♝

"MR. AUGUSTUS, RIGHT THIS way please." A tall man says as Augustus Kierspe, a former member of Paradox who is now a humble management head in their company, steps out of the elevator with a bright smile on his face. He was at the Sinclaire Corporation after the incident that happened to one of their restaurants the other day. As the management head, Augustus was supposed to fire everyone who worked during that shift, but after hearing Max's conditions, he was forced to let them stay.

     "Can't believe that fucking brat called me here just because his stomach became upset after having one meal," Augustus annoying thought to himself as he continued walking down the long hallway. "Well, I know his cousin Don, so he won't really be able to do anything to me. Maybe I'll even teach that kid a lesson for embarrassing our company like that," Augustus then adds with a smug look on his face, confident that Max wouldn't be able to do anything with the help of their old leader, Donato Sinclaire.

     "Mr. Augustus, sir Maximilian is waiting for you inside." The man says and Augustus immediately changed his expression into his business-like smile.

     "Thank you," he says with a friendly tone, but as soon as he looked away, he rolled his eyes and went inside the room where Max was supposed to be in.

     When the door closed behind him, he saw Max sitting in front of his desk with a serious look on his face. Augustus was honestly surprised at how big Max's office was because it was even bigger than his father's office, but Augustus pretended like he didn't care at all.

     "Mr. Sinclaire, it is my honor to be in your pre—"

     "Sit down," Max commands, cutting Augustus off.

     Augustus got irritated by the unwelcoming attitude, but he keeps it all in and kept his fake smile on before taking a seat in front of Max. He didn't want to follow orders from someone younger than him, but it was clear that this was Max's territory. It wouldn't be wise to do anything Max might not like.

     When Augustus was finally in his seat, he looks at Max and asked him, "I heard from Mr. Renaldo that you wouldn't be pressing any charges. First, I would like to personally thank you for—"

    "I called you here for a different reason," Max says, cutting him off again.

     Augustus grits his teeth in anger, but he still tries to calm himself down before saying, "I-Is that so...then may I ask what it could be so we wouldn't be wasting any of our time here?"

     Max looks straight at Augustus, examining him from head to toe. One look already made Max realize that Augustus had a foul personality. He was arrogant and confident in the wrong ways. He was someone Max would have definitely hated if he was still in J.S High.

     "You were a member of the brotherhood Paradox, correct?" Max finally asks, and the mere mention of that name instantly made Augustus smirk.

     "Oh, so you've heard. You're in J.S High now right? I guess it's only natural that people would still talk about us. We were the kings back then after all," Augustus says with a proud look on his face that almost made Max laugh.

     "Yes, I did hear a lot about you. I also heard that during your last reign, a bunch of freshmen students...rookie brotherhoods to be more specific...beat you guys in the reranking, which was why you were no longer the kings when you all graduated," Max then tells him, and Augustus's expression once again changed.

     "I heard everyone celebrated when you lost too. I guess Paradox really was an amazing brotherhood," Max sarcastically adds, adding more fuel to the fire.

     Augustus wasn't able to contain his anger anymore as he looks back at Max with complete irritation and says, "Listen here you little piece of shit. I don't know why you called me here, but don't you dare try anything funny. I know your cousin. Just because you're the chosen heir, it doesn't mean you have the power. Donato's one of the directors in your company now right? Then you better watch it."

     Max could tell how confident Augustus was after saying all that to him. What he said is somehow true though, considering how Max is only still just an heir, which doesn't give him a direct title in the company compared to Donato. But of course, even with all that, Augustus missed one important thing...

     And it's that Max...

     Doesn't really care.

     "Are you threatening me in my own office right now?" Max asks with an expressionless face, making Augustus look flustered. "You're in one of the main buildings of Sinclaire Corporation, but do you see Donato's office here?" Max continues to ask, and Augustus finally calmed down.

     "You see, there's a reason why I called you here, and that reason is because someone really wants to see you dead," Max then says, and that finally made Augustus look nervous.

     "W-What the fuck do you even want from me?" Augustus asks, now looking uncomfortable

     Max takes a deep breath and gestures behind Augustus before saying, "Actually, I don't really have anything against you at the moment, but she might have one."

     Augustus gulps and slowly looks back around. To his surprise, someone was standing behind him; it was a tall figure wearing a mask.

     "Good day, Mr. Augustus," Siren says with a quick curtsy before walking towards him, her sword in her hand. Augustus quickly stood up from his seat and backed away, almost hitting Max's desk. "W-What are you doing? Who are you...stay away from me!?"

     "So many questions in one sentence. Don't worry Mr. Augustus, we'll make this quick," Siren says as she stops right in front of Augustus. Augustus was about to say something, but then Siren suddenly swings her sword, directly stopping just inches away from Augustus's neck. The action almost made the poor man faint.

