It was becoming a bit of a constant thing with Roma. Sometimes, Lewis’ father would be over at the Vilpamolan House, watching over his grandchildren, and other times, Lewis and Simone were visiting Roma’s Hoja estate. It had been a slow start, getting to know him, but almost a full week after they had been introduced to Glyn, Lewis was almost comfortable with being back in Hoja.

“You know,” Lewis said casually as Simone sat down next to him, across from Roma. “I’m pretty sure we stole from here once or twice. If I remember correctly, there was a silver mantlepiece.” He pointed to the elegant fireplace, which seemed to be missing a centerpiece to the whole design. “Pretty sure it was smelted on the black market.” He didn’t seem apologetic at all.

“Oh that old thing?” Roma replied. “Went missing years ago and never thought twice. Figured a butler ran off with it. Never did bother getting it replaced. Daria never did like it.” It was one of the few times he mentioned his departed wife. As it turned out, Roma Granados was the head of the Hoja underbelly. Of course, it was indirect. His wife, Daria Granados had been the true head, and her untimely death had pushed the role to Roma, who had only married politically.

As it turned out, both Lewis and Xeik had originally worked for this organization before they had splintered off to form their own guild. The now defunct Blood Echoes had also been a part of the organization, which explained quite a bit. Roma was head in name only, though, and his ruthless children, Chester and Thallion, had taken the reigns for themselves. Roma was far too kind a soul to truly lead such a shadowy organization.

Lewis leaned back on the couch, enjoying Simone’s presence. Henry had served them a flowery blend of tea, which was quite well made, almost on par with Silva. Lewis brought the cup up to his nose, and sniffed it. Hm? He immediately set the cup down.

“Roma…don’t touch the tea…” Lewis stood up, and drew his dagger. His eyes homed in on Henry, but there was a look of terrified confusion across the orc’s face. No. He’s too scared. “Where did you get the tea from?” Lewis demanded.

“A-a vendor today recommended it. W-why? What’s going on?” Henry asked. Despite his size, he knew very well what Lewis was capable of. The Dusk moniker was indeed known far and wide.

“The tea has poison in it. It’s faint…most normal humans wouldn’t be able to pick up on it, especially among the flowery smell.” Simone must have smelled it too. After all, she loved her tea.

After a moment more, Lewis lowered his guard. “No one is watching. I’m surprised…must be an ametuer. They’re not even going to check and see if it works. They’re just expecting it to. Unless they’re waiting for a call from Henry…” No. That’s exactly what they’re waiting for… He clicked his tongue.

Simone was amused looking at Lewis, “I’m pretty sure I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Normally I was the one who was stolen.” It came off as a joke but she was serious. Once she noticed the poison in the tea she pushed it away. “Yeah, no doubt. I know that smell well enough.” She narrowed her eyes. “Had an assassin attempt to kill me when I was six. I won’t ever forget the smell or taste of the tea. We were very lucky to have a healer on hand who could identify the poison quick enough.”

Crossing her arms she looked up at Roma. “…You can’t stay in Hoja any longer. I forbid it.”

“But… I can’t just leave. As long as I’m livi–”

“Right, as long as you are living.” Simone looked towards Lewis and stood up. “Well, there’s only one way for us to fix that isn’t there.” She was quick to pull out a dagger. Henry got close and she put up her hand. “Easy, I’m not going to hurt Roma but I need you to make sure that no one comes in or out of this house… Or near this room.”

There was a slender smile across her face as she spun the dagger. “Roma, I need you to go to the castle with us. Like a good father you need to not exist anymore.” Her voice was low as she looked at Lewis. “Let’s paint the room red. As we have to do is make it look like someone else assassinated him first. If we know the boys, and I would like to think I do now, they are cocky enough not to talk to each other. They’ve probably even made it a game to see who can kill Roma first. Neither one will know who sent the assassin.”

Simone started to overturn stuff. “Roma, you need to leave. We’ll send Henry after we’re done here.”

“But, how will they think I’m dead with no body?”

Simone took the dagger and started to cut at herself sending blood everywhere. “I can’t die from stupid shit like this… Lewis and I will just make it look like a murder scene and that your bodies were disposed of.”

In front of Roma, Simone went behind Lewis and kissed the top of his head. “You know what we need to do…” She did tell him to leave. Taking the knife she slit Lewis’s throat and kicked him over to bleed out.

“WHAT ARE YOU D–” Simone cuffed Roma’s mouth.

“Helping you. Don’t scream.” After a few minutes, the magic activated and Lewis was back up. They had made quite the mess. “Give me your coat.” She took Roma’s coat and shredded it dropping it in the massive pool of blood. It wasn’t that hard to make a struggle appear to happen.

