Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 75,76,77&78

  

TILL D£ATH DO US APART

Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 75,76,77&78

(The•Devil•I•Loved)

________________________

All rights reserved. 

No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or reposted in any form, or by any means without a BOLDLY written permission from ME.

Copyright © 2025

Naomi Cindy B.

___________________

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Lissa entered the hall after that declaration. The remaining tattered train of her dress she's holding fell.

She stayed still by the door, and Emma quickly came to stay with her.

No one escaped the shocked expression. Everyone looks dumbstruck.

Leonardo has NEVER sided with anyone directly in public, talk more of opposing his own granddad cos of a woman. Not just any woman,it's a lowly member of the mob.

A thief.

And the greatest shock of all is the relationship between him and Padrino Marko.

Whenever he comes to Chicago like this, Leonardo spends much more time with the man, listening to his demented doctrines and cementing the sick teachings in his head.

They were inseparable as granddad and grandson, but now?

The change is glaring—too much.

It added to the tension building.

Ivanna's eyes are slightly wide behind him. She had a longer stare at his back view.

The long legs, the wet suit and undershirt, his wet hair and neck, the  moles on his neck, the way his muscles molded against the wetness of his suit, unconventionally.

She could picture the empty look on his face right now.

Renata stepped back, her concern reduced.

This is new.

Don Anthony who has been silent smiled faintly.

Did Leonardo just...go against his deranged granddad?

"No wonder it was snowing so hard, no wonder." Felicia muttered.

Thaddeus is beside the Padrino, and he obviously wasn't expecting that opposition too, but he kept calm, knowing this stage belongs to Padrino Marko, and the old man is gon' handle the scene.

Marko lowered his walking cane, the authoritative look in his eyes getting replaced by fury.

"I knew I wasn't wrong! My intuitions are never wrong!" He growled.

Leonardo employed silence.

Marko signalled at one of his valley guards that's in the room, and the guard brought a black plastic bag forward, handing it to Marko.

Merely seeing it, Leonardo knows what's inside, and when Marko untied the bag and poured the content on the ground, it's indeed what he suspected.

Bloody tissues.

The one he used to wipe the blood he vomited in his car after he took the OB injection at the valley.

He had it dumped in a river that day on his way back, but now...

"I had to send one of my guards after you that day after you left the valley. I knew the OB shot must have worked and you only rigged the results somehow! You bled in your car, wiped it clean and dumped the tissue in a river where my guard picked it up from! You forgot before you, there was your mother, and before your mother, there was me, the original copy of this madness! How dare you try to fool me, Leo. How dare you!!!!" Marko yelled, strict and sour.

His eyes flamed with hate for Ivanna, and mad disappointment for Leonardo who's still quiet.

Lissa held the doorframe, and Emma held her other side.

"It worked, the OB shot actually worked? He's...he's obsessed?"

"What's OB shot?" Emma asked beside her, but Lissa couldn't speak further. She felt like throwing up, and she vomited water right there.

The hall is still in silence, only the echoes of Marko's words is still ringing around like a fallen bell.

"What's OB shot?" Sandra muttered.

"No idea..." Bacardi replied.

"You know what OB shot is?" Tierney asked Robert.

Robert shook his head, unable to take his eyes away from the ongoing.

Only Thaddeus, Penny, Felicia, Anthony, Marko and Lissa are aware of what's going on now.

Even Ivanna has no idea what an OB shot is or what the bloody tissue on the ground means.

Why would Leonardo bleed? Is it as a result of the shot? 

What does the shot do exactly?

She couldn't give herself an answer.

"I received the bloody tissues and of course was surprised, that the son my daughter trained is already deviating. My grandson who's the most feared man in this country is changing, but I still doubted it, so I came here and saw the way you stared at that thief like a special human. "You are reading from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng" I made a test marriage proposal, but you failed woefully again, saying no to me? How dare you once again!" Marko threw his his walking cane at Leonardo.

He caught it and placed it carefully on the table beside him, then he took off his wet suit, leaving him in his wet undershirt only. Most of the chest buttons of the shirt is undone already, leaving his broad chest out.

"I respect you, granddad, that's why I'm still standing here, listening to your voice. In the past, i never said no, but now that I learnt to say no... I've tested it, and I like it a lot." He said dryly.

"I have no plans to remarry, it was only a test, but you can't say no to me about her activity in the mob, which is why she's gonna be my partner for the mud fight tomorrow!" Marko slammed unapologetically.

The silence in the room disappeared, replaced by gasps and whispers from the hundreds of mobsters.

• That's suicide!

• No one can beat the Padrino even as old as he is!

• Even late Donna Vera couldn't, find Sir Leo still couldn't, but Ivanna? diabolical.

• Bye, to her soul!

• The Padrino is always a lover of chaos, but this is on another level.

