𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬.

~𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬~

𝐌𝐚𝐱

"How long has she been unconscious?" The bodyguard asked. None of us answered. I couldn't find my voice, two of the guys with guns were tying our hands behind our backs with some kind of wire so cold on the skin, I flinched. The other two were looking around the room as if they expected to find something that shouldn't be there.

"Did you fucking hear my question?"

I flinched again, this time from the fury in his voice. I cleared my voice, opened my mouth but no voice came out. I had never been in a situation where I couldn't get out of by using either my name, face or popularity. This was new for me, no one seemed to care that I was a popular actor or my name was Vanderbilt. And if they knew, they did not care.

"Dino." He called. Dino looked at me instead, when I looked down, he moved his eyes to Chris. "Not long, a few minutes," Chris said. He was probably regretting his association with me even though he had enjoyed the life of the party and the women that I brought with me.

I was tied beside Chris, Dino was on my right and his friends were next to him.

"Lia," her bodyguard called softly, gently while touching her cheeks, but Lia did not stir. I was beginning to regret this. I should have been satisfied with her no.

God! Why did I not let it go?

When the two men finished tying us up, they sat down, but two others remained standing around Lia while the bodyguard kneeled beside her. A moment later, a man entered with what looked like a medical bag, another man following him while wheeling what looked like a hospital bed.

Oh my God! Who the hell was this woman? I was going insane waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Is she breathing?" The doctor asked. He was slim, with thick brown hair and a distinctive way of speaking as if every word mattered, or should be understood the first time he says it.

"Let's transfer her," he mumbled, and her bodyguard scooped her up slowly as if he was afraid he might drop her and placed her on the gurney. The doctor tilted her head, then started ventilating her.

"What particular rape drug was she given?" he had a soothing voice, the doctor. It made me feel safe, like nothing bad would happen, but then I could smell Dino's fear, which had me freaking out every second.

My breath hitched when he said that. I could feel my heart beating up in my chest, and my terror escalated to a whole different level.

"Maxwell," Dev sneered. "How much did you give her?

I prayed to find my voice this time. I didn't find it. When he scowled, Dino answered, "He said it was a pinch."

"She should be awake by now if it was a pinch." the doctor replied quickly, looking down at Lia. "I...swe..ar." I stammered. "It w... isn't mu...ch."

My world was crumbling in front of me, and nothing I could do to stop it.

My father wasn't here to help me or tell me what to do to get out of the situation. I was on my own, which made me realize, I wasn't much.

"She will be okay. " the doctor mumbled after a while, and I exhaled softly in relief, afraid to let out any sound in case I drew attention to myself.

Everybody seemed to relax, the other guys in suits sat down, and the doctor and Dev sat opposite each other with Lia in the middle. She now looked as if she was peacefully asleep.

"Look, I'll pay. Please let us go." Every one of them looked at me with disgust in their faces, even Dino swore under his breath.

"I million dollar each. I will write cheques ." I pleaded.

None of them spoke. Like promising to pay them to let us go was too beneath them they didn't have to dignify it with a response. Not even something like, not interested, or keep your money. They said nothing.

We sat like that for a long time my stomach started growling from hunger. Nobody looked at me or cared. I started imagining what I would be doing right now if I was back in my apartment, which I had moved into after I received a live rat in a package. Luckily, the fumigation had been completed and the house looked clean, spotless, livable. I missed it so much I was afraid I might never go back to that life again.

Hours later, we heard two cars pull over outside the house. I felt Dino's body go stiff, his breath stopped for a moment. Lia's father. I knew it from his reaction.

Three men entered first and took the room. Everyone scrambled to their feet, bowing as the men stood around Lia.

"How is she?" one of them asked.

"Stable. She will be okay." the doctor answered. The man gently touched her cheeks, then smoothed a few stands of her hair off her cheeks to join the rest of her wavy tresses spread on the pillow, his expression for a minute vulnerable before he hid it behind an intense angry austere.

