Neveah Aurora North:

'Look who finally decided to come out of her dark hole!' Celine jokes as I walk into the kitchen. I walk over to the fridge and open it, staring at the food for a second.

The chef, I think his name was Guy, is busy making lunch or maybe diner since it's already three pm.

'Well, if that's how it's going to be, I might just go back to my dark hole.' I laugh, before closing the fridge again.

I'm in the mood for food, but I don't know what I want exactly.

'Where is Leya?' I ask moving over to Celine. She's eating her blueberry yogurt thingy again and smiles at me. 'She's out shooting with Leon apparently.' What?

I grab my new phone and unlock it. The first thing I did was put a code on that thing, I don't need people reading my shit.

I scroll through the contacts and stop at Cataleya's number, so I can text her:

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞?

'So how was your hibernation?' Celine asks, handing me some blueberries. I smile and chew on the sweet berries, enjoying the delicious taste.

The food that they serve here taste like nothing I've ever eaten. It tastes as if it's freshly picked, straight out of nature, pure, and healthy.

'It was earned.' I sigh, feeling more tired than ever. I know I've slept for a long time, but I'm still tired.

It's as if nothing ever fills me up with energy again. I'm tired all the time and sleeping doesn't help either.

'You want me to do a check-up?' Celine sounds way too concerned than needed and I immediately shake my head and smile at her. 'I'm probably just overreacting. This is just a little too much all at once.'

She nods and takes the last bite out of her bowl, before putting it in the dishwasher. 'So...' Celine walks back to me and pulls me out of the kitchen, into the living room, and pushes me onto the couch, before taking a seat next to me.

'What is it?' I ask, curious as to why she pulled me out of the kitchen. 'What's going on between you and Leon.' What?

'What do you mean?' She rolls her eyes and looks me straight in the eyes again. 'He went ballistic last night, so you must've said something to hurt him.'

'Wait what? What did he do?' I ask nervously. I shouldn't give a single shit about anything Tiago-related, but I do. I don't want him to hurt himself over a stupid kiss.

'He said something about you kissing someone else and went ballistic.' 'Meaning?' Something gleams through her eyes.

Interest. She's interested in where this is going. But it's not going anywhere. I just want to know if he hurt himself or not.

'Meaning he smoked a lot of shit last night, but that's beside the point!' She exclaims before she looks at me, trying to read my mind.

'Just admit that you love him.' I shake my head and look at the black tv screen. We are so not having this conversation right now. 'It's hard enough as it is, so just admit it.' 'So you can run to him and tell him? No thank you.'

Her eyes widen, I basically gave her what she wanted, but that's not what I meant.

Celine can be nice and all, but I don't trust her enough to talk to her about Tiago yet. She rat us out before, who says she won't do it again?

'You basically just did.' She smiles, enjoying her little, but none existent, victory. 'No, I did not.'

'Why won't you just give him a second chance?' I look at her again and let her words sink in. Why won't I give him another chance? 'He never did anything wrong. I just don't see the point.'

'That's selfish.' She mumbles, before getting up and walking towards the hall. 'What?' I get up as well and go after her, 'How is keeping myself safe selfish?'

She stops and turns back to me, folding her arms in front of her chest. 'It's selfish because you know he loves you.' I snort, not being able to keep in my laughter.

'He doesn't "love me" Celine, trust me.' I state, walking even closer to her. 'He does! He searched for you for years!'

'Yet he slept with four-hundred girls-' 'And you slept with fourteen!' Of course. Of-fucking-course. He told her. That asshole can't keep shit to himself.

'Four-hundred and fourteen? That's a big difference.' She nods, knowing that our body counts aren't such a valid reason for me to forgive him.

'Still, I know he loves you. He kept talking about you all the time. He really wanted to get you back.' She sighs deeply. I just want to drop this conversation, but I can't.

If she thinks it was easy for me to make that decision, to leave all we had behind, she's wrong. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But she won't understand that. She never will.

'No, he did not. They have enough recourses to get me back, but they didn't.' Celine looks at the ground and shakes her head. What? 'That's not true.'

