37 BOSS PUNISHMENT

I FOLLOW BEHIND CYRUS to the dining room. Like always, the siblings start their day with breakfast. There isn't anything special, except for the fact that every other help who's there would bow to greet me too just like what they did to Luis before.

"Good morning master Cyrus." The other workers greet when Cyrus and I enter the dining room. Chance and Tobias are there, but Catalina is nowhere to be found. If I'm correct, today's the same day she was punished to kill her child, which shocked me more than anything I've ever found out in this mansion.

Imagine falling in love and having a child, then getting punished for such a beautiful thing. And more than that, you're asked to kill them. Cyrus also explained to me that the four pictures that were shown to her were her lover, her child, and her other helpers.

I don't see any of them now, so that's a big hint that Catalina didn't kill her child, causing the family to kill all four of the targets that were presented to her. Because during Cyrus's gentleman punishment, Talia explained that if Cyrus unsuccessfully kills his target, the watchers will kill all of the people on the pictures.

Well, either that or Catalina really killed her child and the other three just left for their safety. Cyrus couldn't explain everything else to me anymore because he wasn't sure himself. He didn't know what exactly happened because they never asked Catalina about it. All they know is that after that, Catalina changed.

"How's Cat?" Cyrus asks, and Chance and Tobias both have worried expressions on them when they looked back at Cyrus who took his seat. I went to the spot where I'm always standing with Luis and watched the siblings have their 'usual' breakfast conversation.

"I visited her room earlier. She said she's fine. She just wants to rest." Chance explains while sipping on his coffee.

Tobias puts his fork down and looks at Chance, "And you believed her? You should have stayed with her."

Chance slams his mug down, causing the coffee to spill. But Chance didn't bother the hot coffee that spilled on his hand. He angrily looks back at his brother and says, "What else would I have done? I don't see you doing anything to make things better."

"You don't know what I've done for her." Tobias answers.

"Oh, you mean with the dean? Yeah, Tobi, it went so well that Cyrus had to fuck him for your sake." Chance then fires back, and Cyrus finally intervenes and slams his hand on the table making the two bickering brothers stop arguing.

"Arguing now won't help the situation. If Catalina needs space then give it to her. There's nothing else that we could do." Cyrus says, making Chance and Tobias look at each other before looking back at their other brother.

"Cat's not getting any better and you know that." Tobias tells him, and Cyrus sigh and massages his temple before saying, "That's enough Tobi. You've done your best." I thought that's the end of that, but Cyrus then adds, "You've always done your best."

Tobias looks surprised at the remark, and the surprised expression on his face eventually turns into sadness. I thought he's going to cry but he tries his best not to.

"Now can we just have a peaceful morning for once?" Cyrus asks, and the three do continue there breakfast like they don't have a sister who's minutes away from completely breaking down.

...

"I don't understand why I can't come with you anymore," I tell Cyrus as I watch him wax his hair to perfection. I'm leaning on the doorframe of the bathroom with my arms crossed. Cyrus just finished taking a bath, and just when I'm about to ask what his schedule was for the day, Cyrus tells me that I have to stay at the mansion.

"I am a bodyguard before anything else." I tell him, and Cyrus looks at me through the mirror and replies, "You are a watcher now, and not just any watcher, but the head of the household. You have to stay here to watch over the mansion."

"And what? You'll come back all beaten up this time?" I ask.

When Cyrus hears my question, he smiles and approaches me. He grabs me and kisses my forehead before saying, "I'm heading to the company. I have a few meetings with the directors that Catalina's supposed to meet. Nothing bad will happen, I swear it."

I stare at Cyrus and rest my head on his chest, "I'm just worried."

Cyrus kisses my head again and embraces me.

"Elliot..." he whispers, sending shivers in my spine as he caresses my back. "Watch over Catalina for me." He adds, and I finally lift my head to look at him.

"You won't be doing anything stupid right?" I ask instead, and Cyrus kisses me on the lips this time and answers, "I won't."

I let go of Cyrus and walk back to his room, AKA the library slash office that he turned into his personal bedroom. While Cyrus wore his shirt, I started arranging the papers that were scattered on the floor. Then I picked up the empty beer cans and threw them away. I could at least clean the room up like what Luis did when he was Cyrus's personal butler.

"Don't you miss him? Luis I mean." I ask while I folded the blanket on the sofa. Cyrus is already putting on his necktie when he answers me, "I have more regrets than anything else. He protected me as much as he could. I couldn't ask for a better butler...and a better friend."

