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     "How's Julien?" Johnson asked as I arrived at the living room.

     "He's resting", I answered.  

     Johnson puts his newspaper down and looks at me, "What are you wearing?" he asked as I approached him.

     It was already late, but I was now wearing my suit and leather gloves. Obviously an attire that wasn't for bed.

     "You remember where Luis Walker lives right?" I asked Johnson, quickly making him realise what I was actually going to do.

     "N-No...you're not planning to go interrogate him are you?" he asked as he quickly stood up from the sofa to go to me.

     I didn't say anything, but my silence obviously answered his question.

     "Romeo, what the hell are you planning? We're not even sure that Luis did all this", Johnson tried to say, but I wasn't listening to him anymore.

     "If you don't want to drive me there then I'll look for someone else who will", I seriously tell him.

     I could see Johnson clenching his fist from anger, but he takes a deep breath and finally nods his head anyways, "Alright. But we won't do anything dangerous", he says, and I immediately went out of the house with a smirk on my face.

     "Too bad. That was exactly what I was going to do."

*****

     "Did Julien even tell you that Luis did all this?" Johnson asked as we were now driving our way to his residence.

     "He told me dozens of men suddenly arrived at the club and asked for him, but he didn't know who they were working for", I answered, trying my best not to explode by just imagining what they've done to my Julien.

     "What were they planning anyways? What could they have gotten after doing such horrible things to him?" Johnson asked.

     "If it really was Luis who did it then he obviously wanted revenge from what I did to him. He knows that the only thing that's keeping the Olympus Mall from falling is the Valentino Empire, and I just so happened to cut all ties with him because of Julien", I explained, but Johnson shakes his head like he disagreed.

     "I don't think chairman Luis would go that far for revenge", Johnson says as we finally arrived in front of the place where Luis lives, which was the Crown Towers.

     "Well, there's only one way to find out", I say as I went out of the car.

     Johnson immediately follows me as I went inside the building.

     The Crown Towers are like apartments that are exclusive for the rich and well-known people. It looked like a five star hotel, so your payment here is also as expensive as how the place looked. Luis asked me a couple of times to get my own room here, but I've declined him every single time by the reason that I didn't want to live near him. At all.

     "Luis Walker, where is he?" I asked as I stood in front of the reception area.

     The woman looks at me confusingly. She was obviously about to ask me to leave when Johnson quickly places my company card in front of her, "This is Romeo Valentino, the chairman of the Valentino Empire. We need to see chairman Luis now because we have urgent news for him."

     The woman suddenly looks at us like we were crazy.

     "I'm sorry sir but it's late and we don't just give our residence's information to random strangers", the woman persistently tells us as she pushes the card away by using her pen.

     I was about to show this bitch my wrath when someone suddenly calls for my name, "Chairman Val?"

     I quickly turned around and saw the president of the Olympus Mall walking towards us.

     "What are you doing here?" we both asked in unison.

     "Well I just finished a meeting with chairman Walker. What are you doing here?" he asked back.

     "I'm here to talk about the partnership again", I lied, but it looked like he was surprised to hear about what I just said.

     "The partnership? That's great! We were just talking about that earlier. Please, follow me", the president says as he starts walking back to the elevator.

     I glanced at the receptionist and smirked, then I immediately followed the president while Johnson walked behind me.

     We got inside the elevator and ended up at the top floor.

     The elevator door then opened and revealed the entire floor that Luis owned.

     "Chairman Luis, I'm back with guests", the president calls out. We walked further inside and saw Luis sitting on the sofa while reading some papers.

     "Good evening chairman Luis", I say as Luis puts the papers down to look at me.

     "Val", he said with surprise as he quickly stood up from the sofa.

     "W-What are you doing here?" he nervously asked, and just by his actions I immediately knew that he had something to do with what happened with Julien.

     "They're here to talk about the partnership", the president answered.

     Luis gulps and continued to look at me, "Is that so?" he asked.

     "Yes, and I would like to talk to you privately about this matter", I stated.

     Luis looks at the president first before saying, "Alright...follow me."

     I looked at Johnson and whispered in his ear, "If anything serious happens, knock the president out."

     Johnson sighs but nods his head anyway.

     Then I walked towards Luis and followed him to a room that looked like an office.

     "Please, sit down", he says as he closes the door behind us. But the moment he closed the door, I immediately grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the wall.

