Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Ander grabbed her as she struggled to get close to Erin. “Let me go! Who are you?!?” yelled Scarlett, but Ander was still attempting to pull her away.

“I’m going to get Erin back! Let me go!” she screamed, but Ander wouldn’t let her go.

They also felt that someone was following them, so Ander quickly covered Scarlett’s mouth. “If you don’t want them to catch you, stay quiet,” Ander whispered. Scarlett remained silent because her protest was pointless because they were already far away.

When they couldn’t hear anyone else, Ander dragged Scarlett out of the building. They saw Jaguar waiting for them.

“Scarlett.”

Something took a back jaguar when he saw Scarlett, who was silent along with Ander.

“Master, I’ll help,” Ander said to Jaguar as he assisted Scarlett in getting into his car. “I’ll look after Erin,” he added. Jaguar raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Are you still madly in love with him?”

Ander turned away from Jaguar. “Maybe. Go, leave this building.”

Jaguar tapped Ander on the shoulder and nodded.

“Take care of him. Old man can't know everything,” said Jaguar before getting into his car and driving away to take Scarlett, who was still stunned. “Damn it, I failed,” he sighed.

Ander grinned, lit a cigarette, and walked back inside as if nothing had happened.

“You’re a traitor—” it surprised Sophia when Ander put a knife into her neck when they met.

“Shut your mouth, woman,” He said before patting her on the shoulder and walking inside.

Sophia clenched her fist and stomped her way back inside.

He had returned to the hotel as he looked at Scarlett, who was still silent.

“Scarlett, we’re here—” he didn’t finish his sentence when Scarlett hastily exited his car.

He sighed. “Damn.”

Scarlett came to their suite. She just stood there staring, as if she had no intention of opening the door.

“Scarlett, it’s you!” Lux exclaimed as she noticed Scarlett in front of their suite.

Lux came to a halt when she noticed Scarlett’s face was blank and her eyes were cold. Her smile faded, as if Scarlett was nothing like what she saw.

“Scarlett…”

She looked at Scarlett and saw that she was still the same, so she opened the door to the suite and went in first.

“G-Guys! Scarlett is back!” Lux announced, but their cousins were stunned when Scarlett entered, who was still emotionless, as if she didn’t realize they were there.

“Where have you been?” asked Rios, smirking. Scarlett looked up at him, and when they saw her face, they all lost their smiles.

Scarlett went at Rios and punched him in the face, and beat him down. She was just punching Rios.

“Rios! Scarlett!”

Rios raised his hand to allow Scarlett to do as she pleased.

Scarlett continued punching her chest, but he was stunned and had water on his cheek, so he looked at Scarlett, crying as she continued punching him.

“Scarlett…”

“What else do you know? What else? You know they will catch Erin! You know! But you did nothing! You made me a fool thinking about how to save him!” Scarlett punched him in the chest, causing him to grab Scarlett’s hand.

He patted her head and placed her on his chest.

“I-I’m a failure...” said Scarlett before collapsing.

Rios sighed as he looked at Scarlett. Hill carried Scarlett into her room. Rios stood up and touched his jaw.

“Are those steel hands? It hurts,” he murmured, but before he could finish, someone slapped him, and he looked at his sister.

“What did you do, brother? Why did you allow Brother Erin to be caught?” Rianne yelled. Rios averted his gaze.

“Because that’s his plan; I tried to stop him, but… You know him,” he said as he shook his head and sat in the chair. When an ice cube hit his jaw, he came to a halt and smiled as he thanked Dane.

“I talked to him before their mission, so he'd know Solen’s every move if they caught him; I never thought my brother’s plan would lead to this,” he added, winced as his cheeks hurt.

They all looked at each other, knowing Erin would change from the plan. They sighed, but Lux spoke up.

“What are we going to do now? Scarlett isn't feeling well, and I saw her…”

Something took aback Lux as she remembered Scarlett’s eyes when she saw her in front of their suite.

“I saw her cold eyes, and it was terrifying, as if she was about to kill at any moment,” Lux said, rubbing her arms as her hair stood up when she remembered Scarlett.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Lux shook her head and blinked. “I saw Scarlett like that just now; could it be that she heard something bad when she went to the quarters to save brother Erin? I don’t know, but that’s how I feel…” she sat down on the sofa.

They were silent for a moment as they considered what Lux had said. Scarlett was also different when she attacked Rios, which they had noticed earlier. Although they had never seen it in a woman before.

“Scarlett!”

When Dominic entered, they turned through the door, worried about what had happened to Scarlett.

“Where is she?”

They pointed to Scarlett’s room, which Dominic went straight to, but Carter stopped him.

“What?!?” Dominic exclaimed as he noticed Carter blocking the door.

“You’d better not show up to her because she’s not feeling well,” said Carter. Dominic was about to say something when his fist clenched because Carter was right. He also knew that Scarlett would not want to see him.

Carter held his shoulder, so he sighed and sat on the sofa, waiting for Scarlett to be fine.