     "You might not know me Mr. Augustus, so let me introduce myself. I am Siren, the marquis, and the leader of Crazy 8. I...am the master of secrets, and I know everything that you're afraid to say out loud," Siren says.

     The room was quiet, but as sweat streamed down from Augustus's forehead, Augustus suddenly started laughing as he said, "Are you fucking kidding me? So this is what this is about? You're the new marquis? The master of secrets?! Don't make me laugh. What could a high schooler possibly know about someone like me? Don't underestimate me, kid. I eat bitches like you for breakfast."

     Siren doesn't say anything for a while, but then Max and Augustus could hear a chuckle from behind the mask.

     "Don't underestimate me, you say?" Siren asks, and the smug look on Augustus's face quickly vanishes as he felt the dark aura forming around Siren. Despite the mask, he knew that she was looking at him with a sadistic grin.

    "Listen to this confession," Siren starts, pressing the blade of her sword on Augustus's neck to the point where Augustus's body entirely freezes. "I was a king who ruled the castle. I invited a queen to my humble abode, and when no one was watching...I mercilessly r-aped her, along with my fellow kings. Who do you think I am?" Siren finally asks, and the look on Augustus's face made Siren push her blade even deeper.

     "H-How...how did you know. We made sure that no one would see us. How did you—"

     "Secrets are the poison that others try their hardest not to swallow. It lingers in their tongue until it becomes too bitter, and when that happens, they spit it out, sharing the poison to others until everyone dies in guilt." Siren says as blood starts oozing from Augustus' neck.

     Augustus tries to push her away, but he couldn't. Siren was surprisingly strong.

     "You defiled a woman who did not have the power to fight back, yet you stand here with such a prideful look on your face. You ask what could a high schooler possibly know about someone like you? Well, Mr. Augustus, I happen to know everything."

     Augustus's body starts to tremble as Max silently watches from his desk. Max didn't want to intervene, but then he noticed that Siren's hand was now pushing the blade with too much strength. Max could feel the sudden shift of atmospherre, making him sense that something was wrong.

     "S-Siren?"

     "Augustus Kierspe, the eldest son of the Kierspe family. You were never loved, not once. Your parents loved gambling more than anything and you know it. When you were eleven, they lost at the casino and sold you, did they not? You were bought by a rich democrat and was used like a—"

     "Siren enough!" Max quickly shouts, now standing from his seat.

      Siren looks at Max with anger. She was mad that Max had the audacity to stop her. "Enough? Why? We've only just begun. This piece of trash deserved what happened to him in the past. He doesn't deserve to live happily!"

     "This isn't the reason why we called him here. Let go of him, now!" Max continues to shout, which only made Siren laugh.

     "Looks like you're still too weak my child. People like him don't deserve any mercy. Those who keep themselves locked should have never had the chance to go out. He deserved what happened to him after what he did to Serenity. He deserved to be—"

     "I said enough!" Max shouts for the last time, pulling a gun out of his drawer and pointing it at Siren. Max brought this gun in case Augustus does something, but he never expected that he'd end up pointing it at Siren instead.

     "Look at him, Siren. Look at him!"

     Siren doesn't say anything and slowly looks down at Augustus who was actually trembling in front of him. Augustus's eyes were filled with tears, and his neck was already bleeding. Siren snaps back to her senses and quickly drops her sword.

     "What you're doing...is the exact same thing Payton did when she was Siren. You didn't replace her, you became her," Max says, putting the gun down as he slowly walked to where Siren was.

    "This is enough now Siren..." Max says, bt then pauses and shakes his head to quickly correct himself. "No. This is enough...River. This is enough."

     Max reaches out and pulls out the mask that covered River's face. Max was surprised because, underneath the mask, River's eyes were filled with tears. River falls to his knees and started sobbing on the floor. "I'm so sorry....I'm so sorry," he continues to says.

     Max takes a deep breath and goes down to hug him too. While one of his arms was wrapped around River, Max pulls out his phone with the other and calls his butler. "Étienne, head to my office and bring a first-aid kit. Quickly!"

    After putting his phone back, Max looks back at River and wipes his tears for him. "You're okay. You're okay..." he reassures him.

     "I saw my sister in her room when she hanged herself. I saw her. I was the one who saw her. I hugged her lifeless body, I kept calling her name, but she wouldn't respond. I couldn't do anything...I just couldn't do anything..." River continues to say as more tears poured out of his eyes.

