1.

Weylyn

"Here's your red roses." She slurred, smiling as she handed the bunch of flowers to the customer, who returned the smile and asked her to keep the change.

"Have a nice day," she yelled as the customer walked out of the flower shop.

Felt smug that she had woken up with a positive mindset and not that usual way, grumpy and getting upset at every little thing; well, that was the old her before she moved to New York City.

It's been three months since she came here, and she had felt nothing but pure peace. To be on her own was what she had always wanted and nothing more; even though she missed her family, she still wanted nothing more than being away from their possessive claws, especially with her older brother and mother.

If she were to be back at home in Silicon Valley, she had have had enough of her mother's nagging, always looking for a fault so she could have something to say and rant about in the house.

The day she had left home, her mother had put on a show at the airport, she was bawling, and she almost had to cancel her trip, but her father urged her to go on and drag his wife out of the airport to go back home, while her brother stayed back with her till it was time to move to the boarding area.

Weylyn Osvaldo was originally a Spaniard but grew up in America. She had lived all her life in Silicon Valley, being the last child of her parents, and was birth late; everyone around her had become so protective of her.

In her brother's words, "Boys are not suitable for you." to say he had ruined her first prom date by asking her date severe of tough and scary questions enough to make him chicken out.

Weylyn hated to remember how the event of that day turned out. She went home in tears that her supposed date abandoned her, and her brother had said to her, "see, a real boy, don't get scared of his girl's elder brother." She had glared at him and went to her room, ignoring him for two weeks until he got a teddy bear as big as her size.

Speaking of the teddy bear, Weylyn didn't care that on the day she was to travel, she held the teddy bear in her hands and ignored every eye that looked at her, even when Weylyn landed in New York, she had managed to carry the teddy bear with her heavy loads and found her taxi to the house one of her brother's exes had gotten for her.

"Ding dong." goes the bell in front of her on the counter, snapping her out of her thought and bringing her to reality.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She put her best smile, for the fact that she was lost in thought and overlooked the customer.

"Yes, you may," The lady in black ruffle dress and high knee-length boot answered; her fair skin glowed, her lips were worn with red matte lipstick, and if Weylyn was right, her liners and a powder were "Mac." products. The black dress fitted her slim body, although she had noticeable hips and ass and boobs.

"She looks like the hentai girls from Anime."

"What flower do you want?" Weylyn asked her; the customer's eyes roamed about the shop, uninterested but pretending to look around.

"Ma'am, who do you need the flower for?" Weylyn asked her.

She raised her eyes to look at Weylyn and sighed, "I'll take Pride of Barbados."

Weylyn hesitated; she scratched her hair and wondered what a beautiful lady like her would need the plant for, not a gift, maybe.

Just as Weylyn went on the other side to get to the flower, she heard the door opening but thought it to be another customer.

As she went back to the counter, the lady was no longer there.

She sneered and sat back on the high stool, clasping her hand in front of her on the counter.

She heard a shot outside and wondered what was happening, craning her neck to see what was going on; she sighted the lady holding out a gun and firing at someone else; Weylyn didn't get the view of who the person was, but she ducked under the table and hid there.

Her heart was thumping fast; she was shaking; she prayed that the shooters, whoever they were, would not come for her or enter the flower shop.

Weylyn could hear the door open and cowered in fear.

"Hey, flower girl. You can come out now."

She recognized the voice and continued to hide.

"I wonder how you squeezed yourself in there; you know I can hear your breathing." the lady laughed. "Everything is over now." She added.

Weylyn didn't say a word nor come out.

"I'm dropping this briefcase with you; if you give it to anyone else apart from me, I swear to God, I'll find you and kill you."

The lady dropped the briefcase on the counter, and with a slight push, she let it fall to the ground in front of Weylyn, who screamed.

The lady chuckled, "See you some other time Weylyn Osvaldo."

She shot out of her hiding place, "wait!" she called after her. "How did you know my name?"

The lady winked at her, "if you let that case out of your reach or give it to someone else apart from me, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through your head." she threatened.

"At least I deserve to know your name," Weylyn called out behind her.

The lady hesitated. "Arabella." She slams the door hard.

Weylyn was taken aback; she let the name roll off her tongue, "Arabella."

Five minutes later, some cops pulled up in front of the shop; Weylyn told herself she would act normal.

The flower shop door opened, as shaken as she was still feeling, she composed her face.

"Good day!" she greeted the cops.

"How do you do?" The most handsome of the male officers asked her.

Weylyn smiled, "I'm very well, and you?"

The cop flashed her a smile, showing his well-set of dentures. "I'm fine." He replied, "there was a shoot-out earlier today; some onlookers said a lady in black dress."

