A loud shake on her shoulder woke Siren up.
She caught her breath as she opened her eyes. The expression on the man's face, still holding her shoulders, was full of concern.
"What's wrong?" Its a worried question. He immediately helped her to sit up properly.
He quickly reached for the bottled water on the side table and helped her drink.
"You're having a nightmare. It's a good thing I woke up right away when I hear you muttering." He said not knowing whether to caress her head or to hold her hand. Eventually he grabbed her by the arm. "Are you okay?"
She looked up at the man.
A stranger was in front of her now. Although she felt strange about it,  she saw the spark of concern in his eyes.
She was about to speak when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. Reason for her to tweak her own hair.
Suddenly, an event seemed to flash as she closed her eyes.
*******
Jeff gritted his teeth as he listened intently to what Mister Vicente Rodriguez, the Chief executive of the private investigation unit where he worked, was saying.
Mister Rodriguez personally handled the case of Siren’s disappearance two months ago.
At the main part of the table, First Madam Sylvia Mendez was sitting and Mr. Greg Mendez also sitting next to her.
"According to the surveillance camera footage, an ambush happened. A red car was noticed following your daughter's car driven by Diana. A hundred and thirty meters away where we found the car, they start shooting. Then we saw four men got out of the car after seeing the black Lamborghini Aventador stop on the side of the road."
Sylvia covered her mouth as she heard what the man said.
"If it's really an ambush that happened, why was only Diana found dead inside of the car? Where is my daughter?" Sylvia asked in a sharp voice after a moment.
"According to what we saw in the footage, a woman got out of the car before the hitmen arrived and ended up firing at the car."
Sylvia was very frustrated that she burst into tears.
Before any of them could speak, the man grabbed something from his pocket and laid it on the table.
A cellphone. Jeff immediately recognized the familiar device.
"That's Diana's." Immediately, he says.
"My staff got this close to the crime scene. When we checked the dashcam video, Diana gave her cellphone to Siren telling her to call for help. But we don't know why Miss Mendez wasn't there when authorities came."
Greg angrily slapped his hand on the table because of what he heard.
Various speculations were already playing in his mind about what may had happened.
"Greg!" Sylvia said almost hysterically. "How about Siren? Where can we find her?"
"We can find her, Sylvia." Greg hugged his ex -wife. "I'll do everything we can to find her."
*********
A powerful blow Jeff unleashed on Todd's face. He poured into it all the frustrations he had felt since the ambush on Siren and Diana's car happened.
Of all people, only one runs through his mind. Only Todd’s group had the motive to do that. If they had previously committed the crime that caused the death of Harry Spencers, most likely they will be able to do that again especially that Siren is the reason for dragging the name and business of the two families to shame.
It's not impossible for them to hold a grudge against Siren.
Todd's face was bloody as he faced him. His lip was cracked and his nose was bleeding, which made him dizzy.
'I'll beat you to death until you admit that you were the one who planned to ambush Siren. "He punched him in the stomach again.
Todd sighed as he fell to the floor.
But a few moments later, he heard his faint laugh.
"You can kill me but I won't admit anything to you. I'm not at fault, after all Siren has a big arrears to me. She ruined me. If she dies, she deserves that!" He said while laughing.
Because of what he heard, Jeff was completely engulfed by overflowing anger in his chest.
He punched Todd several more times in various parts of his body until he collapsed to the ground.
"I'll let you stay alive for now. But as soon as I can prove that you had something to do with what happened to her, I'll come back to you. And when that happens. You better start to pray."
After saying that, he turned around and left him.
**********
Jeff laid a piece of red rose on top of Diana's grave while staring intently at her name engraved there.
Until now, he still can't believe that the woman doesn't exist anymore.
Until this day, he still seems to hear what they were talking about the night before the incident.
"Spain? You mean Siren and I are going there?" Her face suddenly lit up with excitement.
"Yes, Madam Mendez has already announced that the two of you will be flying to Spain after her birthday the other day." I stopped myself from smiling when I saw her reaction.
"So you mean just the two of us? You're not included?" Even though she was smiling, her forehead suddenly twitched.
"Of course I'll go too. But it'll be after two weeks before I'll travel there. I'm still working on things here that I can't leave." I just said before tapping her shoulder.
Upon hearing that, I saw the wrinkle on her forehead disappear and she smiled completely.
"Diana ... I'm sorry I have not been able to protect you. I failed to protect you and Siren." He felt the heaviness inside as he said.
He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket. He opened it and picked up a  diamond ring. After staring at it for a few moments, he laid it down next to the red rose.
"It's just a pity that I can tell you this in this way." She sighed to hold back his tears. "I'm sorry if all my life I've been a coward and  didn't tell you that I loved you all this time. You just don't know how much I regret it now."
He took another deep breath. In the last two decades of his life, he had no other thought than of how he could tell the girl how he really felt since he first met her at the training camp.
It took him that long before he had amyhe couray to have this ring that now he could no longer have a chance to put on her finger.
It's too late.
"If I could just go back in time. If I could just go back all the things, I'll tell you that I love you so much without fear and worry."
It was too late to stop the tears from dripping freely on his cheeks.
He’s the mighty Jeffrey Court of the Task Force Red Phoenix batch. Also Diana’s unbeatable equal. The person who has not shown weakness to anyone. The man who does not giving himself up on emotion.
But the opposite of all that can be seen in him now.
Here he is now and just letting himself mourn from the loss of the person he loves most.
"You're very deceitful. Very unfair. You didn't even give me the slightest chance to make you feel that I wanted to be with you. You left just like that. You never left me any choice. You never left me any option."
After a few moments of tears, Jeff wiped his face.
"But don't worry, I'll make sure that the people who did this to you would pay for what they had done. I won't stop until they get caught and I'll charge them myself for what happened to you." He barely cursed in front of Diana's grave.