7:15 AM
Los Angeles, California
7 days later...
December
(Warning: Gun violence, school shooting, and blood! If you're sensitive to these topics I reccomend you to please leave!)
"Good morning, everybody...", Leon said, they all looked over him. "Good morning, Sir Cashmere!", all of his servants and housekeepers replied at the same time, it sounded like he was lecturing a classroom.
"How is everyone doing?", he asked, drinking his cup of coffee. "We're doing fine, Sir Cashmere!", all of them replied back, while smiling. His servants are like obedient dogs, they always do what he says without any question. He does mistreat them when he's in a bad mood, he does know they are humans, too, but he takes it too far from insulting them and they end up either in tears or get offended.
"Well since it's our breakfast gathering today, I want to say thank you for our food- ", he said, someone opened the door before he could finish his sentence, it was Zoey. "Dad!", she happily ran towards his seat, he stood up and crouched down to hug her tightly. "My sweet little dove! Good morning, sweetheart", he picked her up off the ground, carrying her with one arm.
"I want you to do my hair", she said, wrapping her little arms around his neck. "I don't know how to do your hair, Zoey. I have Michelle take care of your hair...", Leon chuckled joyfully, he sat down and Zoey sat on his lap. "Stop lying! You have done my hair before...Can you do braids on my hair right now?", she asked, smiling brightly as always, she brings warmth to Leon everyday. "Sweetheart, I can't do that. you're going to be late for school...", he replied, she put her head down against his shoulder.
" I'll have them done for you later...", Leon suggested, she lifted her head as she nodded happily. "Tie up my hair...", she told him, he slowly joined her hair together to make it into a big, fluffy ponytail. "See you later...", Leon gently kissed her forehead, she hopped to the ground and waved goodbye before blowing a kiss. He grinned delightfully, laughing softly. She went out the door, where Michelle was waiting for her.
"Well then, thank you again...", Leon returned into his usual cold, serious self. He looked at the plate in front of him, his favorite dish, pelmini. He adored this dish since he was a child, when he woke up in the mornings, pelmini was already waiting for him at the table. Before he started eating his food, someone opened the door slowly, it was Noel. He peeked his head before he shut the door behind him, steping towards Leon's seat.
"Good morning, Sir Cashmere", he said, Leon stared at his green eyes. He stood next to him silently, Leon has been bothered by the fact someone has been following him the past few days. They have been exchange of conversations, mostly about work, nothing too serious.
He talked to his servants casually, some of them were talking about their problems, love life, and other good or bads news of their life, he doesn't mind his servants talking about their life, but he doesn't share anything personal unlike them, masking himself as much as possible.
As he listened to them venting, someone appeared on the door, his secretary, Tory Shizuku. He walked up to him before giving Noel a glare, he leaned towards him while patting his shoulder. "(Good morning! How are you today, darling?", he asked, delightfully.
Leon pushed his hand away, Tori scoffed in disbelief. "What are you here for?", he asked, being hostile towards him. Tori took a stool placed on the corner of the dining room, and put it down next to Leon.
"You're being a fucking bitch. I need you tommorow over there. We finished auditions for our models today, we have like 50+ models added from to our list since we found out about the scandal. I was scared as shit when all of those little fuckers started drama for no reason like, and they wanted to drag me in to that shit. Like no sis, you can't get me!", he started talking his drama as always, crossing his arms angrily.
"Well I'll be there", Leon said, Tori has been with him for the past three years, they've been friends since those times.
"You'll be there for me? Thank god!", he exclaimed in relief, Leon narrowed his eyes furiously.
"I'm going to be at the office tomorrow, you little bitch...", he remarked, Tori scoffed once more for being humilated. "I fucking hate your ass for not being as nice as you used to be, you used to be a douchebag, but not as much as now. You're really a godamn bitch towards everyone you see. If you're gonna do that shit, you better get yourself together, for real", he gestured his hand as to get away from him, which made Leon more pissed off than he already is.
