Chapter 25 — The Demise

The repetitive knocking on the door quickly raised tension inside Marie’s cluttered thoughts. It had been a week since the Dragons spared their mercy and dropped her off at this apartment. She was strictly told that she could not talk to anyone or to open the door for someone. Her family had yet no news about her and she felt so miserable that the apartment had become more of a prison cell to her than a house.

But at least Steffy knew where she was. She had promised to visit her, but even until now, she still did not show up. The hasty knockings on the door continued, and she felt herself shaking as she slowly walked toward it. Grabbing a wooden piece of furniture, she approached the door and asked in a trembling voice. “W-who’s that? I’m not supposed to have a visitor, so please, get lost! I don’t want anyone dying on my doorsteps,” she said in a practiced calm voice.

“Marie Joyce, it’s me.”

“Steffy?” she replied with a voice that sounded like a gasp. Hearing the voice almost halted the functioning of her heart. She hurriedly fiddled through the locks and immediately grabbed the visitor inside without saying a word. When she’s done securing the locks again, she faced her and they stared for a moment before their lips crashed with each other with such intensity and passion.

“Oh, God! Thank God the Dragons did their promise,” said Steffy between their kisses.

“I wouldn’t forgive myself if they have killed you.”

“I’m fine, Steffy,” she replied as her V-neck tee slid to the floor.

“Except for these wounds caused by that bitch, Charlotte. She really didn’t give me the slightest pity. How about you?”

Steffy stopped herself from undoing Marie’s bra and dragged off her bonnet. Marie Joyce gasped in total shock. “Your hair… that fucking bitch, I’m going to kill her!”

“I’m fine now, Marie Joyce. Lucio had taken good care of me and my strength had finally returned. You won’t believe how I sneaked and passed through those useless goons.”

Marie drew her into a hug. “Oh, Steffy. I was so worried about you.” Steffy pulled her again into a kiss. “I miss you too.”

They both had a hasty dinner right after they made love and Steffy had spilled information as well. “Marie Joyce, I have started a war against the two warring brotherhoods and I have no choice but to fight. Stay hidden until I win this…”

“Steffy, you against the Dragons and the Alphas, is insane! Tell me, are you out of your mind already?”

“Well,” Steffy replied, chuckling. “Apparently I am now hearing voices in my head but really, I can tell that I am still sane.” Steffy then explained everything to her, down to the last detail. Marie absorbed each piece of information and felt sorrier as Steffy reached the end of her story.

“Steffy, I’m deeply sorry for all this shit that’s happening to you right now but girl, think it over. You said you have the key with you. Why not set forth and start locating the treasury. You don’t need to have a killing spree with the Alphas and then the Dragons. You’ll be dead meat! And what will happen to your child?”

Steffy heaved a sigh before answering. “I am doing this for my child! They won’t stop until I die, Marie. They will follow me everywhere I go and even if I got the treasure, both the Alphas and the Dragons will hunt me dead or alive… I’ll be dead meat either way. So, I need to finish them before I set foot to get the treasure. Right now, I know Lucio has already realized that I escaped… and the first thing that they will do is to come here, which means this place isn’t safe anymore for you. Or for the both of us! We need to go.”

“Okay. I understand the situation. Let’s not waste our time. Let’s just get moving.” They got on their feet and started packing things they can use when they elope. And just when they were about to sneak through the back door, they heard a loud banging on the door.

“They’re here,” Steffy whispered as she quietly gestured for Marie to continue moving. They slipped quietly through the night, hoping to survive another evening against the Dragons. Tiffany heaved a deep breath as she dialed Mamita Dionee’s call number. The latter picked up on the third ring. “Mamita Dionee, I’m in trouble. I need you.”

“How may I help you, my dear?” Mamita Dionee replied.

“I’m going to burn down a brotherhood.” Silence flooded the line for a moment, then Mamita Dionee asked again. “Are you sure this is what you want, child?”

“Yes, Mamita. I need to do this.” The help came in less than an hour, and Tiffany had the resources to burn an entire city. Wearing a tight-fitted black overall suit, she expertly moved without being seen around the mansion that had been a witness of the life she had as a billionaire’s daughter. The thought of burning it down gave a pang inside her chest, for the memories of her beautiful mother still lingered around it.

