LOGINCECILIA’S POVWhen morning came, adrenaline began coursing through me, because I knew the day had come.Mae forced me to eat breakfast, but I barely ate more than a bite. I skipped lunch entirely, my mind too focused on the countdown.By 8 PM, I was dressed. By 9, I could see cars pulling into the penthouse's grounds, and moving towards the parking lot. I was waiting for Mae to come back to the room, so she could distract the guards stationed on our floor. She came back a few minutes later, with a big box beneath her arm.“What’s that? Where did you go to?”I had watched her argue with the one of the guards to let her downstairs so she could pick up a box of sanitary pads.I knew it wasn’t true, of course.“Benjamin sent something.” I raised an eyebrow at her, and watched her open the box. At the top were sanitary pads, probably for Jude’s guards who would’ve searched the box.Underneath them all, was a slimmer box. She opened it, and brought out.....a gun!Mae gave me a levelled
His text stared back at me.[Benjamin: Any updates?]I decided to scroll upward.The messages stretched back to the night before the twins disappeared. They’d been talking ever since.The bathroom door opened.Mae stepped out while drying her hands with a towel. The moment she noticed the phone in my hand, she stopped walking.Neither of us spoke immediately. Whatever expression was on my face, was enough to tell her what I had just seen.And the suspicion I was having.“Cecilia. It’s not what you think.” She said.“I’m not thinking anything.” I said quickly, setting the phone down.It was obviously a lie. I was on edge and my emotions were on overdrive, shaking to know if my children were okay. Seeing that Mae and Benjamin had began to talk, the day before Brittany took them......Well, my mind was spiralling really fast. “I know you are. But I can explain.” Mae crossed the room slowly before sitting opposite me. “After I unblocked him the day that I showed you, I didn’t have it in
Back at the penthouse, Jude remained inside his office long after everyone else had gone to their rooms.Night time had come, but he wasn’t getting rest. Not when Cecilia’s children...possibly his children had been kidnapped by Brittany. Several plans ran through his head. He had to fight the urge to just seek out Brittany and put a bullet through her head. That would cause a large scale war in the mafia world, and that was exactly what him and the rest of the inner circle were trying to avoid. The only way to take down Brittany and her family, was if the rest of their allies first turned their backs on them.It was only then he could tear them apart.And the moment was tomorrow night. “I have to focus.” He muttered to himself, as he forced himself to go through the preparations one final time. To ensure there were no loopholes. The masked auction would be happening here at the penthouse. He considered moving Cecilia out, but that would alert her that he was about to do so somethi
One moment the twins were squealing happily on a ride.In the next, men dressed in black pulled them away, clamped their hand over their mouths and pulled them into a van. Neither of the twins spoke very much during the drive. They sat side by side in the back of the vehicle, watching everything through the darkened windows. Every road looked unfamiliar, and every turn carried them farther away from the festival.Allison quietly reached for Alex’s hand. She squeezed his fingers. He was about to cry, but his sister ever the perceptive one, could tell crying wouldn’t free them from the men who took them. “Where’s mum?” Alex mumbled, blinking back tears and not wanting whoever had taken them to think he was weak.“She’s probably at the festival.” Allison didn’t want to add that she probably didn’t know they had been taken, so she wouldn’t alarm Alex even more. Eventually the vehicle slowed.Tall iron gates rolled open without anyone stepping outside to greet them. The compound beyond
The drive back to the penthouse was unbearable.Not because Cecilia was crying or panicking. Honestly, Jude wished she was.Instead, she sat completely silent and stared blankly ahead. Jude sat beside her and watched carefully. Ever since they entered the car, she became eerily calm. Somehow that frightened him more than when she was shaking and screaming. Mae sat at the back seat without speaking too. She occasionally glanced at Cecilia, then out the window, then back again.The silence stretched.Jude found himself checking Cecilia every few seconds. “Cecilia?”He called to her, but there was no answer. She stared ahead, as if she was looking at something. Like she was connecting with some distant reality. His phone suddenly vibrated. The sound seemed unusually loud inside the vehicle.Jude immediately pulled it out.Roman had been sending updates constantly, so he expected another report from one of his men.But it wasn’t. A different name appeared on the screen. It was a messa
Jude stepped forward first. "What happened?"Neither of them answered immediately. They were breathing too hard. Mae finally reached us, and her eyes found mine instantly."Cecilia." The way she said my name made fear spread through me like cold water.Roman arrived beside her. For the first time since I'd known him, he looked shaken. The sight alone was enough to make my pulse race before a single word had been said.Jude's voice turned dangerous, as he asked again. "What happened?"Roman swallowed hard. "We lost them."Silence fell between all four of us. For a second I didn't understand what he meant. Lost who? Then my brain caught up, and the world seemed to stop moving entirely.Mae looked ready to cry, and her voice shook when she finally spoke. "The twins were on one of the rides. We were waiting at the exit." I stared at her, unable to process the words properly. Roman continued. "They never came out.""What?" My voice came out barely above a whisper."The twins." Roman sa
Immediately I knew the poison was taking effect.When Brittany first hired me, she made me aware of how the poison worked.“My husband will be consuming it by inhaling. When it’s taking effect, he’ll begin to bleed internally.”I watched what she described take place in front of me. Jude heaves ou
Mae sent me those messages. Mae, who smiled the entire time she told me about a broken engagement and an arranged marriage and the ongoing tension, and then smiled even wider when I confirmed I understood what my assignment was.I pick my phone back up and look at the number one more time, wonderi
This is an extraordinarily horrible way to die. I’m drowning and thinking this when arms closes around my body.From behind, I’m pulled by my torso, and up to the surface. I cough so hard I cannot breathe for several seconds. Just coughing and coughing while whoever is holding me, keeps my head a
I stare at Jude, certain I heard him wrong.Brittany’s expression barely changes at first. But I can tell from the way she pauses to look at me, that she is surprised. “What?” She asks, even though she heard perfectly.Jude repeats, in a tone as calm as his wife’s. “I said I no longer require Dr.







