She took a sip of water from a bottle on the table and asked "Lucio, How are you doing lately?" Lucio didn't answer and just stared at her. Something inside him was screaming to run away but there was a deep sense of familiarity from the question.
They looked at each other for a few moments when the lady sighed as she took out a photo of Lucio's family and said "I was asked to look after you while not coming in contact with you. There is a person who is after your life and they probably already know who you are. I had to reveal myself as I know you won't trust random letters. I'm your aunt after all."
Hearing this, Lucio relaxed. He knew he had an aunt but had never met her. Never in both his lives until a few minutes back. "Oh and don't worry about the guy who is looking for you. I've already killed him anyways." His aunt didn't disappoint in surprising him again and again.
He had many questions to ask but only one came out from his mouth, "Where is mom?"
His aunts smile faded as she replied "She's no more. She passed away after giving birth to your sister." Not a single word escaped Lucio's lips as opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. Not long after he was bawling his eyes out in front of his aunt.
He felt emptiness inside him that was hard to describe. His aunt hugged him after hesitating for a while. A few minutes later he broke the hug, only to see blood on his gloves.
He looked at his aunt in disbelief as she sheepishly grinned "Well … you see, I got stabbed by that guy and there is no chance of saving me so don't waste time." She took out a small card and gave it to him. "Here, this is the orphanage details and that's where your sister is.
Now get out fast and you should know how to dispose of those clothes of yours right?" Lucio looked at her for a few seconds and said "Yes…" with a poker face completely contradicting his shaky voice.
He quietly left the building as he went back towards the station as he dumped the gloves in two different garbage cans, walked to the back of a pc café exactly the way he had envisioned the escape. He threw the overcoat and all his clothes in a bundle before taking out a hoodie and jeans.
He wore them before setting the bundle on fire and left. He threw the lighter in a random trash can and continued walking. "Human lives are so …. weak." Lucio had not seen so many people die in such a short span in this life. When he was in Oscuro , it was easy to see deaths as laws didn't exist and wars were very common in small kingdoms. One was comparatively safe only in the empire of Axyte.
After a few turns and a lot of walking, he arrived in front of a medium sized house. He walked towards the door and rung the bell repeatedly, playing a tune similar to jingle bells. Soon a man opened the door looking extremely disgruntled "Do you have no sense of time?" Senzo grumbled in an irritated tone. Lucio looked at Senzo straight in the eye.
"I've met my aunt."
Senzo was alarmed as he ran out of the house, towards his Ford Mustang GT. His sleepiness vanishing as it was replaced by pure alertness "You never had an aunt, Lucio." He said as Lucio followed him, confused. The events that occurred today had broken up Lucio's process of thinking.
He silently sat inside the car as Senzo started the car. Lucio was thinking hard about the new information he had got from Senzo as he had felt a familiarity he had never felt for ages when he talked to his so-called aunt.
He took out the card he had gotten from her and showed it to Senzo. "That lady said that my sister is in this orphanage." Senzo took the card with his free hand as he drove the car on the empty streets. He looked at it and the orphanage was quite far from where they were.
"We should be able to reach there by 10 am tomorrow but we don't know if it's a trap or not."
Lucio nodded "Yes but I still want to take my chances. Grandfather is dead and someone else killed him ….. They gouged his eyes out and threw his tongue on the floor."
Senzo was shocked when he heard of the way the old man had died and it sent shivers through his body. He could only think of one family from Lucio's description. "She could be your aunt if that's the way he was killed. Your mom's family used to take assassination contracts from people in power decades ago but they quit after your mom disappeared. The description of your grandfather's death is similar to the way they killed people for personal revenge."
Realization dawned on Lucio as it was the presence of the lady that was similar to his mother or maybe she was a master of disguise. He nodded in understanding and sighed. Senzo turned the card to look at the back as it was common to write a message of information on the back of cards like these.
The Mustang screeched to a halt in the middle of the road. "WHAT THE HELL?!!" Lucio shouted. He hit his nose to the dashboard as he wasn't wearing the seatbelt. Senzo's hands were shaking as he looked at the addresses written in the back of the card. Looking at Senzo's reaction, Lucio knew that there was something very important or scary on the card that had Senzo react this way.
"The family's secret vaults …..these are the places that all the wealth that we had amassed over years is stored and it all belongs to you….." There was a change in Senzo's eyes that Lucio did not miss and said "Senzo , do you want to revive the family or do you want us to take everything for ourselves?"
Greed was boiling inside Senzo and Lucio noticed it only to throw a bait. Lucio was highly dependent on Senzo and he had no ways of eliminating this experienced man. Senzo had calmed down when he heard the question and looked at Lucio "Times have changed and its almost impossible to revive the family at this point. I want fifty percentage of whatever we get."
Lucio shook his head and denied him sharply "I'm not as naive as you think, Senzo. I'm the heir so I'll take 90%. I believe that even 10 years ago, with the wealth that the Tiano family had , it would not be hard to implement the biometrics right?" Senzo smiled as he sighed "Smart bastard. Alright , 10% is mine. There's a place we could check out before going to the orphanage, what do you say?"
Lucio thought for a while as Senzo continued driving "Let's check the place you talked about. If I really have a sister , I don't want her to see the ugliness of this world and since we don't know what we might find there, I'd prefer to go there before checking out the orphanage." Senzo nodded as he drove through the dark streets. Soon, they hit the highway and picked up speed.
Lucio put on the seatbelt and fell asleep. "Who would've thought that I would become a driver again after a decade ….. Peace doesn't always stay I guess …. Time to spread my wings." Senzo shook his head with a slight smile and hit the top speed.
Lucio woke up as he felt the car's engine shut down and turned towards Senzo who in turn was looking at a broken down warehouse. Both of them walked out of the car, towards the warehouse entrance , which was barred with a rusty chain and lock. Lucio turned towards Senzo as he walked to the side of the warehouse and came back with a stone that was about the size of his head.
Senzo heaved the stone above his head and brought it down towards the lock. He repeated this a few times and failed every single time. "Tch." He said and came back with a crossbar that was in the car and swung it down at the lock, successfully breaking it into 2 parts. Senzo panted heavily as Lucio entered the ware house, only to find hay and firewood inside. He wasn't disappointed as he nodded to himself. In the old leather book of the Tiano family , It was clearly written how to get to the vault.
Pushing away the rotten hay with a shovel lying near by , he called Senzo over to help. After a few minutes of pushing away a huge amount of hay, the two exhausted guys looked at a square shaped door that lead underground.
Pulling it open took a lot of effort but they eventually succeeded and walked inside.