Chapter 10 — Lucio Hernandez

“Do not make any noise.”

He could hear strange footsteps inside their house. His mother’s hands were trembling as she held him and his little brother tightly. The three of them were hiding inside their small bathroom.

Earlier, the two children saw their parents hastily packing things in their luggage, but when they heard his father announced the men in black, he shoved them away and strictly ordered them to hide. “Who are they, mother?” eight-year-old Lucio Hernandez asked in a hushed tone.

“Shh! Keep quiet. They must not find us here. They will kill us,” her mother replied in a trembling voice.

“But, what about father? We should tell him to hide in here as well!”

“Be quiet, Lucio! Your father’s going to protect us. But if he can, then I will protect you! Okay?” then she kissed the two kids on the top of their heads. Just then, they heard loud knocks on the door and muffled voices outside, followed by violent shouts. They could hear glass shattering and pieces of furniture falling.

“Please do not hurt my family,” he heard his father’s voice. Lucio could tell how scared his father was. It seemed like he was about to cry soon.

“Give us back the money and the key!”

Lucio carefully moved and peeped through the hole in their bathroom door. From his location, he could see several armed men, dressed in black, surrounding his father. They tossed the tables and the minimal furniture set in their living room in every corner of the house. They also scattered broken plates and glasses in the small kitchen. His little brother was becoming restless already.

“Please, little one, be still,” his mother whispered, covering the mouth of his five-year-old sibling. Lucio continued to observe and eventually realized that they also tied their father's hands. His forehead was oozing with blood, and his face was full of bruises. Young Lucio tried to hold back the tears in his eyes. In his young mind, he knew that all of them were in danger.

“Where is the money!” roared the big man who was holding his father down. “And give us back the fucking key!”

Another groan escaped his father’s lips as the men kicked him and punched his guts. “The brotherhood! The Dragon Brotherhood has them!” his father said in a pitiful voice.

“You swore to be loyal to the Alphas, but you took side with the Dragons! How dare you?” They heard loud thuds as the big man mercilessly kicked Lucio’s father repeatedly.

Then a loud bang tore through the night, startling the kids and making their mother cry in silence. Lucio’s brother erupted into loud wailing. His mother failed to quiet him down. Now the noise that he created reached the goons inside their house. In an instant, the bathroom door flew open, and big men of black uniform dragged him and his family away. “Let me go! Let me go!” Lucio shouted, but his angry voice reached idle ears. His mother was also screaming while the men dragged her hair around.

“Do you think you can hide, huh, kid?” a big and scary man taunted him, flashing a merciless smirk on his face.

“Please, please! Do not hurt my children,” his mother pleadingly said as she hugged the big man’s feet. The men laughed and toyed with their mother while they tossed the two brothers towards the wall. His little brother crawled towards the dead body of their father and tried to wake him up.

“Tie her,” the big man grunted. “What are you going to do with my mother?” Lucio shouted at them. The men were scary to look at and they bought many guns and different killing tools.

“Hey, stop what you’re doing to my mom!”

The man only laughed at him as he heard his little brother crying in the background.

“You watch, kid,” they replied, laughing. “It’s better for you to know how to use that little birdy of yours in between your legs! So, you watch and learn!”

“Please, have mercy,” his mother pleaded to them as they tied her hands above her head. The big man pulled down her pants and underwear, making her squirm and shout at the top of her lungs. Lucio ran towards his brother and hugged him tight, covering his eyes and closing his own to block the morbid scene in front of them.

“This is what you get when you mess with the Alphas. You don’t get mercy.”

Lucio woke up from the dream, stumbling as he wiped large perspiration that filled his forehead. The same nightmare had been hunting him in the next thirty-six years of his life. Even after all these years, he wanted nothing but revenge. He had been hungry for it, and it can only satisfy the anger and bitterness inside him with the fall of the Alphas.

Lucio stood up, clenching his fist. He walked towards a set of drawers and pulled a small box filled with intricate designs. Inside the box was a golden key…

The anger that he felt inside him escalated as he stared at the key. Looking up, he saw his reflection in the mirror in front of him, and he saw an ugly scar on his face. The Alphas were the ones who did that to him.

“How could they do this to me and to my family?” he retorted as he clutched the golden key in his hand. Lucio remembered how they flogged his father to death and how each of the Alphas took turns in raping his mother. Even his little brother was also killed, and this scar was the evidence of that dreadful night. “I will make sure that I will make the Alphas’ lives miserable.”

But how could he drag the brotherhood down when it had become more powerful with each passing time?

“Just wait for me, Alphas. You will get what you deserve.”

Steffy ran towards Yolo as soon as she saw him standing in the Tambayan.

“Oh my gosh, I thought you’re dead!” she whispered as she clung to him. Yolo let out a small yelp when Steffy accidentally touched his injured arm. But he felt a sudden warmth within him when he saw that the poor girl looked genuinely worried for him.

“Sorry,” he heard her say. The young man chuckled and felt overwhelmed by Steffy’s sincere reactions.