Weylyn cut him short, "oh yes, she did; she requested to buy a bunch of pride of Barbados but left even before I could get them."

"Oh!" One of the cops exclaimed, "are you sure?"

"Yes." She answered through gritted teeth.

"Hope you're not too shaken up?" The handsome cop asked.

"I'm better now." She answered.

"You should retire for the day." He advised, and Weylyn nodded her head.

As soon as they left, she placed a hand on her chest, breathing in and out, and wondered what she had gotten herself into.

She thought about Arabella's threat, as beautiful as she is, what sort of job the lady does, the fact that she had a gun and Weylyn saw her shoot at someone and didn't miss.

Her heart did a flip-flop.

She noticed the handsome cop finding his way back to the flower shop, and Weylyn internally fretted; she started toying with the hem of the chiffon Primark mini gown.

Weylyn couldn't deny that the cop was handsome, even though he looked pretty older than her and must be married with kids.

"I wanted to drop this for you; it's my number, do not hesitate to call me if there's any problem." He told her.

"Jamarion." She spelled the name out and trailed her finger over the piece of paper before she typed it in her phone and saved it as a new contact.

Weylyn wanted to go home, and at the same time, she didn't want to let anyone see her carrying the briefcase. She bent down to see if she could open it and checked what was in it but realized it was locked and she didn't know the code.

"Piece of shit." She cussed out. She figured it would be best to put it in a shopping bag and take the taxi home.

Arabella

The last five months had been challenging, and eventually, she was bent and taught to play the game.

Who could have thought that Arabella the good girl had become a 'baddie.' Forced to kill her father, that was all it took to break her.

To break her, she's now like a broken porcelain doll that was patched up and put back up for sales.

Three months ago, Damian Preston had taken her to spare her father's life.

That day, after Dominos had come to tell her that Damian wanted to see her, she thought it was going to be a smooth conversation, but it wasn't anywhere being nice.

It was cold...

"You requested to see me," Arabella said, not sparing him a glance.

"I requested to see you?" He asked in his baritone voice, and she scoffed.

Damian sprang out of his seat and stood tall in front of her; Arabella didn't flinch; she stood right and decided it was best not to look at him.

"Look at me!" He commanded, and she did, breathing heavily.

"Your father owed me. He was here earlier today, he knows, daddy Bella can't pay me back, and he even tried to cheat me, so I gave him an option."

"What option?" Arabella asked, and the question earned a slap across her face.

Tears built up in her eyes, but she wouldn't cry, not yet, not in his front.

"He begged me, and I gave him an ultimatum of one week if he doesn't get me what he owed, one of you gotta die, and I don't care who it is," Damian said, sitting back on the chair and smoking his lit tobacco.

"Why are you wicked?" Arabella managed to say.

"Why are you poor?" He shot back at her. "Get this dirt out of my sight."

"I'm not a speck of dirt. Besides, I have a name, and it is Arabella."

"I don't care to know."

"Pfft!" She hissed at him as Dominos came to drag her away; she smacked his hand away from holding her and hissed again. She was mimicking the boss as she walked away.

The rest of the members watched her and looked at the boss and wondered why he didn't do anything to her.

"Boss, should I take care of her?" One of the members asked.

"No. Leave her be. She's young."

"You should take care of your miserable life first." She spurts out as the member almost pounces on her, Dominos blocks him with his body, pushing Arabella forward, and she falls.

"Leave her alone," Dominos said.

He roughed handily, grabbed her, and threw her over his shoulder; ignoring that, she winced in pain. He got to the room she was staying in and flung her on the bed.

"Young lady, these are no nice men; you should watch your tongue," Dominos warned.

Arabella glared at him.

Nancy had come inside after he left and sat on the bed beside her, patting her as she cried.

"Stop crying, and it won't solve anything; you should be grateful the boss didn't kill you right on the spot. I saw how you disrespected him." Nancy said, scolding her.

"This is my father!" Arabella deadpanned. "He's the only family I have."

"I know," Nancy said, rubbing her shoulder.

It was now a week, Arabella was scared, the day was Wednesday, and the boss had said till Friday.

She paced about in the room, hands on her waist as she silently wished that they would be fine. They would go home and continue to live as one family.

The door to the room opened, and Dominos entered, staring at her; he shook his head and nodded at her to follow him.

While they were in the hallway, Dominos told her, "you should brace yourself, Bella. The worse is about to happen."

Arabella took a deep breath and told herself everything would be fine; nothing worse would happen.

