Ricardo's POV:

I was in my office at the mansion when the doorbell rang. Glancing at the watch on my wrist, I wondered who would have come here late in the evening.

"I'll get it!" Antonio's voice rung through the entire house. Jeez, that man is always in here even though he has his own house.

"Okay!" I shouted back.

When Antonio didn't speak or even come back, I subconsciously placed my hand on the gun that strapped to my belt by a holster.

Slowly, I went downstairs to the living room but stopped in my tracks when I saw Xia on one of the couches....unconscious?

Without a second thought, I ran to the staircase and descended the stairs. Kneeling down in front of the couch, I checked her pulse by touching the side of her neck with the tips of my fingers.

It's there...but very faint.

Almost immediately, I spotted Antonio run out of the kitchen with a bottle of water. He quickly uncapped the the bottle and poured some in his hand, sprinkling it on Xia's face.

Her eyes shot open as soon as he did. She sat up with a start and looked around frantically, like she was searching for something or rather someone.

When her eyes settled on me, she visibly relaxed. I was going to ask her if she was alright but before I could, she spoke up,

"What happened to me? Did I pass out?"

I nodded, and so did Antonio.

"Are you feeling alright now? Dizzy? Nauseous?" I asked, worried about her.

"No." She whispered. "I'm okay. Can I have water?"

Antonio handed the bottle of water to her and she drank more than half of it like she there was no tomorrow.

I wanted to ask her what had happened but decided not to. I have plenty of time to do that. I need to make sure that she is completely fine first.

"Do you need anything else?" Antonio asked.

"No, thanks." She shook her head 'no'.

"I..um...needed help." She spoke after a few moments of silence.

She patted the couch on either side of her in a way of telling us to sit there. The both of us sat next to Xia; me on her right and Antonio on her left.

"Is Nicolas around?" She asked, before saying anything else.

"No, he's sleeping in his room." I answered, earning a nod from her.

"Around two years ago, I met a guy named Devon. Initially, he was the most kindest, most caring person that I had ever met and I fast forward to a few months later, we started dating and eventually fell in love with each other." She explained.

For a moment, I was confused to why she had started talking about her ex but I didn't say anything but only listened to her patiently.

"After a few months, he started acting weird. He started ignoring my calls and would have random bruises on some days. Once when we were watching a movie together, he had dozed off and I saw a text pop up on his phone; I happened to read it."

"There was a text that said, 'We finished him. Bring the body bag.' I will never forget those words. When I confronted him about it, he claimed that it was just a joke between him and his friends but I didn't believe him. The next day, a gang of men entered our apartment in the night and tied us up. They started torturing-"

"Did they hurt you?" Antonio asked, almost immediately.

"No, they tied both of us up, but tortured only him." She answered.

He nodded and let her continue, "On that same night, they burned his body alive and ran, leaving me right where they tied me..."

When she didn't continue her sentence, I looked up and saw that she was slightly tilting her head upwards. I could see how hard this is for her and know how horrible it is to live those memories again.

"Hey, you don't have to explain everything now, take your time." I told her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

"No, it's okay." She gave a sad smile and continued, "I had managed to leave the place and called the police. When they came, they took Devon in a body bag and took me to the police station for questioning."

My body tensed after I heard her narrate what had happened. I have a hunch that this Devon guy was either in a street gang or a mafia at the time; it would explain the bruises that he occasionally got and the text message that he had received.

"After a few weeks, they caught those people and locked them up behind bars. Everything after that was fine and nothing out of the blue happened, until this morning..." She continued, running her hands through her messy bun in frustration.

"I saw him standing opposite the bakery, staring at me. When I saw him, those horrible memories haunted me and I couldn't take it so I locked myself in the bakery, and waited for Adrian to come there because he is the only person who could comfort me."

Adrian? Who the hell is that?

"Adrian is my best friend, Ricardo." She stated, seeing how confused I looked.

"He came about two hours later and because he was not feeling his best at the time, I didn't tell him anything about Devon." She explained.

"I had asked him to drive me to my apartment because I didn't have my car and he did but when I entered, I saw a sentence painted onto my wall that said, 'You will die soon'. The place was a wreck; everything torn apart." Xia explained, air quoting the last few words.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

"I can't take it. It's too much for me to handle." She said, tears forming in her eyes. I couldn't see her like this.

Although Xia and I weren't the best of friends or even friends for that matter, I had an undeniable urge to comfort her; something that I knew she needed. It was a thing that I wanted to give her so I did just that.

Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I said, "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, Xia."

She nodded and slightly resting herself on me.

Antonio spoke up, "Alright. It's late now so you can stay here for the night. We will go there in the morning, and figure everything out."

"No, no. I'll-" She tried denying but stopped midway when she realized that there was nowhere else that she could stay for the night.

"Thank you." She said, looking at me and then turned to Antonio. "Both of you."

"You don't have to thank us." I smiled.

I led her to one of the guest rooms in the mansion and gave her one of my hoodies and sweatpants to wear for the night.

When I was walking back to my room, I happened to pass Nicolas' room and since the door was left ajar, I could see that he was awake.

I went closer and saw him staring at the ceiling. Going closer, I entered the room and as soon as I did, he looked at me.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why aren't you sleeping?" I whispered, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Is Xia here?" He asked.

"Yeah, she is." I replied.

"Is she alright?" Nico asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Um..." I paused, not knowing how to explain why she was here. "There is a person who is being mean to Xia. He destroyed her whole apartment and because she is safer here, she will stay for the night."

He looked at me with wide eyes, "No...we have to stop him. I don't want Xia to get hurt. She kept me safe so I need to do that too."

I was a little surprised at how fast he had gotten attached to her because Nicolas always seemed to have trust issues, just like me.

Hell, it even took a month for Nicolas to get comfortable with my own Mom.

But I'm not going to lie, it does feel as though I was being drawn to her and from what I've seen, she does seem to have that effect on people, including my son.

"Don't worry about that. I'll make sure he leaves her alone." I promised, which made my son crack a small smile.

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