11 Chapter 11: Consequences

A few minutes had elapsed since Arias and Dmitri drove away from the Ivanov estate in a posh Rolls Royce while holding Gregor captive.

"You can stop over there Dmitri."

Dmitri, who had been driving, was given instructions by Arias, who was sitting in the backseat with Gregor.

Dmitri complied with the request and pulled over close to a seemingly vacant alleyway, which wasn't unusual for some of the safer districts at that hour.

"Take off your clothes and get out of the car." Arias spoke these words to Gregor, who had been sitting quietly the entire journey, without turning his head.

He frowned deeply, not wanting the humiliation to go on any longer. But having no other choice, he followed orders and swiftly stripped before getting out of the vehicle.

"You two are making a mistake." He spoke in a low voice and with bloodshot eyes.

He had endured far too much humiliation to not at least tell them about their behavior.

Dmitri appeared worried about this, but Arias only grinned.

"Your notion of a mistake is making five million in a single day?"

"if that's the case I look forward to many more such instances." A nonchalant tone of mockery was used by Arias before rolling up the window.

Dmitri pressed the gas and sped off without needing to say anything.

"Fuck!!"

"Fuck!!"

Gregor let out his anger once the vehicle had left, screaming at the top of his lungs and not caring who could hear him.

Even as they drove away, the echoes of his cries could be heard inside the car, but Arias just smirked.

"What comes next?"

"East end, close to the Bowery, there's someone I need to see there." With a chilly glare in his eyes, Arias said.

Dmitri wanted to ask more, but he decided to focus on another question that involved him.

"Hey, as a hitman… how many people did you kill?" Dmitri's eyes had a cautious expression in them as he spoke.

Even while Arias was never particularly happy or enthusiastic, the icy demeanor and harsh mindset he had so far displayed were quite alien to Dmitri. He felt as though he was staring at an unpredictable stranger rather than his childhood best friend.

"I wish to forget the events leading up to our near-death experience. As far as I'm concerned, this is a new life that I'm living."

"Right… I get it." Dmitri sighed and concentrated only on his driving.

No matter how furious he felt toward his father and that woman, he couldn't force himself to cause them serious physical harm in that moment.

Because of this, he was practically motionless for most of the altercation.

He was aware that he would have failed if Arias had asked him to fire the gun. Maybe he could do the same if he knew how many people Arias had killed to become so heartless.

Up until the pair arrived a street away from the Bowery, the rest of the drive was silent.

"Here's alright. We can go the rest of the way on foot, it'll be a while longer before your father makes it home and starts looking for his car but let's hurry still in case of anything."

Arias got out of the car and surveyed the eerily quiet area.

Due to the threats, very few people could be seen moving as midnight drew closer.

Also getting out of the car swiftly, Dmitri locked it before waiting for Arias to decide which direction to go.

Unexpectedly, he turned and began to move in the Bowery's other direction. Dmitri had assumed that because they had come here, they may be dealing with criminals of some type, but that was not the case.

Dmitri considered asking, but he restrained himself. As he realized this wasn't the same guy he knew back then, he started to feel more and more afraid the longer he stayed with Arias.

Before stopping at the rear of a row of apartment complexes, they traveled through a maze of alleyways.

"There, the window to the right on the third floor." After pausing to consider the situation, Arias moved toward the building's metal backstairs.

The two reached there without difficulty and in less than a minute.

After failing to open the window because it was locked, Arias resorted to Dmitri for assistance.

"Melt the latch, it should be about here. Just do so carefully so we don't cause a commotion."

Dmitri didn't understand what was happening. Where they robbing a regular person?

Considering how much money they had received from his father, it made no sense, but he kept quiet about his concerns and followed Arias's advice, even though he was far from perfect because he had never used the talent that came from his meta-gene.

Ssh~

The now-melted metallic latch was emitting smoke, and they had little trouble getting the window to open.

Both then entered the building, which brought them to a small, poorly lighted chamber.

The room's crib was in the middle, and the walls were adorned with ornaments and cartoon decorations for children.

"Is this the right place?" Arias didn't respond to Dmitri's low-pitched question; instead, he simply walked over to the crib and carefully lifted a child out.

"It is, follow me and take out your gun." Before heading for the door, Arias gently rocked the infant in one arm and touched its sleeping cheek.

Dmitri continued to be perplexed but soon pulled out his gun and followed, all the while breaking out in a cold sweat.

The whole thing was extremely unsettling.

They emerged from the room and entered a narrow hallway. They could see a corridor leading to a living room on one side, and a door with the word "restroom" on it on the other.

However, Arias was focused on the last door at the end of the hallway, and he started to go towards it without saying anything.

When he arrived at the door, he concentrated his ears and heard two faint heartbeats on the other side, indicating that his targets were sleeping.

He opened the door and motioned for Dmitri to enter as there was no longer a reason to wait.

Dmitri did so cautiously and went inside to discover a medium-sized bedroom with two people happily asleep on a double bed.

"Restrain the woman on my signal." While Dmitri occupied one side of the bed, Arias gave a low-pitched instruction.

The signal was given by Arias once they were both near to their respective targets.

"Now."

They both quickly reached out to the person on the bed.

A normal person couldn't handle Dmitri's new-found power, so he just grabbed the woman and pinned her to the bed by slamming his hands down on her back.

"Ah!" The woman screamed and opened her eyes to a perplexing scene.

While the woman was being forced down, Arias picked up the man by the scruff of his neck and threw him off the bed, causing him to crash against the dresser and television opposite to the bed.