ARIEN

"Don't do anything stupid." Dad fixed me with a glare.

"We should press charges against them for sexual assault and also for openly threatening us," I argued as we all sat around the dinner table.

At the mention of that, Sierna lowered her head, getting busy with her food.

Dad glanced at her softly from where he sat opposite her. "I am working on it, Arien. It will take some time, so I want you to be calm. You are hot-headed which won't help."

I rolled my eyes. "James is an asshole so it's no surprise his brother turned out to be the same. I should have never let her date him."

"Stop talking like I am not present here." Sierna snapped, finally looking up.

I ignored her and continued saying to Dad, "James has always been jealous of me, all that escalated when he didn't get selected for the U-19 team. He wants to exact his revenge through her."

Dad hummed, getting lost in his thoughts and Mom stared at him in concern.

"I am going to fuck up his life," I mumbled to myself.

Somehow Dad managed to hear it as his eyes snapped at me. "No. You will not do anything. Whatever has to be done will be done by Kallias, Asael and me. You will stay out of this."

"Why Asael and not me? He is not the head of the family yet, why do you treat him as such?"

Our family has a 'head' every generation, mostly the eldest child of the family. Uncle Kallias is the current head and will be followed by Asael when he retires after two years.
Once you are the head, you get immense power and respect, you get to make all the decisions regarding the family and no one can say otherwise as long as it is good for the family.

"Asael is responsible and mature unlike you," Dad answered. "I need you to stay focused on your selection rather than all this."

I groaned. "Dad, please."

"No. My decision is final, Arien."

I pursed my lips and took deep breaths to calm myself so that I didn't say anything rude.

Dad was right but I was too high on adrenaline to back out of this.

The rest of the dinner was spent in silence while I planned how to make that fucker pay.

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Pulling the hood down of my jacket, I walked closer to where James's car was parked outside his home.

I stared at his house, formulating a plan to confront him because let's be honest, I came here without any plan.

I was in a hurry to leave the house without my parents or sister knowing about it and definitely not Asael. He would kill me for this.

We do things by the rules, except me.

"Looking for me?" An irritating voice grated in my ears.

I whirled around and came face to face with James himself as he smirked at me, looking all smug.

"Keep my sister out of whatever problem or rivalry you have with me," I warned. "She is innocent."

He scoffed. "Innocent? She tried to kill my brother."

"Your brother tried to rape her!"

"She was asking for it."

That had me pouncing on him as I grabbed him by his collar and slammed his back to his car. "Don't fucking talk about her like that."

His smirk only widened. "You are a fool. You have to meddle in everything, ruin everything. Are you not worried about your future?"

"This has nothing to do with my future."

He made no effort to get out of my hold. "Oh?" His hand covered mine over where I held his collar. "Your hand is very special to you, isn't it? What if this breaks? What will happen to your selection then?"

I was a right-handed batsman and even the slightest injury to my hands could put my dream on hold.

That had me pulling back from him but then he smiled slyly making me see red as I punched him on his healing nose making him groan.

He didn't fight back making me even more furious.

He spit out the blood that trickled down into his mouth. "I promise you, one day, you will be nothing."

"Yeah? Do your worst."

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"Where were you?"

Shit. At Dad's question, I froze and slowly turned around to face him with the most innocent look on my face.

"Practice," I replied.

Dad glanced at his wristwatch. "At this hour?"

I shrugged. "So what? There are things called lights."

"Arien."

"Yes?"

"Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"What did I do now?" I feigned innocence.

Dad shook his head. "You went to see James, didn't you?"

Once confronted, I can never lie for a long period. "Um...no?"

He looked displeased but instead of scolding me, he jerked his chin towards the living room. "I need to talk to you."

Sulking, I followed him inside the living room and sat on the couch beside him.

He was frowning as he stared ahead, deep in his thoughts. "I did some research."

"About?"

"Horace and his family. The Lamonts."

"And...?"

Dad slid his eyes to me, looking a little perplexed. "My father killed Horace's father in self-defence after he kidnapped my mother."

"What?" I blurted. "What kind of a movie plot is this? A generational rivalry?"

Dad looked confused himself. "I know. I had no idea and I believe Kallias doesn't either. It happened when we were still kids and our father hid this from us. Horace is aware of this since he vaguely mentioned something about it yesterday."

My head was aching now. "Did you tell the others?"

He shook his head. "I just got to know about it. From the information that I gathered, my father ran a secret mafia called The Ragnars. He dissolved it after this incident and continued with the business."

"Grandpa sounds like a badass."

That caused Dad to chuckle softly. "He was a badass, we just didn't know he ran an actual mafia and stuff."

"In conclusion, this is some deep-rooted rivalry which Horace is looking to settle once and for all."

