Chapter Seven

The ringing in his ears hit him hard the moment he opened his eyes and the blurry ceiling trembled towards him. He blinked a few times, running a hand across his stubble as he pried his back off his bed. He stared down at himself and saw a naked woman sprawled across his lower body, open mouth near his cock. One other naked woman was lying to his left and another half-dressed woman was on his right.

Christ, he was getting too old for this shit.

The throbbing in his head silenced the ringing of his ears and the entire room tilted on its axis. He rubbed his temples before he left the bed to pour himself a glass of water. He downed that in a split second, and before long, he had drunk two more glasses.

The women began to stir and one sat up on the bed. She stretched out her arms in a happy sigh and looked at him with smeared mascara under her eyes. "What are we having for breakfast?" she asked him, lips so swollen that they looked as if they had been stung by bees.

"Leave now," Lawson told her. "I don't date."

She gasped as the other women stirred and got up too. "But we had so much fun! We had a connection!"

"The connection you felt was for my wallet," he scoffed.

"No, it wasn't!"

"Girl," the other woman said. "Forget it, didn't I already tell you he only wants to fuck?" The third woman got up and put her clothes one by one in silence.

"The cash will be on the table," Lawson told the three of them. "I don't want to see any sign that you three were ever here when I come back."

With that said, he prepared for the day and left for his office. When he entered the office building, sounds of acknowledgement echoed around him along with courteous bows. People here respected him like their lives depended on it. After all, it was his last name on the building.

Growing up, he always desired to pursue Math. But alas, he was the son of a powerful family of lawyers. And it soon became clear to him that his aspirations were only seen as temporary playthings. He had attempted at a future with Math, but his family took every precaution to ensure that he would never succeed there. Soon, he gave up and submitted to their wills, and was now a partner at his family's law firm.

After he was at his office, he sat down on the reclining chair and immediately, a man threw his doors open and ran to the space before his desk. Falling to his knees, he put his hands together and begged.

"Please, Lawson! I heard you wanted to fire and blacklist me!" the man cried out.

Lawson only leafed through the papers on his desk to see what was on for that day. He put some spectacles on and thumbed through paper after paper.

"Lawson, we were friends since high school! Do you remember us spending every lunch break together? We're childhood friends! Please don't do this!"

He picked up his coffee and removed the top. Stirring it with a small spoon, he waited for the heat to leave the liquid before he brought the cup to his lips to sip from it. The rich taste of the coffee permeated his mouth and he exhaled with satisfaction.

"Lawson, I beg you! I have a wife and three kids! She's a housewife and my kids are too young to work! We'd have to live on the streets! I'm sorry I ever asked for a pay raise! I won't do it again!"

Lawson smiled. Then he set his coffee down.

"Lawson! For old times' sake, I beg you!"

He reached out to his intercom and pressed a button. Within moments, a female's voice could be heard.

"Yes, Lawson?" his secretary said. "Miss my mouth?"

"Could you clear the trash in my office, please?"

"He's begging you, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm sending security your way now."

More minutes of begging passed until his doors were thrown open again and security guards laid hold of the man, tearing him away from the ground, kicking and screaming.

"You'll fucking regret this, you faggot!"

❃❃❃

The man was thrown to the cement ground before him, a shivering mess of tears and snot. He was muttering prayers under his breath and looking at everywhere but Declan himself. While most people would feel sorry for the man, Declan only smiled as he enjoyed the sorry sight of what the man had become simply from being in his presence.

"Boss," his advisor said. "This Capo was found to be the snitch. He was the one who lost us that five million."

Declan grinned as he ran his fingertip across the sharp blade of his knife. "Tie him to the chair."

His men dragged the fool up into a chair and tied him with thick ropes to it. The man was positively catatonic at this point, and that was how everyone reacted when they crossed him and were caught.

"Bring me my tools," Declan said and his men pushed a silver trolley to him. On top of it was a silver tray with various blades, sawing tools and pliers. Declan picked one shiny tool up and a shine reflected off the tip of it. The fool stared at it as Declan tilted the shine into his eyes and he began to burst into tears as he rocked to and fro in the chair.

"Holy mother, Virgin Mary," the fool repeated and repeated.

