Celine Eloise Dufort:

I walk through the halls of Rio's house and look at the pile of papers in my hands. All of this information, at least a hundred pages, filled with information about the crimes in England.

If the police are going to ignore all the signs, someone is certainly paying them off. Meaning we have another criminal to worry about. Someone unknown.

I knock on the door and don't wait for him to tell me to come in. He requires to know this.

'Cel, what are you doing up so early?' He asks as he takes a sip from his scotch. It's barely six in the morning and he's already drinking. 'I didn't sleep because I was working on this all night.'

I throw the stack of papers onto his desk and walk over to him. 'What is this?'

'There's something fishy going on in England. Someone keeps killing people and the police don't connect the dots.' I grab all the pictures and spread them out, enabling him to see all the red circles I drew on them.

They all highlight the different skulls carved into someone's skin, somewhere on their body.

'Skulls?' I nod and grab the police report, covering most of the linkings they ignored. 'And then there's this.'

He scans the paper and furrows his brows. 'All of them-' 'Have the same remarkable traits. Skulls and bashed-up faces.'

'And the police didn't link any of it yet?' I shrug and search for the news article I printed out. 'Here it says that the police don't think it's something to worry about.' Even though they killed at least over two hundred people.

'Someone's obviously silencing them, but I don't know who it is and whose side they're on.'

He scavenges through the other papers and pours himself another drink. 'Who was the last victim?'

'Micheal Navaro. He was shot twice with a 45 ACP. Once in the head and another one in the chest. Police found his body near a river, just outside of London. They ignored the burned skull and simply didn't write it down.'

'Any links?' I search for the picture of the red-haired girl. 'Vanessa Dimitrov-' 'Dimitrov?' He mumbles as he pulls the paper out of my hands. 'What does she have to do with this?'

'We know her?' He looks at me as if it's the most idiotic thing he has ever heard, but I seriously didn't know her before he gave me this case. 'She's Ivanov's granddaughter.'

'Dima Ivanov?' He nods and throws Vanessa's picture back onto the pile. 'But there was nothing in her medical file that linked her to Dima, how could she-' 'They gave her up for adoption because it wasn't safe or something, I don't care. What does she have to do with this?'

Noted. 'She's Navaro's ex-lover.' His eyes widen for a second as he stores the information in his head. 'Wasn't he married?' 'That's why I said lover, not fiance or wife. He was married indeed.'

'Sofia Hernandez, right?' I nod since that's the name of Navaro's wife. 'She's still in Londen. The police took her and their son in, trying to keep them safe. Which I still don't understand.'

'Why not?'

'If they don't see a threat, what do they need to keep her safe from?' He turns back to the papers and scans through a bunch of them. Mostly pictures of the skulls imprinted in people's skin.

'And no one has said a thing?' He mumbles, looking at the pictures again. I think he's trying to see if he recognizes any of the victims, but nothing pops up. 'No one. Not that I know of at least.'

'Leonardo has an old friend In London, maybe he knows more?' Maybe. He reaches for his phone and dials someone, probably Leon, before turning back to the pictures.

I didn't have enough time to print all the other pictures, but this is absurd. How is the police acting as if none of these killings are linked?

'He's on his way.' I nod, wondering if they made up yet. Rio and I talk about the pictures for a few more minutes, before Leon bursts through the door.

'Why do you keep doing this?' He fumes, ignoring my presence whatsoever. 'I need your help.' I start, making him look at me for just a second before he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

'I don't do shit, we need your help with this problem.' Rio sighs, shoving Navaro's picture towards Leon. 'It's your problem, not mine.' Wow...

Normally Leon's all about teamwork, we're all in this together bullshit, but not today apparently. I just know it has something to do with his feud with Rio.

'It's going to be our problem if we don't find out who's killing them.' I huff, stepping in between them since they're staring each other down. 'Who's killing who?'

I point at all the pictures on Rio's desk and walk over to Leon's side. 'All of them have been killed, same mark, same shit, but the police are acting as if none of them are linked. Yet they took Sofia Hernandez into custody, to protect her, which is weird since they claim there's no threat.'

