2 WEEKS AGO

The middle of the bed sank as Anton threw himself on it with a deep sigh.
Mia had been able to stop the continuous replay of Bono's death with her presence but now, he was all alone and the thought snagged at him.
The feeling of her hand in his hung on his mind, but the death of Bono was stronger as it pulled him in again.

He crouched down to meet Bono, whose face only had pain written on it. He placed his palm in Bono's and Bono gave it a weak squeeze.

"I'm...sorry Anton" he let the words out of his mouth, weakly.

Anton was visibly trembling as he saw someone he cherished dying, by the seconds.

"You don't have to apologize, I've forgiven you already" he sniffed and wiped his misty eyes with back of his free hand, before he continued " but I won't forgive you if you don't fight this"

Unknown to him, Bono wasn't only apologizing for the poisoning but also for something else.

"I'm...really....sorry Anton."

Anton was determined not to cry especially not in front of a little child, and besides he wasn't dead yet.

"My... safe. 1-3-6-9"

He turned to his family who were already in tears, and tears slipped from the corner of his eyes.
The look on his face expressed how painful it was to reunite, only to be separated; this time, forever.

"I...love you" tears slide down the corner of his eyes, as he made the choiceless decision to give in to the pain.

Anton stood up moved back slowly in horror. He looked helplessly at the lifeless body of Bono, being shaken by Elizabeth as she called his name in tears. Then his eyes shifted to the little girl who squatted beside her dad's body and wept silently; his heart broke into pieces.

He didn't recall Bono's last words to him until that moment.
He speedily dashed into Bono's bedroom, as he kept reciting the four digit password in his head; 1369.

The little safe door clicked open and all that he saw was a big brown envelope, a white small envelope and a small bottle that contained a liquid, which he assumed was medicine.

The small envelope contained a neatly folded paper which he pulled out and opened, curiously.
The curiosity in his eyes died and was immediately replaced with agony, pain, sadness, betrayal and anger.

PRESENT NIGHT

Anton slowly crawled out of the bed and collected the paper from Mia's hand, as they shared an eye lock.

"I didn't want to bother you, that's why I didn't tell you"

They didn't attempt to break the eye lock.

Mia spoke "I thought we were in this together. Why would you hid such information from me? Don't say you didn't want to bother me because I won't take that"

Anton looked down, breaking the eye lock.
"Nothing would change if I told you, so I decided..."

"You don't have to explain, sir, I'm sorry for being nosy in your matter. I apologize." She placed the glass cup upsidedown, bowed to him and began leaving.

Anton ran his hands through his hair as his usual gesture when frustrated and drew in a deep breath.
She was already at the door when he grabbed her left arm and turned her to face him.

"I'm sorry" he breathed."I honestly didn't want to bother you that's why I didn't tell you" his eyes held authenticity.

"Did I tell you that it would be a bother to me? I knew how Bono tried to poison you, I went to save Bono's family despite the risk involved, was that not bothersome? Did I even once complain to you that it was a bother? So why did you jump into conclusions on your own? Why didn't you tell me that Bono aided your parents death?"

After asking the last question, her lips froze as the weight of the words fell on her.
She took a deep breath, her shoulders sagging, as a thought rested on her; what if the same thing happened to her? What if her parents murderer happened to be dead? How would she take revenge for their death?

The thought of Anton being a murderer had been deleted from her mind, because she found it unconvincing that a man who just wanted to live happily would destroy someone else's happiness.
Luther was surprised when she told him that. He immediately agreed with his inner thoughts; Mia had completely changed.
He automatically knew that the mission was a fail, because she expressed her thoughts to him about not wanting to confirm if Anton was the murderer or not.

Her thoughts swung to how Anton must feel. His parents were murdered but the man who orchestrated the murder was roaming free, the one who aided the murder became a father figure to him, and was now dead. It was such a sad story.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think things from your point of view" she apologized whilst looking at him in the eye.

Anton pressed his lips together, looked down at his feet and then up at her "What's with you lately, you're always apologizing. And it makes me feel bad."

She was about to say sorry for that as well, but realized it and held her tongue.
Anton liked this changes but had to admit that he missed the former Mia.

"Nat, let's sit and talk"

****** ****** ****** ******
Meanwhile, in a dark room, Jones puffed on his cigarette as he tapped his feet on the floor, in rhythm, his mind focused on the upcoming trial.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" He asked in his husky masculine voice as he drew another smoke.

"Yes sir" the polite but sharp voice of the lawyer answered, from the other end.

"Good. Just remember one thing, you cannot lose this case. You don't have an option, you must win." He made sure he spoke slowly, giving each word the emphasis it needs, especially the last three words.

"I understand sir"

"I'll have a little gift delivered to you tonight, to motivate you. Use it well."

"Thank you sir. Thank you so much" His voice which was heard from the other end stated that, this young lawyer was full of greed and all greed came with.

Jones puffed out smoke as he pressed the cigarette butt onto the ashtray and ended the call.

He smirked "How dare that boy try to drag a man like me into the court. How brave!"

The door bell rang, interrupting the young lawyer's thoughts. He opened his door to see a carton of apples delivered at his door. He hurriedly picked up the box and locked his door.
He opened the box to see it loaded with new dollar bills.
As he inhaled the minty scent of the dollar bills, he said to himself "I must being down Anton Hugh"

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Update Day: Fridays.

Additional update might come within the week though.

Thanks for reading.

Love Grace ♥️