<RECAP>

My fingertips unconsciously traced the bottom part of the tatoo when my mind registered something familiar about it.

The top part of the tatoo was occupied by the bullet wound and the scarf. Yet, something seemed vaguely familiar about it.

My eyebrows furrowed for the umpteenth time today as I took in the lines and the shape of the tatoo.

My mind froze in realization and my eyes widened in horror. My fingertips came to an abrupt halt, still lingering on the tattooed bicep as my blood ran cold making my face turn a pale white.

It was a dragon tattoo.

And not just any dragon tattoo, it was the Mafia's dragon tattoo.
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I stared at it as my heart throbbed in pain.

I felt betrayed.

Has this been an act all along?

No! No! I don't want to think about it.

Tears clung on to my eyeballs dearly with a flicker of hope.

With hope that it might be a coincidence.

With hope that he wouldn't be the reason for my parents' death.

But who was I kidding?

I of all people knew better.

My eyes welled up with tears again, this time rolling mercilessly down my pale white cheeks.

Tears of anger, frustration, hurt and pain, all mixed together, gave out a bitter taste to my buds as the fat crystal beads landed on my rosy red lips.

Can tears even taste bitter?

Trust me, they do now.

Next rolled the tears that came with a sting of betrayal and the feel of an empty heart with a huge hole in it, with its pieces lost forever in one of those huge never ending oceans.

I looked up to see Cayden looking at me worriedly. His eyes softened when he realized that I was crying.

"Hey", he whispered softly.

I involuntarily flinched as I saw his hand moving towards my face to rub the tears away, making his hand freeze in mid air.

"I've got to go, remember?", I choked out and managed to give him a small fake smile.

I quickly stood up from my crouched position, cutting him off as he opened his mouth to say something. He nodded at me as his eyes showed memories of the phone call. Before he could ask anything else, I hurriedly trotted out of the restaurant and unlocked my car.

I raced it out of the parking lot as tears cascaded down my cheeks like a waterfall, racking my whole body into uncontrollable sobs.

***
HALF AN HOUR LATER

I knocked on the wooden door and barged into the conference room, not bothering to wait for a reply.

The heads that were put together in a small round table conference whispering to each other, looked up in surprise at the sudden interference.

"Miss. Parker-"

"What happened?", I demanded aloud cutting Director Williams off in the middle of whatever he was planning to say.

"Come sit, Emma", Martin spoke to me softly like a mother who would speak to her pissed off kid.

I eyed him dangerously as he fidgeted under my gaze. I felt my shoulder being patted reassuringly. I glanced over to see  Director Williams smiling sadly at me.

I sighed and headed towards a chair.

I was feeling just plain empty right now. I made sure to discard all the tears and emotions in the car itself.

"Eh-", Martin cleared his throat uneasily.

I looked at him and raised one of my eyebrows, signalling him to start talking.

"Isabella had left the quarters a couple of hours ago, saying that she needs to meet someone important. They've made sure to send Greyson along with her for her security. But-", Martin hesitated, his face masked with confusion.

"BUT?", I questioned curiously.

"But it seems like she didn't want Greyson to come with her after all", he continued uneasily as he stared back at me with an utterly baffled expression.

"What do you mean?", I asked, a tad bit confused.

"Isabella has hit Greyson on the head from behind rendering him unconscious-"

"WHAT?", I exclaimed aloud as I leaned forward in surprise. My mouth was in the shape of a wide O. Fortunately for me, there weren't any flies here.

My eyeballs were literally popping out of their sockets in disbelief.

"Isabella did that? But why?", I then asked as soon as I managed to quickly compose myself.

Martin shrugged.

"Grayson says that Isabella asked him to drive to Purse Place. On the way, Isabella had hit him on the head from behind. He again has woken up after an hour in his car which was parked at a subway parking lot", Martin finished off as he rubbed his temples in frustration.

"What if Greyson is lying?", my mouth shot out before I could even comprehend what I was saying.

Martin sighed.

"Emma, both of us know that Greyson has worked as a trustworthy officer in our department for years. And we checked the Subway camera footage-", Martin stated as he flicked on the footage in his laptop.

The time on the footage read 5:07 pm.

The footage played a blue sedan entering the parking lot and a couple of seconds later, Bella gets off the parked car, shutting the door behind her. She was wearing a red jumper with blue jeans.

She hurriedly walks out of the parking lot and disappears from the camera's view.

"Seems like Greyson didn't lie after all", I muttered under my breath with a sigh.

I ran my fingers through my raven hair in frustration.

"I think I know where to find her", I muttered in a spaced out manner making everyone look at me in disbelief.

"What? How?", Mary shrieked in surprise.

I looked at her and then at the others' curious faces.

"I found out that my boyfriend is one of them", I gritted out grimly.

I looked down at the table in embarrassment. I knew that they were all giving me the pitying faces.

I don't need pity. I have been pitied enough my whole life.

"Does he know?", Martin asked as he squeezed my shoulder comfortingly.

"No, he doesn't. But he will soon find out that I know once Bella spills the beans", I told calmly as the whole room listened attentively.

"Bella? Spill the beans? What do you mean?", Director Williams asked in confusion.

I sighed.

"Bella was forced to go to wherever she went. They are going to torture her to find out something important", I then said bitterly.

"Why didn't she tell us then? We would have done something!", Martin exclaimed aloud, banging his fists on the table in frustration.

I sighed.

"I know Bella. The video shows signs of hesitance and fear in Bella's moves. She wasn't acting normal. Whatever they brought to lure her in to their trap must be a touchy subject for her", I said calmly.

No one spoke afterwards.

Silence descended upon us while everyone was busy occupied with their own thoughts as fear gnawed them from inside and out.

Fear that Isabella would end up like the other victims.

"So what's the plan?", Martin asked, finally breaking the silence.

I looked up to find everyone looking at me with their eyes brimmed with curiousity.

I shrugged and smirked.

"Only this time, it would be me luring Mr. Cayden Martinez", I whispered, his name rolling off my tongue bitterly.

A few grunts of agreement was heard and the room became silent again. But only this time, it was a silence filled with hope.

"And oh! We've got something to do before that too", I broke the silence as my lips twitched in to a cruel merciless smile.

_________________________________________________________________
Hey guys,

I'm extremely sorry for not updating soon and for making you all wait for more than a week. I promise to make it up to you guys.

It's just that things have been hectic here and I barely found time to open wattpad, let alone type a chapter 🙈🙈🙈

So yeah, I promise to make it up to you all soon. Pinky promise. I swear!! 😅

So please drop down those knives that you guys are holding on to very dearly??? 😅

And coming to the chapter, how was it?? Did you guys like it??

Here are the questions-
1) Was Cayden's affection towards Emma an act after all?? 😱😱😱
2) Do you really think Bella went to meet the criminals?? If yes, why???
3) Why didn't she get the IAE's help???
4) Will Emma save her on time?? Or will she end up like the other victims??

Too many questions I guess.

Let me know your assumptions and theories. Like always, I can't wait to hear them 😍

Things are bound to get interesting. And the answers for the unanswered questions are going to get unravelled soon.

So hold on to your seats tight for you are going to go through a rollercoaster of serious emotions from now onwards 😎

And don't forget to tap that little orange star and to share too!!

Till next time,

Love,

Ranna