Keifer's POV
[After 3 days later]
The agonizing wails echoing through the grand hallway of the Watson estate turned my blood to absolute ice. I sprinted around the corner, my boots skidding on the polished marble. The sight before me made my breath catch violently in my throat.
Jay Jay stood in the center of the foyer, her posture rigid, her eyes completely devoid of the warmth I had brutally crushed four days ago. In her right hand, she held a sleek, black handgun.
The barrel was pressed directly against my younger brother Keiren's chest.
"Jay Jay, stop!" I roared, my hands flying up as I took a desperate step forward. "Put the gun down! Take it out on me, not him!"
Keiren let out a high-pitched, dramatic sob, clutching at his chest. "Keifer, help me! She's completely insane! She's going to blast a hole right through my designer jacket!"
"Shut up, Keiren!" Jay Jay snapped, her voice deadpan, though her grip on the weapon remained vice-like. She didn't look at me. Her cold, unwavering gaze was fixed on the grand staircase. "Bring Sienna down here. Now, Keifer."
"Why are you doing this?" My voice cracked, the suffocating guilt from our last night together rushing back to choke me. "Leave him out of this. Please."
"Call her down," Jay Jay repeated, shifting her stance, forcing the barrel deeper into Keiren's chest. Keiren let out another loud, ear-piercing cry, his knees buckling. "If Sienna isn't standing in front of me in thirty seconds, I pull this trigger. You want your brother alive?than Give me the girl."
"Sienna!" I screamed up the stairs, pure panic seizing my chest. "Sienna, get down here right now! She has a gun to Keiren!"
From the top floor, Sienna's voice echoed down, sharp and laced with fear. But she didn't move. She stayed firmly hidden behind the upper banister, refusing to step into view. "No! I'm not coming down there! She's crazy, Keifer! She's going to kill me!"
"Sienna, she is going to shoot my brother!" I yelled back, my heart pounding in sheer disbelief. "Just come down here so we can talk her down!"
"I don't care!" Sienna shrieked from the safety of the upper hallway, her voice cold and completely detached. "Let her shoot him! Why should I risk my life for your brother? He's your problem, not mine!"
I froze, completely stunned. The words echoed through the massive foyer, hitting me like a physical blow. She didn't care. She was completely willing to let my younger brother die just to protect herself. The sweet, caring woman I thought I knew vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold, selfish stranger.
Jay Jay didn't look surprised. She gave a sharp nod to Keiren, who instantly stopped crying, stood up straight, and brushed off his jacket. Before I could even register what was happening, Jay Jay sprinted up the grand staircase like a predator.
"Jay Jay, wait!" I shouted, chasing after her.
Upstairs, Sienna let out a terrified scream as Jay Jay rounded the corner. Sienna tried to turn and run toward the master bedroom, but Jay Jay caught her by the hair, throwing her violently against the wall.
"Get off me! You're a psycho!" Sienna screamed, trying to claw at Jay Jay's face. "Keifer, help me! She's lying! Everything she says is a lie! She's a fake, a fraud sent by your rivals! She's nothing but an enemy's night toy!"
Jay Jay didn't back down. She stepped closer, her presence overwhelming the space until Sienna was backed into a corner. The cold precision in Jay Jay's eyes was more terrifying than any physical threat.
"The game is over, Sienna," Jay Jay said, her voice a low, lethal whisper. "Keifer just saw who you really are. He saw that you'd let his brother die to save your own skin. You have no one left to protect you. Tell the truth, or I ensure everyone in this city knows exactly what kind of person you are."
Battered by the weight of her own selfishness and paralyzed by the fear that Jay Jay was capable of anything, Sienna's facade shattered. She collapsed to her knees, trembling violently as the truth poured out in a panicked rush.
"Okay! Stop! I'll tell you everything!" Sienna shrieked, her voice cracking. "It was your father, Keifer! Your father hired me! He wants to strip you of your inheritance and take over everything. He authorized the hit on your life!"
Keifer stopped dead on the top step, his face pale. "My... my father?"
"And the memory loss!" Sienna sobbed, looking up at Jay Jay with wide, terrified eyes. "I manipulated it all. I planted the fake evidence to make you think Jay Jay was an enemy. I told you she caused the accident so you would trust only me. But it was us! Our team scrambled your vehicle's sensors to cause the crash. We used your amnesia to rewrite your history!"
The truth hung heavily in the air, cold and undeniable. Sienna sat defeated on the floor, weeping into her hands.
From behind, Keiren ran up the stairs, bypassing the scene to stand beside Jay Jay.
He looked at her with a mix of awe and relief, then looked down at Sienna with pure disdain.
"I knew the theater acting would pay off,"
Keiren muttered, looking at his brother. "I told you she was the one you could trust, Kuya."
Jay Jay let out a long, shaky breath, lowering the prop weapon. Her eyes met Keifer's, filled with a mixture of relief and the deep pain of his previous betrayal.
(The Flashback )
Jay Jay's POV
"Jay Jay!"
Before I could even register the blur of messy brown hair, Keiren threw his arms around my neck. He hugged me so tightly my ribs popped, and within three seconds, he started crying hard against my shoulder. I stood there, completely paralyzed, my arms hanging awkwardly at my sides.