"Yes. He wanted me to marry Sierna into his family as a peace settlement."

"Please don't do that."

"Of course not."

"Then what do we do?"

That somehow reminded Dad of what happened earlier and he glared at me. "You are not doing anything. If I see you sneaking out once more, you are grounded."

"I am twenty and the future of England cricket, you can't ground me," I argued.

"I don't care if you are the King of England. This is my house, you go by my rules."

Grumbling, I left.

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I couldn't breathe.

Someone was holding me down, pressing a cloth to my nose.

I tried fighting them off but I felt too weak as if all the energy was drained from my body.

A minute passed by in useless fighting before my body went numb as I slipped into unconsciousness.

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My throat was too dry, my eyes burning, head pounding as I slowly took in my surroundings.

A small, dimly lit, white room with a single door and no windows.

The only furniture was the chair that I was tied to and a small wooden table that stood near the wall with some tools on it.

What the fuck is this?

With all the power I could manage, I tried to break out of my bindings but to no avail.

Shit.

Who the fuck--

I snarled when James entered the room followed by a couple more unfamiliar men.

"I swear to fuck, James, release me right now!"

He strolled closer, sizing me up. "You only said that to take you up on whatever rivalry I have with you. So, here we are."

I breathed heavily, my head spinning. I had a really, really bad feeling about this.

"Where's my family?" I asked in a low tone, tracking his every movement as he circled my chair.

"You mean your whore of a sister?"

"I am going to fucking kill you for that!"

He rolled his eyes. "Please. You are tied at our mercy. You can't do shit."

He stopped in front of me and gestured to one of his men, extending his hand and a moment later, a hammer was placed on his hand.

I gulped, taking in the hammer, and grinding my teeth. "You are a sick bastard."

"The Alderidge's have always been on top of the world, always so arrogant, thinking themselves to be God. It's time someone humbled them."

"All this just because you didn't get selected?"

He was in my face in a second, grabbing my collar, and baring his teeth at me. "Don't fucking remind me of that! It was all because of you, you stole the spotlight from me!"

"I didn't steal anything from you! It's not my mistake that you couldn't do well."

That antagonised him further and he pulled back, lifting the hammer.

I watched in horror as he brought it down on my right hand, smashing my fingers, the sound of the bones shattering loud and clear.

I bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming and ended up biting it so hard that a metallic taste filled my mouth.

He brought it down again, this time a scream leaving my mouth as I watched my hand deform, my dream slipping away.

I refused to beg for mercy.

And when he hit my hand for the third time, darkness engulfed me.

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My hand was throbbing but more importantly, someone was sobbing and screaming at the same time.

My eyes snapped open but on seeing the view in front of me, I shut them immediately.

This has to be a nightmare. This is a nightmare. Please let this be a nightmare.

I choked on a sob as my eyes half opened.

Sierna was in front of me on the floor, naked and on her back, begging for the man on top of her to stop.

No. No. This is a nightmare.

Her head turned towards me, tears streaming down her face, she sobbed louder as our eyes met.

A cry left my mouth as I watched my sister being raped. I didn't care about my hand anymore, all I wanted was to save her.

Another familiar voice reached my ear. Mom. My head snapped to my side where I found her in the same state as Sierna.

"No." I sobbed, trying to break free. "Stop. Please stop."

As I wriggled around in the chair, it lost balance making it fall forward with me as I fell to the ground on my face, my nose taking the hit.

My left hand worked, so I pressed it to the floor, lifting myself.

"Sierna..." I croaked, reaching my hand out to her.

She screamed louder at that.

Before I could crawl to her or Mom, a pair of arms grabbed me, lifting me with the chair.

This time Horace was with James as they both stared down at me.

"Please." I pleaded. "Please, let them go, please. Have me instead...please... please..."

"Now you are talking," Horace spoke.

James returned with the hammer but I didn't care anymore. I had to save them.

Dad.

Where's Dad?

I turned my head in every direction until I found him in the corner, lying on his stomach on the floor in a puddle of blood.

There were several gunshots on his back and head and a scream left my mouth. "DAD!"

My scream didn't get a chance to end as pain exploded in my left knee.

I didn't care because the moment Mom screamed louder, I turned to her as I found that man twisting a knife into her belly.

This time no sound left me, my mouth opened in a soundless scream.

Horace pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up and taking a long swing out of it and then blew it on my face making me cough.

"Does this..." He brought the burning end of the cigarette to my face and I pressed my eyes closed just as he touched it to my cheek. "...hurt?"

Of course it fucking hurt but not as much as watching everyone I love die in front of me.

He continued to burn my face wherever he felt like.

Tears fell from my eyes. I couldn't save anyone, I was helpless. This is all my fault.

The torture didn't end there.

It went on.

And on.

And on.