"That can't happen, he's going to kill her. Apart from the fact that she can't ever beat him, she's asthmatic! How can a asthma patient engage in a mud fight?" Nino said, feeling hot.

"That can't happen? Oh honey, it's already happening. Look at the projector," Island chuckled.

The ballroom is surrounded by projectors, and they all have the new revised calendar displayed. On the calendar, the Armando family was published as number 3 in authority.

But now there's another thing on the projectors apart from the calendar. There's the announcement of tommorow's mud fight.

Padrino Marko Vitale vs Ivanna Joy Cooper.

Ivanna was too shocked to speak. What would she even say?

Merely imagining herself in the mud is making her have a panic attack already. Irs challenging her energy.

"They're going to kill her, right? That's their plan!" Ginny sniffled.

Robert started going forward, planning to confront the Padrino, but Bacardi saw him and quickly went to obstruct him, placing an hand on his chest flatly.

"No you can't. Don't worsen your sister's situation. That is man is a ticking time bomb!"

Robert tore her hand away from his chest roughly, and she stepped back with a frown.

"Don't meddle in this, I don't need you!" Robert glared and made another move to go to the front again. Hilda and Nino stepped in.

"You're begging to die, aren't you? What are you gonna say to him in the front!" Nino pushed him back.

"Calm down!" Hilda cautioned too.

"Mud fight? How? He should just behead her straight and stop going zigzag!" Robert snapped.

"Are you the brother?" Renata came closer.

Before Robert could answer, Tierney and Robert joined.

"Is this real?" Ginny asked, horrified.

"He should consider her asthma and make it a arena fight to increase her chances." Tierney said.

"He said mud fight, and nothing is changing that, not even Leo, so all y'all have to do is hope she survives somehow." Renata said.

"That didn't do any help to my failing heart by the way..." Robert said.

Renata sighed, looking at Hilda. They both share the same scared looks.

With his brigadier cane in hand, Thaddeus took his seat and smiled.

Things are finally going as intended.

Lissa looks less disturbed by the door right now. Her anxiety has reduced, and she's looking at her mother Penny. They shared sadistic smiles.

"Aren't you gonna do something?" Donna Felicia whispered to Anthony.

"Do what? Whatever I do is only gonna make things bad. We both know this man is a psycho." Don Anthony replied calmly.

Padrino Marko is still there, glaring at his grandson.

Leonardo isn't glaring back, but the coldness in his eyes could freeze the antarctic. 

He didn't actually expect him to find the disposed tissues. 

He underestimated him in that angle, but he expected him to do something mad about Ivanna today cos h knew he was never gonna back out.

He's Marko anyways, the undefeated Lucifer. The chief wolf.

But what he wasn't expecting is him making this test move, and Ivanna's dress messed with his head so much that he let out an emotion.

He's not always this careless, but Ivanna...

Judging by the calm look on Thaddeus' face, he probably planned everything with Marko. It's obvious.

"Is Thaddeus that desperate to push his daughter down my throat?" He said the first sentence.

"No one's pushing me down your throat! It's your duty! Your mother left you the responsibility to impregnate me when you turn 30. You're 28 now, it's the perfect age for us to get married so we'd have enjoyed each other for two years before you finally impregnate me!" Lissa shouted from the door.

"You're more serious with my duty than me, Lissa Armando. If I decide to impregnate another girl that's not you, will you jump in a river? The Mississippi?" Leonardo muttered, voice thickening.

The Italian and American accent merged fluidly.

"You know you can't do that! You'd do anything your mother says, you're still so obsessed with her words and teachings and that's why her skeletal part is still with you in your Citadel! If she said you must impregnate me and get married to me without falling for me, then fine! Love is trash and she was right, but you belong to me!" Lissa argued, coming in fully.

"You must be fun at parties," Leonardo laughed, his eyes meeting hers. "Don't come closer to me, or I'll kill you and report to mum later." 

Lissa continued her bold strut towards him, not letting his threat get to her at all.

Leonardo got his hand ready—to strangle her, but she hasn't arrived when Ivanna moved to the front.

"Tommorow, 6pm. I'll be in the mud fight with the Padrino. Accepted." She said, and Lissa stopped waking.

Leonardo's eyes turned to her, but Ivanna wasn't looking.

Instead, her eyes are on the Padrino who's now walking closer.

"Joy..." Leonardo muttered.

Ivanna's ears moved, but she didn't look back at him till Marko got to her and settled his figure in front of her.

"6pm, lateness is a taboo," he said.

"I know, but thanks for the reminder." She replied brazenly.

Bobby entered the hall through the second double doors, making a quick announcement...

"Unforeseen infiltration! Valon is gone from the Painhood!"

The mobsters rushed out of he ballroom immediately.

