Fanny. His brave and beautiful girl lay frozen, so still. Too quiet.

Michel felt his heartbreak.


When he first lost her, he thought he was in pain. But now... now he knows what real pain feels like.

And Fanny has been through worse than that.

"Fanny..." Michel whispered, leaning against her ear.


"It's me. Michel. I'm here now."

A small cry escaped his lips when she didn't answer.


He despaired when he saw her beautiful brown eyes. To hear her sweet voice.

He needs her.

And he knows, she needs him just as much, if not more.

However, he couldn't protect her.

He had let her down, and the thought was like a bullet through his heart.

He was careless, and she paid for his mistake.

Michel's eyes filled with tears as he slowly leaned forward.

As gently as he could, he wrapped his arms underneath Fanny and pulled her into his lap, pulling her close to his chest.

Her hair was covered with vomit and other things he didn't even want to think about.

Rocking back and forth, holding her in his arms, Michel begged her to open her eyes.

He gently pressed his hand to her body, looking for any other bruises but his vision blurred as everything hit at once.

All her pain and suffering. Everything. All because of him.

Michel heard her speak.

As Michel was shot and bleeding, fighting for his life, he heard her soft feminine voice speak to him.

At the time, he thought it was an angel talking to him.

Though as he slowly arrives, waking up, he begins to realize that his good deeds are too few for an angel to carry him to the afterlife.

But as it turned out, it was an angel anyway.

And now this angel has been taken from him.

Exactly 4 weeks ago. 28 days. 672 hours.

Raped and beaten, starved and drugged.

Rage. Blood boiling rage. Intestinal rage.

Michel never wanted to kill a person more than he wanted to kill Mr. Aiden.

Michel wants to take out his heart and feed the dog.

Michel wanted to rip every fingernail and hair, shave his skin and pour gasoline all over his body and burn him.

But the worst of all? Michel wants to do all this tenfold. Only with himself.

Because it's all his fault. He brought this on himself.

He pushed her away, persuaded her to leave, and thus put her in danger.

Michel will never forgive himself. Even now he can't bring her back in the end.

---

Michel burst into tears in pain.

Charles, Carlos, and Kaylin all watched Michel break down right before their very eyes.

They had known him for years, Carlos and Charles even when they were children, and they had never seen him at his weakest point.

Even at his parent's funeral, they didn't see him cry.

Of course not.

He was the boss of their family, even if he wasn't technically their name, he was their boss.

The leader of one of the most powerful mafias in X city. He is ruthless and heartless. So no, Michel didn't cry.

But right now, he's breaking. He doesn't care that his people are watching.

All his focus is on Fanny.

They watched him as the first tears began to flow, rolling down his face as he shook the weak girl back and forth, his arms tightening around hers.

They watched their boss, a man they knew to be cruel, cry for his woman.

And as they stood frozen, just a few feet away, Charles moved to stand beside Michel while Carlos quickly shook his head, trying to clear his mind.

"Fuck..." Carlos mutters, a look of horror hiding his face, Charles nods in agreement while he sees Kaylin running past him.

She knelt down in front of Michel and Fanny.

When she turned around, her expression was cold, but her eyes said a lot. Shaking their heads slightly, they immediately understood what she meant.

So bad. Very bad.

So she quickly took off her coat and talked to their boss.

"Michel, we need to go." She said, placing the coat over Fanny's almost naked body.

But Michel didn't budge. He was too lost and too far away to record any of their voices.

"My coat is too short. It barely covers her."

That's when Charles stepped forward, took off his coat, and gave it to Kaylin, who also wrapped around Fanny's body as much as she could.

When she finished, Charles nodded at her to move away, so he could take her place in front of Fanny, looking down at her.

Her face was pressed against Michel's neck, and it was obscured by her greasy, matted hair.

Leaning forward, ignoring the sound of Michel choking on her sobs, Charles moved her hair to the side, so her bruised face and neck could be seen and he could place his fingers on the side of her neck. her, right on the circuit.

It's faint. Slow, but at a steady pace. That's good. At least for now.

Charles' gaze moved to her breasts, watching the slow rise and fall.

It was so slow, it was almost as if she was fighting to breathe.

Charles' gaze followed a path down her body to the shackles surrounding her, touching the heavy chain to pull the small pin on her left ankle.

The shackles weren't even properly locked around her wrists and ankles.

So, over and over, he tore them apart until she was no longer chained.

"We have to go." Charles tried to make eye contact with Michel, who was too busy looking at the girl in his arms, a pained expression on his face.

When he didn't answer, Charles reached forward and touched his shoulder.

"Michel, we need to get out of here. Now."

Silent.

Charles took a moment to reflect on how he would get Michel out of his daze and come up with only one solution.