By now, it was already 5 minutes into the New Year, and everyone everywhere was celebrating any way they could, some taking photos, eating, dancing and just having a good time.
Tyler and Candela, had not crossed paths since their last argument. They somehow decided to stay out of each other's way, and not bother anyone.
That night, Tyler was in his room, scrolling through their family videos of their previous New Year's celebration. As he played and scrolled through the videos, he realized how much he missed his dad, and how much Candela had done for them since their dad left them.
He got up, got out of his room, and headed for the kitchen.
Candela was still in her room scribbling away in her diary the new things she hopes to happen for her this New Year. Her friends had invited her for a New Year's Eve party, but she declined, saying she'd rather stay home.
Every ounce of her missed her father, and she didn't want to hide it, or fight the feeling.
Tyler set his phone down on the kitchen counter, and pulled out a box of cookie mix. He read the preparation procedure on the box, and started baking.
Actually, all he had to do was pour the mix in a bowl, add a little water to mix, and mold it into any shape and size he wanted, before setting it in the oven.
After a couple minutes, it was ready.
Actually, he burnt them. The box didn't indicate how long he had to leave them in the oven for, so he set the wrong timer, and a couple of the cookies got burnt.
Regardless of the outcome, Tyler put all the cookies in a large plate with two cups of warm milk. He set them properly in a small tray, along with some scented candles and flowers he picked from their backyard.
After the decoration was complete, he took the tray up to his sister's room. He stopped right at the door, re-thinking his decision.
Candela heard footsteps approaching her door, and raised her head from her book. She could see Tyler standing outside her room from the tiny corner of her door.
"What are you doing?" Candela asked, seeing Tyler standing outside her room.
"I thought you were asleep." Tyler said, pushing Candela's room door open, and walking in with the tray in his hands.
"Can't." Candela replied.
Tyler stopped at the edge of her bed, he took one look at the tray and looked up at his sister.
"I got this for you." He said, gently setting the tray on Candela's bed.
Candela closed her book, with her pen still in the page she was writing on, and sat up straight on the bed.
"I mean, I know it's not the same as dad's pod pie, or any of his New Year's pastries, but—" Tyler started.
"But, its thoughtful. Thank you." Candela said, with a smile.
She pulled the tray closer, and took a bite out of one of the cookies. She squeezed her face immediately, and brought out the cookie from her mouth.
"It's burnt, but—" Candela said, with a soft smile to hide her actual thought.
"Yeah, about that, I don't think am very good." Tyler said.
"We have cookie mix." Candela said, cleaning her mouth with the napkin Tyler had brought them.
'Exactly." Tyler nodded.
They both fell silent for an awkward second.
"Hey, come here." Candela said, tapping her bed lightly for Tyler to sit.
He hesitated and didn't move.
"Come." Candela repeated.
Tyler went closer and sat on her bed, but at the edge.
"Am not going to bite you." Candela said.
"I know, it's just—" Tyler started.
"Awkward?" Candela added.
Tyler nodded, "Yeah, kind of." He said softly.
Candela let out a sigh, and fell backwards on her bed, with her fingers crossed together on her belly, and her head facing her ceiling.
"I miss him." Tyler blurted out.
"I do too." Candela added, "Nothing is ever going to be the same without dad. It goes without a doubt that he was our everything." She added, as tears started forming in her eyes.
Tyler heard her voice start to crack and turned to face her, before averting his eyes and fixing them on anything else.
Candela wiped some drops of tears that had rolled down her cheeks away, "We've had a rough year, but we need to move on."
Tyler let out a deep breath, "Am sorry for how I've been lately, its just—" He said, his voice quavering a little.
Candela sat up on her bed, "It's not your fault, it's normal. I just wish you wouldn't let it get to your head so much." She added, and rubbed her face, to clear her eyes from the tear stain.
Tyler got closer to her, reached his hands out, and gave her a hug. Candela didn't react at first cause it was kind of weird to her to see Tyler hug her, but eventually gave in and hugged him back.