     "But I never noticed...I never noticed how my anger and regret made me become the very thing I hated. I helped Siren do things similar to this and I...I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it when people suffered because of what they've done. I used their secrets and ruined them, and I enjoyed it. I...was the one hiding behind the mask. I was the one who was always afraid."

     Max takes a deep breath as River continues to pour out all of his regrets with more tears. But while the two were preoccupied, Augustus clenches his fist and weakly says, "I'm sorry."

     Max and River quickly looked in Augustus's way and saw him pressing his handkerchief on his wounded neck. Thankfully the wound wasn't so deep.

     "I'm sorry...for what we did to Serenity. I'm sorry..."

     River bites his lips and tries his best not to cry even more as he watched one of the men who destroyed his sister beg for his forgiveness. It was a strange feeling. It was something that he wanted to hear from the very beginning, yet he couldn't accept it. An apology was never enough. It was never going to be enough because Serenity was dead. His apology will never bring his sister back.

     "Master Leigh!" Étienne shouts when he barges inside the room. At first, he thought that Max was the one who needed the first-aid kit, but when he saw the situation, he couldn't help but sigh in relief.

     "Patch his wounds. Hurry," Max says instead, and Étienne immediately went to Augusts's side to help him with no questions.

     Max lets go of River and stand in front of Augustus who looked like he was going to faint any second. When their eyes met, Max pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to him. It was a recorder.

     "The police are waiting for you outside. I'll hand this recording over to them since it contains your confession. If you ask me, this isn't even enough. Nothing will be enough for what you did to a helpless woman who died feeling disgusted over herself because of what you did. We can't bring her back, but I hope this will give her peace. This isn't going to be the last time either. We'll hunt down every last one of Paradox and make sure they pay for what is due." Max says with no hint of fear, and just in time, a detective and a couple of police officers arrive at the scene.

     "Sir Sinclaire," the detective says with a bow. He then looks at Augustus and saw his injury. He was about to comment about it, but he shakes his head and says instead, "I'll handle it."

     "Thank you," Max replies, and he and Augustus finally heads out of the room.

     Max massages his temple and looks back at River who was still kneeling on the floor, looking at a blank space. He walks towards him, but instead of helping him up, he looks at the mask sitting beside him and suddenly steps on it, shattering it into pieces.

    River looks up at Max as Max reaches out to pat his head. "It's about time you show your face. Let's both stop hiding, okay?"

     River wipes his tears and nods his head before finally grabbing Max's hand like last time when Max was willing to save him; a boy who Max knew nothing about but was still willing to hold.

...

Almost two weeks have passed after the incident. The entire thing was the talk of the town, but for some reason, the names were never revealed. Someone probably pulled some strings, and Max wasn't happy about it but there was nothing he could do.

     Both River and Cj haven't gone back to school either because of the ongoing trial. River had to be there, and as for Cj, he was taken as a key witness.

"I'll see you when I get back little Maxy," was Cj's last message to him, and Max hasn't seen or talked to him ever since.

     J.S High was surprisingly quiet too, even though Jokers and BND were always with him and his friends. Max has also been doing his duties as the new club leader of Omega Society, and even though the points they acquire aren't as big as the other clubs, Max could tell that everyone's enjoying their time together, which is the most important thing to him.

     January is now ending, which means club month is ending too. Everyone's going to go back to their regular classes soon, but Max only hopes for one thing.

     He hopes that everyone can come back to J.S High again. As simple as it sounds, he wants to eat lunch at the great hall with his friends, Jokers, BND, Cigarettes, and even River. Because those simple lunches are the only time he's really himself. He doesn't know when that will be though, but when the time comes, he'll definitely face them with a smile.

     "Sir Maximilian, someone is here to see you. He won't say his name, but he said he's from your school, J.S High. Shall I let him in?" A voice from his pager suddenly says.

     Max exhales the smoke from his mouth before looking at the cigarette pack that was called Tamer's Flavor. Max then puts the cigarette on the ashtray and says, "Bring him here."

     After a while, someone knocks on the door. Max wasn't really expecting much, but when the door opened, he was surprised to see a familiar face. "River!" He practically shouted, but when the supposed marquis went closer, the smile on Max's face turned into complete annoyance. "Looks like I made a mistake. What are you doing here...Sky?"

     "You seem displeased," Sky says with a grin as he walks his way toward Max. "I know you're not a big fan of mine, so don't worry, I won't be long. I'm just here to update you on something."

     "Update me? About what?" Max confusingly asks as Sky sat on the seat in front of his desk even though Max didn't ask him to.

     "Update you about the trial of course," he says, and that instantly made Max look interested.