I look back at Cyrus after hearing him say the word friend. That's the first time he labeled someone other than his family. Which made me wonder...what are we?

The question lingered, but I couldn't dare ask Cyrus. Too much has been happening, and making him worry about our label is the last thing I want him to worry about.

"My last meeting will end at five. I'll be back right after so I'll see you by then." He says as he approaches me again.

I nod my head as an answer, and Cyrus kisses me again before taking his bag and leaving the room. As soon as he's gone, I take a deep breath and place my hands inside my pocket, making me remember that I have the general key of the mansion placed inside my other uniform. Since it's morning, I'm wearing the watcher uniform anymore. I have to run back to my room to get the key again.

"That scared me," I say when I found the key that I was looking for.

Now that I'm here, I might as well explore the mansion now.

The mansion is old, no doubt about it. I already mentioned before that the only modern thing here is the elevator that leads to the lower floors. I've been here for ten days now, which is crazy because I feel like I've been here for almost a year. But even though I've been here for a couple of days, I haven't really explored the mansion yet.

The Delton mansion is considered the securest mansion in the whole country. It's almost impossible for you to infiltrate it. I wouldn't have if it weren't for Cyrus. The only reason why I got inside is because of Cyrus. He's the person who called for us in the first place. If that wasn't the case, I would have already been killed.

In this mansion, there are three floors, plus the two other underground floors.

The first floor is where the common areas can be found. Like the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the cafeteria where people like me eat, the lounging area, the maids quarters, and other function rooms that I don't have to mention one by one. On the second floor, you'll find all the bedrooms and guestrooms, and of course Cyrus's office-bedroom. And on the third floor were more rooms like a music room, and a study room, and some empty rooms too.

I couldn't really explore everything because I'm afraid of getting lost. It might be helpful if someone made an actual map, but I asked around the other maids, and they said there aren't any.

Now thanks to my new position, I'm also able to talk to the other butlers and maids. Like what I was instructed when I first got here, they have to be in bed before the bell rings. And they only have a few rooms that they can enter.

"I'm just wondering, where are sir Adam's butlers and maids? Or the butlers that served the other siblings before master Cyrus and the others?" I ask the maids who were ironing clothes in the ironing room. Yes, they have a room specifically made for ironing.

"When we got here the master had already passed. But I heard that all the helpers were already too old so they were dismissed." One of the maids answers me.

"So you're telling me all of you came here when the masters were already Cyrus and the other siblings?" I ask, and the maids nod their heads as an answer. For some reason, I feel like they weren't just dismissed. If the family can do all those cruel things to the siblings, then I'm pretty sure they can do anything to the help as well.

"And master Abraham?" I ask next, and the maids looked at me like I just mentioned a total stranger's name.

So they don't know Abraham, which means they don't know he's here. Well, it would only be natural since they don't even know about what's going on downstairs. Only the watchers know about it. That's why they're asked to be asleep before the bell. But it doesn't really matter if they know him or not. Abraham is barely alive. It's pretty obvious that Adam was supposed to replace him, but since he was killed, he has to hang in there a little longer. But that concept already confuses me.

From everything that I've observed and heard, Abraham was once the head of the family, but when Adam became the head, Abraham stepped down and became the eye of the family instead. It's only natural that the cycle should repeat itself. Adam was supposed to step down and become the eye of the family as soon as Tobias becomes the head. But now that Adam is killed the cycle is ruined.

Abraham won't be able to live any longer than this. The only explanation I could think of is that Adam's siblings will have to take that role. If I remember correctly, Adam isn't the eldest. Camilla Delton, the one who has the slut role, is the eldest amongst them. But since she's a girl, Adam became the head of the family. Then the youngest is Ophelia Delton who holds the saint role. That leaves the only other boy among the siblings...Dario Delton, who holds the boss role.

"Sir Vincent." Someone suddenly calls out, startling me since I'm too occupied with my thoughts. I turn around and saw Matilda panting like crazy. She must have run her way here.

"Yes? How may I help you?" I ask, pretending like I wasn't deep in thought a few seconds ago.

All the maids stared at her as she takes a deep breath and finally says, "S-sir Dario...H-He's here."

My eyes widen from surprise. What in the world is happening? Just when I finally made a conclusion, he suddenly appears here. And since I'm the head of the household now, is Matilda expecting me to welcome him?

"What's going on? Why is he here?" I ask her, and Matilda looks at me with a sad expression, almost making me gasp from realization.

"Catalina is going to be punished sooner than later," I remember Tobias say when Cyrus and I went to his university.