“For now, let’s create a plan to save Erin.”

Everyone agreed with Carter, their older cousin. Carter sighed as he looked into Scarlett's room.

‘I hope you’re okay, Scarlett; the battle isn’t over yet.’

He sat down on the sofa to talk about their plan. They now understand that Solen’s security is useless, and they must be even more cautious in their actions. Nobody knows that the Knights have already arrived in San Martín.

“We heard the San Martín festival is coming?” asked Ara, and their other cousins nodded.

“Yes, that’s our plan. That’s when Scarlett will introduce herself as a newbie from Manila looking to invest in San Martín, but not as a Knight, but in a different person,” said Rios, holding up the blueprint he stole previously. “It is said that every festival, there is a fight in the Arena, and it is said to be entertainment for people and other people from different towns, and many businessmen/women attend the San Martín fiesta to bet a lot of money,” he was pointing to the inside of the Arena.

“What we’ll do is keep an eye on the whole place, and Scarlett will look after Solen and Ferdinand.” Rios turned to Dominic, but Dominic didn’t seem to be listening because he was worried about Scarlett, who was still sleeping. “You can come with her as her husband,” he added.

Dominic blinked and turned to face Rios. “Huh?”

Lux and Ara hit him.

“You didn’t pay attention!”

Dominic smiled and thanked for their patience. “You can count on me,” Dominic replied, and Rios nodded.

“We’ll cause our problems, and then we’ll save Erin.”

Their cousins agreed.

“Maybe we should blow up the place as well,”

“And take Solen Madrid?”

The twins exchanged nods.

“Nice thought, bro! Solen Madrid still has a sin.”

They both fist-bumped each other and grinned. Their other cousins looked at the twins, who were the only ones who understood each other.

“Maybe Claire and I will look after the monitors? Who will come in and out of the Arena? Or we can also observe every move of Solen Madrid’s side?” Sander looked at Claire, who was staring at the monitor, so Rianne poked her and Claire’s eyes blinked.

“H-huh? Yeah, the signal is back,” she whispered, making Sander grin.

“We can compete to see who is better at hacking, Claire,” he said with a smirk. Sandro punched his brother.

“Are you insane? Do you still intend to fight, Claire?”

“Why? This is my opportunity!”

“Damn you!”

“How about Sophia? I heard she was in town?”

Dominic came to a halt when he heard Sophia’s name.

“W-wait… What about her?” Dominic asked, surprised to hear Sophia’s name.

“Oh, you didn’t know. She was a traitor. She was Solen Madrid's daughter,” said Lux. Dominic’s eyes widened as he realized what he had heard.

“Sophia has been betraying the Knights for a long time, and she threatened grandfather so that grandfather would choose her to replace him; I knew this for a long time because I heard him and grandfather talking before. TSK,” said Rios, annoyed. “I gave you a hint, but you still didn’t get it, so I made a way to scare Sophia too, as she was so rough, and they could enter my house.”

Rios shook his head, admitting that he had become careless as well.

“They’ve been plotting revenge on our family since high school, and it’s gotten worse now that Scarlett and the other innocents are involved,” he added. “How many times have I interrupted Sophia’s plan, but she still escapes from me, TSK?”

They frowned at everything Rios said and were a little impressed because their cousin was smart, but Carter cut them off.

“Let’s not focus on the event; Solen and Ferdinand’s plans may change,” he said. “It is also possible that problems will come sooner.”

They exchanged glances because they couldn’t understand what Carter was saying.

“We must be ready at all times because we are Knights, remember?”

They smirked and continued with their plans, ignoring Carter’s blank expression, and they will not let their plan fail again because they will fight until the end and will not let Scarlett or anyone in their family suffer.

They do not become Knights for no reason.

***

While Scarlett is having nightmares. Sweating while sleeping because of nightmares that turn into visions for her.

She is seeing images, but she wonders if it’s a nightmare or a memory she has forgotten.

“ERIN!”

Scarlett woke up panting and sweating because of the nightmare that had occurred to her.

She held her head and held the pendant her daughter had made for her, and took a deep breath because she remembered failing to save Erin. And didn’t understand why things were getting worse.

“Scarlett.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened as she turned to face the person who had called her.

“Brother…”

Carter smiled and sat beside her.

“Are you all right?”

She shook her head because she would rather not lie and say she was fine when, in fact, she wasn’t.

“The battle isn’t over yet,”

Scarlett was stunned by what Carter had said to her.

“Remember… You have to fight for yourself and your family.”

She came to a halt and bowed.

“B-brother… w-where did I go wrong? W-why does it seem like all my decisions go wrong? I want justice for our family, for Ken, but it’s always messy,” she cried, covering her mouth. “I just want a happy and complete family, but why wasn’t that given to me?” she asked, turning to Carter, who remained silent.

“I went with Dominic just to avoid all of this; I just wanted to be peaceful and away from conflict with my husband and children, but how did it get messy? Why is all of this happening?”

Carter sighed and averted his gaze.