     "V-Val..." Luis struggled to say as he tried to push my hand away, but it was obviously useless since I was stronger than he would ever be.

     "Julien Choi...Number 24...what the hell did you do to him?" I asked as I continued to strangle Luis against the wall.

     Luis held onto my hand and still tried to remove it from his neck, "I-I don't...know w-what you're t-talking about", he answered.

     "Julien Choi! Dozens of men raped him at the club for three straight days and I know that you made that order!" I now shouted, my eyes burning from anger.

     Luis' face was slowly turning pale as he answered me again, "I-I...don't know..."

     "You're lying."

     "V-Val...please...I-I...d-don't...know."

     I was inches away from tightening my grip around his neck, but I took a deep breath and decided to let go of him instead.

     Luis fell to the floor. He was holding his neck while catching his breath.

     "I...I didn't do...s-shit like that Val..." he tells me as he slowly stood up.

     Both of us looked at each other. I looked at Luis with anger while he looked back at me with fear.

      He continued to catch his breath until he could finally breathe normally again.

      He took a deep breath before looking back at me, "I got mad at you for canceling our partnership, I admit that. But I will never go so low as to take revenge by asking dozens of men to rape someone", he answered, and just by looking at his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth.

     "It's not him", I whispered to myself.

     I was panting heavily too for some reason, and I was gripping on my fist because of complete anger.

     I thought I was already in front of the man who broke my Julien, but I was wrong. And I was once again back to the guessing game.

     Without thinking straight, I punched the wall that was inches away from Luis' face, making him flinch on my sudden action.

     My fist immediately started throbbing because of the impact, but I didn't mind the pain.

     "If it's not you...then who?" I asked as I slowly put my hand down.

     Luis gulps and slowly moved aside so he could go to his desk, "Val sit down", he tells me as he slowly sits down on his own seat.

    I looked at him for a couple of seconds before sitting down on the chair in front of his desk.

     "I don't know who could have done those things to your secretary, but I think it's best if I tell you some things that I know about him so you could be aware of the people who you might be dealing with", Luis suddenly says, immediately grabbing my attention.

     "And how on earth would I believe you?" I asked him.

     "I'm the only one you've got Val. Unless you want to go back to the club and interrogate everyone there", he says, making me sigh.

    "Fine, but this better not be bullshit", I say, and Luis nodded his head as an agreement.

    He takes a deep breath and finally started with his story, "I admit that I was drunk the night I chose him at the club, but I know that it's still not an excuse for you to forgive me with the things I did to him. But, to be honest with you I'm a regular in that club, and I only picked Number 24 once in the two years that I've been going there. I heard rumors about him, that's why I never picked him. The other customers called him the Black Angel, said he was part of a gang in Korea and-"

      I immediately slammed my already aching fist on his desk and said, "I said no bullshit Luis."

     "Val, I'm telling you the truth. People said number 24 ran away to hide from all the crimes that he did back in his home country. He didn't have anywhere to go so he worked at Club Luxuria, and the reason why he can't leave is because the club knows his identity", Luis explained, and I just sat there with my head all messed up because of what I just heard.

     "Black Angel, Korean gang...you do know how absurd that sounds right?" I asked and Luis just nodded his head as an answer, like he also knew that saying those things to me with a serious expression was something he also didn't expect from himself.

     "But these are rumors", I quickly added.

    "But rumors aren't always baseless Val. There's some truth there, and you know what I'm talking about", Luis answered back.

     I took a deep breath and massaged my temple. I was thinking of what I'd do next after knowing such rumors about the man I like. But while I was thinking, I suddenly remembered the time Dario saw Julien back at the company. Dario recognized his tattoo, and he even looked terrified by it.

     If Dario reacted in such a way by just seeing Julien's tattoo, then what Luis is telling me might just be true.

     "I have to go", I say as I immediately stood up, making Luis stand up from his seat as well.

     I was about to leave the room but stopped and glanced back at Luis, "Look. I'm sorry for what I did today. It's just..."

     "I get it", Luis quickly says.

     "You almost chopped my hand off when you found out about what I did to your secretary. So hearing that someone did something a lot more terrible to him, I bet you're not just going to chop that man's hand off once you find him", Luis tells me with a grin.

     I finally loosened up and chuckled back at him.

     "But Val...think about what I said okay? If those rumors are somehow true...then your secretary is a very dangerous man", Luis says, making me smirk.

     "There are rumours about me too Luis, and I'm pretty sure if any of them were true then I'd be a lot more dangerous than you might think."