     Sky smirks and comfortably sits on the armchair before telling Max, "Augustus admitted to the claims thanks to the recording you gave us, but he wouldn't name any of the other bastards who defiled my sister. Even though Cj named them, the judge said it wasn't solid evidence, especially since Augustus keeps on saying that he was the only one who did it. He's disgustingly loyal."

     "He's probably not loyal, just scared, and their family must have paid the judge too. Such things are usual among people like us after all," Max comments and Sky just shrugged his shoulder. He then leans towards Max and grabs one of his cigarettes from his desk. "May I?" He asks, and Max just nods his head as Sky puts the cigarette inside his mouth. Max then pulls out his lighter and leans close to Sky to light it up for him.

     Sky inhales the smoke, and as he exhales it out, he says, "This is Cj's product, right? That bastard can be cunning but he knows what he's doing. And surprisingly enough, he's been a big help at the court trial."

     "Really? That's good."

     "Well, it is, but the trial, in general, isn't looking good," Sky says before putting the cigarette back inside his mouth.

     "What do you mean?" Max curiously asks.

     Sky doesn't immediately answer like he was thinking about whether or not he should say it. But after exhaling the smoke out of his mouth, he looks straight at Max and tells him, "Our parents...they're willing to accept the bribe money from the Kierspe's family. The trial might end sooner than you expected."

     "What?!" Max shouted, hitting the table with his fist because of complete anger. Sky honestly expected the reaction, but he still ended up flinching when he saw Max's reaction firsthand.

     "Why would they do that? This is the only chance they'll have to give their daughter the justice she deserves. Does Serenity's life mean so little to them that they're willing to accept money to bail that motherfucker out?" Max angrily asks, and all Sky could do was smoke it off until Max calms down.

     "They said we should just let Serenity die in peace, but we all know that that's bullshit. The truth is they're just scared. My parents aren't as powerful anymore as you think they are. They'd run away from any situation given the chance. Look at what they did to us," Sky explains, and Max could only take another cigarette so he could smoke it off as well.

     "Don't be surprised, our parents have always been trash. Probably why I turned out to be what I am." Sky casually says before finishing the cigarette and putting it inside the ashtray on Max's desk.

     "Though it's not looking good on our side, we're glad that we got this far. At least I saw that motherfucker beg on his knees in court. It's the most satisfying thing in the world," Sky says, and Max just chuckles and nods his head, glad they feel that way despite the sudden turn of events.

     "This might be the end for us, but I hope you know that what you did with Augustus made the other members of Paradox become active again. They might be after you now," Sky then says, surprising Max.

     "What are you trying to say?"

     Sky laughs at himself and stands from his seat before saying, "As your old club advisor...just be careful."

     Max couldn't believe what he just heard, but he smiles and nods his head as an answer. This might be the last time he'll ever hear something nice come out of Sky's mouth so he might as well cherish it now.

     "By the way, River's devastated after finding out about our parent's plans with the ongoing case, so I hope you can help cheer him up. And I hope...you can help him remove the mask he was forced to wear ever since we were young." Sky says, his expression changing just in a quick second before turning back to his originally playful expression again.

    Max stares at Sky, trying to understand where he's coming from and why he suddenly visited him like this. "You're leaving, aren't you?" He guessed.

    Sky was surprised that Max was able to catch on, but he just nodded his head to confirm it since there was no point in lying now. "That's right, I'm moving away. Someplace where River won't see me. A place where he can finally be free to be himself."

     "Shouldn't you tell River about this first?"

     "I've done a lot of bad things to my brother. I won't apologize because knowing him, he'd just forgive me like the fool that he is. At least the best thing I can do is to support him in the shadows. It's about time I stop stealing his spotlight," Sky says, and for the first time, Max saw the brother in him. He saw the regret and the guilt, something even River wouldn't have been able to see himself.

     "By the way...here," Sky says, pulling out a familiar envelope from his pocket and placing it on top of Max's desk.

     "Wait, is this—"

     "Confession number 4. I stole this from Payton. She was supposed to use this as blackmail against you, but of course, that didn't happen. Make sure you keep it only to yourself since it's my final gift before I leave. But open it, only when you're ready to know the truth."

     Max takes the envelope and stares at it. He was curious to know what was inside. What did Payton know that he didn't? Max desperately wanted to open it, but he'll take Sky's word for it instead. He'll open it only when he's ready.

     "Thanks...Sky. I enjoyed my time with you at the club. Maybe next time, we can enjoy a couple of drinks and laugh about our past." Max says, and Sky smiles and finally walks towards the door to make his exit.

     As Sky grabs the doorknob, he looks at Max for one last time before saying, "If I was the leader of Crazy 8, I would have given you our crown brooch by now. What on earth is River even taking so long?" He manages to joke before finally leaving to a place where he no longer has to pretend.

- END -