Jay's POV
The heavy velvet drapes of the Fernandes Mansion living room were pulled wide, but the bright afternoon sun brought absolutely no warmth to the room. I sat silently on the edge of the leather sofa, my fingers tracing the hem of my sweater.
Zoe was sitting just a few feet away, her leg bouncing up and down in a restless, anxious rhythm. The house was entirely too quiet.
A few minutes later, the heavy front doors swung open and Jane walked in. The moment our eyes met, I could see the immense exhaustion weighing down her shoulders. Her face was pale, and her eyes carried the faint, telltale redness of a fresh breakdown.
Before I could even ask her where she had been, a sudden realization hit me as I looked around the vast room.
Keifer was completely gone.
He had left the mansion just twenty minutes earlier in an absolute, frantic urgency. I had caught a glimpse of him as he crossed the foyer to leave—his jaw was locked so tight the bone was visible, and his eyes were wide with a terrifying, wild panic.
Something was deeply, dangerously wrong. I could see the raw stress radiating off him even from a distance. To make matters worse, Yuri was also entirely missing from the mansion, along with Uplongs of Section E. The chess pieces were moving, and I was completely blind to the game.
I sat there, frozen deep in my own chaotic thoughts, trying to connect the dots of the past twenty-four hours. My mind was spinning between Ava's lethal warnings about our past enemies and the image of Keifer leaving in a panic.
RING.
The sharp, high-pitched chime of the mansion's main doorbell shattered the heavy silence. Zoe practically leaped out of her skin, her teacup rattling violently against the glass table.
Angelo, who had been quietly pacing near the hallway entrance, straightened his spine instantly. He walked toward the grand foyer, his posture rigid. I stood up slowly, keeping my long sleeves pulled down over my bruised hand, and followed him with my eyes.
When the front doors clicked open, two massive men dressed in identical, heavy black bodyguard getups stepped directly into the house. They didn't smile. They didn't offer a single pleasantry. They simply stood there like brick walls, their hands crossed formally over their belts.
Angelo immediately took a giant step forward, placing his body protectively in front of the foyer, completely blocking the path to where Zoe, Jane, and I were standing. His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"What do you want?" Angelo demanded, his voice dropping into a deep, warning register.
The guard on the right didn't flinch. He reached into his suit jacket, pulled out a thick, embossed card, and held it out. "Mr. Watson invites Ms. Jay Mariano, Ms. Jane Mariano, Mr. Aries Fernandes, and the rest of the students for a gathering."
A cold, heavy brick of ice dropped straight into my stomach. Mr. Watson. Not Keifer. His father. Keizer Watson. The man who had turned people lives into a living hell.
Angelo stared at the card, his jaw tightening as he thought rapidly for a tense moment. He knew the danger of letting us go alone. He looked back at the guards, his voice turning entirely unyielding. "I will come too."
From the shadows of the dining archway, Rafael and Leo stepped forward into the light. "Count us in," Rafael said, his face deadpan.
"We are coming too," Ion added, stepping down the stairs with a cold, unbothered expression, her arms crossed over her chest. Madam Cindy and Sir Alvin quickly followed behind her, their faces pale but entirely determined.
The lead guard didn't argue. He pulled a small communication device from his pocket, tapped a rapid message into the screen, and waited for a three-second delay. When the device buzzed, he looked up and gave a single, rigid nod. "Our boss says okay. Follow us."
Within five minutes, we were all packed into a line of sleek, tinted black vehicles waiting in the driveway. The engines turned over with a low, threatening purr, and the ride began.
I leaned my head back against the leather headrest, staring blankly out the window as the familiar streets of Manila blurred past. I didn't need a map. I didn't need to ask the driver a single question. I knew exactly where we were going.
The Watson Mansion.
The mere thought of that place caused a sudden, sharp ache to flare to life right in the center of my chest, making it hard to draw a full breath.
That estate was a fortress built entirely on our suffering. It was the physical location that held the deepest, ugliest scars of my past. As the car rolled closer, my mind threatened to betray me, pulling up the distant, muffled echoes of human screams, the metallic scent of thick blood, and the terrifying memories of what happened behind those stone walls.