“Scarlett, we’re not like other people; sometimes life just doesn’t go the way you want it to,” said Carter, smiling because they both couldn’t get out of the situation they were in.

“There are things you don’t do because you can’t, and things you want to do or go to, but you can’t,” he explained to Scarlett. “That’s our family, Scarlett. We can’t be happy if there are so many people in pain; we were born to fight.”

Scarlett put her face in her hands and cried.

Carter hugged Scarlett on the shoulder. He smiled because Scarlett seemed to have returned to her crying habit.

“C-can you… stay here, brother?”

Carter smiled and stroked Scarlett’s hair as she hugged him and lay down next to him.

“Everything will be okay,” Carter said as he kissed Scarlett on the forehead and allowed her to stay by his side for the night.

The person who had been paying attention to what they were saying clenched his fist. Before leaving the suite, he took a deep breath.

When he returned to his suite, he stopped when he saw someone was waiting for him.

“Dominic~”

He realizes that the woman who ruined him and Scarlett are already drunk.

“What are you doing in my room?” he asked. Sophia grinned and moved closer to him. When Sophia unbuttoned his polo shirt, it surprised him.

“Sophia!” he yelled, shaking her hand, but Sophia didn’t stop moving closer to him, trying to bring her body closer to him. “Stop it! Have some shame!” he yelled, pushing the woman away from him.

“Why? Isn’t this what you want? My body! I give you Dominic that Scarlett can’t! What else is missing?”

He was staring at Sophia.

“Stop! Scarlett and I broke up because of you! If you hadn’t blackmailed me, our lives would not be like this!”

Sophia came to a halt and laughed. “Ha! Dominic, can you hear what you’re saying?” she asked, brushing her hair. “I didn’t think you were so stupid! Yes, I did that to separate you and Scarlett, but I didn’t imagine you’d bite into my plans!” she yelled. “Whether I blackmail you, if you really love Scarlett, you won’t fool her! You won’t let me seduce you! You’re stronger than I! But you’re so stupid!”

Dominic remained silent, his fists clenched.

“It didn’t happen to us just once, but many times! You turned a blind eye when I was about to blackmail you because you wanted what was happening to us!” Sophia exclaimed. Dominic could not respond because it was true he was a fool.

“See? You wanted it as well! You just don’t want to admit it!” she exclaimed. “Why are you forcing yourself into that girl?!? I’m here! We can have a family together! She’s useless! She didn’t even save Erin Knight because she’s useless!”

They both were surprised, and Dominic turned to Sophia, who also shocked herself with what she said.

“How did you find out Erin was missing?” Dominic asked. He approached Sophia after she backed away because she didn’t know how to respond to him. “How did you find out Erin was missing? Sophia?”

Sophia’s mouth remained closed, and she turned away from Dominic.

“Answer my question: how did you find out Erin was missing?”

Sophia shook her head at him. “I-I heard… He was missing…” Sophia replied, but Dominic shook her.

“You’re lying!” Dominic yelled, pushing her away.

“No way… I’m not.”

“You’re a traitor and you betrayed your family! You betrayed your sister! How can you even stand in front of them?”

Sophia’s eyes widened as she turned to Dominic and noticed his hatred for her in his eyes, so she approached the man.

“No, I’m not. Please believe me,” said Sophia, grabbing Dominic’s arm, but he just shook her.

“How can I believe you if you’re the reason Scarlett and I are like this?” Dominic exclaimed as he shoved Sophia. “You betrayed your family, Sophia? I never thought you’d—” Sophia interrupted him.

“They are not my family, and they do not accept me as their family! They hated me because I was my father’s illegitimate child. A child in sin. I want revenge on them and I want to take everything Scarlett has! I intend to take everything that is mine! I can kill her if I'd like to!”

Dominic shook his head because he didn’t believe she was capable of such things.

“You’re insane.”

Sophia smirked and reached out to kiss Dominic on the cheek, but Dominic backed away.

“I am, and you will be mine,” Sophia smirked as she ran her fingers over Dominic’s chest.

“Do not touch her,” Dominic said firmly.

Sophia chuckled. “Of course not, but your children? I’ll kill them, so Scarlett can feel the pain of losing a child because your children are the most important thing to her.”

Dominic’s eyes widened, and he grabbed Sophia’s wrist. “I will not let you!”

Sophia laughed and shook her head. “Oh, come on, Dominic! You’re weak! You can’t protect your family. So choose me.”

Dominic let go of Sophia and stared at her.

“No matter what you do, I will not choose to be with you; you’re nothing more than a disgusting bitch,” he said, and he was pushing her hand away.

“Well, let’s see. How can you protect your family? To lose a wife or a child?” Sophia smirked as she turned her back on him.

“Crazy.”

Sophia laughed as she exited his suite room. Dominic clenched his fist and threw everything on the table.

“I will not let you, Sophia; even if I die, I’m going to protect my family,” Dominic whispered, and punching the table.

Will evil truly win? Or will the desire to protect the family win? Different battles, but the same desire to fulfill what they started.