I should have been shocked by the truth, but I knew in my heart that it was them all along.

Years of living with these people, tolerating their shit, putting up with that asshole kid and his stuck-up sister, and this is what it got me.

“Hmm… so it was the bitch, and her punk ass son,” I said while contemplating what all this meant.

Damian was still kneeling in front of me. His face showed intrigue mixed in with trepidation.

“I told you who was behind the hit, kid. Can I go?” he said cautiously.

“How was it supposed to work once you killed me? Were you supposed to call them or message them?” I said, trying to figure out my next move.

“I was supposed to send them a message with a photo of you dead,” he said regretfully.

I looked at him with reproach when an idea popped into my head. I might need to use some ingenuity to pull it off, but I was up to the task.

“You want to go?” I said solemnly.

Damian’s body began to shiver after hearing me. At that moment, a grown-ass man was trembling in front of a 15-year-old kid.

“You said you would let me go if I told you who hired us,” he said softly.

“I said I would consider letting you go if you answered my question. But I didn’t expect that you would want to take a picture of me as a souvenir.”

Damian began to sweat profusely. He kept looking at the ground, thinking about what to say next.

“What can we do to fix this?” he asked humbly. He knew that a head-to-head fight was not something he would walk out of alive.

“First thing is first, let's clean up this area,” I said, looking around.

All this fighting has caused a lot of commotion and noise. The scene was a total mess with dead people and body parts everywhere. We were lucky it happened late afternoon; many people had already arrived home or were eating dinner.

If not, I could imagine the scandal this fight would have caused. This place needed to be cleaned ASAP; I wouldn’t be surprised if the town guard showed up anytime now.

“Have your crew clean this place up ASAP before anyone else comes through here,” I said coldly to Damian.

He looked at me bewildered, as if saying, “Really? You are ordering me around.”

“You can’t do it or what? Aren’t you the boss of some badass gang in the underworld?”

Damian nodded in agreement as he knew he had no choice. He got on his feet and looked at me, still showing some fear.

“This is part of your test; let’s see if you want to continue living or not,” I said.

“Clean this up, and when you are done, message me at this number,” I told him, giving him my contact number.

Damian took the number and turned to walk away, shaking his head and mumbling something to himself.

“Once you leave, message them and let them know you couldn’t do the hit today. Tell them you will tell them when the job is done,” I said threateningly.

He nodded and started walking away.

“If you betray me, there won't be a place in this city where you can hide from me,” I said loud enough for him to hear me.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He stopped for a second before he continued to move forward.

I really couldn’t do anything if he wanted to betray me. I was blowing smoke to try to intimidate him.

“You never know; you might suddenly find yourself on the opposite end of one of my wind blades,” I shouted as he disappeared around the corner.

I stood there for a second, thinking about what to do next.

“For now, I have to go back to the house. I don’t see any other choice, as I have nowhere else to stay,” I thought.

“If I don’t hear from Damian later today, then I know he betrayed me. So, when tomorrow comes around, I’m going to need to find a hiding place,” I said as I started walking down the street.

The next instance, my CAD started buzzing as a call came in.

“So fast,” I said, thinking it was Damian calling.

I looked at the call and was surprised to see it was Roy who was actually calling me.

“Shit, I forgot that he had massaged me earlier.”

Then it dawned on me I could ask Roy for help. He is bound to know someone here.

“Roy, what's happening,” I said as the call connected.

“Didn’t you see my message from earlier,” he said.

“Yeah, but I was a little preoccupied fighting for my life,” I said, half joking, half serious.

“What? What the hell are you talking about, Khyrum?” he said, confused.

I proceeded to explain what happened with Damian and his gang, of course excluding some details and making some others up.

“What Bullshit is this now,” said Roy, almost screaming on the phone.

“I will call Mr. Jozz after this call and let him know, Khy. He will probably get with Mr. Zafer, the leader over at the capital, to sort this out,” said Roy worriedly.

“Thanks, Roy,” I said.

“Yeah, you’re lucky you found another charm to defend yourself with, boy, but make sure no one else knows about it, okay?” Roy said with some concern.

I had told him a little white lie: that initially, I had found two charms back in Rayong, but I had only put one up for auction. That the second I had kept for my own self-defense.

“Well, now back to business; I had originally called you to let you know the auction will take place in two months,” said Roy excitedly.

“That long, huh?” I said, a little disappointed.

“Unfortunately, yes, they are expecting some big dignitaries to arrive from some distant places; I think I heard that even people from Mars and the moon might make it,” said Roy.

“Well, that doesn’t help me; I need money to fix my issues right now,” I said, frustrated.

“That’s easy to fix, Khy. Remember they gave me a deposit on the charm? Let me transfer you some money. Do you have your account set up?” Roy asked.

“How the hell am I supposed to set up an account if I’m still underage? You must be 16 or older to have an account.”

“True, I had forgotten about this, you’re only 15 now, shit,” said Roy.

“You know what, Khyrum? I’ll set up an account for you. I’ll put you down as my nephew; I'll need your name, though. Then I’ll be able to deposit into your account without issue.”

“That’s not a bad idea, Uncle Roy,” I said, chuckling.

“It's good you're having fun with this, but stay focused, boy. Ok, I will finish the call now to get ahold of Mr. Jozz.”

“OK, I’ll send you my name in a message shortly. Make sure to give me a good allowance, uncle,” I said, snickering.

“Yeah, yeah, take care of yourself.” With that, Roy finished the call.

When I returned to the estate, I didn’t see anyone outside. I went straight to the guesthouse and went inside.

“Man, it's eerily quiet out tonight,” I said.

I was hungry after all the exercise I had done earlier, so I went into the central kitchen to get something to eat. Suddenly, a voice behind me startled me as I filled my plate.

“What are you doing here?” said Brandon, unnerved.

“What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here, don’t I? Where else would I be?” I said, acting like I didn’t know what he meant.

“You fucker don’t get mouthy with me,” said Brandon, visibly flustered.

“I wonder what's taken them so long to do the job,” he mumbled. But it was still loud enough for me to pick it up.

“What do you mean by job?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I hear another voice joining the conversation.

“He meant a job I asked him to do for me,” said Daisy as she walked into the kitchen.

“Anything else you want to know, bastard?” she grinned.

I looked at her and wanted to say something when Malee came in.

“Young master Brandon, Miss Eva is calling you over the house CAD,” she said nervously.

“She is. That's Great. I’ll go over in a bit,” he said, still staring at his mother.

“Take it, honey, don’t worry about the job. I just heard back from the team leader, and they are rescheduling for another day. It seems today was not a good day to go hunting,” she said with an evil grin.

Both Daisy and Brandon chuckled sinisterly before exiting the kitchen.

“I can't wait to get out of here,” I said quietly.

“What do you mean, Khyrum? Where are you going?” said Malee, a little surprised.

Shit, I had forgotten she was still in the room as I had all my attention focused on Daisy and Brandon.

“Well... “I wanted to explain when the most harrowing and bitter shouts suddenly came from the living room.

“NNOO…. EVA, YOU ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE.”

“JUST YOU WAIT…. YOU WILL BE MINE!”