Chapter 24 — Miss T.

Opening her eyes felt heavy. Her ragged breathing showed the heaviness she felt out from the constant physical strain she experienced with the Dragons. They tied her hands and spread them in the air. She did not know what day it was already. She also felt cold in that room and naked from head to toe. Just then, Charlotte entered, carrying a bucket of water.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Charlotte said as she splashed the bucket of water on Steffy’s already shivering body.

“Did you enjoy our little game last night?” “Fuck you! When I get out of here, I’m going to kill you!”

“Oh, that was a rude thing to say!” Steffy let out a scream when Charlotte’s hand flew to her cheeks. But then she used her legs and hit Charlotte in her stomach. Charlotte drew an evil laugh despite the assault. “You’re so pathetic, Steffy. Look at you, it already displayed karma on you. Tell me, how does it feel to be bald?”

Steffy’s eyes felt moist when she saw her reflection in the spilled water on the floor. “Bitch!”

“I just did what you did to me. Now we’re even. Oh, wait! I have a surprise for you.” Charlotte trotted outside the building. Steffy was even more agitated. She wondered what would that little bitch do to her now.

“If you want to kill me, then do it now!” Steffy roared. “You’ll surely regret the day you stopped yourself from killing me.”

Charlotte emerged again, shushing her down. In her hand was a smart tablet with a video displayed in it. With just a quick look, she knew who the people were on the video.

‘No. This can’t be.’

“It hurts, right? It had just been three days since we sent a message to the Alpha about your situation and yet, they sent us this footage. What a pity,” mocked Charlotte as she drew a gun and pointed it at her head. “They won’t save you now, so I guess, you have no use to us anymore! How about I blow that pretty head of yours—”

“Charlotte, stop it! What the fuck are you doing?”

They both looked at the approaching man, who was wearing a simple tee and loose jeans with a professional rip just below his right knee. Steffy gasped as he walked towards them. His face was completely stern while looking at Charlotte.

“Who told you to kill her without my permission? Go get a towel for Steffy.” “What! I am not your maid here, Lucio.”

Grabbing her arms, she heard him whispering to Charlotte, “I already gave you the chance to torture her in exchange for her life, but you almost disobeyed me, little slut! You are not my queen. So, stop bossing around and do what I told you or I’ll seal your mouth with a bullet.”

Hurt and embarrassed, Charlotte stomped her feet and got out to oblige. Steffy felt more helpless as Lucio walked nearer to her. “How are you, Alpha Princess?” Steffy glared at him as he whisked her thigh with the tip of his finger.

“W-what do you want?” she asked, trying to sound calm.

“Tell me, do you still feel horny now?” he asked, his fingers moved to strike her exposed skin. Steffy tried to focus and ignore the sensation coming from his naughty strokes.

“No,” she replied with hatred in her voice.

“Too bad, Steffy. Because I am.”

“You already have the chance and the reason to kill me, Lucio. Why not do it now? You knew who I was, right?”

“Yes, I knew who you are. I saw you in Ormon City. I knew you were that girl behind the mask. My heart told me so.” He gazed at her, making her cheeks flushed in red. Goosebumps quickly crawled all over her body as Lucio sucked her perked nipples. “You know how much I love you, Steffy,” he moaned. “I can’t let you die.”

Steffy let out a moan as well. “S-Stop,” she whispered. “If you won’t kill me, then it’s you I will kill.”

“I won’t stop doing this, Steffy,” he replied as he unbuckled his pants.

“If the Alphas don’t care about you anymore, then I can take care of you. I will forgive you because I’m in love with you!”

“Are you crazy? Do you want me to take side with you?”

“Yes, Steffy.” Panting, he touched the tip of his cock to the moistened part of Steffy’s vagina. “You’ll be my queen, Steffy. You are an heiress… you are supposed to rule.” He began thrusting into her. The metals that tied her hands created clicking sounds as Steffy held onto it. A loud moan was slipping out of her mouth, sounding like a traitor to her. Gasping, Lucio ravaged her nipples, then her mouth and earlobes. He did not intend to leave any of those parts of her untouched by his tongue.

Tiffany was gasping for breath now. They rode in ecstasy, meeting each other’s thrust with equal passion. Lucio grabbed her legs and snaked them around his waist, giving him better access to Steffy’s hole. They stared at each other as they made love; sweat binding them together as one. The chains around her wrists were now creating red circles on her skin, but the sight only seemed to make her look sexier in Lucio’s eyes. “I’m about to come,” Lucio whispered.

“Don’t-don’t stop,” replied Steffy. “Come inside me.”

“Are you sure?”

Steffy felt vertigo consuming her after a wave of orgasm ran through her insides. She immediately felt her private part pounding against Lucio’s penis. Slowly, he got his thing out from her entrance, then put her down on the floor. “I’m going to release your chains now, but please behave.”

