Chapter 66

Sean stood tall and handsome in the white shirt he was putting on, his hands tucked in the pockets of his sky blue slacks, his hair neatly combed and slicked back and his hazel eyes shining brightly with intelligence. He could see them fidgeting and he sighed, then he took slow but calculated steps towards the table. When he dragged out a chair, he saw they flinched and rolled his eyes, he found himself praying they should not wet themselves with him still in the room. He knows why they were like that, they might not be afraid of the cops and could say whatever they want to say, but in an option to be questioned by him, they would choose being locked up in a jail than to face him.
He sat crossed legged on the chair, his eyes never leaving them and they hadn t looked up at him for once since he stepped into the room. He cleared his throat and began, "who still want to be a model?"
The two ladies looked at each other and then at him but they looked down almost immediately, "I do," they whispered in unison.
"Let s make it easy for each other, you do know the penalty for crossing me, don t you?" they didn t look at him but he saw they nod, "then why did you start the fire?"
"It s as we said sir, we work our butt out only for Athena to just come from nowhere and climb to the top," one of them, a pretty brunette with light gray eyes answered, "we felt unjust."
"And you decided to take the law into your own hands?" he asked.
"We are sorry," they said.
Sean chuckled, "sorry," he nodded, "that s an interesting word you know? Alright then," he said, "just so you know, I have your families watched and I have been thinking of what to do with them but you just gave it to me. How about I set them on fire and I would say sorry to you? Hmm?" he smiled when they looked up at him with horror, "you don t think I won t do that, do you?"
"Mr. Brand, please, leave our family out of this, you can do whatever you want to us but please…"
"Oh no," Sean interrupted, "if you had told me you wanted to set Athena on fire, I would have said the same thing, I would have said you should leave her and set me on fire instead, don t you know that? The thing with this kind of game is that when you want to hurt someone, you don t hurt them directly, you hurt the people they love so that their loss would hurt them, don t you know?"
"Sir," they looked at each other, what is going on, is he indirectly saying that he loves Athena? That wasn t what they heard, in fact, it wasn t what anybody thought.
"But in my case, there is a chance to hurt you instead and leave your families," seeing the look in their eyes, he continued, "who told you to do this?"
"But sir, we already said it, no one told us to. We did it out of jealousy and we apologize," the other one, a red haired with green eyes said.
Sean sighed and took out his phone from his pant pocket; he quickly dialed a number, "are you in position? You can start by setting the roofs on fire and make sure no one comes out. Tell John my order," he hung up and stood up to leave.
"No wait, please, please tell them to stop, please. I m begging you, I will talk," the brunette screamed. Just having Sean make a phone call wasn t enough to crack her but she was tired of everything and was willing to say what she knows with just one threat to be done with it. And also, everyone knows that Sean Brand doesn t bluff and she wasn t ready to take that chance.
"What are you doing?" the red haired asked and she ignored her, all her eyes on Sean.
"I will tell you everything, just…don t hurt my mom, she is everything to me."
Sean smiled and made another call, "put it on hold for a minute, wait for my order," he hung up and sat back down on his chair, ready to hear what he already knows.
Esperanza climbed down from her car and walked into the building in front of her, Sean had called her earlier, telling her he wants them to meet and he gave her the address. It was the first time in a long time he had called her asking for them to meet and she took her time to dress herself beautifully. She was dressed in a red short gown, her platinum blonde hair flowing softly on her shoulders. With her heels trotting which each step she took, she found herself in the room Sean said he would be waiting but with one look around, she could see he wasn t there yet.
She made herself comfortable in the couch and brought out her phone from her bag to call him when she saw the piece of paper on the table. She frowned and her curiosity got the best of her as she reached forward to pick the note. There was only a single sentence written on it in Sean s handwriting and her heart missed series of beat when she read it.
'You should have thought twice before hurting the woman I love.
Right then, she heard a clicking sound and quickly stood up and rushed to the door but it was already locked from outside. Her heart was beating like a thousand drums in her chest as she banged on the door with her fist, she wasn t dressed for this. Soon, she felt something warm on her toes and she looked down to see smoke seeping into the room from the door holes. She backed away from the door, her eyes on the rising smoke as she gulped. "No, this can t be happening," she shook her head softly, "this can t be happening!" She screamed, "Sean, Sean, I know you can hear me, don t do this, don t do this please. I m sorry, I will apologize a thousand times if you want me to, I m sorry," she screamed and started coughing. The smoke has covered every corner of the room, there was no bathroom and there was no room for escape.
"Sean," she coughed, beating her chest to inhale more air but that was impossible for the air has been contaminated with the smoke, "Sean," she coughed again and rushed to the door to try her luck once more. "Sean, I m sorry," she coughed. She fanned the smoke out of her face with her hand but it didn t do much of a difference. "Sean," she kept shouting and coughing as she banged harder on the door.
Soon, she could feel herself choking, there wasn t much air to breathe again and her eyes stung from the long stay in the smoke. "Sean," she rasped, her throat itching from the constant coughs, "Sean, I m going to die, do you want me to die? I m your best model."
"Not anymore," she heard his voice in the room and searched around frantically through the smoke but she couldn t find him.
"Sean, please, I m sorry, please open the door, I m choking."
"When she was pleading for the door to be opened, did you ask your girls to open it? When she was choking, did you bat an eye?"
"I m…" she coughed, "sorry," she coughed once more. "Please," coughs.
"Everything is calculated, when you stay as long as she did, I will let you out."
"But Sean, she had a wet cloth, I don t."
"She improvised, do the same."
Just then, she felt water on her feet, it was seeping from under the door, she looked around for a cloth or a towel but there was none. The smoke was clouding her vision and she could feel herself losing consciousness but deep within her, she knew she hasn t stayed half as long as Athena did and knowing Sean, he wasn t going to let her out until she stayed that long. So in order to save her life, she didn t care about modesty and took off her cloth, damping it on the water and placing on her nose, finally breathing a little bit normally. She curled on the floor, beside the couch waiting for her time to be up. She didn t bother talking anymore, knowing she needed every air in her.
What felt like hours passed and she was now lying on the floor, her body soaked in the water with the smoke hovering around her. She wasn t hoping for Sean to open the door anymore, she has lost all hope of even getting out of there and was just waiting for the time she would finally lose consciousness, when suddenly, the door opened and someone entered. She didn t bother to know who or the fact that she was half naked. She felt someone carry her but didn t know if it was actually happening or if she was imagining it. When she finally felt the cold air of outside washed over her, that was the time she believed that Sean has let her out and that she was going to survive. Although she was happy of that fact but her heart has been seriously broken, the man she loves the most, did this to her because of another woman and she found herself wishing she would die because knowing Sean, her career was over and she has nothing to live for anymore.