Jane, who was sitting right next to me, reached out and grabbed my left hand. Her fingers were freezing, shaking slightly despite her best efforts to play the role of the fearless older sister.
"This is going to be incredibly bad, Jay," Jane whispered, her voice dropping low so the guard in the front seat wouldn't hear. She squeezed my fingers with an absolute, desperate strength. "Stay close to me. No matter what happens inside that house, do not separate yourself from my side."
I looked into her worried eyes and gave a single, firm nod. "I won't, Ate."
Soon, the vehicles slowed down, making a sharp turn through a pair of massive, towering iron gates that looked more like the entrance to a prison than a home. The cars came to a final stop in the grand cobblestone driveway, and the guards opened our doors.
I stepped out, my boots hitting the stone, and looked up at the structure towering above us.
The Watson Mansion was a massive, gothic nightmare of dark grey stone and towering, arched windows that seemed to stare down at us like hollow eyes.
The architecture was cold, intimidating, and completely devoid of any life or warmth. It was surrounded by high concrete walls topped with security wire, and the entire property felt like it was trapped under a permanent, heavy cloud. It was a fortress designed to keep the world out—and to keep secrets locked safely inside.
Jane and I walked side by side, our shoulders touching as we crossed the threshold and entered the grand entrance hall.
The moment we stepped inside, the sheer scale of the gathering became clear. The vast, marble-floored hall was crowded. Sitting on the perimeter couches and standing near the pillars was the entire rest of Section E.
Yuri was leaning heavily against a marble column, his face pale and his eyes completely stressed. Tita Serina was sitting on a central sofa, her face a mask of absolute, frozen terror, while Keiren and Keigan stood on either side of her.
Keiren was actively hugging his mother tightly, his small fingers burying into the fabric of her dress as if he were trying to anchor himself.
And right there, standing in front his mother's sofa, was Keifer.
He looked entirely different from the King of Uplongs I had known. His hair was messy, his jacket was rumpled, and he looked like a fighter, trapped under the suffocating weight of this house. His eyes fierece.The moment he heard our footsteps, his head snapped up.
"Jay," Keifer whispered, his voice trembling as his eyes locked onto mine, filled with an intense, frantic alarm.
"Jane," Yuri breathed from across the room, his eyes instantly tracking my sister, his face tight with a matching level of stress.
Before anyone could say another word, a sharp, clicking sound echoed from the top of the grand, curving staircase overlooking the hall.
"Welcome, everyone."
The voice was smooth, deep, and perfectly manicured, carrying a casual arrogance that made the hairs on my arms stand up. We all turned our heads instantly to look up at the landing.
Keizer Watson was slowly descending the stairs. Keifer's father. He wore a flawless, expensive tailored suit, a sickeningly polite smile plastered across his face as his eyes swept over the crowded hall like a king inspecting his subjects. He reached the bottom step, smoothing down his lapels.
"Let's eat," Keizer said, gesturing casually toward the wide double doors leading to the formal dining room. "I invited you all here for a lovely family lunch. Please, step inside."
A tense, heavy silence blanketed the room. Nobody moved for a long second, the sheer danger of the situation hanging over our heads. But eventually, under the watchful eyes of the heavily armed guards lining the walls, people began to nod slowly and file toward the dining doors.
As the crowd began to move, Keifer suddenly broke away from his mother's side. He moved rapidly through the throngs of section e, slipping past Angelo, and intercepted Jane and me right before we reached the dining threshold. He leaned in close, his breathing shallow, his eyes wide with a terrifying gravity.
"If things get worse in there," Keifer whispered, his voice so low it was almost entirely swallowed by the rustle of the crowd, "I need you two to do exactly what I say. Jay, Jane... take Keiren, take Keigan, and take my mom, and run straight out of this place. Don't look back for me. Just get them out."
Jane's eyes widened in sudden alarm, her grip tightening on my arm. "What do you mean, Keifer? What exactly is going to happen in there?"
Keifer didn't answer. He didn't give her a single detail. He simply shot me one last, desperate look of pleading, and I gave him a single, silent nod of agreement. He pulled away, disappearing back into the crowd as we were ushered into the grand dining room.
