Author's POV
The next morning, the bright, golden sunlight of the island flooded through the bedroom windows. Downstairs, the kitchen was alive with the sound of sizzling bacon and the rich scent of brewing coffee. The men had prepared everything, waiting for the familiar, dramatic wake-up call or a loud, weak moan demanding a royal breakfast.
But the cottage remained completely, chillingly quiet.
Upstairs, Jay Jay's eyelashes slowly fluttered open. The morning light didn't bring her usual burst of mischievous energy. Instead, a wave of intense, sharp pain immediately hit her back and chest, making it hard to draw a deep breath. Her scratched arms felt tight and hot, and her heavily bandaged big toe throbbed with a fierce, burning heat.
Jay Jay's POV
Oh... my body hurts so much today. My back feels like it is on fire. Moving my arms makes the scratches sting. My toe is pounding.
I want to scream. I want to throw a big tantrum and tell the tree to save me. But... I remember yesterday. I remember how scared Kuya Angelo was. I remember Aries shouting because he was terrified I died. I remember Keifer's hands shaking when he held me on the stairs.
They are working so hard to protect me from the Watson family. They are already so tired and stressed. If I start my loud drama and complain about the pain, they will blame themselves again. They will look so sad and worried. I don't want them to feel bad because I am clumsy.
I will just be quiet. I can handle it. I will keep the pain inside.
Author's POV
Jay Jay slowly pulled herself up against the headboard, her jaw clenching tightly to suppress a whimper. She didn't yell. She didn't huff. She didn't make a single sound. She just sat completely still, staring blankly at the bedsheets, her small hands resting limply over Keifer's loose blue t-shirt.
Downstairs, the total absence of her voice sent an immediate shockwave of alarm through the house.
Keifer dropped the kitchen towel, his face turning pale. Angelo stopped typing on his laptop, his head snapping toward the ceiling. Aries and Percy instantly abandoned what they were doing. Without a word, all four men moved up the stairs with frantic, heavy steps, pushing the bedroom door open.
They expected to see her sleeping, or perhaps plotting a prank. Instead, they found her awake, completely wrapped in an unnatural, terrifying silence.
"Jay?" Keifer whispered, sprinting to the edge of the mattress and dropping to his knees. He reached out, his hand trembling as he gently touched her cheek. Her skin felt slightly feverish. "Queen, talk to me. What's wrong? Why are you so quiet?"
Jay Jay slowly turned her head, forcing a small, pale, and entirely unconvincing smile. "Good morning, tree. I am okay. I am just... thinking."
"No, you're not," Aries growled, stepping closer to the bed, his dark eyes wide with a sudden, suffocating panic. His hidden protective side flared up instantly. "You didn't complain. You didn't yell for food. You aren't even pouting. Jay Jay, where does it hurt? Is it your back? Did Angelo miss an internal injury?!"
"I am fine, Arie, really," she murmured softly, her voice small and weak. She didn't even try to stick her tongue out at Angelo.
Angelo stepped up beside Keifer, his imposing posture stiffening with deep, crushing worry.
He carefully checked the bandages on her arms and forehead. "The stitches are clean, but her pulse is too fast. She's suppressing a pain response. Jay Jay, you don't have to hide it from us."
"Baby sister, please say something ridiculous," Percy pleaded, his usual self-absorbed mask completely shattering as he knelt on the other side of the bed, gripping the edge of her blanket with pure, love. "Tell me my hair looks bad. Tell me the green cream smells like garbage. This silence is killing me. You look like a broken doll."
Keifer's heart tore into absolute shreds. He slid his large hand into her messy hair, his long fingers caressing her head with a rhythmic, deeply emotional tenderness, his thumb sweeping over her temple. He looked into her glossy, quiet eyes and realized exactly what his sweet, foolish kitten was doing.
"You're trying to be a nice for us, aren't you?" Keifer whispered, his low register cracking with a thick, heavy wave of emotion. He leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against hers, his eyes closing tight. "You saw how scared we were yesterday, so you're hiding the pain because you don't want us to worry."
Jay Jay's lower lip finally trembled. The heavy silence broke, and a single, genuine tear rolled down her cheek, soaking into the blue fabric of his t-shirt. "It... it just hurts a lot, tree. My back feels heavy. But I didn't want Kuya Angelo to feel bad. It wasn't his fault."
Angelo let out a long, ragged breath, his massive hand coming down to rest securely on her shoulder, a deep warmth bleeding through his strict frame. "You don't ever have to hide your tears from your brothers, Jay. If you hurt, you tell us."
Aries let out a soft, defeated huff, leaning over to roughly but gently brush a loose strand of hair from her bandaged forehead. "Stupid brat,kokey. We can handle your loud tantrums. What we can't handle is you sitting here like a ghost. Now, let Keifer get you some medicine before I have to start yelling at the walls."
Keifer wiped her tear away with his thumb, a deep, overwhelming wave of protective devotion locking his soul right back into place. "I'm right here, marshmallow. I've got you. No more hiding."
The heavy wooden door splintered inward with a deafening crash, shattering the fragile morning peace of the island cottage. Kaizer Watson's hitmen didn't come to negotiate.
Armed with suppressed weapons and tactical gear, they opened fire immediately, aiming to eliminate Keifer, Angelo, and the fragile girl upstairs.
The quiet house instantly filled with the sharp cracks of gunfire and the sound of breaking glass.
