Ch. 21..30

Chapter 21

Sebastian went downstairs after showering and saw Butler Nicole feeding Ken in the dining.

He paused in between the living room and the dining looking around like he was searching for something or someone.

"Where’s Zeno?" Sebastian asked murderously.

He thought he gave someone an order not to let him out. Why wasn’t he the one feeding his son?

"He went to"

"Daddy, Zeno said he’s going away for a while," Ken interrupted butler Nicole’s reply.

"He said that, didn’t he?" Sebastian asked in a low and dangerous tone.

Butler Nicole saw how angry his boss was getting and couldn’t understand why he would get angry about Zeno’s whereabouts. Wasn’t he the one who selected Zeno to be among the spies?

He took a deep and calm breath before he spoke, "Sir, Zeno went to the guard’s quarter," Butler Nicole informed.

Sebastian took a second to process the information he just received from his butler.

He thought back to when Zeno was trying to say something and he kept cutting him off without listening to him. Was he trying to tell him about where he was going?

But how could he be so stupid? His mind had been so preoccupied with thoughts of the kiss in Zeno’s room that he had totally forgotten about the mission he sent them on.

He wouldn’t admit it, but when he saw Zeno dressed in all black that morning, he felt something indescribable within him, and it was that indescribable thing that urged him to kiss Zeno’s glistening lips. The unfamiliar feeling he got when he thought Zeno was planning to run away almost felt like what he felt five years ago when his best friend and wife duped him.

But why would he feel that way for a bodyguard? He never cared if any of his guards wanted to leave or quit.

"I see," Sebastian said and walked out without sparing his son and the butler another glance.

Zeno didn’t know which floor his colleague resided so he chose to remain in front of the building while he texted Cody.

A minute later, Ida, Jasper, and Cody emerged through the sliding door.

"Hey, Zeno, seems like you’re the only one excited about this trip. Look how early you are," Cody ran up to Zeno and placed his arm around his shoulder while standing on his tipped toes.

"Packed everything you’ll need?" Ida asked, walking toward them.

"Yeah, morning, Ida," Zeno greeted.

"Let go, Hobbit," Zeno easily stepped away from Cody, smiling.

He had come to realize that working for Sebastian doesn’t mean you must be as evil as him, take himself as an example. Zeno decided to associate with his fellow guards as humans and not as Sebastian’s underdogs.

"No, you didn’t! Ida! Did you hear what Zeno just called me?" Cody was visibly hurt, pointing at Zeno accusingly.

"It’s early, Cody, let’s move. The van is here," Jasper said, turning Cody around and pushing him to walk forward.

Zeno started walking behind them towards the black van that was parked near the gate. He noticed it was only Ida who was carrying a big backpack, others came down empty-handed. He wondered if they were planning to wear one clothes for the whole four days.

"Hey," Jasper said as he slowed down to walk with Zeno.

Cody was already chirping away to Ida about whatever he thought was important at that moment.

Zeno remembered how Jasper had acted yesterday, and he debated on how to act with him.

"Hey, thanks for diverting his attention," Zeno said, choosing to act normal and pretend like he’d forgotten about it.

"That’s alright, let me help," Jasper said, already taking off Zeno’s backpack from his shoulder.

Zeno didn’t want to struggle over such a little thing, even though he didn’t want to release his bag to Jasper, he still reluctantly let it go, so Jasper wouldn’t feel as if he was uncomfortable around him.

"Thanks, man," Zeno said.

Jasper only smirked at him as a reply, slinging one hand of the backpack over his right shoulder.

The moment Zeno turned after giving Jasper his backpack, he suddenly saw Sebastian standing by the side of the black van, looking all icy like an ice king.

If he told his fellow guards what their cold and perfect master was up to with him inside the mansion, he was sure they’d look at him as if he was crazy. He couldn’t find any logical reason why Sebastian would choose to kiss him as a punishment.

To degrade him? Humiliate him to the lowest level possible by using such action to show him that he was his to do as he so pleased

Then if so, he wasn’t just going to sit back and watch him treat him like his slave.

He slowed his pace as they neared the van and Sebastian, he subtly walked behind Jasper, not because he was scared of Sebastian and was hiding from him, but because he didn’t want to leave him an open space to find faults with him and confront him.

"Good morning, Boss," Ida greeted as they reached to the Van.

"Here," Sebastian handed Ida four small boxes.

"You know what to do with them," Sebastian said, his face scarce of any emotion.

"Yes, boss, we won’t let you down," Ida said, bowing his head head in respect.

"The file is already inside the van; make sure you study it before you get there; no slip-ups," Sebastian warned in a grave tone.

"Yes, boss," Zeno heard the three guards reply uniformly.

He scoffed quietly. They were quite loyal to him, he thought of it and realized that was probably the reason why Sebastian hated him; he wasn’t trying to suck up to him or treat him with reverence and fear as the underworld king he was.

Zeno knew Sebastian was going to hate him for a long time because he was never planning to be obedient to such a jerk. He just had to make sure he did his duty, and any other thing that was outside his job description would be successfully ignored.

"Zeno, the door’s open, let’s go," Jasper gently wrapped his fingers around Zeno’s arm and slightly shook it when he saw that Zeno wasn’t listening to what he was saying.

"Oh? Uh, okay. Yeah, let’s go," Zeno replied with a small smile.

Sebastian watched as Zeno easily interacted with Jasper, even smiling at him. He felt it again, that uneasy feeling that watched over him when he had seen him with Nicholas.

He stood there, watching as Zeno entered the Van without looking his way, and he kept standing there till the van drove off.

He took out his phone and activated the voice recorder he had given them.

Zeno sat in the back of the van with his colleagues, Ida and Cody sat on one side while he and Jasper sat on the opposite side of the van.

He saw Ida take out the boxes Sebastian had given him, he wondered if anything usable could be in that kind of small box.

Ida first gave one box to Cody, who was sitting beside him; he gave another one to Jasper and then to Zeno.

Zeno opened the box and retrieved a very flat dark object with just one button on it. He was confused as to what it was and what it was to be used for.

"What’s this?" He asked no one in particular.

"It’s the world’s thinnest voice recorder," Jasper said beside him.

"It’s very durable too, here," Cody brought out his recorder and pointed Zeno to the only button on the small flat recorder.

"It has one button for every purpose, on, off, record, stop. It’s very seamless," Cody explained, pressing his button to show Zeno what he meant.

"Turn it off, Cody, we’re not there yet," Ida scolded.

Cody harrumphed and kept his recorder securely in his pocket.

Jasper shook his head at how childish Cody always acted, but he could understand, he was the youngest of them all.

"How long before we get there?" Zeno asked, already feeling bored one hour into the ride.

"In thirty minutes," Jasper replied.

"So, here’s what the boss wants us to do," Ida said, looking up from a file.

"We’re going as Mr. Glen’s bodyguards," Ida said in a serious tone.

"Who’s Mr. Glen?" Zeno asked.

He felt kind of weird asking what he should have been aware of. But he was well within his rights to ask, it’s not been up to a month since he started working for Sebastian, and he was still trying to understand the system, but there he was, already pushed into going for an undercover job which was something trained guards should do, and not a novice like him.

"Mr. Glen is a millionaire who uses his two electronic companies as a front to do illegal practices," Jasper explained.

"Illegal, like drugs?" Zeno asked.

He just understood that this mission wasn’t for the weak, he knew drug dealers were merciless, they could even kill their blood relatives for the money.

"Yes, and human trafficking," Ida answered.

Zeno thought for some time before asking, "Then, what does it have to do with the boss?"

He didn’t understand why Mr. Glen’s business was any of Sebastian’s concern as if he was into pushing drugs too.

"Well, that’s why he’s the underworld king," Cody said with a shrug.

Zeno scoffed, "I think I understand now," He said with a little frown.

He did understand, and what he understood was that Sebastian wanted to destroy Mr. Glen’s business because it seemed as if Mr. Glen was starting to get acknowledged more in the underworld, and knowing the kind of person Sebastian was, he didn’t like anyone surpassing him, so eliminating Mr. Glen from the picture was the perfect thing to do.

"Don’t worry Zeno, you’ll understand the boss with to time," Jasper said, patting Zeno’s thigh.

"Mm," Zeno replied half-heartedly.

He was never planning on understanding that monster. He really did pity Ken, he was forced to stay with a father like Sebastian.

"We’re here," The driver announced from the front.

 

Chapter 22

"Remember, we’re going in disguise as the bodyguards he hired online, oh, and we’re not going be protecting just him, he has two sons," Ida explained as they gathered their stuff while the car slowly drove into the compound.

"Zeno and Jasper, you two are assigned to each of his sons, while I and Cody will stick with him,"

Zeno nodded in understanding.

"So, when do we get to expose him?" Zeno asked.

"We don’t," Jasper replied.

"Our job is just to make him trust us enough and take us to his hideout where he stores his drugs and women, the recording will do the rest. And, for exposing him... We’ll leave it to the boss," Ida explained.

"Ok, understood," Zeno was starting to understand the mission bit by bit.

"Let’s go," Cody said, opening the door.

"Hey, wait," Ida quickly grabbed Cody’s arm.

"What?" Cody asked impatiently. He seemed to be in high spirits from the mission.

"Everyone needs to wear this all the time, unless when sleeping and bathing of course. Turn your recorders on, and, take these too; these are our fake IDs. Don’t worry, when they check it, it’ll look authentic," Ida said, handing each of them a black baseball cap and their designed IDs.

"Um, I already have one on," Zeno said, pointing at his head and pocketing the fake ID.

"I know, Mr. Handsome, but you need to wear this one," Jasper turned to Zeno’s side carefully took off Zeno’s cap, and gently placed the new one on his head.

He tilted Zeno’s head up and smiled at him, "Perfect."

Zeno raised a questioning brow at him and subtly removed his face from Jasper’s hands.

"Oh, come on, hombre, now is not time for feeling cute and shit," Cody rolled his eyes at Jasper.

"Let’s go," Ida said, finally stepping out of the car.

Zeno followed Cody behind as they walked through the serene-looking compound.

Flowers and gardens were planted in front of the three-storey yellow house, a few cars parked by the side of the house, with a water fountain in the middle of the compound.

Zeno felt quite relaxed, contrary to how he thought he would feel in the enemy’s home. He wasn’t even this relaxed at Sebastian’s beautiful mansion.

"Why’s no one outside?" Cody asked.

"Because he’d just fired his bodyguards for trying to sabotage him," Jasper replied.

"Oh... That’s where we come in as the new bodyguards," Cody mused.

"Hey," Zeno tapped Cody’s shoulder as they climbed the stairs leading to a black door.

"Yeah," Cody turned his head to look at Zeno.

"What’s this cap for?" Zeno asked, pointing to his head.

No one really told him why they needed to wear caps all the time. He was sure it wasn’t due to hiding their faces, because, they would have added face masks if it were for hiding their identity.

"It’s a camera," Cody replied in a whisper.

Zeno raised his brows in amusement. He was really impressed by how Sebastian was so up-to-date and efficient with technology but had Zero scores in other things.

"Shh," Ida shushed them as he pressed the bell button on the door.

"See this, it’s connected to our phones," Cody whispered, bringing out his phone from his pocket and placing it in front of Zeno.

"Wow, this is sick," Zeno said as he stared at the clear image of his face displayed on Cody’s phone.

