Home: Book 1

Chapter 8

Jonah

That did not just happen. That girl has gone nuts ever since I don't know when. The Ciara that I knew seven years ago wouldn't have just punched my brother, the person she would even die for.

Hurrying over to my brother's side, I felt a surge of urgency to make sense of the chaos unfolding around us. "Do you realize she just said you have a girlfriend?" I questioned Noah, my voice tinged with astonishment.

Noah's tear-streaked face nodded in affirmation. "Then do you realize you should have corrected her?" He kept quiet. Tears just ran down his cheeks. The girl my brother was obsessed with who he thought was dead for seven years was alive and acted like my brother meant nothing to her.

"You have to tell her everything," I urged him, my grip tightening on his hand in a silent plea for understanding. "Perhaps if she knew the truth about Julia, she would understand."

But Noah's response was tinged with bitterness and resignation. "She's probably just playing hard to get," he muttered.

The other man in the room, Alex's friend, commented, "I don't think she's playing hard to get. You should see her arm. In her last mission, she even took a bullet for Alex."

"Even Lana and Carl, who were dating, felt like they were not the couple," he continued, his voice tinged with emotion. "And you know what the most touching part is? When she woke up from three days of being unconscious, the first thing she asked for was how Alex was."

I couldn't take it anymore. Ciara loved my brother and my brother loved Ciara. Together they were perfect. "Who are you to them?" I demanded, my curiosity piqued by his intimate knowledge of Ciara and Alex.

"I'm Zach," he replied simply, his demeanor calm and composed. "CiCi's right-hand man and Alex's second-best friend. I know everything about the Ace Card."

"The Ace Card?" My brother's question echoed my own confusion, prompting Zach to elaborate on the cryptic name.

"Yeah, Ace Card, Ace Spark, Alex's spy name and Wild Card, Cici's spy name. Together they are the Ace Card, the duo that wins all," Zach explained, his words tinged with a hint of reverence.

But it was Zach's next revelation that sent shockwaves through our conversation, leaving me reeling in disbelief. "When CiCi came here, she came with some photos. I think your friend is in that photo," He said staring at my brother.

"My friend?!" I exclaimed, my voice almost a whisper. Suddenly, it dawned on me. "You mean my brother, Noah?"

Zach's reaction spoke volumes, his eyes widening in recognition as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "He... He is the guy that abandoned CiCi!" he stammered; his voice tinged with disbelief.

"Abandoned?!" My brother's voice trembled with emotion.

"Yeah, SHE, Alex, Carl, and I were camping on a cliff side when it happened," Zach began, his voice tinged with the weight of memory. "Alex had gone to get wood, leaving only SHE, Carl, and me as witnesses to the horrifying event."

"Who is she?" My brother asked. "SHE, short for Shadowy Heroine of Espionage, Boss of this Headquarters." I felt proud at the fact that I just answered the question. Zach nodded along.

"You know, Julia, the girl we were looking for just now," Zach continued, his words carrying a bitter edge. "She was holding Cici by her shirt at the edge of the cliff, with two men at her side. Cici was trying to call someone on her phone but the person wasn't answering."

His recounting of Julia's chilling words sent shivers down my spine. "Then we heard that Julia girl laugh," Zach continued, his voice tightening with emotion. "And she said something I'll never forget."

As Zach spoke, I could almost hear Julia's venomous tone echoing in the air, her words dripping with contempt and cruelty. "Ciara, your tiara is gone," he repeated, each word a dagger to the heart. "You're not a princess anymore. I told you. Noah is mine, but you never listened. I don't like it when thing go your way. Thing is Noah and me are together and he asked me to get rid of you. To him you are like a parasite. A parasite who comes at the wrong time. A parasite who comes between our relationship."

"And then, she pushed Cici off the cliff," Zach concluded, his voice heavy with sorrow. "We wanted to stop her, but we couldn't. And when we tried to speak up, Julia twisted the truth, she told the police that we were Cici's friends and we were lying because we couldn't accept the fact that she committed suicide. And when her suicide note came, the police believed it over our statement."

As I absorbed Zach's account, a sense of guilt washed over me, mingling with the regret that clouded my brother's face. If only we had been there, if only we had answered the phone, perhaps Ciara's fate would have been different. But, how did she survive? I was about to ask it but my brother beat me to it.

"How did she survive?" My brother asked, his voice bearing the guilt and sorrow that was in his heart.

Zach's answer came slowly, each word weighted with the gravity of the situation. "From what I know, Alex was on a ledge right under where Julia pushed Ciara," he explained. "And Alex, being the cautious person he is, had taken a parachute with him."

As Zach spoke, I could almost see the scene unfolding before me. "When he saw Cici fall off, he jumped and caught her," Zach continued, his voice filled with awe and admiration. "And when he didn't come back, we went to look for him and saw him dragging back an unconscious Ciara."

Zach was right. Noah did abandon Ciara and Alex was there when she needed someone. I feel guilty for falling sick right when Ciara needed me. Ciara, will you ever forgive Noah and me?