She cut her fingertips and went to the walls as she drew runes for silencing. “And… just for added cover…” She of course left off her signature though most would be pleased with what they did. “Is there anything valuable that you would want Roma? You won’t be coming back here. Ever. You have five minutes but then we have to leave.”

“Okay, my turn. We have to make Henry look dead too.” She tossed the dagger to Lewis. “Make it look good.”

As Roma gathered his things, Simone and Lewis made the entire place look as though a bloodbath happened in both the main room, and the kitchen where Henry would have been. It was easy enough, but there were a few, delicately added touches that were made for extra authenticity. The tea was set up, as if it had been partially consumed, if only to add more fuel to the fire.

“Perfect…this reminds me of a rather gruesome killer that I worked with one time. Sloppy as all hell, but that was the point,” Lewis stated as Roma came back in with a bag full of belongings. He took one look at the room, and paled, almost losing his breakfast.

“Time to go,” the assassin said as he opened a portal back to the island. “After you, Roma,” he said rather politely.

Roma, followed by Simone and Lewis, stepped onto the island. This was the first time that they had ever gone to the front door of the mansion, and the first time, other than the initial meeting, that Roma had officially been to the Isle.

“Welcome to the Terrowin Estate,” Lewis said after the gate closed behind him. “Located in scenic Onnen. For your safety, we cannot disclose the location just yet, but let’s just say my brothers will not find this place anytime soon.” The assassin walked forward, and opened the doors.

“Gerald, this is…” Lewis paused. “My…father.” It felt weird coming from his mouth. “Please…make him feel at home. Oh, and…as of right now, treat him as a ‘guest’, until further notice.” It was a special work, meaning that he was free to do what he wanted, so long as he remained on the island.

“Roma, this is Gerald. He and Silva are the main help around here, and can answer most, if not all of your questions.” Lewis took a moment. “Please do not wander unattended for the time being. For now…just…take your time. I’m sure Lucas and Ezili are around here somewhere, and Rex is off in the city.”

“Anyway,” Lewis said as he re-opened a portal. “I’m going to go check out Hoja and see what’s happening. Need to make sure they take the bait…” With that, the assassin stepped through the portal, and disappeared.

Simone put her hand behind Henry’s as she helped him through. “For now you can stay with us too. Unless you want to become house help here until then.” It was always nice to have extra eyes. “The kids will try to eat you alive though.”

Simone sighed a bit as Lewis left, “I’ll miss you until you come back.” She let him go with a kiss and looked at Roma. “We can get you set up with a room. Until now you’ve only ever seen our second floor and… even then just the kid’s rooms.” Simone led him around the first floor showing him everything.

“We got such a large place because Lewis wanted to save children… but he didn’t know that they couldn’t fix my womb. I was really depressed about it but his idea to adopt as many kids as we could… It helped a lot.” She led him into the library where Ezili was curled up on Lucas listening to him read.

“Grandpa Roma!!!” Ezili squealed. “I didn’t know you were allowed on the island!” She bounced out of Lucas’s lap and hugged him tightly.

“He’s going to be staying with us for a while. Make sure you don’t say where we are to keep him safe… Do you think you can do that?”

Ezili smiled and nodded, “If you want snacks I can sneak them to you. The bakery in town is amazingggg~”

Simone sighed a bit and laughed. “We have eight gardens too all around the island. The terrible two should be studying in the children’s study off the library here… Right?”

Ezili looked ashamed, “N-no. They ran off saying we couldn’t tell them what to do and went to go play in the pond again.”

“Well… They are rather rebellious aren’t they?” Simone sighed and smiled at Roma. “Do you want to see my peony garden?”

Roma was a tad bit overwhelmed with it all, and with Lewis suddenly gone, he was left alone with his daughter-in-law. Henry excused himself, instead taking his place at the side of the house help. Gerald was delighted, and led the orc to meet his other partner, Silva. The three were bound to hit it off…

As Simone showed the old man around, he couldn’t help but be shocked at the massive amount of wealth that seemed to be all around him. By no means was the Granados family poor, but what Lewis and Simone had gathered must have been immense. As Simone led him into the peony garden, he couldn’t help but ask a few questions.

“So…what about this island? How did you manage to convince the local town that you could build here?” Roma knew how politics worked out. It must have taken someone with a silver tongue to negotiate the use of an island, let alone a castle.

As if on cue, Silva and Henry walked out, each holding a platter. “My lady,” Silva said as she set down a tea set. “I’m sure you must be parched from your journey.” Henry set his own platter down, which was a variety of meats and cheeses. He took a quick bow, and the two left once more.

