Chapter 6

The next day...

Fiona's day has been smooth so far. No one was giving her a hard time, and her hair is in perfect shape. But she doesn't trust the students at the school. So she went to the library to hide, and she found Nathan there as well; she found him with dark eyebags and looking extremely tired.

She was originally planning on avoiding Nathan, but when she saw his disheveled look, she couldn't help but worry. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"Collin" was all Nathan could say in response.

In the middle of the night, while he was sleeping peacefully, Collin somehow managed to carry him to the bathroom without waking him up, tied him to a chair, punctured a tiny hole in a bucket, and allowed it to drip slowly on his face. Whenever he tried to sleep, the water kept dripping on his face, keeping him awake. This went on for almost two hours.

It wasn't until Nathan had solemnly sworn to protect Fiona from bullies at all costs, five hundred and fifty times, that he was finally released and allowed to sleep for the rest of the night before it was time for him to get up for school. But no matter how much he tried

Collin's mocking voice is still haunting him like a ghost.

"Nathan!" Fiona called him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Are you okay? What did Collin do to you?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing much really; he didn't let me sleep much though, but I have a feeling that he could have done much worse," he said.

"Hey guys," Collin said appearing behind Nathan and making him shout, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest. "Big sis, I heard what happened to you yesterday; are you okay?" he asked in sincerity.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Fiona replied with a small smile.

"That's good to hear. Alright then, it seems like you two were about to talk. I'll leave you to it then, bye," Collin said, then he walked away, looking at Nathan with the corners of his eyes. "Make sure you can keep your promise," he said with a threatening voice.

Nathan gulped. "Yes, sir," he replied.

After Collin left, Fiona looked back at Nathan. "I'm guessing whatever Collin did to you was bad."

Nathan groaned out loud, "Imagine getting tied to a chair with a bucket of water slowly dripping above your head."

Fiona could almost imagine. That was lesson ten in the arts of torture. She saw how it worked and how this method of torture can easily deteriorate someone's mind in hours.