"It's going to be okay; I don't know how or when, but it will. I promise." Candela said, stroking his hair softly.
Tyler held her tightly, as if she would disappear if he let go.
"Thank you. So much, for everything." He whispered.
Candela managed to free herself from Tyler, she wiped her face with her palms, and sniffed in, while Tyler stared at her like he had never seen her before.
"What?" Candela asked when she caught him staring.
He shook his head to dismiss the question.
"You know what? It's a New Year, and am not going to let myself." She paused, adjusting herself, "Or you, dwell in the past. Especially since we can't change it. It's gone, he is gone, and we'll be alright." She added, doing her best to comfort herself, and Tyler.
"We'll be alright, we just have to." Tyler repeated.
"Exactly." Candela nodded.
"So now what?" Tyler asked.
"Now—" Candela started.
She took one of the cookies, but unfortunately, got a burnt one and spat it out immediately. Tyler burst out laughing on impulse.
"I forgot these were burnt." Candela said, rubbing her tongue with the napkin.
"Hey, not all of them." Tyler said, picking up one of the cookies.
He put it in his mouth, chewed and spat it out immediately, causing Candela to start laughing.
"Ok, no, these are gross." Tyler said, and took a sip of the milk he came with, to dial down the rusty taste.
"How can you burn them all?" Candela said, picking up the cookies, and trying to spot a good one.
"I don't know, it's not as easy as you think, you know." Tyler defended.
"Come on, I'll make a fresh batch." Candela said, getting up from her bed.
She put on her bunny slippers and was about to leave.
"What about these?" Tyler asked, referring to the cookies he had already made.
"Well, you made them, you can eat it." Candela said.
Tyler looked at his tray for a while and remained speechless like he was debating the option.
"Throw them away." Candela said, and left the room.
Tyler grabbed the tray, and followed her immediately.
Back in New Mexico, I had walked so far and now, I was close to my house. I had no idea that a drunk and careless Ralio was at a nearby corner.
As I got closer, my Amulet started glowing. At first, I didn't realize it, until I heard a loud bell sound. I turned around, thinking someone maybe rang a bell for New Year, or something but there was no one around.
As I walked, the streets got quieter, and even darker. I heard the loud ding sound again and paused my steps, but still, no one was around me. My phone was dead, and like my usual neighborhood, everyone was either asleep, or out somewhere.
After the second bell like sound, I noticed my amulet glowing.
I stopped moving as I recalled everything I had heard about the Amulet. I looked down at the glowing jewel around my neck and turned around to survey my surrounding. I got more suspicious and cautious, and moved forward carefully.
Ralio was still at his spot, chugging down the last drops of alcohol he had, when he heard footsteps of someone approaching and got scared.
"Who's there?!" Ralio yelled.
He dropped his empty beer bottle and held onto his gun, ready to fire a shot.
I still moved forward as fast my feet could walk, hoping to get home already. The creepy noises, dark sky and unusual activities going on, arose a great fear in me, and I started running.
As I ran forward, with my head looking around for anything, or anyone, I ran into Ralio's hiding corner.
"Who is there?!" He yelled again. This time, firing a shot.
I hid in a corner, behind a bunch of short trees. My breathing became heavy, probably from the running, or due to the amount of fear currently creeping through me.
I took a quick look at my glowing Amulet, then wrapped my fingers around it, to cover the light.
"It's real." I whispered to myself.
I still stayed crouched in my hiding spot for a few more seconds, till I couldn't hear him or anyone else around. I peeked my head out to look around to ensure the coast was clear, but just as I was about to step out, I felt a gun to the back of my head.
My eyes widened, my heart beat increased rapidly, and my mouth went completely dry. I was shaking.
I still had not realized who it was because it was late at night, and I still hadn't turned around.
"Turn around." He said in the deepest male voice I've ever heard.
I complied immediately, and slowly turned around with both my hands in the air.
