After coming home, Gregory came straight to Sofia’s room to check how she was doing. Sofia was asking a surgeon on mobile if covering up her scar was possible, and the surgeon said yes, so she felt greatly relieved. Only after ending the call, she noticed that her father was in the room. “Dad! When did you get here?” “Just now…” he sat down on the bed. “Let me see the wound.” She raised her shirt a little and showed the wounded spot, which was no longer bandaged. “I was once shot in an alley,” Gregory said, startling her. “You were what?” “Even your mother doesn’t know of it because it didn’t leave any scar, so don’t stress over your wound too much.” “M-Mm.” Gregory touched her cheek. “I’m glad you’re safe, but don’t let this incident keep you down for weeks.” “I’m planning to attend shooting for a new film with a simple role, dad, but I was wondering how the public will think. I mean, many crew members died during the trip, so… should I perhaps wait a little longer?” Gregory
It had been three days, but there was no call from Sofia, and Charles was feeling all anxious. Why didn’t she call? Was she still recovering? Or Did she get attracted to another rich man? Did she not find him interesting? A lot of things ran through his mind. It could be any reason. If ‘Charles’ didn’t work, Carlos could order a fresh mask and take on a new identity, but it would require him to build the relationship again, and he didn’t want that. “Should I give her a call? It’d be good if I ask how her health is and if she’s recovering well, but Sofia’s brain doesn’t work like a normal woman’s. She doesn’t care about all those things as long as I do what she wants the next time we meet. She definitely learned that habit from her mother, I’m sure.” After some thinking, he recorded a voice message and sent it to Sofia’s mail. “When she checks her mails, she’ll be forced to act.” Charles grinned. His phone rang. It was a call from Laurel. “What does she want now?” Charles shook h
While being a vampire had its positives for sure, not knowing his abilities as to what he could do and what he couldn’t do was a nuisance, to say the least. If only Charles had a mentor to guide him, it would have saved him a lot of trouble. The dog’s birthday party didn’t go as planned because Max didn’t leave Charles’ side. It was a shocking behavior to those who knew Max, but some others found it funny and cute. “What kind of spell did he put on it?” Caroline could only wonder. As far as she knew, Max shouldn’t like Charles because it lost in poker against him. Given its competitive spirit, it should hate Charles, but what she saw was the complete opposite. Max was jumping about like an excited puppy and shouted like it was reuniting with a long lost friend. When Charles walked away from the party, Max followed him. The workers tried to stop and catch the dog, but it growled at them and seemed ready to bite them if needed. Max was a dog with a temper, so they didn’t stand in its
Charles bought a lot of dog food home. He didn’t want Max to be hungry when he wasn’t around. In his opinion, relationships weren’t easy to build as two people rarely ever wanted the same thing for the other. And there were more people who kept scores and believed everything should be 50-50, instead of putting more in than the other party, and vice versa. If not for one of his foster mothers treating him like a human and taking care of him, he probably wouldn’t have dared to even dream of marrying. He probably also wouldn’t have finished college and acquired a high-paying job that earned him the marketing manager post with a salary of over 450,000 dollars per year. He had worked his ass off for three years to brainstorm ideas for campaigns and advertisements and create demand for the Myers’ products and boosted the sales like never before with his innovative ideas, but that also caught Gregory’s attention. Thinking back on it, Gregory probably was jealous of Carlos. Otherwise, if he
The next day. When Andres was talking with the manager of a Myers’ store, four masked guys knocked the guard unconscious, burst into the store and stole costly products. Andres attacked them even though they had knives, but they used their knives effectively and made sure to leave unscathed. Andres couldn’t even complain to the police because he realized that it was the same four guys he had made a deal with. But it didn’t stop there. When Andres went to the restaurant for lunch, the same four guys sat at a different table, wearing mouth masks and focusing not on food but on him. “I gave three thousand dollars to these fuckers,” Andres gritted his teeth. “Instead of being grateful, they want to intimidate me like this, probably for demanding more money. I know exactly how to deal with trash like you.” Andres drove his car to the outskirts of the city and entered an abandoned building. The four guys still dared to enter the building. Before long, they were all surrounded by a doze
Charles woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and huffing. It was another nightmare, but he was the one doing the killing. He had taken sleeping pills already, but they clearly didn’t have any effect. He was able to fall asleep when he wasn’t even trying during the daytime, but he wasn’t able to sleep properly at night when he was trying his best to sleep. All this was quite irritating if not unsettling. At this point, he felt like he shouldn’t call himself a murderer anymore because he had killed too many people for whatever reason. His conscience didn’t allow him to justify his actions, let alone see himself as innocent. “Once I get my revenge… I’ll just jump from a cliff.” He told himself. “Yeah, that’s the only thing that can stop the monster in me.” A second of silence, and he doubted himself. “Jumping from a cliff will kill me, right?” He walked out of the apartment. The streets were still pretty busy because it was Halloween night. He stopped by a nearby night cafe
Sophie was sipping the beer alone, as Charles had left a couple of minutes ago. She looked somewhat sad and also felt regretful. “It was the most meaningful conversation I had with someone in a long while. I should have at least taken his number. I should have persuaded him more. Even if he seemed eight or nine years older than me, I’m fine with it.” “Not only is he handsome and brave, but he’s also got a character.” She put her hands under chin and exhaled. “I want a husband like him. If I see him again, I will grab his hand and beg him to take me on a date. Haha.” She wanted to go out and look for Charles, but she also had a job to do. She had to look after the store, which the owner had left in her hands. Her ethics didn’t let her even close the shop temporarily. She saw the other shops in the neighborhood closing one after another, so she checked the clock. “It’s almost two o’clock. I guess I’ll wait a few more minutes and then close the shop.” She was told by the owner to keep
Charles pushed himself into entering the store, where a young woman was on the floor, with her back against the desk and her body pierced by half-a-dozen bullets. Her lifeless eyes were looking right at the entrance, where he stood. Her eyes were still open from the shock. There was no life in her eyes. Her heart had also stopped beating. There was no saving her. He remembered her talk with her, and it was her who made him wear the cape and mask and told him he looked good. Though he didn’t give her his number when she had asked him, he hoped she would find a partner who would take good care of her. Now, he felt like a fool. Clenching fists, he went up to her, squatted down and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Sophie. If only I took things more seriously…” If only he had acted when the Four Harassers had tried to kill him, this wouldn’t have happened. It was either his laziness or his lack of looking at the bigger picture that resulted in Sophie’s death. He bit his lower lip so hard,