"What exactly happened when they brought Valon in the morning? You refused to carry me along as usual!" Bobby asked, rushing after him.

"He wouldn't be this calm if he didn't know about this infiltration beforehand," Bacardi retorted.

"Last time at Hydra forest, Leo was lucky to pick up Monika's locket, and now Valon has been brought. Valon worked with Monika to divert our goods, so they're like partners. Monika and her gang would want to come and save Valon and get the locket." Sandra explained.

"I know, dummy. I'm asking if there's a plan in place before I'll carry out my own plan and y'all will start saying I'm annoying!" Bobby said.

Leonardo stopped, turning to face his siblings, then his mind did a spin-back to this morning.

                 <Flashback, 8am>

After Leonardo left the general cyber hall, he head straight for the Painhood where Valon was tied up in chains like a period slave.

His spies did a number of beatings on him already, so he's bloody, and his chopped toes has been wrapped with rag to minimize the bleeding and keep him alive.

Leonardo sat on a high table in front of him, then he took a long sharp-edged stick, stretching.

He pressed the stick on Valon's bare stomach, drawing invisible lines on the bloody skin.

"My initial plan was to make you unappetizing for flies, but now, there's a change in plan...."

He stopped the sharp stick in the middle of his stomach and pressed it inside, stabbing him.

Blood rushed, and a small intestine peeked out of that stabbed area.

Valon couldn't even cry. He couldn't speak, so he just suffered pains in silence and wriggles.

Leonardo jumped down from the table, eyes sheening with intrigue as he went closer to him.

He looked at him closely, gasping intentionally.

"You really can't speak?"

"We messed with his vocal cords," a spy from the door said, and Leonardo laughed with dark shrillness.

The laughter was longer than usual, resounding in the hood, and when he stopped, he punched Valon's stomach—exactly the spot he stabbed with the stick earlier.

The spot bled more, and that showing intestine showed more, blowing up and going down as Valon breathed rapidly like he's on a death row.

He still didn't cry, he just wriggled and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. 

No sound.

Leonardo sighed, nodding.

"He really can't talk."

He faced the spies..."Like I said...my plan has changed. Right now, I can't afford to touch him." He said.

The estate doctor came in with a really big metal injection.

Leonardo took it from him and thrusted it into Valon's bleeding stomach, injecting him on the ruptured spot.

Valon began gasping for breaths...

"Stitch him up and transfuse him with blood. Mix animal blood with the blood,." Leonardo ordered.

"Animal blood? He's gonna die within fifteen hours and he's gonna end up coughing up everything till he deflates! It's the most painful death ever!" The doctor said immediately.

Leonardo faced him. "Exactly what I'm after. I only need him alive till his saviors will come." Leonardo replied, and the doctor bowed.

With a merciless air, Leonardo left the hood. 

Monika's locket fell from him.

               <Present Time>

Bobby smiled, and Sandra just simply shook her head.

"What can I say? As usual, you're a devil. Who the hell transfuses a human with animal blood? Eew! He's gonna die with how many diseases in his body? Where did that idea even come from?" Sandra said.

"Inside Leo's head, mum planted a lot, and this one's just one of the numerous." Bobby said proudly.

"I feel like Leo should enter that mud fight with granddad tommorow. I'm genuinely scared of you both." Sandra shook her head, cracking her knuckles before leaving.

Bacardi did the same and followed her sister.

Leonardo and Bobby left together.

--

[Inside The Estate Compound]

Monika's plan was simple...she entered the estate with her too three several minutes ago...

They wore hiding hats which shadowed their faces and kept them away from cameras.

Their plan was to go to the ballroom and join the celebration for a minute and maybe they'd extract Leonardo's fingerprints from his wine glass and then his Citadel to get Monika's locket before they'd gi get Valon.

But the plan changed when they entered. 

Monika changed the plan, so they sneaked to the Painhood first.

No idea how, but Monika knows the way to the hood despite the fact that it's her first time here.

As predicted, they met Valon there on his shackles, and they unshackled.

While Hayden and Bradshaw took him, Moo and Monika herself stayed in the front, guiding their steps. 

Luckily for them as they exited, they saw Monika's locket on the ground, and Moo picked it up.

"Your locket, Leader." She presented it under the glimmer.

Monika snatched it from her, frowning as she opened the locket. The picture inside is still intact.

"Why would my locket be here with Valon?" She muttered.

"We have to move before any suspicion kicks in!" Bradshaw said.

With a low whistle, Monika resumed her guidance. 

Their black suits blended with the darkness, so their cover was maintained, but not for long, cos the moment they stepped out of the hood building, a loud, bright red alert shone throughout the estate, screaming INFILTRATION!

"Fûck! They found out!" Bradshaw spat, Valon's arm slipping off.

"Of course they did! They're not daft!" Hayden snapped.