She looked at him lovingly and smiled. “I won’t do anything...stupid. I-I love you too, son-of-a-bitch.” And with that, she collapsed in his arms.

The rain poured all afternoon. It had been a week since Lucio freed her from the shackles. Lucio and the rest of the Dragon Brotherhood members had become very nice to her. Except for Charlotte, whom she still had a vendetta. Today was just an ordinary day for Tiffany. But it had also been an awakening to her. They gave the video footage that the Alphas sent to the Dragons to her and she had been rewinding it repeatedly.

Clutching the hem of the cardigan she was wearing, she gazed at the man who was talking at the podium. Behind him was a full graffiti of the Alpha symbol. She cannot believe her eyes when Yuan Lloyd Marquez was announced as the new Alpha Don. Just a few days ago, she sneaked through their mansion and tried to contact Elizabeth, but she failed. Instead, she overheard the guards talking about her. “The Don killed her. Said she was trying to convince the man of putting the total power to señorita Tiffany. But that girl is a bomb. She knows nothing about the things that come and go inside the brotherhood.”

Tiffany was furious. She studied in the Academy to learn everything that she needed to know and be the best in her father’s eyes. But she was mistaken, wasn’t she?

At sixteen, her father had talked to her about the things inside the brotherhood. But why did he change his heart? And now Elizabeth was dead. She was the only one who believed in her and encouraged her to carry on. Now that the Alphas had thrown her away, who will be her next Elizabeth? But no, Elizabeth was incomparable. She would find no one as loyal as she was. Tiffany looked back at that incident that happened to her when she was sixteen. It was like walking down memory lane…

“Hija, you are my heiress. You will inherit everything and be the next leader.”

“But I am a lady, Papa. I perfectly know that the brotherhood—”

Her eyes widened as her father lightly sealed her lips with just the tip of his index finger. “We can refute that, mi niña.”

She could almost hear her voice shook with excitement. “What should I do to be an Alpha Don?”

“You will do everything I tell you, hija. Can you promise that?” Nodding her head, she walked over to her father and kneeled in front of him. He was sitting at the foot of her bed. “I will, Papa. Please help me,” she said as she kissed the back of her father’s fist. “I really want to be like you.”

The Don tilted her chin and gave her a mysterious smile. “Well then, you may now start stripping your clothes for me.”

Tiffany closed her eyes shut as her memories came flooding before her.

‘He took everything away from me. He’s a monster!’ The memories were painful to her. They suffocated her and stabbed her heart a million times. She started throwing things inside the room and imagined what her life was like if only her father wasn’t Don Arnulfo. Even the gadget in her hand came flying across the wall and it splattered into pieces. She stepped on it again and again until her soles became wounded with the splinters from the gadget. Anguish left her mouth as she howled and screamed like a roaring lioness.

“He killed Elizabeth!” she sobbed. “Why?”

She was like that for a couple of minutes before she started hearing voices; some of them were mocking her, and others, such as those voices of Elizabeth and George, calmed her down. She tried to scream louder as the voices choked her again. They came in circles and spun around her like a boom box rattling inside the room.

“You are the heiress, Tiffany. A female Alpha Don, first of its kind…”

“Let’s get married, Tiffany. In that way, I don’t have to kill you…”

“Why can’t I talk, Papa?”

“It just doesn’t suit you, hija…”

Then she remembered Teacher Greg. The memories played like movie clips and the actors were those whom she knew hated in real life.

“He is a threat to our business and the brotherhood. He is an assassin, and he is very good at hiding. But we have just finally located him. Now, he is currently making a lot of moves that have recently affected our chains of businesses.”

“You know how much I love you, Steffy. I can’t let you die.”

Shutting her eyes, she laid down on the bed and felt exhausted as she stared at the ceiling. Her feet oozed with blood, staining the white bedsheet with crimson. Agitated, she sat on the bed again.

“Kill… kill them… the heiress should kill…”

“Whose there?” she exclaimed when she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Don’t you recognize me?” replied the voice in her head. It was mocking her.

“Who the fuck are you!” Tiffany demanded again.

“Look in the mirror, señorita.”

Tiffany slowly put her bloody feet on the ground then limply walked towards the whole-body mirror that was standing right in front of her.

“Tiffany, don’t you recognize me?”

The woman looked exactly like her, but her eyes shone brighter compared to her. “You-you are… me,” replied Steffy breathlessly.

“Oh, we may have the same face, but we differ in personality. I am Miss T. I am a stronger version of you.”

“What do you want?” Tiffany replied, ignoring her taunting explanations. “I know you are not real. Maybe I’m just getting crazy!” Tiffany said as she was hysterical. Chuckling, the woman in front of her let out a creepy smile.

“I am here to help you. And yes, maybe you’re going crazy already, but don’t worry, we’ll try to make amends.”

“No!” said Tiffany as she backed away from the mirror. She desperately curled into a ball and sobbed like a little kid. “I am a loser now. Papa had declared Yuan as the new Alpha Don… and I am here, a prisoner of Lucio Hernandez… I-I am a loser.”