"Yeah, it automatically saves itself after every hour of recording then it starts again," Cody told him, turning to the door when he heard footsteps approaching the door.

Zeno suddenly remembered that he hadn’t put in his phone since he collected it from Jasper yesterday and he knew he needed to be able to record his videos.

He fished it out from his pocket and powered it on.

The door opened to reveal a beautiful young woman in her middle thirties, wearing a blue suit.

"Identifications please," She said the moment she opened the door, no greetings, no familiarisation.

Zeno couldn’t stop staring at the lady; he felt that the woman’s face looked extremely familiar yet not familiar enough.

"Here," Ida provided his ID, followed by the others.

The lady scanned it in some kind of handy electronic device before returning it to them and stepping aside for them to enter.

Zeno looked at the lady’s face one last time before walking into the house.

"Follow me," The lady said and walked across the waiting room and into the living room, but that wasn’t their final destination.

"Your items," She walked over to what seemed like a shelf in the living room and pushed down what seemed to be a small lever, making the shelf open, stand ding out compartments.

Zeno and his friends reluctantly walked over to the shelf and dropped their bags into the opened compartments.

She moved towards a short passage and pressed a white button on the wall, causing a part of what seemed to have been the wall to slide open to reveal a dimly lit spiral staircase that led up to somewhere.

Zeno and his colleagues cautiously followed her up the stairs, looking around but not seeing anything to catch their eyes on the empty walls.

They finally reached the topmost floor and came to a stop in front of a glass door. They could easily make out the shape of a man sitting in front of his desk, working on his computer.

"Go in," The lady said, standing beside the door.

Ida was the first to go forward, the door automatically opened as it sensed people walking towards it.

"Welcome, boys," The middle-aged man stood from his chair and walked around his table to greet his guests.

Zeno noted again that he looked nothing like what they made him seem. His scattering grey hairs made him look a bit older than he should, he was of average height and had a well-maintained body like he visited the gym every once in a while.

"Thank you, Mr. Glen. We’re pleased to work for you for this shirt period," Ida responded, greeting Mr. Glen with a polite handshake.

"Ah, please, sit," Mr. Glen said with a fatherly smile, pointing them to the chairs in front of his table.

"Thank you, sir," Jasper responded.

They went ahead and sat down, each on high alert for the slightest odd movement.

"Here, just so I can remember your names, you know? Old age," Mr. Glen said as he handed Ida four black name tags.

Ida took it and handed them out according to their names.

"Much better, So, you’re Ida, Cody, Zeno, and Jasper," Mr. Glen smiled brightly.

"Yes, sir," Cody nodded.

"Great, makes it easier for me. Oh! Please excuse me," Mr. Glen said and took out his phone to call someone.

"Come in with the keys, Lucia," He spoke into the phone.

The door immediately opened and revealed the lady in the blue suit.

The four bodyguards exchanged a secret look. They’ve just learned that the name of the lady boss was Lucia.

Lucia came in and handed Mr. Glen two keycards.

"Thank you, Lucia. Please ask Julia to prepare something for lunch," He said to Lucia.

"Yes, sir," Lucia nodded and left immediately.

"Ah, I’m sure you’ve met my niece, she’s not a talker, please do not be offended by her attitude," Mr. Glen apologized on behalf of Lucia.

"That’s alright, sir. We’re only here for your security," Ida replied formally.

He started thinking that this was a test, maybe Mr. Glen wanted them to loosen up by treating them in a homely manner so he could get one of them to slip up.

He knew men like Mr. Glen, they never trusted anyone, even their siblings and offspring were a threat to them.

"Oh, how nice. Here," He handed Ida and Zeno the cards.

"These are the keys to your rooms on the last floor, I’m sorry for the discomfort but I only have two rooms to spare," Mr. Glen explained.

"It’s alright, we could share," Jasper said.

He put his hand on Zeno’s lap and slowly drummed it with his fingers.

Zeno sat still, not wanting others to know what was happening, if not, he would have flung Jasper’s hand away angrily.

"Awesome!" Mr. Glen clapped his hands together.

"Then let’s go, we’ll have lunch then I’ll have Lucia show you to your rooms," He stood and walked towards the door, the four guards following him behind.

Taking the same route down the dark spiraling stairs, they came out into the living room again, but instead of going through the living room, they were led through the short passageway.

Mr. Glen pushed open a wooden door by the wall and walked in.

When they followed him inside, they realized it was a dining room.

Zeno wondered why everything Mr. Glen did seemed as if he was hiding from someone.

He used a secret passage to get to his office, now, he has his dining located inside an unnoticed small passage.

He started to get some weird feelings about the said kind man.

"Take your seats, please," Mr. Glen said as he went to the head table and lowered himself on the chair.

Zeno was the last to sit, taking his time to look around the moderately decorated dining room.

Zeno went and sat between Ida and Cody, avoiding Jasper, he didn’t want anyone touching him at the moment, he needed to keep his head clear and mind focused. He was starting to feel uncomfortable around Mr. Glen.

"Juliia, serve the food," Mr. Glen said.

A moment later, a wooden door at the corner of the room opened to reveal a light-skinned girl with black curls, wearing a chef’s uniform. She was carrying a tray of food in each hand, walking steadily towards them.

"Woah," Cody gaped at the girl.

"Shut it, Cody, not here," Ida shunned.

"Let the boy be, he’s only admiring something beautiful," Mr. Glen said, looking weirdly at Julia.

Zeno discreetly noticed that Mr. Glen had his eyes locked on Julia’s chest as he spoke, and he noticed the way the girl’s eyes avoided meeting him as she placed his food in front of him.

Zeno watched the girl’s movements carefully, she seemed tense.

Zeno kept watching Julia as she slowly walked over to him to place his food in front of him on the table.

"Thank-"

"Oh! I’m so sorry!" Julia quickly bent over to retry the fork that slipped to the floor through her slim fingers.

"It’s alright," Zeno said as Julia replaced it with another fork from the tray she carried.

She bowed her head apologetically at Zeno before moving to the next person.

"Forgive her, Zeno, Julia seems to be jumpy most of the time," Mr. Glen said, flashing Zeno a believable apologetic kind smile.

"It’s okay, sir," Zeno replied.

He noticed how Julia became physically frozen as Mr. Glen was apologizing to him on her behalf.

He quietly sighed and placed his hand on his lap, just for him to feel something in his lap. He didn’t remember putting something in his lap.

He looked down and was surprised to find a small folded paper on his lap, he quickly grabbed it in his hand and placed it into his pocket.

He looked up to find Jasper staring meaningfully at him, an unvoiced understanding relayed through their eyes.

Mr. Glen wasn’t what he portrayed himself to be.

 

Chapter 23

With their backpacks back on their shoulders, they made their way to the living room, meeting Mr. Glen

"Thank you for the lunch, Mr. Glen," Ida said beside the door as they stood beside each other in the living room, Lucia standing closely by the corner.

"Oh, come on, It’s nothing," Mr. Glen smiled.

"Lucia will take you guys to your rooms, and in the evening, you’ll meet my boys. I must warn you, they’re quite a handful," Mr. Glen chuckled.

"Nothing we can’t handle, sir," Jasper responded seriously.

"Alright then, I’ll let you rest, I’ll call you whenever I need you guys," Mr. Glen patted Ida’s shoulders as he walked past him, going back into his secret passageway.

"Follow me," Lucia said to them and started walking to the other side of the living room into a longer passageway, with wooden doors opposite each other.

Cody rolled his eyes at her, quietly mimicking how she walked behind her.

"Two per room," Lucia suddenly paused to look back, causing Cody to hit his leg against a flower pot while he was trying to regain his composure.

"We’ve been told, Lucia," Jasper said indifferently.

"Ms. Lucia," Lucia corrected.

Jasper only scoffed and didn’t say any other thing.

Lucia elegantly turned and continued walking.

"Quit it," Zeno said to Cody, smiling.

She stopped at the third door that faced each other and turned to them.

"These are your rooms, call 123 for the kitchen and laundry. If you need any other things done, do it yourselves," Lucia said and walked away.

"So stuck-up," Cody muttered angrily.

"If you need any other things done, do it yourselves," Ida said, mocking Lucia’s tone and behavior.

"Ha-ha-ha! That’s a good one, Ida, can you do it again?" Cody laughed loudly, bending over with his hands on his tummy.

Zeno and Jasper were smiling. They’d never seen Ida that playful before, it was indeed funny to see him mimic Lucia.

"Alright, that’s enough. You forget the boss might be listening to us now," Ida scolded.

"Come on guys, we’ll see you later after freshening up," Ida said dragging Cody into the door by the right side.

"Hey! No! I want to stay with Zeno!" Cody resisted as Ida forcefully dragged him into the room, closing the door before he could try to escape.

"Shall we?" Jasper asked, pointing at the door on the left side.

"Sure," Zeno replied and opened the door.

He released a sigh when he saw it was two single beds in the room. He had been thinking of how he was going to manage sleeping on the same bed with Jasper. Guess luck was on his side this time.

"Want to shower first?" Jasper asked as he dropped his bag on the bed.

"Yeah, hey! Where’d that bag come from?" Zeno asked confused.

Throughout their journey, he never saw Jasper carry any bag; now, where did that one materialize from?

"Oh, Ida carries our bags for us. How kind right?" Jasper chuckled and lowered himself onto the bed.

"Ooh," Zeno nodded in understanding.

"Go take a shower. We have something to discuss," Jasper said, pointing at Zeno’s pocket.

Zeno suddenly remembered the piece of paper Julia had left on his lap.

"Right," He replied.

He quickly removed the recorder and placed it inside his bag, no one was coming to his bag for any reason.

He wasn’t comfortable undressing in front of Jasper, so he took his change of clothes, towel, and body lotion inside the bathroom.

He’ll undress in there for his comfort, and so he doesn’t act awkward with Jasper.

***

At the mansion, Sebastian sat in front of his computer in his study, monitoring four videos at a time.

He suddenly focused on Zeno’s video when he saw him undressing inside the bathroom.

He got really curious. Curious about himself, about the way he was starting to feel about Zeno.

He slowly clicked on Zeno’s video, it was now the only video displaying on his screen. He watched him take off his shirt, seeing him wince when the shirt touched his gauzed wound, he found himself unconsciously frowning at Zeno’s discomfort.

He kept watching as Zeno carefully removed his pants, leaving him only in his briefs.

Sebastian found himself intensely drawn to the video. He ran his eye up and down Zeno’s naked, toned chest and toned legs, he didn’t realize it when he started imagining replacing his eyes with his hands, and maybe, his mouth too.

He started feeling warm as Zeno slowly hooked his thumb into his briefs, pulling it down.

"Daddy, is that Zeno?" Ken’s voice suddenly rang behind him, dragging him out of his illegal sensual indulgement.

He quickly slammed his computer shut, not wanting his son to see such an arousing clip.

"Ken, you’ve returned from school?" Sebastian asked, hiding his fluster.

He was glad his son was still innocent and clueless, he would have been badly busted at that moment.

"Yes. Daddy, please play the video, I want to see Zeno too," Ken pleaded innocently.

Sebastian knew he was going to have a problem keeping him shut about what he just saw.

"Listen to me, son, never mention this video to anyone, understand!" He asked sternly.

Ken looked into his father’s scary eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"Now, go ask Nicole to prepare something for you," Sebastian said dismissively.

