Secrets In The City

32.1: Firecracker

VALENTINA, Brena, and Henry settle inside the luxurious jet after the air hostess directs them to their seats. The apprehensive party of three didn't have the time to take in the beauty of the aircraft. Brena takes a seat by the window, gazing at the blue floating clouds. Her mind was so jumbled that she didn't hear when Henry called her.

"I need a drink." Brena blurts out, disregarding Henry. "Excuse me? Miss?" She says loudly, waving her hand to get the attention of the air hostess.

"Can I have a bottle of Hennessy?"

The air hostess simply nods then spins around to go fetch Brena's drink.

"Brena, did you even hear a word of anything I just said?" Henry asks irritably.

Brena scoffs. "Yeah, I heard you loud and clear."

"Thank you." Brena kindly says to the air hostess when she returns with the bottle of liquor and a shot glass.

As Brena takes the bottle from her, she gently pushes the glass back at her. "No, no. I don't need a glass for this."

Brena pops the bottle open, then wraps her lips around it. When she tilts her head back, there's a sharp sting behind her throat as she brings her head forward, coughing as a reaction to the burn.

"Brena, slow down." Henry warns, staring at her worriedly.

"That's what someone should have said to Linda or Rita. Whatever the hell her name is." Brena replies sarcastically, going for another round of her drink.

"She cheats on my dad with Kevin's crazy ass, who's Lillian's father and the leader of one of the biggest Mafia gangs in the world." Her chest heaves up and down, chuckling at the ridiculous yet heartbreaking situation.

Henry and Valentina glance at each other at the same time with a similar hue of sympathy enveloping their eyes. Valentina's brows collapse pitifully as Brena continues her rant.

"Now that same man tried to kill me and my father when I was only 6 months old." Brena snorts. "And he failed miserably, thank God." She looks up, throwing a salute to what she believed was the heavens.

"He wasn't about to let me go down for the sin of a woman who calls herself my mother you know?" She looks at Henry and Valentina for a response but they hold blank expressions on their faces, not knowing how to answer the rhetorical question.

Brena continues to greedily shove down the alcohol into her system before muttering the rest of her words. "And she was pregnant with my little sister who happens to be my best friend and she didn't even bother to tell my fa-"

"Okay. That's enough." Henry stands up to take the bottle away from her. "Give it to me Brena. We can't have you drunk and passed out by the time we get there."

They struggle with the drink as Brena tightened her grip around the neck of the large brown bottle. "Yo, Henry back up." Brena hisses furiously.

Without moving an inch, Henry calmly responds. "Let go of it then. You're better than this. Come on."

Brena's grip reluctantly loosens before she hands the brown bottle over to him. "Just go." She whispers devastatingly, dropping her head low.