The Loyal Servant

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

It’s almost midnight, Lisa ran as fast as she could. She felt her breath shorten but insisted herself to keep running. With only light coming from the broken walls and windows, she reached the second floor through the stairs. Although she can still run to the entrance of the building, she knows that someone will surely be waiting to kill her there. She entered the room beside the staircase and saw a cabinet on the left side of the room that is half of her height and a long table in the center. She slightly moved the cabinet to make a space, with a slender figure, she managed to squeeze herself on it. Holding the documents in her arms, she knew that her life was now in danger. Not so long when she heard a couple of footsteps outside the room. She bit her lips trying not to produce any sound.

Outside the room, a group of men wearing a long-sleeved top with a high-class jacket and a necktie, scattered around the second floor eager to capture the girl who had stolen something from them. One of the men approached the guy with a straight face, wearing a bluish jacket and a red Sampaguita ring on his index finger.

“Sir Kier, our men are now searching the whole building,” it said with formality.

The Kier guy looked at the informer and pointed the gun to its forehead. Without a blink, the blood scattered on the floor. The fear grew bigger for Lisa when she heard the loud bang outside the room.

“F*ck you miss whoever you are! I’m showing mercy here. Come out and we'll let you live!” Kier shouted and fired his gun once again.

“Oops... it’s an accident, My gun won’t kill you if you cooperate with me..” he paused for a minute and aimed his gun at one of his underlings.

“Right?” he continued and with another bang, the man fell to the ground.

Lisa’s heartbeat starts to pound faster than before, the chills from nowhere crawl from her backbone to her head, even her sweats turn into cold ones. This might be her day. She silently prayed to God and cried in silence while putting her right hand to her mouth. It’s not a good time to recall her good memories but she just can’t stop thinking. She tightly holds the folder she's been holding for so long.

She thought, “I need to give this to Mister,”

With a strong will on her mind, she calms herself and closes her eyes. Her legs feel numb but she does not dare to move even an inch. Suddenly, the door opens and she starts to feel nervous. Opening her eyes, a bright light from the opened door blinded her but she tried not to close her eyes. She held her breath as she heard footsteps coming closer to her. She can only see the oxford shoes walking around the room. She didn't dare to blink, She knew that there’s a possibility that the man might move the cabinet. But she kept on praying that it won't happen. The footsteps suddenly stop making noise, She puts her left hand into her mouth trying to stop herself to make any noise.

Suddenly, her phone rings, Lisa's eyes widen. She immediately grabs her phone from her pocket but before she turns her phone off, the man has already moves the cabinet. Their eyes met each other, but she didn’t have a chance to look at the man’s face as it pointed his flashlight at Lisa that made her eyes close. The man snatched her phone and broke it in front of her, then he brought the cabinet back to its place and left the room like he found nothing. Lisa was left dumbfounded at the side of the cabinet, she was still trying to figure out what just happened.

Meanwhile, the man who just left the room approached Kier, who was still holding his gun.

“There’s no one here, Sir Kier,” the man said with a sweet voice.

Kier firmly held his gun and was ready to scold the guy, however his frowned face changed to a bright one when he looked at the guy’s face.

he smiled and asked.“Nandie?”

The guy walked towards him with a smile and hugged him.

“Nandie, Why are you here?” Kier asked and held the guy's face.

“To help you, you look stressed,” Nandi answered with a sweet voice.

Kier raised his eyebrows and asked, “You sure? But you don’t have to.”

“B-but I want to help you,” The Nandie guy said.

“No need..” Kier paused and kiss Nandie’s cheeks. He smiled and pointed his fingers to his underlings.

“All of you! Find the girl” He shouted.

“I want her alive,” he chuckled snd continue, “ I'll her taste the pain”

As Lisa heard the footsteps slowly moving away from outside of the room, she was relieved for a moment thinking that she just escaped death. She closed her eyes and laid back to the wall. Hoping for someone to help her get out of that place, she felt her eyelid getting heavier and heavier and heavier until she fell asleep.

“Lisa!”

A rough manly voice wakes her soul up. She opened her eyes but a bright light blinded her so She tried to use her hand as a block from the light. She was both surprised and relieved when she saw the man standing beside her.

