chapter 7: Betrayal

"Hello Adria, it's about your sister."

**********************

After speaking with Dr Matthew regarding her sister, Adria knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she had confirmed what he told her.

Events of the day rolled into her thoughts as she struggled with grasping the reality she was exposed to today. Adria didn't fail to notice how Andre, when explaining to her didn't divulge any information about himself. He knew how to go about it and she would be lying if she said it didn't bother her.

Getting up from her bed, she slipped on her slippers and walked to the balcony adjoined to her room. She stood with her hand holding the railing as she raised her face towards the moon. A gentle breeze blew, caressing her skin. Her hair swayed as it danced to the unknown tune of the midnight breeze.

With her gaze fixed on the stars, she remembered when she was little and how her mum would tell her stories about the stars. But right now, one memory was stuck on her mind.

11 years ago (Note: Adria is 6 here.):

Little Adria lay on a blanket in the backyard, gazing up at the starry sky. "Mama, which star is our special star?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her mother settled beside her, wrapping a gentle arm around her shoulders. "Well, sweetie, I have a secret to share with you. Our special star is the one that twinkles the brightest, right there." She pointed to a particularly radiant star in the constellation of Andromeda.

Adria's eyes followed her mother's finger, and she gasped in delight. "Oh, Mama, it's so sparkly!"

Her mother smiled. "That's because it's our love star, shining bright just for us. You see, when I was a little girl, my mother showed me that very same star, and she told me that it was our family's special star, a symbol of our love and connection to each other."

Adria's eyes sparkled with wonder. "Really? Like a family heirloom in the sky?"

Her mother nodded. "Exactly, baby. And now, I'm sharing it with you, so you can always remember how much you're loved, no matter where life takes you."

As they gazed up at their love star together, Adria felt a deep sense of connection to her family, her mother, and the universe itself. And from that moment on, she knew that no matter where life took her, she'd always have a special piece of home shining bright in the sky.

********End of Flashback******

As Adria remembered her mother's words from that night, she felt a wave of peace wash over her and she knew that whatever happened from now on, whatever she found out, it wouldn't change who her family was. It wouldn't change how much her parents

Loved her

With a new found peace and determination to uncover the truth admist the lies surrounding it, Adria went to bed, having one of the most peaceful sleep in a while.

^^^^^A club somewhere in the city ( VVIP Room)^^^^^

Two men sat facing each other with a table between them, each trying to intimidate the other with his aura.

At the side was a bar with only one bartender behind it as this room was for very very important people only and right now it was occupied with the two people glaring at each other but trying to be civil. The bar was filled with expensive whiskey, spirit, wine, vodka and others.

Standing close to the door were eight bodyguards, four belonging to each men. The room had this distinct musk smell with soft music playing in the background. You could probably cut the tension in there with a knife.

The silence was finally broken by the man sitted on the right side. Looking at his face close up you would notice a scar that ran from his left eyebrow down to his ear. He called the bartender over and ordered for their best whiskey.

When the bartender had done his job, he was ushered out by the bodyguards so as not to overhear the discussion that was about to ensue in the room.

The man with a scar spoke first, addressing the other man in front of him.

"The information I heard from my men was that you are becoming incompetent and I don't work with incompetent people, they tend to delay and not deliver." He said in a cold voice as he took a sip of his drink from his glass.

"No, what you should know is that I don't work with incomplete information and that was exactly what you presented." The other man stated in a challenging voice as he regarded the man in front of him. He was the owner of the facility that Andre stole information from.

A look of anger and danger flashed across the man with a scar's face as he banged his fist on the table, spilling the liquid content in the glass.

"I f*cking told you not to underestimate that Lopez boy but you did exactly that. You think you were so smart moving the information into your facility?" He said as he laughed menacingly,

"He f*cking played you and your f*cking clan. You were all his pawns in his game and he won. He f*cking won." He said muttering the last part more to himself as he shook his head.

"You were the one who told me he wasn't like his father. My men are in the f*cking hospital because of your bullshit information you gave. You f*cking owe me." The other guy roared at the scarred man.

"I don't owe you shit, sancini. Your men are in the hospital because of your incompetence. And maybe next time think twice before underestimating a f*cking Lopez. One thing you should know is that he's coming after you. He doesn't leave a job unfinished." The scarred man said as he stood up to leave.

"Oh and one more thing, I'm cutting every business deal I've made with you. I'm not going to let that rascal identify me with you. It isn't the time to reveal myself yet." He said as he walked towards the door.

"You can't f*cking do that. We made a deal." Sancini said as he took stood up, he was fuming with anger.

"Oh, I very much can and I just did." He said still going to the door intending to make his exit.

"What is your plan against him?" Sancini asked as he accepted that he couldn't change the man's mind towards their deal.

The scarred man turned and smiled in a sick way.

"My plan is to end every single one of them and make them pay. You don't have to worry about how."

"Wouldn't you like to know his recent interest?" Sancini asked and he smirked getting the reaction he wanted on the scarred man's face.

"What interest?" He asked.

"Tsk tsk, you've been in this business and know it doesn't work like that." Sancini replied the smirk never leaving his face.

"What do you want?" He inquired.

Sancini smiled thinking that he's going to get what he wants.

"You are not going to end our deal and also you would compensate for my men in the hospital." He said maintaining a stupid smile on his face.

"That's quite an offer, but I have a better proposal." The scarred man said as he brought out his gun and faced it to sancini. All the men on both sides brought out their gun facing each other as they moved closer to their boss. Sancini also brought out his gun and pointed it to the other man.

"Seems like a fair fight to me, five on five." Sancini said.

"Is it really?" The scarred man said mockingly. He gestured for sancini to turn and look behind him.

When he did he discovered that all his men had red targets on their chest, he looked in the direction of the laser and saw snipers.

"Cazzo" (fuck) he said.

"You really are stupid. You thought you could win a fight against me in my own territory." He said mocking him.

"Now this is how it's gonna go. You tell me the information you have on that f*cking Lopez and I would let you meet your little ragazza outside in one piece and if you don't, well my dogs would be happy with a fresh meal this night, straight from the source." He said with a chilling smile.

"You sick f*cking b*stard." Sancini seethed.

"Uh, uh, uh. You better watch that mouth of yours and you might wanna start speaking because the time is ticking. Tik tok tik tok." He said imitating the sound of a clock.

"Fine. I got information from an inside source that there might be something between Lopez and another student, that he might have taken a liking to her." Sancini said.

"Is that so? What's her name, the girl?" The man asked.

"I think it was something like Andrea or Adria Williams." He replied unsure.

"Do you mean Adria Wilhelm." He inquired.

"Yeah, that's it." Sancini affirmed.

"That little f*cker. He's recruiting I see." He said talking to himself.

He gestured to his men to lower their guns as the other team did theirs.

"You can leave, you'll find your daughter in your car outside." He said dismissing him.

Sancini didn't say anything but left quickly with his men right behind him.

The scarred man ran his hand through his hair thinking. He seemed to have an idea as his eyes widened. Turning to face his men he addressed them as their don.

"I think it's time to pay our condolences to the Wilhelm's. Don't you think?." He said with a crazy look in his eyes. The men only nodded.

"Prepare my jet. It's time to go home"