“Did you miss me?” he playfully asked, to shake the tension within him. Steffy automatically kicked the side of his leg when she heard that, making him groan in pain. “What’s that for? Jeez,” moaned the young man.

Steffy took a few steps and sat in her usual spot. She’s now back with her usual distant self. Taking an expensive cigarette, she heaved a sigh as she lighted it up and casually put it between her lips.

“Do you smoke?” she asked him, something now stained the cigarette between her lips with red lipstick.

“You bet!”

She then tossed the pack along with a golden lighter. Yolo expertly caught them both. “Woah. These are expensive!”

It amazed Yolo as he held this pack of expensive cigarette. In his hand was a pack of Ashton VSG Corona Gorda, one of the most in-demand luxury cigars on the market.

“You can have all of that for yourself,” she said nonchalantly. “I still have a lot of that at my disposal.”

“Thanks, Steffy.”

They sat in silence as the smoke from their cigarette rose in the air.

“Tell, me, how wealthy are you?” Yuan asked, though he already knew because they both had the same father.

“Hmm, scratch that. You should ask, how wealthy is my father?” Steffy replied in a menacing voice. Yolo only smiled at her.

“I really thought you’d be dead,” Steffy said in a quiet voice. “That would have been fun.”

“What? Tell me you’re rude with telling you’re rude,” he replied as he rolled his eyes. Tiffany only chuckled lightly. Then he moved a little until their elbows touched.

“Not a single bullet can kill me, Miss Tiffany,” he said. Steffy immediately shot him with a warning look. “Stop calling me that. Someone might hear you.” Yolo dragged himself nearer to her and whispered, “I doubt that. It’s just you and me here.”

“Still! We are undercover. Be responsible for your actions.”

Yolo laughed again. “You are so serious!”

Steffy only slapped the back of his head. “We should be serious!”

They went silent again. Then in a while, Steffy said in a haughty voice, “So, I guess I’m stuck with you for the meantime, huh.”

“Why would you say that?” Yolo replied, drawing an amused chuckle. Blowing a sigh, Tiffany replied, “Papa called me. He said I’ll be working with you on this mission.”

Yolo hesitated for a moment. “Oh, that...”

“That angered me a lot,” Steffy replied in a mocking tone. “He knows I prefer to work alone.”

Steffy puffed another smoke in the air before she continued grilling him with questions. Yolo was now feeling so uncomfortable. “Tell me, what is your reward this time?” she pressed on.

Plastering a smirk, Yolo moved closer and stared at her with such intensity, making her breath unsteady. “Do you really want to know?”

Steffy only rolled her eyes. “Do you think I will ask you if I don’t care enough?”

Yolo was laughing again. How he enjoyed teasing her. “You know, you are so cute when you’re angry.”

Steffy looked embarrassed for a while, but then eventually recovered. “Just answer the stupid question, Yolo. Don’t be such a dope!”

“Alright!” he said, chuckling. “The Don offered me such a wonderful reward.”

“What is it then?”

“Not what...who.”

“What do you mean?”

“You…”

Steffy was taken aback. “W-what?”

“Yeah, so…” he said as he gently touched her face. “We better start being friends because soon, we’ll both rule the world, baby girl.”

Steffy angrily pushed him aside and stood up. He could see that she was boiling with anger now. Yolo looked at her with amazement, but not when she started running her fingers through her hair and angrily punched Yolo’s bag, that was lying on the floor. Yolo stood up and suddenly felt worried.

“Hey, that is expensive!” he hollered. The girl refused to listen and kicked the item with such force that it flew towards the other end of the place. “Fucking patriarchal shits!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “This punk here is a jerk! I’m better than him in every way!”

“Hey, Miss Blonde, I can hear you!” he said as he marched toward her. Steffy picked up the bag, then tried to shred its strap and ruined its zipper.

“That was meant to be heard, jerk!”

Yolo then ran towards her, grabbing the bag away. “All right! All right! That’s enough, please!” Steffy growled at him, then pinned him down to the floor. His back hit the solid ground with a thud. “Whoa, this scene looks familiar,” he taunted her, chuckling. Staring at Steffy, Yolo suddenly felt hot. “I never thought you look so good on top, Miss Steffy.”

The joke seemed to have affected the girl, for he saw her blushing. “One more stupid joke, I’ll kill you!” Steffy warned him with such disgust in her voice. Yolo let out an amused laugh.

“I wasn’t joking! Go ask your father!”

Blowing a sigh, she hastily stood, picked up her own bag pack, and slung it around her shoulder.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Away from you, dumb ass! And before I forget, tell my father I don’t need you here,” she said as she kicked his wounded arm again.

“Fuck!” Deep pain crossed his injured arm as the sole of Steffy’s shoe touched it with such force. Smirking, he saw her drawing a heavy breath, then she strolled away with her middle finger raised in the air. “Crazy woman!” he groaned as he tried to sit up. Eventually, he laughed again as she stared at Steffy’s back. “Such a turn-on.”