She's My Sleeping Pill

"Ahh!!"

"Someone's bombed!"

"Quickly call for the emergency response team!"

"That car is familiar," said one of the employees who happened to be standing not far from Cayenne.

Everyone stood closer to the floor-to-ceiling glass window and looked outside to see the commotion unfold.

Cayenne was no different. She wanted to close her eyes and pretend she was not seeing the blossoming fires of hell yet; her feet drew her closer to the edge of madness.

Bloodied people were crawling away from the flaming car – some were hurt from the flying debris while others got burnt from the fire. She could not hear the screams of pain coming from the wounded people outside, but she saw the excruciating pain on their faces.

"This...this can't be," Cayenne muttered as she pressed her hands on the glass window. Her voice was trembling just like her knees. If not for Stefan holding her, she would have slumped on the floor. "Hon, tell me I'm just seeing things. Tell me I'm wrong. This can't be...I..."

"Shh. Don't overthink. Rey and Jackson just went downstairs to confirm things," Stefan whispered while holding her face to force her to look at him. He needed to divert her focus to him. "Look at me, hon. Don't overthink."

Cayenne nodded slowly despite the tears that were threatening to fall on her face. She can't show her emotions in front of so many people. She needed to be strong.

Soon, the cacophony of sirens from the police car, ambulance and firetruck was heard by the staff. It was faint due to the soundproofing of the building, but the view was clearer to them as they were on the fifth floor.

She took a few steps away from the window, but because of the anxiety and shock, Cayenne was too weak to walk. She stumbled a few times in front of her staff.

"Tell me, it's not Sir Luiz's car, right?" whispered one of the employees that didn't escape Cayenne's sensitive ears at this time.

"I want to say you are overthinking but, I don't know anyone else with that car except him," retorted another employee who tried his best to lower his voice.

"It could be someone else driving it, you know," responded by another staff.

No matter how much Cayenne wanted to unhear these words, she couldn't do anything about it; and at the back of her mind, she was thinking the same thing as them.

"All of you!" Stefan shouted as he sharply glared at them, "You all go back to work! You are not paid to gossip!"

The employees scampered in all directions like little squirrels being hunted in the woods. It was the first time that they heard him yell so loudly at them.

Cayenne wasn't the least bit surprised at his actions. Her mind was still wandering back to the employee's words.

Just a few steps from her office door, she halted her footsteps and contemplated for a moment.

"Let's go home. I don't want to deal with anything here. I want to go home," Cayenne pleaded in a low voice. It was taking a toll on her not to get hysterical. She was in the verge of collapse. "Hon - "

"Sir," Rey called out to his boss but when he saw Stefan was talking to Cayenne, he hesitated and paused. "I...I'll give you time," he said and turned around.

"Stay!" Cayenne blurted out. "I want you to tell me what's going on."

"Uh...do you, perhaps, want to go home first?" Stefan asked his wife this time. He knew his bodyguard. He knew from his actions that he wasn't bringing some good news. "I'll take you home," Stefan insisted.

***

On their way home, Cayenne called her brothers multiple times but none of them answered her. Then, she asked Rey to contact the bodyguards responsible for monitoring them.

The bodyguards responsible for Kyle's safety had responded to them. It turned out that her younger brother was busy making his class materials with his girlfriend helping him. He didn't leave the house at all.

On the other hand, there was no response from Luiz's side. Not even his bodyguards.

"Hon - " she called out with shaky voice. "I...I can't take it anymore," she said with tears streaming down her face. "I'm scared. I'm so scared right now. I'll die if something happens to my brother."

"Nothing's going to happen to him. He will be fine. Trust me. He's fine."

"But it's his car! I saw it clearly with my own eyes! It's the car that we customized for him!"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

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Rey just looked at them through the rearview mirror and didn't say anything.

His silence was an indirect admission of Cayenne's doubts.

Hearing no argument from Rey, she sobbed even more. If there's no definite evidence that it wasn't Luiz, she would take her gut feeling to be true.

And a woman's instinct is scary.

"I didn't find any dead body that resembles, Sir Luiz," Jackson finally said after a long silence. "I maybe the person who spent the shortest time with him, but I know he is safe."

"Then, where is he? Why isn't he responding? His bodyguards aren't responding as well!" Cayenne blurted in madness. "I'm going to go insane!"

Jackson couldn't tell them anything else, but he wasn't the least bit doubtful of his guess.

"The bombing killed his three bodyguards. I'm not sure who's left, but I'm certain that Luiz is with someone else," Jackson reiterated with confidence. "We'll find him."

***

Luiz was sitting on a wooden chair – feet and hands tied with a rope. His mouth was gagged with a silver duct tape, causing him to muffle a groan.

"Stop that. It's not going to help you," said his abductor whose back was facing him. "Tsk! He didn't clarify his instruction. I thought it's the youngest brother that he meant, so I got you. He didn't tell me it should he the youngest child."

Hearing his words, Luiz wanted to throw curses at him but it was to no avail.

He could only swallow his curses in tears.