“I know you’re scared and sad, little Heiress. But there is no turning back now.”

There it was again, the voice that had been her companion in planning this scheme. It was whispering to her again. It kept reminding her that all the people who hurt her and planted treachery against her should die. And she nodded at the thought as a creepy smile crawled through her lips. ‘Yes, there is no turning back anymore.’

Swiftly and carefully, she moved through the dark like a feline aiming to prowl at her target. Then she spent fifty minutes planting a bomb on every corner of the area where the grand mansion stood. She had to duck several times as a goon approached to check a moving shadow. Fortunately, she had learned so much from the Academy… thanks to her father and to her expensive education, she will surely win this time.

Lucio Hernandez was very frustrated and angry when he read the note that Steffy left for him to read: “Lucio, it hurts to know that your actions have denied the acceptance of this child. I am very sorry, but I cannot live with you knowing how dreadful you feel about my situation right now. I’m going back to my father… and I will marry Yuan Lloyd Marquez. Please do not follow me.”

The frustration turned into a feeling of deep sorrow and was then converted into hatred and disgust; he needed to kill someone. Immediately, Lucio gathered all his men, and they marched to declare war against the Alphas.

Steffy was watching everything from her binoculars. As she remained hidden on top of the tree, no one knew she was just hiding in the shadows and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. From where she hid, she could see how the Alphas scurried to meet and fight with the approaching Dragons. She had seen Sebastian and Yuan on the battlefield. Both were armed with guns. The blood bath had started, and she couldn’t stop herself from chuckling as she watched them like they were in an online game and she was the gamer. “Pathetic fools…”

One by one, Steffy pushed the red button and a ground-shaking explosion was heard. She saw men flying and dropping dead on the ground, mutilated and completely unrecognizable caused by the explosion. Another push and more and more men were killed. Even a part of the mansion crumbled. Then there was silence…

‘Is it over?’

But then someone was moving in the shadows. Unexpectedly, her heart skipped a bit when she saw Lucio standing up like a newly awakened zombie.

“Tiffany!” she heard him shout at the top of his lungs. “Tiffany! Where are you?”

Yuan and Sebastian were also awakened, and she saw both of them ran inside the mansion, perhaps trying to get a hold of the former Don Arnulfo.

But they will never find him alive anymore. And she chuckled at the thought. She got down the tree as soon as the last bomb exploded. Then she started walking like a robot; a killing machine that had just finally turned the mission button on. She walked towards the grand mansion, but not after fetching two containers of gasoline from her armored truck. She had stumbled with Marie, who also started begging her to go with her inside. But then she remembered her saying that if Marie followed her, she will have to shoot her head with a bullet.

Walking passed through the deserted corridors, she opened each container and poured the liquid all over the first floor of the mansion. Momentarily, she could hear gunshots from above the house, and she cannot help but get more and more excited.

“The plan worked, little heiress… they have killed each other like stupid pawns in your little game of chess,” taunted the voice inside her. Steffy had finally emptied the containers, so she followed the gunshots from the third floor of the mansion. She could hear muffled voices, followed by a loud wailing which has sounded like Sebastian’s. She chuckled at the thought.

“What you did earlier was a nasty, little heiress,” the voice had spoken again. Earlier, she had seen the horror on his father’s face when she suddenly appeared in front of him. Disguised as a sexy whore, she hid in a skimpy belly dancer’s attire as the former Don marveled at her body.

“You remind me so much of my daughter,” he said. “She danced very well as you do.”

“Where is she now?” she asked as she swayed her hips from side to side. The former Don laughed heartily, and she hated that. And yet, she had to carry on.

“Oh, you sound just like her, too. Well, she’s dead already. I made sure the Dragons would take care of her in exchange for the ceasefire.”

Her heart stopped, “Ceasefire?”

“The Dragons and the Alphas have been enemies for such a long time now…” Despite the shock, Tiffany felt lucky when she realized that the old man had been talking endlessly. Mamita Dionee’s suggestion of putting an honest drug to his drink was indeed effective. Now, his father can never stop himself from talking.

