Few moments earlier…

Darryl was there. ​​

At her party.

Down the loch.

He was there watching her dance off endlessly until she tired herself fully. Watched how the people sang a happy birthday song to her and how each guest's handed his woman a gift. He watched it all—and he didn't regret coming although he can only watch her from afar.

The girl had a pleasant family and a simple peaceful life. She was loved by everyone around her and for him, her life was perfect, even though it didn't contain the glamor of being an elite like him. How he wished he had the same life, but being born as a Lagdameo –that was unlikely to happen.

Darryl couldn't bear himself to leave even when the party was almost over and everyone was just there dancing and laughing endlessly. He saw her retreat to a corner with the band and sipped her drink while talking to the prince; the latter was busying himself playing a drum. They were having a good fun and how he wished he could have a chance to greet her and gave her his gift.

She was gorgeous with her floral dress and with her braided her. Her cheeks were warming up probably because of the thing she was drinking and the red blush over her cheeks made her more beautiful than ever. He also saw her giving the prince a drink, the latter drank over her cup and he admit, the view made his heart screamed in jealousy but he dismissed the negative feeling away.

It was her birthday after all.

The diamond prince was her best friend, and he will only remain as that—Darryl will only allow him to be that. Nothing more than just a plain best friend.

The night was deepening but Darryl didn't left yet, he was waiting for a chance, a chance that he can met her in solitude and hand out his gift for her. He brought something she might like and he was holding it in his hand since earlier.

The loch garden were surrounded by thick woodland just like the Richmond ranch so it was kind of easy for Darryl to hid himself just around the corner, behind the trees and bushes. Not long, he saw Xhemin walking away from the crowd unto the edge of the cliff and was trying to descend into what looked like a stairs leading below. He didn't have time to check the whole place so he didn't notice there was a ducking area just right below cliff.

Noticing that she was alone, he kind followed her while hiding himself completely. This might probably his chance and for once that night, hope flustered in his heart. It had been a couple days that he hadn't seen his woman and before he leaves the south completely, he was looking forward to seeing her again, and probably tease her a little with something that comes to his mind.

Xhemin was few steps down the stairs when Darryl noticed that the diamond prince followed her. The sight of the two together alone bothered him and of course, the prince's timing wasn't perfect. He was taking his chance of getting some space with her alone. Also, things didn't go well the last time he had a word with the prince and he remembered every bit that the latter had said. Remembering it all, his expression hardened.

Truth was that, the Diamond Prince's words got him thinking.

Huzey was right.

Seeing how happy and peaceful Xhemin's life was, there's no doubt to that.

But she was his woman.

And he wasn't ready to let her go, or to be clear, he was not capable of letting her go.

She was his and he will do everything he can for her even how complicated and hard things will be for him.

Darryl watched the two while having a short conversation before he saw them descending together, with Huzey following behind his woman's back. He tried to catch up with them, making sure he will not lose an eye for the two but even before he could advance further, he heard a crackling sound followed by a huge crashed—a tree was falling right through the cliff's stairs!

"Xhemin!" He heard Huzey call his woman's name as everything turned chaotically bad. The tree fell off completely and Darryl's instinct summoned him to run toward the stairs but the flock of people from the party stopped his plans. There were shouting and screaming as everyone gathered to where the tree fell, trying to clear off the entrance to the stairs and soon, the Montreal boy descended down the stairs in haste.

A lot of things happened in succession and Darryl's nerves were bursting in panic, but then, he can't run toward the scene that he dreaded to see. His presence might make the situation worst. Soon, he saw a man carrying Xhemin in his arms and ran off toward the car where the girl's grandfather was waiting; the latter was on the phone that he unconsciously dropped off when he saw her granddaughter bleeding.

Dr. Miles face was a mess, so was Darryl's.