'What do you mean?' I want her to continue, but she walks away. I run after her and block her way out. She started this stupid conversation, so she might as well tell me what she's talking about.

'Celine-' 'Rio found you.' What? She nods at my questioning face and pulls me into one of the halls, looking around us to see if anyone could hear her, 'Two years ago something happened. Tiago got hurt, he almost died,'

My heart stops for a second as I listen to every word she has to say. He almost died? 'His last wish was seeing you one more time. So Rio made it his number one priority to find you.' She continues, keeping her eyes on me the entire time.

'He found you, but Tiago got better. Rio dropped the matter and never told him the truth.'

'Why not?' I ask eagerly to know the truth. If this even is the truth.

Celine might act friendly, she might genuinely be friendly, but she still works for Rio. She's still loyal to Rio. So what's the real reason for her to tell me this? Why would she give me this information if she knew I could tell Tiago or maybe even Rio?

'He hates the effect you have on him. Rio didn't want that to happen again.' She mumbles, walking back into the hall as if she didn't just tell me the biggest secret of all time.

'And Tiago still doesn't know?' I ask, walking after her again. She keeps walking away when I'm not done asking questions yet. She simply nods and walks towards the living room again.

'So why did you tell me?' Celine abruptly stops walking, making me bump into her. 'Because I want you to know that he does care.' Does he really?

'Than why won't he let me go?' I ask, looking deep into her brown eyes. The thing is. She isn't looking at me. She's looking at someone behind me. And I think I know who it is.

'We're back!' Leya shouts before a door slams shut. Shit...

'Rio wants you to get the measures with Brandon.' Without turning around, without facing him, I know it's him. Not just by the sound of his voice.

'Duty calls.' Celine chimes, pushing me past Tiago as she walks towards the hall herself. 'Where is he?' I ask, not daring to look at Tiago whatsoever. 'His room.' 'Where is-'

Tiago grabs my arm and pulls me towards the other side of the house, the part where his room is. He stops at the next door and sighs deeply, letting go of my wrist and staring at me. I look at the ground, avoiding eye contact at all times.

'Go inside.' I follow his orders, wanting to tell him to not talk to me like I'm a slave, but I can't. If I talk to him now, I have to look at him, and that's the last thing I want.

I open the door and enter a large room, just about the same size as ours, just a little bigger. The room is filled with different shades of brown and white. It's absolutely stunning and gives off a studio vibe, way different than all the other rooms in the house are, but I like it a lot.

'There you are! I've been waiting for hours- Tiago?' I keep my eyes on Brandon, who is standing behind a big table with all types of fabrics, and hear movement behind me. The door closes, but footsteps don't fade away. They come closer.

'Do what you have to do and ignore me.' Tiago mumbles, walking over to the queen-sized bed in the room. I take a deep breath and walk over to Brandon, trying not to glance at Tiago at all.

I feel his eyes burn through me, but I don't dare look. Not after what he heard, or what he might've heard.

'Okay, I need you to take off your clothes so I can measure you.' Well, great! 'Also, what color do you want your dress to be?' Brandon opens a book and skims through the pages, touching some in particular.

'I don't know, what did you have in mind?' I ask, slowly walking over to him. The book is filled with pieces of fabric in all types of colors and shades. 'I was thinking dark grey or-' 'She'll be wearing blue.' Tiago interrupts, forcing both of us to look at him.

His focus isn't on me anymore. It's on Brandon now.

'Why?' I dare to ask. The fact that I'm talking shocks me. But Tiago seems to like it. 'Because you'll go as my date and we have to match.'

'Well, I could match your outfit to hers.' Brandon sighs, rolling his eyes at the obviously annoyed Tiago. 'No, she'll be matching me.'

'But-' 'It's fine. Blue it is.' I state, not wanting them to fight over something so simple.

Tiago nods and scrolls through his phone as Brandon sighs deeply and shows me a few different shades of blue.

'Do you want to pick the shade and fabric too or are you going to let me do my job?' Brandon asks with a thick layer of sarcasm audible in his voice. 'Don't start with me, Brandon.'