“I have made my daughter our sacrificial lamb. I gave her to the Dragon leader, then the Dragons will declare their defeat. They will yield to the Alphas starting from that day they get my daughter. A ceasefire for the life of my unica hija.” Then a hysterical laugh rang her ears again. Don Arnulfo took another shot of his whisky filled with the drugs.

“I never wanted a daughter, lady. Never. But my wife has given me nothing. She was a completely useless cunt because she couldn’t give me a child! And so, I felt very miserable. Without a child, my position in the brotherhood will end, and I will definitely not allow that to happen.”

Tiffany’s heart tightened when she heard the truth from his father. Questions rose in her head, but she remained stoic. “Oh, why are you standing there? Dance as I continue my story!” the Don demanded her.

She started dancing again while the Don poured himself another drink. “Then I met Elizabeth, a dashing and lovely woman. She was a porn star and was very famous. It turned out she was my wife’s best friend. So, I fucked her all night and every day. My wife could hear us, but she did nothing. What can she do? I am the Alpha Don and she was nothing—nothing at all!”

Tiffany’s veil soaked in her tears upon hearing everything. She couldn’t believe what she’s hearing. If this is the truth, then who was she? Elizabeth was her birth mom?

“Tiffany is my daughter with Elizabeth… and the poor girl didn’t even know that. And now, I killed Elizabeth too. Oh, she was so annoying. She was always pushing me to put her daughter as the new Alpha Don. She was a crazy cunt. The Alphas did not patronize women because they’re weak… all of them! They’re just suitable subjects for sex and fun! Anyway, I made Elizabeth kill my wife… and she did, thinking that she’ll be the new queen. But she was wrong.”

Tiffany could not hold back her tears now. Elizabeth was indeed her mother. And the Don had made her a sacrifice to the Dragons. She was nothing to him. Both of them were nothing to him.

“I wanted a son to carry on my duties as the Don,” the old man continued. “But she had just given me a younger version of a useless species… so I fucked the mayor’s lonely wife named Sylvia and voila! She gave birth to a bouncy baby boy… and I named him Yuan Lloyd Marquez!”

Tiffany felt dizzy as the grudge that she’s been holding inside her heart consumed her sanity. Images of her father raping her sixteen-year-old self and fucking Elizabeth while she’s tucked in bed started spinning around her. Don Arnulfo’s throaty laughter filled the air, and it made her feel sick! Then Yuan, his own brother, came to mind. She almost had sex with him and had almost killed him too in that cottage.

‘Did Yuan even know who I was?’

“Why did you keep this as a secret?” she asked in a broken voice.

“‘Though shall not commit adultery.’ It’s one creed of an Alpha Don. If I have confided, they would have crucified me and flogged my son to death. I just wanted the best for my son. So, I conspired with the other Alphas to make him a temporary Don in the brotherhood because she will have to marry my useless daughter. He will be Don without letting the council know about my infidelity and then the truth behind Tiffany’s life. I will carry this secret to the grave.”

“That’s why you have attempted to let me marry with my brother,” she retorted bitterly as she unveiled her face.

The horror on the Don’s face was clear as Tiffany drew closer to her. The honesty drug had been fully consumed in his system now, and he could feel nothing but ecstasy. He cannot fight back.

“Do you remember me, Don Arnulfo?”

“You look exactly my daughter.”

“I am your daughter, fool! Your heiress.”

Tiffany silenced him as she buried a dagger in his throat. Pulling the dagger out, a gush of fresh blood flowed down to the sheet. She then buried the dagger in his chest and pulled it out again. The old man made a gargling sound as blood continued to spurt out from his body. Tiffany continued to stab her father even when he was no longer breathing. All the rage started pouring out from her system, and she felt so alive upon her father’s demise.

Tiffany struck a crossbow arrow at Sebastian while he was kneeling on the ground. The man was completely shocked upon seeing the pool of blood on the Don’s bed that he could not prepare himself from Tiffany’s attacks. Then she shot him again on the head using a silencer and continued to advance to where Yuan and Lucio were having a gunfight. She heard them on the uppermost chamber where the secret meetings of the brotherhood were often held.

“Where is Steffy?” she heard Lucio screaming.

“I told you she isn’t here!” replied Yuan. “Why have you come and started a war? We agreed for a ceasefire, didn’t we?”

