**"This is about loyalty repaid with betrayal"**
Recandra, the respected vice-leader of the Cakra gang, sat beside his girlfriend, Kayla, holding her warmly. They were both enjoying time together in a quiet place, far from the city's hustle and bustle. "Can, I want to talk to you about something?" Kayla turned towards Recandra with a soft smile, showing that she was ready to listen to whatever Recandra wanted to say.
"I want to go out with you tonight. You're not busy, right?" Recandra asked, looking into Kayla's eyes, full of hope. Kayla smiled slyly, "Oh, okay, we'll go out tonight." However, behind her smile, Kayla was thinking something cunning. Perhaps she wanted to use this opportunity to do something special, or perhaps she wanted to test Recandra's loyalty.
Kayla rested her head on Recandra's shoulder, her left hand gently stroking his hand. "How am I in your eyes?" Recandra replied softly, "In my eyes, you are the second most beautiful woman after Mom." Kayla smiled, feeling happy with Recandra's praise. She felt that Recandra truly loved her, and that made her feel safe and comfortable.
Suddenly, Recandra's phone rang. Recandra opened the message and read it quickly. "Who's it from?" Kayla asked. "From the boss. Says I need to go there right now," Recandra replied. "I'm coming with you," Kayla said, showing her loyalty to Recandra. They both stood up and walked towards the designated place.
They approached the Cakra leader, Ale. "What's up, Boss?" Recandra asked. However, before Ale could answer, a brutal punch landed on Recandra's face, making him stagger backward. Fresh blood flowed from his nose. Before he could even catch his breath, Ale attacked him again with a hard kick that landed squarely on Recandra's chest.
Recandra fell to the ground, feeling pain and disappointment.
Seeing Recandra fall, Kayla remained silent. She even seemed to laugh cynically.
"Just finish him off. He's the one who poisoned your sibling," Kayla said, making Ale's emotions flare.
Meanwhile, Recandra's heart felt shattered into pieces. He never expected Kayla to be like this.
"Kayla, what do you mean?" Recandra asked, demanding an explanation for Kayla's words.
Kayla just stayed silent. Two seconds later, she smiled slyly again.
Still reeling from the situation, Ale launched another brutal punch that struck Recandra's left eye, leaving a bruise. Still unsatisfied, Ale moved to hit him again, but before Ale's fist could land, Recandra managed to land his own punch on Ale's face, staggering him. Before Ale could attack again, Kayla suddenly screamed, "Traitor! Traitor!" She shrieked, summoning the seven other core members, who arrived instantly. Without a word, they immediately swarmed Recandra, ganging up on him. He tried to block and dodge the punches one by one.
*"I'm going to die like this. I have to run,"* Recandra thought to himself. He desperately tried to widen the space around him, creating a little distance. Then... seizing a small gap between two of his attackers, he quickly lunged sideways and rolled behind a large container lying in the corner of the old warehouse. His breath came in gasps, blood dripped from the corner of his lip, and his eyes darted wildly, searching for an escape route.
"I have to get out of here... I can't die now," he muttered, wiping the blood with the back of his hand. In the distance, the sound of footsteps and Kayla's shouts echoed, "Find him! Don't let him escape!"
Recandra knew the place like the back of his hand—he had used it as a secret base before everything changed. They used to be a team, a single vision. Now, he was just a target.
He ran down a narrow corridor between dusty iron shelves piled with scrap metal. The sound of footsteps grew closer. Peeking from behind a gap, he saw one of them, Dion, pass by with an iron rod in his hand. Recandra held his breath.
When Dion turned back, Recandra slipped out, grabbed a small stone, and threw it in the opposite direction. The clanging sound immediately drew their attention. "Over there!" one of them shouted.
He didn't waste the opportunity. He immediately ran towards the rusted back door of the warehouse. With a strong push, the door swung open and the night light hit his face. He kept running into the darkness, onto the path leading to the small forest behind the warehouse.
Meanwhile, Kayla stood in the middle of the warehouse with a cold gaze. "He'll definitely be back. He won't be able to stay quiet," she muttered.
**Kayla**
Kayla still stood in the middle of the warehouse, her eyes sweeping the room that had begun to grow quiet again. Her hands were clenched, her body trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the anger held back for too long.
"He thinks he can just escape like that?" she said coldly.
One of the members, Zaki, approached, panting. "Sorry, Sis. He's really fast, we lost track of him when he went into the forest."
Kayla looked at Zaki sharply, "Let him go. For now."
Zaki frowned, "What do you mean?"
"He will return. Recandra isn't the type to accept everything without answers. He'll definitely come back to find out... and when that happens, we'll be ready."
Kayla then glanced at a thick map in her hand—it contained data, recordings, and one big name Recandra didn't know yet. Someone who had been controlling everything from behind the scenes all this time.
"If he knows who the real mastermind is... everything could go wrong," she whispered to herself. "But he has to know, on my terms."
---
**Recandra**
Meanwhile, Recandra was now hiding in an old hut belonging to an old acquaintance, Pak Leman—a former fighter who now lived alone on the outskirts of the city. The bruise on his face was starting to turn blue, and his shoulder ached terribly.
"Who was chasing you, Ndra?" Pak Leman asked, pouring hot water onto a cloth to compress Recandra's wound.
Recandra just shook his head weakly. "Used to be friends. Now enemies."
He then sat looking at the small bonfire burning in the corner of the room. His mind was still filled with Kayla's scream: *traitor*.
*What is really happening... and why is Kayla like this?* he thought to himself.
He then opened his phone, searching through old files, photos, voice recordings. Until finally, one name appeared—**Damar**, the former leader of the Cakra gang two generations prior. The name hadn't been heard for a long time... but maybe all the problems started there.
---
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