'Can you please just measure me?' I practically beg. This is all too much and I just want to get out of this room as quickly as possible. Brandon stares at both of us for a second and sighs deeply once more. 'Fine.'

I take off my shirt and keep my eyes on Tiago as he doesn't seem fazed at all. He's too busy with his phone to even notice that I'm half-naked in front of him, which is amazing.

'Okay, so this might be a little cold.' Brandon smiles, before wrapping a measuring tape around my waist. It indeed is cold, but it's bearable.

'I wanted to ask you how you've been, but I couldn't find you.' I state, doing everything Brandon asks of me. He continues to measure everything he needs and writes it down on a piece of paper.

'I'm doing good, it was just a little stab.' Tiago snorts and finally looks up from his phone, scanning my body shamelessly, and stops at my eyes. 'It was pretty deep if you ask me.'

'Well I'm still standing, am I not?' Brandon sneers, folding his arms in front of his chest. The men stare at each other for a second, before turning back to me.

As soon as Brandon's done, I put on my shirt again. 'Was that it?'

'One more thing, do you have a certain design you want?' He asks, before rushing over to another book. He opens it and points at some of the gorgeous designs inside of it. They're hand-drawn and absolutely insane.

'You made these?' He nods and proudly smiles at me, 'Yes, I did.'

'Princess or Empire design should be fine.' Tiago answers in my stead again. I hear movement, but again, I don't dare to look in his direction again.

Brandon simply stares at him for a second, trying to murder him in his mind. 'Do whatever you think is right, I just know I'll love it no matter what.' I interfere before either of them explodes.

'Cool. So I'll sketch something on here and I'll show you when it's done.' I nod and smile at him as a thank you, I just know he's going to blow me away with whatever he has planned for me. 'Okay, you can go. Could you get Leya for me?'

I nod again and walk over to the door, almost running out of the room so that Tiago won't catch up with me. The moment I enter the hall, he pulls me back. Shit...

'Let go of me!' I shout, trying to break free from his grip. But it's no use. He pulls me towards his room and opens the door, waiting for me to go in.

'I have to go get Leya.' He shrugs and blocks my way out with his large frame. 'Brandon-' 'Little girl! Brandon is waiting for you!' He shouts before pushing me into his room.

I try to run past him, back into the hallway, but he's faster and pins me against the door.

'What do you want!?' I shout at the gorgeous man in front of me.

His honey glowing skin, glowing eyes, perfectly shaped eyebrows, chiseled face, and dark curls are driving me absolutely insane.

'What is going on with you?' He asks annoyed with me, which I don't understand. He has no right to be annoyed with me since I didn't do anything wrong.

'I should be asking you.' I sneer, trying to break free one more time. It's no use. His grip around my wrists is way too strong. 'You have no right to act like this towards me, now let me go!'

'You kissed someone else last night, I have every right to be angry with you.' He rants at me, moving closer to me slowly. 'No, you don't.'

'Neveah I swear to god, I'm going to fucking-' Our lips almost touch as he leans forward. But I know he won't kiss me. He's too angry to kiss me. 'You kissed someone else last night.'

'And you slept with someone else, so who cares? It's not like we're dating.' I mumble trying to compose myself. He's way too close for me to be able to think straight.

All I can think about are his lips against mine. But then I remember. He's keeping me here by force. He flipped out because I kissed someone else. He rejected me last night when I practically begged him to fuck me, even after everything.

'Non posso vivere senza di te.'What? He sighs deeply and steps closer to me, almost closing the gap between us.

'You're driving me insane. Do you know that?' I shrug, not caring about the way I'm making him feel. This man is destroying me every day he talks to me, every day he spends in my life, without giving a single shit.

'Let go of me.' I say desperate for him to let me go. The tension in the room is rising by the second and he's too close for comfort. 'Why?'

I gulp, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. His voice is so soothing.

'Because-' 'You didn't want me to stop last night.' He grins, leaning his head against mine. 'What are you talking about?'

'Did you forget?' He asks proudly, 'You practically begged me to fuck you.'