“You have broken it by accepting and hiding Steffy… anyway, the ceasefire was just a show. We have really planned to attack you without your knowledge.”

“Yes, my men are dead, but yours too. You are so stupid to plant a bomb inside your territory—”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we didn’t plant the bomb. You did it.”

The door cracked open and both of the men stood rigid as they waited for the dust to clear and reveal who was behind the act.

“Boys, I was the one who planted the bomb.”

Lucio and Yuan gasped in surprise as Tiffany walked over them; clapping her hand ominously and slowly. “Did you like my surprise?”

“Y-You tricked us?” Lucio asked angrily. Cocking her head, she raised her leg and made a solid flying kick, hitting the two of them simultaneously.

“Yes,” she replied, gasping. “I tricked you… I toyed with you and now… you are nothing but a bunch of losers!”

She then advanced towards them and fought them using her hands. She simultaneously hurt them by sending powerful jabs onto their faces. Lucio could trap her by the arm, but Tiffany was quick to twist her body away from her. “And by the way, Lucio,” she said, panting. “I have the key and I’m going to be living my life while you rot in hell.”

“You’re an ungrateful slut,” Lucio replied as he attacked her. Steffy received a blow on her stomach but she did not flinch, instead, she ducked as another blow from him came flying to her face, and when she got the chance, she grabbed a silencer tucked behind her holster and shot him in the leg. Lucio fell to the ground, grunting. Yuan then stood up and ran toward her to get her gun, but Steffy was quicker. She sent a bullet to his chest, aiming directly at his heart. Panting, she got another silencer, so both of her hands were already holding such powerful weapons now.

“Señorita… Please, don’t kill me. I’m your brother…”

“Kill them, now, Tiffany,” she heard the voice inside her again, but then suddenly, her heart softened for Yuan.

“Shut up! Stop telling me what to do!” she yelled to herself.

“Kill… Kill… Kill…”

Steffy looked at the half-conscious men in front of her. She felt wobbly and her knees shook. It was as if her mission mode had been twisted off and all she saw now was the sin she had gravely committed. Losing her wits, she blindly rushed towards Yuan, dropping the guns on the ground.

“I-I’m sorry, dear sister,” Yuan said between heavy breaths. “You have been so amazing… I had the best time… with you. I’m sorry...”

“N-No, Yuan… we could start over, please, don’t let go.” But she was too late. Yuan had finally breathed his last. “Yuan!” she screamed.

“W-why have you done this?” A voice had awakened her again and when she looked up, she saw Lucio, clutching the silencer she dropped and aiming it on her head. “L-Lucio, I can explain.”

“You ruined everything…”

“I did this because you—you ran away when you realized I’m carrying your child!”

“That child is not mine!” he roared, making her heart fall into another million pieces. “That is a child of a demon… you are a demon, just like your father, and a crazy woman, just like your mother!”

Tiffany slowly rose to her feet as she started glaring at Lucio. “My mother was not crazy…”

“Yes, she was! I heard you, you were yelling to yourself! You’re hearing voices, aren’t you?” Lucio asked menacingly. He looked like a madman carrying a deadly weapon. “Your father killed my parents and my brother, but I have loved you so dearly that I will include you in my plans, and yet, you have betrayed me. Now die!”

It was at this moment when Tiffany realized she had lost the will to fight, and she can do nothing about it. Her life will fall into the hands of the man she loved. There was nothing she can do but wait until he buried the bullet in her skull.

But the bullet did not come.

Tiffany opened her eyes and saw Lucio on the ground with eyes open, but completely dead. He was still clutching the silencer that would have ended her life, but the bullet was never fired at her. Instead, Marie Joyce came into view, carrying a machine gun and continuously making the bullets rain on Lucio’s body. Everything around Tiffany seemed to come into a slow motion, and she felt half deaf and unable to move a muscle.

“Little Heiress, it’s over…” said a familiar voice inside her head. “Burn the house down.”

Marie Joyce dragged Steffy away, and they both ran as they were holding their hands. She then remembered and stopped at the first floor. They dragged their tired feet towards the door and stood there for a while, still clasping each other’s hands. Reaching for her pocket, she revealed a lighter. She kindled the fire and tossed it to the carpeted floor filled with gasoline.