------------------------------
Jane's POV
The moment my heels clicked against the polished hardwood floor of the Watson Mansion's grand dining room, every single maternal instinct and survival reflex inside my body screamed at me to turn around and run.
Something was deeply, horribly wrong.
The air in this room felt like it was charged with electricity, a heavy, toxic pressure that made it difficult to draw a full breath.
And after the terrifying, hurried warning Keifer had just muttered to us in the hall, my worst fears were completely confirmed. This wasn't a lunch. This was a trap.
I glanced sideways at my sister as we walked toward the massive dining table. Jay's face was a perfect, unreadable mask of stone, but I could feel the rigid tension vibrating through her shoulder against mine.
My mind raced with anxiety. I was worried about my sister's fragile heart, I was terrified of what Keizer Watson was planning, and as my eyes drifted across the room, a sharp pang of worry hit my chest when I looked at Yuri.
He was walking toward his seat with a heavy, mechanical stride, his face pale and completely consumed by stress. He looked like a man walking toward a firing squad.
The guards directed us to our seats around the immense, dark mahogany table. The layout was a calculated display of power.
Keizer Watson sat proudly at the absolute head chair, presiding over the room like an emperor. Keifer and Jay were directed to sit directly beside that head chair on the left side, their shoulders nearly touching. I was placed right next to Jay, with Yuri sliding into the seat directly beside me.
On the right side of the head chair, Tita Serina sat perfectly rigid, her hands trembling in her lap, while Keiren and Keigan sat beside her like little soldiers. The rest of Section E, along with Angelo, Ion, Rafael, and our teachers, occupied the remaining long stretches of the table.
Once everyone was seated, a line of silent servants began placing silver platters of expensive food before us, but nobody touched a single fork. The tension was too thick to swallow.
Keizer Watson picked up his crystal wine glass, swirling the red liquid slowly before fixing his sharp, judgmental eyes directly onto his eldest son.
"So, Keifer," Keizer began, his voice smooth and dripping with a patronizing warmth that made my skin crawl. "How are your studies going at the school? I trust you are maintaining the Watson standards."
Keifer didn't lift his head. He didn't look at his father. He stared straight down at his empty plate, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the edge of the table.
"That's none of your business, jackass," Keifer spat, his voice low, gravelly, and vibrating with a dangerous amount of pure hatred.
Keizer didn't even blink. He let out a soft, amused chuckle, setting his glass down with a slow, deliberate click.
"Still completely mannerless, I see." He slowly turned his head to the right, his cold eyes landing squarely on his wife's pale face. "What exactly did you teach him while I was away, Serina? Is this the kind of behavior you nurture in my house?"
Tita Serina didn't look down. She straightened her spine, her chin lifting with a sudden, sharp defiance that cut through her fear. She met her husband's gaze with absolute, unadulterated ice.
"I taught him how to be a human being, Keizer," Serina replied, her voice smooth, calm, and dripping with a lethal amount of sarcasm. "A concept I know is entirely foreign to you. My apologies if your genetic code made it difficult for him to absorb."
A collective, silent gasp seemed to echo through Section E.
Keizer's smile tightened for a fraction of a second, the skin around his eyes twitching. "Like mother, same son," he muttered dryly.
He quickly shifted his gaze away from her, his eyes scanning down the long left side of the table until they landed on Angelo. "And how are you doing, Angelo? I "
Angelo didn't hesitate. He leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on the table, and delivered a flat, unbothered stare straight back at the billionaire. "Better than you."
Keizer looked away instantly, his expression tightening further as his control over the room began to slip. His eyes flicked to the next seat, landing on Ion. "So... Ion is back. "
Ion didn't even stop chewing her piece of bread. She slowly rolled her eyes, her expression one of utter, profound boredom. "No it's Queen Victoria ."
Keizer let out a sharp, frustrated breath, his patience visibly wearing thin. "Still possessing a sharp tongue as ever."
"And you are still as grumpy and pathetic as ever," Leo shot back without a single shred of fear, dropping his bread back onto his plate with a soft thud.
Keizer's face flushed a deep, ugly red. He looked around the vast dining room, his gaze frantic and frustrated as he realized none of these students were going to bow to his authority.
