The Rose Among Thorns

"Le Tempra " ,is one of the biggest delivery and online store dealing in all items from cutleries to electronic appliances. Mr Keith Tempra and Mrs Carrie Broe Tempra ,Co-own their company.

Le Tempra as a company has employed workers roughly 500 in fields of exportation, deportation, data analysis ,packaging and delivering to their customers' footsteps and made a perfect reputation in the country.

Everything was perfect both at work and with their daughter Giselle Odon Tempra .

But,

on the fateful night of celebrating Giselle's nineteenth birthday

......….....

The whole Tempra villa was filled with laughter and soothing music. It was just a family celebration without invited quests but all the workers were dressed for the occasion. In Tempra villa , everyone is respected no matter your occupation at the villa.

Mrs Tempra looked pleased at the tower of a cake she had baked and instructed the chef to design it alittle more as she pointed out around the cake then smiled after the Chef had understood her instructions.

"Mom you have to take things easy", Giselle emphasised when she met her mother midway from the kitchen.

"Fine fine" ,she replied and walked towards the dine table.

Giselle headed to the washroom that was after the corridor . From her view she could see a little through the kitchen.

The cake was designed with blue flowers and white chocolate toppings.The chef and his assistant were decorating it to Mrs Tempra's liking whilst looking happy doing their job.

Giselle giggled to the sight of their happiness and went ahead to open the door to the corridor.

"Did she really have to leave the beads hanging like this", Giselle pout cutely as she looked at the back of her white halter dress in the reflection. The beads were hanging on silver strings on her bare back . She sighed staring at the moles on her face. One at the edge of her right eye, the second at the edge of her lips to the right.

"I hate these moles, but..." , she posed and smiled," I won't feel down tonight because of you". She opened the door and walked out.

The music was still as loud as before but odd that it felt like only the music was playing. While walking through the corridor, Giselle looked to the kitchen direction and the cake was complete but neither the chef nor his assistant were there or any cook at that.

Giselle was out of the corridor and could see the kitchen entrance.

Her heart sunk at once,"Mom! Dad!". Engulfed in shock, Giselle leant back on the wall at the sight of blood and dead bodies at the kitchen entrance. She rushed to the dine .

Only to see everyone there covered in blood. She was too stanned to react except for the tears that rushed out like a waterfall as she made her way through the corpses on the floor. Her dad saw her from across the table and coughed a handful of blood on the table .

"Daddy!!!!", she hugged her father crying," w what what how!!?"

He tried to utter words to her but his voice was soundless and weak to be heard and at once he relaxed and didn't move.

Giselle was engulfed in shock that she fell back sitting on the floor . Tears drenching the upper part of her dress while her hands were covered in her father's blood .She looked around crying breathlessly and spotted her mother who had fallen near the neon lights cable. She crawled to Mrs Tempra's body and sat then laid her mother's head on her laps .

"Mama!! Mommy!!!Maaamaaaaa!",she cried in anguish and despair as she shook Mr's Tempra's body.

Giselle arose and rushed to the land line on the table but its wire was cut. She ran to the kitchen and took it up then dialed with trembling hands putting it up to her ears while her eyes were desperate. She dropped the call box to the floor instinctively and ran up the stairs to her room to search for her cell phone.

Dropping everything to the floor and making a mess of her once perfectly neat room in search of her phone. The door to her room got stuck halfway on closing but she had her mind on finding her phone. Nothing would waver her focus now.

Giselle heard her phone drop to the ground. She hurried to pick it up but kept dropping it because her grip wasn't firm due to her excessive trembling and her sight blurred because of her Tears.

"She must be up stairs",a male voice said with sounding footsteps walking up the stairs.

Giselle nervously looked around in her room as she squeezed the phone in her palms trying to locate a hideout.

Three men stood in front of her room ,one unmasked and the other two wore navy blue goon masks.

"Let's search the rooms",Giselle heard and sneaked a peek to see who they were. One of the men wearing a mask was holding the door knob into Giselle's room as the one not wearing a mask stood facing the entrance and at that opportunity Giselle saw his face and the blood cut on his chin .

Her heart raced in fear and anticipation as she heard the door being opened as some footsteps walked away. She closed her eyes and squeezed the phone in her palms while her whole body was drenching in sweat hiding in the gap between the closet and the window opening covered with the long curtains that were pushed apart .

"Halt", a deep voice spoke and was followed by footsteps that stopped at Giselle's door.

"I will take it from here" ,he said and made his way in as the goon man stepped aside.

"But …..Boss..!". He froze at the sight of being glared at. Without further ado, he walked down the stairs.

Giselle's heart sunk every step she heard. Regardless of how terrified she was, all there was to do was be still. Giselle held her breath as the steps drew closer to where she was.

He stood at the window and looked at a distance. The view from Giselle's room was beautiful. The street lights, the cars at the traffic lights and the green city square on the right. He put his hands on the lower part of the window .

Meanwhile Giselle started failing at her breath. It was hard to stay still yet to it she had to keep her breathing speed under control.

