The loud ticks of the clock echoed in the silent room and the anxious man sitting on the couch tapped his finger impatiently.
"I mean yeah, I get your point that you are confident in confronting her face to face but what if she just bang-bang us up before we could even start talking like decent humans?" Luka said, making gun gestures with his hand.
Xavier was standing by the window looking out at the garden, where he had some of the best memories of his childhood, while slowly twisting the finger ring he had on his pinky finger.
When he dropped Ailee at her house she took him inside her room and held him in her arms, refusing to let him go.
But after consoling her for another hour she finally agreed and made him wear one of her rings even though it wasn't big enough for his ring finger.
Xavier didn't pay attention to Luka's blabbering as he was doing it for the past forty minutes.
He knew Luka was so on the edge because of him and how it would affect him on an overall basis.
Xavier was impassive but his emotions would slip through his actions and if that happens, hundreds of people will be impacted by that.
Luka sighed in frustration and shut the laptop off before storming towards him.
"Yo bro, listen. Why don't we just stay at the hotel as I suggested and come back here tomorrow, huh?" he asked, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, you can leave but be here by nine tomorrow" he dismissed him and went outside, lighting up a cigarette.
He wasn't a smoker but right now situations called for a bit of intoxication.
Luka watched him leave and punched the air in frustration.
"God, I swear if this place turns out to be haunted, I am going to bang-bang everything up"
He left for the room near Xavier's on the ground floor.
Igor didn't join them here because it would remind him of his mother so he decided to meet up with everyone the next day.
New cameras were installed along with some sensory ones all around the property, leaving no blind spots. Not even the bathrooms.
Xavier also had it checked that the place wasn't bugged and found quite a few devices hidden in the usable rooms and halls.
He strolled inside around midnight and lied down after changing into a fresh pair of clothes.
He was almost asleep when his door slowly creaked open and in a flash he was aiming the gun at the intruder's head.
"Woah woah woah- brother-" Luka screamed.
"The fuck are you doing here?" Xavier grumbled, putting the gun back under his pillow.
Luka sent a quick prayer to the Lord because knowing Xavier, he probably would've pulled the trigger in a moment's delay.
"I… uh… was-"
" Hurry the fuck up, Luka"
" I thought you would not be able to sleep so I came to check, yeah that"
"With a pillow and a blanket?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luka looked down at himself and shrugged.
"I was sleeping before you barged in, now get out" he pushed Luka out while he protested and resisted.
"What?" Xavier sighed in frustration.
"Come on Zaddy Zai, I will sleep here just in case you start having nightmares. I can sacrifice myself for one night but no sharing of pillows or blanket" He was already settled on the right side of the bed while Xavier remained holding the door knob, processing everything.
He scoffed and went to the left side of the bed.
He knew Luka was a scaredy ass bitch and it would have happened anyway in the middle of the night with the loud bangs.
Xavier was almost sound asleep, again, when he heard a loud gasp followed by a slap on his stomach.
He cursed under his breath and slapped him back hard on the head, sitting back on the bed to face his horrified face.
"This is- this is where his… mother… died'' he whispered with eyes wide open like saucers.
He heard the body was found in Xavier's room and he willingly came here to become the meaty snack for the female ghost possibly lurking in the dark corners of this crime site of a room.
"Yeah, so get lost," he scowled.
"You come with me then" he pleaded, seemingly shitting his pants.
"I'm good"
"No, you're not," Luka insisted.
"You are not good but I am"
"Romano, man-"
" I fucking changed my room after that. It was my former room and if you don't shut the fuck up I will throw your ass in there and lock it for the night" Luka immediately pretended to be snoring causing Xavier to lie back down tiredly.
They both left a significant amount of space between them and slept.
___
Xavier woke up groaning because of the bright light coming through the huge windows. He attempted to sit up but was refrained by the strong hold around him.
When he realized the heaviness of the weight he jerked up, no way that was his little Coco.
Luka was drooling on his bare shoulder while lying practically on top of him.
Xavier grimaced from the cool wet sensation of his saliva on his shoulder and kicked him out of the bed.
"Ow- Ah….what was that for?" He asked, wiping his drool with the back of his hand.
"You are never sleeping in the same room as me and get changed, fucker" he said and went to the bathroom.
Luka sat there for another ten minutes before leaving for his assigned room.
Everyone was present in the backyard going through the arrangements one last time.
Igor was being a grump but provided with the best men and equipment as his contribution to the mission.
Exactly at seven in the evening, five cars pulled into the driveway and Brianna came out smiling. Xavier stood on the balcony of one of the rooms and peered down at her.
He felt his heart racing after seeing her almost two decades later.
She didn't change much.
Appearance wise.
He gulped down the whiskey in one go and left the room to meet his guests.
She was already sitting on the couch, looking around the house with a smile as if reminiscing.
Xavier could feel the bitterness on his tongue.
He silently went ahead and sat down across from her.
"My, my, my" she said, beaming with no hint of menace on her face.
He turned his face the other way and gulped the little lump formed after hearing her still soft and soothing voice.
If only she loved him.
He would've given her the world- his life even, for her.
"You've grown to be a handsome boy, Son" she said.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"What's the hurry, I just got here"
" It is enough time," he responded with a clenched jaw.
" Well, I beg to differ"
The atmosphere was getting tenser every minute.
Xavier was in turmoil.
For the first time the control of the situation was slipping from his hands and he felt like he didn't have the upper hand.
Which he did not. He was in no way prepared to fight her or disrespect her in any way.
"I must say that smart you might be but not smart enough. I've been playing with you all these years but you could not see me" she laughed with a hint of mock.
"Because I didn't want to otherwise I would have"
"Uh-huh sure" she looked at the person standing behind him at the far corner of the hall and gave him a peculiar look.