Darryl's thoughts crumbled chaotically at the moment. Xhemin was hurt and things round the loch got pretty bad. From what he collected from the conversations of everyone around—the diamond prince fell of the cliff and the youngest Montreal dared save him by jumping off the water entirely.

What exactly happened?

How did a big tree cracked in so suddenly?

It was spring time, and there was only a light breeze that flew in the forest tonight. How could a big tree fall off like that in an instant?

Darryl tried to internalize everything but putting the blame to nature's act wasn't reasonable enough to convince him. Something happened, something caused the tree to fall off, and something unnatural caused the incident.

Becoming more suspicious about what happened, Darryl dared to move closer to the commotion as he wanted to see how the tree cracked off that sudden. However, as he was moving closer, he noticed something unusual in the place. His eyebrows drew closer toward each other as he squinted over the woodland where he was hiding. He observed the place and as he drew his guards up, he noticed that he wasn't alone.

Someone was there. Hiding off somewhere near him. The one hiding could have noticed Darryl's presence to so instead of fleeing, he didn't move at all so Darryl won't notice him.

Darryl dared to approach closer to the remaining trunk of the tree that fell, not minding the fact that he was too close and someone might noticed his presence. But as he was advancing further, he saw someone moved from the dark and the sound of dry leaves being trampled on in quick succession gave Darryl a hint that the person was moving fast—that person was fleeing.

The crowd in the Loch garden was still in chaos, so they didn't notice the man's presence at all. Aside from that, whoever that person was, the dark clothing he wore made him almost invisible in the dark.

Moved by his own reflexes, Darryl chased the person immediately. The culprit was fast and as he noticed the boy following behind, he ran faster as he could traversing the dark deep forest that catered the loch garden. Darryl thought the person was off great skill, being able to move fast despite the darkness expertly avoiding each tree, twigs and bushes that scattered everywhere.

Who was this person?

What was his purpose?

Knowing that he was there at the scene of the crime and fled immediately when caught, Darryl knew he had something to do with what happened. Also, knowing how skillful and fast the man was, he knew he or she wasn't ordinary.

Darryl chased off the person relentlessly. He was mad and desperate. Who dared to hurt his woman like that? Who dared to cross his line?

Without backing off, Darryl used all that he had to capture the man and it took him few minutes of chasing before he was able to grab the person and knock him off the ground. He immediately climbed to the person's body as he pinned him into the ground, pressing an arm above the person's neck.

"Who are you?" Darryl asked gritting his teeth with anger. They were deep in the forest and so he couldn't entirely see the person's face but he was sure now that the person was a man. His built and muscles proved it.

The culprit didn't answer his query but he was charging his best to escape from Darryl's captivity.

"I said who are you?" The Lagdameo heir's voice tightened once more, his tone becoming darker and beastly. He put more weight in his arms that almost choked the culprit, but still the latter remained passive with Darryl's questions.

Unable to control himself, Darryl hit the man's face—one, twice and a couple of times until he felt wetness in his own fist. A sign that the man was beaten up and was now bleeding.

"If anything happens to her, I'm going to kill you!!"Darryl swore as an image of Xhemin covered with blood emerged in his thoughts. He was mad, very mad, like a beast that was wronged. He was ready to eat the culprit alive by now but still, his dignity and conscience stopped him from running completely mad.

Before he could kill the man, Darryl decided to hand him to the authorities and so he dragged the culprit's body in his arms. The man was motionless now because of Darryl's beating.

The Lagdameo heir tried to find his way out, but since the forest was huge and only the faint light from the thin moon was giving Darryl a view, it took him few minutes before he found his way. Soon he was already traversing a familiar path he used to earlier to sneak into the loch garden without being seen.

On his way, and while still dragging the motionless body of the culprit, Darryl heard some sound nearby. It was a faint sound of splashing water and soon he heard someone's voice.

"Wake up…oh please man wake up" It was a voice of a woman in fright. She was in panic and was almost sobbing. "Please, you can't die like this… please wake up man, wake up now"