Monika directed them into a hideaway, and they all gathered stones to throw at the cameras since it's impossible to hack them.

Satisfied, Monika ordered them to place Valon on the ground.

"Watch over him, Brad." She ordered, 

Bradshaw nearly objected, but seeing Monika's eyes, he recoiled.

"Yes, Leader."

The remaining three came out of the hideaway. They could already hear the clamour of the mobsters coming for them from the top floor of that hideaway since it's a storey building.

They split. Moo to the left, Monika to the right, and Hayden chose middle.

The first person Moo encountered was Robert.

He just fell out of a corner, using all the rage he's feeling from Padrino's announcement, he got her in the forehead, and she staggered, looking up to meet his figure.

"Nice to meet you again, Robert Cooper." She smiled.

"Coming here ain't so smart!" Robert told her, rolling in a twist, coming for her with another head hit, but Moo shoved her knife into the wire on the wall. The wire shredded, and naked wire touched Robert.

For a second, he shivered, feeling the shocks in his bones, but it didn't last. 

He directed another hit, and Moo countered it, but his third hit met her in the bowels, and she flew.

She landed on the concrete, groaning.

"Here!" Tierney appeared in that corner, staying with him.

"Told you to stay with Ginny!" Robert grunted.

"Ginny is fine with Hilda, c'mon..." Tierney replied, but he was pulled back by Nino suddenly.

Tierney stayed by the wall.

"Stay right there," Nino warned him, then he went forward with Robert.

By now, Moo is up, so she charged forward too.

--

On the right side, Monika met Leonardo and Bobby, but the numbers went higher cos Sandra and Bacardi appeared behind her too.

Bobby sat on a brick, back resting on the plastered wall, smiling like this place is his bedroom.

"Brother, tell me honestly... Monika is kinda hot, don't you think?" He said.

Leonardo didn't reply.

"You really dunno when to joke!" Sandra pulled her gun, firing at Monika, but Monika maneuvered, avoiding all shots.

"Two over ten!" Bacardi clapped.

"It's great luck to meet the Esposito siblings all at once," Monika smiled, pulling a gun out of her suit.

"Nice to meet you again, Leonardo!" She shouted, shooting.

Typical her. Instead of bullets, the gun produced pins—poisoned pins.

The three siblings did a jump, hanging themselves on the railings of the second storey.

It's just Leonardo left on the ground floor. He hid behind a pillar, and all of the pins entered the pillar instead.

When he bursted out from behind that pillar, he pulled a ceiling chain, and a large part of Monika's angle ceiling crashed down—woods and metals.

Monika disappeared for a minute as if the crash really killed her, but she suddenly rose from the middle of the pile. Turns out the crash just caved her in, and she was in the middle.

With a unexpected high jump, Leonardo hopped to her at the other side. She backed up.

Wasn't fast enough though, cos when his boot met her chest, she crashed to the third pillar, and that was when the three other siblings came down.

They were about to thrust her with one of the fallen ceiling metals when she blew a yellow powder.

They all quickly covered their noses and closed their eyes.

--

At the middle corner, Hayden came across the one person he didn't expect—Ivanna.

They both stopped at first like long lost friends who're just finding each other, and Hayden smiled longingly.

"Vanna..."

And that was the end of the calm. Ivanna charged forward immediately.

First hit from her was face elbowing, and that made Hayden fall on the ground, shocked.

"Vann—"

Ivanna charged again, using her heels. She gave him a chin kick, and his face nearly flew off his body.

He bled, and when her third hit came, he quickly shifted back.

He kept shifting back till her fifth hit got his stomach.

He groaned, hurt by the coldness in her eyes more than the injury she's inflicting on him.

He was about to say about saying something when someone else joined the fight.

Lissa.

She jumped in from above, and she marched Hayden's head, nearly breaking her neck before landing on the ground.

She swung her sword forward, and Hayden received a rib cut.

"Bitch!!!" He yelled, holding his bleeding side with and hand before going for her.

Lissa's second sword thrust missed him, and she was taken aback when he got to her suddenly and wanted to stab her with a knife on the chest.

She used her arm to block it, so the blade entered her arm instead.

Taking that opportunity, Hayden jumped out of that corner, escaping.

Roughly, Lissa removed the knife from her arm, and black blood followed it out.

Then she faced Ivanna.

"FTM? You probably met up and taught him! How the fûck is he that fast!" She accused.

"You're more tolerable when you're silent, Bambi Doll." Ivanna replied.

"Keep that up, till tommorow. If you come out of the mud fight alive, then I'm not Lalissa." Lissa smiled.

--

In the left corner, Nino and Hayden are already on par with Moo.

Moo isn't only strong, but annoyingly stubborn. She returned every blow, every kick, even bonuses.

They collected everything and returned it to her too.

