Chapter 3

The men kept looking for Malak, but from the looks of it, it was all just a cheap trick.

"The lighting wires had been cut. Malak knew exactly the time until the generator activated." Pietro explained. "I shot that, sir." he showed the drone." It was attached to a sound box and the lasers came out of it."

"So you didn't have any weapons?" Sebastian asked. Pietro nodded. "Impossible."

"no traces of that son of a bitch around, boss."

"Bastard!" Sebastian clenched his fists angrily. "Send a team to look for him anyway."

"I already have, sir. Any appearances of him will be reported to me and they will try to stop him from fleeing."

"excellent." Sebastian agreed. But he looked around, each leader was worried, gathering his men to get out of there as quickly as possible. "It's still a mess here. Bring Emma to me, we need to go back, it's not safe."

"She has already been removed from the premises, sir." Pietro explained, "She's safe, an escort led by Ramon took her safely to HQ."

"Like this?"

"He took her to HQ, she was in shock, she was crying a lot and… she was embarrassed."

"Ashamed?"

"As Malak spoke for all to hear. He said that about her for all to hear."

Sebastian took a deep breath, nodding. But, thoughtful, he asked the other:

"That's not true, is it, Pietro?" he asked, truly confused. "That... didn't happen to my wife, did it? She wouldn't hide something like that from me, would you?"

"I don't know, sir. The only occurrence we had with her was the kidnapping, yet Ramon was the one who was there. And he said he got there in time for them to do anything to her, didn't he?"

"At least that's what he told me." Sebastian took a deep breath.

He looked around, there was no one hurt, but everyone was already getting out of there quickly.

"I'll look for it myself." decided that, looking at Pietro.

"I'll go with you, boss."

"No, let me do it myself."

Pietro watched the boss get into his own car and accelerate, leaving the racetrack while raising the dust again.

He knew he wouldn't find Malak, but he wanted with all his body to find him. He wondered what he could do to the man, how he could hurt him so deeply that the pain he felt would be the same as the pain he caused himself.

Sebastian ran all the red lights, not even taking his eyes off the side lanes.

His car took lost turns, as lost as his own consciousness. I thought how much I had been wrong. That damn event hadn't been any good, it hadn't even been fun. Malak was still loose, out of control, and had slandered Emma in front of all the gangs.

When he finally returned to the arena, only his men were there. Sebastian couldn't breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Pietro still there, waiting for him.

"Find something boss?" Pietro asked, seeing Sebastian leaning against the car.

Rivera just denied it. Silently, Pietro approached and touched him on the shoulder. In addition to being friends at work, they considered themselves friends in life as well, and he saw that at that moment Sebastian needed a lot of strength to face what would come next.

"Emma arrived all right?" Rivera asked.

"Yes, Ramon already has her at HQ."

"She didn't want to go to the house?"

"Ramon thinks it's best that she stay with you, due to… her condition."

"State?"

"Emma is still very shaken, sir."

Sebastian nodded. He didn't know how he was going to face Emma, he was aware that it would be necessary.

That matter shouldn't end like that.

"Let's go." he decided, calling for his right arm. "I have to get this story straight. I'll talk to Ramon first, he was there, he should explain to me what happened before talking to Emma."

Pietro nodded and went armed to Sebastian's car.

An escort was arranged, as with Emma as well.

They arrived at HQ a short time later, and Emma was locked in the office, alone, quiet and in the dark as she cried and cried. Sebastian approached the door, hearing the cry of his beloved from outside. He closed his eyes, his fists were clenched tightly. Her hatred for Malak was greater than ever, he had made her cry. Made her suffer and go through things that would certainly be marked in her mind forever. But in addition to hating Malak, there was another man involved in this, everything to hate as well. And turning to look into Ramon's eyes, Sebastian quickly approached him again, leaving the man with no way out.

The men stared at each other in silence as they came face to face. Sebastian's eyes, angry and sad, frightened Ramon.

"That…" he said quietly, taking a deep breath. He pointed to the office door, his hand was shaking with anger." what Malak said about her... that day, you... you said you were on time. You looked into my eyes and glorified yourself because you killed that man. You told me she was fine!" Rivera shouted the last sentence, startling Ramon even more.

