She woke up with a headache. She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips and, squinting, stuck her eyes at the ceiling, trying to remember last night. She guessed that she had overdone it with alcohol, but tried to justify herself by talking to her ex-boyfriend, since that was what had taken away her remaining strength.
She still couldn't believe that Felix had said the one word she had expected him to say since they met. He apologized to her, and more importantly, these were not empty words, as she saw sincerity in his eyes.
She dreamed that their relationship would improve. She did not hope that love would blossom between them again, as Felix was clearly rejecting her. She simply longed to be close to him, to at least feel his presence.
Now that he was back in town after a year's absence, Clare couldn't ignore it. She couldn't live with the idea that Felix was close to her, and she had no way to accompany him.
How could she pretend she didn't know him, when just a year ago they shared an incredible feeling?
With difficulty, she rose from the bed and lazily made her way to the bathroom. She leaned against the sink with her hands and half-consciously looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked nightmarish. Smudged mascara on her cheeks, disheveled blonde hair and a pale complexion indicative of how much she was suffering at the moment.
She washed off yesterday's makeup, took a bath and went down to the kitchen in clean clothes. Her parents were already gone, so she could breathe a sigh of relief, since at least for the moment she had avoided an informative lecture.
She sat down at the table and didn't even have to say anything because someone understood her perfectly and put a hangover cure under her nose.
- You are my angel, housekeeper - she said in a hoarse voice, putting the bottle to her lips.
- That you would appreciate me so much after marriage, wifey.
She opened her eyes wider and looked over her shoulder, noticing Ian's laughing face. He was enjoying himself like a small child, taking satisfaction in the spot she had given at the club.
She didn't think she would get drunk so easily, although she had actually drained quite a bit of alcohol. It had been a long time since she had gone so wild.
- Who let you in here?
- The door to this house is open to me seven days a week, at any time," he announced, taking a seat opposite her. He placed his chin on his hands and swept her bitter face with a beaming gaze. - After all, everyone already knows that our engagement will soon take place.
- Give me water," she demanded, extending her hand to him. The brunet clapped her hand and shook his head.
- Take it yourself. I'm not your housekeeper.
- Since you have started to be one, then play along to the end," she announced, throwing him an angry look, however, Ian ignored her hostile attitude and did not move from his seat.
Wrinkling her eyebrows, she rose from her chair and, complaining of a headache, lazily reached for her glass.
The boy did not take his gaze off her. He propped himself up on his elbow and admired her bulging behind, which stood out clearly in her tight leggings. He could not complain, as the view to his eyes was pleasant.
- Why are you so silent? Why did you come here?
- I wonder when the moment will come when I bite into that apple? - he thought aloud, mirroring Clare with his eyes. The girl turned to face him and, drinking her water, wondered what he was talking about.
In this state, her thinking was slightly, so only after a while did she realize that he was talking about an apple. She took the fruit out of the wooden basket and threw it into his hand, which brought a smile to his face.
- You may be getting on my nerves, but I won't begrudge you the food," she declared, drinking the water to the end.
Ian bit into the green apple, pretending to jerk it with his teeth. The boy laughed in her face, clearly mocking her.
She was used to his immature behavior.
- I see you got up in a great mood.
- I'm doing it as long as I can because I'm sure that after the wedding every morning will cause foam in my mouth," he replied, taking a bite of fruit.
- In that case, I feel sorry for your future wife.
- But you are sure that you will not stand on the wedding cake.... - he spoke, snorting under his breath. - You are marked. You will be the only woman I will marry," he added, shrugging his shoulders.
Clare laughed insincerely, leaning against the kitchen counter with her hips.
- Do you think I'll let you ruin my life? Even if I have to give up everything, I won't marry a psychopath who is already sharpening his teeth at me. I would have to have with my head - she communicated, letting the brunet know that she would do anything to prevent it. - There is only one man I want to marry in the future, and it is definitely not you.
Waller rose from his chair and calmly approached the blonde, leaning on the kitchen counter with his hands to prevent her from leaving.
The girl raised her face and fixed a murderous gaze on him.
- Are you ready to give up your family, home, and wealth to reject me? You have prepared yourself for a life of poverty with no assured future because I'm happy to remind you that your lover has you deep.... - at this point he mused, and to make sure his speech didn't sound simpering, he used a mild term — in the butt — he finished.