It was a neverending exchange, but then...Robert suddenly snatched a full bottle of alcohol from Tierney.

He threw it at Moo, and she saw it late. She was too shocked to move.

If she gets hit, she'd go comatose.

She stood there, breaths held and expecting the shatter, but Hayden came over surprisingly.

He grabbed her out of the way and used his leg, kicking the heavy unopened alcohol bottle.

Alcohol spilled on the faces of Nino and Robert, and it stung.

By the time they opened their eyes one minute later, Moo and Hayden were already gone.

Even Monika is gone from the middle corridor.

Bradshaw and Valon are gone from the hideaway too.

Reports came from the gate that they've escaped the estate, and Leonardo smirked.

He snapped his fingers at Tierney, and Tierney followed him to the general cyber hall. 

Ginny came to join them there, and the two brainiacs began trying to connect the systems with the tracker.

With their joint work, it took just two minutes, the tracker route showed.

There's actually a tracker inside Valon.

While Tierney and Ginny followed the tracker route on their systems, the rest of the siblings stayed with them to watch the progress.

Leonardo left the hall and stepped outside for air, and he sighted Ivanna outside. 

She stood on the verandah, staring at the pouring snow.

She's trying hard to act tough as usual, but her hardwork ain't enough to cover her nervousness.

He stopped beside her, but no words, he just stared at the snow shortly too before taking his eyes to her.

"You're awfully boring when you're silent," he said.

"I have a fight with your granddad tommorow, I don't have the luxury of words presently," she replied.

"Scared?" He asked.

"No. I was doomed the moment I entered this place anyways, but can I please see my parents? I should at least see them before I die tommorow!" She faced him.

"Weak plot," he smirked.

"Your heartlessness is alarming," she muttered, scoffing.

"Get in the fight tomorrow, make them your motivation, and you'll want to come out with whatever means just to see them again." He replied, arms folding over his chest.

"Is this your way of wishing me luck?" She blinked.

"Yes," He replied flatly, dropping a new inhaler on her palm before returning inside.

Ivanna looked at the inhaler for long, as if examining it.

"Chubby..." She muttered, smiling, but when she remembered Renata's warning of never calling her that, she held her lips together.

Then...he received a text from him.

Ghost: Name. Preferred drink. Preferred color. Food—In repeat.

Ivanna frowned, staring at it for a while before starting...

"Ivanna Joy Cooper. Tea. Black. Mother's Pancakes."

She began reading in repeat, and before she knew it, she calmed.

At least for now.

--

[Hydra Forest]

 

The gang is yet to get to their cave, they're still in the forest, resting.

Valon was jerking inside the car, so they had to stop and check him out.

While Monika and Bradshaw checked him, Hayden took off his shirt, sitting on a rock and peeking at his slit rib.

It's still bleeding, and his lips are already losing colour, hair scattered crazily on his head.

He got an ointment from the toolbox and sat back to start applying it, but his hand even felt too weak.

Moo squatted behind him and took the ointment.

She started applying it for him after draining blood from the wound surface.

He stayed still, mulling about how Ivanna was fighting him with no restraints, and it made him gulp.

She was serious with the breakup.

"Did your ex do this to you?" Moo asked behind him.

"It was Lissa's sword," he replied immediately.

"So why did you come to the left corner to save me from the bottle?" She asked again.

"I'm part of the cave, and so are you. It's normal to help each other in time of crisis, Moona." He replied.

Moo paused her finger on his wound, taking a stare at his back.

"You could have pretended not to see me and not save me. No one would punish you for it, but you still waved me anyways." She said.

Hayden stood, facing her.

"I said I did it cos you're one of us. Don't read too much meaning to it." He said glaringly.

"Valon is dying!" Bradshaw said from the other side, and they both rushed there to have a look.

He's bleeding a lot. Nose, ears, eyes, mouth and even his arsehole.

"What's going on!" Moo knelt.

"I knew something wasn't right, it went too well. Even during my fight with the siblings, they went up the rails and left Leo with me for some minutes like they were playing with me, then we met the locket in the good with Valon, and after I blew the powder, we escaped easily. It was too easy." Monika muttered.

Suddenly, Hayden took Moo's knife and went down on one knee. 

He thrusted the knife into Valon's stomach, and their eyes widened.

"Arse! The fûck!" Bradshaw snapped.

Monika was silent, watching as Hayden used the knife to pick out the tracker that's inside Valon.

Monika's eyes shadowed.

"Tracker?" Bradshaw and Moo chorused.

"A flesh tracker, planted in the flesh. Even the stich is hidden, but I can see through a stich, I'm a veterinary doctor after all. If we had taken him to the cave, we'd have been found out." Hayden explained.

"You're brilliant than I thought," Monika smiled, patting him.

"So...we entered the estate for nothing?" Moo said, looking at Valon's body on the ground.