“Oh, Tiffany,” Miss T. replied, sighing. Her voice sounded creepier now. “I told you I will help you.”

“What will you do then?” Tiffany snapped.

“We will kill them… We will kill them all.”

“We will attack tomorrow.”

Lucio’s voice sounded so confident, and yet, she could sense a hint of nervousness in it. She nodded her head and eventually gave him a half-smile. “I will go with you.”

Lucio looked at her with sincere astonishment. “I will not allow you to. You might ruin the plan,” he replied.

Steffy heaved a sigh as she reached to him. “I don’t have any reason to ruin you and your big plans,” she said in a soft voice. Standing up, she walked towards the open window and looked at the glittery skies outside. A small smile lighted up her face. “I also want to avenge myself for the treachery that my family did to me.

“Steffy, we both know that you are a traitor too.”

“Yes, by falling in love with you, Lucio. But that they have left me and have exercised their patriarchy by giving the position to Yuan is a pure act of treachery. All my life, my father made me believe that someday, I will inherit everything he has… but it was just an act. And here I am.”

‘Your prisoner.’

Lucio snaked his arm around her waist and gently kissed the back of her neck. Steffy continued to gaze at the skies above. She was also a little light-headed from the whiskey she drank earlier with him after they have made love. “So, you are hungry with revenge.”

“Lucio, I know you understand where I’m coming from.”

Nodding his head, he wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled at the gesture. She inhaled his scent, and they stood there, hugging each other and lost in their private thoughts.

“When it’s over, you’ll have to marry me, Lucio,” she whispered. “And leave the Dragon Brotherhood.” His laughter rang her ears, so she looked up to him. “Don’t you want to marry me?”

Lucio stared at her wearing such a beautiful and amused smile that had almost made her gasp in awe. “I will marry you, yes, but I will not leave the Dragons.”

“Why not?” she asked, clearly disappointed with his answer. “Steffy, I cannot answer that so don’t push it.”

Steffy shoved him aside and walk back to the bed. “Fine. That means I cannot be with you as well. And that means me and our child will have to leave the country without you.”

She then glimpsed utter confusion on his face. “W-what do you mean?”

“I’m pregnant, Lucio. I found out just before I headed back to Manila. This child inside me is one reason I… I want to kill them all. And when it’s over, I will start anew… away from the Alphas and the Dragons. I want to have a life for my child that’s simple and free. Don’t you want that life too, Lucio?”

Lucio stared at her with disbelief. “Wait! I-I can’t believe this. Me? A father?”

He paced back and forth, mumbling to himself as Steffy watched him with disappointment. It was at this moment when the voice of the girl in the mirror whispered to her. “I told you so, little heiress. He won’t like it,” it said as it momentarily gave out a witch-like laugh that sounded exactly like her.

“You don’t look happy,” Steffy said as Lucio continued to fidget from where he stood.

“Of course, I am not happy! That child will ruin everything that I am planning for the brotherhood. I am still building my empire, Steffy. I don’t know, I need to think this over. But, prepare yourself for the worst because any moment, I might want you to get rid of it.” Then he left and loudly closed the door behind him. It shattered her heart when she heard Lucio’s car leaving.

Clenching her fist, she walked over to the mirror, and there she was, eyes shining brighter than ever. “I can’t believe he said those horrible things to our child.”

“Now is the time to go, Tiffany. Lucio is nothing but a coward. He always has been. And your father and Yuan don’t deserve the luxurious life they are still enjoying right now. Go on, Tiffany. Run… Run and burn them down! Yes, little heiress, you know what to do.”

Hastily, Tiffany grabbed a small waist bag under the bed, then unzipped it. She smiled crookedly when she saw the golden key that was safely tucked underneath the gun that she had stolen from a guard outside. Lucio left her with a bunch of goons outside the room, and that thought alone made her feel sick. He will never trust her… never. And Tiffany inclined he will just end up like her father; someone whom she needed to please all the time.

“We’re done with all this shit. Am I right, Tiffany? Men will never again dominate you.”

Steffy quietly slipped through the window, which led her to a lawn at the back. She spotted several men in black guarding the whole farmhouse while cigarette smoke rose through the air. Her heart was beating wildly, not because she was scared. In fact, it’s screaming for freedom and revenge.

She crawled outside the fancy lawn without being seen. And when she realized she was already heading towards the clearing; her legs ran.

“That’s it, Steffy. Run… run… run!” the voice inside her head continued to whisper to her.

Steffy’s speed increased as she felt her heart bursting inside her chest. Her eyes moistened, then tears cascaded through her cheek. All the pain from the treachery and lies started building up and she screamed… she screamed at the top of her lungs while she ran like a fawn on the loose. The battle had started; and this time, all that she wanted to do was to fight for the future of the child inside her.

“They’ll never get away with this! Never!”