--: Author's POV: --
1 month had passed since the departure of Section E and the F4. For a brief moment, the silence of the London penthouse had felt like a sanctuary, a place where Keifer and Jay-Jay could finally exist without the shadows of their past. But the "Real World" is a jealous entity; it does not allow peace to last for those who carry the weight of empires.
The transition from the soft whispers of the bedroom to the cold, sterile hallways of Watson Company had been jarring. The city was currently gripped by a relentless, oppressive fog—a thick, grey veil that swallowed the skyscrapers and muffled the sounds of the streets below. It felt like an omen.
Today was the first official high-level strategy meeting for the collaboration between Watson Company and Mariano Corporation. It was supposed to be a historic merging of power. Instead, it was becoming a massacre.
The boardroom on the 64th floor was a masterpiece of glass and cold steel. Keifer sat at the head of the mahogany table, the "Lion" back in his eyes, but darkened by a week of sleepless nights. He looked older, his jaw set in a permanent line of tension. Across from him, Jay-Jay sat with her shoulders back, her expression unreadable. She had spent four years earning her place, and she wasn't about to let anyone—even the man she loved—take it from her.
The air in the room was electric, vibrating with a tension that had been simmering for days.
--: Jay-Jay's POV: --
The clock on the wall ticked with a mechanical coldness that set my teeth on edge. We had been at this for three hours. Every proposal I brought to the table—strategies I had spent months perfecting to honor my family's legacy—was being dismantled by Keifer with the precision of a surgeon.
"The Mediterranean shipping routes are the backbone of this acquisition, Keifer," I said, my voice tight but steady. "Mariano has held those contracts for generations. They are stable, they are loyal, and they are profitable."
Keifer didn't even look up from the digital tablet in front of him. He flicked a finger across the screen, dismissing my data as if it were junk mail.
"They are a liability, Jay," he said, his voice flat and devoid of the warmth I had felt just nights ago. "The political climate in the region is shifting. I've already drafted the orders to liquidate those assets. I'm moving the Mariano capital into the Watson tech wing. It's a safer harbor."
The blood drained from my face, replaced by a searing heat. "You did what? Keifer, those are Mariano assets. We are in a *collaboration*. That means we make decisions together. You don't get to move my family's money without my signature!"
"I don't need your signature for an emergency protection order," Keifer snapped, finally looking at me. His eyes were like flint. "You're too close to the project. You're letting sentimentality cloud your judgment. You're too new at this to see the traps the elders are setting. I made an executive decision to keep you safe."
"By stealing my voice?" I stood up, the legs of my chair screeching against the marble floor like a scream. I looked at the line of executives sitting along the table, their heads bowed. "Out. Everyone out! Now!"
They didn't wait for a second invitation. They scrambled for the door, leaving us alone in the vast, hollow space of the boardroom.
"Who do you think you are?" I screamed, the tears finally burning my eyes. "You give me your mother's diamond earring, you tell me we're a team, and then you treat me like a subordinate? I am a Mariano, Keifer! I am your equal in this room!"
"In this room, I am the CEO of Watson Company!" Keifer roared, slamming his palm onto the mahogany table with a sound that echoed like a gunshot. "I have to be the Lion every single second because if I blink, these sharks will eat us both alive! I don't have time to explain every move to you while I'm carrying the weight of both our companies on my back!"
"Carrying me?" I gasped, my voice trembling. "Is that what you think you're doing? You think I'm just a passenger?"
"Yes!" he shouted, his face flushed with a mixture of pure exhaustion and blind, unbridled rage. "I am drowning in work, and instead of helping me, you're just another responsibility I have to manage! You're just another weight I have to pull through this fog!"
The world stopped. The only sound was the heavy, jagged breathing of the man across from me.
Keifer's eyes widened almost instantly. The anger drained from his face so fast it left him looking ghostly, hollow. He took a half-step toward me, his hand reaching out as the weight of his own words finally hit him. He realized exactly what he'd just called me. He realized he had just confirmed my deepest fear—that I was a burden.
"Jay... Jay, wait. I didn't mean—I was just frustrated, the pressure—"
"You think I'm a burden," I whispered. My heart didn't just break; it felt like it had been incinerated. I looked at him, searching for the boy who used to protect Section E, but all I saw was the cold, calculated machine London had made him. "You think I'm just a distraction you have to 'manage' like a line on a spreadsheet."