I knew he was her father when he turned to look at us. His black eyes—so like Lia's yet so different. Lia's were gentle, soft. This ones were fathomless deep one minute, and furious the next. They were also scary. Perhaps it's the hollowness in them, like he had seen everything under the sun. The other two seemed familiar too. I was sure I had seen them before.

"Why is my daughter in your house, Dino?" Lia's father asked in a warning tone, his eyes fixed on mine, unblinking even though he directed the question to Dino.

"I didn't know about it until the last minute, sir," Dino said, his voice trembling. I had known him for a few years, and never had I seen or heard him this frightened.

"Maxwell, why did you drug my daughter?" he asked in a deep, rumbly voice. The continuous fear that seems so present since I saw strange men waving guns at us whirled and crashed within me so much that I again couldn't find the voice to answer.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"You drugged my daughter? MINE!" He bellowed.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? "

I started to tremble. Shivers almost threw me to the floor to beg for forgiveness at the feet of the man who stood in front of me.

"Why did you drug my daughter, Maxwell?"

I started to shake my head Ceaselessly, tears streaming down my face, making my eyes blurry.

"Let me ask again, why did you drug my daughter?" This time his voice was low, muted.

I didn't answer. There are no words in the world that could justify why I drugged and kidnapped his daughter. I just continued shaking my head, muffling sorry as if it was the word itself would acquit me.

"Why, Maxwell?"

He removed a gun from his black trenchcoat, and my breath hitched from fear, the agony I felt could fill this entire house and still, I would have enough remaining within me to throw me off the ground.

I have never been this afraid in my entire life.

"Why, Maxwell? I need an answer."

"I'm sorry, so sorry?" I maffled.

"That is not an answer."

"I don't have one." I finally said.

"I'm sure she told you she was dating?" he continued gruffly.

I nodded, keeping my head down not wanting to look at him. "So you thought what... you're better than whomever she was dating?"

I didn't say anything. What could I say?

"Did she tell you who she was dating?

"No," I whispered, barely hearing my own voice.

"Did you ask?"

I didn't answer, or react. I thought if I did not perhaps he would stop I was wrong.

"So you have no reason as to why you kidnapped my daughter. You completely disregarded her unquestionable no to a date with you, and decided you had to have her and did to her what you've done to every woman around you."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Don't be surprised, Max. I know about everyone that works closely with my daughter. I know things that you have no idea about."

"What were you going to do with her?..." he paused, a threatening pause. "I imagine there is a reason why you drugged her, why you brought her to your den of iniquities."

"What were you going to do with my daughter, Maxwell?"

"Sorry...sorry...I'm so sorry," I said it so many times I lost count.

"Your apologies are directed to the wrong person. You did not kidnap him, or drug him." Said the man with curls. They should have made his face softer, but he looked like granite, like nothing would make him embrace laughter. He terrified me more with his silence. He stared at me as if he was imagining skinning me alive, and maybe he was.

"Answer the question, Max. I want to hear it from you mouth."

"I can't, sir. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me. I'm sorry."

"You can't answer me? You can't?" his raspy voice sounded deceptively low.

I will never forget the sound of Chris's body hitting the ground next to me. The smell of his blood on my nostrils, the spatter of it on my clothes and face. It was devastation. Wrecking. So unbelievable I thought I was dreaming but I couldn't stop yelling or the tears running down my face. My heart bled. It was raw, wounded, scared so much so I couldn't take it anymore I fell into darkness. Unconsciousness welcomed me into a state of calmness, but it was short-lived because Dev threw water on my face.

"Welcome back, Max. You killed your bodyguard."

"Whaat? I didn't, you did."

"No I didn't." he said blithely. I have never met anyone so cavalier about human life.

"Did you ask my daughter who she was dating?"

I shook my head. I hadn't because, to me, it hadn't mattered at the time. I thought I was better than whoever it was. Now I regretted it. Regretted the phone call I made to Lia, the invite to come out with me for a drink, but most importantly, I regretted roofing, and kidnapping her because it brought me to this man—these three men. I now understood why Dino was so afraid of Lia's father.