I try to keep my breathing steady and look into his eyes. He's just as desperate as I am right now.

'And why didn't you?' I ask, playing back at him with his own cards. If he wants to play my horniness against me, I can do the same to him. Something flashes through his eyes.

Desire. He's trying his best to keep himself composed, trying not to rip my clothes from my body as we stand in silence.

'Because if I did, Neveah.' His lips brush against the nape of my neck, slowly planting hot kisses everywhere. If I wanted to, I could push him away right now. So why am I not doing it?

'I would make sure that you wouldn't be able to walk straight for a few days, maybe even weeks.' Oh god... 'Is that so?' I ask, trying not to moan as he starts kissing my neck once more. He nods and smiles against my sensitive skin.

'I would make you take every drop of my cum and make sure that you would get pregnant, even if it took me hours.'

My eyes widen as his words float into the air. What. The. Fuck.

Never has someone threatening to impregnate me turned me on this much. It's because it wasn't him.

He sighs deeply, leaning back, creating space between us. Space I didn't want at all. I want to feel him against me, inside me.

'But you're angry at me.' He states, smiling at me with that cheeky smile of his. 'Aren't you?'

It takes me a few seconds to understand what he's saying as I quickly push him away from me. Just now I realized what I did. I let him in again. I let him do that to me, I let him touch me again. Fuck.

'Yes. I am.' I sneer at him. He sighs again and keeps his eyes on me, but won't touch me again. He knows where my thoughts went.

'But I can live with it. I guess.' I mumble softly. His eyes light up and his lips curl up. This is what he wanted. He wanted me to forgive him.

And I think I can. At some point. Just not now.

'But that doesn't mean anything. I just-' His arms wrap around me and he pulls me against this chest, hard.

I take a deep breath and take in his scent, letting it consume me for just a few seconds. He still smells the same, aromatic and fruity at the same time.

'Thank you.' No problem... 'Just don't lie to me again.' I whisper so softly that I don't think he heard.

My new phone, in my back pocket, vibrates and we break free from our embrace, looking at the phone.

It's Rio:

𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝

We look at each other, standing oh so close again, and sigh in unison. 'We'll talk later?' I ask, wanting to continue this conversation. We have to have it at some point, so why not as soon as possible?

He nods and strides to the door, opening it for me. Tiago accompanies me to the basement, but gets a call, forcing him to leave.

I take a deep breath before walking down the stairs. Rio is standing in the dimly lit hall with the metal-looking door.

'Took you long enough.' He sighs, turning towards me slowly. I nod and keep my eyes on him, not trusting a single thing he does. He could drug me again and that's the last thing I want right now.

'Follow me.' Rio orders, moving towards the metal door, typing the code on the panel. I keep my eyes on him, not caring about the code at all. This man is dangerous, so I'm not risking anything.

The door slowly opens and he waits for me to get in first, which I don't. I stubbornly wait for him to walk in first. He chuckles softly and steps into the other hall. I follow him and take a deep breath, an attempt to calm myself down. Which obviously won't work.

'What do you want from me?' I ask softly, afraid that if I raise my voice at him, he'll snap.

He ignores me and continues walking towards one of the doors. It's not Celine's medical room, but another one. One I haven't been in before. He opens the door and turns back to me.

'Get in.' I fold my arms in front of my chest and hear the metal door close behind me. There is no way out now.

The door he just opened lets a disgusting smell enter the hallway we're standing in. It reeks of urine and sweat.

'North, I am warning you.' I sigh deeply and step into the dark room. There is no light whatsoever and I can barely see where I'm going.

I hear footsteps behind me and then hear a door close. Within seconds I'm tied to a chair, making me wonder what the fuck is wrong with Rio's eyes. How the fuck can he see me? It all goes by so fast that I barely have time to respond.

The moment I realize what's going on, I try to break free. But it's no use. He tied me to a metal chair, one that's stuck to the ground, and is nowhere to be found.

'What the fuck are you doing?!' I shout at the darkness surrounding me. Footsteps and the flipping of switches are all I hear. 'Rio!?'