"Daddy is stingy, he doesn’t want to share Zeno with me," Ken sulked.

Sebastian was rendered speechless. He looked at his son hopelessly; as he stared at him with his innocent puppy eyes, he didn’t even know the gravity of what he had said.

"Tell him to prepare anything you’d like to eat," Sebastian bribed.

"Anything?" Ken asked cautiously, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes," Sebastian replied.

"Yay!" Ken jumped excitedly and ran out of the study, shouting Butler Nicole’s name as he ran.

Sebastian sighed and fell back onto his chair. He quietly thought about what his son had said.

He didn’t want to share Zeno? Did that even mean anything?

He thought back to how he felt seeing Zeno with Nicholas and Jasper, was that how it felt not wanting to share someone with others?

"No," He whispered and shook his head.

That was probably nothing. But then, what was the meaning of what he felt, and what was the meaning of what he was feeling just now as he watched Zeno undress?

He sighed, pushing the thought away from his head. He checked the time and realized that Zeno must be done with his shower by now.

As he put the video recorder back on, he kept wondering if he would have stayed put and watched Zeno fully undress and shower.

***

"Ida, please let me shower first," Cody pleaded, standing in front of Ida who was sitting on his bed.

"No," Ida replied.

They both had their towels wrapped around their waists, ready for a shower.

"Oh please, you know I get itchy if I don’t shower, please?" Cody dropped himself between Ida’s lap, hugging him tightly around the waist, and his face buried between Ida’s lap.

Ida froze as he looked down at Cody’s position. He quickly pushed him away, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Fine, go ahead. Stop bugging me already," Ida replied, almost breathless.

"Yes!" Cody said excitedly and ran into the bathroom.

Ida looked down at the tent slowly forming in his towel.

"Fuck, not now," He whispered.

He stood up and paced back and forth across the room, trying to get himself to calm down before Cody came out.

He’s known Cody for three years, and for those three years, he’s had a secret crush on Cody. He had wanted to tell him at the beginning, but when he saw that Cody was straight, he felt heartbroken and decided to keep it to himself to save his relationship with his best friend.

This was the first time he would be sharing a room with him. Their boss made sure he gave everyone a separate room back at his mansion. What was he going to do now?

Ida suddenly paused when he heard a sound coming from the bathroom.

He slowly went near the door to make sure he heard right. And when he heard Cody’s sweet moan, he froze.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake," He covered his face with his hands, feeling his heart beat faster and his cock rise to its greatest length.

Cody stood naked under the running shower, he was focused on reaching his climax. His eyes were closed as he pictured Julia’s perfect tits in front of him.

He fastened his movements around his dick, gripping it tighter in his hand. He groaned loudly, bracing his one hand on the wall.

"Jerking off to Lucia?" Cody was startled as he suddenly heard Ida’s voice behind him.

He turned to see a stark naked Ida walking slowly toward him. His eyes widened as he saw how big and erect Ida was down there.

He felt jealous.

"What the fuck, man, you had to spoil my fun by mentioning her?" Cody sighed, quickly removing his eyes from Ida’s body.

He knew Ida was handsome but he didn’t realize he was this sexy too. He quickly shook his head and raised his head to the shower, hoping the water would wash away such thoughts from his head.

"Then, who?" Ida whispered behind Cody’s ear.

Cody froze. His cock, which was already going soft from the distraction became hard instantly as he felt Ida’s hot breath on his neck.

He gasped loudly when he felt Ida’s cock press hot against his ass.

"What about you, who made you this hard?" Cody asked, not moving away from Ida.

Ida took that as a good sign. He moved forward and wrapped his hands around Cody’s waist. He slowly traced it up his chest, circling his nipples, smiling when he heard Cody’s gasp.

"You didn’t answer me," Cody said breathlessly.

"What do you want to know?" Ida asked, biting Cody’s earlobe.

"Who made you hard?" Cody asked, unconsciously moving his butt against Ida’s cock.

"You," Ida answered honestly, closing his eyes for control as he felt Cody press himself against him.

Cody froze. Him?

He turned his head to look at Ida, and when he saw the fiery passion in his eyes, he knew he wasn’t lying.

"Since when?" Cody whispered, shocked.

"It doesn’t matter," Ida said and suddenly traced his hands down to Cody’s cock.

"Tell me-ah!" Cody moaned when he felt Ida lick his neck.

"How about I show you how good it feels to do it with a man?" Ida asked huskily, pumping Cody’s cock in his hand.

Cody was already feeling his knees go weak. Why was he reacting like a needy bitch to Ida, he was used to being in control during sex with women, but what was this urge he felt to submit to Ida’s touch?

"Make it worth my while," Cody found himself saying.

"It’s a promise, baby," Ida said and suddenly traced his cock along Cody’s entrance.

They were both breathing harshly, both of them falling deeper and deeper into lust.

"Is that the best you- oh fuck!" Cody screamed from the pain he felt as Ida roughly slammed into him.

"Shh, it’ll go away, I promise," Ida held Cody’s waist to keep him up, and slowly started to rock his hips into him.

Soon, he heard Cody’s moan getting louder, making him go crazy.

"Fuck me faster," Cody begged.

"Fuck!" Ida groaned when he heard Cody’s request.

He couldn’t help but obey. He slammed his hips roughly and faster into Cody’s ass. Fucking him like the sex-deprived man he was.

He felt Cody’s voice getting higher and placed a hand over his mouth.

"Shh, cum with me, baby, cum with me,"

"Ah-ngngh!" Cody cried out as he felt Ida grow extremely bigger inside him as he released his loads into him. He felt his knees buckle, followed by the generous spurts of sperm that streamed from his cock onto the wall.

 

 

Chapter 24

Zeno was sitting on his bed as Jasper made a call with the boss at a corner.

He suddenly heard a ping sound coming from his backpack and remembered that he had turned on his phone just before entering the house.

It’s been three days since he had used his phone. He opened his backpack and took out his phone just to see notifications of messages from some unknown numbers.

He quickly tapped open the first one and frowned deeply.

UNKNOWN 1: Hope you loved your surprise? 😉

He furrowed his brows, trying to think about who the message could be from, but he couldn’t come up with anyone; no one had surprised him since the death of his parents.

He went ahead to read the rest, maybe he’ll get a clue after reading them.

UNKNOWN 2: Hope you got Flo’s message; if the surprise doesn’t work, maybe this will; click below to open 👇.

Zeno immediately understood where the two messages had come from. What did they want from him?

He reluctantly clicked the image below, and anger boiled inside him as he stared at his Nana’s picture as she lay weakly on the hospital bed.

"Mother fuckers," He muttered.

He fumed as he thought about the proud look on Meyer’s face when he sent the picture. His hatred for every Orion member and everyone associated with them reached its maximum.

At that moment, if he saw anyone from that family, he would just shoot them without batting an eye and face the damn consequences later.

He angrily opened the remaining two messages but was surprised to see the names written under the messages.

One was from Nicholas, asking about his wounds and how he was; the other one was from Thomas, asking him why he doesn’t come to fight anymore.

He sighed and threw the phone on the bed but quickly picked it up when remembered what Cody had shown him yesterday. He wanted to see how the camera on the baseball cap saved the recordings on the phone.

He opened his gallery and clicked on videos.

"No way! No, no, no," Zeno exclaimed.

He helplessly stared at the recently saved video recording of him undressing in the bathroom, he didn’t even let the video show when he was fully undressed, his thumb moved faster than a car crashing down a hill with failed breaks as he immediately selected the video, and deleted it before anyone else could see it.

He sighed in relief and ran his fingers through his hair, his heart calming down a bit as he deleted the video.

What if he hadn’t checked it at all, and when it was time for them to transfer the recorded file, he would have just cluelessly sent Sebastian a video of him naked under the shower?

He cringed as he thought about how the whole thing would have played out, it’d have just made everything worse between them.

"Hey, you okay?" Jasper finished his call and walked over to Zeno, sitting beside him on the bed.

"Uh... Yeah, I thought I saw something but I’ve figured it out," Zeno said, scratching the side of his knee.

"Okay, I’m here if you need anything, Zeno. Anything," Jasper enunciated the last word, slowly rubbing his hand up and down Zeno’s thigh.

Zeno stared down at his Lap and saw Jasper’s hand inching closer and closer to his center; Curiosity got the better of him; he initially wanted to move Jasper’s hand away, but he decided against it. He wanted to check if Jasper could make him feel those weird feelings he felt each time Sebastian touched him.

Jasper saw that Zeno didn’t stop him, he got more courage from the silence and slowly moved his hand up, just stopping inches away from his cock.

"Zeno," Jasper called Zeno so he could look him in the eyes and be sure that he was giving his consent.

"Yes," Zeno slowly looked away from Jasper’s exploring hands.

So far, he felt nothing, but he knew with Sebastian, it didn’t have to take this long to start something burning within him.

Well, this answered his questions, he was as straight as a meter rule, and his reaction to Sebastian’s touch might just be a fragment of his imagination.

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked, looking into Zeno’s eyes.

Zeno felt bad when he saw the vulnerability in Jasper’s eyes. Jasper sure felt something, while he just sat there, trying to use his feelings for his selfish findings.

"I-"

"Hey, Zeno, open up," Cody’s voice sounded from behind their door, saving Zeno from having to explain why he wasn’t going to go ahead with whatever they were doing.

"Ah, sure, coming," Zeno quickly stood up, secretly releasing the breath he’d been holding.

Jasper just sat there, imagining what could have happened if Cody and Ida didn’t interrupt them. His courage got stronger from the way Zeno behaved just now; he believed there might be hope for him.

"Hey," Cody said in his normal cheerful vibe as he entered Zeno’s room.

Zeno noticed that Ida was extra gloomy than his normal gloominess. He felt something off with them but had absolutely no idea what it might be.

He shut the door and walked into his room. Cody went to join Jasper on his bed, leaving Ida alone on Jasper’s bed.

’Weird.’ Zeno thought.

They were always together bickering, what’s happening now?

"Where’s the paper?" Ida asked straightforwardly.

"Give me a second," Zeno went to the wardrobe where he hung his clothes and retrieved the paper from the pocket of his jeans.

"What could be in there? Poor Julia, what has she been put through?" Cody asked curiously.

Ida glanced at Cody as he heard the concern in his voice for Julia’s. He clenched his fists beside him.

He didn’t understand Cody at all, he’s been left confused after their time together in the bathroom. He was shocked to see Cody switch back to his normal self immediately after they were done fucking, his brain was trying to grasp if he had imagined the whole thing.

And since then, Cody has been trying his best to avoid him. This was why he chose to keep his feelings to himself, he was officially losing his friend.

"Let’s find out," Zeno said and unfolded the paper.

"Wow," Zeno said as he stared at the paper.

"Tell us already!" Cody said impatiently.

Zeno sighed and read from the paper, "It says; help me! He’s a devil, but he’s not the real mastermind."

Zeno finished and turned the paper towards his friends so they could see for themselves.

"I knew it," Ida said, deep in thought.

"So, how are we going to help her? We can’t just take her and leave," Cody said, scratching the side of his head in confusion.

"We have three more days to find out everything about Glen, we have to be efficient," Jasper said, his hands tapping his lap.