Finally, his eyes landed on the two unfamiliar faces sitting directly to the left of his son.
"Oh... some new faces," Keizer muttered, his eyes narrowing into sharp needles as he stared at Jay and me. "What are your names, young ladies?"
I leaned forward, keeping my posture elegant, my voice polite but laced with a freezing, Diva-like disdain. "Janine Jace Mariano."
Beside me, Jay didn't even look up from her plate. She slowly rolled her eyes, her tone entirely deadpan and flat. "Jasper Jean Mariano."
Keizer froze. The names seemed to strike a massive chord in his memory. He stared at us for a long, quiet five seconds, his fingers tightening around his fork. "So... you are Jasfher Mariano's daughters."
Jay finally lifted her head, her dark eyes locking onto his with a look of pure, unadulterated mockery. "Wow... you are such an absolute genius to identify that. Did it take all three of your remaining brain cells to figure it out?"
The right side of the table instantly erupted into a wave of sudden, suppressed laughter.
"That's our Jay!" Cin whispered loudly from down the table, a proud grin breaking through his anxiety.
" Jay absolutely cooked him," Felix muttered to Eren, the tension in Section E breaking for just a second.
But Keizer wasn't laughing. He leaned forward, his eyes widening as he stared intensely at Jay's face, his memory digging deeper into the past. "Wait... I know you. You have definitely come to this house earlier. I recognize those eyes."
I couldn't let him corner my sister. I let out a loud, dramatic sigh, rolling my eyes as I leaned back in my chair, adopting my ultimate Diva attitude to throw him off. "Oh, please. Jay was never here. You must be completely brainless if you're confusing her with someone else, old man. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked along with your morals.
Keizer's face went completely distorted with rage. He had had enough. Without a single word, he raised his right hand and made a sharp, aggressive signaling motion to the massive black-suited bodyguard standing directly behind my chair.
The guard didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, his large, gloved hand reaching out to violently grab my shoulder to drag me out of my seat.
But before his fingers could even touch the fabric of my coat, a flash of silver sliced through the air.
SLAM
A sharp, agonizing shriek of pure pain shattered the dining room.
Jay had moved with a speed that didn't seem human. In a fraction of a second, she had snatched the heavy, sharp steak knife from the side of her plate and slammed it straight through the center of the bodyguard's hand, pinning his palm flat against the thick wood of the dining table. Blood immediately began to pool out from beneath the blade, staining the dark mahogany.
"AHHHG! My hand! God, my hand!" the man screamed, his entire body shaking as he fell to his knees, trapped by the knife.
I didn't even blink. I slowly reached down with my right foot, caught the handle of the dagger-knife that was protruding from the wood, and dragged it slightly, digging the blade deeper into his flesh to keep him pinned.
Keizer Watson slowly stood up from his head chair, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and absolute certainty as he stared at my sister. "I was right... I saw you earlier in this house. You're the girl from that night."
Jay slowly let go of the knife handle, leaning back in her chair with a cold, terrifying smirk.
"You are absolutely right, Watson," Jay whispered, her eyes turning completely pitch-black.
------------------------------
✍️ Author's Note
My absolute darlings, my beautiful, loyal readers! 💖✨
Oh my goodness, I am literally typing this note with my hands shaking from the sheer, absolute adrenaline of this chapter! 😭😭
Can we just take a collective moment to scream?! The absolute tension inside the Watson Mansion was completely suffocating, and then our queen Jay... wow!
🦅🖤
Slamming that knife straight through the guard's hand to protect her sister?! That was a moment of pure, legendary power! She is absolutely unhinged when it comes to protecting her family, and I am living for it! 🔥⚔️
I am absolutely dying to read your thoughts on this insane cliffhanger! Please, please leave your comments down below and tell me:
What do you think Keizer Watson meant by "that night"? What terrifying secret from Jay's past is about to be dragged out into the light in front of the entire Section E? 📝👀
Your comments, your theories, and your passion are what give me the absolute fuel to keep writing late into the night, so please let your voices be heard! 🥺💬
See you soon 💕
BYE 👋 🫂