When I finally came face-to-face with my attacker, I recognized Ralio as one of THE RANGERS from the news.
'Since the plane they sabotaged didn't kill me, maybe he came to finish up the job. But how did he know where to find me, and how can he recognize me.' I thought, as I stared fearfully at the terrifying man in front of me.
"Truly every Rubio is going to be murdered by A RANGER, are you serious?" I asked, under my breath, but Ralio heard me clearly.
He was still drunk, and now that I think about it; I don't think he would recognize me, or know who I really am. He went to jail when I was just a little kid, but from the news, I knew exactly who he was.
Ralio was drunk, and I could tell. He kept staggering, trying to keep his balance steady, but it wasn't working too well. When his drunken state became extremely obvious to me, I somehow mustered up some courage, and pushed him away.
I tried to run, but I didn't get far, and he caught up with me.
We wrestled for some seconds, actually it was me trying to let loose from his grip, before he pulled the trigger at my foot, but missed.
The missed shot came to me as a wakeup call, I noticed the gun was loaded and tried to grab it.
I finally let loose from his grip, and he fired another shot at me.
I raised my in the air to protect my face, hoping the bullets will maybe miss, or get my feet. But instead, the bullets hung in the air.
I opened my eyes to find my body in good shape and some bullets hanging in mid-air.
I got even more scared when I saw the bullets floating in the air, and my glowing necklace was not making it easier.
Ralio also seemed shocked by the bullets, that his gun dropped from his hand to the floor.
I took the opportunity to run over and grab the gun.
Ralio, seeing that I had his gun, tried to escape, but not before I shot at him, aiming directly at his legs. He fell to the ground, and groaned loudly, but no one could hear him.
I walked up to him with a confidence I didn't even know I had. I looked at him closely.
I still didn't understand why I didn't just turn around and run away, a part of me wanted to escape while I could, but a stronger part took control and walked closer to Ralio.
"Pls let me go, pls am just a drunk hopeless man, pls." He begged.
I could tell that either he was too drunk and clueless, or he just didn't know I was a Rubio.
"Pls, pls am sorry." He begged continually.
I stared at him closely, "My dad also begged the same way before they killed him." I said, already feeling a wave of empathy by his pleas.
I remembered the entire scene before THE RANGERS killed my dad. How I was hiding behind a bunch of delivery containers, and listening to the loud screaming and arguments before several gunshots were fired.
I tried to fight back the memory, but it just kept messing with my head, and the empathy I felt disappeared.
"You had nothing to do with it, but I think I'll be doing the world a favor." I said, and shut my eyes to shoot him.
"No please!" Ralio begged even louder.
He was unable to move away because of the bullet in his leg. As he begged, the memories kept playing back in my head continuously.
I remembered my dad, and my mom with Ellie, I also remembered how I had to flee from Bertha because I was afraid of these men harming her just to get to me.
Tears formed in my eyes and started dropping, and without intending to, I shot Ralio, right in the gut.
I gasped at the sound of the gun and opened my eyes to see a dead Ralio laying in front of me.
"No. No. No. What have I done? God, what have I done?" I panicked and dropped to the ground to try to wake Ralio up.
"Hey, wake up please. Wake up." I lay his head on my laps and tapped his face gently in attempt to wake him up, cause there was no way I just killed somebody.
I dropped his head and stood up with both my hands stroking my hair and pulling it back as tears fell from my eyes.
"God, what do I do?" I said, still staring at the dead man in front of me.
I decided to get out there before people start coming home from their parties and saw me. I wiped the gun on my dress to erase my finger prints and used my napkin to wipe the places I had touched Ralio, then dropped the gun, and ran away in tears.
BACK AT THE HYTHXT PARTY.
"Any luck?" Beryl asked when she caught up with sage.
"No, it's still switched off." Sage said, turning his phone screen to Beryl.
Merylin ran up to them.
"Anything?" Merylin asked.