"Ambush!" Angelo roared, his military instincts kicking in before the first shell casing hit the floor.
In a heartbeat, the bedroom became a defensive stronghold. Aries lunged forward, throwing his massive frame across the doorway to draw fire. His dark eyes blazed with a terrifying, animalistic fury as he fired back with lethal precision. Beside him, Percy's usual self-absorbed mask completely vanished into cold efficiency, his hands steady as he leveled his weapon at the incoming attackers. They knew this safehouse layout perfectly, but Kaizer's men knew it too. It was a brutal, close-quarters bottleneck.
Down on the floor, Keifer had already thrown his body over Jay Jay, shielding her small frame from the stray bullets tearing through the drywall.
But Jay Jay didn't just hide. Despite the intense pain in her back and the tight sting of her stitches, her survival instincts flared. She scrambled toward a heavy brass lamp on the bedside table, her fingers tight and trembling.
When a Watson operative managed to breach the room, his gun aimed directly at Keifer's head, Jay Jay didn't hesitate. With a fierce, desperate cry, she swung the heavy base with all her might, striking the man's wrist. The gun clattered away, allowing Keifer to instantly finish the threat with a swift, decisive strike.
"Clear the stairs!" Angelo shouted, his voice cutting through the thick smoke and the smell of gunpowder. He fired three rapid shots down the hallway, dropping another operative. His imposing frame was a shield of pure muscle, but he knew they were being surrounded.
Angelo snapped his head back toward Keifer, his eyes burning with absolute urgency. "Keifer! Take Jay Jay and get out of here right now! Take her where no one can find her! A place where absolutely no one can track you—not even me! I don't even want to know where it is!"
"No!" Jay Jay cried out, her small voice cracking as she clung tightly to the loose blue fabric of Keifer's shirt. The pain in her body was completely forgotten, replaced by a sudden, suffocating terror of losing them. "I'm not leaving you! Kuya Angelo, Aries, Percy—no! I can help! I can fight!"
"Jay, move!" Aries growled, ducking as a volley of bullets peppered the doorframe. He slammed a fresh magazine into his pistol, his knuckles bleeding.
Aries had been angry at Keifer for a very long time, and that deep, burning anger hadn't faded. He still glared at Keifer with tense, defensive fury every single day. But right now, looking at the chaos around them, Aries knew there was only one man who could truly keep her breathing. Despite his anger, Aries trusted Keifer completely with her life. He knew Keifer would rather die a thousand deaths than let a single scratch touch his little sister.
Aries turned his head just for a fraction of a second, his rough voice cracking as he yelled over the gunfire. "Get your small ass out of here, kokey! You're the one they want! Trust your tree, kochey! Go!"
"Listen to your brothers, baby sister!" Percy yelled, his voice strained as he dragged a heavy wooden dresser across the hallway to block the secondary staircase. "If you stay here, we have to watch your back instead of theirs! Please, Jay, just leave so we can stay worried free!"
Keifer gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. His hands were shaking, but his gaze was fiercely locked onto her tear-stained, pale face. "Marshmallow, look at me. Look at the tree."
Jay Jay sobbed, her chest heaving as she looked into his desperate eyes. "Tree, please... don't make me leave them."
"They are going to be fine," Keifer whispered, his low register thick with a heavy wave of emotion, yet entirely unyielding. "Angelo is a wall. Aries and Percy know this place inside out. But we are a target together. If we know that you are out of this house, they can fight without being worried free. Do you understand me? You are their strength, but right now, your safety is their only priority."
"Kochey, just go!" Aries shouted from the doorway, his dark eyes wide with panic. "I just got you back! Don't make me lose you again! Keifer, you better protect my kochey sister with your damn life!"
"Go, Jay! We've got this covered!" Angelo's deep voice boomed, providing a protective cover of suppressive fire that blocked the hallway completely. "Run!"
Jay Jay looked from Angelo's rigid back to Aries' fierce, defensive stance, and finally to Percy, who gave her a tight, encouraging nod.
She swallowed the massive, emotional lump in her throat. She knew her presence was making them hesitant; they were fighting with one eye always trained on her mattress.
"You promise?" she whispered to Keifer, her lower lip trembling. "You promise they will come find us?"
"I swear it on my life," Keifer vowed fiercely.
Without wasting another second, Keifer scooped her up into his arms, completely ignoring her small gasps of pain as he held her securely against his chest. He utilized the bedroom's side window, slipping out onto the low porch roof with practiced, athletic agility.
The cold island air whipped against them as Keifer sprinted through the tree line toward a hidden, deeply secluded dock on the other side of the island. Jay Jay buried her face into his shoulder, her small, bandaged hands gripping him with a fierce, childlike trust.
Waiting at the private dock was not a small speedboat, but a massive, high-powered luxury ship. It was Keifer's ultimate contingency vessel—fully armored, heavily equipped, and built to disappear into the vast ocean without leaving a single radar trace.
Keifer carried her quickly up the ramp, rushing straight into the master cabin to lay her gently onto the plush, oversized bed. He immediately threw a heavy, warm duvet over her shivering frame before sprinting up to the bridge. The ship's massive engines roared to life with a powerful, deep hum, vibrating through the hull.
With a sharp, decisive movement, Keifer steered the giant ship away from the burning chaos of the cottage. Following Angelo's strict orders, he set the coordinates for a highly classified, completely erased location that absolutely no one else knew about—heading deep into the open ocean to keep his Queen safe.