Chapter 2 The devil they feared
Ch 2
All I could see was darkness accompanied by a high-pitched ringing echoing inside my ears. Was I finally…dead?
“…Boss? I think she’s still breathing.” A man’s voice slipped into my consciousness sounding distant. Was I in hell or heaven? And why were the voices still gruff instead of angelic?
“I would say she’s barely breathing instead.”
Another voice answered but he sounded more clearer than the last.
The smell of rain drifted past my nose further replaced by leather, expensive cologne amd lastly gasoline.
The last made me struggle to breathe in air. I suddenly didn’t want to die anymore. I wanted to escape the clutches of my step father and live my own life experiencing the soft things i had heard other girls spoke about.
I tried opening my eyes but everything seemed blurry amd the world spin violently. Pain shot through every single bone in my body as a harsh groan I didn’t realize was mine escaped my lips.
“…please…”
but no one seemed to have heard me or answered. Instead I heard the sound of shoes against wet gravel. It sounded slow and even in my unconscious mind each step the person took seemed to be louder than the thunder and that just made me wish for any sort of miracle at this point.
Before I could make sense of anything several pickup trucks screeched to a stop behind where we were. Suddenly the doors opened then slammed shut and heavy boots hit the gravel.
Oh my God!Oh my God! They found me!
I should have known they would. They wouldn’t stop at anything until they found me. Dead or alive they simply didn’t care.
My heart stopped beating for a while as I tried remaining still on the floor. Maybe if I pretended I was as dead as it could be then they would leave me alone.
One of the debt collectors suddenly laughed “Ahh there she is! Our little damsel in distress.”
Another one pointed at me before he also said “that’s our girl. Our business with her isn’t finished!”
Left with no choice I tried standing to crawl away but my body just simply refused to cooperate. Tears filled my eyes as my heart broke the more nit wanting to accept defeat.
No!no! Not again.
Hopelessly I had expected to be dragged harshly across the floor into the trucks but I was met with silence instead. Everyone suddenly stopped talking and even the debt collectors kept quiet.
Gathering courage to look up at the scene one of them cleared their throat sensing the others were not meant to be trifled with. That is the strangers.
“Sir we don’t want trouble. We are simply here to collect whats ours.”
No one responded as everyone around kept quiet and just watched. Then the stranger’s deep and calm voice echoed in the darkness “so she’s property now?”
His words weren’t loud yet every soul seemed to stop breathing that moment. The debt collectors kept quiet before one forced out a laugh as he said , “her father sold her to us legally. So yes she’s a property of ours now.”
The stranger simply smirked as he said just one word “interesting.”
Thinking the stranger was on his side he began saying “so if you will excuse us-“
he didn’t get to finish his statement as he was already reaching towards me. To grab my wrist.
Then–BOOM!
A single gunshot sound echoed through out the highway. Even birds flew from the nearby trees as the collector screamed into the vast darkness surrounding us all. Gasping out in fear my head jerked up to see that the collector’s hand had exploded in blood and he had collapsed onto the wet road. The grime scene of blood splattered everywhere made me flinched violently and my body broke out in tremors.
Looking around no one else made a sound or move to flinch and that just added to the gruesome sight before me.
A pair of black Italian leather shoes stopped in front of me amd ever so slowly my gaze travelled upward. From the black trousers of the tailored suit accompanied by a silver watch and lastly a heavy tattooed fingers that held promises of doing wicked things to people behind closed doors. Me included.
He had a face so breathtakingly handsome it almost didn’t seem real. I tried reaching out a hand to caress his falling tresses on his forehead as I could just tell his hair was silky to touch. But I didn’t dare.
Leaving a lingering gaze on his face his expression however held no warmth whatsoever. There was no form of pity whatsoever on his face amd instead he looked at me the same way someone might inspect a damaged package before deciding whether it was worth keeping.
His dark eyes met mine amd for the first time he spoke directly to me without any emotions behind his voice.
“Can you stand?” Nodding gently i tried standing up but my legs instantly buckled beneath me and before I hit the ground strong veined arms caught me gently. For one foolish second I thought I had been saved but then he looked at the blood staining his white shirt from where I had grabbed onto him for support.
A flicker of annoyance crossed his face before he spat out “how troublesome.”
One of his men stepped closer. “Boss should we dispose of the debt collectors?”
I immediately flinched in his arms as my body jerked back involuntarily. What do they mean by dispose? Already having a hint but not wanting to believe it my body instantly went rigid and my blood turned cold.
The stranger didn’t look back at them as he replied “No.” instantly relief washed over me for a moment until he calmly added,
“teach them why they should never interrupt my evening.”
The other men behind him immediately smiled like they had just been giving permission to go ahead and hunt for their favorite prey.
The debt collectors faces turned pale as one of them who was so scared dropped to his knees and began pleading.
“Please. We didn’t know she belonged to—”
The stranger’s eyes narrowed as they instantly clamped their mouth shut. He then spoke quietly into the night.
“She doesn’t. At least not yet.”
Shivers went through my body at the thought behind his words but not long My visions started becoming blurry once again as everything around me began fading.
I tried hard to hold on tight to consciousness but a dark vortex seemed to be luring me in the more.
But just before darkness swallowed me I felt myself being lifted into someone’s protective arms. And the last thing I heard was another unfamiliar voice speaking in a hushed tone.
“Boss I’ve reviewed her medical file from the base where they were able to retrieve it. She might actually be suitable.”
The stranger’s expression remained unreadable even in my mind before he spoke again.
“For what?”
The man leaned closer and whispered something into his ear. I couldn’t hear the words clearly but I saw the stranger slowly turn his head to look at me again. He really looked at me this time like I was the missing piece in his puzzle.
He looked at me just the way I wanted to be looked at and adored for once in my whole lifetime. Only his gaze lingered far too long than one would have been comfortable with.
Then he said six words that chilled me even in my fading consciousness.
“Take her back to the manor.”
And the long awaited darkness claimed me.