"At least, we got Leader's tracker..." Bradshaw said.

--

[House Of Esposito, General Cyber-Hall]

"Connection aborted, I think they found out about the tracker. Valon's dead. We lost them." Tierney said from the front of his computer.

"Same here, red beep." Ginny said.

"They're not very senseless after all." Bobby commented.

"I'm impressed," Bacardi smiled.

"You can say that about me too.." Sandra folded her arms.

"Is that it?" Nino asked.

Robert was quiet, but he's aware that Bacardi's eyes are on him.

"I didn't only plant tracker on Valon? There's tracker two and three, I'll manage them myself." Leonardo said.

"And Felicia's issue?" Bobby asked.

"I don't have the time now. All issues are closed till after the mud fight tomorrow." Leonardo said.

"Seriously?" Bobby blinked.

--

[Next day, 5:50pm~ Estate Dry Lake]

The estate pit had been dug shallow and wide, fed with water until the earth turned slick and black. 

The mud is thick as sin. The kind that swallowed boots, pride, and breath.

The only difference between yesterday and today is that yesterday was procedural.

No one dared to clamour with Marko around last night, but tonight is different.

The pit site is noisy, surrounded by eagar mobsters who can't wait to witness the end of this.

The betting poll is over. It has been out since morning, and people have been betting for Padrino Marko.

Not even one vote for Ivanna.

Ginny, Robert and Nino didn't bother voting for anyone at all. With the tension in their bodies, they couldn't.

"What do you think?" Hilda asked beside Renata.

"I'm not thinking anything, Hilda. I just want this to be over already." Renata replied.

Hilda went mute.

Lissa, her mother and maid are like special guests of honour.

If last night didn't favor, tonight is definitely gonna do that.

Bobby is on top of a tree not far from the lake, smoking and watching and thinking... Was Wendy really set up?

The empire operations resume after this fight, and he can't wait to find things out.

When Ivanna entered the lake at a minute past seven, she pulled silence to the site. 

Wearing elastic black leggings and singlet. Tied her hair in a rough bun, waiting for her death to come.

At two minutes past seven, Padrino Marko arrived.

Nothing on his upper body, so the thin layer of white hair on his chest showed, matching his moustache.

He only wore black pants on his lower body, and as he stepped into the mud with her, she backed up.

At three minutes past seven, the fight was marked to start.

Marko stood at the edge first. Silver threaded through his hair, but nothing about him sagged. His spine was straight, eyes brutally cold.

Ivanna was shoved forward.

She rolled her shoulders once, steadying her breathing.

The air was damp, heavy. Bad for her lungs. She knew that. She ignored it. Fear is worse for asthma than mud.

Marko stepped into the pit.

The mud barely slowed him.

"Come," he said, curling two fingers at her. "Show me what a lowly thief can probably do."

That was the trigger.

Ivanna lunged first—not reckless, but low and fast, aiming for his legs. 

The crowd of mobsters gasped. No one attacked Marko first. No one.

He smiled.

He pivoted with terrifying ease, seized her wrist mid-charge, and used her own momentum to hurl her into the mud.

Ivanna hit hard, breath knocked clean out of her lungs, mud splashing into her mouth, her nose.

She coughed once. Twice.

Marko didn’t give her time.

His boot came down beside her head—a warning strike that sank deep into the mud.

"Get up," he said calmly. "Or drown."

Ivanna pushed up on shaking arms, chest burning with the effects of the mud in her nose.

She pumped herself completely with jef former inhaler and the new one Leonardo gave her last night. She nearly finished it, but now...

Now it feels insufficient.

The fight is only just starting, so why? Why is her breaths thinning?

The wheeze crept in once again, sharp and traitorous. She clenched her jaw and swallowed it down. Weakness was blood in this place.

She swung, and her fist caught Marko's ribs.

The sound was solid. Real.

The mobsters sucked in air.

Marko grunted—not in pain, but disapproval. 

He answered with an elbow that cracked across her shoulder.

Ivanna stumbled, slipped, but didn’t fall. She grabbed his pants, dragged him down with her, and suddenly they were both in the mud.

They rolled, mud coating skin and clothes. Her black leggings and singlet turned brown with the mud, even her face turned dirty.

Age and youth collided violently.

Marko is a monster who knows what he's doing.

His hands locked around her throat—not squeezing yet, just there, reminding her how easily he could kill her right now.

Ivanna grunted.

Marko's face hovered inches from hers. Mud sand dropped from his face to hers.

"You think you're a tigress?" he said with a slicing intensity. "You're a plague that should be eliminated!"

He threw her again.

Ivanna landed on her side, gasping. 

Her chest tightened, breath whistling. She clawed at the mud, fingers trembling. 

She panted for breaths, seeing death's door face-to-face. 