"Just shut your fucking mouth, how about that, motherfucker?", his Russian accent thicken, Tori laughed hysterically.
"Why do you sound like that? You sound so stupid...", he snickered, Leon averted his gaze afterwards.
"Come on, cheer up. Like you're going to be lonely like a bitch before you know it, you little shit!", he pointed his finger like a normal, gay man would do. " Shut the fuck up for once, you never shut your big, loud, and attention seeking self, don't you?!", Leon hollered, at the verge of beating him up.
"How homophobic of you! Oh wait, you're bisexual...nevermind!", he said it loudly as if his life depended on it, Leon ignored him at this point, he doesn't like when people talk his personal business. "I'm just playing with you, you know that right? I was wondering if we can go out on the weekend. Or like go to my place, you know? And maybe do something..." he explained, with a smirk while leaning in towards him until his face is a couple of inches away. Leon turned his eyes to look at him, he knows what he wants.
"I'm not alone...", he said, Tori gave him a puzzled look. "I have a bodyguard, so I'm done...", Tori looked over at Noel, he glared with a digusted face, Noel ignored his hostility and kept looking at the wall. "Why does he have to bother us?", he asked, quietly.
"I'm having some family business I have to work with, so meanwhile he's going to stay here", Leon explained, Tori stood up and grabbed the seat, placing next to Noel. "Here you go, so you can sit with him", he said sarcastically, Noel turned around to face him.
"Thank you, Sir...", he replied, politely. "Oh wait, you have like the most perfect green eyes. And your wolfcut, it's giving rockstar vibes, and your hair color, light brown? It looks good on you, not gonna lie", Tori began giving comments about Noel's appearance, Noel listened to him without a doubt knowing he's lying in front of his face.
"The fact that your curly hair is healthy, you look hygenic. Hey Leon!", Tori ran up to him to the other side before he leaned into his ear.
"Your bodyguard needs to go somewhere else, I don't want him near you", he whispered quietly, Leon shoved Tori's face away fiercerly with his hand. Tori scoffed, he later walked away towards the door.
He stormed off the door, Leon sighed in frustration, finally he can enjoy his day without any disturbing him. He started to eat his food, after it was already cold. He took small bites, before he knew, he was finished with his plate. He pushed the dish forward, one of the servants, also finished with his food came forward to pick his plate. He walked out the dining room, leaving the rest of the crew still trying to finish their plates.
He thought about how was he going to get along with Noel, though they don't know each other, maybe it's best to keep it simple. Noel is a new person working for the Cashmere family, so he has to get used to the enviorment he's in. Knowing that fact, he wished he could just fire him on the spot, but sadly Parker doesn't him, what a bastard.
In the middle of his thinking, he suddenly receives a phone call, he lit up his cellphone to see it came from an unknown number, how strange.
"Hello? Who is this?", he asked, sipping his coffee steadily. "You know who I am...", the person responded, with a sinister voice.
Leon frowned, "I'm not playing any games here, I don't know you at all...", Leon said, a bit ticked off. "You know me, Sir Cashmere, or Leon?", his voice finally sounded familiar, he tried to think who it was for a moment. "I see you have a daughter, how wonderful of you is it for you to become a dad, isn't it?", the unknown caller said, with a villianious tone.
"I see she's at her elementary school, I'm right outside, as soon as I go inside, people are going to die. She's coming with me, no doubt about it", he continued, chuckling.
"What the fuck do you want from me?!", he hollered, standing up and slamming his hand on the table, making the plates and utensils rattle slightly. "I want to see you beg for forgiveness as blood gets smeared on your face. I'm going to tear you apart while you're still alive", he explained his desire in detail, his mind clicks the pieces together, he now knows the person that's currently talking to him. "Don't you dare get her, I'll fucking kill you until you' re face is fucking destroyed!", he raised his voice furiously, suddenly the room became as silent as a ghost. The servants all stared at him with confound eyes, wondering what was happening.
"Stop me then, Mr.Cashmere...", the person teased, he hung up and suddenly Leon dashed towards the door, Noel running behind him.