'Sofia Hernandez?' I nod and wait for him to tell me more. Apparently, we know everyone these days. 'She came to visit Monica when I went there.'

'Did she say anything about her relationship with Navaro or the fact that he had a lover?' Leon takes a deep breath, not trying to explode in his cousin's face. 'Leon?'

'She did say that she suspected something but that's all I heard.' He sighs, taking a seat in the chair next to him. He glances at the other pictures and puts them in order, which is closest to each other but mistakes one.

'That one is closer to that one.' I point at the two pictures and wait for him to switch them back, but he doesn't. 'No, this is nowhere near the tower of London.'

The police lied about that one too... 'Right. Do you know who Vanessa Dimitrov is?'

He nods and looks at the picture of the redhead. 'She's Dima's granddaughter.'

'How come I didn't know about any of this, but you two did?' I ask feeling a little hurt. Normally they tell me all I need to know. If they told me this before, maybe I could've found another link somehow.

'This is nothing new, we just-' 'It's fine.' I look at the picture of Vanessa again and take a deep breath. 'She's Navaro's lover.'

'Ex-lover. He's dead remember.' Rio smirks at me, annoying Leon all the more.

'Fine. Ex-lover. She's been missing since the night Navaro was found dead and the police aren't doing shit.' I continue, waiting for either of them to come up with some new information since they seem to know a lot more than I thought.

'Do you think she's still alive?' What? I look at Leon for a second, trying to see if I heard him correctly. 'She might be dead.' He shrugs as if it's the simplest thing on earth.

All this time I've been thinking about her as a suspect. I thought she might've murdered him for his money and ran away with his fortune. But what if she didn't run away. What if she didn't get the chance.

'What if she was murdered before she could run away?' Rio nods and takes a deep breath as he brushes through the pictures. 'Do you have a picture of Sofia?'

'No, but you two know her already right?' I ask, looking at both of them. Leon nods, but Rio shakes his head. 'I might've seen her once or twice, but that was years ago.'

'Too bad for you.' Oh god. Rio rolls his eyes, throwing daggers towards his cousin as he does the same. 'Okay time out. Don't tell me you two are still fighting?'

'It's not my fault that he blames me for making North the best she's ever been.' Leon instantly jumps up from his chair and strides to the other side of the desk. 'Leon-' 'You should've kept your mouth shut!' He growls at his own blood, ignoring the one rule they made.

No woman between blood.

Rio smirks and stares up at Leon, trying to provoke him even more.

'So you wanted me to keep lying to her, just like you did?' Leon grabs Rio by his collar and that's the trigger.

Rio pushes Leon away, almost throwing him across the room. 'Guys!'

They simply ignore me and run up to each other, throwing punches and swearwords on the way. Are you fucking kidding me?!

Leon punches Rio in the face and the other way around too. They seem to fight like little kids, almost killing each other in the process.

'Can we stop with this-' Rio pushes Leon onto the desk, almost ruining all the papers I've been working on all night. 'You better-' Leon strikes back, throwing Rio across the room.

I watch as they charge at each other again, throwing fists at each other's face like it's the easiest thing ever.

'Enough!' If they keep hurting each other like this, I'm going to have to take care of them again. I don't have time for them if Rio wants me to fix this case, work for the highest bidders, and take care of Kai.

'Stop fighting!' Their screaming overpowers mine, annoying me all the more. God, they're little kids! 'I should've fucking known!'

'Known what? That she would find out at some point!?' Rio's fist meets with Leon's chest and they both throw a few hits before they try catching their breaths.

'That you wouldn't keep your fucking mouth shut!' He throws another fist, hitting Rio's jaw hard enough to break it. God please, don't let them break each other.

They move back to the desk, still ignoring me as if I'm not even in the room, and throw each other on there. I roll my eyes and watch as they almost shred all the work I've put in those files last night.

No way am I letting this slide. I grab Rio's empty glass and throw it across the room, making both of them look at me immediately. 'Fucking hell!'