Sage and Beryl shook their heads in response.
"You think we should go over to her house? Maybe she went home?" Sage asked, pushed his power button to lock his screen and return his phone to his back pocket.
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Merylin added.
"But, it's so late right now." Beryl said, a little scared.
"This hall is still packed." Sage said, gesturing towards the Hythxt hotel that was still filled with so many people.
"Plus, there are still people on the streets." Merylin added.
"But Nat's neighborhood is completely sketch." Beryl complained, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
"Why are you stalling, Beryl?" Sage asked, getting ready to leave.
"I'm—" Beryl started.
"We'll book an uber, come on let's go." Merylin said, and started making her way through the crowds.
"This late? No uber driver is going to respond at this hour." Beryl complained, still trying to talk them out of the idea.
"Not with that attitude, they won't." Merylin said, still maneuvering her way through the crowds.
Beryl groaned in slight frustration and followed her. Once they got outside, Sage's phone started ringing.
"Is that Nat?" Merylin and Beryl asked curiously.
Sage pulled his phone out of his pocket, read the screen and turned it to them.
"No, it's my mom." He replied, and swiped the call to answer.
"Oh." Merylin said, with disappointment dripping from the tone.
"Since when?" Beryl asked.
"Shh. Hey mom." Sage greeted and walked away from the noisy area he was at to take the call.
Merylin stood with Beryl, and the both of them kept trying to get through to me till Sage came back a while after.
"Merylin your mom just texted me." Sage said, looking at his phone screen to open the text.
"You?" Beryl asked, pointing her index finger at Sage for clarification.
"What did she say?" Merylin asked.
"Seems like something came up at the hospital." Sage read from his phone.
Merylin snatched the phone from him to read the text properly, Beryl inched closer to read too.
"Hi Sage, how are you? Sorry to bother you at this hour, but I don't know if you can maybe get through to Merylin. I tried calling her, but it's not going through." Beryl read aloud from Sage's phone.
"Tell her that there was an emergency at the hospital that they need me for, so I need her to come home to stay with the little ones." Sage added, also reading from the phone.
"Ouch." Beryl said, in response to the text.
The message caught Merylin by surprised and bummed her out.
She let out a sigh, "Now what?" She asked, returning Sage's phone to him.
"My mom also told me to come home, I think she's a little bit worried." Sage said, tucking the phone in his pocket.
"But what about Nat?" Merylin asked.
"We'll check up on her first thing tomorrow." Beryl assured.
"If both our moms are asking us to come home, then we really can't do anything about it." Sage said.
Merylin put both hands over her face in frustration.
"Listen, she's fine, okay." Beryl said, trying to comfort Meryl.
"We don't know for sure." Sage threw in casually.
His comment agitated Merylin that She and Beryl turned to him immediately.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Sage said.
"We'll all go check on her in the morning, okay?" Beryl asked, making sure everyone was on board with the plan.
Merylin nodded in agreement, while Sage thought for a second.
"I mean, we got called—But, you didn't." Sage said, pointing his index finger at Beryl.
"Yeah—" Merylin caught on to Sage's point.
"So, you could—" Sage started.
Beryl backed up a bit, she understood where Sage and Merylin were going and cut them before they could voice out their thoughts.
"No. No! No!" Beryl shook her head, pointing her index finger from Sage to Merylin and back.
"Come on." Merylin insisted.
"Am not going to go there all by myself." Beryl defended.
"Why?" Sage asked immediately.
"Wh—What do you mean why?" Beryl complained, still unable to believe what they were suggesting.
Sage and Merylin turned to each other, waiting for an additional response from Beryl.
"Are you guys being serious?" Beryl almost yelled, in disbelief.
"I just don't see what the problem is?" Merylin said, and tucked her phone in her purse.
"It's 2:00 in the morning—" Beryl started.
Sage interrupted, "There are still people around."
"Here? Yes, there are still people around here, but Nat's block is like a ghost town." Beryl said, stating her facts clearly.
