1 1. Get the girl

"Please, sir, don't do this! I'll pay! You don't have to do this. Please!!" Charlotte pleaded, her tears falling freely like a waterfall. She could feel the cold metal of the gun pointed at her temple. She was about to be... killed?

Aurora, her twenty-year-old daughter, was kneeling behind her, coiled up like she was hiding behind a huge rock. Charlotte was on her knees, begging this monster personified in the man seated right in front of her, one leg crossed over the other, looking ever so relaxed, like he was watching some overly dramatic movie.

Derek just stared at her. At them. Without saying a word. And that was highly expected, for since he came into the house, he had not uttered a single word.

He was known to be a man of few words. He would only look over to one of his hefty bodyguards and they would relay whatever information there was, as if the words were written somewhere on his face.

Derek was actually boiling with rage. But he didn't want to show it. He kept a straight face like nothing was actually happening, making it difficult to read his mind. He knew he was venting his anger on the wrong people, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't let them live. Not when they were directly connected to someone he hated so much. Not when they were the family of someone who betrayed him.

Charlotte's husband was part of his gang. He was actually very close to Derek, who was the boss, and so he knew a lot of things that most of the other gang members didn't know. And yet he had to turn out being a spy. A spy from a rival gang.

All this while, he had been very close and acted loyal to him. He had managed to win his trust and at the end shattered it into broken pieces beyond repair.

For almost two years Derek had been fooled to believe that he had a trusted companion. This man was able to gather as much information as possible, leaving no stone unturned. And remembering all their interactions, this man knew way too much. He had managed to get his hands on all their weaknesses and strongholds.

And now the rival gang was coming at them head-on, severely attacking them, left right and centre.

Derek had his men trail him and had him killed, but he was still not satisfied. That man had managed to steal a huge sum of money from him. And to think that his wife and daughter were still alive, enjoying the fruits of his labour. It made his blood boil.

No! He would make them pay! He would kill them all if they were not able to pay 15 million dollars right now.

It sounded ridiculous, but that was the only way he could think of to cool his boiling blood. He just needed a reason to kill them all. And he knew they wouldn't be able to pay such a huge amount within that short period. So he would just use that as a reason to kill them.

That man had to backstab him? No! He couldn't possibly forgive that!

Not when he was still being attacked. Not when he was on the verge of losing his job. Not when he was being questioned by his superiors and other higher officials.

He would wipe them all off the surface of the earth to meet that bastard. Maybe only by then will his anger be sated.

Aurora peeked nervously from behind her mother to look at the man, who was dangerously handsome, her blue-green eyes bloodshot and watery from all the cries.

He looked like a king, so intimidating and powerful, seated in all his glory on that couch and looking at them with such blank expression, though his eyes were bloodshot, probably from anger. And the dark aura he exuded was enough to shatter every little courage one had to even stand before this man. She had never seen anyone so handsome yet so scary and dangerous her entire life.

She traced her eyes to his hand that was holding a gun, his fingers tapping the side of the gun gently, like he was actually timing something. Her eyes stayed on his hand and the gun for the longest time.

She had only seen guns and armed men in movies and in the news. Never in her wildest expectations did she expect to see one in real life, and that too in a situation like this. And not only one, almost all the men had guns in their hands. A few were empty-handed, but she was sure they had hidden somewhere in their trousers.

She gulped nervously as she kept her eyes on the gun. Her eyes moved to his foot that was on the floor. He was tapping it lightly, without a sound.

Aurora found herself counting his foot taps. She was so nervous that she was trying to see if she could read even just a single meaning to whatever this man was doing. She was afraid he was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode any minute soon.

He hadn't spoken ever since he got there and it was making her very nervous.

She never knew her father was working with these dangerous men. As a matter of fact, she never knew exactly what kind of work her father did. All she was told was that he worked as a security in one company out of town.

He would go out at night and come around during the day. So what did he do? Was he...was he an...

No, no, no. Her father couldn't possibly be an armed robber, right? And these men? They were armed. Could they be robbers? Oh God!

Aurora hardly saw her father at home, not to talk of spent time with him. It was always she and her mother. Her father would just come home once in a while, with huge sums of money and lots of gifts.

Charlotte mostly questioned him, and in such instances an argument usually followed. Charlotte got tired and finally decided not to question him again after some time and just accepted the money he brought. That was how she was able to send Aurora to school. And now, she just got into one of the best universities, studying Computer Science.

They thought they had their life figured out until one day they woke up to the news of her father's death. He was told to have died in a car accident with some other people.

And just when they were thinking of how to survive after this life-changing experience, this monster and his bulky and dangerous-looking men, all dressed in black, badged into their humble abode, demanding 15 million dollars that her dad owed him!

Sweet lord! Aurora could swear she had not seen that amount of money in her entire life.

How were they supposed to get that huge amount of money? From where? And he was demanding for it right this instant!

This man was the most wicked person she had ever seen.

He had no heart.

He was ruthless.

A monster.

The devil himself.

Aurora kept cursing this man in her mind. She was using all those names and was even looking for more. And to think that her dad actually had such an amount of money on him! Then what did he use it for? Or maybe he kept it somewhere?

Oh god! What were they going to do?

Charlotte's pleading cries resounded in her ears, bringing her back to the situation at hand.

"Please don't kill me. Don't kill my daughter. Please don't harm her. I promise to do everything possible, whatever it takes, to pay the money back by the end of the month. Please don't harm my daughter."

Aurora bit her lower lip as she cried. She bit it hard this time. She needed to wake up from this nightmare. She couldn't believe this was happening for real. But it wasn't a dream.

She felt pain surging through her lip as she tasted metallic warm liquid in her mouth. She knew it was blood due to how hard she was biting on her lower lip.

Wait, this wasn't a dream? It was actually happening? She was hoping all this would be a dream. A nightmare she was soon going to wake up from and probably run to her mother and tell her.

She thought she was still sleeping, but this felt so real. Her mother was crying incessantly and she felt broken. Why would this happen to them at this crucial point in their lives?

She was in deep thoughts when she heard shuffling sounds and her head quickly snapped to the direction of the man. He was on his feet now, his gaze not leaving them.

Charlotte and Aurora both scampered back in fear. He stared at them for some few seconds and wordlessly turned and walked towards the door.

Aurora's eyes widened a bit. Wait, was it...was it over? Had he agreed to her mother's pleas? Was he going to leave them alone now?

She was about to breathe when she heard a deep, gruff voice.

"Get the girl."

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