The agonizing ill-feeling that we recognize as suffering or grieving is actually a struggle. Struggles that make you suffer, either for your sins or it's just a passing hard time. The course of time is like the flow of a river, it changes its path just like humans do. But it is the time that has changed and not the individuals as we think. Time shapes us.

I never imagined the pain I suffered because of one person. Not just physically, but I am injured emotionally. May the pain be temporary, but the scars it will leave behind wouldn't go away. It will always remind me of the things I lost.

I listened to Brown. I regret it now, but that was the only option. According to him, more people were coming after they realized what I had done to their people. I mean the men I knocked out.

I heard the tires screeching as soon as the premium quality rubber rubbed against the road. I controlled the reins of the cars and sped up out of the parking lot. It was a black Mercedes, not the latest but not a bygone either.

I would call myself a substandard driver. I barely managed to pass the driving license test. Well, I made my father bribe them even when I took lessons. But I know the basics. And because of that, my friends used to call me a 'Bumbler'.

How much I miss them!

Dad has never left me without a driver or Zak. He didn't let me drive, it was embarrassing to have your friends, family or a driver drive for you everywhere you go even after I turned twenty-five.

I miss Zak. I hope he is safe and sound. I don't know how I will face him once I meet him again. How will I be able to tell what happened to our father and who did it? He will never believe me if I tell him that it was Giovanni.

Maybe we can help each other from this trauma if it's not that hard for us.

Adjusting the rear mirror view of the car, my eyes fell on my own reflection and I paused for a moment. It's been more than two weeks that I have seen my own reflection in the mirror.

I looked traumatized, horrible. My blond hair was out of place, my left eye had a maroon eye patch and my cheek was freshly bleeding with a set of busted lips.

It looked and felt pathetic to look at myself. The pool of tears filled my eyes. I caress the wounds but it stinks even with a small touch.

Why did this happen to me? It was a question I could never know the answer to.

I swallowed down the tears and refocused on the task in my hands and that was to run. I again accelerated.

After two hours of driving without any mishaps, I figured that Brown lied to me as I was still in New York and not Florida. But why? Why would they lie to me? If I was still in New York then how did my father was not able to find me?

It is all Giovanni.

Why would he do this to me and my family?

Whatever the reason may be, he has left my heart burning with questions. He has to face my wrath no matter what happens. He thinks he can get away by ruining people's lives, maybe he has never met someone like me.

I will ruin him to no end, finish him and he will pay for what he did to my father.

This is not the end Giovanni.

I sigh when I see the familiar roads of Hudson Square and after driving for more than half an hour, I turned the last street and saw the very familiar, my million dollars illuminated mansion. 

The gates were closed as usual. I parked the car outside as it did not belong to me. I was about to reach the high black gates when a hand pulled me back. The person took me to the backside of my house. It was the lady servant of my house, Maria.

I was delighted to see her again, realizing I reached home. She has always provided me the motherly feeling I have missed since the day I understood the term 'Mother'. She was in her usual uniform but no excitement to see me even after two weeks of my missing.

"Oh, Lord!" she exclaimed. "Where were you? I knew something bad must have happened when you left for your Switzerland trip without informing us."

"What?"

"Yes. Why did you leave telling none of us?"

"What you talking about?" I was confused. Dad lied to them about my kidnapping. But why would he? "I was kidnapped, Maria."

Her eyes widen in realization and dropped my arm she was holding for so long. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and so did mine. The usual dreamy gray eyes were miserable, the first time I ever noticed the surrounding wrinkles. She looked concerned and old. Maria is the most loyal servant serving us for the past twenty years now.

"What do you mean? You were kidnapped?"

"Yes."

"Then why would your father lie to us?" She was half of my size and the same as my father's age. I always considered them the best match for each other, but the status was the problem for them, I suppose. I remember throwing tantrums for the same reason once.

"I don't know that." The silence fell between us as she noticed my wounds and caressed them, reminding me of my father. I closed my eyes when my last moments with him flashed in my mind again.

"What happened to you?" her lips quivered as she asked and tears pulled in her eyes. The strong chilly wind disheveled her hair. "What are you wearing?"

"It doesn't matter." I clasped her warm hands, "Let's go inside." I don't know in the first place why did she drag me to the backside of the mansion and why was she wandering outside at this hour. It was about to dawn.

"No." She pulled me back. "We can't go inside."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Now I understand. They're inside, waiting for you."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Cedric, I understand now. They dismissed me from my job last evening. I thought your father ordered them to do so, but now everything is clear." She said all in one go.

"Who did? I don't understand Maria." I held her shoulders and suggested her to calm down before explaining to me further.

"Cedric, you can't go in. They are here for you son, Zak is not here either and your father is missing too. I don't know who are they. But they have guns."

"What should I do then?" How did they enter our house? Who are they? Maria looked scared at the moment and I failed to console her. I have my worries at the moment. It was hard to concentrate on someone else.

"I don't know. Just don't go inside."

"Yeah... I wouldn't." I couldn't. Everything seemed to be falling apart. It was getting harder to breathe now, and I didn't know where to go or whom to go, I couldn't even tell her about Father. 

"Where is Zak, Maria?"

"I don't know about his whereabouts either. I called him so many times but he seems to ignore it."

"Why? Is he in trouble too?"

"What is happening Cedric, I understand nothing."

"Maria, do you know anything about the people inside?"

"No, nothing. But your father might know something," I paused at that. I let go of her hands. Suddenly, it was difficult to meet her eyes. She looked so tired, so was I. It was agonizing to even think about Dad. How do I describe the tragedy to her?

I do not desire to traumatize another soul. She has lost enough people in her life. First, her son who kicked her out of her dead husband's house and now the love of her life. She never confession but I know better.

"Maria...."

"We know nothing about your father either." I stayed quiet.

Our obvious moments while talking paused as soon as we heard the crunching of the leaves, deducting that someone was approaching closer, and we halted. My mind completely went blank as the silhouette of a guard came into view.

"Cedric, go." she pressured on my bicep, snapping me in the current situation.

"What? Where?" She harshly pushed me further away from the area, trying to abscond me promptly.

"Son, go find your brother and father. And do not come back without them." I saw the trail of tears running from her eyes and falling out of misery.

I soon lost control of my body and waved away with the force she used on me. Setting the discontented thoughts behind, I sped up and left my property, leaving behind the house my father built for us and our Maria.  Everything is going downhill.

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What will happen next with Cedric?