Zeno stared at the clean bundles of money stashed up in the bag and he couldn't believe someone could have this amount of money just lying around in a bag.

Zeno went quiet for a while, not that he was considering their offer, he knew that once he accepted it, his freedom for life would be gone. That's how the mafia world worked; they never let anyone who had done their dirty deeds go scot-free, and he wasn't naive to think that if he ended up taking the money and somehow managed to kill Sebastian, they would just let him go.

No, he knew better.

If he accepted, Sebastian would be dead, and the money would be enough to cover his Nana's medical bill, which would be killing two birds with one stone, even though the offer was very tempting, he wasn't going to do it.

He sighed and zipped the bag back up.

"I won't do it," Sebastian pushed the bag away with his feet.

But it seemed like his actions got to Meyer because, in the blink of an eye, Meyer fired the gun toward Zeno.

"Shit!" Zeno quickly sprang up from the chair, looking Meyer calculatingly in the eye as he raised his hands in the air.

"Fucker! Do you think you're worth all this money?!" Meyer barked.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you both. But I can't do what you've asked. Kill me now and end everything," Zeno said as he slowly approached Meyer.

Meyer scoffed as he saw Zeno approaching him, "Next time, I won't miss, Zeno," He pointed the gun straight to Zeno's forehead.

"Tsk! Drop it," Florence came and took the gun away from Meyer's hand.

She strode toward Zeno and hooked her arms around his.

"I'll tell you a story on our way out, Zeno," Florence said, flashing her signature smile at Zeno.

Zeno followed her without question. He's been wanting to leave the moment he came. He didn't miss the murderous stare from Meyer as he followed Florence out of the suite.

"Goodbye, Zeno. See you soon," Florence said.

He was so sure he wasn't going to see her again, he'd make sure of that.

"Goodbye, Florence," Zeno replied. 

Florence tipped her legs a bit a placed a kiss on Zeno's cheek before walking away.

Zeno stood frozen in front of the Casino for a second before he turned and hurried his way out of the hotel. He would learn how to forget about the crush he had developed for Florence. She was no good.

He took a deep breath as he approached the Maybach that was still parked in the same spot he had left it. He looked down at his wristwatch and noted that he had spent forty minutes inside the building, instead of five; this time, he really woke the sleeping dog.

Zeno reluctantly opened the door and entered the car. 

He didn't know what to say or how to act with his boss who sat quietly at the back, working on his laptop and not sparing him a glance as he entered.

The silence was deafening.

Zeno felt awkward with the situation inside the car, this wasn't the reaction he expected at all; he had expected Sebastian to act as he used to; point a gun at him, curse him out, or even throw a punch or two, but he did none of those, he was just busy tapping and clicking away on his laptop.

Zeno felt a foreboding in the presence of that unsettling Silence. He thought maybe he should just quickly drive him to the next destination which was already displayed in the GPS, or he could try and explain what happened with him inside the hotel to help lighten the awkwardness.

"I was-"

"Drive," Sebastian said without looking up from his computer.

He had watched Zeno as he was walking toward the car, he saw the contemplation on his features and knew he was thinking about how he would exonerate himself.

But he didn't want to hear anything from him, he preferred to remind Zeno that he was not a man to be messed with.

Zeno clenched his jaw and angrily stared at Sebastian through the review mirror. 

He's had enough of this sick family, and remembering what Janeth had told him made him even more angrier at him.

He dared to rape her when she was just a helpless teenager, and now, he had the guts to pose all high and mighty before him when he should be behind bars.

"I just want to explain why I'm late, boss, or, am I going to get killed for doing that?" Zeno asked haughtily. 

Sebastian smirked and finally looked up from his screen, locking his eyes with Zeno through the mirror.

"Drive, Zeno," Sebastian commanded.

Zeno held Sebastian's gaze for a second before he removed it and marched on the pedal.

Zeno drove the car passed unfamiliar places with dangerous-looking buildings. He wondered what else he was going to encounter on this dreadful journey.

"Stop," Sebastian's chill voice sounded from behind Zeno.

