Monalisa’s POV


    We bothy on the ground, my arms wrapped around her, but I couldn’t feel any pain in my body. I quickly shifted my gaze to Candy and saw her groaning in pain. Nervously, I looked down at her thigh and saw blood gushing out from where she had been shot. I felt a wave of fear wash over me at the sight.


    “My… my son, Joanna,” she choked out through tears and pain, clutching her bleeding thigh.


    I held her jaw tightly, my voice trembling. “Gardy, you have to be strong. Please, I beg you,” I pleaded, burying my face in her shoulder. I didn’t know what I was feeling in my heart. It still felt like a dream, that I was about to lose another loved one. Truth be told, I couldn’t live without her. She was like family to me, loving me like her own sister. She cared for me and provided shelter. No, I couldn’t let her die. She had to live for me and her son.


    She let out a sad chuckle, tears streaming down her face. “I’m weak. I’m tired, but I don’t want to give up. I want to live more for my son and you, Joanna. I want to live for my son.” She gripped my hands tightly, searching my eyes. “But if I die–”


    “I forbid you from saying that, Gardy. You will not die because we still have a lot to catch up on. I can’t lose you yet, Gardy. Please, don’t say that,” I interrupted, my voice breaking as I kissed the back of her palm, my tears wetting her hand.


    Suddenly, I heard someone pping his hands and chuckling loudly. He was approaching us. Slowly, I raised my head in his direction and saw his face. I noticed he was holding a gun. He was the one who shot her. He fucking shot her.


    As our gazes locked, his jaws dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. I guess he was surprised to see me or he wasn’t expecting to see me so soon.


    “Monalisa!” my name slowly rolled off his lips, and his lips stretched into a wide smirk. “Woah! I actually used one stone to kill two birds,” he eximed, spreading his arms in excitement.


    “Dominic, let us go!” I demanded, angrily clenching my fists as rage consumed me.


    He gave a cunning smile. “I missed you, my Monalisa. Daddy missed you so fucking much. Why would I let you go when I’ve searched every state and city for you? Now you want me to let you go? I thought you died with–”


    “I killed Phil the same way I will kill you too,” I yelled in his face.


    Heaven knows how hard I’m trying to hold myself back from jumping on him and fighting him until myst breath.


    He suddenly burst intoughter,ughing for almost two minutes before stopping. “I never knew you learned so much from me, my little Monalisa. I’m proud of you!” He said, breaking intoughter again.


    “So you knew him?” Gardy asked in disbelief. She began shaking her head. “Tell me it’s not true,” she screamed with all her strength, breathing heavily.ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    I turned towards her, feeling a pang of guilt. “Yes, I do. I’m sorry I lied to you,” I said, bowing my head in shame. This was the most awkward moment I had feared. Slowly, I raised my head and met her gaze. I couldn’t miss the pain that shed through her eyes, and she quickly looked away, closing her eyes.


    I ran to her and held her hand, but I was stunned to notice that her hands were cold. I gently shook her shoulder, but she didn’t respond. She fell onto my body, limp like an empty container. Fear began to crawl over me as I raised my hand to her nose to check her breath, but I was shocked to notice that she wasn’t breathing anymore.


    “Gardy, are you asleep? Wake up.” I shrieked, “Do–Do–Dominic, we–we need to call the doctor. Gardy is–is–is not breathing. Her body is cold.” I turned to him screaming like a psychopath.


    He remained motionless, devoid of any emotions, with his hands sped behind his back and a wide smile stretching across his face. “Mission aplished!” He eximed, bursting into another fit ofughter.


    I gently ced Gardy’s lifeless body on the cold floor and stood up to confront him, my eyes bloodshot. “You are a monster in human form,” I groaned. “What have I ever done to you? First, you killed my family when I was young, and now her? Why?” I ran towards him, grabbing his cor and hitting his chest with all my strength, tears streaming down my face. “Why do you always cause me pain? Why do you always take away my happiness?” I yelled, feeling a searing pain in my heart and a blinding whiteness exploding in my head. The pain in my heart felt like a needle dipped in alcohol piercing my soul. I continued to hit him relentlessly, but he remained unaffected, standing there with a smirk that only fueled my anger.


    Amidst my cries, my phone rang loudly. I weakly released his shirt and retrieved my phone from my pocket, checking the caller ID. It was Derek calling. As I attempted to answer the call, Dominic snatched the phone from my grip. He stared at the caller ID, his once smiling face now reced with a deep frown.


    “Can I have my phone?” I asked coldly, extending my hand towards him.


    “Your enemy is calling,” he replied, his lips pressed into a hard line. The hatred in his eyes was evident, making me wonder why he wanted to involve me in his fight with Derek. But whatever his n was, it wouldn’t work.


    A painful chuckle escaped my lips. “Whatever your ns are, they won’t work on me,” I spat.


    He smiled and began to walk around me as he spoke, while Derek’s calls continued incessantly. “All these years, I’ve watched you grow with vengeance in your heart. You thought all I did was cause you pain and agony?” He stopped right in front of my face. “But all I did was protect you,” he whispered.


    ”


    Lies! Don’t you dare patronize me with that!” I erupted, screaming in his face, my chest heaving.


    He let out a small chuckle. “You always believed that I burned your father alive, raped your pregnant mother to death, and threw your seven-year-old brother off a skyscraper. Because I made you believe so,” he said, resuming his walk around me.


    I shook my head in disbelief. “I won’t let you mess with my head,” I muttered, my eyes bloodshot as everything yed out in my mind.


    “I’m not messing with your head, I’m telling you the truth. Have you ever asked yourself why I didn’t kill you when I was ordered to thirteen years ago? Instead, I saved you, changed your identity, and raised you,” he stopped in front of me again. “I did all that to protect you,” he whispered, searching my face for a reaction.


    His words threw me into a state of confusion. Yes, I still remember everything that happened thirteen years ago. It was still fresh and vivid in my mind. Now, I was even more confused as to why he kept iming he had protected me.


    “Whatever you have in your brain are lies I fed you for the past thirteen years. I intentionally built that hatred in you for me because that was the only way to save you from THEM.”


    “What are you talking about?” I furrowed my eyebrows.


    “I never killed your family. They did.”


    “Who are they?”


    “THE DARK JINS. I will tell you a story about what happened to your family.”


    *******


    DEREK’S P. O. V


    Doven sat on the sofa, intensely staring at me as I restlessly paced around the room, trying to call Joanne. She hadn’t been answering my calls or sending me any messages exining why she wasn’t picking up. Suddenly, Doven spoke up.


    “Mob, you called me here to question me, yet you haven’t said anything,” he pointed out. I let out a sigh, realizing that I hadpletely forgotten the reason why I had called him. My thoughts had been clouded by Joanne, causing me to forget about him.


    “Doven, I…” The loud vibration of my phone caught my attention, and my face lit up, thinking it was Joanne. But when I checked the caller ID, my face contorted into a frown. It was my father.


    “What do you want?” I demanded as soon as I put the phone to my ear.


    He let out a soft chuckle. “I want her toe and live with me. Think about it and get back to me tomorrow.” With that, he ended the call.


    This man hadpletely lost his mind. Did he think I was his ything?


    “That’s how he demanded Reba’s life. You took her there, but she never returned,” Doven muttered, sadness evident in his voice.


    “I will protect Joanne with everyst drop of my blood,” I groaned, clenching my fists. I wondered why my father was so determined to ruin my life.


    He sighed. “I wonder how Joanne will feel when she learns who’s responsible for Reba’s death, and when she will know who you truly are,” he muttered.


    His words made me snap my eyes towards him. “What do you mean?”