It certainly didn't go unnoticed by the hawk-like eyes of Xavier and Luka. He pressed the button on their customized watches indicating them to get alert and run checks everywhere.
"Sir there's movement up in the trees, we are looking into it" someone said in the earpiece.
"How are you still alive?" Xavier asked, leaning on the back rest.
"Mmm you're so much like your father" she stated with disdain.
Everyone knew he was not much like his father. He might be quiet and short tempered like him but Xavier was more rational and principles driven.
"Just answer the question"
Luka was sitting and analyzing everything around them with a hard expression. He gave no shit about his mother because he had nothing to do with her. His top priority was Xavier, who was not only his employer but also true family.
"You see, there were not only your fucking father's people working here but also mine. Sure it was a near fatal injury- three fucking bullet wounds but I survived. God wanted me to live and kill those sons of bitches. Instead of throwing my body into the pit as instructed, they immediately started the treatment in the car even before I could reach the hospital."
Everyone listened to the story quietly since it was the first time being narrated by the original person.
"Yeah okay but what do you want from him?" Luke asked, getting impatient.
Brianna's sharp eyes turned towards him with rage for disrespecting her but switched to a smile a second later.
"You have a beautiful girlfriend. Though I do not approve of her" she said, dodging the question thrown at her by Luka.
" Does it look like I care?" He gritted his teeth.
" Oh you should care. Who knows what that poor helpless girl might be going through" she said with a smug expression.
Xavier talked to her not too long ago and she was doing fine. She hasn't left her house either and sometimes shares snaps of his guards so he knows they were also there.
Then what the fuck is she trying to say?
Suddenly, he received a message. He pulled out his phone and saw an unknown number.
He glanced at his mother who shrugged her shoulders and opened the message to see a photo.
The moment it got downloaded, his mind went into a frenzy. He made sure no expression leaked on his face though.
Then he immediately called Ailee and her phone was unreachable. He tried his guards next and it said the same thing.
His palms were getting sweatier and he dialed her siblings next.
At last Mila picked up her phone.
"Where are you?" He asked, not giving away to whom he was talking.
"Uh- at my friend's place-" she replied, flabbergasted by his call.
He said a quick 'okay' before ending the call and sent a text to a few people to confirm the image.
It was a picture of Ailee tied to a chair and badly bruised up.
"You won't be able to reach her," the woman chilling in front of him said.
Luka tapped his shoulder and Xavier passed his phone to him.
He looked at the picture and turned pale before handing it back to him.
"Just end this and tell me what do you fucking want?" Xavier said calmly.
"I want everything." She said, batting her eyelashes innocently.
"Sir, there were snipers but we took them out" a guard said in the earpiece referring to the situation with the trees.
Xavier hummed as a response and turned back to the conversation between his mother and Luka.
"Why?" Luka asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Because I fucking deserve it and you don't get to yap between me and my son"
"He isn't your son. Well at least now he isn't" he scoffed, crossing his arms.
"I fucking gave birth to him and I have every right on him and his life. I can send him right where he came from" she said venomously.
"His father, you mean?" Luka said with sarcasm, lacing his tone.
"Yeah-"
"And half you too you know. Then you would have to join your late husband and late son"
"Enough is enough, boy. I planned to not use guns in the first half hour but you are making it extremely difficult for me"
"If you wanted everything, why play dead when you could've made a comeback after Dad's death and claimed his property. I wouldn't have minded" Xavier said.
"But I would have minded because I never wanted you either. I never wanted any kids. It was purely a truce between my family and your father's, sealed with a marriage."
" I was a happy, young independent woman with big dreams that your father crushed when he forced me to become a mother and a fucking housewife"
" I could not take my revenge on that son of a fucking bitch he died too young, too easily so you will have to take your father's place, his little treasure." She said angrily and turned into a maniac shooting at the ceiling a few times.
"You don't know for how long I've suppressed my agony, my anger, my hatred. I will make sure that none of you walks out of here alive"
Brianna slammed some papers on the table and shouted,
"Sign them, Xavier. Don't make me mad"
He picked up the papers and skimmed through it before scowling at her.
" That's my property- the assets I created with my own money"
" Yes, because you sold your father's and mine's without my fucking permission" her eyes were bloodshot red.
Everyone in the room who already doesn't have their guns out yet had their hands placed on their holsters, waiting to pull their firearms.
"My brother whom I loved most dearly was killed because he came to free me but just because I was pregnant, your bitch of a father didn't even give him the chance to explain. I have way too many reasons to kill you right now. I can't believe I gave you birth"
"Why did you even pretend to love me when I was a kid?" He asked fisting his palms.
" I had to most of the time because it was difficult to make a fool of that old fucker and I didn't think you could become such a pain in my ass"
He didn't know his heart was capable of breaking so many times but he held it in like the expert he was.
His exterior remained calm and collective unlike the woman in front of him.
He simply tore the pages and threw them at her before picking up the incoming call.
"Sir, Ms Ailee is safe. A jammer was placed in the area and we just-" the person on the guard duty for Ailee reported when gunshots rang in the place.
"Suit yourself. I'm going to fucking kill you-"
Immediately everyone had their firearms out and very much ready to withdraw lives.
He was much more confident now that he knew Ailee was safe and was ready to go all out if needed.
One of her guards came in front and said something in her ear and she glared at everyone before storming out of the place.
Xavier and everyone else followed her out.
"You're not going anywhere without telling me everything and ending it for once and for all." He said and held her shoulder in a tight grip.
She jerked away and shot him carelessly but the bullet hit Luka who was right behind.
Xavier grunted and shot four guards around her including the one on whose advice she decided to leave.
Brianna gasped in rage and aimed the gun before pulling the trigger again and this time… … …
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