Leon dialed Andrew's number, within seconds, he answered. "Where are you? I need back up now!", Leon ordered, frantically. " I'm on my way! I know what's going on. Gabriel is trying to kidnap your daughter, Sir Cashmere!", Andrew explained, as he stepped on the gas, going fast on the streets, what the fuck is he wanting to take his daughter away?
Leon ran towards his bedroom, he burst open the door to get inside, he suddenly went into his closet to get what he needed, his guns, ammo, and other things he brought. He swiftly put his grey coat on, and threw a firearm at Noel, he catched it in his hands. "Where the fuck is Alvarez?", he asked, as he ran down the hallway going out to the main entrance.
"He's right outside! I'm getting close to where Zoey is!", Andrew responded, Leon hung up the call as he placed his items in the pockets of his coat and pants.
"What is happening, Sir Cashmere?", Noel asked, stunned to see Leon is concerned.
He ignored his question as he went outside and ran towards his car. He went into the passenger seat, Noel got inside the back seat. "What happened, Sir Cashmere?", Alvarez accelarated the vehicle at full speed, Leon gazed at him.
"Gabriel is going to fucking kill my kid if I don't get my ass over there to save her!", he exclaimed, Noel now knew what was happening, he lowered his head with shame. "Noel, you stay with me! Alvarez, wait on the front entrance", he commanded, Noel looked up to stare at him softly, Alvarez and him both nodded their heads.
He turned to the street, and before they knew it, he could see the school from the distance.
A few cars were already parked, probally Gabriel's. He jumped out the car before he gathered around with his other men, he crouched a little before he started walking towards the main entrance of the school.
He looked inside the windows from a distance, no one seemed to be inside, it looked like a completely abandoned classroom. His worriedness escalated as he realized the door in front of him is open, he opened and told his men to get inside.
He also went inside with Noel behind him, they all scanned the area around them, there's no one in sight, or so they thought.
A bullet darted across the cafeteria room, a man fell down instantly as the bullet went through his head, two men started firing the target, the enemy fell down after a few bullets, leaving a huge puddle of their blood.
°~9:27 AM~°
You four search over there, you four go to the east side, you four go to the west side, you four go to the back of the school, you two observe the targets entering and exiting, and you two and you come with me. Get moving now!", he went through the directions of their mission to save their daughter, Noel wondered how he never ran out of breath during the whole essay he basically blurted out from the back of his head.
"Yes Sir!", they all said in affiirmation, and scattered around the school. Noel followed right behind Leon, they scanned every room and hallway from the distance. He realized some of the doors were unlocked, inside of them where kids and their teachers collapsed one on top of the other, filled with pools of blood.
He looked inside to see each child wasn't his sweet little dove, he wouldn't want anything bad happening to her. He went down the first few hallways without any enemies in sight, suddenly he was met by two men firing at him relentlessly, he dodged the bullets miraclously, and hid by the corner of the hallway, one of his men shot one of the men down, Leon shot the other man in the head, and with one bullet he fell to the ground.
They both slowly step inside, looking around for enemies in sight, he looked around every piece of his current surroundings.
Noel slowly stepped towards Leon, he looked around for a classroom and opened a door to see another pool of blood, kids shot up to their death, he has no choice but look at it silently.
He closed the door carefully and went back into searching for Leon's daughter. He suddenly remember something from the back of his mind, Zoey had told something to Michelle. She briefly asked if she could get lunch around 15 minutes before going to the cafeteria. She said she's quite distant by the cafeteria, more near the library.
"Near the library...", Noel blurted out, Leon turned to him blankly.
"What?", Leon asked, puzzled.
"She's near the library...Zoey told Michelle to drop her lunch 15 minutes before lunch...", he explained, Leon frowned slightly from disbelief, there's no way he had some sort of clues from her. "Let's go then...", he said, highly uncomfortable from Noel's sudden knowledge from the layout of the school.
