Sold?

•Azalea

"That's it." Arius said, "That's the secret no one knows." His eyes seemed distant but he no longer regret the decisions he made as a child.

Still, he seemed quite sad, "I only got to hold her once." The night was growing silent but neither of us cared.

"So she goes by the name 'Liliana' now?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He nodded, "From the start, that was always her name. Canaria is how only I know her." He paused for a moment, "She has a loving family. Supportive friends… She has a normal life." He looked at me, "She has everything I wished she would have." He smiled.

I smiled at him, "So, you've never met her?"

He looked back at the school, "No…" His voice was clear, yet it sounded so distant.

My heart ached for him, "You chose to look like a pervert so you could see her." I chuckled.

He grinned, "Give me a better option."

"Oh no! This is the best option, you managed to fool everyone." I grinned, "Almost everyone. How long have you been doing it?"

"Ever since she got into high school." His smile faded, "It was pure luck she chose the school which came across my path often." He took a deep breath, "I only had three years to do this. Three years in which I got to see her five times a week…" He looked down to his hands, "But that time is almost over too." He fiddled with his fingers, "I guess I have a few more months-" He looked at me, "Then she graduates. After that I'll have no reason to come back here."

This was really heartbreaking but I understood that this was for the best.

I understood that wanting to see your family was a given but in a position like ours that was not possible.

The safety of our loved ones came first.

"When did you learn to sign?" I asked

"Shortly after I came home with Caesar."

"You came home with Caesar?"

"Yeah. My story doesn't end here. I didn't get home after saving Canaria. I got home many many months later." I saw the pain in his eyes, "But I'll tell you about that some other time."

"Okay..." Even though I could sit in this same spot and listen to him talk all night, I should respect the fact that he doesn't want to talk about it right now, "Did Caesar learn to sign with you?"

"Yeah. We did almost everything together. Just that I had a reason for it while he did it out of pure curiosity." He sighed and looked at the night sky, "Deep down," He started, "I knew I'd never get the chance to meet Canaria but still, I learned how to sign." He turned his head to me, "Because if I ever, and I mean ever, by some pure coincidence bump into her. I want to be able to communicate with her." His eyes wandered around, looking for nothing in particular, "Maybe, just even a 'Hi' would do." He made the symbol with his hand, "I would want her to know that she could talk to me." He raised his hands and moved his fingers a bit, "Because I can most definitely talk to her."

My heart melted. He cared for her so much even though he's never met her, even though he could only watch her from a far and even though Canaria will never know about this, she will never know about her real family and her brother who gave her up just to protect her and yet Arius was fully prepared for a mere coincidental meeting that didn't even have a chance of happening.

He had been doing things on his own from the start that him seem like a bad guy but deep down he's a different person. A person with a perfect facade.

I looked down and sighed, "Why did you never tell us that you were saving us from the Blacks?"

He was shocked a bit by my question bit relaxed immediately, "No reason really. Nothing would have changed if I told you."

"What makes you think that?"

"I wanted you guys to feel like hostages and try to escape. It would prove that I was keeping you captive. It was a way to keep the Blacks, especially Ryan at bay because I had you guys as 'my property' and no one would dare try to take what's mine."

"I see…" That's why he acted and said all those words to me.

"But neither of you really tried that hard to escape or to retaliate."

"You didn't treat us like slaves."

"More than that, neither of you had a place to go back to and neither did any of you wanted to go back to your previous lives. You both barely put up any resistance." I scratched the side of my head. He was right, "That's why I can't take off your collar. Not yet, but soon. When I see the clear sign."

***

It had gotten really late by the time we reached the mansion.

Upon arriving we noticed something off. The atmosphere was grim, the guards were terrified and seemed stiff.

Everything felt a bit odd.

Arius noticed it too but he didn't question the guards.

We both made our way in.

Caesar, Ben, Nora and Lee stood there with their eyes on the floor. All of them were mortified. Especially Caesar, he seemed on an edge.

Arius moved his gaze around and so did I.

There were signs of a commotion or maybe a fight inside the mansion. Plus, the place was rather dark, some of the lights had been smashed.

"What happened here?" Arius asked and even though he asked his question pretty calmly all of them flinched.

"There was a break in-" Ben shook his head, "Um, more like an assasination attempt."

He wasn't meeting Arius's eyes.

"What?" Arius raised his brows, "Someone dared make an assasination attempt here?" We both noticed something was amiss, "Where's Huang-fei?"

All of them froze, like a statue and none of them answered.