*****

     "What happened?" Johnson asked as we were now heading back to the car.

     "It's not him, but I found something that might just help us find the real culprit who did this", I answered as I opened the car door and got in.

     Johnson got inside as well and immediately asked, "Found what?"

     I looked out the window and took a deep breath, "Julien...they say he's part of a gang."

     "What?" Johnson asked from shock.

     I quickly looked at him through the rearview mirror and continued, "I'm still not sure about it, but Dario knows him somehow. Well maybe not him personally, but he knows his tattoo. If we find what the tattoo really is, then we'd be able to find the people who did this."

     "W-wait a second. Romeo, are you hearing yourself right now? A gang? You can't be acquainted with gangs, you're a-"

     I quickly cut Johnson off and said, "I know about the fucking family rules okay? But until we're not sure about this either, there is nothing for us to worry about."

     "Yet", Johnson adds, like he was warning me. He then takes a deep breath and starts the engine, "Then what's you're plan now?"

     "For now we're going back home", I say as I looked back out the window.

     "I'm tired and angry, and the only thing who can keep me calm is sleeping there", I continued, and Johnson nodded his head and drove off.

*****

    "Good evening master Val", the maids greeted as I entered the house.

     I nodded my head to acknowledge them and immediately ran upstairs to go to Julien's room.

     I opened the door and was surprised to see Julien standing near the window.

    "Julien, what are you doing? You should be resting", I worriedly said as I got inside the room.

     Julien quickly turns around and walks towards me, "You're back, I was worried about you", he suddenly says, making my heart flutter a little because no one has actually said those things to me whenever I get back home.

    I lifted my hand and gently touched Julien's cheek, "Worried about me? A man who has gone through a lot for the past few days shouldn't be worrying about anything", I say.

     "Well how could I not? When I told you about what happened to me, you're eyes suddenly burned, like you were ready to kill someone. I knew you were going out to look for whoever did this to me, which is why I got worried", he explains, suddenly reaching out for my hand too.

    I quickly pulled my hand away when I felt something painful pierce through me. Then I remembered that I literally punched a wall and a desk about an hour ago.

     "Rome, are you hurt?" Julien asked with a worried expression.

    "N-No...it's just-"

     Julien didn't even wait for me to finish. He grabbed my hand and suddenly said, "Close your eyes for a second."

     I didn't know what he was planning but I closed my eyes anyways.

     Julien doesn't say anything, but I suddenly felt him remove the gloves on my hand.

     "There's bl-"

    I knew he was going to say the word blood, but stopped after remembering what happened to me when I saw him covered in one.

     "Don't worry, I don't get triggered by just hearing the name. I get triggered when I see it", I honestly told him, my eyes still closed so nothing serious would happen.

     "Is that so", Julien says. Seconds later, I felt his tongue on my knuckles, suddenly making me shiver from head to toe.

     He continued to lick on it, making me quickly grip on my thighs so I could focus on something else.

     "Don't worry, its only small cuts", Julien says after licking my hand.

     He then puts my gloves back and says; "Now you can open your eyes."

     I slowly opened my eyes and saw Julien a few inches away from my face, "Better?" he asked with a playful smile.

     I was smiling too, but then I saw the bruises on the side of his lips again, and my smile immediately vanished.

     "You should go back to bed", I say with a serious expression.

     Julien bites his lower lip and nods his head. He then goes back to bed like how I told him to.

     I went towards him and made sure he was tucked in.

     I looked at him straight in the eyes and suddenly felt like crying all of a sudden.

    Julien was trying to look strong for me, but I knew that he was in great pain after what happened to him. And to think that I could have done something during those times made me furious again.

     I kneeled on the floor and looked at him.

     "I will do everything to protect you now, right?" I asked as I reached out for his hand again.

     Julien looks back at me and slowly nods his head.

      I continued to stare at him until I realized that I was now actually staring at the tattoo right under his eyes.

      I squeezed his hand tighter and continued, "But for me to protect you, you need to be honest with me first, right?"

    "Yes", he softly answered.

      I glanced at his tattoo for the last time before finally asking him, "The Black Angel, why do people call you that Julien?" 

     Julien's eyes widened from shock upon hearing me say those words.

     "H-How did you-"

      I quickly stopped him and let go of his hand. With a serious expression, I continued, "No more lies, no more secrets...Who are you Julien?"

- END -