'Can you for once just shut up?' He sneers, turning on a bright light right above my head. I lower my gaze, unable to keep them open if I don't.

I look around the room and notice the disgusting-looking floor. Spots of dirt, blood, and whatever type of fluid it might be, go around the room, leaving a trail of dots around the room.

Rio is standing in front of a table with a toolbox and a panel full of switches on top of it.

'Why the fuck did you tie me to this chair!?' He sighs and moves back to the table in front of him.

I watch as he glances at different tools to work with. But what for? Fear fills me as I put the pieces together. This is a torture room. He's going to fucking torture me, isn't he?

I panic and pull on the restraints around my wrists as hard as I can. 'Don't you fucking dare!' I shout at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone will hear. That Cataleya or Tiago could hear.

'They won't hear you and stop panicking, I won't hurt you.' He groans, flipping another switch on the panel in front of him.

Another bright light starts shining on the person in front of me. I recognize him immediately and stare at his current state.

Gabriël is hanging from the ceiling with metal chains keeping him up. His face is nowhere near what he looked like yesterday and his eyes are barely seeable. They beat him up as if they wanted to kill him.

He has scars all over his chiseled chest and bruises running down his back as if they tried to cut him into pieces multiple times.

'What the fuck!?' Rio rolls his eyes, flipping another switch. One that shortens the length of the chains, making Gabriël float in the air just a little. He groans out of pain, absolutely exhausted by the torture he had to endure.

'Do you know him?' I look at the monster asking me the stupid question. 'He had nothing to do with whatever this is about!' I shout, trying to break free again. The rope around my wrists cuts through my skin, but I don't care.

'You don't even know what this is about, so how would you know?' Rio's eyes are cold. Way colder than the warm hazel-eyes I'm used to. Tiago's eyes.

'Is this because I kissed him?' I ask, tears forming in the corner of my eyes. This is what I was afraid of. People dying because of my involvement with the Curzio's.

Rio's eyes move back to the pincers in front of him. 'So this is the guy you kissed?'

'Please let him go, he didn't even want to kiss me back.' I lie, knowing that he truly did. He kissed me back because he wanted to. It was a harmless kiss with the wrong girl.

Rio tuts and slowly walks over to Gabriël, grabbing his face firmly, as a smirk forms on his lips. He's enjoying this. That sick fucker is enjoying torturing innocent people. 'Please-'

He keeps ignoring me and puts Gabriël right middle finger in between the metal parts of the pincers he picked out. 'No, wait!'

Without hesitation, without remorse, without guilt. He forces the handles together, slowly breaking his fingers. All I hear are screams, bones breaking, and cries for help.

After a few seconds, he stops and turns towards me. 'Tell me what you know.'

'About what!?' I shout with tears rolling down my cheeks. I'm terrified for Gabriëls life. He has nothing to do with this, he's innocent.

'Whatever the fuck it is he told you!' Rio sneers at me, throwing the pincers my way. The metal clashes against my knee, hurting like a motherfucker, but I don't dare look away from him, afraid that if I do, he'll kill Gabriël.

'He didn't tell me anything! We just kissed that's it! I don't know him besides that stupid kiss!' Rio takes in my words and turns back to Gabriël, grinning like the devil he is.

Gabriël looks at me, or at least he tries. The lights are too bright for his eyes and he's in too much pain to actually look at me, but he tries.

'You stupid bitch.' He groans, which totally shocks me. He's talking about me, but why? I didn't want any of this to happen to him. 'What?'

Rio stomps him in his stomach, making him groan and fold forward the best he can. He wants to fight back, but it's no use. He won't win this fight.

'He's the one who stabbed Brandon last night, did you know that?' What? I stare at the crying Gabriël and try to see if any of that is true. The guy I kissed last night seemed so innocent. But as of right now, I don't think he is.

'He picked me didn't he?' I ask, forcing myself to stop crying over someone who hurt my friend. Rio nods as he circles around the hanging man, trying to think of what he could do with him.