“Mr. Calixtro?”

She was a bit ashamed to look at her boss, her state looks terrible. If her co-workers know what happened to her, they will probably laugh. She was personally trained by Mr. Calixtro but she can’t even hold a gun.

“Sir-” Lisa tried to get up to give respect but Mr. Calixtro stops her.

“Must rest,” he said.

She was hesitant at first but still followed the man’s command. She lies down and makes herself comfortable in bed.

“Tell me about yesterday,” Mr. Calixtro asked her. “ and about this file.”

Lisa looked at him and was glad to see that his boss got the file. But she was still ashamed of how she got it.

She sighed and answered, “I- I just want to get you some evidence, sir.”

Mr. Calixtro raised his eyebrow and repeated Lisa's answer, “Evidence?”

Lisa sighed once again as she remembered what happened yesterday in that abandoned building. It was afternoon when she came to the groceries to buy goods for her brother when she met Mary, a tondo gangster. It informed her that Sampaguita is planning to take over the sta. Mesa area and to attain their goal they gathered hundreds of gangs. But their main plan is to get rid of the most powerful mafia in town, the Phoenix Hive. Without hesitation, she immediately ran to the Sampaguita base in San Juan to gather information. She easily entered their base and Kier’s room.

She luckily saw the file that includes the name of the gangs. Some of the gangs are their underlings and she won’t tolerate traitors. When she was about to get out she was caught by Sampaguita’s head 5, Kier Lacsamana.

Her master can’t stop himself but to laugh.

“Lisa, seriously? You went there because you thought that they could easily do such things? “

“But we all know that Sampaguita hates y--”

“Lisa, do you think the tondo gangster will know what Sampaguita’s actions are?.” Mr. Calixtro asked.

Lisa bowed her head and she felt disappointed in herself.

“They’re not even part of Sampaguita nor ours.” Mr. Calixtro continued.

She served the phoenix hive for years yet she dared to take the bait without his master’s knowledge. She was now a useless knife of her master that can’t even be used.

“But you did a great job to get the wrong folder”

Lisa was shocked and looked at Mr.Calixtro.

“What do you mean, sir?”

“You are trying to get the list of gangs, are you?” Mr. Calixtro asks.

She nod and said, “Yes,”

“Sadly, you picked the wrong folder. ” Mr.Calixtro said and laughed.

Even though Lisa is a bit confused, she still smiles at her master.

“Kier saw your face.” Mr. Calixtro said

Lisa's face turns pale when she hears Kier’s name. He was the one who chased after her yesterday. She never saw Kier do his things but she heard a lot about him.

“You know Kier, Lisa. He doesn't like someone who commits a crime in front of him, then runs and disappears. He will surely hunt you.” Mr. Calixtro said.

Kier is known for his ruthless and disgusting killing. Digging his victim's eyes is one of its favorite things. The last time he killed the whistleblower of one of his clients. He even separated its balls.

“You need to hide, Lisa. I can’t lose my favorite servant.”

Mr. Calixtro throws an envelope at Lisa. When she opened it, she found a check worth a million and a ticket to Cebu.

“I can’t hide you at my rest house in batan-”

“Ate (* Sister in Tagalog*)”

Before Mr.Calixtro finished his words, a young man entered the scene and walked straight to Lisa. He hugged her with tears falling on his cheeks.

“What happened? Who hurt you?” it asked.

“Oh come on Fernand, I just fainted out of fatigue,” She said and touched his brother's head.

“Fatigue? Does your boss exhaust you? How dare him,” Fernand burst in anger

“Excuse me, I never let my servants get tired, especially Lisa.” Mr.Calixtro said.

Fernand turns around and looks at the tall man wearing an americana. He looked at him from head to toe and raised his eyebrows as he noticed it’s Ulysse Nardin’s Watch. He looked rich, is he the boss?.

He coughed and asked, “If not, then why is my sister here at the hospital?”

“Ask your sister,”

“Sir, please excuse my brother's manners,” Lisa said and pinched her brother's arm, which made Fernand pout and complained in silence.

“It’s okay,” Mr. Calixtro said. “I’ll leave for a moment” he continued and looked at Fernand before leaving the room.