"Right now, we don’t have any evidence to use against him, we can’t just act on a baseless finding. She might just be a worker who hates her boss and just wants to badmouth him, or she might need our help as she clearly stated," Ida said.

He felt Cody glare at him when he said Julia might not be genuine in her request for help.

"Don’t be heartless, Ida, didn’t you see her?" Cody sounded offended.

"Calm down, Cody, he said, if. But if I’m to give my opinion, I’ll say she’s being hundred percent honest. I captured her face with my camera. She tried but failed to use makeup to hide the discoloration from her face, but I still saw that. At least, that could be our first evidence," Zeno explained.

They all thought about it for a moment before nodding to Zeno’s reasoning.

"Then, we just need to find a loophole," Ida said.

"Pfft," Cody scoffed, "Loophole? That maniac doesn’t have one, he’s kept everything and everyone away from each other," Cody shook his head.

"Don’t conclude yet; no one can be that one hundred percent meticulous," Jasper replied.

"I hope so. Can’t you see, we were hired as bodyguards, but here we are, locked up in some room while he locked himself up in a Rapunzel castle," Cody rolled his eyes.

"Calm down everyone. Maybe when we meet his sons, they might be the weak links we’re looking for," Zeno said.

"Fine," Cody shrugged.

"Alright then," Jasper nodded.

Ida just sat there silently, thinking about a lot of things at the same time, Cody being one of them.

Mysterious silence reigned between them, each lost in his thoughts.

Ring! Ring!

The telephone beside Zeno’s bedside table rang, invading the silence in the room.

Zeno walked over and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Zeno said as he placed the phone on speaker so everyone would hear the message.

"The young masters are back, come out, now," The line beeped immediately after Lucia finished talking, indicating the end of the call.

"Ugh, I want to beat her so bad," Cody clenched his fists and punched the space before him, wishing Lucia was standing there to receive the punch.

"Come on, let’s go, angry bird," Zeno patted Cody’s shoulder before walking away.

They walked through the passageway and into the living room, just to find Mr. Glen already sitting on his brown sofa with a glass of wine in his hand.

Zeno glanced around but could not find any other person in the living room with Mr. Glen.

Was Lucia messing with them?

He was about to ask him about his children when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

He turned at stared in that direction. He first saw their legs as they slowly walked down, and then their waist and chest, but once he saw their faces, he couldn’t believe it, he thought his eyes were deceiving him.

It had to be deceiving him!

"Ah, here are my boys, come sit with me," Mr. Glen patted the space beside him on the sofa.

Zeno felt speechless as the guys walked past him without sparing him a glance as they went and sat down beside their father.

"Everyone, these are my sons, Thomas and Jeremiah," Mr. Glen introduced.

 

 

Chapter 25

Zeno stared unbelievably at Thomas and Jeremiah as they quietly sat beside their father like they didn’t know how to talk.

What was happening? He knew these two were quite a handful, just like their father had said, so why the pretense?

"Hello, Tom, and Jerry. We’ve been hired by your father to protect you at all costs. Hope you can cooperate with us," Ida said.

"I’m Ida, these are Jasper, Cody, and Zeno," Ida introduced.

"We already saw those on your dog tags," Jeremiah replied indifferently.

Zeno muffled his chuckle; now that was the Jeremiah he knew; he saw Ida clench his fists beside him; he pitied his friends, especially Cody, as he was about to meet his match.

"Come on, Jeremiah, be nice," Mr. Glen said gently to Jeremiah.

"Yes, Father," Jeremiah replied.

Zeno watched as Thomas remained quiet all through, not even changing his position since he sat down.

"Good, good, good," Mr. Glen said as he stood from the sofa.

He finished his wine and dropped the empty glass on the table, turning towards Zeno and his friends.

"We’ll be going to an event tomorrow. Zeno, you’ll be guarding Jeremiah. Jasper, you’ll be with Thomas. You two," He pointed at Ida and Cody, "Will be with me," He said and headed towards his secret stairs.

"Oh, and please, be kind to my boys, they’re all I have," Mr. Glen said and entered the opened door.

"Jeremiah?" Zeno called when he was sure that Mr. Glen had gone upstairs.

The twin boys stood and walked toward Zeno, and to everyone’s surprise, they grabbed Zeno’s arm and led him back into the room that they had been assigned.

"Hey, what do you think you’re doing?" Cody asked and immediately followed them behind.

Ida and Jasper followed suit, not wanting to miss any moment of what was happening.

"Why are you here?" Jeremiah questioned angrily as he took Zeno into the room.

"Hey, I suggest you behave, Jerry," Cody threatened, going between Zeno and the boys.

He concluded there and then that this family was full of crazy people, and he wasn’t going to allow them to treat them, however they wanted just because they were currently hired as their bodyguards.

"It’s alright, Cody, they’re my friends," Zeno patted Cody’s shoulder reassuringly.

"Huh?! Fine! If you’re his friends, then talk like one," Cody looked them squarely in the eye before moving out of their way.

"Guys, meet my friends, Thomas and Jeremiah, we met at the boxing club," Zeno introduced.

"Wow, what a turn," Jasper said.

"A good turn," Ida replied, meaningfully.

They all shared a look and understood what Ida meant.

Thomas and Jeremiah were the loopholes they’d been searching for.

"Here, I thought you were killed or something, but no, you’ve been busy planning shit with that asshole up there," Thomas spoke angrily.

Zeno frowned, he’s never seen Thomas so angry before, but what confused him the more was what Thomas had just said.

Who did he think he’s been planning shit with?

"Relax, Thomas, let him answer us. Right, Zeno? You must have something better to say," Jeremiah asked.

The three guys behind them exchanged confused glances, they didn’t understand a single thing the twins were talking about.

"Enough, you both. I don’t understand a word you’re saying. But if you’re asking where I’ve been, that’ll be a simpler question," Zeno said with a little frown.

"Tell us then, where did you run off to after you had promised to go out for a drink with us?" Jeremiah asked.

"Well, behind you are the three guys who were involved in kidnapping me immediately after I left the boxing club that night," Zeno pointed to his finger behind the twins.

"Kidnapped?!" Jeremiah asked incredulously.

After a few minutes of explaining everything to them and getting familiar with each other, Zeno suddenly cleared his throat, gathering everyone’s attention.

"Can I ask something?" Zeno asked the twins who were sitting on the floor, leaning their backs against his bed.

"Sure, Coach," Jeremiah replied teasingly.

"Why’d you call your father an asshole?" Zeno asked cautiously.

Silence.

The four guards looked at each other apprehensively.

This was a fifty-fifty risk they were taking.

They didn’t fully trust the twins yet, as they might just be acting this way to make them loosen up around them, just like their father was doing.

If it were so, then they were already busted before they could even start.

But if there was really a hitch between them and their father, then this was a great start for them.

"Well..." Jeremiah paused, skeptically looking at Zeno’s colleagues.

"Can we trust them?" Thomas asked.

"On this, yes," Zeno replied honestly.

Cody rolled his eyes at their question, "As if they had a choice." He whispered.

Thomas turned around and sent Cody a cold glare when he heard what he said.

"Ok. It’s simple. He’s not our father," Jeremiah informed.

"I knew it," Cody muttered.

"Can you be quiet?" Thomas asked angrily.

"Humph, look who’s talking," Cody glared back.

"Keep it down, boys, we have something more urgent to discuss," Jasper scolded.

"Whatever," Thomas murmured.

Zeno facepalmed, sighing. He always knew it would be hard and chaotic to get something done with these two sanguines in the same room.

"Please, go ahead," Ida said to Jeremiah.

"Who’s he, then?" Ida asked.

"He is our father’s cousin, but he poisoned him when we were only ten, and took over his business," Jeremiah explained, grudge and vengeance evident in his voice.

"That’s horrible," Jasper commented.

"We have leverage over him though. He believes we were too small to understand what was happening when he served our father a poisoned drink in that same living room," Jeremiah chuckled lightly.

"But thank God we were smart kids, we kept pretending to be unaware till date, making him trust us enough to bring us into most of his dark businesses," Jeremiah smiled evilly.

Zeno listened to him and kind of understood why they looked so pained. Just like if someone were to walk up to him and tell him that he/she was responsible for his parent’s death, he was sure he would be murdered in the next second.

He respected the twin for their calm composure; they’d been holding on for so long, yet they looked so bright on the outside.

"So, you acknowledge that your father... Uncle is knee-deep into illegal activities?" Ida asked, making sure his camera was zeroed in on them as they confirmed his question.

"He’s past knee-deep, he’s already drowned in the ocean of illegality," Thomas replied.

"Then let us help you," Zeno said.

"No! Trust me, you don’t want to get involved with that man," Jeremiah blatantly refused.

"We’re already involved with him," Cody replied.

"I refuse. I don’t want to drag anyone into our problem," Jeremiah maintained his stand.

"Why do you think he replaces his guards every week? It’s because he grows suspicious of them when he feels they’ve seen too much of his dark side, and, before you know it, they go missing. Nothing to say about their whereabouts," Thomas warned seriously.

"Well, actually, whether you accept or not, we’re already investigating him," Zeno shrugged.

"Do you really think we’re just here solely to be your crazy uncle’s bodyguards? Think again then," Cody said.

"Yeah, we’ve been sent by our boss to see how your lovely uncle is doing," Jasper said, resting against the headboard.

"Ah, I see. Who’s your boss?" Jeremiah asked.

He wanted to know if it was someone influential and powerful enough to subdue his ’crazy uncle’ as Cody rightly called him.

Zeno scoffed before answering, "Sebastian Orion," He informed them.

"Wow," Thomas said, his eyes traveling from one guard to another.

So these men were all specially trained and selected bodyguards? He felt better knowing who had sent them.

"Shit’s about to get good, bro," Jeremiah turned to his brother with a mischievous grin.

"This is going to be awesome," Thomas said, smiling.

"So, same team?" Zeno asked.

"Hell to the yes, Coach," Jeremiah replied.

"Here," Zeno handed Jeremiah the piece of paper Julia had given him earlier.

"What’s this?" Thomas asked, tilting his head toward his brother to read the contents of the paper.

"Your Chef, Julia, dropped it on my lap during lunch," Zeno told them.

"Damn, we have to act fast," Jeremiah said.

"What’s the background story?" Cody asked, concerned.

Ida couldn’t help but glance at Cody, again, he felt hurt hearing the genuine concern lacing his voice for Julia while he was busy giving him the cold shoulder.

"You all already know he deals drugs and is into human trafficking. Well, Julia is one among the billion girls he’s brought here from different countries with the promise of a well-paying job. But when they get here, they see it’s completely different from what they thought it’d be," Thomas explained.

"How different?" Jasper asked.

"He uses them as a sex slave, and when he was done having his fun with them, he put them out for auction, just like he’ll secretly be doing at his event tomorrow," Jeremiah completely.

"Sick," Jasper commented with a frown.

"Wait! He’s auctioning Julia tomorrow?" Cody sounded panicked.

"No, he has other girls locked up in his secret hotel or warehouse, I don’t really know what to call that kind of place," Jeremiah replied, sighing.

"We can’t let him have his way tomorrow, we have to find a way to stop him," Cody said anxiously.

"Calm down, Cody, that is why we’re here, we’ll find a way," Ida said soothingly, trying to calm Cody down.

"Right, that’s why we’re here," Cody murmured, stealing a glance at Ida and quickly removing his eyes before Ida looked his way.

