A Soldier's Oath (Completed)

CHAPTER 32

Tessa

"Will you marry me, Tessaire Shalom?" he softly said.

I felt my body stiffened. Nang dahil nakayakap kami sa isa't-isa alam kong nararamdaman niya ang biglang reaksyon ko sa sinabi niya.

I never heard it for a long time until now. I remember how Jake used to say that to me. It was amazing at first but as the time went by those words felt like a common language we had.

No sparks, no giddy feeling, no butterflies in the stomach.

To be honest, the I love you's I have said was somehow half-empty. I was guilty and sad now that I lay the comparison in my heart.

"You don't have to answer that," he said and got up.

Guilt washed over my chest as I chased her fingers slipping away from my grasp.

Umalis na siya ng kwarto at hindi na ako tinapunan ng tingin. I just sigh and went to the comfort room para maligo at magpalit ng damit. Kumuha nalang ako ng kanyang t-shirt at cotton pants na garterized.

Nasira na ang damit ko nang pinunit niya ito at minura dahil humaharang ito sa katawan ko. We were just happy, flirtatious and hot a while ago and now it seems like winter swiped our moods.

Nakita ko siyang nakahilig sa upper deck habang humihithit ng sigarilyo habang nakapambaba lang. I never saw him smoke around me noon kaya bago sa paningin ko ang kanyang ginagawa.

Walking like a Cheshire cat, I reached my hands onto the flat of his stomach and inhaled his scent.

"You are special to me, Tate,"I murmured and heaved a sigh "But marriage is..." I tried.

He cupped my hands laying on his stomach and faced me. He wears a calm expression.

"I understand, sorry for being hasty. I should've break it to you gently"

"It's just that everything is complicated."

"I know, I'll fix everything—" he couldn't finish his sentence and dropped to the floor.

I was about to help him when I saw a figure holding a gun climbing onto the upper deck. She swung to the railing and landed on her feet.

Shock was painted on my face as I saw Regine made its way into the yacht. She was the one who knocked Tate out.

Gone with the black hair and goofy smile, the Regine in front of me was a white-hair cold-blooded murderer.

The irony is that I know exactly who she is. She was once my kin.

My sister.

Wala akong nagawa at tila natuod sa kinatatayuan ng ginapos niya ang kamay at paa ng lubid at nilagyan ang bibig ng duck tape. She moves so swiftly and efficiently as if she'd done this a couple of times.

I tried to step forward but she just pointed her gun at my head.Instinctively, I put my hands above my head.

I was once the one who held the gun, not the other way around.

"What are you doing here, Regine. Aren't you supposed to be in Jane's? And what the fuck is happening right now?" my voice was surprisingly calm.

"Cut the bullshit, sister. We both know Regine ain't my name. Right Maire?" she smirked and then pulled Tate's body and before I knew she dropped his unconscious body into the deep water. The momentum made a loud splash in the water.

Worry etched my face and my heart beat so fast. I've never been this scared my whole life even after Jakes's passing.

She turned to me and called out nonchalantly "What? You'll go after him? And then what? You'll play the hero part, aww that's so sweet." she was laughing as if she's gone mad. "This is so not you, sister. You lingered too much on your mission" she moved her head disappointingly.

Fuming, I step forward. "Fuck you, Rhayna. Where's my son?" I know why she's here.

"Gone with mother, she took the baby sitting role seriously. They're on their way to Italy right now. To our home" she scraped her blades full of blood.

I look at the vast ocean in front of me and muttered."This is my home"

"I understand you don't want to go home right now. Indulging into our delusions was good but lingering on it also meant danger." Regine, Renaissance, Rhayna said as clever as I know.

"I'm not part of her family right now. I already broke the seal, that means I'm free from her" I, then spat at her the information I kept for years.

"You forget the part that mother always has her way to confuse us. The seal ain't broken, it was still in the camp waiting for you to come home"

"No, that's impossible"

"What you destroyed was fake, it was made in iron, not in gold. I'm sorry you find it this way"

"I'm not going back" my voice was cold as a rock in the mountain of Himalaya.

"It's not your choice to decide"

"I don't want to go back in that fucking hell camp"

"And I also don't but I have no choice. I'm sorry sister" she said and lunged towards me.

I blocked her attack and punched her in the gut but she didn't budge, the hard muscles she had made my knuckles hurt. She twisted my hand and stomped at my back before knocking the fuck out of me.

___

I woke up in a Victorian designed bed with red satin sheets enveloping my body protecting me from harm.

I was in my old room, my old home, my hell-hole.

The door flung open and a group of help made its way into my room, all headed by Madame Ching.

She is not Chinese but her name is Ching, sounds like coins clinking each other. Her name fits and represents exactly like her.

This fucking woman will do anything for money.

"Greetings, Maire. Signora Ade is expecting you in the dining area."

"That's surprising, I thought she would greet me in the dungeon"

"That will be later if you act differently"

"I always act differently, Ching" I rolled my eyes.

"Prepare now, there will be a party tonight held just for you"

As all she said before made its way out of my room, her group dragged me off from the bedroom and started treating me like a guinea pig in the lab.

They soaked me in a rose-scented milk bath in a golden tub, exfoliated my skin with rare salt in himalaya, lather me with expensive soap that can buy an apartment in Upper East in New York, and scrub my being to wipe out the place I have stayed for years.

I was washed to forget the identity I have made and born as the Maire of this organization.

The Black Mary of Ade. Her right hand, the first-born, the first assassin and the heir to the black throne of the House Blackwater.

I was born to succeed the title and rule the organization until the Osiris burn to the ground.

But the problem is I don't want it.

I want to knit Deacon's cardigan on our porch as I inhale the saltiness and rustiness in the air, feel the sting of heat in summer and make him food as he plays outside.

I wanted to be a mother. That's all I want in life, and I almost had it. The ghost of responsibilities of my past still haunts me no matter how I tried to hide.

But I am done hiding.

I will fight for my family and my happiness no matter what cost.