The next punishment is the boss punishment. During the slut punishment, Camilla was there to lead it. Dario previously holds the boss role which means he's here because...

"Where is he?" I immediately ask Matilda, and instead of answering me, she runs off, instantly making me follow her.

She brought me to an entrance that I haven't seen before. Looking at how it leads to another elevator, it's obvious that this is where the "guests" enter every night.

When we arrive, there's a car parked right in front of the entrance. Other maids and butlers are already there, and I'm suspecting that they all waited for my arrival. I fix myself up and walk towards the car to open the back door for whoever's inside. When the door opens, a man in a suit steps out of the car, instantly making the other maids bow to him. I do the same, and the man eyes me from head to toe.

"Master Dario. Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to meet you." I greet as I hold my chest and bow like a gentleman that I was supposed to be. No one really introduced him yet, but by the way he presented himself, no one could look more of a boss than him.

"You must be the new head of the family." He says, and I nod my head to confirm it for him.

"I respected Luis. He was a great man, so I expect a lot from you." He says, and I nod my head again.

"Shall we have a chat?" He asks, but I'm pretty sure that that's not an invitation I'm supposed to decline.

"Follow me," I say as I brought Dario to the lounge area underground.

This is my first time to come here without the guests. The areas are filled with workers, getting ready for the visitors to arrive. And when they saw Dario, they stop and bow their heads for him. He really must be a respectable man. If I didn't know him, I'd think he's the gentleman.

"Please sit," Dario commands when we arrived inside a private room.

I sit down in front of him. Dario takes a cigarette and starts smoking in front of me. I closely watch his every move. His small gestures were intimidating, and the way he glanced at me from time to time made me gulp. Catalina once told me that bosses manipulate people. This must be his way of doing it.

"Your name?" He asks.

"Vincent Carter."

Dario inhales and exhales the smoke before asking again, "Vincent. Do you know what this family is about? Our father wouldn't make you the head of the household if you didn't."

"I do. I know about the roles." I answer, and Dario smiles before tapping his cigarette with his finger so the excess ash would fall off it.

"So what can you say? Outstanding isn't it?" He asks, and the question almost made me slap him. I planned to keep this conversation civil, but for some reason, the anger that has already been stored inside me suddenly comes out because of what he said. Everything about him was off.

"Outstanding? How could you do something so inhuman to your own family?" I ask, and Dario didn't even look fazed. In fact, he started grinning now.

"It keeps the system going. They know the consequences of their action, so they know that their roles must be followed no matter the situation. These roles are what's keeping our family strong." He says before inhaling the smoke again.

"Do you think it's strong?" I ask him.

Dario exhales the smoke and answers me, "The children are terrified of making mistakes. I can say it's quite strong."

"That's not strength. That's fear." I correct him, and Dario chuckles.

"It's better than having children who can't follow." He says before putting the cigarette in the ashtray.

"What makes you think they'll still follow you after everything that happened to them? You're punishing them for that reason." I tell him, my anger growing every second I conversed with him.

Dario crosses his legs and says, "The generation before them, which is us, followed the system and it worked out perfectly."

"You're not creating the same children."

"But we are nurturing them to be the same. Almost like a replica." He says with a proud smile. I didn't even notice that I was already clenching on my fist.

"Children who are chained by their family will follow obediently like dogs. But chained too tight and they will break. And you don't know what broken children can do." I say with diction in my voice. After my statement, I was panting because of the adrenaline rush. Dario smirks when he looks at me, and at that moment I realized...he manipulated me.

"Shit." I curse under my breath.

"You care about them," Dario says, his expression saying that he caught me red-handed. He then takes out his lighter and starts playing with it.

"I wish we had someone like you when we were younger." He suddenly says with a sad expression, surprising me. I didn't know what to say, but then his sad expression turns into a sadistic grin as he looks at me straight in the eye and says, "So I could have killed you myself."

The way he said it suddenly made the hair on my skin stand. I knew Catalina was good, but this man...this man is the perfect boss that the Delton's have ever created.

"Catalina taught you well. By how you studied me, I realized that she told you of our role. But there's one thing that you haven't realized yet mister Vincent Carter." Dario stops playing with his lighter before continuing, "I taught Catalina everything she knows."

I gulp as I watch Dario stand from his seat.

"So as her mentor, I am very disappointed by how she is acting over such petty matters." He says, angering me even more. I wanted to say something, but Dario suddenly looks back at me and says, "Call for Catalina. We'll hold the punishment now."