"So, here’s the plan-"

"Too loud guys, too loud," Lucia’s voice suddenly sounded from the door.

The four guards froze on hearing her voice.

Have they just been busted before they could even come up with a plan?

"Chill guys, she’s with us," Thomas said, chuckling because he knew what must have gone down between their aunty and bodyguards.

"What?!" Cody sprang up from the bed, glaring at Lucia who was now majestically walking into the room, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Gotcha," She tapped the tip of Cody’s nose, smiling dashingly now.

 

Chapter 26

How little!" Cody pointed angrily at Lucia.

"Hey, calm down, Cody, don’t be unreasonable," Jasper dragged Cody back down to the bed.

"It’s cool, he’s such a baby," Lucia said and went over to Jasper’s bed, lowering herself beside Ida.

The four guards stared unbelievably at Lucia, so she’s been playing them all these while, acting like a strict bitch.

But they understood why; she acted that way to make Mr. Glen not suspect anything from her, and they must give it to her, she is a great actress.

"You’re the one in charge right?" Lucia asked Ida, putting her arm around his neck.

"Yeah," Ida shrugged, not flinching from her touch.

"Hey, you! Get your hands off him," Cody warned.

"Why? Jealous?" Lucia asked, smirking.

Ida instantly turned his head towards Cody, staring intently at him to see his reaction.

"Whatever," Cody scoffed and removed his face from them.

Ida smirked. He saw a glimpse of jealousy on Cody’s face and it gave him some kind of reassurance. He knew there was a glimpse of hope for him.

"Alright, Lucia, what’s your plan for tomorrow?" Zeno asked, switching to work mode.

"Here’s what we’re going to do..."

And after a long period of planning and chatting, everyone went to bed, waiting anxiously for tomorrow to come.

And it did.

"Zeno, hurry, Glen will be down in three minutes," Cody impatiently knocked on Zeno’s door, waiting for him and Jasper to come out so they could all go out to meet Mr. Glen together.

"Why so grumpy this early, Cody?" Jasper asked as he opened the door.

"About time you get your ass moving," Cody grumbled and started walking away.

"He’ll be alright," Zeno said as he walked out of the room.

"Yeah," Jasper nodded.

They followed Cody behind and weren’t surprised when they saw Ida already waiting for them in the living room.

"Remember to keep everything on the low, this isn’t the real thing yet," Ida said to his friends.

"Sure, our main aim is to make sure he doesn’t trade any human today," Jasper said.

"Got it," Zeno nodded.

Cody remained silent, staring at Ida who hadn’t even looked his way since morning. It wasn’t supposed to affect him, but somehow, it did. He knew he was the one who started it, but he never imagined that Ida would ever stop talking to him just because he had ignored him for a whole day.

’Yeah, like that was something normal to do.’ He silently chastised himself.

"Hello, bodyguards," Jeremiah said as he walked down the stairs with his brother.

"Morning, young masters," Jasper teased.

"Oh please," Thomas said, shaking his head.

Zeno chuckled, he was glad everyone got to get along with each other now, it wouldn’t have been good working with friction amongst them.

"Ah! I see everyone’s ready," Mr. Glen came out of his cave looking all suited up in a blue tuxedo.

"We’re ready, sir," Ida responded.

"Awesome, but why are you all in a boring black outfit and a weird cap? You should all dress up, we’re going for an event," Mr. Glen frowned, looking them up and down, not satisfied with how they looked.

"We’re bodyguards, sir. This is how we dress," Zeno said, emotions void in his voice.

Ida threw him a quick look before clearing his voice.

"Um, we’re sorry, sir, we appreciate the outfits you got for us, but, to look professional, we always wear our uniforms," Ida calmly explained.

He knew Zeno hated Mr. Glen, but they had promised to keep everything under a low profile. They wouldn’t want him growing suspicious of them this soon.

"That’s alright, as long as my boys look charming... Let’s go then," Mr. Glen replied and started walking out of the house.

Thomas scoffed as they followed him behind.

In front of the house, two cars were already parked waiting for them, Lucia came out of the first car and opened the door for Mr. Glen.

"Here," She handed a key to Ida.

"Drive him," She said in her normal cold voice.

Ida wanted to ask her how she was coming but he decided against it, he was sure she had her means.

"Take this," She gave another key to Zeno, pointing at the second car.

"Got it," Zeno replied.

Ida and Cody drove Mr. Glen while Zeno and Jasper drove the twins.

In twenty minutes, they reached their destination.

The event was held in a luxurious hotel, different kinds of cars were already parked in their designated parking slots and many more were still coming.

Zeno and his friends quietly followed Mr. Glen and his sons behind, observing the environment.

Zeno noticed that Mr. Glen didn’t want any surprises, he had set two hefty security men in front of the hotel to check for authentification of the invite before they let you in.

He noted how every other guest stood in line and waited to be checked before they went into the hotel.

They walked through a long hallway which led them into a large hall where the event was held.

Zeno looked around and noticed that most of his guests were men, he wasn’t surprised about that, they had obviously come to purchase girls. And they all had an anticipatory look on their faces.

Zeno clenched his fists beside him, anger threatening to overtake him. But he calmed himself down, it was still early to act, and he had a surprise for them later.

"Make yourselves comfortable, boys, I’ll attend to my guests, have fun," He winked at them before walking away.

"Um, you don’t have to follow me around," Mr. Glen turned around when he noticed Ida and Cody following him behind.

"I’m sorry, but your safety is our concern," Ida said.

"How thoughtful, okay then, but keep your distance," Mr. Glen said and turned around to continue on his path.

Ida and Cody trailed behind, keeping some distance as they were asked.

"Hey," Cody said to Ida.

"Yeah?" Ida asked, looking at Cody briefly before removing his eyes.

"Um... Everything okay?" Cody asked, staring hopefully at Ida.

"Yeah, why?" Ida answered, looking around the hall in observation.

Cody clenched his fists. He was frustrated, he dared to ask him ’why?’ As if he didn’t know what he was talking about.

"N-nothing," Cody replied, silently sulking.

"Cool, let’s focus on work then, we wouldn’t want to get unnecessarily sidetracked," Ida said seriously.

"Yeah...unnecessarily sidetracked," Cody murmured, feeling more conflicted within himself.

"How about we go the opposite directions, we can’t just stick in one place," Jasper suggested.

"Good idea, you can go that way with Thomas, I’ll go the other way with Zeno," Jeremiah said, pointing to his left and right sides.

"Okay, careful, Zeno," Jasper said before walking away with Thomas.

"Let’s go," Jeremiah said to Zeno, walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, I don’t see any girls here, are you sure he’s auctioning them today?" Zeno asked quietly beside Jeremiah.

"Don’t worry, they come in disguise. After his boring speech," Jeremiah pointed up to the stage.

Zeno’s sight followed the direction Jeremiah had pointed to and saw Mr. Glen going up the stage, a microphone in his hand.

"How long does he give it?" Zeno asked, already feeling bored with the upcoming speech.

"Five minutes," Jeremiah chuckled at Zeno’s helpless expression.

He just discovered that he wasn’t the only one who was bored to death with Mr. Glen’s speech.

"Hey, cheer up," Jeremiah put his hand on Zeno’s lower back, turning him away from the stage.

"Come on, Coach, come with me," Jeremiah said, leading him towards a corner.

Zeno didn’t ask questions, he would go anywhere to escape those boring five minutes.

Jeremiah led him to a corner, pushing open a tall brown double door.

Zeno was led into a small balcony, flower pots were placed all around the protective rail.

"We can stay here for five minutes, or more if you want," Jeremiah said behind Zeno who was busy looking down from the balcony.

"Five minutes will do, we have to get back there soon," Zeno said, still looking down, observing the guests who kept arriving in their tinted expensive cars.

"What are you thinking of?" Jeremiah’s voice sounded close to Zeno’s neck.

He put each hand beside Zeno, caging him between the railing and himself, slowly moving up behind Zeno.

Zeno didn’t think anything of it, he was too busy thinking about stuff to read meaning into Jeremiah’s actions.

"Just thinking of how those poor girls are feeling right now, forced against their wills to become sex slaves to those entitled assholes," Zeno sighed.

He heard Jeremiah chuckle behind him and he felt his

hand on his arm. That was when he paid attention to their position, Jeremiah was almost pressed behind his back, and he could feel his hot breath faintly on his neck.

He stood still. These days, he noticed he’s been attracting the same gender, and he was curious to know the cause. Does it mean he’s turning gay?

He closed his eyes and sighed, he didn’t push Jeremiah away because, just like Jasper, he was trying to check his reactions towards other men.

"Don’t worry, we’ll do everything to save them, together," Jeremiah whispered, placing a kiss behind Zeno’s neck.

Nothing...

Zeno felt nothing apart from the warmth of Jeremiah’s lips pressing against his neck.

He slowly turned and faced him.

Jeremiah looked intently at him, an unsure feeling washing over him.

"Zeno-"

"Let’s get back inside," Zeno said, cutting him off.

"Yeah... Sure," Jeremiah replied and moved away from Zeno.

He let Zeno walk in front of him while he slowly trailed behind him, thinking about what he had just done.

Did he just make everything worse?

Inside the hall, Zeno saw Ida and Cody standing behind Mr. Glen who was busy talking with a very young and handsome man.

He was surprised to see someone of his age already so rich and associating himself with the likes of Mr. Glen.

Was he also here to purchase girls?

"That’s Marcus, he’s real son," Jeremiah provided, standing beside Zeno.

"Makes sense now," Zeno narrowed his eyes.

"Is he in with him in the business?" Zeno asked, still staring at Marcus.

"No. It’s safe to say, he’s clueless. He believes his father’s companies are what fetches all the money," Jeremiah said, putting his hands into his pockets.

"I see. When are the girls coming?" Zeno asked the main question which was the reason why they were there.

"Right about... Now," Jeremiah pointed to the door which they had come in from.

Zeno looked at the door but only saw a train of waitresses carrying drinks and food inside the hall.

"Umm, I don’t see no girls, just waitresses serving drinks," Zeno frowned.

Was Jeremiah wrong about his information, did he misplace the dates? Or, did Mr. Glen find them out and decide to surprise them instead? Making them look like fools.

"No, Zeno, observe," Jeremiah said, waving one waitress over.

"What would you like to drink, sir?" A girl with short brown hair came over with a tray of drinks.

"Water for me and my friend, please," Jeremiah replied.

"Here you are, please wave me over if you need something else, anything at all," The girl said before walking away.

"Did you notice anything?" Jeremiah asked.

"Nothing special, just her name tag and a number below it, I guess it’s her employee number," Zeno replied, still not believing him.

"You’re right about the name, but so wrong about the figures," Jeremiah sipped his water.

"What’s it then?" Zeno asked impatiently.

"That’s her price tag," Jeremiah replied.

Zeno looked shocked.

How could he have been so dumb not to think of it?

"Fuck, I didn’t think about that," Zeno said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, that’s why he does it that way, for the clueless to remain clueless," Jeremiah looked at Marcus as he spoke.

"Then I’ll make a call to Lucia," Zeno said and brought out his phone.

"Not here," Jeremiah stopped Zeno from dialing Lucia’s number.

"You can pretend to go to the restroom," Jeremiah suggested.

Zeno nodded and walked away.

"Yes, you can send them in, I’m sure," Zeno spoke into his phone inside the men’s restroom.