The subordinate lowered his head. Sebastian's fingers tightened on the shirt the man was wearing, itching to beat him until he finally got him talking. Some men around looked at the scene, but Pietro approached them both.

"Sir… not here." he whispered.

Sebastian let go of Ramon and looked around. He nodded at Pietro, taking another deep breath as he straightened.

"Let's go upstairs." Sebastian called.

Ramon didn't want to go. He was lost, as he had sworn to Emma that he would not even say an "A" about what had happened. And he was willing to keep the promise, even if that story had already surfaced. I knew Sebastian wanted details. Details that would hurt Emma even more. And that's why Ramon wanted to stay there, still and silent. But with Sebastian so keen to know what now came to light, he felt truly helpless as he met the gaze of the boss who had given him an order.

He went up through the only elevator in the HQ. Pietro accompanied them, fearing that the boss would lose his mind, because, in his view, he was not to blame for what had happened.

And if Sebastian was going to blame Ramon, he should blame himself too, since that day, Pietro hadn't gone with him, when, in fact, he should have been with her to keep Emma safe.

They went up to the top floor of the building and Sebastian led them out onto the terrace. It was cold, dark, and silent.

Ramon walked silently at the chief's side. Pietro followed close behind.

"We are alone." Sebastian's voice reverberated through the air. The man turned around, still a little confused due to the whole plan going down the drain and so many bad things happening. "You can talk now." he said, turning to Ramon.

The silent man kept still.

"Ramon…" Sebastian wanted to continue to keep quiet. "Please."

"Sir." Ramon denied it. He didn't want to go back that day, remember what he saw and how Emma was doing.

"I want to know." Sebastian insisted. "My wife was disrespected. In front of everyone, that son of a bitch said that. Now tell me: What happened that day."

"You already know everything." Ramon said quietly.

"No, I don't know everything. Tell me."

Ramon shifted his eyes to Pietro. The other wanted to help, but he really had nothing to do.

"TELL ME!" Sebastian whirled around, shouting that phrase, startling them both. His body quickly approached Ramon's, again his hands took the fabric of the shirt he was wearing, but, unlike before, the force used there was more brute." Tell me that all that shit I heard wasn't true. "

"Boss, please, I don't…"

"I'm sending it! Tell me, what happened? In detail, what happened that day?"

"I should have gotten there sooner." Ramon closed his eyes in regret.

"Why?" Sebastian asked.

"Because I could help it." Ramon replied. He tried at all costs to be evasive, talking or remembering the details that hurt him too.

"If you don't tell me, I'm going to go downstairs, open that door and ask her directly." Sebastian said, finally making him look at him with more attention and fear. "Tell me." he requested,

Ramon sighed. She couldn't let Sebastian ask Emma directly, that would completely destroy her.

"Malak sent two men…" he began to count, "maybe it was ten or fifteen minutes before I arrived… they… they took her to that mountain."

"Both?" Sebastian closed his eyes, disbelieving what his own mind was creating.

"The two kidnapped her." Ramon told me. "When I got there... one of them was standing away from Emma's body. It wasn't both of them, sir, but... the man I killed. It was him."

Pietro sighed, even he who wasn't in Ramon's place felt the weight of that.

"Did you kill him?" Sebastian's eyes were wet, but he didn't give himself the pleasure of crying. He felt distressed and angry at the same time.

"I killed him, boss. You saw it. That bastard paid for what he did."

"Paid?! You think that was enough? He hurt my woman, MY EMMA! Death wasn't what he deserved, not so easy. You should have brought him to me, you should have told me the truth, he should have given me that son of a bitch so I could show him what he really deserved. I would have made him want to die, but I wouldn't have given him that on a platter."

"How could I bring you him boss? Emma…"

"She what?"

"She didn't want you to know."

"But why?"

"She, beyond anyone, was the most hurt, boss. When I found her, she... she was shaking. She was scared, violated, do you think she would be okay telling you that? She wanted to hide it because she thought it was better that way. And I I promised her I'd hide it for her too. Only I saw her like that. Only I found her at her worst..."

Sebastian wanted to scream, punch something or even kill. He longed to kill Malak.

The three men were on that roof, but when they heard the door open, they were surprised to see Emma's image there.

Foster was sad, her eyes were red and watery, but they were riveted on Ramon.

In that second, she already knew that Sebastian had found out the whole story.