KARMA: FALLING FOR MY ENEMY'S SON

11. REAL BETRAYAL

You get what you give, remember that s**t…

With those questions in mind, I quickly rolled out of my bed and ran out into the hallway. I tiptoed down the stairs to the living room, where most of mom's screams could be heard. Stopping on our living room's entrance, my eyes widened when I saw her crying on the cold floor with Arthur, Lorenz and his best friend Shane in the room standing over her. As usual the ring leader, also known as my so-called boyfriend, had his hands tucked away in his pockets while his best friend did his dirty work. Shane had his gun pointed at my brother to stop him from approaching mom. I stared at Arthur in disbelief, there was no better word to describe how his betrayal made me feel at the moment… he actually brought them to my house‽‽ all his weird questions made sense now, he was faking his concern for me just to find out my whereabouts.

"Hello Angela, surprised to see me??” Lorenz started, looking at me as I stepped out from behind the wall. I shook my head, I wasn't surprised to see him in my house… I had been expecting it but just a little later.

“ …Good, you shouldn't be considering the fact that you did the same not long ago. Showed up to my house uninvited" he added.

"Leave them out of this Lorenz, please" I begged him, walking inside the room.

Lorenz nodded "Of course, as long as you let us take you with us. We have a few things to discuss you and I" I nodded, walking to my mother and helped her stand up. Shane dropped his gun and I heard Angelo let out a breath of relief.

"Angy no" mom said, catching my hand when I was about to walk away from her. I turned around and smiled at her.

"It won't be long mom, I'll be back.." I reassured her but even I didn't believe my words. I walked to my brother and hugged him "...please take care of her for me until I'm back" I whispered into his ear.

"Who are these people Angela??" Angelo whispered back.

"I'll tell you later" I told him, pulling away from our hug. He nodded and I could still see the worry in his eyes. I gave him a reassuring smile and turned around to leave. I walked to the front door with Lorenz following close behind me, he grabbed me by my forearm and dragged me outside to his car. Opening the backseat door, he shoved me inside before getting in after me and opened a newspaper to read while we waited for the traitor Arthur and evil Shane to join us.

A few minutes passed and that's when I heard it… two loud bangs coming from inside our house, they echoed through the canyon as the house was built at the top of a mountain. My eyes widened and my lower lip quivered at the realisation, Lorenz had once again fooled me and this time killed my family… He actually killed my family. I cried, jumping on my seat and tried to get out of the car but the doors were locked.

I turned to the man sitting next to me completely unbothered by the sound and said "You agreed you'd let them go if I let you take me with you" with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Lorenz shrugged, folding his newspaper close and said "You also agreed to abort that thing inside you but did the opposite then, I'm just returning the favour" I jumped on him, wanting to scratch his smug face or maybe choke him to death. How dare he punish me for protecting my own child.

“God, if I didn't know any better, I would mistake the look on your face right now for that of guilt” I'm snapped out of my heart wrenching memories by Bruno's sarcastic voice. Wiping off the traitorous tears that had rolled down my cheeks with my fingers, I let out a soft chuckle focusing back on the picture still in my hand and grabbed a black marker from the pencil holder on the table. I drew a cross over the photo and applied glue on its back before returning to the mirror and glued it on the reflective surface. This was a time to rejoice not to cry, my enemy was one pawn short and I was a step closer to my goal. Besides, I've spent the last five years battling with my guilt for what I let happen to my family… so much that I now believe I have none left to feel anymore.

Arthur was my biological father's best friend and was affectionately known to me and my siblings as our godfather. In fact after our father died I saw him as family, my second father and trusted him with my life. I even went as far as to share my problems with him. When I first found out I was pregnant by Lorenz five years ago, he was the first to know before the baby's father but he chose his job over my family. That's reasonable enough for me to not feel any guilt toward his demise.

Though I must admit, it was a shame that Bella… Arthur's daughter had to die with him in the fire because unlike her father, she was innocent and a very good human being. Her only fault was having a man who betrayed my trust and worked closely with the Magliolos as her father.

I turned around at the sound of my phone ringing in my bedroom and left the secret room. I walked to my bed and got it from under my pillow. Looking at the screen, I smiled at the caller's ID and swiped my thumb upward to accept the call “Hey dad” I said, bringing the phone up to my ear.

“Hello dear, I just saw the news… how are you feeling??” Dr Sanchez asked, worried. His concern always warmed my heart, I don't remember ever getting this much love and support from even my biological father. He was present until he wasn't but we spent most of that time arguing because of his need to always be in control.

“I'm fine dad” I reassured him before asking “... when did you leave??”

“At dawn, there was an emergency at the hospital and I didn't want to wake you up”

“Oh, I hope everything is okay,” I told him honestly.

“Don't worry, we managed to save the patient,” he said.

“Dr Sanchez, you're needed in the ER” someone said in the background.

“Okay Eva, I'll talk to you later… take care of yourself”

“You too dad” I said before disconnecting the call. I turned around and saw the file Dr Sanchez gave to me last night still on my window seat. He called it our excuse for our sudden return to Italy, it's about a cancer project he had been working on for the past couple of months.

Deciding to visit the psychiatric hospital he was planning to work with, I turned to Bruno and asked “Did you get the information I asked you to get??” tossing my phone on the bed, Since it was clear that I won't be going back to bed.

“Yeah, although I don't get why you need it” I had asked him to find out everything there was to know about the hospital, starting from those who worked there to the reason why the hospital suddenly lost investors.

“It's for dad's project” I told him, going in my bathroom to take a quick shower before coming back out in a bathrobe and found him gone, a USB stick on my bed. I took it and tossed it inside one of my bedside table's drawers before going into my closet to get dressed. I sat in front of my vanity table to do my makeup and style my hair.

Done, I smacked my lips together staring in the mirror before getting up and walked around my king-sized bed to get my phone and car keys from the nightstand then left the house. I jumped in my car and told Ivan to drive me to the hospital.