Simone made a face as she looked ashamed for a moment, “I… made the town think I was a murderous bunch of ghost pirates by blowing up their fireplaces because they wouldn’t stop upping our taxes?” Then she chuckled, “We own the island. We bought it off of our investor Raile, we’re really close with his family and he knew we would need a lot of space for what we wanted. An island was the perfect place to keep our family safe and it would be big enough that we could grow and grow.”

Finding the seat in the garden she was pleasantly surprised when Henry and Silva came out, “Thank you both so very much.” She took a sip of the tea and smiled up at Roma. “Lewis let me have whatever money I wanted to make the island gorgeous. All these flowering trees and flowers weren’t here when we first showed up. The castle was run down too but we got help fixing that up. Lewis went on a lot of jobs… A lot of them were high profile but it was a lot of money. Then… as the kids got older and we had the twins we realized that he was missing out on some of their important events.”

She mused it a bit more, “And we decided to scale down the jobs he took so we could be at home more with them… and then…” She looked ashamed for a moment. “Xeik told us about the situation. We decided that it’s time for Lewis to retire… That we’re tired of always fighting our way to keep our family safe. We have enough money and we can make smart investments with Raile… We just want our kids now. Life has always been hard for me but I don’t want that anymore. I just want my kids and Lewis… You too if you’ll have us.”

There was a soft smile on her face. “In five months… We’ll be bringing home a new baby. We named him Glyn and he’s growing inside of a plant right now. I know it sounds weird but… Lady Angela always throws us a lifeline when we need it. We needed Glyn.” She snacked on some of the meats and cheeses.

“I love your son very much and the life we have. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his jobs but now… I think we’ve out grown them a lot.” She was being sincere which was hard for Simone. “He really does spoil me though,” she looked around the island. “He never bats an eye when I want something and he does tell me no but only when it's outrageous. Normally, we talk through everything and that has given us a lot of insight on what a good marriage is…”

She took a sigh and laughed a bit, “It must be weird hearing me go on and on… I get weird when Lewis is away from me sometimes. I don't make it a habit to talk to people often because I don't trust a lot of people but I am… trying.”

Roma was in a slight bit of shock when Simone stated that they owned the island. He did a quick comparison of numbers in his head, and gathered that the island must have been worth nearly three times his own estate, and that was not including the castle, nor the dock and the associated fees that it would incur. And the tax evasion would put the nobles on Hoja to shame! It was quite something to hear, and he was sure that his time here would show much more of what the Terrowins were capable of.

“I had heard rumors of the Dusk Assassin,” Roma said as he sipped tea. “His exploits were famous, but I had heard rumors about in the noble circles that he had slowed down a lot. A lot of the more prominent members of the organization…well, they said he was losing his edge, and past his prime. But…” He looked around the garden. “It would seem that the rumors are quite false. If anything…I do believe that Lewis will never lose his edge, so long as he has a family to protect.”

“Five months,” he said with a bit of a surprise. “And this Lady Angela, she seems like a wonderful person. Her servant, Xeik, seems like a fine fellow too. Always running about to help you.” Roma had never been properly introduced, and there definitely seemed to be a misunderstanding. “She must be a very powerful noble if she’s garnered your respect. And growing in a plant? A strange business, but I assume that she’s quite good at her trade…” It was something he had never heard of, but in a world of magic, anything was possible.

Roma took another sip of the tea, and once more gazed about the garden. He had never felt so at peace with himself, and for once, he felt a massive sense of relief. He no longer had to be the leader of an organization that he wanted nothing to do with, and he could finally be free of the worldly worries. All he had to do now was focus on creating a better life for his son and his son’s family.

“By all means, Simone…please continue.” Roma was genuinely happy. “And I would…be happy to be a part of your family, Simone. I must thank you and Lewis for saving me…though…I fear my death may cause more of an issue than it’s worth. I do apologize for all of the work that’s going into this…”

Simone smiled a bit at Roma, “He’s not losing his edge but I… might be the reason for why he is appearing that way but I can assure you… He hasn’t lost his edge at all. We’ve just become preoccupied with our family. Five years ago we restructured our family so he could spend more time with the kids. We had been working on getting Fiori to do something and he missed it. He never forgave himself.”

Thinking on it, “Maybe… You should meet her. Lady Angela isn’t just some noble. In Canelux, she is known as the Mother. She is a great mighty Goddess and she is the one who brought me back to life and recreated my body. Lewis got punched in the face by her for screaming at her while drunk.” There was a slight chuckle. “He got punched in the face for me. It’s dumb how romantic that is to me.”