"No, Jay, please—"
"No!" I grabbed my briefcase, my hands shaking so violently I could barely grip the handle. "You want to be the big, lonely Lion? Fine. Have your company. Have your power. But don't expect me to be there when you realize how empty it is. Don't expect me to be the weight you 'manage' anymore."
I turned toward the door, but he lunged across the room, his movements a blur of desperate speed. He grabbed my arm, his grip too tight, his face twisted in a terrifying mix of panic and the need for control.
"You are not walking out that door," he growled, his voice dropping into that dark, dangerous register. "We are in the middle of a merger. You stay here and we finish this! You don't get to run away!"
"Let go of me!" I screamed, the years of pressure, the fog, and the betrayal exploding out of me. I didn't think; I just swung my hand with everything I had left.
*SLAP.*
The sound was deafening in the empty boardroom. Keifer's head snapped to the side. The silence that followed was absolute. He didn't move. He just stood there, his hand slowly rising to his burning cheek, his fingers trembling.
"I hate you," I sobbed, the lie tasting like poison in my mouth. "I hate what this place has made you."
I bolted out of the room. I ran past the shocked secretaries, ignored the elevators, and ran down the emergency stairs. I burst out into the street, the freezing London rain soaking my suit in seconds. I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from the monster he was becoming. I just wanted to disappear into the fog.
--: Author's POV: --
Keifer didn't follow her. He couldn't. He stood in the dark boardroom, the lights having dimmed automatically, staring at the door she had disappeared through. He felt the sting on his cheek, but the hole in his chest was much deeper.
He had tried to build a wall around her to keep her safe from the world, but in his fear, he had accidentally built that wall *between* them.
He slumped into the head chair—the throne that now felt like a cage—and buried his face in his hands. He was crying—silent, heavy tears that soaked into the sleeve of his expensive suit. He didn't leave the office. He felt he didn't deserve to go home to the penthouse where her scent still lingered on the pillows. He stayed there in the dark, staring at the matching diamond in his ear, feeling like the biggest failure in the history of his bloodline.
Hours passed. The building grew quiet. The staff went home. But the fog outside only grew thicker.
--: Jay-Jay's POV: --
The penthouse was freezing. I threw myself onto the sofa, still in my wet clothes, crying until my eyes were swollen shut and my throat was raw. I kept waiting for the door to open. I kept waiting for him to come in, to kneel on the floor, and tell me he was sorry.
But hours passed, and the silence only grew heavier. The ticking of the clock felt like a countdown to something I didn't want to face.
I was staring at my phone, my thumb hovering over his name. I wanted to call him. I wanted to take back the "I hate you." I wanted to tell him that I understood the pressure, but I couldn't be his "weight" anymore.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my hand. It wasn't a text from Keifer. It was an emergency call from Honey, his private secretary. My heart plummeted into my stomach.
"Hello?" I rasped, my voice almost gone.
"Jay-Jay??" Honey's voice was high-pitched, frantic, and distorted. In the background, I could hear a terrifying sound—the sound of wood splintering, the heavy thud of boots, and a loud, muffled boom that sounded like an explosion. "Jay-Jay, are you still at the penthouse?"
"Yes, why? What's happening? Why is it so loud?"
"The office... the boardroom... a group of men just broke through the security gate! They bypassed the elevators! They're heading for the 64th floor! They're looking for.. looking for Keifer!"
My heart stopped. The world went cold. "What do you mean? Where is Keifer? Why isn't security stopping them?"
"He's still in the room! He locked himself in! Jay Jay, they have weapons—they're trying to break the door down! I can't get to him! They're coming for—"
Through the phone, I heard a massive, final *CRASH*—the sound of the heavy, reinforced boardroom door finally giving way to a battering ram. I heard a shout, a scuffle, and then the Honey let out a terrified, strangled sob before the line suddenly went dead, leaving me with nothing but the haunting, empty sound of static.
"Keifer!" I screamed to the empty room, but only the cold London fog answered back.
_____
--: Jay-Jay's POV: --
The silence that followed the disconnection of the call was the loudest thing I had ever heard. It was a deafening, ringing void that swallowed the air in the penthouse. My hand was shaking so violently that the phone slipped from my grip, clattering onto the marble floor.
Static. Just static.
"No," I whispered, my voice sounding like a stranger's. "No, no, no."
I lunged for the phone, my fingernails scraping against the cold floor. I dialed Honey back. *Busy.* I dialed again. *No Answer.* Then, I dialed Keifer.