'No need to shout that loud Elle-' Leon swallows his words when I look at him and smiles sheepishly. 'You two need to calm the fuck down, I'm not going to stitch you up and I'm definitely not doing all of that,' I point at the stash they almost ruined.

They probably already did, 'all again.' I sigh, dropping myself into Rio's chair. It's too big but very comfortable. 'Sorry Cel, we didn't-' 'Just tell me what the plan is so I can go to bed and never wake up again.' Rio smiles and walks back to the desk, pointing at a few pictures. Leon simply follows him and takes in every detail Rio addresses.

It seems as if the feud between Leon on him completely vanished. As if nothing ever happened. As if they didn't just try to kill each other by ripping each other's heads off.

'You two are scary.' They look at me, both have the same look in their eyes, it's as if they're the same person. Just different hair colors and Rio has facial hair, but that's it.

'Why?' 'Just tell me what the plan is.' I huff, looking at all the pictures they organized again.

'We have to talk to Sofia Hernandez, I think she has a bigger role in all of this.' Leon suggests and Rio nods. 'I also think we have to keep an eye out for Vanessa, we have to find her.'

I nod, agreeing to the things they say. Both are right. We need to do all of that. But when and how? 'And how are we going to do that?' Rio thinks about it for a second, debating every possible outcome.

'We need to be discreet about Vanessa, people think she's irrelevant and we need to keep it that way. If Ivanov finds out, we're all screwed.'

'Send Marco? He can be very discreet.' Marco? I can't believe that, out of all people, Leon suggests we send Marco. 'I think Brandon could locate her within a week.'

'Or how about we send Zuzu?' Zuzu? Leon and I both stare at Rio, who seems to talk about some kind of tv character or something. 'Who the fuck is Zuzu?'

'Glitch.' It takes me a few seconds to understand who he's talking about, but my eyes widen as soon as I realize who he's talking about. 'You have her location?'

Rio nods proudly, grabbing his phone immediately. 'People have been trying to find her for months, how did you-' 'That's not important, I'll call her after we come up with a plan to take care of Hernandez.'

'She probably still talks to Monica, right?' I ask, looking at Leon. He sighs deeply and shrugs. 'The last time she was there was around the same time I went to-' Sleep with her, 'fix that issue with her, which was in August.' Two months ago...

'If the police are keeping an eye on her, that must mean she's in London right?' I shrug, not knowing if that's how it works. None of the files about her said anything about her current location, another thing that was pretty strange to me.

The police claim to know where she is, but what if they don't know either. What if they say they have her just so they can put a stop to whatever is going on in England.

There are a lot of things that could be going on here and we don't have a single clue whatsoever. It's annoying.

'Can you let Newton snoop around?' Rio asks Leon and he nods. 'Newton?' 'An old friend. He lives in the UK, just outside of London.' Great!

'So we got it all covered?' I ask, finally allowing myself to calm down. All this time I've been freaking out about the fact that we might not be able to fix this, and now we finally have a solution. Maybe.

'Let's not get too excited. First, we have to see if Glitch picks up.' Rio sighs, swiping on his phone again. 'Meanwhile, I want you to see what Newton can do and you,' Rio turns to me before lifting his phone to his ear, 'You're going to rest today, you look exhausted.'

Oh for fucks sake... 'Just shut up and call Zuzu, I want this over with.' He smiles and strides out of the room, leaving me alone with Leon.

'I don't get how you can take care of Kai.' He whispers as I walk past him, to head to my room. 'What?' I turn around and look at him, wanting him to explain his statement.

'He shot Neveah, he works for the enemy, he doesn't deserve your care.' This has been on the tip of his tongue for days. I can tell.

'Rio told me to keep him alive, so that's what I'm doing.' I answer his question truthfully. 'You're doing more than just keeping him alive, Elle.' Wait-

'Did you visit him?' I ask, a little worried about his answer. If Leon went to his room, something must be up.

He probably beat him up or something, meaning I have to take care of him again.

Leon smirks and shrugs, leaning on the desk filled with pictures. 'Did you?'

'No, but maybe I should?' I roll my eyes and turn back around, leaving him alone in Rio's office. 'Don't waste too much energy!' He shouts as the door closes behind me. 'Putain.'