There was a dumb smile on her face, “Anyways, Angela is a legendary healer. Xeik is her champion and he’s not just an ordinary servant. I’m surprised you haven’t met the dumb rainbow one yet. She is her avatar and Raine does like to pop in whenever she pleases though she isn’t allowed on the island much to her displeasure.”

Listening to him apologize for his death made her shake her head, “They were going to kill you, Roma. We’ll deal with the consequences. Lewis will never say it but he would be upset if he lost the chance to get to know you. The way he looked at Janus and Lila after we met you told me all I needed to know. I can read his mind at will but I could tell from the look on his face what was going through his head. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t think you were a good man.”

Llywellyn appeared out of nowhere running, “SIMONE, where the fuck is Lewis?”

Simone stood up, “What why?”

“You have to tell him to run if he isn’t here. A massive fucking bounty was put on him a few minutes ago. We were on the lookout for if anyone was putting a bounty on me or my family when we heard the Dusk Assassin was up on the board. Every man in Canelux is looking for him and I bet Parvpora too.”

Lewis, get the fuck out of Hoja now!

“It’s too dangerous to stay here on the island.”

“The island is safe.”

“I DON’T KNOW THAT MONE. Pack up your kids, pack your stuff, you are coming with me until this is over. If they get you can get him and they can really kill him if they get you.” Simone was in shock as Llywellyn grabbed her by the shoulders yelling at her. “Pack the kids. Pack whatever you need. You are coming to Sulwal with me. I’m going to do everything in my power to save Lewis but this bounty is fucking massive. Everyone will jump on it.”

Finally, Llywellyn noticed Roma, “Who is this?”

“The reason why Lewis had a bounty put on his head… His father.”

“Pack him too then. Come on, I’ll help you get everyone around. The staff can take care of the island.” Llywellyn pulled Simone up. “I’m not going to lose you again. Not any of you.”

“Maybe I should go help, Lewis.”

“You will be a better help to Lewis in Sulwal where he doesn’t have to worry about your safety.”

Lewis had been walking down the streets of Hoja when he noticed that something was off. There were whispers about, and the streets seemed oddly bare for the time of day. He had just finished up with the few tasks for making Roma look dead, and the mess had already been found.

“Is that…” A whisper.

“There he is…”

Lewis felt as though all eyes were on him. But there was no way that was possible. No one could possibly link anything to him. Now, the streets seemed a bit busier, but it wasn’t the normal hustle and bustle of the city that he remembered. There was a heavy tension in the air.

Lewis, get the fuck out of Hoja now!

Lewis spun around on his heel, and stabbed a rather large looking man who had come up behind him. So that’s what’s happening. Two more from the left, and a third from the rooftops came after him, each of them colliding with each other as Lewis jumped back. He slammed his foot into the piled mess of assassins, and turned to run. A bolt of magic surged past him, destroying a cabbage stand in front of him.

Lewis clicked his tongue, darting around the corner. Immediately he opened a gate,, and dashed through it. An arrow flew through the portal just as it closed, slamming into Lewis’ shoulder. He winced, biting back a cry, and landed in the Vilpamolan house. At once, he could smell the smoke in the air.

“What the fuck…” He groaned, staggering up. The house around him was on fire, and the front door was wide open. He reached behind him, and with a loud groan of pain, yanked the arrow out of him. “Shit…” He could see an oiled substance on it. Poison. I’ll be… The world lurched. Simone. I’ll be back, I promise.

Whatever happened next, Simone couldn’t tell as the resonance was forcefully severed.

Simone’s eyes went wide as she started to scream, “LEWIS! THEY FUCKING GOT HIM.” She started to panic as the resonance. She started to dart towards the basement as she went for weapons. No one was going to stop her as Llywellyn did his best to block her but she sent him into a wall.

Back in Elysia Angela came bolting into the office, “XEIK, you need to knock Simone out now! Lewis is poisoned and he’ll be fine from that but she is panicking.” Opening a portal Angela kicked Xeik back as she panicked. Simone was panicking so much she was shaking and couldn’t get the daggers into their sheaths.

“Go away Xeik! LET ME DO THIS,” she screamed as she tried to strap the daggers to her.

“STOP HER, she is just going to get them killed!” Llywellyn opened the door to the room to yell at Xeik. He had felt the magic.

Simone tried to throw fire at Llywellyn but then she saw black. Llywellyn came in afterward, “Help me get the kids around and take them to Sulwal with Simone and his father.” He pointed at Roma. “Please. I’ll explain everything on the way.”