"Wow, no offense to Nat." Sage blurted out in sarcasm.
"I'm serious, like have you been to that neighborhood?" Beryl replied instantly.
Sage rubbed his temples to calm down from Beryl's complaints, while Meryl tried to fix the issue.
"Its fine, let's not argue about this right now. Tomorrow we'll go check up on her." Merylin said, almost reading Beryl's thoughts.
Beryl was about to say something but stopped when Merylin's phone started ringing.
"It's my mom." Merylin said, as she pulled her phone out of her purse. "She's probably wondering what's going on, and like why am not home yet. I got to go." She added, about to leave.
"Me too." Sage added. "It's been like 30 minutes since my mom called me, she'll probably be mad by now."
"Alright then, first thing tomorrow; Nat's house." Beryl said, checking to make sure everyone was on board with the decision.
"Agreed." Merylin and Sage said together.
"Cool, see you guys tomorrow." Beryl said, and waved them goodbye and headed for her car.
*Meanwhile, *
I had gotten back to my house, I immediately got in and locked my door. I was still shocked, and terrified by what just happened.
I sat down at my door with both hands in my hair, and tears rolling down my face.
I was shaking.
'What have I done? What have I done?" I repeated severally. "I have never held a gun in my entire life, much less shot someone, and now, I might have just killed someone." I added, and began pacing around my house in attempt to calm down cause my breathing was becoming heavier by the minute.
"But I mean he's a RANGER, right?" I asked, trying to convince myself.
It wasn't working.
"No, no, no, God what have I done?" I fell to my knees, helplessly. "I didn't mean to, pls." I prayed as tears kept rolling down my face.
I paused when I remembered my amulet, and the thing with the floating bullets. I quickly wiped my face with my hands and ran to my science lab.
I took off the amulet for the first time since the crash. I set it on my table, and put on my electromagnetic hand gloves which I use when I go as Astro Girl.
With the gloves, I can control magnet, and I knew that.
"But I didn't have them on today." I said, trying to give a reason to what actually happened.
I took off the gloves, and slowly put on the amulet. I took a deep breath and snapped my finger in attempt to activate the amulet.
Nothing happened.
I took another deep breath, braced myself and concentrated hard enough. I tried snapping my fingers again,
'cause the levitation should be activated somehow, right?'
But still, nothing happened.
Disappointed, I took off the amulet and put it in a tiny jewelry case that I had, and placed it on the shelf, and walked out of the lab.
Walking out, I passed by my hallway mirror, I stopped and went back up to the mirror like I had just found something I lost.
I stared at the mirror intently, my mascara was completely destroyed because of my tears. I looked closely at myself, something seemed different, but I didn't know what it was.
I touched my neck, feeling empty and missing my amulet. I thought of going back to get it, but I didn't. Instead, I went to take a really cold shower to calm my nerves and in no time, I was asleep.
I woke up very late the next day. It was about 12pm in the afternoon when I woke up.
I took a shower, and got dressed for the day. I had a light breakfast of tea and toast with eggs, after which I turned on my tv just for some noise, then grabbed my laptop to actually deep search the Astro Amulet, cause it seemed I had one.
At first, I saw information I already knew, I was about to click on a different tab when I heard my door bell ring.
Startled, I closed my laptop and shoved it under my sofa, then went to get the door.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" Merylin asked as soon as she walked in.
Seeing them, brought back faint memories of what happened the night before.
"Yeah, we were worried sick." Beryl said, giving me a light hug.
"Yeah, yeah am fine." I said, a little uncomfortable.
"I mean you could've told us you were leaving, just like a heads up." Sage said, closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, it's just I—" I stammered, trying my best to kind of back up, so they won't see how nervous I was.
"You good?" Sage asked, as if reading my thoughts and movements.
"Yeah, why, am fine." I said.
"You have to be extremely careful on the streets these days." Merylin said, making her way to my couch.