'Yes, North. He did.' Rio mumbles, turning towards me once more. His eyes are filled with hatred, he's absolutely furious. 'He used you and you let him.'

Now my blood starts to boil as well. None of this is my fault since I didn't ask for any of it, yet he has the nerve to blame it all on me.

'I did not!' Rio looks me in the eyes, murdering me without actually doing anything.

There is one thing Celine didn't lie about. If it wasn't for Tiago, I would've been dead by now.

Rio sighs deeply and walks back to the panel with all the switches. He pulls another switch, making Gabriël drop to the ground. He has no energy left to fight back, but he won't give up. He's a fighter.

Rio grabs him by the back of his head and drags him out of the room, leaving me all alone in the suddenly quiet room.

I let it all go through my head, every piece of information is getting stored somewhere in my brain. The door opens after a few seconds, with only Rio walking back into the room.

'Untie me now.' I sneer, waiting for him to do anything, but he doesn't. He simply looks at me and sighs again.

'Why do you want to leave so bad North?' He asks, walking towards the table with all the objects he tortured Gabriël with, wiping them clean with a disgusting-looking piece of fabric.

'I told you already-' 'Lies.' He sneers, pushing the table away from him. 'Untie me, now!'

'Not until you tell me the real reason you want to leave.' He sighs, pulling himself together again. He obviously didn't want to latch out like that, but he did.

'Why do you care?' I ask, looking directly at him. Rio is nothing compared to Tiago, yet he looks almost exactly like him. His hair is lighter, he has a little stuble beard and his eyes don't shine the way Tiago's do.

Rio is cold, heartless, everything Tiago could never be. That's what makes them different.

'Why do you want to leave North?' He asks, more persistently this time. 'Because I don't want to be here.' I huff, trying to break free one more time. I want to run through the door and never come back.

'I think you're lying,' He states, walking to the other side of the table so he can look at me from a different angle. I hate that I'm unable to go anywhere else. I can't move to the other side of the room or run away.

'I can see it in your eyes.' 'As if you could read me, right?' I roll my eyes and look the other way, angering him even more. 'Look at me when I'm talking to you.'

'Or what?' Suddenly he's right in front of me, pulling me to face him at the back of my neck. I want to hit him, to kill him, but I can't. I can't move my fucking arms.

'You better make sure Tiago never stops liking you, because the moment he doesn't like you anymore- I swear to god, I'm going to make you suffer.' I gulp down on the lump forming in my throat and stare into his eyes again.

He stands by every word.

'What is my reason according to you?' I ask, trying to not make it obvious that he terrifies me. I hate this man with every fiber in my body, but he'll always win from me.

He lets go of my head and steps back, folding his arms in front of his chest as he looks down on me.

'I think you want to leave because you're afraid to become someone you don't want to be, even if it will make you the strongest version you'll ever be.' He says wisely as if it's some riddle I have to fill in myself.

'What?' He nods and walks back to the table. 'You heard me.'

'Yes, I heard you. But what the fuck does that mean?' I ask, waiting for him to elaborate himself a little more.

'You're afraid that you'll like it.' He sighs, wiping away some of Gabriëls blood off of a knife. 'The kill. The blood. The terror you'll cause others when you take their life away.' What?

My heart drops out of fear. The thing I feared, the thing I never told anyone about. He knows. He knows why I really left all those years ago.

'That's not true.' He chuckles and puts everything away before turning to me again. 'If that is not true, why not kill Gabriël?' I knew it.

I should've known Rio wasn't just going to talk to me about this. He wasn't just going to show me how evil he could be. He did this to turn me into something he knows I don't want to be.

'No.' I answer as simple as it is. There is no way I'm killing Gabriël. Not even after the betrayal. There's just no way.

'Why not?' He asks, trying to open me up in the weirdest way possible. 'Because I don't want to kill someone.' 'You have never killed someone, so why not try it?'

'I've also never jumped out of an airplane, but you don't see me doing that, do you?' I ask sarcastically, making him chuckle softly. 'That could be established, North.'

Rio grabs a just "cleaned" knife and walks over to me, to the back of the chair where my hands are tied together.