He looked quickly around the last classroom on the end to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Before he could turn around, four enemies ran up to them all at once, one of the men opened a classroom door, another one tackled Noel down before he gets pushed off in a classroom inside, shutting the door behind them, Noel fell down and immediately went back up to his feet before sprinting to the door, but he noticed through the small window, something had barricaded the door from the outside, he's trapped!
His first instincts was to grab something from inside, break the doorknob and try to push the lockers that's not letting him get out of the bloody mess inside there.
He looked through the window, he tried to see if Leon was there or someone to help him but he never saw anyone coming towards his direction after a few minutes.
He needed to get out of there, so he walked around a huge desk, and with all of his force, he pushed it towards the classroom door in hopes of pushing the other barricade from the other side.
Surprisingly, the door burst open, the locker from the other side gets knocked down and makes a huge sound. Noel jumped above the desk and stood on top of it before he jumped off, his feet landing on the ground, and reloaded his firearm.
°~10:02 AM~°
He looked around to make sure he's more aware of his surroundings, he heard someone calling his name from the comms.
"Noel, this is Andrew, do you copy, over?", he heard, Noel unmuted himself as he walked through the hallway.
He had lost them for good, he tried to look to his left and right but no sign of them.
"Solid copy, over", Noel responded, he sighed in frustration. Did those men really get to him? How embarrasing for him to get dumped down into some bloodly place while he needed to protect his boss, what a fucking shame.
"Noel, please get down to the east side, we're being highly attacked from Gabriel's men and the boss needs backup, over", Andrew ordered, Noel could hear a whole rodeo of gun shots flying in the athmosphere.
"This is Sir Cashmere, Noel what's your status over?", Leon asked, sounding out of breath. Noel is slowly trying to find a way out of the North side.
" I'm fine. I'm on my way, over", he sprinted down the hallway, he stopped in his tracks when he saw a tall man walking down from the corner of the hallway, like he was guarding something special in a action movie.
The man slowly turned around to his back, Noel held up his gun, aiming at his head instantly, the man fell down within seconds.
He went towards the guard, he grabbed the guy's firearm to see the gun is full of ammo, just what he needed.
He suddenly found some keys hanging out of the man's pocket, he grabbed them and noticed the keys belonged to the school, he realized that's how they were killing the innocent kids, using the keys to unlock the classrooms to shoot up the innocent souls inside.
He gripped the keys firmly, he placed them in his pocket.
He sprinted his way to the other side of the school, killing a few men here and there, until he reached a hallway, he peeked over to see Leon shooting a couple of men with two guns, one aiming towards the hallway, and one towards a room, he jumped in and killed two men instantly aiming at the middle of their foreheads, Leon' s eyes flew open in astonishment, he shot three men down, all of them collapsed like ragdolls.
°~10:29 AM~°
They cleared up their surroundings, Leon turned his head to stare at Noel. "How did they even do that?", he asked, with expressionless eyes.
"Two guys wrestled me down before dragging me into a room, Sir Cashmere", he explained, reloading his gun again, Leon's gaze moved towards the hallway and the room, the doors were wide open, it had sets of tables, bookshelves taller than him, and a few computers lined up in a row, this is the library.
°~11:14 AM~°
They both walked forward, there's a hallway leading to a dead end, and another that would lead them to another side, Leon is tired, he stopped himself when he scanned the hallway, his men hadn't found his daughter yet, he somehow decided to follow Noel's word, how astonishing.
Noel put his hand in front of Leon, indicating to stop him from taking any steps forward, Noel stepped inside the hallway steadily.
He looked into every room with their doors unlocked, he went all the way into the last one, he tried opening the door, it was locked.
"This one doesn't open...", he told Leon across the hallway, Leon walked towards him. As he walked, he heard a gun reloading, it wasn't his gun.
"Oh, you came here with my friend, I see", the voice said, Leon sighed in annoyance.
He's confused, what does he mean by friend?
"Noel...It's been a year since I last seen you around, isn't it?", Leon's eyes flew open, wait, he knows who Noel is?!
