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     "Hello...chairman Val," President King says as he entered the room with Elizabeth – Romeo's mother.

     "You have been keeping secrets from me again President Matthew King," Romeo says as he gestured at the seat in front of him.

    Mat and Mathias stood on the side as I stood behind Romeo.

     I seriously never imagined that one day we'd all be in one room together.

     "It had been a while since I've been to this household. I don't remember it being so chaotic," President King tells us.

      Romeo chuckles and answers him, "I am giving them what they deserve."

     "What have you done?" Elizabeth asked as she and President King sat on their seats.

     Romeo wanted to ignore his mother like how he always does, but this wasn't the time to act in such a way. So he sighs and looks at her anyways.

     "What I should have done a long time ago," Romeo simply answers her, making Elizabeth and President King look at each other, like they knew that Romeo had finally learned the truth.

     "So Antonio's not here anymore," Elizabeth says.

     "The household was ambushed by my brother's men. Apparently my brother has actually been chained up at the basement for days, and his men came here to rescue him. Antonio has been forcing my brother's men to fight for him for the sake of their leader's safety," I explained to them.

      "Your brother was here? And he wasn't the bad guy?" President King asked from shock, and I nodded my head as an answer.

     "He was actually supposed to look for you but instead Antonio got a hold of him first. I don't know how he found out about it though," I explained further.

     "As expected of Antonio," Elizabeth suddenly says.

     Then Romeo quickly looks back at her and asks, "So you fucking knew about him?"

     Elizabeth looks back at her son, and for the first time since I've seen her, she looked apologetic.

     "There were consequences," she tells him.

     Romeo chuckles and asked back, "Consequences? Is this the same reason why you killed my father?"

     Mat and Mathias suddenly gasped on what they heard, making me remember that I'm the only one who knows about it. Well except for Elizabeth and President King of course.

     "W-What? You killed-" Mathias tried to say. Elizabeth takes a deep breath and bravely nodded her head, "Yes, I killed Claudio with my bare hands, and until now the same scene keeps on replaying inside my head. I am not proud of killing the love of my life, but it was a sacrifice that I am willing to make over and over again for the sake of my family."

     Everyone became quiet after, not sure what to say next.

     "We all have reasons," President King suddenly adds. Then he looks at me and says, "And the reason why I am here...is because of Antonio as well."

     "What do you mean?" I asked, and I knew Romeo was curious about it too.

     It was President King who practically started everything. He's the reason why I met Romeo. He's the reason why Romeo became the godfather. He's the reason why we now know the truth about everything.

     He's the main reason, but until now, we don't know his reason on why he desperately wants to take revenge.

     "A man named Matthew Luca. Is he still here in your household?" President King suddenly asked, confusing Romeo and me.

     The two of us slowly looked at Mat, who was standing on the side beside Mathias. President King did the same and looked at Mat. When he saw his face, President King slowly stood up from his seat and smiled, "It's you...isn't it?"

     "I'm sorry?" Mat confusingly asked.

     "There's no doubt that it's you...because you look exactly like your mother," President King suddenly revealed, shocking us.

     "You know her?" Mat quickly asked him.

     President King smiles, and for a second I thought he was going to cry, "Oh I knew her. I knew her very well. We were very close to the point that she named you after me."

     "What?" Mat asked, now even more confused.

     "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you or even talked to you about it. There were a lot of instances where I could have told the truth but I needed you alive. And I knew that you having a grudge on Antonio won't help you with that," President King tells Mat. But it only made Mat even more confused, "What are you talking about?" he asked.

     President King takes a deep breath and sat back down.

     At that moment I knew that we were once again going to have another roller coaster ride.

     "I was a business partner to your father like how I have always been, and that is something that you are clearly aware of," President King started as he looked at Romeo.

     "But a side of the story that you did not know was that I had a sister," President King says, and just a mention of his sister made Mat flinch.

     "My sister ended up marrying a soldier of a powerful mafia. At first I was against it, but she was madly in love with him, and luckily for me, because of her husband, I ended up being introduced to Claudio Valentino regarding business about prostitution," President King explained, making Mat suddenly look teary.

     I don't know if he was feeling emotional because of a mere mention of his parents, or because he actually had an uncle that he didn't even know about.

     "Wives of the mafia members aren't allowed to stay at this household, but my sister would usually come with me to the Valentino Household whenever I would meet up with Claudio. Through various meetings, we met Antonio. He was a nice man, but then your uncle had a sudden interest with her," President King suddenly stopped, and it looked like he was having a hard time continuing.

     Elizabeth touched his shoulder, like she was encouraging him to continue. And at that moment, I knew exactly what was about to happen next.

     "Oh no..." I whispered as I gently touched Romeo's shoulder. Romeo took a deep breath and grabbed my hand to squeeze it.

     Mat's eyes widened from shock; tears now falling down on his face like he too has finally understood what was going to happen next.

     "A-Antonio," President King finally continued, "He was a crazy man. He...he raped my sister, causing her to kill herself."

