FUNERAL

Mort was standing at the end of the hallway before the living room where Sumire, Chaise, and Maddox were, hearing everything. Hands formed into a fist on his side, he just remained cold silent and decided not to go further into the living room to get the maiden. He could feel the turmoil intensify between them and struggle to defend herself. She could hardly keep herself together. She was shaking. Her silent sobs made his jaw clench. Mort chose not to intervene with them or the situation will get worsened.

"Dad, Mort and I love each other. He proposed to me and we are going to get married. Can't you just let us be happy? Why do you have to interfere with my decision? Why does it have to end like this?" With her blurred vision, hot tears streamed down her face and she squeezed her eyelids shut in the hope her tears would stop bursting out.

Sumire might have down on her knee in front of her father just to beg him if Maddox wasn't around, but her pride won't allow her to let the young man she hated seeing her in that situation.

"Your grandpa's decision is absolute. And we can't do anything about it." Chaise said making her shoulder drop.

"Talk to him," Sumire turned to Maddox with reddened cheeks, "or you get lost?" She added. Maddox frowned, staring at the maiden for a few seconds and let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not the type of man who takes back his word. And I proposed with no intention of backing out." Maddox determinedly replied. He has no intention of letting her go. Sumire gritted her teeth from mildly irritated to fuming mad. She looks at him apathetically.

"Why are you so desperate?" A caustic remark, look, tone humor – scathing, sarcastic, Sumire asked with a blank stare to which Maddox's lip curved into a smirk.

"You are the desperate one here, Sumire," Maddox said. Cheeks flushed, and her facial muscles became rigid as she stomped toward him. Eyes flashing angrily, the maiden was about to grab him by the collar when Chaise mediated them.

"Stop this. Next week you shall go home to your grandfather's manor so you can officially meet Maddox's family."

Mort, who heard the whole conversation, turn his back with a dark and murderous aura emanating around him. He strode back to the kitchen where Lunaire and Eiryss were waiting for him.

"I thought you had left." Lunaire said. "Since you're still here, join us for lunch." She added merrily while preparing the dish. Mort didn't answer right away. Lunaire throw a glance and quickly noticed the dark expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" The lady asked and just like her daughter, her head angled to the side. With his rigid face, Mort slightly frown and looked Lunaire straight in the eyes.

"Do you trust me?" Mort asked Lunaire in a cold tone. Lunaire could feel her hair stood on end. She found herself nodding to him.

"Thank you," Mort responded sincerely and left the villa without saying goodbye to Sumire. His mind is clouded with dark thoughts. He thinks of eloping with the maiden and locked her forever on his secluded island, just the two of them, away from the rest of the world.

Sumire who walked out from the living room immediately looked for Mort's presence in the kitchen. Her eyes peruse the place and were unable to find the young man.

"Where is he?" She asked her mother who had already prepared their lunch on the table.

"He said he had something important to do." Lunaire replied and smiled. Frowning, Sumire was surprised Mort didn't even say goodbye to her before leaving. She stormed off and slammed the kitchen door shut, making Eiryss almost drop the bowl of soup and Lunaire jolted in the place.

"Damn, why did he leave when I need him right now." She sobbed and buried her face on her pillow in the bed and cried out in frustration, locking herself in her room.

"He didn't even say goodbye? D-does...he not love me...anymore?" She breathlessly muttered between her hiccups. She pick up the phone on the table and immediately called him, but the line end up beeping.

"And now he's not answering! What the fuck am I to him?!" Annoyed, Sumire threw her phone against the wall and it crashed broken. The sound of wailing echoed throughout the room.

Maddox was on the terrace drinking tea, smiling from ear to ear when his dream girl is now in his hand. The reddened cheeks of the maiden earlier made him amused and want to tease her for more. Only if her Dad wasn't around, he might pull her into his embrace and kiss off her tears. Her mind, body, and soul should belong to him. And he was upset watching her crying for the other man. Maddox stared at his phone gallery where Sumire's stolen shot was saved.

"I like you so much Sumire and I can't afford to lose you..."

He was in the middle of sipping his tea while imagining himself doing things with her after they get married when his phone suddenly rang and vibrated. The unfamiliar number appeared on the screen.

"May I know who this is?" A frown flashed across his face, Maddox asked in a firm tone.

"Leave her alone."

A deep, cold with a hint of warning and threat can be heard on the other line. Maddox could hear the menace in his voice but he was unbothered. The man doesn't answer his question but Maddox already knows who is on the other line.

"How did you get my personal number?" Maddox asked with the same audacity as the man in the line.

"I am Mort."

From the tone of his speech, his presence screams peril and that no one in the world would dare to defy him and there is nothing he can possess because he was Mort and his word is the law.

"You can't tell me what to do even if you're Mort," Maddox responded sardonically. The young man did not answer and the call was hung up. Maddox grinned.

"I don't care who you are or what mafia you belong to. I'll get what and who the fuck I want." His smile reaches his eyes but quickly vanished when his mother called. Lips squinted into a thin line, he answered.

"Maddox, what have you done?!" His mother shouted angrily on the other line. Maddox frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean, Mom?" He asked in a most gentle tone. He doesn't want to anger her as his mother who is the new chairman of their family.

"Someone took over your position as CEO of our company. In the main branch itself. There's nothing I can do because the executives have already decided. And I don't even know who the fuck is that guy. It happened so fast and I don't have time to object or talk to them or call an emergency meeting. Get back here right now!"

His mother angrily screams. He could hear her thundering rage from the phone almost breaking his eardrums. When the call ended Maddox was unable to properly say goodbye to the Massoullèves, he hurried to go back to his company.