"God, I can still feel the water dripping." Nathan groaned.

~~~~

In the shadows, Nathan assisted Fiona against her bullies. Many minions ended up in the hospital with severe injuries when they were caught by either Nathan, Collin, or Jake.

The rest of the minions that were able to get away hid in fear and refused to go to school, fearing they were next.

A week later, word of the scandals involving the Blight, Jamie, and Smith families got out. The family was going out of business, and different members of these families were arrested every day for different crimes.

Collin felt like a business tyrant as he watched these businesses crumble like cookies.

Whenever Collin remembers how he took down these companies, he can't help but grin like a madman.

"Dude, enough with the grins; you're beginning to get annoying," Jake said, hitting the back of Collin's head and making him wince.

"Ow, Jake, that hurts," Collin said with teary eyes.

Fiona slaps Jake's arm. "Jake, that wasn't a nice thing to do," she scolded.

Collin grins again, but this time at the way Fiona was scolding Jake despite being right about Collin's grinning being annoying. It was like a mother scolding the oldest child for hitting their annoying younger sibling.

"Well, Collin deserves it; his grinning was getting annoying," Nathan said, and Fiona turned to glare harshly at Nathan.

"You are right, and you will always be," he said almost immediately.

Wow, Jake and Nathan are both getting scolded by Fiona; today must be Collin's lucky day.

Jake and Fiona were invited by Nathan to their apartment for a meeting. Nathan had also invited his friend. He asked for a day off from his part-time job.

Right now, they are waiting for Nathan's friend.

"How long do we have to wait for your friend to get here?" Collin whined.

"Collin's right; we've been here for almost thirty minutes, after all," Fiona replied.

Collin stood up and went to the kitchen to get some snacks for himself. He couldn't hold himself together. He was hungry and was craving some salty chips dipped in plain vanilla ice cream.

While Collin was in the kitchen getting his snacks. Then the doorbell rang. "Oh, he's here," Nathan said.

Nathan opened the door, and a 5'11ft seventeen-year-old boy stepped in. He has blonde hair and fiery red eyes. "Nathan!" he shouted, hugging his best friend.

"David, it's good to see you," Nathan said, returning David's hug.

"Stop shouting; you're going to make the neighbors complain," Collin said, coming out of the kitchen with his chips sticking out and his ice cream.

"Gross, what are you eating?" Jake exclaimed when he saw what Collin was eating.

"Something delicious," Collin simply replied.

When he looks at the door to see Nathan's best friend, he can't help but groan in frustration as David looks at Collin in disbelief. "Levi?"

"Hello, David nice to see you're doing well," Collin said, sitting on the couch and digging his chips into the ice cream.

"Levi!" David said, running to hug Collin.

"Levi?" Nathan, Jake, and Fiona said at the same time. Collin smiled a bit and hugged David back. "It's been months," David said.

"Wish I could say the same to you," Collin said awkwardly patting David's shoulder.

He notices the way the others were looking at him and David, he blushed in embarrassment. Why does this idiot have to hug him in front of them?

Now he is going to have to explain

"David, do me a favor and get me some more ice cream and chocolate from the store across the street. You know the flavors I like," Collin said. David didn't want to go, but looking at Collin's bright red tips, he smiled happily and walks out of the apartment.

Immediately after David left the apartment, Collin looks at his other friends and sighed. "I guess you guys have a lot of questions to ask," he said, looking at his ice cream bowl and digging his chips into it.

"A lot," Nathan replied.

"But I don't want to," Collin thought, and he looked at Fiona, silently begging her to help him out of the situation. Unfortunately for him, Jake blocked Fiona from his view.

Collin sighs; he has no choice. "Fine," he says, "but I'll only be answering one question from each of you."

Nathan wasted no time in asking, "How do you know David?"

"I met David about a year and a half ago when I kicked his paranoid ass. Ever since that day, the idiot had insisted on becoming my rival. It was annoying to death taking care of him, but in the end, we became good friends" Collin replied, smiling like was remembering the good old days.

Fiona decided to ask the next question. "Why did he call you Levi?" she asked. Although she feels like this question would upset Collin, she couldn't help but ask.

"That's why my name was Levi Solace," he says, and it was clear that he wasn't willing to say anything about it.

"The beloved late grandson of Victor Solace?" Nathan asked in surprise.

"Beloved, I don't think so," Collin whispered, but no one heard him.

"Levi Solace?" Fiona too said in surprise. "You are Levi Solace?"

"Who is Levi Solace?" Jake said, don't blame him, he never liked watching shows about rich people. Fiona showed him a photo on her phone.

How is this you?" Jake asked, showing Collin the image on the phone.

A cold-looking boy who looks just like Collin but with black hair. "Wow, I almost forgot how I looked when I was a Solace," he said.

"You are the grandson of General Solace?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"Was," Collin corrected him. "After all, the old man himself disowned me at the edge of death,"

Nathan didn't believe this; after all, General Solace is one of the kindest people in the Empire. Collin notices Nathan's internal conflict and smirks. "I still haven't answered Fiona's question," he said, bringing out his phone and scrolling through it. "Watch this video. It would answer your question," he said, handing it to Fiona.

A gruesome image appeared when she clicked the video. Her face paled as well as that of the boys beside her. Collin was bleeding and looked broken. He was sitting on a chair he was tied up as well and blindfolded.

There were people beside him, and they were making a phone call. "Your grandson is with us, you can send ten million to the location I give you, or for every hour you waste, your grandson would have new collections to his old one," the kidnapper had said.

The voice on the other end of the phone was harsh, indifferent, and cruel. "Do as you like, he was never my grandson in the first place."

Collin laughed in the video. "It seems I was right about the old man," he said.

"We have no use for the boy," Another person said, "what should we do?"

"Dispose of him," the man with the phone said.

Collin didn't watch the video. He's busy reminiscing on his past. During his life as Levi Solace.

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