The sight that welcomed her almost made her faint, her father's hands were tied behind his back, and he had a black eye. He looked beaten to the point that he could die any moment.

"You said till Friday," Arabella yelled at the boss.

"I changed my mind." He took a long drag of the tobacco.

"Damian, you cut the chase when it hasn't even gotten to the time yet," Arabella yelled again.

She knelt in front of her father and hugged him tightly.

"Bella, I'm sorry I failed as a father; I'm sorry, even though I gave you the life you wanted, I'm sorry I took the wrong road." He said to her softly.

"Daddy." She cried.

"Don't.. ssh! Don't cry. Daddy loves you."

"I love you too, daddy. How am I going to live on my own?"

"You're turning nineteen soon. You will do just fine, my dear girl." He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Touché. What a sad story." Damian sing-song.

Arabella continued to cry.

"Give her the gun," Damian ordered, and one of his members handed her his handgun. He stood her up and explained to her how to pull the trigger.

"Now shoot him," Damian ordered. "It's about to be fun." He grinned.

"You're such a monster." Arabella insulted him.

"Don't tell me what I know and do what I asked you to do, or else it is you."

"Do it, Bella baby." Her father urged.

"I'll hate myself." She cried, the tears blocking her vision.

"I forgive you, and I hope you forgive me too." Her father said.

"Now!!!!" Damian yelled, standing up and raging.

"I love you, daddy," Arabella screamed.

"I love you too." And the shot rang out.

"Bella! Bella!! Bella!!" Dominos called, snapping his fingers in her face. "Back to earth."

She blinked profusely and heaved a sigh.

"I'm sorry I zoned out."

"What were you thinking?" Dominos asked, scrunching his face.

"Us, baby." She winked at him as he reached over and smashed his lips against hers.

"Hey, be careful. Don't let anyone see us." Dominos warned.

"No one will see us," Arabella said, kissing him and sitting on his lap.

Dominos held her close as she slowly ground her hips on his crotch and moaned.

"Babe, we can't do this now. Let's wait till later."

Arabella groaned. "Such a show killer."

Dominos laughed "you know I'm not. We will both be in trouble if we get caught."

"I'm his most prized possession." Arabella winked, "and you are his right-handed man. We are both important."

"True. But we will have our fair share of punishment. He won't spare us." Dominos added.

"You know I dropped the briefcases off with a girl, it was easy to find her biodata, and she's a naive one," Arabella stated.

"What's her name?"

"Weylyn Osvaldo, 18, recently moved to New York City. She's a salesperson at the flower shop. Marilyn flower shop."

"When will you get it back from her?"

"When I feel like. The other gang doesn't look like he wants to pay his part of the deal." Arabella played with her hair.

"But you know you gotta get the bag," Dominos said as a matter of fact.

"Yes. I'll go get it tomorrow and bring it back."

"You should. Don't put the girl's life in danger." Dominos have her a pleading stare.

"I won't," Arabella said.

"I gotta run. We will see later." Dominos said, standing up and bending his head to kiss her passionately.

"Stay safe, baby," Arabella whispered.

"And you too, baby." He kissed her one last time and left her room.

As soon as he closed the door behind him.

She continued her thinking from where she stopped.

After her father had died and only God knew what they were going to do, his body but later on, dominos had told her he paid some members to bury him in the city cemetery, which is why she's been able to go over to the cemetery once in a while.

Dominos wasn't that bad after all, and he had stood by her alongside Nancy and made sure Damian assigned her to him.

Damian wanted to let her go but decided against it. He said she was the most stubborn of all the females he ever had, and she had that boldness from the onset, so had Dominos to train her.

It was during the training session Arabella started to feel something towards Dominos. The gym session was the craziest, and it was the closest they've ever gotten, and they had their first kiss shared in the gym.

After a month and a half of being In Damian Preston's vicinity, they both deemed it fit to have a relationship since the feelings were real.

Only Nancy knew about it because she walked in on them in her room; she thought she locked the door. They had begged her to keep their affair a secret.

The worse part of it all, on those nights that Damian showed up in the mansion when he wanted to fulfill his sexual desires, he called up Arabella.

As much as it annoys Dominos, he had no choice but to deal with it. Of all the female members, if it's not Arabella, then it is Melanie, his two favorite members.

Arabella sighs, stretching her body and yawning at the same time. She peeled off her clothes and stopped thinking about Dominos and his wretched boss. She dismantled her gun and left it on the table.

She cracked her knuckles and yawned again, debating whether she should shower now or wait till later, when she sleeps and wakes up.

Hands-on her waist and standing in the middle of the room, she decided it was best she showered so she could enjoy the afternoon siesta.