Chapter 10: Kingpin

"When you use a friend, you gain an enemy."- The Quote/saying/sentence of the chapter

"Forgetting is something time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧"

― Simon Wiesenthal

~~~~~~~~~~

June 24, 2005

The next day while I was training in Uncle Charles' gym alone I started doing the thunder breathing technique to practice the first form *inhale*... when suddenly I can hear my heart beating louder...

*Ba-bump*...*Ba-bump*...

...my blood courses through my body faster and faster...

*Ba-bump**Ba-bump**Ba-bump*

...my heart beats accelerate *exhale*

Then I simultaneously took a step forward -with my body stance lowered, the dull katana on my left side while holding it in the hilt with my right hand- and slashed...

*SWIISSHHH*

*Ba-bump*... *Ba-bump*...

I can hear my heart slowing down then I looked at myself and breathed... *cough*

Well, it is still hard but I can really feel myself getting stronger. I looked at the distance I've covered and saw that it is farther than last time, like ten steps more or something.

Nice...

Who would've thought that the King's engine will be a great complement to the breathing technique... hahaha I certainly didn't.

Okay, stop daydreaming, let's do this again and again until my lungs and heart are ready to burst. As Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

~~~~~~~~~~

Byrone Foundre POV

I am still lying in a hospital bed with no clue who did this and why. Charles said he is looking into it with some help from his friends but still nothing, the police aren't any help either.

Pierre has also been missing since he took his family on a vacation, he is not answering our calls and the worst thing is we could only wait and hope that he is safe. That moron didn't tell us or anyone where he and his family went. *sighh*

Then my son maturing, and I still couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not because I'm afraid that the incident will have a negative effect on him. Especially without Elise... she's been the constant support of Will since his birth. I remember when he was 2 years old, he's been refusing to come out of the house saying that he'll die (I couldn't believe where he heard that or if he even know what that means) but Elise managed to make him take a step forward outside the door.

I looked at Elise in a bed right next to me, she just looked peacefully asleep and completely normal, like she'll wake any time now... If not for the oxygen mask on her face, the various wires, and tubes connected to her it will be just like every day, waking up at home.

Then I looked to my other side and sees Thana sitting there and reading some documents like nothing was wrong. I've asked her to do her job in the office but she refused and said,

"I am your personal assistant and as such, it is my job to stay by your side."

She's too stubborn...

At least I managed to compromise with her to go home when her working hours are done but she still stays longer than that and calls it 'overtime'.

She then noticed me looking at her so she asked me,

"Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

"It's nothing, I am just going to remind you that it is already past noon, aren't you going to eat yet?"

"...You don't need to worry sir, I'll eat once I'm done."

As I was about to respond to her the door suddenly opened and a person wearing a hoodie walked in. I immediately sat up and Thana stood directly in front of me and then said,

"Who are you? How did you get in here, this is a private room if you don't leave now I'll call the police"

While she was talking I immediately looked for the button to call a nurse or anyone but then the person removed the hood covering their face to reveal a person with brown hair smiling with his eyes and has a kind-looking face.

It's Pierre...

But I didn't relax because I know something is not right. Why would he show up now even though we couldn't contact him for days? So I decided to watch while keeping a finger on the button. When 'Pierre' didn't answer, Thana asked again,

"Who are you...? How did you get in? I've locked the door so we should have heard a knock first before opening the door for you..."

"Come on, I'm here to visit my best friend, and what locked door?"

"Who Are You?"

Oh, that is definitely Pierre... just casually going inside someone else's room without asking whether locked or not. Let's mess with him a little... I decided to press the button but before I can do that 'Pierre' shouted,

"Wait, wait it's really me! Uhmm... how do I even prove that I am me? And I picked the lock of the door because I need to go inside the room, locks are just minor inconvenience to me anyway."

"Right... if you are really Pierre who is your first kiss?" I said.

"... Are you serious?" He asked in a defeated tone and I just nod.

"Arghh... fine... *sighh* It's... Falle..."

[ A/N: Falle means Trap in German ]

After he said that I laughed and relaxed properly in bed because I know that me, Charles, and Pierre are the only ones that know about that.

"Fuck you... and I've told you a million times that in my defense he looked cute and I was a very horny teenager."

"Yeah... yeah whatever you say. And good for you because you still know how to pick locks hahaha."

"Well, it's my roots after all..."

Thana finally relaxed but is still looking intently at Pierre. We then stayed silent for a while because we all know what we are about to discuss is a heavy topic. He didn't even call and he had to sneak in here so it must be related to what happened.

"You got yourself shot huh?"

"Isn't that obvious? Where were you anyway? We've been looking for you and when you didn't answer our calls we thought something happened to you and your family."

"They're safe... when I noticed that someone is observing me and my family I immediately put them out of harm's way."

"So... why didn't you warn us?" I said feeling a bit angry but keeping my tone calm.

"I-I didn't think they would go after you instead. I just knew that my family may be in danger so I prioritized them first and tried to find out on wh-"

"You didn't think?! or are we just bait to you? is that it!?"

"What?! No! I thought they are after ME, not US!"

"Really... is that what you keep telling yourself to sleep at night?" I said taunting him to argue against me.

He then stayed silent and looked at Elise lying in bed with various tubes connected to her arm and an oxygen mask on her face. I just looked at him, waiting for him to start talking.

"...what would you do if you were the one in my position? An unknown threat in your back, those precious to you being targeted." He said in a low volume almost a whisper. I just stayed silent and did not answer his rhetorical question.

"I made a decision to make the unknown threat known and eliminate it if possible, and if it meant using you as a sacrifice to assess it, I'll do it."

"I see... you've always been like that since the beginning huh? Calculating... so what did you learn from our 'noble sacrifice'?"

"I didn't expect your fami-"

"Don't. Say. Another. Word... about my family. Just explain what you found out."

*sighh* "I got a name on who is the one responsible for all of this. It's a guy with the name 'Kingpin' or better known in the public as Wilson Fisk."

"The philanthropist?"

"Don't underestimate him he has a lot of connections that can put any of us in danger. My guess is why he is targeting us is because of control, What he wants is a share in the company but because the shares are divided among us three with each of us with 30% and the remaining in the market, he wants to eliminate or blackmail one of us."

"This is fucking ridiculous... he wants the shares but doesn't want to pay? Is this it? Some greedy motherfucker who can't be contented with what he has. *sighh* We will talk about this THE THREE OF US TOGETHER... you hear me?"

I looked directly at him, conveying to him that this is not forgiveness not even close... but a compromise to a common enemy.