Clare clenched her teeth because his sincere statements were usually accurate.
She felt like wiping that sultry smile off his face, but aggression wouldn't solve anything. She couldn't be knocked unbalanced so easily and lose to Ian, because that's precisely what he had in mind.
- One thing is certain... - she began with a sharp tone in her voice. - I will never marry you, so don't try any tricks.
- Tricks? That's right! - He raised his finger up, as if he had just remembered something. - Your boyfriend bragged to you that he knocked off my friends who politely wanted to talk to him?
The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, carefully watching Ian leaning over her.
- Did you send your friends to Felix? - A grimace appeared on her face. - However, you did it. You took advantage of my weakness....
- You immediately sent... - he muttered under his breath, looking above her head at the white cabinet. - I just wanted them to politely inform him to stay away from you," he added, shifting his gaze to her face. Noticing the gleam in her eyes, he immediately decided to take away her false hope. - And don't think to yourself that he beat them because of you.... He declared that you don't interest him.
Clare pressed her lips together, clearly disappointed by his answer. A triumphant smile appeared on Ian's face.
- Will you stand over me for a long time? I want to go to my room. I'm already nauseous from inhaling your cologne. You have your house," she said, pushing him away with her elbow. The boy shifted and put a squeezed hand to his mouth, watching her head up the stairs to her room.
- Agree that first love is always painful! - He raised his voice so she could hear him properly.
The smile disappeared from his face and was replaced by frustration.
When will she finally understand this?
*
The boy nervously looked back as he got the strange impression that he was being watched. His attention was drawn to a black car with tinted windows that stood on the side of the road. Although he didn't see anyone, it was this that made him most anxious.
He remained patient. Without raising any suspicions, he approached the motorcycle and put his helmet on his head.
He surreptitiously glanced in that direction and only then took off with a squeal of tires. He knew that if he actually guessed right and someone was following him, they would follow him.
He overtook the cars, running into every alley to lose the car he spotted in the mirror. Unfortunately, they weren't going to let go and easily found shortcuts.
Felix was right - someone was indeed watching him.
The traffic jam was the perfect opportunity to lose the intruders, who were not going to let their eyes off him.
Squeezing between the standing cars, he managed to pull out to the very front, where he was safe. As soon as the light changed, he moved hastily and disappeared around the nearest corner.
There was no way for them to catch up with him.
The first people Felix thought of were people who could get a person into serious trouble. The boy had been dealing with them for a long time, but he didn't think they would come back for him so soon.
Before he left there, he asked them to give him time to visit his hometown. After a lengthy negotiation, they agreed because of his sick mother, but suddenly something blew up in their faces, and they wished for his return.
He couldn't leave. Not currently, when the only person he had left was seriously ill. He had to help her and pay for her treatment, which was no small expense. His mother didn't have enough money to live comfortably for a month, so how could she provide for her treatment in the hospital?
Even though Felix had never gotten along with his mother, was he going to put her to death?
He couldn't do that.
He stopped in front of the house and got off his motorcycle the moment he got the text message. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and with a flick of his finger unlocked the phone, and a message from an unknown number appeared before his eyes.
"Are you having fun? Did you feel like running away? So we will also run away, but towards hell, along with your mother."
The boy bolted from his seat and ran into the house, holding his cell phone in his hand. With panicked eyes, he looked around the interior, carefully searching every room.
His mother was not there. They had taken her away.
- Damn it! - he yelled, kicking his foot at the nearest cabinet. He didn't expect them to act so quickly. Too fast for the relationship they had maintained so far.
*
Clare strolled around town in boredom, perusing the stores and making unnecessary purchases. Although this was not her favorite activity, it allowed her to forget, at least for a while, everything that disturbed her thoughts.
After an hour, she had had enough. She returned to the car and carelessly threw the commercials into the trunk.
She was about to drive away when someone violently slammed her hands on the window. She spotted Rose's laughing face.
- Please don't ever do that again," the blonde declared at the outset.
- Do you have something on your conscience?
- Possibly... - The girl was sleep-deprived and still not recovered, so her mood was poor.