I pressed the phone to my ear so hard it hurt. *Ring... ring... ring...* Every tone felt like a needle stabbing into my brain. I could picture his phone sitting on that cold mahogany table, lighting up the dark boardroom where I had left him. I could picture the 'Lion' standing alone against whatever monsters had just kicked down that door.
"Pick up, Keifer. Please, damn it, pick up!" I sobbed, pacing the length of the foyer.
*Voice Mail.*
I tried again. And again. On the fourth try, I called Honey one more time. The line clicked open.
"Honey?! Honey, talk to me! What's happening? Where is he?" I screamed into the receiver.
For the first few seconds, there was only the sound of ragged, wet gasping. Then, a broken sob erupted from the other end. It was Honey, but her voice was so thin, so fragile, it barely sounded human.
"Jay-Jay..." she choked out.
"Honey, tell me he's okay. Tell me the security got there. Tell me something!"
"St. Jude's..." Honey sobbed, the words barely catching through her hysteria. "Hospital. Jay-Jay, you need to... you need to rush. Please. Just get here. Hurry."
"What happened? Honey! Did they take him? Is he hurt? Answer me!" I was hysterical now, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"I can't... I can't say it. Just come. Please, Jay-Jay, hurry!"
The line went dead again.
I didn't think. I didn't grab a coat. I didn't care that I was still in my damp, wrinkled suit from the boardroom. I grabbed my keys and bolted for the door, my vision blurred by a fresh wave of hot, stinging tears.
The elevator ride down felt like it took an eternity. Every floor the numbers counted down felt like a second of Keifer's life ticking away. I was hitting the 'Close Door' button repeatedly, my breath coming in short, panicked stabs.
When the doors finally hissed open in the basement garage, I ran toward my car. But as I reached the vehicle, the bright beams of another car's headlights swung into the garage, blinding me.
A sleek black SUV pulled into the spot next to mine. The doors opened, and Keigan and Keiran stepped out, laughing about something their friends had said. Their laughter died the moment the garage lights hit my face.
"Ate Jay-Jay?" Keigan asked, his smile vanishing instantly. He stepped forward, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Why are you... why are you crying? What's wrong?"
"Ate, you're shaking," Keiran added, his voice dropping an octave as he saw the state of my clothes and my tear-streaked face. "Where's Kuya Keifer? Did something happen at the office?"
I couldn't even form a coherent sentence. I looked at the two of them—the younger versions of the man who might be dying at this very moment—and the dam broke completely.
"I don't know," I wailed, my knees almost giving out. "Honey called... she said men broke in. She said... she said to go to the hospital. Keifer... something happened to Keifer!"
The boys froze. I watched the color drain from their faces in unison. Keigan was the first to move, his shock turning into the sharp, cold efficiency he had inherited from the Watson bloodline. He grabbed my shoulders to steady me.
"Hospital? Which one, Ate?"
"St. Jude's," I managed to gasp out.
"Get in our car. Now," Keigan commanded, his voice no longer that of a teenager, but a man facing a crisis. "Keiran, get in the back with Ate Jay. I'm driving."
--: Author's POV: --
The drive through the London streets was a blur of neon lights smeared by the heavy fog and the relentless rain. Keigan drove like a demon, weaving through the late-night traffic, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. In the back seat, Keiran held Jay-Jay's hand, his own fingers trembling, though he tried to remain strong.
The silence inside the car was heavy with the things they were all too terrified to say. They knew the world Keifer lived in. They knew the 'Elders' of the Watson family were not men of peace. They knew that a boardroom in London could be just as deadly as a battlefield in a war zone.
When the SUV screeched to a halt at the emergency entrance of St. Jude's, Jay-Jay was out of the door before the car had even fully stopped.
She ran through the sliding glass doors, her heels clicking frantically on the sterile white tiles. The hospital smelled of bleach and copper—a scent that made her stomach churn.
She saw Honey sitting on a plastic chair in the waiting area. She was covered in a shock blanket, her clothes torn, and a smear of blood on her temple. When Honey looked up and saw Jay-Jay, she didn't say a word. She just pointed toward the red 'Surgery' sign above a set of double doors.
"Honey...what happened..?" Jay-Jay whispered, her voice failing.
At that moment, the double doors swung open. A surgeon stepped out, his face obscured by a mask, his green scrubs stained with dark, heavy splashes of crimson. He looked at the three of them—the distraught girl and the two brothers—and sighed a heavy, exhausted breath.
"Family of Keifer Watson?"
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. The fog that had been outside the building finally found its way into Jay-Jay's mind, wrapping everything in a cold, terrifying darkness.