The Under Boss's Final Mistake

Chapter Five – Blood in the Dark

POV – Bella

I didn’t sleep throughout the night. Each time I try to sleep, I always dream about Papá's recent condition. So I couldn’t sleep. Despite the fact that my eye weighs on me. And the words of Aunt Lucia were still burning in my ears, making my current situation worse.

I reached out for my phone and unlocked it; immediately after I unlocked it, the message still sat on my phone like a live grenade. I stared at the message for a few seconds again. And I turned off my phone so I could be able to breathe and think straight.

At one point, I felt something wrong in the house. It was too quiet. To the point that every creak of the floorboards sounded like a footstep. Every hiss of wind against the shutters was like someone breathing just outside.

I sat on the edge of my bed, phone slick in my sweaty palm, heart punching against my ribs. "You're imagining it," I told myself. Paranoia. You’re eating yourself alive.

Then—suddenly a window slid open. It was too soft and careful.

My blood went icy. I scrambled to my feet instantly and ran to the corner behind my bed.

I heard the footsteps. It was slow. Deliberate. Moving down the hall toward me. Not my aunt. Lucia never moved like that. This was a predator. I murmured to myself, with my hands and heart shaking and beating uncontrollably.

My chest locked up, and I felt my heart had sunk deep into my stomach. I reached for the lamp. Froze. The door cracked open, and the doorknob turned gently.

The door eased open, and a shadow slipped inside. Tall. Broad shoulders. Face covered with a mask.

I gasped. While clutching my knee to my chest.

He lunged. Steel flashed in his hand.

His movement was slow and gentle. He was moving directly to where I was, with a sharp knife in his hands. The knife was sharp enough to cut through metals.

“NO!” I screamed, moving back recklessly, without minding what was behind me. I continued throwing myself back.

“Please don't,” I murmured with my voice breaking.

The masked man raised up his knife and slashed where my chest had been, ripping the blanket instead. I scrambled into the corner; nails at the corner pricked me from behind, sending a deep, sharp pain down to my brain, scraping the wood from the corner of the bed. My heart was hammering so hard I couldn’t hear anything else, just my heartbeat.

He got closer, still silent. And merciless. He aimed at me with the knife raised again—but this time the knife was directly facing me. Like I felt my life traveling before me.

So I closed my eyes, with my hand raised above my head, to pray my last prayer before I heard a sound.

Bang! Bang!

The sound split the room apart. And immediately I opened my eyes.

The masked man jerked, stumbled, and crashed onto my floor. The blade skittered away, ringing against the wood.

Smoke curled in the air.

I snapped to the entrance.

In the doorway stood Aunt Lucia. Gun in hand. Face pale but steady, with a cigarette in her mouth.

“Are you hurt?” Her voice trembled once, then steadied.

I couldn’t answer. My throat was a fist.

She stepped in, kicked the knife away, crouched, and pressed two fingers to his neck. “Dead,” she muttered. He then rips off the mask from the man's face. I noticed the sudden change of her face, but I couldn't ask who he was. I kept the question dancing in my throat.

I stared at her. The room tilted sideways. “You… you saved me.”

Her eyes met mine. Unreadable. “You think I’d let them take you that easily?”

Tears stung my eyes—not relief. Confusion. Doubt is tearing me apart.

If she was the enemy, why save me?

I murmured to myself.I remained in that position for a while, crying and shaking. With my hands inside my mouth.

Headlights slashed across the window. A car. Another one.

Lucia’s hand clamped around my arm, nails digging into my skin. “We don’t have time. Pack your things—only what you can carry. Now.”

Her tone cut sharp. Commanding. But under it… something else. Fear.

Aren't you hearing?? She continued after staring at the window.

“Let’s go to another place.” My aunt murmured, “This place is no longer safe for you anymore; those masked men will definitely come back if they hear no response from the one they had already sent.”

I couldn't argue, but I only shook my head with a small resigned sigh.

I stood and gathered the things I knew I could gather in my tiny little bag.

“You must learn to be fast and smart in order to survive in a world like this. She whispered while trying to help me park my stuff.

After we finished parking, my aunt reached out and took my hands, dragging me alongside with her.

“We'll get through this,” we definitely will. My aunt whispered while watching outside on the street.

We rushed into her black truck from behind. We snuggled in and slammed the door. She turned the key multiple times, but the engine didn't respond. Finally, she turned it with her hands trembling, and the engine responded.

The sound of the truck made a group of men move fast towards our direction… Their movement was fast and calculative.

They kept on moving closer. Their voices were low and steady.

“They’re here,” she hissed. “Bend down, Isabella!”

I stumbled under the seat in the truck, shaking. My brain screamed, “Don’t trust her.” My heart whispered the truth: whoever they were, they weren’t here to talk.

My aunt's fingers were around the wheel, waiting, observing for the appropriate moment.

Isabella: "Whatever happened, don't come out," Aunt Lucia whispered with her voice shaking. She then continued to see me as your mother, not as your aunt, just for your safety.

I let out a quiet snort hearing those words.

You've been my mom ever since the day I knew you, and all my life you will still be the mother that I've had.

I whispered, sniffing back tears and blinking back the teardrops clinging to my eyelashes.

Bang! Rat-tat-tat Rat-tat-tat

Gunshots cut off the emotional moment we were having. Gunpowder began dropping like rain on the truck.