“Is he your boss, Ate?” Fernand asked.

“Yup, and you offend him”

“I did not,”

“Yes, you did.”

“I was just saying the truth,”

“How do you know that it is the truth?”

Fernand pouts and sighed.

“Fernand, opinions, and truth are different. You think that the boss is exhausting me, so why I’m here?” Lisa said

“To compensate for the damage?”

“No, to help me, i***t,” Lisa chuckled. “See, not every boss is like the boss you see on dramas,” she smiled.

Even though Fernand still has doubts about his sister’s boss, he sets aside that problem and comforts her sister. When Mr. Calixtro came back, Lisa ordered his brother to buy them food. But Fernand seems to be a bit annoyed, so he complains to his sister and convinces her to buy online.

“But I really like a soup,” Lisa pout,

“But we can buy it online and deliver it here. Also It’s afternoon, the sun will burn my skin.” Fernand complains

“It would take a lot of time, I’m already hungry,” Lisa acted like she was about to faint.

At the end Fernand lost to his sister and left the room. Meanwhile, Mr. Calixtro sits beside Lisa.

“What’s your plan?” He asked.

Lisa takes a deep breath and looks at her boss. “I don’t know either sir,”

“Go to Cebu for months and hide. But don’t settle in Cebu, change your location every month or days or whatsoever. Just don't let them catch you,” Mr Calixtro advised.

“I’ll also sent you money every 5 months,”

Lisa nodded even though hesitation was written all over her face. Mr. Calixtro looks at her and notices that she’s still unsure about her decision.

“Don’t worry about your brother, I’ll take him” Mr. Calixtro offered

“But, sir,”

“You can’t drag your brother, what if Kier found where you hid? you can’t even protect yourself,” Mr. Calixtro said

“But sir, my brother is just a normal kid. I-I can’t afford him t-”

“Don’t worry Lisa I won’t let your brother get hurt”

“But..”

“ Once Kier finds out about you, do you think your brother will be safe?”

Lisa looked at Mr. Calixtro. Even though she wants to drag her brother with her, surely she can’t guarantee Fernand’s safety. Kier is cruel, no man survived on his hand and if it happens that her background was exposed, her brother won’t live his life as usual or worse he won’t be alive.

“I got a thousand of bodyguards , you know that. And most importantly, Kier is afraid of me,” Mr. Calixtro smiled.

Lisa remembered the time where Kier killed the head of MM gang that is under Mr. Calixtro’s Phoenix Hive. The next day Mr. Calixtro found out that, He send a bomb in Kiers house. It destroyed and killed everything in that house, luckily Kier was not there.

Will fernand be okay with this?.

“Thank you sir, I put my brothers life on your hands” She said

She felt like she was about to betray her brother, but she had no choice.

Fernand got back with three rice meals. He looked around only to see his sister in bed.

“Where’s your boss?” Fernand ask

“He left already.”

He didn’t ask for more information and prepared their food.

“Ate, Eat more” he said and gave his chicken to his sister.

“Enough fernand, my stomach will burst if you keep giving me your food”

“But you need your strength back”

Lisa felt warm inside, who knew that her little brother grew up so fast. She never thought that after the accident 15 years ago, her brother would be alone once again.

Their parents died when Fernand turned 5 years old, and that time she was in a contest in the other town. Her five-year-old brother along with her aunties manage the burial of their parents. When she comes back to their town, her parents are already lying underground. She stopped from studies and work to give Fernand needs.They stayed with her aunties household but they still needed to pay for the rent. Luckily when she turned 20, she met Mr. Calixtro and worked with him. She bought a condo unit when she turned 23 and left her aunties custody. She never had anyone beside her brother, but with the situation she’s in right now, it’s best for her to give her brother to the one who can protect both of them.

Lisa smiled and hold her brothers arm,” Fernand,”

Fernand looked at his sister with confusion, “ hmm?”

“Sister always loves you.”

Hearing those words from her sister, Fernand felt electricity thru his veins,”What the H ate.”

Lisa laughs like there’s no tomorrow, striking her brother ‘s arm with joyness. Fernand just rolled his eyes and tried not to show his smile.