"Yeah, I heard they found that RANGER guy." Sage cut in, "Um, what's his name?" He added, snapping his fingers to remember.
My eyes widened as I heard them start talking about the one person I was trying to forget. I froze, mentally and physically, but my heart was racing.
"Ralio." Beryl said.
"Yeah, that one." Sage added. "Apparently they found him."
"Where?" Merylin asked, curiously.
While they chatted amongst themselves, I kept having flashbacks of the previous night.
"Here, dead." Beryl said plainly.
"What?" Merylin's eyes widened in shock, "What do you mean?"
"Did you not watch the news this morning?" Sage asked.
"No, I got up really late today." Merylin said.
"Yeah, it's true. I got to her house past 11am, and she was still asleep." Beryl said.
"I went to bed really late, I had to wait for my mom to come home from the hospital." Merylin said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Sage said.
"Well turns out Mr. Ralio Ranger was found dead this morning." Beryl said.
"Actually, he was found a couple blocks from this neighborhood." Sage said.
Merylin's eyes widened, "This one?" She asked.
"Yeah." Sage said.
Merylin turned to me, "Natalie, did you hear that?" She almost yelled.
I didn't respond, I was still zoned out in my flashbacks.
"Natalie!" Merylin yelled.
I jerked back to reality, snapping out of my head.
"Yeah, what's, what. Yeah?" I said immediately.
"Sage just said that they found the RANGER that escaped from prison close to your neighborhood, and he was found dead." Merylin said.
My mouth automatically hung open; I was speechless. Sage walked up to me to close up my mouth.
"I mean... Wait, are you being serious?" I asked with my arms folded, pretending not to know what happened.
"Yeah—" Sage started.
Beryl interrupted him as she started reading the news from her phone.
"According to HRTV, which is where I'm reading from." Beryl said.
"Proceed." The rest of us said together.
"The police investigation shows that Ralio was murdered with a gun sometime in the middle of the night." Beryl read out.
"Okay?" Merylin cut in.
"Before that, the police said that they had to carry out some investigations resulting to an autopsy being performed on Ralio, because they had no witness." Beryl read again from her phone.
Hearing that, kind of made me feel a bit relieved.
"In the autopsy results, it showed that Ralio had drugs in his system, along with a harmful quantity of alcohol in his body. The police further analyzed to say that he might have shot himself by accident since he was under the effect of alcohol." Beryl said, ending the information her phone provided.
"That's all it says?" I asked, carefully checking if it said anything about Ralio's killer.
"Yeah." Beryl said, slipping her phone into her back pocket.
My shoulder dropped in relief, and a light sigh escaped my lips.
"Normally, I feel bad for dead people, and news on dead people, but this time, am good." Sage said, walking over to my refrigerator.
"Yeah, I kind of feel a little chill about this one." Beryl said.
I was a little confused and shaken up by their statements, and mood on the issue.
"Are you guys kidding me?" I asked.
"What?" Merylin asked.
"Why—Why do you guys say it like that? Like so casually, like it's, okay?" I asked.
"Cause it is." Beryl said.
I turned to her, about to speak up when Merylin cut me off.
"Nat, what are you even going on about?" Merylin asked.
"You too?" I asked, completely shocked, "Someone just killed a person."
Sage paused on his coke, "Wrong, someone just did the world a favor." He said, and returned to drinking.
I started feeling a lot more guilty than I did yesterday.
"That's exactly what I was about to say." Beryl said, in agreement with Sage.
He walked over and gave her a high five, following a fist bump in response.
"I just don't get why you guys are so chill about this." I said, still trying to hide how uncomfortable I was.
"Well, we don't get what your deal is." Sage said.
"I think I do." Merylin said.
We all turned to her.
"Well, no, I don't like see where you're coming from Nat, but you got to understand, Ralio is a RANGER." She paused, while Beryl and Sage nodded in agreement, "He's a bad guy, he just got what evil people deserve" She added.
Her words went right through me, and stuck in my head.
