7 7. WARNINGS

BRIA

I told Benji yesterday about that strange man and that car. He literally threw a hissy fit saying why I didn't tell him about it right then. As a punishment, he refused to permit me to go for my evening run until this matter gets handled. Because apparently sansei Benji didn't want 'getting my head banged and him running in the whole town looking for my half-dead body as no one can destroy his little badass ninja' as he put it. We argued for hours but in the end, no one can win over their master.

I was busy attending the customers in the café when my phone started ringing loudly when I was taking orders from table no.4. I pulled out my phone from the pocket of my jeans and without looking at the caller ID I picked it up placing it on my ears.

"Hello?"

There was a pause for a minute on the other side. I thought the other person had hung up but then I heard some rustling sound indicating that the call was not cut.

"Hello? Anybody there?"

"Bria Maxwell. How are you doing?"

I scrunched my brows in confusion and reckoned my memory to remember this familiar voice.

"who's this?"

"ah! So, you have a problem with short-term memory loss, I see. You don't remember me?"

"um- I -aa" I stutter not knowing what to say.

"you wound me, butterfly" I heard him say followed by a wicked chuckle.

I tried to remember this voice looking through every corner of my memory lanes. My eyes widened in shock and a cold chill ran down my spine. I recognised this overly sugar-coated voice from yesterday which belonged to that strange man who looked like a MIB member.

"h-how did you get my number?" I hissed smiling in apology when the old lady on the nearby table gave me a look. I rushed out of the café and came outside so that no one could hear the conversation.

"That was not a hard task. Now come back to my earlier question, how are you?" he asked casually as if he was talking to an old friend.

"cut the crap bulldog. Come straight to the point" I growl in anger.

There was a small pause followed by a calm voice "What. Did. You. Just. Called. Me?"

"oh, I apologise if you couldn't hear me the first time, bulldog." Now it was my term to snicker evilly. Take that bitch!

"you ..... I will make sure that you will regret it, woman." He seethed in anger and I swear I got scared there for a minute.

But I am not the one to show my weakness to the enemy.

"Yeah. Whatever. Just spill it out already. I don't have time for your bullshit." Tapped my left foot impatiently, huffing.

He didn't speak for some time and by the sound of his heavy breathing, I knew that he was trying to control his anger.

"what have you decided?" he asked in a calm tone as if he was not threatening this innocent girl a few moments ago.

"what are you talking about?" I tried to play the dumb card.

"my boss wants you to sign your home and the property around it off to him. You got the message that day when you punched and hurt our man." He was still angry and I could feel it. But you can't blame the little girl when that scumbag threatened my kids.

"and I thought your man told you my answer which is.... fuck off," I growled in anger and could feel the anger rising within me.

He took a pause then asked, "have you ever heard the name KING?"

"of course, I have heard the name king in the fairytales, what about that?" I chuckled at my response as a sly smile played on my lips.

"This is not funny Maxwell. You don't know who you are messing with!"

"really? Maybe you are right but you know what, tell your boss that I don't give two shits about who he is and what he wants. Just because his name is King it doesn't mean he can have whatever he wants. This is not a monarchy, wake up. And also tell him that if he or any of his goons threaten me or my family in any shape or form, I will call the police and will make your life a hell." With that, I cut the call.

I ran my hands on my face and took deep breaths repeatedly to calm down. I turned to get back into the café when my eyes caught the same black car with tinted windows and a golden K on the front. These bastards!

I thrust a middle finger in its direction and opened the door to get in the café. Without looking back I closed the door behind me loudly.

We spend the rest of our day working in the café. We closed it in the night and sighed in relief. It was a rough day and all I wanted was just to spend a romantic night with my bed. Here I am coming, my love!

After finishing the dinner, I was ready to drop at any moment when the twins, Lily and Lillian, decided that it was a pleasant night and we all should go for a walk. I protested initially but when it was seven versus one... you can never win. Benji the traitor! I couldn't use the 'tomorrow's school and you have to get up early' card as it was a weekend night. I huffed and followed them out of the house dejectedly. We spend our time walking around the neighbourhood while chatting endlessly.

I sat on the nearby bench as kids were busy talking and playing around. Benji was playing with Jack who was talking animatedly with him. Benji was listening to him with amused eyes. A smile made its way on my lips when I saw my family happy. Taking a walk was indeed a good idea as it was a really pleasant night. The wind was a little cold so, I wrapped my arms around me rubbing them up and down to create some warmth. The sky was filled with numerous stars and the gentle light of the moon cast on the nearby trees and surrounding.

I always considered us lucky that we get to live in such a beautiful and peaceful place. People here were very good and kind. I never got the time and chance to befriend the neighbours all these years. But those who came to café were kind enough that I know my family lived between good people.

After spending some time when kids got sleepy, we decided to head back home. And I was more than happy to comply as I literally skipped my way back. I pulled out the key to open the door and inserted it in the keyhole. My brows scrunched in confusion when the door opened without unlocking it. I looked back at Benji in confusion as he neared me.

"did you forget to lock the doors?" I whispered to him.

"no. I am sure I locked it before we went."

"What happened?" Liam asked while walking towards us. Benji turned and signalled him to stop there and be quiet.

"do you think that someone broke into our house?" I asked him worriedly.

"wait here. I will go and look. And don't come in until I say so. Be alert." Before I could protest Benji pushed the door open ajar and went inside the house.

I peeked inside to the lights were off except a small light we always leave on whenever we go out in the night. It was the only source of light other than the moon's dim light entering the house. I strained my ears to listen to any movement. Juan came to stand beside me.

