(Jake’s POV)

I was so sleepy from driving all the way along with Aston. My head was about to burst from not sleeping most of the night during the trip. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. The bed felt so soft and fluffy. I should probably thank Aston for booking us such a nice and cozy inn. I was so tired and dizzy that I didn’t even notice Val had slid in beside me.

I was into a deep sleep until I felt like I needed to go to the restroom. I woke up with my eyes still half-open and went to the restroom to relieve myself. I should have done it before going to bed, but I must have forgotten. Oh, well.

I slid back into my bed’s warmth. I was drifting away again until Valerie kicked me out of the bed.

Ouch!!

I rubbed my butt to ease the pain a bit. I grabbed Val’s leg and threw it away from my place. That didn’t even wake her up. Now I knew where Arthur’s sleeping genes originated from. I slid into the covers again, melting into the warmth I felt on my back.

Val turned over and grabbed along the blanket, making my body suddenly feel cold. I pulled the blanket back to my body, just to get taken away again. Seriously, is everyone’s wife like this or just mine??!!

Why can't I just sleep peacefully?

I decided to make a truce by getting close to her so that I could leech off of her warmth. I snuggled in. Finally, sleeping like I wanted to. I felt Val turn around to face me.

“Please, don’t take Alex away.”

Was she having a nightmare? She looked so worried. I was so happy my kids had such a great mother. I patted her head hoping that the nightmare would just go away by doing this. For helping her out, I received an expected gift. Her leg swung and hit my family jewel. I silently screamed as I balled up, hoping that would ease the pain just a little.

“Ha, that’s what you get, you asshole.”

What the fuck was that all about?

I counted back from ten so that I could control my anger and become calm and collected. I didn’t even reach seven when I heard Alex crying out loud. I counted all the way down and took a deep breath. Then I got out of bed and sleepily went over to Arthur and Alex’s room. Then, suddenly the crying stopped. That was weird, but I didn’t think too much about it since babies have always been weird, especially Alex. Thinking he stopped, I started to walk back to my room until I heard him cry again, but a little lower this time as if his face was covered with something. 

Probably, my voice could soothe him as Val’s does.

“Alex.” It came out more lazily and softer than I had intended it to be.

I went over and opened the door to see two men in all-black outfits standing over their bed. Damn, Assassins. Did Duke Lorenzo send them for revenge or something? One of the men was holding a towel against Alex’s mouth. It looked like Alex was trying hard not to close his eyes. Was the towel drugged?

I looked over to see Arthur was fully awake and was looking at the assassin that was right next to him. The dagger looked ready to stab Arthur, but the assassin’s eyes were fixed on me. The eyes looked as if he was trying to challenge me to come closer to him and fight. Arthur gave out a little whimper which was enough to distract the assassin. The assassin swung the dagger at Arthur, and he started to cry. That must have done something to me because the next thing you know is that I was slamming the assassin into the wall. I grabbed him right by the shirt and punched him with my right arm.

I pulled off his mask to see a guy, probably in his twenties. He had black hair and black eyes. There was a big scar through his right eye, which was closed. With that one eye, he made eye contact with me.

“Who is the fucker that sent you here?”

At first, the guy didn’t respond. He just gave me a smile with a shrug. I leaned towards the man and stared him right into his left eye.

“Fuck You. Son of a bitch!”

I was angry, but not simply angry, more like in rage. I am always the fun-loving dad that doesn’t cus or gets easily get mad, but he had fucking hit every damn nerve inside my body. How dare he sneak into my children’s room and threaten them like that? I wasn’t even thinking as I kept on punching into the assassin’s face, but then I heard the window shatter.

Alex!

The other assassin had Alex in his hands and he was ready to jump out. Alex was unconscious. There must have been some type of sleeping drug in that towel. The assassin was about to jump out.

“Wait! What do you want?” The assassin shook his head. Does that mean there is nothing? I tried to reach out to grab, but she twisted out of the way.

“Goodbye.” A woman? Then she jumped off the window.

“No!” I tried to follow that woman out the window, but I felt a piercing pain on the side of my stomach. I groaned out loud in pain as my hand went toward it. I was stabbed by the same dagger that had threatened Arthur. The assassin was really injured, especially his face.

“VALERIE, WAKE UP! WE HAVE A FUCKING EMERGENCY!” I literally yelled from the top of my lungs. I was satisfied when I heard footsteps coming over here. Val came through the opened door.

“I told you not to-” I heard a gasp of horror as she saw what was happening.

“Val, call Aston on the transmitter to get here quickly and get the others as well. One of them took Alex and got out.” Val froze in shock for a second and then began to panic. “Go, hurry!”

That made Val escape her thought and run to get the transmitter. I turned to the assassin.

“Now, tell us, who sent you?” He started to choke up blood and his head went limp. I quickly checked his pulse but could feel nothing. I turned to Arthur. “Stick with mom.” When I saw Arthur nod, I ran out to the roof of the inn and tried to look for the woman assassin. I winced from the pain the whole time I walked. I clutched the side of my stomach.

I scanned the area to see if I could find her anywhere. It was still dark outside, so everything was dark. There wasn’t anyone outside, so that sort of helped, but there were no movements around either. I did go off on my own to go search for Alex. After thirty minutes or so, I crossed Galtero.

“Any luck?”

I sadly shook my head, tears were starting to form in my eyes. 

“Don’t worry. We will find him.”

With that hope, we both parted ways and searched both day and night without any luck. Val broke down crying, along with Arthur. Diana and Anna tried their best to comfort them but to no avail. Eventually, she locked herself in Arthur and Alex’s room. The other guys were helping me calm down and did their best to help us search the area. Diana helped patch up my stab wound. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find any clues.