Chapter 1 1-Interesting Woman

(At Dark Mafia hideout)

"Damn you jerk!" Drew Samonte growled out of his mouth as he took his hand. A punch in the jaw of this shitty mayor Craig Alegre made his arm tingle.

Craig spewed gibberish from his cracked lips. "I-I-swear I'll pay. I have to. I'd love to but- please hold on," the mayor begged.

But damn him as Drew thought. He got bigger fish to fry than this little scammer politician.

He went over the man's shoulder and nodded to Arman, one of his butler. "Make sure he fully understands how much he owes. Take his ears off if necessary."

"Yes, sir." Arman nodded.

"What! Wait no!" Craig shouted as Arman walked over to the table where he kept a big blue drum.

Turning around, Drew looked at Teo, his right hand and head secretary. "Where are the other files?"

"Some have been collected, the last one I am waiting for your judgment."

"How about that jerk Ethan Garcia?"

"He categorically refused to cooperate with any of our collection attempts. He saw his position as unshakable. He would not answer us where he was or what happened to our money."

"Tsk, where was that jerk?"

"At their home."

A metallic sound resounded in the room, followed by a high-pitched scream. Drew turned to see Arman wiping the blood off the guy's t-shirt.

Arman grabbed the man's throat and only raised his voice slightly. "Stop the screaming, bastard. Boss doesn't like listening to bullshit."

Out the door and into the hall, Drew looked at Teo. "How's Liam Flores' ledger going?"

"Clean, all things considered."

"However, do you still have questions?" Drew asked him as he walked.

"I don't know. I just can't explain why."

"So pay attention to him."

Teo had an umbrella over Drew's head as they walked out of the abandoned casino. The shattered glass door slammed shut behind them, and he ushered him into the sleek black elegant shining car.

Feeling comfortable in the back seat, Drew reached for the documents left on the other seat. Ethan Garcia's name is neatly slapped on the label. He sighed lightly. He knows this guy will come back like a thorn in his foot.

Ethan Garcia wastes breathable air. This guy used his relationship with his brother Dean and another city boss to get a loan from them. 10 million in cash. 10 million and nothing returned. 10 million went down the drain.

He takes this as a favor to Dean. Help for his brother now dead and buried. Shit like this, is not for him. However, when he went up to the top of the mountain for retribution, he was blocked. He was told that the man who killed Dean and all the surrounding issues have been dealt with.

Damn it. He wants his pound of bacon. He shook his head and opened the file. Going down this line of thinking is useless now. He can chase it again if needed. He slowly flipped through the pages on Ethan.

It's funny how they can put a document on one person and he's reduced to around ten pages. He could see every single payment that jerk made on his mortgage and how many times he had overdrawn at the bank.

Drew looks at his statutory outstanding debt, he looks at the 10 million Ethan owes him personally now. Anger crept slowly through his veins.

Turning the pages, he saw Ethan's family life. Since he borrowed money, he has had one of his men keep a close eye on his family. He is engaged to Meri Wilson but still living with his parents and he has a younger sister, Hana Garcia.

As they drove in the rain late at night, he looked at pictures of Ethan for a long time. This man has the guts to offend him!

He took a quick look at photos of his family. His parents seem so happy and his sister looks so gentle.

His fingers stopped when the picture of Ethan's sister appeared. Light brown eyes, sexy red fuller lips, high cheekbones, flawless skin, and long brownish hair. All these parts alone would make her extraordinary. Even though her face is generally unremarkable, there is one feature of her that can be shocking. But together they created something otherworldly.

She is a beauty incarnate. Fingers traced her lip line and Drew frowned. How could that man have such a beautiful sister? He flipped through her photos further. Not a lot, but what he's seen tells him she's not like any other woman he has ever met.

She looks perfect for his standard. There's a fairly candid photo of her watering plants in their backyard. Her hair is all over the place. Her slender legs are wrapped in jogging pants and she is wearing sneakers. Her mother looked like she was giving her questions as she tried to look at her and still waters the plants.

Even this "family life" calls to Drew. Mixed in with some kind of mesmerizing shot, he could see how haunting those eyes were. They're calling him, pulling him in, and getting him lost forever. He can feel his hands curled around him. She was pulling him out of where he was sitting in the car.

"Take me to Ethan's, Jules," he said to his driver. Teo looked back at him from the front seat and said, "Now? Don't you want to wait until tomorrow?

"No. We are going there now. . The car made a few turns and they pulled off the highway and back on the road. His eyes drifted out of the window for a moment, watching the rain that had poured down all day.

Looking back at the photo, though, he saw something he had never seen before - a ray of light. Inside, he felt the embers of life burning.

His muscles tensed with anticipation. He needs to see this woman. He needs to see if what the picture shows is true.

***

Hana's brother, Ethan, was sleeping on the wide chair beside the pool, snoring so loudly, and she had the strongest urge to punch him. She wanted to scream at his pale face. She want to tell him to wake their parents up to eat after she prepared their breakfast. Not even dare to help her prepare their breakfast. She wants to ask why he came back after months of hiding from all his debt that bothers her and their parents.

But she just stand next to him, staring at the clear water of the pool. It's time to accept reality. Ethan is still her brother even if he is a jerk. ​​The day he is back is a new start to many trouble he may cause.

She can't go on like this. This is no way to live, this is just existing.

And she is sick of all the troubles he brought.

After growing up dirt poor, they trust Ethan thinking they would finally have financial security. They would always have a roof over their head. They would never go hungry again.

Foolishly, he believed his lust for money would turn their family rich.

But this, he is lack of brain, lack of care, pulling them into the depth of debt. She rather starves than stay in this house for scammed money or eat the food his brother stole.

Ethan has been gone for days hiding from the people he owes money to. He's been finding more and more reasons to throw them in danger.

There's always some client on the other coast that needs his help and he'll scam him. Or some corporation that has to have his expertise or they're going to lose millions and Ethan take advantage of that, getting all their money from them.

It's funny, she still doesn't know exactly what his job title or true profession is even if he is her brother. Whenever she asks him about it he just brushes her off, doesn't have time to explain it, or says she wouldn't understand.

Like she's some kind of idiot.

If she was an idiot she wouldn't know about all the women he's been hooking up with even if he already has a fiance. She knows that's one of the reasons he's always leaving them. He has an illegal business in every city.

She sighed, looking up at the balcony where usually their parents taking their tea.

Suddenly her eyes feel swollen and her nose stings. She has to blink back her tears and take a deep breath. Rolling her eyes back up, she focuses on the water.

What will happen to their family specially their parents if karma knocks on their door for Ethan?

She knew it.

She no longer has to pretend this place is safe. keeping up appearances on Facebook. More making excuses for any invitation for she was also hiding from anyone Ethan aggrieved people.

She has to leave for her freedom.

No more trying to explain to her friends that she is sorry but she had to miss their Saturday night again.

a fresh start, a new beginning.

She's been doing everything on her own for years now. Losing Ethan won't make much of a difference.

But how about their parents? If she leaves them under Ethan's care?

Ethan suddenly grunts loudly and rolls over.

The air turns sour and she resists the urge to gag this jerk-

Gosh, he is such a pig.

Ethan open his eyes, "What the hell," he growled seeing her.

"Hello, amazing brother. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"You scared the hell out of me, Hana! What do you want?"