From behind Rosalie's back emerged a sour-faced Paul. He was haggling over her commercials, not pleased with the task she had given him. He wasn't even pleased by his friend's presence. Apparently, he also got up with his left foot or his mood was simply spoiled by the girl he had to date.
If he could kill with his eyes, Rose would have been dead long ago.
- Yesterday you disappeared so suddenly.... Why didn't you go back to the club?
- Was I supposed to let him go back to the party so that those leeches would stick to him? He got a ban from me. His foot will never rise again at any disco," Rosalie declared, throwing Paul a warning look.
- I see that you are slowly beginning to take on the role of marriage," Clare announced jokingly, looking at her friend. His face turned crimson red. He was furious; however, he did not say a word, as befits a gentleman.
- I am slowly instilling rules in him. I want him to get used to them before his parents get us engaged.
Paul bit his lip angrily, so Clare looked at him with sympathy in her eyes.
- I hope you won't restrict his contact with me because in the evening he is mine," the blonde declared, and she saw relief on her friend's face.
- Of course not. His friends are my friends, especially you, Clare.
She sent her a friendly smile, which the teenager immediately reciprocated. Clare couldn't say a bad word about her because they had gotten along from the beginning. Rosalie was nice to her, but when it came to her relationship with Belluci, it was an entirely different tale.
*
Felix stumbled into the abandoned warehouse, as the address was given to him by the people who had kidnapped his mother.
They played games with him because he objected. He had no intention of returning yet, as he had previously agreed with them that he would stay here for a longer period of time. He didn't understand why they suddenly changed their minds and decided to make life difficult for him. He had done nothing wrong. He didn't arbitrarily return to his hometown, only with their permission.
And now they dared to arrange some games?
The boy looked around the dark interior, searching for any presence.
He got another message.
"Your mother was the only problem that kept you here. Now that we've gotten rid of that problem, it's time to go back."
A gunshot echoed through the warehouse, and Felix raised his face and fixed his frightened eyes on the spot from which the shrill bang came. He let the phone out of his hand and ran in that direction with all his might.
He opened his eyes wider and sank to his knees when he spotted his mother lying on the floor. A bullet was lodged in her heart.
One accurate shot had taken her life.
With shaky eyes, he looked around the room, but saw no one. The people he was dealing with were cunning; they never wrapped their minds around anything and did the job that was theirs.
They unscrupulously killed his mother simply because she kept him from returning to his duties. They got rid of her because she was an obstacle to him.
With trembling hands, he touched her face, and tears ran down his cheeks. It was his fault. He was the one who provided her with a terrible life. It was because of him that a rich man left her. He ordered the pregnancy to be terminated, but she didn't do it because she wanted to raise Felix.
She didn't know that she would give birth to an ingrate who would poison her life.
- I'm sorry, mom. Forgive me," he whispered through tears, putting his head to her face. - I'm sorry that you suffered so much because of me.
*
With a lively step, he headed down the sidewalk, clutching his cell phone in his hand. With absent-minded eyes, he stared at a single point, in his head, devising a plan for revenge. He was furious. He wanted to do something, to find them all and kill them, but he was unable to. These were not people he could just fight.
They possessed weapons. They were flesh-and-blood gangsters who sought talented boys and, through blackmail, ordered them to serve them faithfully. If anyone resisted, at worst they lost the people they loved.
Felix was spotted by them during one of the fights. Since then, they followed him, threatening to kill those closest to him. To protect them, he agreed to leave to earn fat money in the fights they organized. He had no choice. It was the only way he could ensure the safety of the people he loved.
And now they broke that agreement and killed his mother just because he left for a time to help her.
He clenched his jaw as he looked at his cell phone screen and noticed the restricted number calling him. He had no doubt who the man was.
- You got the urge to play chase? You know how much I hate this game. Two warnings I don't give," he heard a hateful voice on the other end.
- Although you gave me permission, I realized that you came for me faster," he declared through clenched teeth. - I couldn't leave my mother, and you killed her for no reason, even though we had an agreement.
- I am a person who breaks contracts effortlessly. You are the one to apply them, I have other rights. That was the first warning," the man threatened, and Felix twisted his lips in an ironic smile.
