Chapter 1
|Disclaimer|
In this story, there will be dubious consent, child abuse, human trafficking, extreme violence, forms of torture, and mild manipulation. To all women who have lost a child before, please take caution. Read at your own risk.
The man’s scream reverberated in my ears as the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the room.
I gestured for my cousin Andrei to tie the man’s broken arm to the back of the chair he sat on. I pulled a chair over to sit down in front of him. Now that I had stated my intentions, it was time to negotiate.
I loved a good heart-to-heart conversation with my debtors.
However, the scent of piss permeated the air and caused my nose to wrinkle in disgust. “Are you not a grown man? Control your bladder, next time. Will you?”
The man quickly nodded his head.
I reached into my suit jacket and took out a cigar then lit it. I took a deep inhale and sighed. Smoke filled the air in front of me and I lightly fanned it away.
To my left was a pretty lady who was very heavily pregnant and her little daughter huddled in a corner. They were silently crying as they witnessed their husband and father sucking up to me while in pain.
“What day is it?” I asked the man.
His voice came out strained as he replied. “It’s Friday.”
I hummed and took another puff. “Mmm, and when was your last payment due?”
The man hesitated. “Last week.”
I nodded. “That’s right. I gave you three chances to pay me my money. I’m never this generous so why did you take advantage?”
He lowered his head in shame.
I glanced at Andrei and gestured toward the man. Andrei understood and yanked his head back so he could stare at me through his swollen black eyes.
I pointed at his wife and daughter. “Look at what you did. Your wife and kid have to see you in such a state in your own home. Why didn’t you pay me my money? Hm?”
The man opened his mouth to speak but the pain was too much. The only sound that came out was his gasps for air.
My lips tugged down in disapproval. I barely did anything to him. I leaned forward and raised my cigar to his tongue to press down and extinguish the flames.
The man’s body convulsed as he groaned and immediately reeled back.
I flicked the cigar aside. “Speak up. I don’t like talking to idiots.”
Jackson, one of my men who stood to the side, folded his arms and chuckled. “You’re a ruthless motherfucker. You know that boss?”
I glanced at him lazily. “You cursing me?”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Never. I value my life.”
Andrei chuckled and joked, “Your mouth moves faster than your brain. I don’t think your life has much value.”
Jackson flipped him off.
“Give me a knife,” I said to Jackson then gestured at Andrei. “Pull him closer.”
The man’s eyes widened in fear as he shook his head and cried. “Please, please! I don’t have the money! I-I-It got stolen!”
“Then steal it the fuck back. This is the third deadline you’ve missed. Do you think I’m running a fucking charity show?” I snapped, not impressed with his excuses.
Jackson placed a knife in my open palm and I lightly grazed my finger across the blade to test the sharpness. A light line of red appeared and I nodded my approval.
I pointed the knife in the direction of his wife and child. “Let’s talk business. How should I get that money from you? Should I sell your daughter or wife? Or do you plan to pull my money out of your ass?”
“I-I’ll get you the money! G-give me three days! P-Please!”
“Only three days?”
The man nodded eagerly. “That’s all I need.”
I glanced at Jackson and ordered, “Drag the wife over here.”
He nodded and grabbed the wife by her throat, her screams immediately bouncing off the walls as she flared and scratched at his hands. Jackson cursed and dragged her over, forcing her to her knees right in front of me.
The child tried to run towards her mother but was quickly apprehended by another one of my men.
The man trembled in place as he begged me with his panicked eyes, “P-please Mr. Roscotto. I made a mistake. I promise to pay you back!”
“You made a mistake? Three times in a row? Do I look fucking stupid? Your job pays you 2k a week, your bills are paid for, your child attends private school, you have no other mistresses and you often frequent that underground gambling den. Tell me, where did my money go? Hm?”
He didn’t reply. The answer was fucking obvious.
“Come to think of it... Your wife is really pretty.” I mused aloud as I stared at the woman looking up at me. “She has a good body and despite being in her late thirties, she looks like she’s in her early twenties. I’m sure a few of my men would be very satisfied with a little taste. Don’t you think so Cara?” (Cara = Dear)
The woman in question whimpered as tears fell down her face. “Please don’t.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why? Your husband got you into this mess. Don’t you want to help him out a bit?”
She trembled as she cried. “Please...”
My lips curled. “I love it when my women beg. How about this? You get to service only me. Can you do that? Let me get a dip into that pussy of yours. I can help you stretch it out in preparation for your child. What do you say?”
“Fucking bastard!” The man cursed as he fought against his bindings. “Just kill me! Kill me and leave her out of this!”
Andrei threw a punch at his face and almost snapped the man’s head off. “Shut the fuck up! Do you understand how serious this is? If you die, your wife and daughter will be trafficked to pay for your incompetence. Do you want that?”
The man gritted his teeth and fell silent. It seemed that he loved his family. If only he loved them enough to not gamble away all my fucking money.
“Let her go. Let her crawl to me.” I told Jackson and watched as he released his grip and allowed the woman to crawl over to me slowly. When she got between my legs, I grabbed a tight hold of her hair and yanked it back so she’d look up at me.
She yelped in pain and clutched my hand, her tear-streaked face gazing up at me, begging for mercy.
I gestured towards my cock nestled in my pants suggestively. “What do you say? Sell your body to all my men or service me?”
I could see the gears in her mind shifting as she thought about my offer. Then with her small dainty hands, she reached forward to clasp my belt and undo it.
