MIKHAIAH AU: Clash of Crowns
"In a world of ruthless power and hidden agendas, the first encounter can spark a war or ignite a passion that defies all boundaries."
"In a world where trust is a weapon, meeting you felt like a dangerous gamble." - Max...
I sat across from my dad study table, my heart is racing. The weight of the secrets I was about to hear felt like a heavy fog in the room.
Dad's face went serious and his voice was laced with old anger. "The Lazzaros... they betrayed us, Aiesha." panimula niya,
"That's why I can never forgive them. Mikhael Lazzaro, Jadine Lazzaro, your mother, and I-we were all working together, building something strong between our families."
" Then one day, Mikhael turned his back on us. He made deals behind our backs, and took actions that nearly destroyed us."
"So, that's why you hate them?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yes. That betrayal is what led to the rift, the animosity that has lasted all these years. I trusted him, and he betrayed me when I needed him most. He put our family in danger." mababakas mo ang galit at poot sa boses ni dad, habang binabanggit ang mga katagang iyon.
"But..." I hesitated, but I continued to ask."What if there's more to the story? What if it wasn't what it seemed?" sunod sunod na tanong ko,
I saw how his eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened. "What more could there be, Aiesha? He made his choice. He didn't care about the consequences for our family."
"So everything... the gala, the secrets, Maxine-it's all connected to this?" Hindi ko mapigilang mag tanong.
"Yes," he confirmed.
"I tried to keep you out of it, but now you know the truth. Our world isn't black and white. There are alliances, betrayals, and secrets that could ruin lives. And Maxine... she's from the very family that caused us so much pain." pero hindi pa naman siguro buhay si maxine noon nangyari lahat ng yon diba?
I was silent for a moment, trying to process it all. "What do I do now?" I asked again, kasi naguguluhan na ko.
He leaned forward in his chair. "You stay away from the Lazzaros. No matter what. If you want to survive in this world, you can't trust anyone from their family. They will drag you into the same darkness that your mother and I went through." his tone is serious when he says all of that.
And after that umalis narin ako sa office ni dad, pero kahit naka labas nako sa loob ng office ni dad clouded parin yung utak ko.
"I needed fresh air~" Halos pa bulong na saad ko na, but as soon as I stepped into the hallway, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out and saw the group chat notification from my friends.
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Oops! Ang larawang ito ay hindi sumusunod sa aming mga alituntunin sa nilalaman. Upang magpatuloy sa pag-publish, subukan itong alisin o mag-upload ng bago.
My phone buzzed again, the stream of concerned replies flooding in, but I locked the screen, ang gulo gulo na ng isip ko, hindi ko alam kung dapat ko bang sabihin sa girls lahat ng nalaman ko...
I wanted to tell them everything-to spill all the secrets my dad had just revealed, the weight of the Lazzaro-Alvarez feud, the dangerous world I were tied to.
But would they understand? Could they handle the truth?
Third Person's POV
What Aiesha didn't know was that her friends already knew far more than she thought. Yves, Solace, and Shee weren't just concerned outsiders.
They were tied to the very organization she had just learned about. Growing up in the shadow of the Alvarez family, they had been quietly working within the organization for years. They had their roles, and their secrets to protect.
Yves, especially, knew more than the others. Her connection to Maxine's world wasn't just through Aiesha-it was through Cole, Maxine's best friend and Yves' ex.
Their past relationship had opened Yves' eyes to the inner workings of the Lazzaro family. She knew Cole, she knew Maxine, and she knew the dangers that Aiesha was now caught in. The whole group did.
But they hadn't told Aiesha. They had kept her in the dark, just as her father did, hoping to shield her from the reality of their world for as long as possible.
Now, as Aiesha sat on the verge of unravelling, she had no idea that her friends were already deeply entangled in the same dangerous web she had just discovered.