The mud entered her nostrils again, even her eyes and ears and ears.

Before she could switch, Marko was already on his feet. He placed her leg on top of her head, pressing her face deeply into the mud till her head disappeared completely inside.

Those who're on their sit before stood immediately.

"No no no...." Renata muttered shakily.

"She's...she's not dead... right?" Hilda muttered.

Ginny was already crying, and Robert couldn't even hold her cos he's dealing with his own fear too.

It was Tierney who held Ginny as she started trying to go forward.

"Please spare my sister! Please don't... Anna!!!!" She screamed, her tears pouring like waterworks.

Robert was pinching himself on the wrist, fighting tears, but he couldn't.

Bacardi moved just like Ginny, but Sandra stopped her.

"Don't be silly, what will you do if you enter the pit?" She said.

Bacardi stopped, then she looked at Robert's teary eyes and bit herself deeply on the lips.

On the tree, Bobby is smoking with a carefree look.

"Oh that got ugly real fast...is she dead?" He muttered.

"She's dead, right? Someone tell me she's dead!" Island shouted.

"Shut up!!!" Nino yelled beside her, and she flinched.

The brigadiers are silent. The mobsters are silent too.

Thaddeus has that tricky smile on his face now, same as Penny.

"I think she's dead," Emma said behind Lissa.

"It'd be abnormal if she survives... Someone's gotta teach her a lesson...in hell" Lissa chuckled.

Donna Felicia looked at Anthony, both not exchanging words. She has been careful around him since yesterday's infiltration cos she's aware that after this fight, she'd be called to explain why her fingerprint was used to infiltrate.

In the dense middle of the mobsters, there’s Leonardo… alone.

His features are carved from stone as he watched the mud saga unfold.

Marko’s leg is still on Ivanna’s head, grinding her face deeper into the filth.

The crowd roared, but Leonardo heard none of it.

She’ll stand. She has to.

Dying like this would be a sin on its own. Not after the sleepless night he spent staring at the ceiling, convincing himself she was stronger than the pit they’d thrown her into.

His jaw tightened.

Get up.

He didn't say it, it's a thought.

Her body didn't move.

Something cold snaked through his chest—not panic, just a sharp, controlled ache he refuses to name. 

Leonardo has buried men without blinking. He has watched blood pool at his feet and felt nothing.

This is different.

His fingers curl slowly at his side, nails biting into his palm. 

He didn't rush, that would mean doubt, and he does not doubt her.

She is not weak.

She does not break.

"Witch," he whispered, waiting...

"Luck isn't in anyway related to idiots like this!" Marko’s voice cut through the place like a gunshot.

He pressed his leg harder on her head, and Ivanna finally sounded.

Like a fish, she forced herself up, and her hand went up too. 

She's now holding a eating fork, and with brute force, she stabbed Marko's leg with it inside the mud water.

Blood mixed with the mud water as she stood sharply.

Every of her inhale was fire. Every of her exhale dragged. But her eyes were still sharp.

She wiped mud from her face and smiled—small but vicious.

Now it's Lissa's turn to stand from her seat, she pushed away Emma's umbrella from her head.

Thaddeus frowned, exchanging glances with Anthony.

There's only one person with this type of stubborn, resilient animalistic energy even in the face of death.

It's Vera. This is like watching Vera fight with her unexpected moves.

"You hit like a legend," Ivanna rasped. "But you talk too much, Padrino."

She rushed him again.

She slid under his guard, hooked his knee, and drove her shoulder into his hip. Marko staggered—just a fraction, but it was enough. 

They went down together, the impact so heavy, the pit swallowing them whole together.

For one heartbeat, Marko was beneath her.

The crowd froze.

Ivanna straddled him, fist raised, breath screaming in her chest.

Before that fist could land on Marko's face, Ivanna's next breath implicated her. That breath made sand run into her insides, blocking her trachea and nose completely.

The fork fell from her into the water, and she lost balance.

Marko took the chance and wanted to blow her in the face, but Leonardo's legs were faster.

He literally jumped in the mud, taking her away from the old man.

"She could have killed you with that fork, but her asthma kicked in!" He said angrily, carrying her unconscious body in his arms.

Marko looked at her in his arms, then he stood from the mud and snapped his fingers, calling off the fight.

Leonardo climbed out of the pit, keeping her body secure in his arms as he walked through the crowd of silent mobsters.

Bobby jumped down from the tree already. Cigar over.

Renata smiled largely.

"Anna... please be fine..." Ginny sniffled.

"She'll be fine..." Robert assured her immediately.

Anthony was the second one to smile, but it was thin.

Again, there's emotions in Leonardo's eyes. A bunch of it.

"Shame on you, Vera. Your son is deviating from your path." Anthony said mockingly, looking at the sky.