"I said, Where is Hunag-fei?!!" He said, louder this time but neither of them spoke. Arius looked at Caesar, "Caesar?" Upon hearing his own name he tried raising his head but couldn't, "I'm sorry…" A feeble apology was all he could manage.

His words suddenly hit me and my heart started racing. I looked at Arius, he seemed perplexed.

"Where. Is. He?!!" He gritted his teeth and Nora stepped forward.

"I'll show you." She said and then walked to the lounge.

I could see that she was pretty shaken up as well but she stepped forward for Caesar.

We both followed her while the others kept their eyes down.

I noticed that the guards, the gang members and all the servants were scared.

As soon as we entered the lounge our eyes landed on the casket. I saw the color fade from Arius's face as he made his way to look inside the casket.

I slowly walked to the opposite side and my eyes landed on Huang-fei, peacefully sleeping inside the long furnished box with his hands on his chest.

I knew he hadn't died of a natural cause and that he was killed, but still someone had cleaned his body and dressed him up in a clean white shirt and trousers to make him seem more presentable.

I looked at Arius.

It was done for him, because Huang-fei's death would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him. Afterall he was like a father to him.

Everything was silent, no one moved or attempted to speak while Arius stared at Huang-fei.

He was in a state of denial yet his expression didn't change.

The silence lasted for many minutes and the only thing that could be heard was the ticking of the clock.

Each second that passed increased the dread in everyone's heart.

After the agonizing wait Arius moved his hands and pulled down Huang-fei's shirt from the chest.

It revealed the stab wounds.

He let it go and then pulled up his shirt from below and I saw some of the skin missing near his stomach, as if someone had hit him with a fat chain or axe. I wasn't sure but all the injuries had been taken care of nicely, properly cleaned and stitched together.

He then slowly pulled down the shirt to cover him up properly.

He then raised his head to look at everyone.

"The culprit?" He asked in a calm tone but everyone could see the rage in his eyes.

"It was from the skull spiders." Ben spoke.

Now that we were in the lounge and had better lighting I noticed that all four of them were a bit haggard, especially Caesar.

He had some injuries and cuts along with a bruise on the side of his left lip.

"There were two of them. Caesar killed one, the other one is in the underground cell." Lee kept his eyes on his shoes as he gave Arius the report.

Each and every person in the mansion was scared of Arius at the very moment.

Arius's expressions didn't change, he remained stern.

"Are all the devices ready?" He asked, "I will question him myself."

Devices, is he going to torture him?

"Yes." Lee answered, "You can start whenever you want."

Arius walked out of the room, "Bring me my gloves, I'm going to start right now."

"Right away." Lee left the room right after Arius and all the other people finally breathed.

I jogged to Nora, "How did this happen?"

She shook her head, "The attack was too sudden, they were highly trained assassins and their target was Huang-fei. He was in his bedroom while it happened"

Ben joined in, "Huang-fei is strong or maybe he used to be. He was old now and on top of that he wasn't in his best shape."

"He was still sick?" I asked.

Nora nodded, "Yeah. He fought them pretty well but by the time we reached his room he had received too much damage. He had managed to knock down one."

"Ben and Lee reached his room first and tried fighting the one standing. Hunag-fei had already received too much damage by then. He was bleeding pretty bad and had lost too much blood by the time Caesar and I got there."

"I went straight to Huang-fei when I entered the room while Nora, Ben and Lee fought the assassin." Caesar joined in the conversation, "I was too late." He seemed ashamed of himself, "I couldn't protect him." He clenched his fists, "It's all my fault." I could see the pain in his eyes, "He died in my arms." I could see the tears forming in his eyes that he blinked away. Nora held his hand in order to calm him but he didn't take it.

"Caesar killed the one remaining and Lee took the other one to the cell." Ben told me the end of the story.

Nora took Caesar to the kitchen to have him drink some water and Ben went to take care of the mansion's broken things.

As I stood there alone I heard the people of the mansion whisper.

The maids, the workers, the members all talked about one thing.

'Did you see that? He really is cruel he didn't even shed a single tear for him."

"I know right. He was like family to him. Tch. Tch."

"Of course he wouldn't, he didn't even wet his eyes when his real father died."

"How can a man be this cold hearted?!"

"He didn't even say anything about the funeral."

"Will it even be held?"

"Will he even attend?"

"Will he even bury him?"

Oh Arius…

In order to make yourself seem strong you have made yourself look like a heartless monster…

"Azalea?" I turned around and saw Caesar, "I have to tell you something. It's important." His tone of voice was softer than normal, "Please." He begged me and I nodded.

"Okay."