I make my way to my place and almost run to Kai's room. I trust Leon with his word, I trust that he didn't go to Kai. But that does not mean that he didn't send someone to hurt Kai for him.

I burst through the door and see Kai and Brandon. 'What the fuck is going on here?' I sneer as I see Kai walking with crutches.

'Calm down, Rio allowed me to give him these.' I stare at Brandon for a second and sigh deeply. Rio could've at least told me, that way I could help.

'Oh come on ma chéri, now I can follow you around.' I ball my fists, ready to hit that fucker in the face, and roll my eyes. 'I dare you.'

Kai moves closer to me, almost falling because he obviously doesn't know how to use crutches.

'Is that a threat or a promise?' Kai's voice is deep and seductive, but it doesn't work on me. 'Make of it as you please, stay the fuck away from me.'

Brandon sighs deeply and watches as Kai leans in a bit more. 'Move another inch and I'll kick your legs.'

His smirk disappears and he leans back, almost falling because of it. 'Okay, I'm going to head out before you two fuck each other.' Brandon smiles before heading to the door.

I roll my eyes and walk him to the front door, waving him goodbye before heading up the stairs.

I'm so happy Kai's room is on the ground floor. He won't be able to walk up the stairs with those crutches, he won't be able to for a long time, so I should be safe from him there.

But then again, he's in my house. I shouldn't be afraid of him. And I'm not. I take a quick shower and change into a simple outfit, shorts with an oversized, grey shirt on top.

The exhaustion I felt earlier, seems to have disappeared into thin air, and I'm unable to fall asleep, even though I still want to. 'Great.' I mumble to myself before sitting up straight.

Normally when I can't fall asleep, I'll find something to do. Organize some pills, place some new orders, look at the shipments, go train, or check on Kai. But I don't want to do any of that today.

So I decide to go for a little walk around the base since I haven't been here in years.

I put on my shoes and head through the door, feeling the fresh air against my skin again as I take in a deep breath.

Should I ask Cataleya and Neveah to join me?

According to Rio, they had to go and work on something for him. I wonder what it was, probably hotel-related stuff. He doesn't do much for his hotels if I'm being entirely honest. He just hires some people to do it for him and sometimes visits to see how everything's going, but that's it.

Rio uses his hotels as an image. It's to make the world believe that all of this is legal, that nothing is going on behind the scenes. And people buy it. They believe every word he says. They believe that he's one of the richest men on earth, not because he's a drug lord, but because of his hotels.

If only they looked closer. He would be ruined so easily if someone did. Well, he could easily buy their silence, but still.

It feels like someone is following me, but when I look around, I see no one. So I ignore my gut feeling and continue walking.

I walk over the little pathway towards the vineyards and enjoy the sun on my skin. Normally I don't like the heat, my skin gets all irritated, but this time I do. It's relaxing.

The vineyard is my favorite place to be. It's calming, no one ever comes there besides the gardeners and they only come here early in the mornings.

I walk to the fire pit at the end of the lines and turn towards the houses. I absolutely love this place. If I could move my entire family, I would live here for the rest of my life.

I enjoy the warm breeze flowing around and take a deep breath. I'm getting tired again, a sign that I should probably get back, but I don't want to.

The bushes rustle from behind me, making me smile. I knew someone was following me.

'If you're trying to spy on me, you should step up your game.' More rustling and then the sound of something hard falling onto the ground. 'Fuck' I turn around at the sound of Kai's voice and raise a brow.

I at least thought it would be Roman or Marco, not Kai. 'Hello, ma chéri.'

'What are you doing here?' I sneer before sitting down on one of the couches surrounding the pit. 'I was getting some fresh air, just like you.' He smiles, stumbling over to the other chairs around.

'You were spying on me, weren't you?' He scoffs and throws the crutches on the ground. 'Why would I be spying on you?' Right...

'Well if you weren't spying, you want something right? What is it?' I ask, folding my arms in front of my chest. 'As I said, I was just getting some fresh air.'

