CHAPTER 3 Whispers

It is Saturday afternoon. Joshua is waiting for his dad. Tiffany has met a few neighbors since their arrival; also, she noticed that people around there love their alcohol.

When moving into their new place, two elderly ladies greeted and welcomed them along with three girls who had accompanied them; they were kind enough to come over and offer to help move their things in. This one girl had kept glancing at Joshua; he had known Tiffany would tease him about this.

Next to the house was a tavern fully occupied by drunk people sitting outside drinking and smoking.

Four black BMW SUV X5 cruised down the street as the neighbors started to talk amongst each other, looking at the cars stopping by the house. "Dad?" says Tiffany as the Americans stand up, looking closer and glancing at vehicles.

A chauffeur climbed out and opened the door as six guys stood outside the car holding their guns; this 6.5ft gentleman with short hair and a gold ring on his middle finger with his initials on under that ring is his twenty-seven number tattoo.

He wears sunglasses and a black suit and climbs out of the SUV. "Hey, Joshua and Tiffany," he says, climbing out of the vehicle; "great to see you. Where is your mother?" "Hey, dad," says Tiffany as she hugs her dad.

He then glances over at the group of Americans. Who is surprised to see Lucifer in person? The world's most feared man? "Joshua, are they giving you a hard time?"

Tiffany is about to tell him what happened; Joshua shakes his head at her and says, "no, dad, they were very welcoming." Lucifer could read people when they were lying, especially his own family. Even though Joshua and Tiffany were Gifted, he could still see when they were lying.

"Hey, where is your mom?" He walks to the gate, snapping his fingers, pointing to the outbuilding as his guys carry nine black bags to the outside building. Joshua glances over to his mom as he sees his dad kissing her on the cheek and walking into the lounge.

He walks out of the house, unsure of what was said. He circles his finger as all the guys follow him, walking up to the Americans.

Joshua follows his Dad as he approaches the guy with dreadlocks in his hair; all the guys sitting stand up, ten of them.

His dad takes off his blazer, rolls his sleeves up, walks into the circle, and approaches Johnathan.

"Who is the twenty-eight here" Dreads then steps forward. "I am in charge. What is your problem?"

Lucifer's eyes turn red as he stares at dreads, and in a split second, Lucifer's eyes darken; he pulls his gun and shoots him in the leg. Lucifer now puts his rifle in dread's mouth. In agonizing pain with the bullet in his leg.

"Why was my son here? Who called him over here." The guys now start looking at each other afraid to answer. "Must I ask again?" "Dad, I approached them," says Joshua, "son, do not cover for them." "Not covering, ask Tiffany."

Lucifer points the gun at Johnathan's head. The number stands firm on the inside. "Why did you call my son over here yesterday?"

Johnathan looks over at Joshua; "put that gun away, dad." "Do you think those cameras on my house are displays?" He snaps his fingers as two guys grab one of the Americans and hold his hand out. As the guy pulls his hand, Lucifer takes a blade and cuts his finger off.

"Let this be a lesson for anyone who messes with my business and family!" Joshua has seen this ton of times to let it even bother him. But with Lucifer's company, Joshua also knows his dad wants him to take over someday.

Joshua follows his dad back to the car as he takes off, leaving two guards in front of his gate. Lucifer has businesses worldwide and is well known as the kingpin. When people hear his name, they know not to make enemies.

Evening approaches. Joshua gets in his car and goes to a club. Being new in the area means he needs to make new friends. He enters the club with blue and red lights flickering as he approaches the bar and gets a beer alone in his leather coat. A few women come; he brushes them off.

Dialing up an old friend Mike, Joshua turns to the left and sees this girl that catches his eye. She has a broad, beautiful smile and sparkling eyes and is wearing a white dress, dancing as if there is no tomorrow. Joshua stands up and is about to join her when she glimpses in his direction.

As he walks over to her, another guy brings her a beer. Her eyes are fixed on Joshua as she smiles at him. Her hair is long and loose, and she is about five foot four; she looks at Joshua holding a glass of wine. She is beautiful, he thinks to himself.

He then goes to the floor and dances. The women approach him. As he is dancing with a woman, he is staring at her.

Uncertain if he should approach her, he might never see her again if he does not come here. They lock eyes on each other as she watches him dancing with the girls. He watches her smile at him while her arms are around the guy.

He wants to approach her but feels uncertain "she has a boyfriend," he assumes; he walks back to the bar and pays the bill.

He walks to his car. His mind is stuck on the mystery girl in the club. But he knew she had someone as he for in the car and drove off.

Arriving at the house, he decides it's still early, only eleven. As he gets out of the vehicle, he walks up to the street to the Americans approaching them; he takes a blunt from his pocket and lights it before sitting down. "Hey, gent, may I join you," They hand him a set of cards.

"Welcome," says dreads, who's walking with crutches. "Hey, pass Joshua a beer," says Johnathan, "I saw your ride. It's neat. Next time you go on a cruise, take us with you," he stutters.

Joshua looks up at dreads and nods his head as he smokes the weed. "This is some good stuff," he passes it directly to Johnathan. "So what do you gents do?" Johnathan glances over to dreads saying, "nothing; we hustle."

"We are looking for something to make some cash." they pass the blunt back to Joshua, dragging the blunt; "so what type of work do you want to do" Joshua stares at Johnathan with his cold blue eyes.

"Banking," Johnathan laughs, as they all laugh with him, knowing what he means. "don't we all love banking," says Joshua. He takes one last drag and stands up; "show me your banknotes, and I will assist with an opening that accounts for you and your guys."

"Cheers, gents," Johnathan nods and watches Joshua walk away as he sips his beer. Walking down the street back to his house, he enters the door and leans over, kissing his baby bro on the forehead, "night's little one."

He now looks at the clock and noon; he can not sleep; all he thinks of is tonight's mystery girl at the club. Sitting on his bed, he now takes out a picture of himself and his army friends, a photo taken in Iraq where he was close to experiencing death and the torture they put him through.

He would never forget what happened strapped to that chair and his feet in the water as they used various torture methods. They killed his whole team; he was the only one to live.

Marcus was his best friend, and they always had each other's backs until he was caught off-guard. They all got caught, and Joshua was able to break loose and kill every one of their attacks, but it was too late to rescue Marcus.

He then placed the photo down, staring at the roof, feeling rage, reliving what happened and how he could have prevented it. He was diagnosed with Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He has never told anyone about it, not even his sister.

Since then, his way of coping has been doing cocaine. He could not cope with the everyday world and was never afraid of death. Since then, he wished he had rather died alongside them. Now it is only him and him alone who live with this memory.

Standing up, he went to the fridge and got a beer as he scrolled Marcus' Facebook and Instagram pages. Where his sister Lilah posted missing him. He wants to reach out to Lilah but blames himself for their death. Lilah knows Joshua and made him promise to bring back her brother after the war, ever since he never spoke to her again because the guilt of breaking that promise broke him piece by piece.