" Who are you?", Noel asked, alarmed by the fact the person knows his name.
" Gabriel Johnson...", Noel's eyes widened in shock, raising the gun to the man's head.
"That won't work, you know? Shoot me, I'll shoot him...", the man known as Gabriel aims the firearm at the back of Leon's head.
That won't work, but I know what will...", Leon muttered, he slowly steps back and turns around before he fell down, his arms supported him from falling to the floor completely, and kicked Gabriel harshly by the ankle, making him trip down to the ground. His head hit the floor forcefully, his vision and reaction delayed, Leon stood up rapidly before he fell to his knees to punch him directly to his face, the man groaned in pain.
He tried to move his arm to shoot Leon, but luckily Leon went back on his feet and stomped in his hand with a lot of pressure, breaking his knuckles, Gabriel screamed from the agony and the sound of hearing his bones break into pieces, making his hand let go of the firearm, Leon picked it up and placed it in his pocket.
He yanked his other arm to make him stand up, Gabriel obidiently did as he wished, standing up slowly and putting both of his arms behind his back.
"FUCK!", Gabriel cowardly yelped, as his hand was in pain.
Noel tried to find the key to the classroom, once Leon tightly wrapped an arm around Gabriel's neck, Gabriel cletching his teeth as he's trying to get air. Leon tensely points the gun at Gabriel' s head. Noel finally could unlock the door, he burst it open, he finally saw the person who they were looking for, Zoey.
"Noel!", she got out of her hiding spot in the back of the teacher's desk, the teacher yelled her name to get back to where she was. She noticed Noel was covered in blood, but she frantically came towards him to hug him. "Thank you! Thank you Thank you!", she said, sobbing her eyes out.
"Noel, get out of there now!", Leon ordered as he was restraining Gabriel. Noel immediately ran towards the window, he stopped to put her down, and grabbed the desk next to him as he smashed it against the glass, shattering completely. The students and teacher looked at them mortified as Noel got out to see if they were any enemies in sight, later he told Zoey to do the same.
Without hesitation, Zoey went over the window and crouched down. Noel told her to stay close to him, he also crouched down as he realized the gun ran out of ammo, and switched to the other one he retrieved from the dead guy earlier. Before he knew it, Leon jumped over the window and picked up Zoey with an arm before they all ran down towards where the exit.
"This is Noel, Alvarez where did you move to?", Noel asked over the comms as he sprinted, Alvarez pulled in front of their eyes, Noel shot a few men shooting towards them, Leon shot a few men down as he got closer to the vehicle.
Noel opened the car door wide, and Leon was the first to get inside with her daughter as gunshots were firing everywhere. Noel got in the passenger seat rapidly, and Alvarez started to zoom through the road.
"Noel, tell them to leave...", Leon said, breathlessly. They were exhausted from running around like wild horses to save Leon's daughter, she's safe and sound, just like Leon wanted her to be. "This is Noel by the order of Sir Cashmere, the target has been taken to safety, retreat from the location now", Noel said, "This is Andrew, roger that...hey you heard what he said, let's go!".
"Where to, Sir Cashmere?", Alvarez asked, Leon stared at him. "Home", he replied, before he started to gently stroke Zoey's hair, he's here with her daughter alive, what a relief. It was such a burden taken off his shoulders, he didn't want to lose her, he never does. He loves her with every single part of his soul, she's a special gift to him.
"Dad... Thank you", she whispered as she moved to sit next to him. "I won't let anyone hurt you at all, I promise", he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
°~11:53 AM~°
"We're here...", he said, they all got out of the car, and Leon picked up Zoey with one arm again, he came up to Noel and patted him on the shoulder a few times. "Thank you, I mean it...", Leon said, calmly. "I'm just doing my job, Sir Cashmere...", Noel replied, he looked down at himself, his white suit drenched in blood, it looked as if he commited a murder, well he did just commit murder a while ago.
"Come on...", Leon demanded, they both went inside the home through the garage door to finally take the rest he totally deserves.