"Who?"

He asked himself while driving back. He checked Mort's number on his phone again but his number was no longer in his call history nor had he deleted it. It didn't even leave a trace. It's as if their short conversation didn't happen just minutes ago.

"Am I too late?"

While the Mirks are already panicking at the sudden and unexpected problem struck in their family. The Aslanovs gathered in their Manor.

"Where is he now?" Don Zagreus asked and turn to Klauss who just got a call from Mort. The secretary bowed after the Don.

"I am sorry to say this but Boss Mort can't make it today," Klauss replied. His mouth is set in a firm line, Don Zagreus was shaking with anger. Mischa wearing all black couldn't believe what Klauss said. She was expecting her older brother home.

"But it's Dieu's funeral." Look up at him, Mischa butts in. Klauss turned to her and flashed an apologetic look.

"He has something more important to do now." Klauss apologetically responded. Mischa lowered and shake her head. She couldn't hide her disappointment.

"He's too cruel!" Her eyes blazed, Mischa shouted and she would have stood up when her mother spoke.

"Nothing will change Mischa whether Dieu is dead or alive." Lady Milena meaningfully said as her eyes darted on her son's casket, cold and unemotional.

"Don't you all pity Dieu?" The young lady asked. All eyes darted on her, frowning.

"He is dead. What else do you want us to do? We can't bring him back." Lady Milena said making Mischa's mouth tighten in anger.

"I mean you don't even show regret or sympathy or sadness for his death. Like you said nothing has changed!" Mischa exclaimed and a glint of disappointment flashed in her. "None of you had cared for him!" She hysterically added. The Aslanovs stared at her, doesn't understand a single thing she said.

"Mischa, what are you talking about?" Dimitreus, her father asked. Nostrils flared, Mischa turned to him and slowly calmed down.

"Nothing." She replied and eyed them blankly. The tears that misted her eyes retreated. Even if she makes a speech about human emotions, none of them will understand. What's even more disappointing is her older brother, Mort whom she thought finally had humanity in his body.

"These emotionless jerks." She bitterly said inside her mind.

"Then you can go." Don Zagreus shifted his gaze to Klauss who immediately leave the place without uttering a word. The Aslanovs were left with their Consigliere. The maidservants of the family had also gone back to their quarters.

"Where is your son?" Emotionless, Don Zagreus asked Lucian.

"He's busy right now. He's doing what you order Don." Lucian answered right away.

"I see. Working hard, huh? They're quite close so I am surprised if he will be eager when it involves Dieu's cause of death." For the first time, the Chairman becomes chatty. Mischa turns to him.

"So, you care about Dieu?" Mischa asked sarcastically as Don Zagreus' gaze shifted at her. She looks more fierce and feisty than before.

"I always do." Mischa laughed half-heartedly at his direct answer. She couldn't fathom if her grandfather was joking or if he was serious at his word.

"Come on. I won't buy that." She said with a heavy sarcasm making Don Zagreus speechless.

"He is my grandson, Mischa." Don Zagreus said in a serious tone. Her left corner lip raised sarcastically.

"You didn't treat him like one." Mischa bluntly said and the Don narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't tell me how to treat someone, Mischa." Her grandfather said in a threatening tone and gave her a warning look.

Mischa was about to answer him when her mother faked a cough to catch her attention. Lady Milena motioned her to stop talking. The young lady stood up and storm out of the place before slamming the door shut in front of their faces leaving everyone stunned and silent.

"She's different than Mort," Lucian commented with a smile.

"That's why she's next in line." Don Zagreus responded with a proud smirk. With her boldness and audacity to talk him back are enough to make her run the clan.

"So you gave up on Mort?" Lucian curiously asked.

"You know that answer." The Chairman meaningfully replied as the smile remained on his lips.

Klauss, who was on his way to CION Brothel to meet Mort, received a sudden call from Laurel. He quickly turns open the earpiece.

"What is it?" He asked coldly and drove to the intersection of the road.

"Klauss, you got the wrong Vladimir." Laurel greeted him. His smooth brow puckered in a frown. Panic-stricken on his face, Klauss brake the car sharply making a piercing sound on the road.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?!" Klauss's face started to get darkened.

"The Vladimir you found isn't the real Vladimir. He just had surgery and they have the same build. He doesn't have amnesia, he just isn't Vladimir." Laurel replied. He could feel his head throbbing as Klauss's hands were shaking with anger.

"Where is his assistant?" Klauss asked, eyes firmly shut as he brush off his hair in frustration. Laurel heaves a deep sigh.

"The fake Vladimir killed him," Laurel replied. Klauss immediately ended the call and drove the car quickly, increasing the pace. Anger flared across his face wondering how Vladimir outsmarted him.

................

Standing under the massive tree and hands thrust in his pockets, Narco was waiting for Mort at the Death Shrine. The cold air gently caressed his messy hair as his pair of golden orbs shines in the beams of the sun peeking through the leaves. He was in the middle of sauntering the place, admiring the masterpiece built by his adoptive father when Leroy called him.

"What?" Narco asked as he put his phone away in his ears when Leroy screamed on the other line.

"You fucking demon! When are you going to show your ass up with us?! Where the hell did you two run the money? Am so poor and broke!" Leroy greeted him with a loud shattering curse making Narco laugh boisterously.

"Relax. I will also show myself, alive and kicking." Narco replied, smirking widely.

"Where are you now? And why the hell I can't trace you?" Leroy added who was currently on the computer searching for his location.

"You don't need to know," Narco said with a smile and turned off the call when he saw the silhouette of the hunk. Mort is approaching the Shrine.

"You are still alive."