I roll my eyes and lean back, trying to catch as much sunshine as possible. 'Why did you run into my room earlier?'

I open my eyes just a little and look at him. 'It's my house, I shouldn't have to explain myself to you. Don't you think?'

'I was just asking.' He huffs before shifting in his seat, 'Plus, what if I was naked?'

'I've seen you naked before-' 'You have!?' Internally I'm slapping myself for telling him this. 'Yes, how else was I supposed to see if they cut your balls off or something?'

He gulps and lets my words sink in. It wouldn't be the first time the Curzio's cut someone's dick off.

'So you've seen me naked without my consent?' He asks softly, making me roll my eyes again. This dude is giving me a headache. 'Yes. Because I needed to analyze your body.'

His lips curl up into a smirk. He's obviously enjoying the fact that I saw him naked. Not that I wanted to. 'Did you like what you see?'

I can almost puke at his cockiness, it's seriously revolting.

I lean forward and smile, 'It was nothing special, worse than average if I'm being honest.'

Kai's cocky smile immediately disappears as he frowns his brows at me. 'I'm sure you got me mixed up with one of the Curzio's doc, see I-' 'I could never forget such a small creature.'

'Small creature?' He frowns obviously offended by my words, making me giggle softly. He's an absolute idiot. 'You heard me.'

His mouth drops and I'm unable to keep in my joy, this is the most irritated I've seen him ever since we met, and trust me he has been irritated quite a lot. It's one of the most entertaining things ever.

'You're meaner than I thought.' I shrug, not caring about his perception of me. 'Good to know.'

He goes silent for a second, finally letting me enjoy the nature around, before clearing his throat dramatically. I stare at him again and sigh. 'What do you want?'

'Who said I wanted anything?' He asks playfully, almost falling off of his chair. 'Out of all the things you could do right now, you're sitting here with me?'

'What do you mean?'

'You could at least try to escape, you could find a phone and text Hunter your location, you could plan on killing one of us, yet here you are.' Annoying the fuck out of me...

'I would get killed by the guards if I tried any of those things.' He sighs deeply, but I know there's more to what he has to say. 'And?'

I look at him, waiting for him to continue, but he seems to take his time. He knows I'm interested now.

'As you said, Hunter isn't looking for me so why should I even try?' Oh? He nods at my confusion, clear betrayal in his eyes, and sighs again.

I don't trust it though. There is no way that he would turn on Steel that fast. Not after everything they've been through.

'And I should believe you because?' 'I've never lied to you before, have I?' He asks, smiling a little.

He's not wrong though. He hasn't lied to me yet. I smile back and stare at him for a second. 'You have actually.'

'Oh yeah? When?' I point at his crotch and watch as he furrows his brows again. 'About your size.'

He rolls his eyes and chuckles softly, before leaning back in his chair. I do the same and take a deep breath.

Finally, it's quiet. Finally, I'm able to enjoy the sun in silence again. Finally, I can sit in peace.

Kai is not as bad as he seems. He can be rude and annoying, that's for sure, but he can also be a complete idiot. A funny one at that.

I wish I could believe a word he just said. I wish I could let it slide that he's one of the enemies, we could be great friends, but I can't. I learned not to trust people, especially men, years ago.

Plus, Rio would never let him in. He would keep him hostage, but nothing else. He would never let him work for us.

And since Hunter isn't trying to get him back, I don't think it will take long before Rio wants to get rid of Kai. He's no use if Hunter doesn't want him.

I close my eyes and enjoy the silence a bit more. Just a little bit since my mind wanders back to the pictures I printed out last night.

All of them had one thing in common. A skull.

We have no clue who it might be, who would kill so many people and get away with it. What's the cause, why would they kill innocent people? Children.

And then it hits. The only person that would mark their victims with a skull, is the monster himself. Skull.

How did I not think of that before! I jump up, startling Kai as he almost falls out of his seat, and turn to the houses. 'I have to go!'

I run before he can even respond, as fast as I can towards Rio's place. Please be here!

'Celine, what's going on with you?' Roman, who was just about to leave Rio's place, asks. I try catching my breath and push him out of the way to get inside. 'Do you- Where- Rio?'

