Heart Stealer

Chapter eight: This is just the beginning.

LUCAS

“She’s gone.” I heard Search utter after taking a quick peek at the cliff where the crazy female snatcher jumped off.

I didn’t waste my time looking at how high it is once again, since it won’t rewind everything that has already happened. I just took a deep breath instead and then I decided to leave the place. Talking about those damn idiots who let her escape, I have already taught them a lesson by punching them in their faces. 

Honestly, I don’t quite understand why I am overreacting over something I already thought was going to happen. I’m not that mad against those idiots though, since I’m aware that people like them are somehow unhelpful and unreliable. Maybe the reason why this level of anger hits me is because people like her who can’t keep promises simply make my blood boil.

I guess she really wishes to see the demonic side of me. If that’s the case, then I would gladly grant her a f*cking wish.

“Are you just going to let her go? I mean, what if she’s still alive?” Search wondered.

We were now inside my car, heading back to my workplace so that I would be able to do something that would not waste my time just like what happened earlier. Search was kind of waiting for me to talk back to her, but then I simply didn’t feel like talking about something that would piss me off.

It didn’t take us a lot of time to finally arrive at my place and when I got there, I suddenly saw one of my reliable people whom I asked to take care of one of our clients coming from China. He lowered his head as soon as I walked near him. 

“What is it?” I asked him. At that moment, I was already having a bad feeling about what he was going to say. I knew and I could tell through his seemingly tired face and unpleasant appearance that he had been through huge chaos before coming there.

“I’m sorry to say this, Sir. But we failed to finish our transaction with our Chinese allies.” He breathed. “We were attacked and almost all of our people were killed during the ambush.” 

“F*ck! How come they knew about that?” I almost shouted as I turned my back on him facing the glass wall.

“I-I’m not certain about that, sir. We tried to fight but then we weren’t able to defeat them since we lacked people.” He responded. “Along with that, one of our buildings that is close to Conqueror’s City was also burned.”

Assigning a different person, other than me or Gunner, to transact with our allies is a kind of thing that I needed to think about over and over again, since it’s too hard to look for a very reliable person to do it. I was actually planning to ask Gunner to do this but then he was out of reach and, according to Search, he’s having a good time living as a normal person for a day. Talking about this man, I wouldn’t give him this job if I knew that he wasn’t capable of doing it. 

He is one of those reliable people whom I truly believe could actually fulfill it. It’s just that life has too many surprises and that is something out of my control.

“What about our Allies?” I asked him.

“They are all safe, sir,” he responded.

I breathed and nodded my head twice before facing him again, “Gather people whom you think are all good enough to defend the transaction in case those unknown people return.” I uttered. “For now, I need you all to standby and wait for my signal before making a move. Understand?”

He nodded his head and then lowered it as he said, “Yes, sir!”

I thought that was all I needed to know now, but then not longer than a second after he left, I received a call, coming from our Chinese ally. He didn’t want to prolong our conversation since they needed to fly back to China to finish the job they left there.

“Alpha’s behind all of these.” That was the only thing that concerned our call. 

That information matters to me more than anything or anyone, since they were our long-time enemies. 

The Alpha were also doing some sort of illegal things. They were behind those syndicates who use children to make money, human trafficking and many things that would lead them to the hottest part of hell. Alpha’s leader and my dad used to be friends, but then one of them messed up with Mr. Smith’s family, who were my Dad’s most reliable best friend, and killed his wife. My dad ended up killing his own friend, unintentionally. He may not be behind all of this, but the fact that his son killed someone he wasn’t supposed to kill and standing against him knowing that what he did was horrible and unforgivable, broke their friendship.

The bullet, which was supposed to pierce his son’s heart, ended up taking his life. That was the day when his son decided to do something about it. He ended up slaughtering my whole family.

Revenge is something you can't control because the deep anger and pain that the past caused you will surely push you to do something horrible too. Even though they were the ones who did wrong first, it doesn’t matter to them as long as they end up succeeding.

“I came back to tell you that I’m leaving and, in case you have something to do-” I heard her speaking, but I couldn’t pay attention to it. I was having my gaze locked somewhere far away the moment she got inside and walked near me. “Lucas, are you alright?” She asked me.

After snapping out of my messy thoughts, I looked at her and said, “Keep an eye on that snatcher. I gotta need to fix something important first.”