     The whole room felt like it completely stopped.

     Mat on the other had, slowly backed away from shock after hearing what happened to his mother. Mat tried to say something but words couldn't come out of his mouth anymore.

     The thought that your mother's rapist has actually been by your side all this time might have made Mat feel so many emotions. Like how Romeo felt when he found out that Johnson's killer was actually Antonio as well.

     "At that time her son was already two years old. My sister's husband kept quiet about it even though he knew, because he was a coward to fight Antonio. And when he died I didn't care less, all I wanted was justice for my sister."

     "That you tried to seek from me," I say, now understanding the reason why he bargained with my father.

     President King nodded his head and continued, "I wanted to take my revenge, but I wasn't crazy enough to fight an underboss of a very powerful mafia. Asking for any mafia's help would be suicide since the Valentino's are mostly the head of every mafia that I know. That's when a friend of mine told me about gangs, and that's why I went to Korea where I met The Sinner, the head of the Dark Saints, who I was also familiar with since they handled prostitution houses as well."

     So that's why President King met up with my father.

     "I came to Korea and offered him a large amount of money for them to ambush the Valentino Family. But your father refused because he said he didn't need it. Instead, he asked me to take someone and hide him until the right time comes, and that someone was actually the heir of the Dark Saints," President King explains, making everyone glance at me.

     "I knew what he was referring to, that if I helped Julien, he'd help me take my revenge on what Antonio did to my sister. I've waited for years Romeo; I waited and hid Julien with everything I've got. But when I realized that Julien has been gone for so long, and his own gang might not side with him, I decided to bring him to you instead. If Julien gets acquainted with you, he might just find out about the Valentino's and he'd be closer to Antonio. I wasn't sure about the outcome, but it was a risk that I was willing to take, and I'm glad that after waiting for years, my revenge is finally getting closer and closer," President now finished.

     In just one sitting, most of our questions were now answered.

     The reason why President King wants his revenge, the reason why he made Romeo and I meet, and the reason why he accepted my father's bargain, was all because of the terrible death of his sister.

     "Your wait will not be wasted," Romeo stated as he looked at President King.

     "We will defeat Antonio. He has caused great pain to not only Julien and I, but to you too," Romeo continued, and then he looked at Mat who couldn't even say anything anymore.

     "I know what you feel, and I know how painful it is," Romeo tells him.

      "After all those years...now I know why I never really like this fucked up family," Mat says, not even minding the tears that were falling down on his cheeks.

      Romeo sighs. A sigh that hinted us that he was inches away from giving up because of exhaustion.

      I know Mat feels bad about the whole thing, but imagine what Romeo would feel after everything that actually happened to him?

      "My old friend. Why not bring President King to the other room so both of you could talk. I'm pretty sure you have a lot of things to say to each other," Romeo suggested.

     Mat doesn't say anything and just nods his head as an agreement.

      President King also stands up from his seat. He looks at Mat and both of them left the room.

     When they left, the room automatically became awkward.

     Mathias was just standing on the side, looking at us.

     Romeo was glancing at his mother, while Elizabeth did the same to Romeo.

     And when I realized that none of them was going to say anything, I cleared my throat and started, "So Antonio has been the monster of this household for years."

      "He knows how to manipulate people," Elizabeth surprisingly answered.

      "You speak as though you were one of those people," I tell her, and she smirks like she wasn't denying it.

     "You do everything for what you love. Like Matthew King for his sister, Claudio for his family, and Antonio...apparently he's in love with power and money," Elizabeth explains.

     "Then the reason why you killed my father, was that out of love for him too?" Romeo suddenly asked.

     "Not for him," she answers.

     Elizabeth seriously looks back at Romeo and continued, "I did it out of love...for you."

     "Lies," Romeo quickly says.

     "You have no idea what I have to go through just so I could protect you," Elizabeth says, shocking Romeo and me.

     But Romeo had so much hate in his heart that he was trying his best not to listen to his own mother.

     I could even see Romeo clenching his fist as he said, "What are you even doing here?"

     "My husband is missing," she suddenly tells us.

      Romeo chuckles and asks back, "And why should I be concerned with your pathetic husband?"

     "He's gathering his men," Elizabeth quickly answers, like it was a really big deal.

      "So you're here to warn us about his small...gang?" Romeo asked, making me quickly ask, "Gang?"

     "It's a joke we make to small time Mafias. Well...no offence," Mathias suddenly explained to me.

      "None taken," I told him as an understanding.

     "I already have tons of problems. His men are the last thing I should be concerned about," Romeo coldly tells her. Then Elizabeth smirked like she knew exactly what to say after what Romeo just said, "Well, for starters, those men are the people that ambushed us on the night I killed your father."

     "What?" Romeo and Mathias both asked in unison.

      Elizabeth smirks and looks at the three of us.

     I took a deep breath, because I knew that we were once again going to go on another crazy roller coaster ride.

     "It's my turn to tell you my side of the story."

- END -