"I will go check around the house to see anything suspicious," he said in low voice being careful that others won't listen.

"no. you stay right there with others. I don't want you getting in any trouble." I shook my head in denial with a warning look.

"Ava and Liam are there to take care of others. I want to help. How I am going to protect my family if I don't get a chance to show that I am a grown-up man now?" he crossed his arms trying to look like one. If the situation was not this serious, I would have laughed my ass off looking at his serious face. I thought for a minute then nodded my head to permit him.

"fine. But don't do anything reckless and be alert. If you see something wrong, come straight to me. I don't want to spend my night bandaging your wounds or worst take you to the hospital and get a mini heart attack seeing the hefty amount in the hospital bill." I grumbled. He rolled his eyes dramatically before jumping from the patio before I change my mind and disappeared into the dark.

I turned my attention back to Benji. Every passing second was filling me with worry as Benji was yet to come out. I was contemplating going inside by ignoring his command. But I knew better than that. I was already in trouble for letting Juan go alone. After five minutes of painful waiting, I heard footsteps approaching the front door. My senses were alert instantly as I got ready to kick some ass if it was not Benji. But I sighed in relief when Benji's face appeared in the dim light.

"there's no one. Come inside"

I stepped through the door when Benji's eagle eyes noticed the absence of Juan.

He narrowed his eyes. "where's Juan?" his loud voice echoed in the quiet house.

I gave him a sheepish smile, reckoning my brain to come up with an acceptable excuse. He narrowed his eyes further when I took a long to answer.

"I am here. Sorry. I was tying my shoelaces." Juan came forward from the group of kids, trying to look convincing.

I turned in a swift motion to give him an incredulous look. Shoelaces? Really Juan? He just shrugged innocently and I heard Benji taking a deep breath.

"I will deal with this later. Now come in."

We entered the house, me not before swatting Juan on the back of his head. Idiot! Ava ran to switch on the lights as other kids plopped down on the big sofa and the chairs. They were scared. This shit was getting worst day by day.

The thick air of tension was cut by the ringing of my phone. I jumped in fright at the sudden sound, fumbling to pull it out of my pant pocket. I saw the caller ID to see it displaying a private number. My hands were shaking in fear as I placed the phone to my ear.

"h-hello?" I tried my best to sound strong but failed pathetically. I cringed at how my voice quivered with fear.

A deep voice hummed on the other side "I can feel how scared you and your family is. And I am liking this feeling."

I gulped nervously and put my phone on the speaker on command from Benji. I expected to hear barking bulldog but this was a different person with a deep, calm and commanding voice.

"so, you are the mighty King?" words left my mouth before I could stop and ponder over the right choice of words. But I was curious to know who this King Kong was.

A deep chuckle resounded throughout the living room which was filled with amusement.

"eager to meet King, are we?"

My temper was rising with every ticking second, my hand curled up in a tight fist. I wanted to scream a string of profanities at him but I bite my lower lip to control it as I saw teary eyes of kids staring at me worriedly.

"what do you want?"

"you know what we- King wants. He wants you to sign your property in his name."

"why?" I know it was stupid that I never bothered to know the reason why these pignuts were harassing me and my family.

He paused for a minute as if contemplating to tell me the truth or not. "you don't know?" He sounded surprised.

"umm .. yeah. I never asked and you idiots never told." I confessed.

"your property is located in the perfect spot. It is big enough and is situated away from the city crowd in a peaceful and serene environment. King is planning to build a resort there. We were planning to take it without your consent but we don't want to deal with any legal shit. So here we are asking you nicely to sign the papers. Is this enough explanation?" He said in professional tone.

My mouth hung in disbelief at his choice of words.

"asking me nicely? My foot! Threatening my family is a definition of asking nicely in your dictionary? Unbelievable!" I fumed.

He ignored my outburst "so, what have you decided? When can I send those papers?" he asked in a bored tone as if talking to me was the last thing on his mind on a weekend night.

"why take efforts to send them to me. Please do me a favour and show them your ugly ass" I was seething in anger not caring about my improper language in front of kids. And for the first time, Benji didn't give me his signature warning look.

A few seconds passed in silence followed by the man's hard angry voice "Now listen here, bitch! If we can break into your house and scare the living daylights out of you and your lovely family then you can imagine what we can do more. We are not some nuisance gang that you can threat with police. Trust me when I say you would not like to know more about us. And fix this in your little thick skull that King doesn't take a no... ever."

I gulped down the saliva as my throat went dry. "I don't care you leech. If you don't stop this non-sense the I will make sure that your King Kong would take his precious family jewel in his big filthy mouth." that made Benji snapped his head towards me with a speed of light that I thought he have broken his neck.

I saw Juan, Liam and Lily trying to stifle their laughs with their hands placed on the mouth. Ava blushed crimson red as her hands were placed on Jack's ears. Lillian on the other side gave me thumbs up mouthing 'go, girl'.

I tried to stifle my own laugh, biting my lower lip when I heard ragged breathing of that evil on the other side of the phone.

"trust me when I say you will be not using that smart pretty mouth of yours when you will deal with King. He is the worst nightmare of every living person on this planet. Don't say that I didn't warn you." He was seething in anger. I guess I had hurt his manly pride.

Before I could say anything, he hung up on me. I placed my phone on the coffee table and slouched down in one of the chairs, rubbing my temples which were pounding painfully. I peeked at Benji but he was lost deep in his thoughts. When he caught me staring at him, he masked his face with a blank look and took the kids to their rooms leaving me alone in the living room.

This night couldn't get any worst!