CASSANDRA

The sound of the waves and distant chattering woke me up. I opened my eyes as I breathed in the pleasing smell of the fresh air coming from the opened window. My eyes were still blurry at that moment, that’s why I gently squeezed both of them with my fingers, while trying to sit on a comfortable mattress. 

“What is this place? Where am I?” I wondered to myself as I walked towards the window to check what was waiting for me outside.

I’m somehow surprised to see such a nice and peaceful view. The house where I am currently staying was located near the shore and there were some people, or should I say fishermen, standing near their boats. I guess that’s where the chattering came from.

I started to breathe the fresh air again and as I closed my eyes I realized that it wasn't the right time for me to act freely. A sudden flashback of what happened to me the moment I escaped Mr. Wilder’s people also hit me so damn hard. I’m quite curious though. Why do I seem fine now? I wonder who took me here and took care of me. And also, by judging from my current condition, I also thought that maybe I had been asleep for about a day or more. I can still feel pain in some parts of my body, but it’s all tolerable.

I went out of the room and looked around the house. There’s a wide stairs heading down, which made me believe that the rest of this place was lying underground, a kind of house that really exceeded my expectations. It was a well-furnished one. From the classy chandelier placed at the center of the house, to the antique furniture that is perfectly placed there, in the corresponding corners. I could say that it can be a perfect place to escape from the cruelty of this damn world. Also, it can be a very famous summer house for everyone. Whoever owns this must be really grateful to have this kind of place.

“You’re awake.” I heard an unfamiliar voice of a woman approaching me the moment I reached downstairs. 

I lowered my head as soon as I faced an old woman smiling at me.

“You must be hungry now. Come on, dear. Join us for breakfast.” She joyfully offered it to me.

I followed her even though I’m actually shy to keep on receiving help from a person whom I don’t personally know, but as I come to think of it, I’m used to that kind of thing ever since I left our house. It’s not like Grey, Bridgette and Sir knew me that much before lending their hands to me.

There was lots of food placed above the dining table where she took me. She asked me to take a seat somewhere in front of her. She locked her gaze in my direction, still wearing a smile on her face.

Is she planning to just watch me while I’m eating? That’s what I started wondering about myself after that.

 “Enjoy your food, dear. You need to gather your strength back.” She urged.

I was kind of hesitating to eat since I had lots of questions that I’d like to ask her. I know it’s kind of rude for me to ask her out of the blue, but then my time is too limited for me to think about it.

“Sorry, but may I know where am I? And how did I end up in this place?” I asked her.

“You’re here in an Island called Bounty Island. Our master took you here two days ago and you were in a very bad condition.” She explained. “You were soaking wet and cold. We nearly tought you’re not going to make it but then he managed to save your life.”

“Master?” I repeated. “I thought you-” I paused for a second, thinking that I wasn’t supposed to add meaningless words into this conversation. “May I know where is he now? I’m glad that he helped though, I need to leave as soon as possible.”

“Why are you in such a rush, dear? Is there someone after you and trying to kill you?” She asked me. 

I will be an i***t if I respond to that question and tell her everything that has happened to me. But I feel regretful though, because it might be relieving if I have at least someone to talk about these things.

“Will you please just tell me where he is now?” I calmly asked her.

“As much as I would like to. But our master left this island last night. None of us were sure where he went and when he will come back.” She responded. 

“Do you have something that I can use to contact him?” I asked her.

She started shaking her head as a response.

“If that’s the case then can I use your boat to escape from this island?” I asked her.

The old woman was just blanklessly looking at me and that made me realize that there’s something she couldn’t tell me.

“I bet your master already told you not to let me go, right?” I asked her again.

She didn’t even nod or shook her head but I’m certain that my guess was right. That’s why I took a deep breath and said, “It’s okay, I’m already used to this kind of situation. Some people were surprisingly like that to me though I’m not really sure about their real intention.” I stood up without touching my food, simply because I couldn’t just enjoy this moment knowing that my people aren’t in a good condition. “I’m heading back to the room.” I informed her right before I left.

Despite telling her those words, I still couldn’t help but to think about his master’s identity. Wether if he’s someone I could possibly rely on, someone who can help me or he’s also one of those people who want to use me over their lame plans, want me to do and find something for their own sake. On the other hand, I also couldn’t stop myself from thinking about running away once again. Because wether I admit it or not, that’s the only thing I’m definitely good at.

Life is indeed full of surprises, isn’t it? Surprises that would end up squeezing your brain out. I guess I ended up in the hands of unknown person who knows me well.