"Are you sure about this?" Xandre asked Dominic who was standing beside him with Dmitri.
"A hundred percent sure, Xan. He was with a red head" Dominic responded. The trio was standing by the large window in Dre's study.
"I guess it's time for us to pay him a visit" Dre said.
"Any time you're ready, Xan" Dmitri stated. He sighed.
"I want the two of you to go with two other guys" he said.
"We understand. We'll get going, then" Dom said.
"Make sure you're armed, just in case. Don't kill him if you find him. You have to make him come here, got it? Bring him to me"
"Yes, boss" Dominic responded.
They left Dre's study and he lowered himself onto his chair, thinking about the possibility of Valentino not being Emperor X.
When Dre's men got to the house, Dmitri felt a shiver run down his spine. The house itself looked like a haunted one and it had an eery look to it.
"Are you sure this guy lives here?" Dom asked.
Dmitri shrugged and they all walked to the door. They knocked on the door and it opened slowly. Dom and Dmitri exchanged puzzled glances before they walked in. "Be careful, guys. Keep your eyes and ears open" He said. Dominic switched on the lights and he stiffened when he took in the sight of the place. There on the floor of the sitting room were numerous blood stains. 'What the hell happened here?' he thought.
"Dominic" Jake, one of the men said. "Yes?"
"There's blood on the wall and on the door"
"What the heck happened here?" Dominic breathed.
"Shit, You guys need to see this" Dawson said, grimacing. He was standing in front of a dark room. Slowly and carefully, he opened the door.
The sight of the place sickened the men. The room was filled with dust. But, the sight of the numerous blood stained whips, broken chains, blood stained clothings and battered bats made their stomach churn.
"There's no one in the house. Let's go" Dom said and they returned to the car.
"It's either he tortured someone or he was tortured. How else can we explain what we saw back there?" Dmitri stated. Dom sighed, running his hand over his face, clearly agitated.
...
"It was horrible. There was so much blood, boss" Jake reported to his boss. Dre turned away from him to stand on the terrace.
He had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. With everything Valentino had said to him the last time they'd had an encounter with each other, Dre believed that someone had hurt him really bad and he must've escaped. The question was who?
And why?
He raked his fingers through his hair, confused. It seemed like everytime they were very close, things would get more complicated.
If Valentino was hurt that bad, could it explain why he was found with the red head? Dre sighed, rubbing his temples. Ellise approached him from behind, placing her hands on his tense shoulders. She slowly massaged his shoulders expertly.
"You shouldn't think too much about it, Dre" she said.
He closed his eyes.
"You don't understand, Ellie. Before he pushed me off the building, he told me some things that I didn't want to hear. I know he looked so angry and vengeful. But, I think he was working for someone. I believe he's suffered a lot. He told me he had to live on the streets, he told me about being tortured and abused as a child. I think something happened to him recently.....If he's gone missing it would've been a different situation. But, Dom said he saw him with a lady. This is so confusing" he groaned.
"We'll get to the bottom of this, Dre. I know that despite everything he did to you, you still care about him and I love you even more for that, Dre. We'll find him, I hope"
Dre lowered his gaze to the ground. It felt like they had taken two steps forward and ten steps backwards.
...
Noelle left the restaurant as soon as her shift was over. She was tired and was in need of a goodnight's sleep. Yawning, she pulled out her car keys. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the figure lurking around the shadows. The hair at the back of her neck stood stiff and she felt like she was being watched. With her nerves acting up, she quickened her pace. Not far behind her, she could heard footsteps approaching. She began to jog faster. Soon, her stalker began to jog too. With her heart hammering hard, she broke into a full sprint. Her stalker didn't relent, he kept following her. She was frightened, but she couldn't risk stopping to catch her breath. Panting hard, she yanked the door of her car open and sped off. He stopped, his gaze still following her as she drove out of his sight. As soon as she got home, she quickly rushed inside, locking the door behind her. Val walked into the sitting room, his hair damp.
"Noelle? What's wrong?" He asked, seeing her pressed to the door with her eyes wide with panic. She ran into his arms, burying her face against his hard chest.
"Sh.... you're safe now" he said, holding her close to himself. She squeezed her eyes shut, inhaling his sweet scent.
"Someone was stalking me" she whispered. He frowned, his eyes darkening. "Stalking you?"
She nodded as he stroked her hair to calm her down.
"I was so scared"
"It's okay. You did good"
She sighed
"I've never run so fast before"
He smiled and led her to sit on the couch beside him.
"We'll be okay" he said.
She grinned.
"We'll be okay" she agreed with him.
....
Anne inhaled shakily, her hands trembling. Baron had warned her that this was her last chance. She didn't want to screw up tonight. Her plan was to sneak in while Dre was asleep and kill him. If she failed, it would be totally over for her. She couldn't risk it. Everything had to go as planned or she would become dead meat. She tucked two combat knives in the sides of her black boots. She stared at her image in the mirror. She was miserable. She felt miserable. Her eyes held dark bags and she looked physically and mentally drained.
She had to get this over with.
It was now or never.
She got to the Monteros mansion and knocked. The security guard opened the gate and she attacked him clumsily, injecting him with a sedative. She dragged his body out of the way and sneaked in quietly.
Luck was on her side today. She succeeded in moving past security and getting into the main building. She knew Dre's bedroom as soon as she saw the golden door. She slowly turned the door knob, careful enough not to wake him up. She paused for a second. Would he look cute in his sleep?
Such a pity that he was going to die tonight. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought of becoming a murderer. To her, it was like she didn't have a choice. She opened the door expecting to see Dre lying on the bed asleep. What she wasn't prepared to see was the sight of her own bestfriend lying on Dre's bed, deeply asleep. Anne stared at Ellise confused.
If Dre was not there where was he?
"Looking for me?"
She froze when she heard his husky voice behind her.
By the time she turned to look at him, she was staring right at the small hole at the end of a gun. He had the gun pressed to her forehead. Shell shocked, she dropped her weapon, awakening Ellise. Ellise was stunned.
She couldn't believe that her own friend had wanted to end her fiance's life tonight. Meanwhile, Anne's mind was buzzing with questions.
How did he know that she was coming tonight?
How did she end up underestimating a mafia boss?
The tension in the air was thick.
Words weren't spoken but with Dre and his fiancee giving her a death glare, Anne knew that she was in deep trouble.