When the gunshot went off, Jackson with the two women inside the house got roused. Tia approached the window. Before she could look outside, Amber pulled her back. “That’s dangerous! Stay out of sight!”Frightened, the girl uttered. “I want to know what happened…”After a short static in Amber’s intercom, Bryce’s voice came through.[Amber… They shot Gianni!]With eyes widened, Amber stared into nothingness. Her brain was as if it froze, and words refused to leave her mouth. She looked blankly in Jackson’s direction.Although he could take a guess, Jackson asked for nothing. Instead, he flipped the table. Swiftly, he grabbed their hands and dragged them behind the toppled furniture. “Get down…”Meanwhile, Bryce had already returned to the van. Cold sweat drenched his clothes, and his breathing became erratic. The fleeting scene of Gianni getting shot in front of him kept replaying in his mind.Crimson blood splattered on the van’s doors. The painted ground became slippery as the burly
“No way! How?!” Tia stood trembling in front of the group of strangers. Although Jackson supported her, she still felt weak in her knees. With both hands, she covered her mouth and her eyes widened in surprise. Amber didn’t know how to respond, therefore she remained silent, waiting for the event to develop in front of her. “Until recently, I was with the West family…” A young girl in the opposite group made the connection between him and Jackson and gasped. “Oh, he’s the guy who helped you escape?!” “That’s right…” He looked at the girl who had trouble believing in her eyes. He let out a sigh before walking towards Jackson and the others. “… And this is Tia Kraft!” The people in his group gasped. With expressions of shock written all over their faces, they faltered. Jackson tapped Tia’s shoulder, getting her attention. “Do you know this person?” The girl looked at him. The blurry vision made her squint her eyes. She nodded as the words refused to leave her mouth. After a f
Golden eucalyptus leaves formed an earthly carpet. With every step, a cracking sound accompanied whoever walked towards the small wooden cabin.It had rained the night before and the lake overflowed. The once green banks became submerged.The shade provided by the long trees didn’t allow the weakened rays to reach the ground.A white smoke flowed freely from the small chimney in this humid morning when the thick fog made its way inland.A car slowly approached the cabin with its headlights on. Jackson and Tia got off and waited. Shortly after, a second car pulled up. This time, it was Julian with Dana, and the other two.Just as he got closer, Jackson remembered the days of his recovery he spent in Red Maple Grove. For an entire month, he stayed there with little of an interaction with the outside world.Warren was his only company, and for that, he was grateful. His face showed signs of reminiscence and a warm smile appeared, which he quickly brushed off the moment he saw them.Jacks
“Hey Warren, you had us worried there for a second.”Jackson’s smiling face and demeanor made the middle-aged man chuckle.Elena walked behind him and peeked at her father. She held onto Jackson’s shirt. Her voice came out softly. “How are you feeling, daddy?”Warren’s eyes welled up. “Haha! My beautiful Elena! Your old man is powerful as an ox. Accept this old fool’s apology for making his family worry…”A domineering voice creeped up from behind Elena. “You said it! We take our eyes off you for a second and you get into trouble!”Startled, the girl turned around. Her mother had just entered the room dressed to the nines. She had a long dress caressing her curvy body, which made Jackson blush.The alluring woman smiled. She approached him and poked his chest. She leaned forward with her body making a snake-like twist and whispered. Her soft breath tickled his ear. “You make this old woman excited with a reaction like that, young man!”Elena hugged Jackson ever so tightly and pulled h
Jackson looked at the young Lord from the Brown family from the corners of his eyes as he sipped his morning coffee. Cautiously, he asked. “And who might that be?”As if the person he referred to was beneath him, the young man scoffed. “A trash commoner in Riverbank. Raios, something is his name.”“Is that so…?”Jackson kept a calm face while observing him. Many thoughts went through his mind, and yet, he couldn’t get a hint of his true intentions.“Exactly, so let’s get going…!”“Why come to me?”When the young Lord saw how wary of him Jackson was, he immediately got defensive. “Either come or don’t. This is a waste of time…”No matter how he looked at it, the youth from the Brown family acted suspicious. “Why the hurry? It’s not like he can get away if he is indeed the culprit…”“If?! Of course he is! Definitely!”“How do you know? How did you even find out?”One thing was certain, Jackson couldn’t trust someone from the Brown family. Not after everything they put him through. The l
Ding! The elevator reached the ground floor. Both Jackson and Elena walked out drenched in sweat. They made minor adjustments to their clothes before reaching the exit of the hospital. Just as he got out, Jackson noticed the van before hearing the horn. Bryce waved at him. Elena went the opposite direction before Jackson got the chance to say goodbye. He could only stare at her back as she walked away. Hurriedly, he went down the stairs and approached Amber and Bryce. He didn’t waste time and asked what he wanted to know right away. His serious face, with which he addressed them, made Amber giggle. His tone came out almost cold. “What happened? Is Raios a good lead?” Bryce chuckled. “Get in first!” Jackson let a puff of air escape his lips in disappointment. Bryce stepped out and went with him to the back of the van. He sat down with his arms crossed and waited for Bryce to join him. Amber remained in the driver’s seat. Bryce turned on his laptop and while it loaded, he had a
Jackson with Amber and Bryce reached The Fleeting Moon, a contradicting name, for that specific time of day since the sun hadn’t yet set. They arrived just as the servers began setting the tables outside. Having sat outside, they picked a table, and each pulled up a chair. To their surprise, Raios was the one responsible for their table. He carried with him laminated menus of the café. “Good evening!” Jackson and the others replied in the same polite manner. After he greeted them, he placed the menus in front of them and stood at the side, letting them go through it. The well-behaved young man caught them by surprise at first, but after giving it some thought, it was very well mandatory in that kind of establishment. A few minutes passed, and Raios returned to the table with a smile and addressed the only woman in the company. “How may I help you?” The two men at the table urged Amber to order first. All the attention made her blush. She uttered her words after a cough. “I’ll
A fine morning, with a gentle breeze, brought about a cool sensation on the skin of the people walking around in Riverbank city.The middle-aged man stared blankly at both Raios and Jackson with a distorted face. In a visibly disturbed expression, he uttered in an almost frightened tone. “W-What have you done?!”Jackson thought of his reaction to be weird. Instead of going on and on about his place of business, the middle-aged man changed his tone to that of submission and trembled in his shoes.Then a thought came to mind, which Jackson thought improbable at first, but after pondering over it for a while, he came out and spoke. “You are not alone in this scheme, are you?”The middle-aged man’s face turned white like a ghost. As if all the blood drained from his head, he stumbled before getting a grip on a chair and sitting down. He tried to brush it off by shaking his head, but before he could get the words out, Jackson interrupted him.“I’m guessing the Brown family pulls your strin