The man turned his head away from his wife, seemingly defeated. Andrei grabbed his head and forced him to watch.
My belt came undone and my lips curled wickedly as I asked. “You’re willing to do this in front of your daughter?”
The woman paused and her eyes immediately strayed towards her daughter who was being held back by my men. The little girl’s large doe-like eyes stared straight at the scene in front of her.
Tears fell from the woman’s eyes as she whispered, “Why are you so cruel?”
“Cruel? Cara, do you want cruel? Let this be a warning to both you and your husband. If I don’t get my money within three days, this won’t be the only child you lose.” I twirled her golden strands around my hand and yanked her head forward. Then I used my other hand to quickly drive the knife straight into her rounded stomach.
The woman screamed bloody murder as blood soaked my hand.
The man screamed and struggled against his binds. “NO! STOP!”
The little girl cried. “Mommy! Don’t hurt my mommy!”
I curled my lips in disdain. “Do you think a woman you’ve shoved your sour dick in would interest me? Be lu-”
The sound of my phone ringing ruined the hostile atmosphere. I reached into my pocket for it and saw the caller ID.
My father.
I pursed my lips, not wanting to pick it up. I had a faint idea about what he wanted to say and wasn’t interested in hearing about it now. I sighed and answered on the sixth ring.
“Pa.”
“Xander. You know what tonight is, don’t you?”
I sighed as I recalled the conversation I had with him and my mom the week before.
I tried to bargain. “Give me ano-”
“You promised your mother that you would participate this year. You’re 28 and you’ve yet to find a woman to marry. Do you think this position I’m in is yours without a wife? I’m getting old. It’s soon time for me to step down. You need to step up and find yourself a wife.”
I stood up from my seat and gestured for my men to clean up. Then I took my handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped the blood from my hands. I tucked the phone under my ear as I replied to my father.
“Do you think finding a woman is easy? I refuse to settle.”
“I found your mother, didn’t I? I didn’t even have to look far. The happiest decision of my life was choosing her alone. Everyone thought it was my useless pride but I proved them wrong. I was confident that your mother could accomplish what I wanted her to do. Of course, I’m not saying you should only choose one woman when you’re allowed to choose many. I’m just saying, even if you’re not sure, you only need her to marry and take my position. If she dies after that, you can find someone else.”
I walked out of the house as he continued his rant about what happened to him and my mother. I tried my best to avoid hanging up the phone on him. I didn’t have the time or energy to listen to this.
“Choosing multiple women has its advantages and disadvantages, though. With multiple wife candidates, even if a few die during the games, you’d still have replacements, but it’ll also show that you lack judgment so limit the number of candidates you choose if you can. We want to make sure that no one questions your authority, though I doubt that to be the case with how you’ve always handled things.”
“I’m only choosing one woman, Pa. I’m confident in my judgment so you don’t need to worry.”
“Are you sure? Don’t go trying to follow in my footsteps if you know you can’t handle it. You’ve been looking for three years and still haven’t found one.”
“Don’t look down on me. I know what I want in a woman and until I find it, I will not be participating in your games. If anyone has something to say about me inheriting your throne, I’ll kill them.”
He chuckled, “Ruling through tyranny, huh? You are your father’s son. Well then, if you’re not going to participate in this year’s game, at least help me host it. You can do that much, can you?”
“I can.”
“Good. I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.”
I nodded. “Alright, tell Mom I said hi.”
“Bye.”
I hung up the phone and sighed, running a hand through my hair. This was the second game I planned to skip. In the last game five years ago, I didn’t manage to find a woman I was interested in and opted to spectate the games instead. This year would probably be no different.
Not even I knew what I was looking for in a woman but I had a feeling that when I found her, it would just click. The minute I decide to make her my wife, I’d hold onto her and drag her into the insanity known as my life.
Andrei and Jackson came walking out of the house and I glanced at the time on my phone to find that it was nearing 5 pm. The time to start hunting for a wife was starting soon.
I asked Andrei, “You plan to go out hunting for yours soon, right?”
He glanced at his watch and nodded. “Yeah, I promised my mother I’d participate this year as well. I’ll leave the rest to you two and start my search.”
I nodded in agreement. “Go find yourself a good one. We’ll handle things here.”
Jackson smiled bitterly. “It’s not like I’m also participating in this hunt or anything. I’ll just stay behind with the boss and have less time to choose my wife candidates.”
Andrei chuckled and left.
I turned to Jackson and nodded toward the house. “Let’s go clean this shit up.”
We went back into the house to get back to business.
We didn’t finish handling everything until around 7. Jackson immediately skipped away to go start his hunt and I hopped into my car and instructed my driver to take me straight home.
The night was young. Maybe, if I was feeling motivated enough, I’d leave my house after my shower to go and look for a wife candidate for this year’s games. If not, I didn’t mind sitting out for another five years.
On my way home, we drove by an empty park and I leaned my head against my hand as I looked out the window absentmindedly.
Something caught my eye and my lips moved before my brain could process what was being said.
“Stop the car.”
The car screeched to a stop as the driver pulled off the road.
“Sir?” He asked, his hand quickly reaching for his gun on high alert.
I waved a dismissive hand, my eyes never leaving the window as I gazed out at a lone woman who walked leisurely with her hands buried in her coat pockets. She was alone, her legs kicking at small pebbles that stumbled on her path as her ponytail billowed out behind her from the powerful gust of wind.
Curiosity swirled in me and something urged me to approach. As if I’d regret it if I were to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I opened the car door and walked in her direction.