He smiles and points towards his office. 'Thanks!' I shout before bursting through the doors. Rio and Leon are sitting across from each other and look at me.

'I know who's behind the killings!' I shout, still trying to catch my breath.

I should probably start running again because I'm way out of shape... 'We have our suspicions as well.' Rio smirks, pointing to the seat next to Leon.

I take a seat and look at the papers on his desk. All of the pictures and files I gave, are organized again.

'It's Skull.' Leon sighs, pointing at a drawing they made. It's some kind of system to who's in charge, with at the top Skull written in capital letters. All the other lines lead to names, with underneath them more names. One of them Micheal Navaro.

I feel Rio's eyes on me. Both of them stare at me, but I don't know what to say. I haven't heard about Skull in years, not since we've stopped searching for him.

'What do we know about him?' Rio sighs and pulls the system out of my sight. 'Cel, I think you should sit this one out.'

'What? Why?' I am not sitting this one out. There's no way.

'I agree with Adriano,' Leon sighs, placing his hand on mine. I pull my hand away and shake my head. 'I'm working on this case, I don't care what you two say.'

'Celine, we don't want you to fall back.'

'That's not going to happen! If we catch him now, I'll get revenge somehow and-' 'Breathe.' I look at Leon, who's holding onto my hand again. I forgot to breathe for a second.

'I need to see Skulls downfall.' Rio takes a deep breath, looks at Leon, and back at me. 'We have nothing on him besides this and... You.'

'We have some information right?' He nods and throws a stack of papers on his desk again. It's a bunch of info on him, but it's not enough.

'We hired a few spies to see what's going on and Newton said he was going to keep his eyes out as well.' Leon informs me as I scan the papers in front of me.

It's all basics from that night.

Skull is the one who created this life for me. He's the one Jayden owed money to. He's the one who suggested Jayden should sell me to Samuel Veldora. He's the man that planted a seed in my life and now I'm forced to live in the shadows of that fucking tree.

We don't know much about him, just that he owns England, Scotland, and Ireland. Those are his territory. Yet somehow he managed to get into France...

Besides that, we don't know shit. He's not one of our main problems to worry about because, apart from the fact that he almost forced me into the sex industry, he's never been a threat. He's always on the low, minding his own business.

We don't even know his real name or how he looks.

'So what do we do now?' I ask, eager to take this man down. 'We wait for more information to work with.'

I nod and look at the two of them. They're concerned about me, but they shouldn't be.

'I'm fine.' Leon finally lets go of my hand and stares at me a bit more, trying to read my mind or something.

'When it gets too heavy, you'll stop. Okay?' I shake my head, there's no way I'm dropping out of this one. 'No.' 'Yes, you are Cel.' Rio sneers at me.

I wish he would just let me do as I please, like always. 'I'm not dropping out.'

'Celine, we're talking about the man who sold you here. It could trigger something and-' Rio tries to find the right words to use, but his words only fuel my anger. 'I don't care.'

I get up and walk to the door. 'I want him dead.' I mumble before walking out.

They both sigh deeply but don't say a thing. They know that I'm not dropping out now. There's no way I'm letting this slide.

We stopped years ago because there were no more leads. And here they are. The leads we need to get to him. To get to Skull. To kill him.

----

A/N: I know you guys loooovveeee Leya's POV, and trust me SHE WILL SHINE LIKE A FUCKING DIAMOND, but I have to write about the others to keep the story going😔

So I wanted to tell you that every chapter has a different POV if you haven't noticed yet. For example, this one is Celine, so the next chapter will either be Neveah or Cataleya or maybe even someone else... (It's Cataleya 🙂 before you guys kill me in the comments)

AND WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK... ALMOST 6K IN A WEEK!!!!!!!

What the actual- I- THANK YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For any of you that care, my exams started and AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. Just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. So if I don't post for a while, I'm sorry. But you know- ScHoOl and shit.

But besides that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you liked the most about it and please don't forget to vote, it would mean the world to me!

Also, tell me how you found my story! I'm curious👀

Have a good day and until next time!