"Exactly, like think of all the lives he and his gang had destroyed in the past." Beryl said.
"Plus, we don't even know the real cause of his death." Sage added.
"True." Beryl and Merylin said.
"Yeah, so it could literally be anything." Sage said, and got back to his drink.
"I hope this sends a message to THE RANGERS." Merylin said, and signaled for Sage to toss her a drink.
"I guess you guys are right." I said softly.
Deep down, I felt guilty, but I also knew that I didn't mean to kill him. Honestly, I think that amulet had something to do with it.
'I would never kill anyone on purpose' I thought.
"Anyway, enough of this guy, to be honest, he should've just stayed in jail." Beryl said.
I didn't find that comment funny, but Sage and Merylin did.
"Beryl!" I shot loudly.
"Dude, leave me alone." Beryl complained and scooted a few spaces away from me.
"Alright enough." Merylin said, cutting me off before I could speak. "What are you guys' New Year's resolution?" She asked.
"Oh, you're going to love mine." Beryl said, and inched closer.
We all gathered around to talk about the New Year, and our plans for it.
The news about Ralio's death had spread like wild fire. Everyone had seen the news and were talking about it, whether in real life or on social media, everyone had something to say.
Hilion and THE RANGERS had also seen the news.
Isco, Kinye and Flavio knew that Hilion had seen the news, and were afraid of his reaction.
"I thought you guys said you killed him?" Isco asked, clearly worried about what Hilion might do or say.
Kinye turned to Flavio, waiting for an answer to Isco's question.
"So?" Isco asked, "What happened?"
"Relax okay, it doesn't matter if we shot him, or if it was someone else, the point is that he's dead." Flavio said, casually.
"Why are you so chill about this?" Kinye asked, wondering how Flavio seemed the least affected.
Flavio opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't. They heard Hilion's voice call for them.
"God, no." Isco said a little shaken up at the sound of his boss voice.
"What do we say?" Kinye asked.
"We shot him off the bridge and he fell into the water." Flavio said, still unbothered.
Kinye on the other hand, was still under pressure, and it was showing.
"I love how you say it, like no pressure. I mean what if—" Isco started, but was cut off because Hilion came into the back room, where they were.
"I called you men like 4 minutes ago." Hilion said, walking through Isco, Flavio and Kinye.
"We were on our way there." Flavio said, still so casually.
Kinye was shaking while Isco tried his best to avoid eye contact with Hilion.
"I'm sure by now you've seen the news." Hilion said.
No one replied.
"I want to know why you lied to me." Hilion said, glaring at the three of them.
Isco raised his head to say something, but on meeting Hilion's eyes, he lowered his head again.
"I—I—" Kinye stammered.
"We shot him off the bridge, and he fell into the river. I was sure that if the bullets didn't kill him, then the sharks would finish him off." Flavio said.
Hilion opened his mouth to say something but didn't, instead, he let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes.
"Ok, well what about the kid." Hilion asked.
Isco's heart sank, while Flavio and Kinye exchanged eye contacts.
"We are still working on that, I promise." Perez said, as he walked up to them from behind.
Everyone turned their heads over to him.
"It's been over a week now, am beginning to think there's something going on around here, and I don't like it." Hilion said.
They all exchanged eye contacts without saying a word.
"We will do everything we can boss; we promise." Kinye gathered enough courage to speak up.
"Remember Pedro Suarez house was always so difficult to locate." Perez said.
"Plus, the kid has managed to keep his location anonymous and hasn't made a post in a while." Isco added, hoping Hilion will buy their excuses.
Hilion let his eyes travel from one man to another, as if reading through them, before saying anything.
"2 weeks. That's all you have, bring the boy to me." He said and walked away.
Kinye let out a sigh of relief immediately Hilion left them, while Perez glared at Isco for not having the nerves to say anything about their previous discussion to Hilion.
"Now what?" Kinye asked.
Everyone ignored him and walked away.