SONG RECOMMENDATION- UNETHICAL BY FAOUZI
JAY JAY POV
“Keifer, please don’t go!” I pleaded, lunging forward and grabbing both of his lapels, using my entire body weight to anchor him to the spot.
He didn’t shove me away, but his chest was heaving with jagged, violent breaths.
He looked down at me, his eyes bloodshot, dark veins pulsing along his neck and temples.
“So you think it’s completely okay for that piece of shit to hurt you, Jay?” he asked, his voice shaking with a terrifying mixture of heartbreak and pure, unhinged bloodlust.
“You want me to just stand here and let him breathe after he left his filthy marks on your skin?”
“No! That’s not what I’m saying!” I cried out, desperation cracking my voice.
I turned my head frantically toward my brothers.
“Percy, Aries, please! Look at me! Think about Dad! Think about the guests out there!”
Aries didn’t even look at me; he was already pulling out a sleek black burner phone, calmly dialing his men to lock down the city perimeter and cut off the highway exits.
Percy stepped closer, his jaw locked in stone, his face completely devoid of the goofy brother I had been teasing ten minutes ago.
“Nobody hurts my sister and gets away with it alive, Jay,” Percy said, his voice flat, hollow, and chillingly final.
“Nobody.”
Tears blurred my vision, half from panic and half from pure exhaustion.
“You’re doing it right now, Percy!” I yelled, my voice breaking in the quiet corridor as I gestured between him, Aries, and Keifer.
“You’re hurting me right now! Watching you guys turn into ruthless monsters over a stupid bruise, throwing away your lives and risking everything for some meaningless bloodbath that hurts me a hell of a lot more than anything Yuri did!”
Percy froze.
The entire hallway went completely dead silent.
Even Aries stopped typing on his burner phone, his hand pausing mid-air, while Keifer stood rigid beneath my grip, the fury in his eyes suddenly replaced by a raw, stunned ache.
Percy took a slow, tentative step toward me, his shoulders slumping as his hardened mafia persona cracked.
He raised a gentle hand, reaching out to wipe away the hot tears spilling down my cheeks.
Smack.
I slapped his hand away with all the strength left in my aching body.
“Do you really think this is what I ever wanted for you guys?!” I yelled, shoving against his chest with both hands.
“You think I want to spend the rest of my life watching my brothers and my fiancé turn into bloodthirsty executioners just because somebody looked at me the wrong way?!”
“Jay, please, listen—” Percy started, his voice cracking, looking completely devastated.
“Go away!” I choked out, stumbling back from him on my heels, clutching my arms around my waist.
“Just stay the hell away from me, all of you!”
“Jay—” Percy reached for me again, desperate.
“If you really respect me at all,” I said, my voice dropping to a trembling, broken whisper as my eyes locked onto Percy, then Aries, and finally Keifer, “then please… don’t go around killing people in my name.”
Without waiting for another word, I spun on my stilettos, lifted the heavy burgundy velvet of my gown, and bolted down the service corridor toward the VIP underground parking lot.
I didn’t care about the gala, the hundredth anniversary, the high-society guests, or the cameras waiting out front.
I found the private garage where my personal car was parked.
I ripped the door open, threw myself into the driver’s seat, slammed the lock down, and jammed the ignition.
The engine roared to life.
Before the security guards could even react or radio the main gate, I hit the gas, tires screeching against the polished concrete, and tore out into the rainy night, heading straight for home.
KEIFER POV
That fucking bastard.
Yuri Hanamichi slips through my fingers every single time.
And the most agonizing part of it all?
The sole reason I want to butcher him with my bare hands is Jay Jay…
but the only person on this earth with the power to stop me is Jay Jay, too.
She holds the trigger to my insanity, and she holds the safety lock.
The echo of her screeching tires faded from the underground garage, leaving the corridor in a suffocating, funeral silence.
Percy was still staring at the empty space where his sister had been standing, looking hollow, like someone had ripped his spine out.
Aries had his head bowed, his phone hanging uselessly in his grip, while Sara and Ella stood together in tense, quiet shock.
I looked down at the palm of my hand.
The faint smudge of her beige concealer was still transferred onto my skin, carrying the ghost of her perfume and the memory of the purple bruises that made my blood boil in my veins.
“If you really respect me at all… don’t go around killing people in my name.”
Her broken, sobbing voice was carving itself straight into my skull, tearing me apart from the inside out.
I wanted to tear this entire city down block by block until I dragged Yuri’s corpse to her feet.
But hearing her beg me, watching her flinch from the violence I was so ready to unleash for her it paralyzed me in a way no bullet ever could.
Without uttering a single word to her brothers, I turned and walked away.
“Keifer,” David called out, stepping up quickly to fall into stride beside me as we headed toward the private elevators.
“Where are you going?”
“Get my car brought around to the side entrance,” I ordered, my voice dropping into a flat, dangerous monotone that brooked zero argument.
“Right now.”
“You’re leaving the gala? Your engagement was announced less than two hours ago. The press and the syndicate bosses are still waiting for you out on the floor.”
“Let them wait,” I muttered, brushing past him as the elevator doors slid open with a chime.
“I don’t give a single fuck about this gala, the press, or the syndicates.”
I stepped inside the mirrored cabin, pulling off my burgundy velvet jacket and tossing it onto the floor.
My woman had just left the building crying, driving through the rain with a bruised wrist and a shattered heart.
Yuri would get his slow, agonizing retribution eventually I would make damn sure of that when the time was right.
But right now?
Right now, my only priority was getting to the Mariano estate before she could lock me out of her life for good.
I slammed my foot on the accelerator, tearing out of the venue’s underground exit into the pouring rain, heading straight for the Mariano estate.
It didn’t take long to spot her taillights cutting through the slick asphalt.
She was driving recklessly fast, taking turns with screeching tires, the sedan swaying dangerously against the wet pavement.
Fuck.
At this rate, she’s going to end up in a fatal crash.
I hit the horn repeatedly, the loud blast tearing through the thunder and rain, trying to get her to snap out of it.
She ignored me at first, pushing the speed even higher.
I pulled up alongside her lane, flashing my high beams into her side mirror until she finally glanced over, saw my car, and reluctantly eased her foot off the gas.
Both of our cars pulled through the wrought-iron gates of the Mariano mansion one after the other, gravel flying as we skidded to a halt in the circular driveway.
I cut the engine, threw my door open into the rain without caring about getting soaked, and walked directly over to her driver’s side.
Inside the dimly lit cabin, she didn’t move.
She sat there gripping the steering wheel, her shoulders shaking, taking her sweet time while I stood outside getting drenched in my dress shirt.
Finally, the latch clicked.
She pushed the door open, stepped out onto the wet gravel in her soaked burgundy gown, and slammed the car door shut with a furious, echoing bang.
“Jay,” I said, stepping toward her.