"In three minutes," Lucia responded through the phone and ended the call immediately.

Zeno used the opportunity to release his bladder and wash his hands.

He opened the door to return to the hall when he was suddenly pushed back in, the door clicking, indicating that it had been locked.

"Having fun?" Sebastian asked, pressing Zeno against the sink.

"Sebastian?" Zeno didn’t realize he had called Sebastian’s name out of shock.

What was he doing here?!

 

 

Chapter 27

"I’m sorry... I meant boss," Zeno corrected, placing his hands behind him on the sink to support himself.

"Answer me," Sebastian whispered coldly, stepping closer to Zeno.

Zeno felt it.

That feeling he’d been searching for through other people engulfed him the moment he saw the handsome face of his boss, he didn’t even need to feel his touch before he could feel his body get warm and sensitive and his heart race.

"I don’t know what you asked, boss," Zeno said quietly, trying to make sense of how he felt at the moment as he stared into Sebastian’s dark grey orbs.

Sebastian looked down at Zeno’s face, a strange longing overtook him, remembering the video of Zeno undressing in the bathroom made him lose all restraint.

He suddenly wrapped his hands around Zeno’s waist, drawing him plush to himself.

"Acting innocent now?" He whispered into Zeno’s ear.

"Boss, don’t do this, just let me go," Zeno pleaded.

"But you didn’t plead when Jeremiah had his hands all over your body, Zeno. Do you prefer his touch to mine?" Sebastian asked darkly.

Zeno widened his eyes, surprised at Sebastian’s question and how he was able to see him and Jeremiah together. Has he been following him?

"It’s not what it looks-"

"Answer me, Zeno. Who’s touch do you prefer?" Sebastian whispered sensually, caressing the sides of Zeno’s face with his fingers.

Zeno shivered from his touch. This was escalating faster than he could imagine.

"No one’s," Zeno replied, trying to control his breathing.

"Liar," Sebastian said, chuckling darkly.

He lowered his head beside Zeno’s face and sucked one earlobe into his mouth, licking it slowly with the tip of his tongue and biting it gently with his teeth.

Zeno closed his eyes as he felt Sebastian’s mouth working on his ear, he bit his lips to keep those embarrassing and traitorous sounds locked in.

"Zeno," Sebastian called gently for the first time.

"Yes, boss," Zeno refused opening his eyes, afraid he’d get lost in Sebastian’s eyes if he opened them.

"Look at me," Sebastian commanded.

Zeno slowly opened his eyes and stared into Sebastian’s darkening eyes.

"I’m going to kiss you," Sebastian warned.

Zeno’s breath hitched, and he felt a warm sensation travel all around his body. But he didn’t want to be deceived.

A kiss from Sebastian meant punishment, he didn’t want to get ahead of himself as Sebastian always warned him.

"As a punishment?" Zeno dared to ask.

Sebastian smirked sexily at him, slowly putting his hand behind Zeno’s neck.

"How about you kiss me and find out?" Sebastian whispered against Zeno’s lips, his hot breath warming Zeno’s lips.

Zeno looked into Sebastian’s eyes, unconsciously licking his lips in anticipation of the kiss.

"I’ll take that as yes. Push me away if you change your mind," Sebastian whispered huskily.

Zeno’s brain was too mushy to understand what Sebastian was saying, he was so focused on staring at Sebastian’s handsome face that he only saw Sebastian’s face in a blur as he lowered his lips to his.

Zeno felt something urgent and needy possess him, and before he could understand what was happening to him, he felt himself close his eyes and cover the remaining distance between them, slamming his lips to Sebastian’s approaching lips.

Sebastian was shocked for a second, his mind froze at that moment as he felt Zeno’s soft lips kissing him for the first time. He was so shocked he forgot to return the kiss.

Zeno slowly withdrew, feeling embarrassed. He looked away from Sebastian, not wanting him to see the hurt in his eyes.

What was he expecting?

What did he just do? It was obvious this was one of Sebastian’s games, and he had foolishly fallen for it.

Sebastian felt void as Zeno withdrew his lips from his, he put his finger below his chin and raised his face to his.

"Why’d you stop?" Sebastian asked; a devilish smirk on his face.

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ha-"

"Shut up!" Sebastian hungrily pressed his lips against Zeno’s, and this time, he felt Zeno kissing him back with tongue and all.

He felt his cock responding instantly to Zeno; he’s never felt so horny like this for anyone before; it was a yearning that was forbidden yet temptingly intoxicating.

He didn’t want to think about how strange what they were doing might look to some people, he just wanted to feel.

He drew Zeno closer by the waist, sneaking his fingers into Zeno’s soft hair from the back of his neck.

He grunted sexily when he felt Zeno’s arms go around his neck, he hastily lifted Zeno off the floor and placed him beside the sink, stepping into the space by Zeno’s legs.

"Mng!" Zeno moaned in between kisses as he felt Sebastian’s hardness against his.

His?

He suddenly broke away from the kiss and looked down between their bodies, and truly, he was hard and tenting!

No! This couldn’t be real.

"That’s your answer, Zeno. But this time, it’s you punishing me," Sebastian whispered breathlessly into Zeno’s ear as he took Zeno’s hand and guided it down to the tent between his legs.

"Fuck," Sebastian drew in a sharp breath as he felt Zeno cupping and massaging him.

Zeno watched Sebastian’s face as he rubbed him over his pants, he wondered why he was enjoying the look of pleasure on Sebastian’s face instead of being repulsed as he used to be with others.

"Stop!" Sebastian suddenly grabbed Zeno’s hand and removed it from his hardness.

Zeno’s reasoning has been clouded with dopamine and pheromones, he’s been thrown into the vortex of passion, and he wasn’t thinking straight anymore.

"Why?" Zeno whispered, his eyes hooded.

"You’re trying to make me cum in my pants," Sebastian gritted his teeth to control himself.

"That won’t be so bad," Zeno whispered sexily against Sebastian’s throat, taking his hands back to Sebastian’s arousal, but instead of rubbing him over, he slid his hand into his pants, going for the kill without delay.

"Shit! N-no, Zeno, not here," Sebastian removed Zeno’s hand from his pants, panting.

He never knew Zeno could be this daring, he liked it, and it turned him on.

"Then where?" Zeno asked in a lusty tone.

Sebastian had to close his eyes for a second and gather his thoughts, it wasn’t easy for him to handle this horny and cute yet, daring side of Zeno.

"Not here, Zeno," Sebastian held Zeno’s face with his two hands, staring into his eyes.

"I would love to cum inside you," Sebastian smirked, seeing the aroused look washing over Zeno’s eyes.

This time, they were in this together.

"Say something," Sebastian urged gently.

"I- I don’t know what to say," Zeno replied quietly, feeling his cheek and neck warm up.

"Follow me home tonight," Sebastian spoke, it wasn’t a request, and he made sure Zeno could detect the dark promise lacing his deep voice.

"I-"

"Zeno, You alright in there?" Jasper knocked on the restroom’s door, unknowingly interrupting Zeno’s reply.

Zeno froze for a second, thinking of how to reply without giving himself away through his voice.

"Um, just a minute, Jasper, I’ll be right behind you," Zeno replied naturally.

"Okay, I’ll be heading out then," Jasper said behind the closed doors.

Zeno sighed in relief when he heard Jasper’s footsteps getting farther away from them.

"What?" Zeno asked Sebastian as he saw him staring with a beautiful grin.

"You look sexy while lying," Sebastian said, leaning in for another kiss.

"Um, I’m sorry, but I have to go now," Zeno came down from the sink and straightened himself out, but he was surprised to see Sebastian standing unmoving in front of him.

"See you later?" Sebastian asked, raising a sexy brow at Zeno.

"No," Zeno replied defiantly and slid away from Sebastian, quickly opening the door and walking away in hurried footsteps.

Sebastian stood there, reminiscing about what he had just done with Zeno.

Did he like it? Yes!

Did he regret it? Hell no!

Would he do it again? Sure!

He smiled to himself before walking out of the restroom. In that short moment he shared with Zeno in there, he shockingly realized that he’d missed having him around...

When he had seen Zeno beside Jeremiah, he had closely monitored them as he sensed something from Jeremiah, his instincts were never wrong because he had followed them to the balcony, quietly opening the door the moment Jeremiah placed a kiss on Zeno’s neck.

At that moment he saw red, and he quickly left the place, not trusting himself to behave rationally if he kept watching them.

Was this what his son meant by not wanting to share Zeno? If yes, then he was damn right! He didn’t want to share him with anyone.

But he knew Zeno wasn’t his yet, but he planned to have him to himself, willingly or unwillingly. Zeno must belong to only him.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Jeremiah asked as Zeno returned to his side.

"I got diarrhea," Zeno lied naturally.

"Oh, sorry, shouldn’t have asked," Jeremiah said apologetically.

"It’s fine," Zeno replied.

"Are they here yet?" Zeno asked.

"Yes, at the entrance, taking out those fake bodyguards, Glen is quite unaware, and look there," Jeremiah pointed to the center of the hall.

Zeno looked toward the center and saw a man openly snorting Coke into his nostrils.

"No shit," Zeno shook his head.

"Guess Glen is not the only one spending a night outside his home today," Zeno chuckled.

"Yeah," Jeremiah replied with a chuckle.

Zeno looked away from the already high man at the center of the hall and saw that the girls seemed to have lined up in front of Mr. Glen as he walked passed them one by one like he was assessing his goods for any damages.

He suddenly felt someone’s heated gaze on him, he slowly turned to the side to find someone dressed in dark outfits, a face mask and cap covering his face, but Zeno would recognize him even from behind.

Their eyes locked in on each other, unable to look away.

Sebastian was in a corner watching Mr. Glen when he saw Zeno and Jeremiah; He immediately set his dark gaze on him; he couldn’t bring his eyes to look away from Zeno; he feared the way he suddenly grew possessive of Zeno.

Zeno’s mind went back to the restroom, and he couldn’t believe he had his tongue inside that beast’s mouth a few minutes ago.

But he must accord it to him, he was a good kisser, if not the best kiss he’s ever had.

Zeno suddenly snapped out of it and realized he’d been caught staring.

He tried moving his eyes away but it felt like there was an invisible magnet between them, making it impossible for them to break away from each other’s gaze.

Zeno felt his face warm up as Sebastian’s eyes suddenly shifted from a normal stare; to that of seduction.

"Hey, come over here," Jeremiah walked over to Zeno, gently pulling him by the arm.

Zeno was forced to look away from Sebastian, but he could still feel his hot gaze on him as he walked away with Jeremiah.

"It’s about time," Jasper said as they walked over to him and Thomas.

"Let’s go, then," Zeno said, determined.

 

 

Chapter 28

Ida and Cody saw as Zeno and Jasper were approaching and knew that it was time for them to act.

"Sir, I think there’s a problem," Ida went closer to Mr. Glen and spoke quietly so only he would hear.

Mr. Glen immediately paused his inspection of the girls and turned to Ida.

"What do you mean problem, how’s that possible?" Mr. Glen asked moving away from the girls and to a corner where there weren’t many people.

"The SWAT team just entered the building, sir," Zeno said from behind.

Mr. Glen quickly turned his head toward Zeno.

"No way!" He barked, his face reddening from anger.

"I made sure I kept everything classified," Mr. Glen said.

