[Flashback]
"Who are you people!? What do you want from !?" Slater yelled at the top of his lungs, struggling to break free from his binds. His eyes were blindfolded, amplifying the growing dread in his heart. Even so, he didn’t show the slightest sign of fear; rather, he appeared fiercer.
"What the hell do you want?!" Slater roared, grinding his teeth angrily. "Take this blindfold off, or are you scared?"
Yet, if there was anyone who was scared right now, it was him.
How could Slater not be scared?
He had just been at the convenience store to buy sothing to eat. Atlas hadn’t returned from wherever he rushed off to earlier. Slater had planned to wait for his First Brother and hear good news from Atlas, knowing that Atlas probably had sothing in mind to appeal to Penny’s case.
Slater should have been eating and simply waiting for Atlas.
That was the plan.
But alas, instead of staying in the small apartnt he and Atlas shared, Slater found himself in an unfamiliar place — bound and blindfolded — right after being thrown into a van on his way ho.
"Hello!?" he heard his voice echo. "Anybody there!? Hey! I know you’re here! Don’t tell you’re scared?! Hah! My brother will—"
Slater’s words trailed off when he felt a rough hand squeeze his shoulder. He winced as the hands untied the knots of his blindfold. As soon as the blindfold fell onto his shoulders, the blinding lights stung his eyes.
After a mont, Slater peeked through one eye. All he saw were lights, as if a strobe light was beaming directly at him.
"Shit..." he breathed out, trying to peek again. He narrowed his eyes, confirming that there were at least two large lights positioned at the other end of the room, shining directly at him. "What in the world..."
"Slater Bennet. It’s finally nice to et you."
Suddenly, Slater heard a woman’s alluring voice. The flashing light before him dimd slightly, allowing him to open his eyes wider. He saw a figure walk over to the chair several ters in front of him.
Because of the lights behind the woman’s chair, Slater couldn’t make out her face clearly.
"Who are you?" he blurted out. "What do you want? My brother paid for everything when our family business fell. So, I won’t believe you’re here for his debt! He’s clean!"
The woman chuckled, lifting one leg and resting it over the other. She tilted her head slightly, a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth.
"I’m not here to collect debt, Slater Bennet," she clarified. "I’m here because... I want to give you an opportunity."
"Hah! Opportunity? By abducting ?" he mocked. "Great way to offer opportunities, huh?"
"Well, I can’t bla you for being upset, and I apologize for my n’s actions," she said. "I asked them to invite you for dinner, but it seems there was a miscommunication."
Slater sneered. "I don’t care what problems you’ve got. Let go right now."
But the woman didn’t answer. Instead, she maintained a slight smile while studying Slater’s every movent. Her eyes were observant, watching his facial expressions closely.
"Haha..." Slater laughed under his breath, grinding his teeth. "So much for twisting your words. I hate politics, and I’m not good at it. If you can’t let go, what’s your plan? Kill ? Then what? Dump my body sowhere?"
His face twisted as he tried to break free from his binds, but to no avail. His heart thudded in his chest as he thought about how he might die. If not for his acting skills, he would have been crying. Worse, he might have wet himself.
That was how scared he was. However, the little dignity and pride left in him prevented him from showing any sign of weakness. Slater and his family had already hit rock bottom. What was there to be scared of?
The more he thought about it, the more it beca clear to him. Why was he even struggling to survive? Their family had lost everything, and this last fight was nothing but a futile struggle.
"You people..." he hissed, scoffing in dismay. "Fine. Kill ."
The crow’s feet at the sides of the woman’s eyes deepened, and her lips curled into a smirk. "Not so fast, Slater Bennet."
"What?" Slater scoffed. "Are you playing with ?"
"Playing is not the word, but like I said, I’d like to give you an opportunity." She snapped her fingers, and n hidden in the shadows imdiately surrounded Slater. The latter panicked, glancing left and right.
"What are you going to do, huh?!" Slater wiggled in desperation. "Hey, hey—"
To his surprise, instead of doing anything horrible to him, his bounds loosened. Surprised, he looked at the n as they stepped back. He then fixed his gaze on the woman seated several ters from him.
"What are you—"
"Let’s start over, Slater Bennet," she said. "Again, I apologize for my n’s actions."
Slater didn’t answer. He held his breath, staring at the woman. Like a stubborn fool, Slater didn’t think of anything else but the anger building inside him. Now that he was free, Slater jumped up from his seat and sprinted away from the scene. He didn’t care anymore, even though he knew it was impossible with all these people around.
He just had to flee; sothing inside him told him he had to.
As expected, Slater was easily seized. It took only a few seconds for the n to pin him to the ground.
"Ugh!" he groaned, struggling to break free from the n holding him down—his stomach pressed against the floor. "Let go!"
"Oh, Slater Bennet..." He heard the woman’s voice again, followed by the sound of her light footsteps.
Slater clenched his teeth, struggling harder but to no avail. He stopped only when a hand grabbed the back of his hair and yanked his head back, forcing him to look up at the woman squatting in front of him.
She was older than he expected, considering how alluring her voice sounded. She pinched his chin, studied his face, then smirked.
"Do you want to save your sister, Slater Bennet?" she asked, pleased when he stopped resisting at the ntion of his sister. "I can save her and help you gain skills you never thought possible. In return, I want you to kill soone for ."
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