"Oh my god, you're here!" Keiren sobbed, his tears soaking right through my denim jacket.
"Kuya has been walking around like a literal zombie. The vibes in this house are rancid, Jay Jay. Rancid! I had to eat takeout alone yesterday!"
"Keiren," I muttered, patting his back awkwardly. "Can't... breathe."
He pulled back, his eyes bloodshot, sniffing loudly as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"Sorry. I'm just emotional. But seriously, why are you here? Are you guys back together? Please say yes, he's insufferable when he's heartbroken."
"No," I said, my voice hardening as I pulled a heavy, realistic prop gun from my waistband.
"I'm here for Sienna. And you're going to help me expose her. She manipulated Keifer's amnesia. She made him believe I was an enemy, a 'toy' sent to destroy him, just so he would hate me and trust her."
Keiren froze, his eyes widening as he looked at the weapon. "Is that... are we assassinating her? Because honestly, she dissed my shoes last week, so I'm kind of on board."
I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh. "It's fake, Keiren. It's a prop. But we need to make everyone believe it's real to break her composure. Here is the plan:-I am going to point this gun at your chest. You have to cry your lungs out. Make it look like you're about to meet your maker."
Keiren's face instantly shifted from confusion to pure, theatrical excitement. "Oh, so you want me to act? Jay Jay, I was born for this. I took theater in middle school. I can do tragic. I can do terrified."
"Good," I said, leaning in close, absolute determination steeling my nerves. "Because once Keifer is terrified enough, I'll demand he brings Sienna down. I'll make a trade. Sienna for you. Once she's down here, I'll threaten her life. Fear will make her confess everything. We clear my name, and we show Keifer who the real monster is."
(Present time)
Keifer POV
Sienna scrambled toward me, grabbing my arm, her face twisted in a desperate, feral cunning. "Keifer, don't look at me like that! Jay Jay told me to say those things! She threatened to pull the trigger on Keiren unless I read her script! It was all a setup to make you hate me! She told me to do this drama to save your brother!"
"Oh, come on!" Keiren threw his hands up in absolute disbelief. "I am standing right here! Are you seriously trying to gaslight my brother again?"
"It's true!" Sienna screamed hysterically. "Jay Jay wants your money, Keifer! She forced me to lie about your father! She's the psycho! Look at her! Look at what she did that day! Jay Jay tried to attack him! She came to the house like a monster, she brought the weapon, she tried to harm Keigan, and I was only trying to defend him! Keifer, she is the one who put him in danger!"
A heavy click echoed through the upper hallway. A bedroom door at the end of the corridor slowly swung open.Stepping out into the light was... Keigan, my brother.
"Keigan?" I gasped, my voice cracking into a whisper. My body went entirely rigid. "You... you're awake? The doctors said you were in a permanent coma."Keigan stood tall, his pale face grim. He adjusted his cuffs, his piercing eyes locking instantly onto Sienna."I was never in a coma, Kuya," Keigan said, his deep voice cutting through the suffocating tension like a scalpel.
"I was pretending. It was the only way to stay alive while I gathered proof of who was trying to liquidate our family from the inside."
Sienna's face drained of color. "Keigan... no..."
"Stop lying, Sienna," Keigan spat, his voice dropping into a low, lethal register. "Jay Jay didn't attack me that day. You called her here, trapped me by the garden fountain, and used me as bait. When Jay Jay rushed to untie me, you lunged at my throat with a blade. Jay Jay threw her own body in front of me to take the hit. She got stabbed deep in her abdomen because of you."
I felt the air leave my lungs. "What?"
"And that's not all," Keigan continued, pointing an accusing finger at Sienna. "While Jay Jay was bleeding out on the grass, fighting through her own physical trauma, you drove your thumb directly into her fresh stab wound just to make her scream. You mocked her, told her you'd rewrite history to make you look like the savior, and then you set up the fake crime scene before Keifer arrived. Jay Jay is the victim here. You are the monster."
The dangerous, suffocating truth echoed through the foyer. Sienna sank to her knees, completely broken by her own exposed malice, trembling violently.My heart shattered as the absolute weight of my mistakes crashed into me. I looked at Jay Jay, my eyes burning with tears of pure regret. She had bled for my family, and I had treated her like garbage.
"Mark. Leo," I called out, my voice dropping into a cold, terrifyingly calm register.Two of my elite, personal bodyguards stepped forward from the shadows of the corridor instantly.
"Take her," I ordered, my eyes fixed on Sienna with absolute hatred. "Take her down to the basement holding room. Lock the door. She stays there until I am ready to handle her."
"No! Keifer, please! They're lying to you!" Sienna shrieked as the guards forcefully gripped her arms, lifting her off the floor. Her hysterical screams echoed off the high ceilings, fading away only when the heavy basement door slammed shut downstairs.
The silence that followed was heavy and agonizing. Keiren immediately rushed over and hugged Jay Jay tightly, burying his face in her shoulder. Jay Jay let out a long, shaky breath, her eyes finally meeting mine with a mixture of raw exhaustion and deep, lingering pain.