"We have to get you out of here before they get into the hall, sir," Cody said calmly, ignoring what he said earlier.

Mr. Glen suddenly stared intently at his bodyguards, suspicion visible in his eyes.

"One of you snitched on me?" Mr. Glen accused, his mood changing completely; gone was the easygoing Mr. Glen; what they saw then was an angry and dangerous-looking man, a man who was ready to down anyone at any cost.

"We didn’t, sir; please follow us; we can’t risk you getting arrested," Zeno said convincingly, bowing his head to Mr. Glen.

Mr. Glen stared at the four guards suspiciously before nodding at them, "How do we get the girls out?" Mr. Glen asked as he followed Ida behind, heading to a secret passage that led to an underground garage.

"Don’t worry, we asked Thomas and Jeremiah to take care of them. They’re safe," Zeno replied behind him as they entered the elevator that would lead them down to the garage.

Mr. Glen nodded, trying his best to control his breathing. He was really scared because he knew what it meant if he ever got caught by the officials. He kept racking his old brain to think about who must have ratted him out, but he couldn’t come up with anyone.

He believed that everyone currently working for him was all trustworthy in the meantime.

"This way sir," Ida said as he looked at the map of the building through his phone.

"Lucia already parked a car in front of the garage, she’ll take you to safety immediately," Ida explained.

"Good," Mr. Glen replied.

They walked out of the elevator and went through the dark garage, but just when they were about to press the button for the garage door to open, bright lights instantly illuminated the whole garage, causing them to pause and quickly form a protective circle around Mr. Glen.

"Long time no see, Glen," Sebastian’s voice rang out behind them.

The four guards turned with surprise written all over their faces. This wasn’t part of the plan. What was their boss up to?

Sebastian slowly walked over to the light, a face mask and a cap hiding his face and complimenting his dark outfits.

Ten armed guards walked behind Sebastian, their guns pointing at Zeno and his gang, ready to shoot at any moment, or so they made Mr. Glen believe.

"Who are you!" Mr. Glen asked angrily from the center of his guards.

Zeno held his scoff back. Mr. Glen was still trying to act tough in the face of danger.

But he was also wondering what Sebastian was trying to do now.

"Your karma," Sebastian simply replied and marched forward.

"Remain calm, sir, we got you covered," Ida said to Mr. Glen as they took out their guns and pointed them at the approaching threat.

"What do you want?" Mr. Glen asked more confidently as he saw his guards ready to take down the enemy.

Sebastian chuckled darkly and in the blink of an eye, he flew high in the air and swiftly landed a flying kick to Zeno’s upper body, knocking him down hard on the floor.

"Ugh!" Zeno groaned painfully as Sebastian proceeded to step on his back, pointing his gun to his head.

"Hey," Sebastian raised his face to the frightened Mr. Glen, his eyes narrowing in a sinister smile.

"W-what d-do you w-want?" Mr. Glen stammered from fear.

His guards had quickly closed the gap Zeno left open as he fell but Mr. Glen still felt very threatened. He wasn’t used to facing an enemy head-on, he was used to sneaking around and backstabbing, not a face-off.

"How about him?" Sebastian said in a very dark voice, scaring the old man.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Glen’s voice was shaking as he spoke to the unknown masked man.

"Him," Sebastian replied simply, surprising everyone, including Mr. Glen.

His guards stared at him in shock and confusion, but they didn’t dare question him. He was the boss and must have a tangible for what he was doing.

"Then take him!" Mr. Glen responded without a second thought.

"Sir?" Cody asked quietly.

"Quiet! Can’t you see we’re outnumbered? Or do you suggest he took me instead?" Mr. Glen asked angrily.

"No, sir," Cody replied, clenching his fists beside him. His hatred for the old man intensifies with every passing second.

"Good, get up," Sebastian removed his leg from Zeno.

The moment Zeno stood up, he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards his guards.

"See you soon, Glen," Sebastian said and in the second, the lights went off, returning the darkness to the garage.

"Let’s move, we have to be fast," Ida ordered and quickly pressed the button beside the door.

The door noiselessly rolled up, revealing the black car already waiting for them in front of the garage.

"Go, sir, we’ll make sure everything is taken care of around here," Jasper said to Mr. Glen who quickly ran into the car’s opened door without looking back.

The three guards stood in front of the garage, watching the car speed away from them.

"First wave, cleared," Lucia suddenly spoke up behind them.

They turned around to find the twins each standing beside Lucia.

"Well, that went well... But, Zeno?" Cody asked skeptically.

"He’s safe, that’s all we know," Ida replied.

"Where’s he?" Jeremiah asked with a frown.

He was about to ask about Zeno before Cody talked about him. Zeno was the first person he searched for as they walked up to the guards, today’s mission wasn’t at all dangerous, so Zeno going missing didn’t look genuine to him. Something must have happened to him, or these guards must have set him up with Mr. Glen.

Jasper sighed, "The boss- Fuck!" Jasper reeled back from the unexpected punch from Jeremiah, touching his finger to the side of his lips and frowning hard when he saw the blood staining his fingers.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Jasper lost his cool and dived at Jeremiah in a rage.

How dare he punch his lips? He wouldn’t let such an insult slide.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm your tits, boys," Lucia said as she stepped between the two angry guys who were so ready to pounce on each other.

Cody quickly held Jasper back as he saw Lucia intervening. He was worried for a second when he realized that he was able to reach Jasper in time and stop him from attacking Jeremiah.

But the moment he saw Lucia jumping between them, he rushed to hold Jasper back.

"Hey, calm down, both of you!" Cody raised his voice as he spoke.

Jeremiah stood behind Lucia, struggling to loosen his grip on his twin brother.

"He’s been sticking to Zeno like a glue, he must be responsible for his disappearance!" Jeremiah accused Jasper angrily.

Jasper scoffed, "What the fuck are you talking about?!" Jasper asked, forcing his arms out of Cody’s strong grip as he regained his calm composure.

"Zeno went with our boss, now, let’s get back and find what we can before he returns," Ida said in an uninterested tone and started walking to their car.

He knew that the thing between Jasper and Jeremiah wasn’t just because of Zeno’s disappearance, he knew they were almost in the same condition as him and Cody.

He shortly glanced at Cody as they walked to the car, wondering what was running through his mind as he seemed so lost in thought.

***

"Enter," Sebastian commanded Zeno as they reached his Maybach which was parked far away from Mr. Glen’s hotel.

Zeno, who had been quiet the whole walk there, sighed and responded, " Yes, boss," reached to open the driver’s door, but Sebastian quickly grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"What are you doing? Trying to get on my nerves?" Sebastian asked in a low tone.

"No, sir, you asked me to enter, I’m just trying to get in and get the car started," Zeno replied with a small frown.

He wasn’t in the mood to play games with his boss, he didn’t know what he wanted from him this time, but he was sure that he wasn’t going to let what happened between them in the restroom repeat itself.

From now on, it was strictly business between them.

Zeno saw Sebastian walk closer to him and lean into his space, but before he could react and push him away, Sebastian reached his hand behind him and opened the car door.

"Enter," Sebastian whispered sensually into Zeno’s ear.

 

 

Chapter 29

Zeno was surprised to find someone already sitting in front of the car; he thought that was supposed to be his job; why was Sebastian forcing him to sit with him?

As Sebastian entered the car through the other door, Zeno moved to the far end of the car, making enough room for Sebastian to sit as he entered. He wanted to limit every circumstance that might lead to their body contact as much as possible.

Sebastian closed the door and smartly fixed his seat belt before he looked at the driver and ordered, "Drive, Andre."

"Yes, boss," Andre replied and immediately stepped on the pedal.

Zeno was startled at the unexpected speeding, he braced his hands against the back of the front seat’s headrest to keep himself from hitting his head against it.

"Shit," He muttered; he loved cars and all, but looking through the window and seeing how the car was weaving past cars and buildings in a blur, pushed the imagery of how his parents must have died into his head, causing his heart to accelerate faster than the speeding car.

What was wrong with this Andre, was he high on something? Because he didn’t understand why he’d be accelerating the monstrous Maybach on the streets where there were other cars on the road, was he planning to kill them?

"Relax," Zeno felt Sebastian place his hand over his on the headrest.

He didn’t think Sebastian would even pay attention to his reactions; and with that unexpected simple gesture, Zeno felt himself calming down.

Sebastian slowly removed Zeno’s hand from the headrest, but instead of placing it on top of Zeno’s lap or beside him, he brought it over and placed it on his thigh, making sure his grip was strong because he knew that Zeno would try to withdraw his hand from his hold.

Zeno instantly became distracted from the road and quickly turned to look at Sebastian who had shifted over to him and relaxed his back against the backrest with his eyes closed.

Zeno cleared his throat, trying to curb his embarrassment as he noticed the way the driver in the front sent him a glance before pretending to see nothing.

Zeno looked over at Sebastian, intending to withdraw his hand, but suddenly got lost, staring at how peaceful Sebastian’s face looked at that moment; he’d never seen him look so calm before, with no creasing of the forehead and stony face.

He sighed quietly, Sebastian seemed to be asleep, and taking his hand away might wake him up. He wasn’t as heartless as him; he would let him catch some sleep; even though the warmth of Sebastian’s hand on his was starting to warm his skin, and put images and ideas into his head, he couldn’t still bring himself to remove his hand from his hold.

"What the..." Zeno grunted from the unexpected pull.

Sebastian had suddenly pulled Zeno into his chest and Zeno found himself bracing his hands on each side of Sebastian’s lap as he smacked his face into Sebastian’s toned chest.

"Can’t keep your eyes off me?" Sebastian smirked down at Zeno’s face with his hooded eyes.

"Ah, I’m sorry, boss. I saw you were sleeping so I didn’t want to wake you-"

"Are you reminiscing our time back there?" Sebastian asked seriously. He raised his hand to Zeno’s left cheek and lifted his face to look into his eyes, slowly caressing it.

Zeno was starting to feel like butter under the sun, he couldn’t bring himself to snap out of Sebastian’s alluring seduction, but once he remembered they weren’t alone in the car, he immediately snapped out of it. He didn’t want Andre to spread the news amongst other employees.

"Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about, boss..." Zeno replied, trying to move back to his position.

"Then, let me refresh, your memory," Sebastian whispered darkly.

"No- mng!!!" Before Zeno could refute the idea, Sebastian possessively placed his hand behind Zeno’s neck and slammed his lips dominantly against Zeno’s.

Zeno’s legs went weak from the erotic assault and he was very sure he would have fallen to the ground if he was standing.

He felt his body betraying him as he felt himself start to respond to Sebastian’s kiss; he no longer cared if Andre was right there watching them; all he wanted was to fill that strong pang he felt within his body.

Sebastian felt Zeno’s lips start to move against his and smirked; for the second time that day, he got him where he wanted him.

He placed a hand on Zeno’s lower back and pulled him against his chest, slowly breaking away from the kiss.

"We’re here," Sebastian quietly whispered against Zeno’s lips.

Zeno was still heady from the kiss, it took him a second to understand what Sebastian meant.

"What? Ah, yes, of course..." Zeno swiftly removed himself from Sebastian, stealing a glance at Andre and sighing in relief when he saw him minding his business in front.

He was never letting this happen again. This one was his last mistake!

This time, he meant by.

Sebastian slanted his lips in a smirk as he watched Zeno fumble to get himself together.

