breath the entire time. Even though I didn't want to, I felt so scared that my father couldn't make it. All the resentment and anger that I've been harboring towards them, disappeared. All I wanted right now was for him to recover.

After hearing his side of the story, I couldn't help but to get mad at myself. Why didn't I think of the possibility that we were being played to ever since the beginning? I concentrated my anger towards my parents who suffered as much as we had.

I thought, they intentionally threw us away that was why I've been working so hard to get the things that were rightfully ours, including the position of my father, in order to get back at them.

When we arrived at the nearest hospital, the hospital staff attended to my father right away. We waited outside the operating room while they operated him to remove the bullet from his stomach. Thankfully, none of his organs got damaged.

"Don't worry. Everything will be okay. He will make it for sure." I looked at the one who spoke. It was Maggie. She intertwined our fingers together before smiling at me; assuring me.

"I-I'm not sure how to react of all these. I can't help but to feel guilty. I feel like I brought this upon him. If only I've done a proper investigation of what really happened in the past, we wouldn't be here in this situation right now. I let my resentment got the best of me. I thought...I really thought that they didn't want us. I should've dug deeper to learn the truth." I said with a bitter smile on my lips. Guilt was eating me away.

Maggie lifted her other hand to caress my face.

"Don't say that. Someone out there wanted to get us that's why they did this. I don't know what their motives are for doing this but we can't let them win. Now that you finally heard the truth from your father, I think you should use this as an opportunity to start bonding with your parents. They've been through a lot and as a son, you should start making up for the lost times. I can't imagine all the pain and agony that they've been through. I hope this is the start of something good for your family, Marco."

I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of her palm on my cheek. Her soothing voice lifted me up from the darkness that was starting to envelope around me because of the anger, pain, guilt and other negative emotions that I was feeling right now. I wanted to go out and search for the one who did this and kill him right away with my bare hands.

But thankfully, Maggie helped me to calm down. She really serves as sunlight in my dark world.

Just like usual, all the turmoil inside of me calmed down because of her. I opened my eyes and gazed at her ever so gently.

"Thank you for being here, my queen."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm your wife and I'll always be here for you." I kissed the back of her hand before resting the side of my head on her shoulder. We stayed like that for I didn't know how long before the doctor finally came out of the operating room.

I stood up right away and approached him. "How's my fa—How's he, doctor?"

"He's out of danger now. Thankfully, you brought him here right away because if you didn't, we could've lost him by now." He answered. I sighed in relief. I felt like my heart became a lot lighter.

"T-Thank you." The doctor nodded his head in response before leaving. I slowly sat on the nearby chair. I felt like my knees turned into a jelly.

"Are you okay, Marco?" Maggie asked softly. I looked up at her and forced a smile. I pulled her by the waist and then hugged her. I burrowed my face against her stomach. She was standing before me while combing my hair through her fingers.

"I-I thought, I already lost him." My throat tightened. He cupped my face and made me look up at her.

"Your papà is fine now so you don't have to worry anymore, okay?" She said with a sweet voice. I was about to answer when my phone rang. I checked who it was before I stood up.

"I'll just take this call, my queen." I told her and she nodded her head. I went a couple of feet away from her before answering.

"Unu, we caught someone lurking around the restaurant. We chased after him when he tried to escape from us."

"And who is this person? Who sent them?" I questioned through gritted teeth.

"We already beat him into a pulp but he still doesn't want to talk. We brought him to our quarters." The rage within me surged like a lava upon hearing that.

"Wait for me there. I'll make him talk myself." I then ended the call before facing my wife.

"I need to go somewhere, my queen. Can you wait for me here? This will only take an hour."

Her eyebrows knitted together "An hour? Then, I'll just come with you." I shook my head and then tucked some strands of hair to the back of her ear.

"Just stay here. Don't worry, my men are here to guard you. I'll be quick." I kissed her forehead and was about to go when she spoke.

