24/7

Death and All His Friends

•~• Nic's POV •~•

His mood shifted when he realized who he was talking to. His jaw clenched, his eyebrows furrowed and his grip on my waist tightened.

By the time the phone call ended, we were already at the secure location near the residence where Seb was being held hostage. Once settled, Jay took my phone which I used to call Sam the moment Jay's phone rang.

"Sam. Tell me you got a trace done on that blocked number."

"Yes. I did."

"Good. Call it back."

"But Jay.."

"Now."

"Calling. Patching through to your unit."

Jay's body practically hummed with barely-controlled rage. He tried to pace while waiting for the phone call to go through but it seemed he didn't want to let go of me either so I took his hand in mine and paced with him.

A few heartbeats later, the call was picked up.

"You got a lot of nerve calling me back, Faulkerson."

"I want proof of life, asshole. Put the boy on the phone."

"I'll do you one better. Since you're the self-proclaimed tech genius, surely you can find the livestream I've set up. The boy is fine. Whether or not he remains fine is entirely up to you."

"If you hurt Seb—"

Obnoxious, mirthless laughter filled the air then abruptly stopped.

"I'm not going to wait forever, Faulkerson. Let's finish this. Let's see how good you really are outside of the games I helped you create! YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT ME! IT'S TIME EVERYONE KNOWS THIS!"

When the line went dead the second time, Jay started furiously tapping out lines of code on a laptop while simultaneously barking out orders to Sam and his team on the phone. I took out my other mobile and sent a few messages to my own team.

As I spared Jay another glance, it seemed that he was still focused on finding the live feed to check on Seb.

A flurry of incoming messages from my team came in. After going through each one and sending out responses, I turned to leave the room. Quietly.

"Mendoza! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Busted.

"I'm getting in position. You're going to need back—"

"No."

"No?"

"He said to come alone. So I'm going in alone. We have no idea how many cameras he's set up. If he sees any of you... SAM! I GOT IT! I FOUND THE LIVE FEED!"

With a few clicks, Jay got the live feed showing on multiple monitors.

We watched as Seb cowered in one corner of the room, his arms around his legs. We could hear his tiny voice as he cried for his parents and Mister Jay.

The sound of breaking glass rang through the room.

"What the hell?! Jay, anong ginawa mo?"

My heart broke when I saw him finally give in to the rage and guilt that I knew he was desperately trying to keep at bay. He crumpled to the floor, bloodied and in tears.

"This is all my fault. All of it. I did this. I caused this."

I sat on the floor beside him and gently wrapped my arms around him.

"None of this is your fault, Jay. All you did was work your ass off and love. And there's nothing wrong with that. Some people just find it easier to be jealous assholes and wanting what other people have even when they've done absolutely nothing to deserve the same blessings."

His sobs shook both of us but I kept going.

"Bad things happen, sure, but that's just the way life is. You can't prevent all the bad stuff from happening to the people you love. Nobody, not even you, can pull that off. But what you can do is be there for them during and after the bad stuff. Like me, for instance. Even if I'm the best at what I do, I still wasn't able to protect you from the bad stuff. Shit still happened. You almost got blown up! But hey, I'm still here. Even if you're being a stubborn numbnut, I'm still here. Because I lo—"

He lifted his head and looked at me.

"You love me?"

Gedemet.

I nodded, held his face in my hand and looked deep into his eyes.

"I do."

He smiled at me, the sadness in his eyes all but gone and replaced with a look of steely resolve.

"Okay. Then we do it your way. Tell me what to do, Nic. Tell me how to save Seb."

*•*•*

Author's note: 🎶Remember meeeeee... kapag nag-iisaaaaa🎶

Charot.

Sorry, I know this update is long overdue but well... when I'm blocked, I'm blocked. No amount of self-flagellation made the words come any faster. 😔

As usual, unbeta'd and all that jazz a.k.a. sabaw.