145 Marcel
Even when he was in his room, Lance was so excited that he couldn’t go to bed immediately. He played the scene of his father punching Arthur in the face over and over again in his head and he burst into satisfied laughter. He laughed so hard that he bent over because his stomach was beginning to hurt. The look on his brother’s face was one he would never forget easily in his entire life.
But seriously, he should have captured it on camera! Lance laughed once more hysterically. By the time he was done with his laugher mania, he decided it was time for bed.
But Lance didn’t go to bed immediately, instead, he went into his closet and pulled out a stuffed animal. It was a 4.5 feet white teddy bear and on other days while he wouldn’t bear to even look at the teddy, today was special.
As kids, Arthur was his father’s favorite while he – Lance – was more loved by his mother and she spoiled him rotten. While Arthur would accompany their father to the shooting range, Lance spent time with his mother at tea parties with her colleagues, shopping, and other activities that didn’t require vigorous training. One could say that their mother treated him like the daughter she never had.
Hence while Arthur possessed strength and athleticism, Lance was second best and was brainy in other areas like fashion which his father considered useless and feminine. What could it contribute to their organization?
They could dress and look less the gauche image people have of them? Not that his father cared.
Thanks to his father’s constant berating, Lance spent all of his time trying to improve and impress him. However, all of his efforts might as well have been for nothing because Arthur was always the best in his eyes.
Lance learned to live under-recognized, however, he had a habit that stuck out the most – his love for teddies. Lance couldn’t go to bed without a soft cuddly bear by his side and one could guess what happened when his brother Arthur found out about his strange habit.
His brother called him a pussy and thanks to the neverending bullying, Lance had to forget his love for the toys until tonight.
.....
So tonight, he would lean into his effeminate side and be the innocent young boy he once was. The boy that had no burdens on his shoulder; the boy that didn’t have to impress anyone to show how special he was.
And just like that, Lance went to bed with a smile on his face. He had a feeling that he would have the best dream tonight.
“Sweet dream, Lance,” He whispered to himself as he turned off the light before his eyelids fluttered close.
It must have been in the middle of the night but Lance felt like someone intruded into his room, not to mention something felt sticky and wet against his skin and it made him uncomfortable.
Turning on the lamp by his side, Lance barely lifted his head when he spotted something out of the corner of his eyes and jerked upright. However, Lance’s eyes widened when he saw a knife sticking out of Teddy’s chest with a part of its arm lacerated.
But that wasn’t the end of it, Lance realized that his white teddy was stained with a red liquid.... blood? No way, that can’t be, he gulped down the lump in his throat.
And with chilling apprehension, Lance slowly lifted his hands to his face only to scream in horror, scurrying away from the bed that was stained with blood.
He reached for the door but it wouldn’t open no matter how much he pulled and that made him panic the more. Staring back at his room, Lance could see the word “teddy” written with blood on his wall.
“Oh no, this can’t be happening,” Lance breathed, still trying the door handle that refused to work. All of this looked like something out of a horror movie. Lance began to hyperventilate; his breath coming out in deep, fast pants and even when he lost consciousness, the only thing he could remember was Marcel’s promise to kill him.
————-
Cindy hummed a tone as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Done combing her hair, she ran her hand through it cheerfully. Out of the whole of her body, Cindy treasured her hair the most and she did everything to maintain it ensuring it was lively and shiny.
Pouting and posing in the front of the mirror, Cindy took more shots on her phone before she decided to call it a night. Putting on her sleeping eye mask, she laid back on her bed with a feeling that tomorrow would be better.
While asleep, Cindy could have sworn she felt hands on her body but she couldn’t wake no matter how hard she tried. So she assumed it must have been a dream and sank further into the comfort of her bed.
When the morning came, Cindy pulled off the mask and just stared at the ceiling wondering what to do with her day. However, she somehow felt a strange throbbing on her head and rubbed her hand over her scalp only to freeze.
Oh no.
Cindy jumped from the bed with recording breaking speed as she rushed to glimpse of herself in the mirror and what she saw there ripped a scream of horror from her mouth.
“Oh my God! What is this?!” She screamed, feeling her scalp as if trying to search for her missing hair because right now, Cindy was bald. It wasn’t even a buzzcut, rather her hair was shoved so thoroughly that she might as well have become a monk.
It wasn’t until she looked back that Cindy found her hair or the remains on the bed where it was scattered thoroughly as if trying to make a statement. Cindy didn’t need to guess who had done that.
“Marcel!” She screamed till her voice became hoarse.
___________
The constant ringing of her phone bothered Adele so much that she simply turned it off. She knew who was calling; it was that family. Honestly, she was beginning to doubt if she would be able to handle this job.
Adele knew her family had ideas already – they were thinking of using her to usurp the throne from Marcel. However, they were in for a loss because there was no way on earth she would become their puppet.
Their war was their business and no one would ruin her future because of the feud between family members – they should settle that on their own.
On the bright side, Adele had nothing nor anyone they could use against her. Hence she couldn’t be coerced or threatened to give up her position. She loved where she was at the moment, so yeah, they could bring it on. Adele was prepared to face them head-on.
Unable to settle down, Adele went to the poolside where she paced up and down with the numerous thoughts roaming in her head. She owned the apartment hence it was common for her place to be this quiet. However, Adele was skilled and would have detected someone sneaking up on her, but it was too late when she did.
She was pushed into the pool.
Expecting for the attacker to strangle her in the water, Adele had been prepared to attack, however, nothing. Yeah, that was it; the assassin didn’t try to drown her in the water or end her when she climbed up to the edge. Whoever that was just vanished as if he was never there in the first place.
It wasn’t until she coughed up the rest of the water in her lungs that Adele noticed the little note beside her with a word on it.
[Loyalty]
Adele’s gaze narrowed, Marcel.
_______________
“She’s not answering my call!” Benjamin’s wife yelled out when she couldn’t connect to Adele. How dare that bitch cast her aside like this?!
“This is why you shouldn’t raise another person’s child! After what we did for her, she treats us this way?! If only you hadn’t....” She trailed off when her husband hissed and she shut her mouth. However, the anger in her eyes simmering in her heart was still burning.
“Just let the girl be,” Benjamin told her, “I’m sure with time she would come to her senses. Moreover, we should be happy that the role fell on her side of the family,” He said, covering his wife’s palm with his and she blushed immediately.
“Stop it!” the wife said with a giggle, slapping his hands away when his touch became sensual, “We are in the living room where anyone could see us!”
“Oh come on,” Benjamin was still persuading her when one of the guards suddenly came in and stood in front of them.
The both of them looked confused knowing they hadn’t called anyone over.
“What is it?” Benjamin asked, having a feeling that something wasn’t right when without warning, the guard suddenly pointed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
“Ahhh!”
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