"I thought you're going to be honest with me? Why aren't you telling me anything again? You promised me." She said sullenly. I released a breath and then caressed her cheek. It pained my heart seeing her with this kind of expression.

"Sorry. I just don't want to tell you because I don't know how you would react of what I'm planning to do right now." I took a deep breath. "Falcon called and he informed me that they apprehended a man who was lurking around the restaurant. He was one of the men who ambushed us but he doesn't want to talk. I'll go there to make him talk." Her lips parted; at loss for words. She looked like she couldn't process every word that I told her in her brain.

"I'll be back later, okay? Just wait for me here." I kissed her lips before leaving.

When I arrived at our quarters, I saw Falcon drinking a beer while standing at the center of the empty room. He was topless and sweaty while the man they caught was sitting on a chair. His face was already swollen. His lips were bleeding.

"You should've just talked a while ago. Now that our boss is here, you'll regret it." Falcon said tauntingly and then chugged down the beer.

Upon seeing the man, I lost it. I roughly placed my hand around his neck, slowly rubbing him off his breath.

"Who is your boss?!" I roared menacingly. Instead of getting threatened, he smirked even though he was already choking.

"D-Do you really t-think that I'll talk? Y-You're wrong! I k-know nothing!" He answered, almost running out of breath.

I smirked dangerously. "Really? You will regret pissing me off." I let go of him. He coughed, catching his breath. He looked like he was relieved because I let go of him.

"Falcon, give me my favorite tool." I commanded. He smirked and then gave me what I've asked. The man's eyes bulged upon seeing what Falcon gave me.

"W-What are you g-going to do to me?" He asked with trembling voice. Fear was visible in his eyes as he eyed the knife that I was holding.

"Simple, my man. You don't want to talk, right? Then, I'll just take away your capability to speak forever." I faced Falcon. "Hold him still, quick!" I ordered thunderously and he did as I was told.

"Let go of me!" The man screamed in horror but Falcon forcefully opened his mouth using his hands. The man's eyes bugled even more when I pulled his tongue out.

"Ahhh! N-No!" He screamed in fear while trying to wiggle his head out of Falcon's grip but failed miserably. I lifted my hand that was holding the knife and showed how sharp it was to him. His eyes grew even wider upon seeing it.

"If you won't tell me the information that I want to hear from you, the you don't have any use to us. Since you've anger me to this extent already by not telling the truth, I'll cut off your tongue as a price." I said cold-heartedly. I was about to really cut-off his tongue when he tried his best to speak desperately.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" He said even though he had a difficulty speaking. I could see the incomparable fear in his eyes and I knew that instant that he would tell me everything that I wanted to know.

I let go of his tongue. "Then talk! I'll give you one last chance so spill it out before I lose my patience!" I shouted and he flinched in fear.

"I-It's Apollyon! H-He was the one w-who sent us there to kill you!" He answered, stuttering. He even pissed his pants already because of terror. My hands balled into tight fists. I knew it.

Because of so much anger, I punched the man's face so hard and that caused him to lose consciousness.

"Falcon!"

"Yes, Unu?"

"Where is Dui?"

"He's preparing everything for the lotta dei gladiatori."

"Tell him to contact me as soon as possible. We have a change of plans." I said and that surprised Falcon but didn't comment an just nodded his head. I tried calling Dui while I was on my way here but his phone was out of coverage area.

"Okay, Unu." I turned my back and was about to get out of there when he spoke once more.

"What about this guy, Unu? What am I going to do with him?" He asked. I looked at him without any hint of emotion on my face before answering.

"The usual." I then opened the door and was about to get out of there when my eyes widened upon seeing the person standing in front of me. My heart pounded. I blinked innumerably, hoping that I was just seeing things, but no. She was really there, staring at me with an unreadable emotion on her lovely face.

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How's this chapter, guys?

Who do you think was behind the attack?

Who did Marco see outside the door?

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