- You killed my mother, so I will also break this shitty contract. I am not going anywhere with you. I will no longer fight for you. It's over! - he shouted into the earpiece, and the passing people looked around with interest. - Do you think I will be such an idiot and come back with you? After you got rid of my mother? Now you have nothing to blackmail me with....
- Really? And that cute blonde who always cheered you so much during the fight...?
In the first moment he froze. He stopped in place and swallowed his saliva harder.
- That cute blonde was a temporary mistake that I got rid of before I left town," he declared in a raised voice. - So she can't be a bargaining chip. She is no one special to me.
- If she wasn't anyone important, we wouldn't have killed your mother so easily. - Felix closed his eyelids as he heard laughter on the other side of the receiver. - Do you think no one has been watching you since you returned to this place? I have pictures that prove that this girl is still important to you.
- You're wrong. She doesn't care about me at all! - he shouted, and then disconnected the connection, breathing heavily. With panicky eyes, he looked around the area, but saw no one. Nevertheless, he knew that he was being watched the whole time.
*
Several days passed. His heart was suffering after his mother's death, and yet the police did not let up. They kept pulling him to the police station because their investigation was not yielding any results.
Felix guessed it would. The people he was dealing with were trained and so cunning that they left no traces. The police could never get on their trail, but in time everything had an end, so the boy hoped they would eventually catch them.
He didn't confess the truth to the police. He couldn't rat out the people he had worked with so far. He knew it would end badly for both him and the people who were in his company. The police were up to no good, and they had no chance in apprehending these criminals.
Brown couldn't trust them until they discovered the truth themselves.
- I'm afraid for you. - He heard the worried voice of Nina, who appeared from nowhere next to him, grabbing his hand.
She was his oldest and also his best friend.
- I'll be fine, it's the people around me who are in danger. You should not keep in touch with me.
- I won't turn my back on you just because those bastards are blackmailing you," she said bravely, holding him under her arm. They walked down the stairs, and the boy looked carefully around because he was not stupid. They were watching him all the time, his every move because one mistake could bring him serious trouble. His mother's death was a warning to show him that they would not hesitate to commit another crime. They were incalculable and cruel, acting like heartless people, killing machines.
Felix pulled his cell phone out of his pocket when the sound of a text message reached his ears. Nina looked at him with concern in her eyes, directing her gaze to the phone screen.
"One wrong statement, and you're dead. You and your friends. It's time to start the game. Are you ready?"
The girl stroked her friend's shoulder.
- They are clearly threatening you.
- Their specialty is to play games with their prey. All my loved ones are in danger, Nina," he replied in a worried voice. - And in the biggest one is Clare. You must make sure she stays away from me.
- Felix, just don't accidentally blame yourself, understand? You didn't initiate this. It was they who found you and forced you to cooperate. You protected your loved ones, did everything you could....
- However, not enough," he muttered, looking ahead. - They are here, and you are their next target. They have seen your face...
Nina followed her friend's gaze, spotting a luxury car with tinted windows.
- It's some damn mafia," she said in a squeaky voice, feeling a ball go up her throat along with her overwhelming fear.
- I'm starting to regret coming back here. I could have let my mother die through illness, not murder.
- Felix, don't say that. You wanted the best for her, you wanted to provide her with treatment.
- And what came of it! - He raised his voice, mirroring the girl with his eyes. - And so she is dead, Nina. - His voice faltered, so his friend stroked his back to give him encouragement. - And as if that weren't enough, I additionally brought you trouble.
- I will not leave you, do you understand? That's what friends are for," she announced fearlessly, looking at the standing car in front of the police station. - We'll get them together. In the end, they will fall into the snare of the police and rot in a box for all the atrocities they committed.
- Nina - he began uncertainly, so the girl looked at him carefully. - You must talk to Clare and discourage her from me at all costs. You can use the cruelest tactics, but she must hate me. I don't want her to try to maintain any contact with me.
At the same time, someone opened the rear window of the car and threw an unquenched cigarette on the sidewalk. Felix could not see the face, but guessed that it was a man he knew very well.
The black car drove away, and the boy closed his eyelids and put his hand to his forehead with resignation.
- I got myself into quite a shit. I could have guessed that these people were not going to settle.
- It's not your fault. You meant well, but they are the cruel people we have to watch out for. Let's hope for the best....