'Don't you dare-' 'I won't.' He cuts through the rope around my wrists and I jump up, immediately turning around so I can watch his next move.

'You never told Tiago about that night did you?' I ask, wanting to change the subject more than ever. He simply shrugs and throws the knife at the table, making a hole in the table. 'Why not?'

'I didn't see the point.' I chuckle at his response. He wants to act like he can read me, let me do the same to him. Let me play him at his own game. 'Or were you afraid that he would get angry?'

'Trust me, I don't care if he would've gotten angry with me, North.' Rio sneers, suddenly annoyed again. I know I hit a nerve when he looks up at me, with the anger filling his eyes again.

'What does non posso vivere senza voi, mean?' I try to ask in the best way possible. I don't want to answer his question.

'Why, who told you that?' He asks curiously. 'Answer me.'

'I can't live without you.' He sighs, putting the pieces together. He knows Tiago is the one who said those words to me and seems to get more annoyed because of it.

Celine was right, he absolutely hates the fact that Tiago wants to stay with me. But I don't want to be with Tiago like that ever again. It's not safe and I don't want them to change me into a monster.

'But stop avoiding the problem. You're going to kill Gabriël.' He states, flipping the switches again before pulling me out of the room. I break free from his grip and run into the hall. But there is no way for me to go out of there unless he unlocks the door.

'If you're not afraid of turning into a monster, why not try it?' I look at him in total disgust- how can he talk about murder as if it's nothing. As if he's god. As if he's the one who decides who's going to live or die.

Rafael Curzio doesn't hesitate to kill people, he simply does it. He does not give a shit about anyone but himself.

'That's not how it works-' 'He works for the enemy.' He interrupts me again, cornering me between him and the wall behind me. 'Your enemy. Not mine.'

He tuts and shakes his head for a second, before smirking at me like the devil he is. 'He was involved with your family's murder.'

My heart drops again, this time filling me up with anger. 'What?' He nods and steps back, giving me space and time to process what he just said. 'He was definitely there that night. But he works for someone else.'

The look in his eyes says it all. He's telling me something he isn't supposed to tell me. We both know who told him to keep his mouth shut. Tiago...

He's just saying this to fuel the fire inside of me. There is no way- 'He works for the Steels.' Steels?

'Gabriël killed your family.' He states, stepping forward, making sure that I understand every word he's delivering, 'He was about to kill Velez last night.' Now that's the tip of the iceberg.

Not only did he have something to do with the murder of my family, but he was also about to kill my new family as well.

'Where is he?' I ask, trying not to shout as I grit my teeth at each word. Rio grins and steps back, pointing at another door.

I run through the door and watch as Gabriël is tied to a chair, just like I was just a few seconds ago. Adrenaline kicks in and all I see is red.

Red blood all around me, not his blood. My family's blood. The family that didn't deserve to die for something so stupid. My family.

There is a gun, neatly placed in the middle of the table in front of Gabriël, and I grab it. I aim at his head and stare into his eyes. He knows he won't survive and smiles at me. All I want to do is wipe that stupid grin off his face.

'So he told you.' I nod and keep my arms steady, ready to pull the fucking trigger if I have to. I don't want to, but my body isn't cooperating with my mind at all.

'They deserved all of it. And so do you.' He sneers, making me turn against him even more.

I didn't want to do it, because I don't want to turn into a monster like Rio. But his words, his words change the narrative. His words change everything.

It changes the fact that Rio didn't lie. It changes the fact that he was there that night. He killed my family.

'Rot in hell.' I pull the trigger and watch as the bullet goes straight through his brain, making blood splatter all around the room.

I pray, no beg, that I'll cry. That I'll scream hysterically and burst into tears. But nothing. Nothing comes up. I'm not sad nor feel any regret for shooting Gabriël.

I killed someone and I don't feel anything because of it. Meaning I'm turning into the one thing I feared. The Curzio's are numbing me...

I slowly turn around, looking at the man that fueled my anger. The man that turned me into the thing I feared.

'Tiago is wrong about you...'