When Leonardo walked past Lissa, she held his arm, and his poisonous eyes rolled to her.

"Don't," she muttered.

Bacardi and Sandra pushed her hand away.

"Shift off..."

Emma quickly covered her from them.

All eyes followed him as he walked away, shifting Ivanna in his arms. Mud water was dripping from her, also dripping from his shoes.

Renata turned her neck, facing her father who's still in the pit.

Padrino Marko is staring at the show too, looking as empty as a shell.

"She's a new version of Vera, but this one...you won't be able to control her, father." Renata muttered.

--

[Citadel]

Leonardo wasn't even looking at the mud dropping from Ivanna's clothes, wasn't looking at the mess it's doing to the white flooring.

He entered with her, still positioned in his arms.

He opened his bathroom door with his leg and carried her inside. 

He dropped her, pressing her feet to the ground, but he still held her upper body to himself as she's still unconscious.

He opened the shower on her—on them since it's wetting him too.

The mud in her hair began peeling off, washing off to the floor plus the sand impurities.

He used his hand, fingering her hair and shaking off the dirt as the water drenched her.

"Joy..." He muttered, turning her face to look up at the shower so the sprinkles hit her face directly.

He pulled an additional inhaler out of his pocket and pumped her.

It still didn't work.

He noticed there are thorny sensations coming from under her singlet, so he took off the singlet in one go, not waiting to reconsider.

The singlet hit the floor, so now it's only her bra covering her upper body. She stirred.

"Joy!" He called again.

No answer, so he moved to her leggings, but the moment his hand touched the band, she grabbed his hand, stopping him.

Her eyes are still closed though...

Her breaths are saggy, shallow, fast... like she's chasing it. Her face twisted..

"Can't breathe...why can't I...why can't I...breathe??..." She talked, opening her mouth to draw breaths inside.

Still, it's not enough. Her breaths just turned shallower, shorter.

She suddenly got a hold of his shirt in the front, knotting it tightly....eyes still closed.

"My breaths...I can't.... it's...."

Leonardo stared at her helpless state for the next one second. 

The way the water is cascading over her closed eyes.

The way she's begging to breath.

The way she's panting, holding his shirt. The way her eyes are tightly shut, the way her lips are........

His thoughts stopped there, cos one minute more, he erased the gap between them and crashed his mouth totally on hers.

He felt her body going still for one, and two seconds, and her hot shallow breaths ran shorter.

Her hold on his shirt in the front tightened, and when he slowly used his tongue to open her mouth, she didn't tear apart from him.

She stayed, drawing breaths from his mouth, stealing breaths from his lungs as she began kissing back.

She let go of his shirt, and those hands went down, pressing on the wall behind her as the kiss went tighter. He was sucking her tongue.

Gentle. The gentlest he has ever been with anybody.

Her upper lip disappeared into his mouth again as he licked that, his tongue sliding under her own.

Her eyes felt like it could finally open...lashes parting for each other like a tangled web.

Immediately she opened those eyes, she gave him a shoulder push, and the kiss broke.

Her lips are already pale, eyes pale too, hair like wet wool on her head. Scattered.

Her br+sts popped inside her br@, and her leggings is even hanging on her hips already...not her waist anymore, so her p+nty is out.

"You..." She started, wanting to push him again, but he wasn't shoved.

He held her shoulders down..

"I have a name," he whispered, bringing an hand to her neck, tracing the freshness with it.

Steam rose from the shower water since it's warn now. Automatic switch

The steam only made her paler, and the space between her brows knotted a little... cutely....

He didn't allow her look sideways. He made sure she focused on him."you are reading from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng"Her eyes on him, his hand still tracing her neck as the shower poured aggressively.

"Still need more breaths?" He whispered in a bedroom voice, rubbing her plump earlobes.

"No..." She breathed shakily.

"That lying mouth...." He groaned with need.—with yearn. He took a thin hair strand away from her lips.

"Nardo," She muttered, and that...

That snapped the little thread of sanity left in his head—his skull.

"Yes, my witch... Yes...." He whispered, tilting her neck back before opening his mouth, crowning her lips with it.

His hands went behind her, wrapping around her hips...her waist...her @$s.... His lips wrapped around her lips with insane tightness.

Compared to this one, the first kiss was a joke—a big joke, cos he was holding back.

Now this one is uncontrollably rough. 

Ungentle. Hard. 

It's insanity and obsession wrapped as one like a bloody gift.

She closed her eyes and opened her mouth completely, greedily taking his lips inside. 

When their tongues swiped, they sucked... They bit. They licked.

She smelled like vanilla again. She tasted like vanilla too...

Leonardo lost it. He pressed her body to the wall, reclaiming her lips again.

"F,+...ck....Joy... F+c..............." 

TBC.

Next Episode 

Previous Episode