"So you didn't ask because you thought you're the best thing to ever happen to women since sliced bread?"

He smiled, like it was an inside joke or something, then looked at the other two men "Can I say that, is that a fair comparison?" there was amusement in his voice like he was enjoying it. God! How could they make jokes when Chris was lying beside me in a pool of his own blood? I hadn't even reconciled myself to his death yet nor did I know of my fate. This man held it in the the palm of his hand.

"I think it's applicable." says the other, not the curly-haired one, the other one, a cigarette drooping at the corner of his mouth.

"Or..." he points at Lia's father, the cigarette between two of his fingers...remember Marco?" His brow shoots up when he asked.

"The one with the...?" Lia's father points at his teeth, and I wonder whether he means Marco had braces or bad teeth.

"Yes...There was that one only week I was in charge of handing out bread..." They laughed, like happily, joyously as if they were sharing a fond memory.

"I happened to eat his slice on the last day of my duty week and I told him, 'don't worry, we'll have more than enough tomorrow.' You know what he asked me?"

They shook their head in unison.

"Are you Jesus? Are you going to multiply them? Will there be wine too? I can still hear his sarcasm. That son of a bitch." he added in a fading tone.

"Isn't that sacrilege, though?" The one with the curry hair asked. He was the silent one, barely saying a word.

"It is. Isn't it? Yeah...We can't say that." Lia's father said, and I wondered whether he was being glib or serious.

A man who kills another in cold blood afraid to use a phrase because it was sacrilege. No way was this serious.

"You know, Max. Unlike you, I grew up on the streets, I raised myself, stole food, and fought over people's leftovers at the back of hotels rummaging through the trash. Everything I have I fought for, including Lia. I couldn't have her without her mother and I gave her mother a solemn promise, that I would provide but most importantly protect the children she gave me. You not only put my daughter in danger, and put drugs in her blood system, but you also drugged her daughter too.

A weary sigh leaves his body, and he slowly shakes his head as if he was dismissing a memory he didn't want.

"I can easily take away your freedom. Frame you for your bodyguard's murder faster than you can blink."

"You wouldn't. You killed him?" I insisted, enunciated every word even though fear coiled around me like vomit stuck in my throat.

"No. I didn't kill him. You see, I'm currently on my way to Italy on a private jet. In four hours or so, my passport will be stamped at the immigrant offices. That's quite an alibi don't you think? You on the other hand are covered in his blood. Who do you think people will believe?"

"But I didn't kill him?"

"Yes. You did ask Dino. He saw you. Didn't you, Dino?"

"I did, sir."

"See. Why did you kill Chris, Maxwell? People would want to know."

"God! Oh, my god.!" I cried. I couldn't even cover my face because my hands were still tied.

"Untie him, Dev," he said. It was as if he read my mind."

"There are four things you love, Maxwell.

Your face
Your popularity which I guess translates to your career
Your family name
And your freedom.

I'm going to take away one of them, but the good news is, I'm going to let you choose."

"You can't take away my family name. It's as old as the railway in this country."

"That right there," he points at me, "is the arrogance that brought you here. Yes, I can take away your family name. Smear it so badly you would probably need a hiatus from the public. You see, when I said I know about you, I meant I know everyone in your family which includes where your father spends his Wednesdays between 11 pm to 1 am. Would you like to know?"

I nod.

"With the governor of your home state."

"Our governor is Paul Wheeler."

"I know," he says, giving me a sardonic smile. "I also know more than a little bit about his relationship with a few certain politicians washing up money and still suiting up to represent their electorates. There is nothing I can't do to you, Max. Now choose."

"I'm sorry...im so sorry. I swear I will never do anything like this again." I pleaded.

"I don't give a fuck. I know you'll never do anything to my daughter again. But you must lose something. That's how the universe works. Choices have consequences. Even I do not have the power to change that."

"I don't know." I sounded sad, like a small child. Or the way I sounded when I was ten pleading with my mother not to leave me behind with my father.

"What is it gonna be, Max? Would you like me to choose for you?"