Giselle rolled her eyes slowly to the window and her heart dropped at the sight of his hand that was two inches to her dress. She pressed her lips against each other to hold back from making loud breaths. He had a tattoo "V" , at the top of his pinky finger.

As if he heard her movements, he turned his head at once to the window curtain where Giselle hid with a fixed gaze then walked gently and closed the door behind him.

Giselle stayed still until she couldn't hold her breathe. she passed out falling to the ground.

.........…..

After a few minutes had gone by

Giselle opened her eyes and inhaled loudly then rushed up on her feet. Her eyes were sore ,face pale and weak . Her white dress and hands stained with blood including the phone in her palms.

The phone was off hence proved useless for the situation. She rushed down the stairs and tried once again to fuse the cable so she'd make a 911 emergency call. Her hands were still trembling. She resolved to getting an edge pointed knife to try again.

Sirens were heard from a distance fast approaching, Giselle's eyes sparkled instantly to the Hope that was on the way. She heard footsteps outside rushing to the door. She arose but forgot to drop the knife before going towards the door.

At sight she was blinded by the flashing lights of Cameras. She blocked her eyes with her right hand holding the knife.

It was a large crowd of journalists and the policemen surrounding her. Giselle came to realisation that she had a knife when she heard the policemen asking her to drop her weapon.

Giselle dropped the knife and rushed to one policemen shaking him as she asked for his help in a shaky voice. Her Tears rushed out once more like a flood down her cheeks.

She wasn't paying attention to any of the journalists until one pulled her and pushed her falling close to her mother's body and started accusing her of killing everyone because she was greedy.

Giselle lost her senses at once and passed out hearing the harsh accusations and questions that had become noisy and faint to her hearing.

...............…

The man with the "v" tatoo.

Laud Reinhardt most commonly known as Vex. The Caporegime of the Twero mafia clan which is the most powerful of the other four . As the "capo" short term for caporegime, Vex is assigned with skilled gun men that work under him by his orders. He takes orders from the Underboss and puts them into action.

Twero has three capos that do the dirty work. All soldiers are identified by their capo because they take orders from only one capo.

Vex walked to and fro in his office silently as he looked to the ground.

One soldier knocked at his door then walked in.

"Report", he said as he took out a cigarette from its box.

" There will be movement midnight to end his bloodline",he said .

Vex gestured his hand then the soldier walked out and closed the door behind him.

Once the door closed,Vex checked his watch and it was 45 minutes to midnight. He put the remaining cigarette on the ashtray and grabbed his goon mask and went through the window and jumped outside. He left the Cigarette still burning on the ashtray with smoke rising .

..........

Giselle woke up and looked around only to realise that she was in the hospital room but handcuffed to the bedside. She shook the cuff trying to release her self until she was interrupted.

"Uncle!?",Giselle cried out.

Mr Winsley Tempra, younger brother to Mr Keith Tempra. Father to Blanca Tempra , his seventeen year old daughter.

Mr Winsley approached Giselle and embraced her. Giselle couldn't contain her Tears and in seconds she burst into tears .

Later, Giselle had narrated everything that had happened .

"I can describe his appearance. I am innocent. I .I would never dream of killing anyone. My parents! For their" . She cried as she remembered the accusations that were put forth by the journalists. Just then two policemen opened the door and uncuffed her hands from the bedside then cuffed her hands and held her side by side.

Mr Winsley and Giselle pleaded but the two policemen paid no attention while dragging her to their car. Mr Winsley was left stranded ,not knowing what to do.

Giselle kept requesting to see her parents one last time but the policemen were not reacting be it irritated with her nagging or pretending to be bothered, non whatsoever. There was no envoy or escort police in cars behind and onto that the road was oddly empty and quiet .

Suddenly a bright light was shone at the driver causing him to drive off road and bumped into a street light stand. Giselle had barely recovered from the shock when she noticed that the policemen were not moving. She leaned frontwards and started shaking one then shifting to the other crying that they'd wake up.

At once the bright light went off . Giselle was engulfed in fear as she murmured the possibility of being framed as the murderer or that she escaped . She quickly thought of finding the keys to unlock the cuffs.

Searching desperately on the corpses of the policemen ,she got hold of the keys and unlocked the cuffs then turned to the door only to see a figure opening on the outside. She pushed herself to the other side but barely made it.

A man wearing a dark grey goon mask opened the door and sprayed substance towards Giselle which instantly caused her to start slumbering while weakness swallowed her whole body.

When the man was done spraying, he threw the empty tin to the side. Two other men wearing the same grey goon mask joined him .

What a waste. Look at that pretty face.

Yeah we can do something about it.

The three were harbouring perverted ideas and started to act up. Gambling who goes first and laughing among themselves.

Vex saw the three gun men laughing as they played rocks to decide who goes first .

He rushed towards them aiming his glock 19 pistol and shot to the brain with in a time difference of 5seconds per person.

"She is mine" ,He said and put his gun in the chamber then aimed.

"To finish", he added.