Declan traded the tool for a plier and hovered it over the fool's hand, which was tied to the armrest of the chair. Leveraging it under a nail, he clipped the plier into the skin under his nails and pressed hard. His prayers grew more fervent as Declan applied pressure upwards and slowly, the bed of his nail turned white. Pulling up more and more, the fool devolved into insane screaming as the nail popped off his finger into the air. Blood poured from his finger, dripping to the ground below.

"I hear from my men that you enjoy cock," Declan told his former Capo. "You have a wife but you've been fucking my other men, haven't you?"

"Holy Mother of Mothers, Holy Virgin Mary…"

Declan removed a knife from his belt and sliced it down the seam of the fool's pants. He poured alcohol on his hands before putting on white gloves, and poured alcohol over them as well. Removing the fool's cock, he brought the blade down on it with one quick slice and deafening cries pierced the air.

"Force this faggot's mouth open," Declan told his men. Their hands covered both sides of his tear-streaked face and forced his mouth open. Grunts of pain left his mouth as his body writhed, the blood still spilling from his lower body. "If you love cock so much, why don't you try sucking your own?" Declan laughed as he shoved the fool's cock deep down into his throat, until the air was cut off from his lungs and he suffocated to death on his own cock.

❃❃❃

The children shouted for joy as they huddled around her. She put on her friendliest smile and called each of them by name with fondness, and they burst into laughter from all the excitement they had in their little bodies.

"Now, Lily," Ria said. "We all know you stole that cookie from the cookie jar just now."

Lily peeked up at her with a guilty smile. "No, I didn't!"

Ria wiped the corner of her mouth, her finger coming away with a brown stain. "Then what is this chocolate I see on my finger?"

The other children laughed at the top of their lungs. Lily covered her face with her tiny hands. "Uh oh."

Ria smiled. "What did I say, children? Who must you ask before you take a cookie from the cookie jar?"

"Teacher Ria!" all the kids screamed.

"Good job," she said and picked up the stack of cards beside her. She held it out to them. "Who wants to have some fun?"

"Me! Me!" everyone yelled until Ria was sure her eardrums would burst.

"Okay, settle down first," Ria said with a finger to her lips. The class fell into silence, tiny fingers over small lips. She held the stack of cards out to the students, showing them the pictures. It was a bunch of fruits, varying in number and she wanted the children to tell her how many fruits there were. She flipped to the first card on the stack. "How many apples are there?"

The kids paused as they counted. Then everyone yelled different numbers over one another.

"Kids, didn't I say you have to raise your hand before giving your answer?"

"Yes, Teacher Ria!" they all shouted.

"Now, how many apples are there?"

Lily's hand was the first to shoot up.

"Lily?" Ria asked her.

"There are three apples!" Lily beamed.

"Correct, my little girl!" Ria reached out to pinch her little nose and Lily blushed while laughing. Ria flipped to the next card in her stack.

"Teacher Ria!" one kid at the back suddenly shouted. It was Evie, a kid who was usually quiet, more so than most kids her age.

"Yes, Evie?"

"Why is there a dark circle around your wrist?" Evie asked and immediately the eyes of every child flew to her dark wrist. Ria's heart raced as she hastily pulled the sleeve past her wrist.

"It's nothing, kids," Ria said.

"Are you okay, Teacher Ria?" Evie asked her.

She laughed it away. "I just wore my watch too tightly, don't worry, kids." She resumed where she left off, and the kids were all at the edge of their seats as she increased her pace, swiping the cards quickly after the previous one. She tried to focus hard on what she was doing, but the entire time she was flipping cards, Evie's cold stare was on her and worry crept into her mind. Would Evie tell her parents and somehow they would get her fired? Nobody wanted a teacher like her. Damaged and traumatised.

Thirty minutes passed easily, and the hour for bed time approached. Ria was busy tucking some kids into bed when she threw glances behind her back. In the far corner, Evie was in tears and talking to a fellow teacher at the childcare. Ria kissed the kid she was tucking in good night, her hands shaking. When she stood back up, she retreated to the pantry to get some coffee. She breathed in and out until she was finally calm. Then she turned around.

Her principal was before her. "Ria," she said. "We need to talk."