Zeno slowly came to a stop in front of a dangerous-looking warehouse. He wondered what Sebastian would be doing in this kind of place.

"Step out," Sebastian said coldly.

Zeno clenched his fingers around the stirring, he had a feeling he was going to experience something worse than what he had experienced back at the hotel.

He took a deep breath and opened the car door, stepping out of it.

He was surprised when the back door opened. He first saw Sebastian's clean black shoes before he elegantly brought himself out of the car.

Zeno was lost in staring at his boss and didn't realize that he had walked closer to him.

"Step aside," Sebastian said, placing his hand intimidatingly on top of the car, beside Zeno's head.

Zeno blinked his eyes to refocus on the person who was now standing too close to him. At that moment, he realized that Sebastian was a head taller than him, and more muscular too. He wondered what his workout routine would look like for him to maintain that kind of ripped look, even though he, as a boxer, didn't look as hot as he did.

Hot?

He shook his head and looked away from his boss, "Sorry," He apologized for stalling and quickly went to move away but he was grabbed by the arm and slammed back against the car.

"Sorry, boss, would be more like it, don't you think?" Sebastian lowered his head to Zeno's ear as he whispered.

He placed his other hand beside Zeno's head, now caging him between his hands.

Zeno finally understood what his boss was upset about. 

Petty.

Zeno slowly lifted his face to Sebastian, his musky scent wafting into his nose as it was now directly aligned with Sebastian's neck.

"Yes, boss," Zeno looked him directly in the eyes.

"May I be excused, boss?" Zeno asked, trying his best to tone down his sarcasm.

"I don't appreciate that tone, Zeno," Sebastian said menacingly.

"You know? You would've died a long time ago if it weren't for my son," Sebastian smirked evilly as he brought his hand down to Zeno's exposed neck and gently wrapped his fingers around it.

Zeno felt that same weird unidentified feeling again as he felt Sebastian's hand around his neck. His anger intensified; he didn't like the way he made him feel. He couldn't explain it, but he was sure he felt something each time this Devil tried to make skin contact with him, even though he knew the skin contact intended to hurt him. 

It wasn't supposed to be so, he was supposed to be repulsed by him.

"Then, why are you still trying to kill me, boss?" Zeno asked, a certain kind of power coming over him.

And it seemed like whatever came over Zeno, affected Sebastian too.

Sebastian suddenly forgot what he was about to say as he stared into the darkening eyes of his bodyguard. 

Why was the change he noticed in Zeno's eyes affecting him? What was this unfamiliar feeling he felt each time he stared into Zeno's eyes?

"Mother fucker," Sebastian angrily tightened his hand around Zeno's neck, pushing away whatever those feelings meant.

Zeno coughed a bit but didn't try pushing him away.

"I'm the boss and I do the questioning here, got it?" Sebastian increased the pressure around Zeno's neck, choking him.

*Cough* "Yes, boss," *Cough*

"Good," Sebastian suddenly stepped aside and dragged Zeno harshly out of the car, pushing him toward the warehouse.

Zeno quickly balanced himself from falling and looked back, Just for him to see the car zooming off with unimaginable speed.

"Fucking asshole!" Zeno screamed after the speeding car, angrily kicking a stone away from his front.

"Not nice, Zeno," Zeno felt a hand tap his shoulder from behind, and he immediately knew that shit was about to go down.

He hated Sebastian.

"Who are you?" Zeno turned to see four hefty bare-chested men, all bald, and they all had a matching dragon tattoo on their exposed chest, exactly like the one Meyer had.

He immediately understood that these were Sebastian's men. What was he planning by leaving him here with them?

"Wrong question," The tallest of them replied and dangerously strode up to Zeno.

Zeno readied himself for a fight, and even though he hadn't fully recovered, he wouldn't stand and let these idiots intimidate him.

"What you should ask is, are you going to leave here, alive?" The tall guy asked.

"No one disobeys the boss and goes scot-free," The second guy said as they rounded up on him.

"Then, let's get started, pussies," Zeno wanted to get on their nerves, and he did.

"Get him!" The tall guy ordered angrily.