’Soon,’ He thought as he stared at Zeno.

Zeno looked out of the window as he went over to open the door, but his hand froze on the door handle when he saw the view outside.

Where were they?

***

"We have to be fast, they’re not holding him for long today since they’ve got no evidence yet," Ida said as they walked into Mr. Glen’s living room.

"I’ll go get Julia, you guys get all the evidence you can up there," Jasper said, pointing to Mr. Glen’s secret stairs.

"Then I’ll come with you, I know where she could be," Thomas said and walked toward Jasper.

Jasper gave him a nod and together they walked through the passageway that led to the dining room, but they quickly walked past the dining room, heading to the last door that led to an underground.

"This way," Thomas said as he turned a corner.

Jasper took note of how stuffy and dark the place was as they went down the stairs. This was no place for a human to stay.

They reached a dead end at the foot of the stairs and were faced with a very tiny-looking door.

"Where does he keep those damned keys?" Thomas whispered as he took out his phone and put on the torch, flashing it along the wall to look for the keys to the tiny door.

"Could it be in here?" Jasper asked, pointing his torch up along the wall.

"Damn! That psycho, how does he even reach it?" Thomas frowned hard as he stared up at the lock box that was fixed on the wall.

"How do we get her out? We don’t know the pin," Jasper said, sighing frustratedly.

Thomas shoved his fingers through his hair, gently kicking the wall with his foot.

"I think I know!" He suddenly snapped his fingers, startling Jasper.

"Okay... what’s that?" Jasper asked skeptically, he hoped Thomas wasn’t thinking of breaking the sturdy-looking door. First, it was tiring; Second, Mr. Glen would definitely become suspicious when he returned tomorrow.

They had just made sure that Mr. Glen didn’t return home that day so they could have the opportunity to swiftly search the house and free Julia, but if they broke the door now, he would definitely suspect them before his main event tomorrow night, which was when they would finally expose him, everything would end for him tomorrow, but before then, they needed to be careful with whatever they were doing.

"Quit looking at me like that and lift me," Thomas said.

Jasper frowned a bit but still lowered himself in front of Thomas. He was relieved they weren’t breaking the door at least.

Thomas climbed on top of Jasper’s shoulders and looked up at the lock box, "Move a little closer," He said.

Jasper moved closer to the wall, hoping he didn’t have to carry such a heavy load for nothing.

"How many trials does it have?" Jasper asked, putting his hands on Thomas’s lap to hold him firm.

"Just one," Thomas replied.

"Damn it!" Jasper cursed.

What was the probability of him believing that Thomas would unlock the box on the first try... Zero!

"Stop moving! I’m trying to... Yes!" Thomas exclaimed excitedly.

Yes?!

Like he unlocks it?

"Put me down," Thomas said, eager to open the door.

Jasper still didn’t believe he had unlocked it as he lowered him down to the floor.

"Here’s the key, you doubting Thomas," Thomas waved the key in front of Jasper’s face, proving to him that he really did unlock the box.

"How’d you do it?" Jasper asked.

He found it comical; his name wasn’t Thomas, but he was the one doing the doubting.

"I guessed. He uses his Son’s birthday for literally everything, stupid right?" Thomas asked as he walked toward the door to open it.

"Yes, that’s stu... wait! He has a son?" Jasper asked incredulously behind Thomas who was trying to unlock the door.

"Yeah, Marcus, the same age as us," Thomas replied.

"I see," Jasper muttered.

"Opened!" Thomas announced.

 

 

Chapter 30

Jasper flashed his torch into the very dark room but couldn’t find anyone.

"Are you sure she’s in here?" He asked Thomas who stood beside the door.

"Of course, he’s been using this room ever since I can remember to lock up his girls," He cautiously walked into the room and flashed his torch around.

"Julia? It’s me," Thomas called out.

Jasper slowly walked in behind Thomas and almost threw up from the foul smell that reeked from the room. How can someone live in a room with no window or A.C., no ventilation of any sort? Mr. Glen is a master of disguise, pretending to be a loving father on the surface, but deep down, he’s a monster.

"I don’t think she’s here," Jasper said.

"Shh! Did you hear that?" Thomas asked, slowly moving toward a tiny wardrobe that was almost negligible in the tiny room.

*Sniff, sob*

Jasper heard someone quietly sobbing behind the closed wardrobe.

"She’s in there," Jasper pointed to the tiny wardrobe, quickly moving toward it to open it but was surprised to find it locked.

"Shit, the fucker locked her inside!" Jasper said angrily.

"Fucking bastard!" Thomas cursed angrily.

"Calm down, I can pick the lock, luckily, it’s just a normal lock," Jasper assured and quickly took out something like a pin from his pocket, and a moment later, the wardrobe clicked.

He gently pushed the door open and found Julia crunched up in a corner, her face buried between her raised knees as she shivered in fear.

"Hey, It’s okay, we’re here to save you, just like you asked," Jasper squatted in front of the wardrobe, placing his hands gently on top of her knees.

Julia looked up from her knees, her nose runny, cheeks red, and eyes puffed from having cried for a long time.

"Come on, we got you," Thomas said softly as Jasper helped Julia to her feet.

***

"Where do you think he keeps the file for all his shady businesses?" Cody asked as they entered Mr. Glen’s office.

"We’re not here to search, we’re here to collect, Cody," Lucia replied confidently.

"Ah, right," Cody scratched the back of his head.

How could he forget that Lucia was Mr. Glen’s most trusted employee? She’d definitely know where he keeps his stuff. And Glen was too secretive to casually keep his things in a file inside some drawer; it made sense he locked them away in the computer; that way, it wouldn’t be easily accessible... Ha! He wished.

Lucia walked around the table and sat on Mr. Glen’s chair, booting up his computer.

"Flash?" She stretched her hand to Ida who stood beside her.

"Here," Ida came prepared, he fished the USB flash drive from his pocket and placed it in Lucia’s hand.

"Yes, Jerry, park them right in front of the gate," Lucia spoke to Jeremiah, who was on the other side of the Phone.

He had gone out to prepare their means of transport to where they’d be keeping Julia for the time being till everything was taken care of.

"Cody, grab the box from the top shelf," Lucia ordered as she fixed the flash into the USB port.

Cody nodded and walked over to the shelf, but when he saw the height of the shelf, he slowed his steps and glanced back at Lucia who was focused on monitoring the transfer process on the screen, then shifted his gaze to Ida and instantly felt downhearted.

Ida was completely focused on what Lucia was doing; it was unlike him; he would have rushed to help him grab the box. Since today, Ida has been distant towards him, hardly even looking at him.

Cody had thought he could play off what happened between them, but he just realized that he couldn’t get it off his head.

"I’m almost done, Cody, why stall?" Lucia looked up from the screen, raising her brows at Cody.

"I got it," Cody replied.

He glanced at Ida one last time and when he saw that he wasn’t still looking his way, he huffed and faced the shelf.

Cody sighed and raised his hand in front of the shelf, he was trying to measure up the distance he needed to cover and choose the method he’d be using. If it was reachable, he’d just tiptoe, but if it was high, he’d have to jump to reach the box.

He looked up and discovered that his hand didn’t even go halfway up the shelf. He sighed, readying himself to jump.

Before he could leap off the floor, he felt a hand on his waist, stopping him from jumping.

He looked back to find Ida behind him, but Ida wasn’t looking at him; he was focused on getting the box down, but still left his hand around Cody’s waist.

Cody didn’t realize when he raised his hand to his waist and placed it over Ida’s, he kept staring at Ida’s face, hoping to look into his eyes when he looked down at him, but Ida quickly grabbed the box and stepped away from Cody, sliding his hand away from Cody’s hold.

"I got it, Lucia. We’re ready to leave," Ida said as he turned to show Lucia the box in his hand.

Cody felt his heart sink.

Why was he feeling like crying? Fuck him! If he wanted it that way, then, so be it!

Cody angrily turned to go wait outside the office when he saw a neon sign displaying a countdown at the top of the door.

"Uh, guys...what’s this?" Cody asked apprehensively, pointing his finger above the door.

"Fuck! Let’s move guys," Lucia extracted the USB flash drive from the computer and rushed towards the door.

"Shit! Sixty seconds before this house locks us in, hurry!" She said as she rushed out of the door, Ida and Cody following behind her in hurried footsteps.

"I’m so stupid, how could I forget the box had a censored security?" Lucia said as they ran down the stairs.

"Thirty seconds!" Cody exclaimed as he saw another timer above the door to the secret passageway.

"Jasper, hurry!" Ida shouted impatiently as he saw Jasper and Thomas still walking slowly as they carried the weak Julia up by her arms.

"Fuck this! Let’s go!" Cody ran and lifted Julia onto his shoulder and hurried out of the door.

Jasper and Thomas were confused but they still joined them in running out of the house.

"What the fuck?" Jasper muttered as he saw the opened gate start to close by itself as they ran out of the building.

"Hurry!" Lucia came out of the gate and waved her hands to the others to hurry up.

Everyone quickly slid out of the closing gate, Cody almost getting locked in as he was the last to reach the gate due to the weight of a person on his shoulders.

"Oh my God, what just happened?!" Jasper asked, breathing heavily.

"I’m sorry, guys. I should have warned you about the sensor alarm on the box. He did it so no other person would have access to the pictures in the box," Lucia explained.

"What box?" Jasper asked again.

"This one," Ida said, tapping his fingers on top of the box in his hand, "Now, let’s get going, we don’t have all day," Ida said and entered the driver’s side of the first car.

"Change of plans, we’re going back to base," Ida said as he drove the car away from Mr. Glen’s home.

***

Andre spoke to someone through his earpiece before turning to Sebastian and Zeno behind the car.

"All cleared, boss," Andre reported.

"Let’s go," Sebastian said to Zeno before getting out of the car.

Zeno quickly followed, a frown on his face as he wondered what they were doing in a hotel that was situated in the middle of nowhere.

"Andre, what are we doing here?" Zeno asked quietly as he went to walk beside Andre.

"Freeing the girls," Andre replied.

Zeno finally understood the situation. They were here to get solid evidence against Mr. Glen in one of his hideouts.

The gate to the hotel was already opened and they easily went in.

Zeno noticed how dark everywhere was and found it odd, why would there be a light out in a big hotel if he wasn’t doing something shady in it?

Zeno sensed something as they neared the front door and quickly stood in front of Sebastian, raising his hand as a sign to pause.

He looked at Andre and nodded at him, signaling him to stand beside Sebastian and protect him.

Sebastian was about to ask what the problem was when Zeno suddenly pushed him down the moment a gunshot was fired.

Bam!!!

"Fucker!" Zeno cursed and speedily kicked the gun out of the culprit’s hand, quickly extracting his gun from his waist and using the back of the gun to hit the attacker heavily on the back of his head.

With a thud, the guy landed limbless on the ground.

"Boss," Zeno quickly ran over to Sebastian and offered him a hand.

Sebastian took Zeno’s hand and lifted himself from the floor, smirking as he did.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to think that way in such a situation but the way Zeno thrived to protect him turned him on.

Zeno was about to keep walking into the building when he felt someone suddenly draw him back by the arm.

He found Sebastian’s arms strongly wrapped around his waist, his body forcefully gummed to Sebastian’s.

"How about I reward you tonight?" Sebastian whispered into his ears.