"A- ah fuck. It can't fit, Zade. It's too fucking big!"
Sara, my girlfriend's voice which was filled with panic, rang through the air, moments after I asked her to work on getting the door open with a key I managed to get from the belt of one of three men who had me surrounded moments ago.
"That's the wrong key, so she had better stop trying. And keep in mind that neither of you are living here alive tonight." The leader of the bunch crooned. He had a burning cigarette hanging from the side of his lips, and one of his eyes was obscured by an eye patch. In his right hand, he had a long stick with long, sharp looking nails jutting from the sides, while in his left hand, he was leisurely swinging a hammer.
The other two guys looked just as dangerous. One had an axe, while the other had an iron rod with him. They were all slowly approaching Zade at the same time, clearly intent on actually killing him.
Zade was confused since the moment he and his girlfriend got kidnapped a few hours ago, while they were on their way to celebrate their two years anniversary. They had been tied up and kept in this dim room, and Zade had managed to free himself and his girlfriend right before their abductors had returned.
"Just don't hurt my girlfriend, leave her out of this" Zade called out fiercely. He was determined to protect Sera through this entire situation, because he believed she was in this situation because of him.
Initially, Zade assumed they were kidnapped because of his influential family he belonged to. His family was very popular in the country- from owning some of the largest companies in the country to having legendary schools and hospitals under the same family. Zade was adopted, but his life has been completely changed after the adoption, and he is now regarded as a Melbourne, so he could easily guess that he was kidnapped to extort cash from his family.
From his grandfather, to be specific.
"Look, do you want money? My family can give you so much of it…" Zade began. He knew if he called his grandfather, the old man would be ready to empty his account to keep him safe.
The abductors laughed this time. "Bro, we've already been paid. We just have to kill you and that's the end of it."
The leader responded easily, while absentmindedly wondering why he was paid to end this chill dude. But he quickly reminded himself it was none of his business and that this was just another job out of the thousands he had done in his life.
"Paid? Who paid you to end me?" Zade instantly questioned, feeling extremely bewildered as his eyes widened in shock.
That was something he couldn't comprehend.
He had no enemies. He was a very easy going guy; he helped old people cross the road, he paid his taxes, he never wished anybody bad and he always minded his business.
So, who could hate him to the extent of wanting him dead? He couldn't think of anyone.
His eyes instantly narrowed as he sized up the three men currently circling him like he was a piece of meat and they were the butchers.
He briefly wondered if these men are aware that he had quite some experience in fighting. He had two black belts, and used to fight underground before he was picked up from the gutter and turned into a Melbourne. Sure, he doesn't fight anymore, and has definitely gotten rusty after years of leaving that life behind… but it doesn't mean he won't be able to hold his own between these three men, because after he sized them up, they didn't seem to be such professionals at the end of the day.
What they said about somebody paying to have him killed suddenly made sense, because this kidnapping was possible because his drink and his girl's got spiked, so they passed out in his car after drinking it. Then they woke up to find themselves tied up.
Clearly, someone had drugged them, to make the kidnap possible.
Who the hell was the person?
The leader abruptly swung at Zade and he swiftly reared back in a flash, eyes tracking not only the man in his line of sight, but also on the ones trying to move into his blind spot.
He ducked away from the nails rigged stick and on rising back to his full height, he swung two swift punches at the leader, while kicking his feet backward at the same time. He missed the dude's groin that he had been aiming for, and got a kick in his own groin from the leader that had been stiffening and doubling over as pain instantly shot through his nuts, then over his entire body.
Fuck! His poor nuts!
In the background, he could hear his girlfriend screaming his name, and he wanted to assure her he was alright, but he was too busy trying not to get killed. These men were not as easy to take down as he anticipated, and they actually got him pretty good. His left eye was swollen, his right leg was badly injured and his bones hurt from the amount of hits he had gotten from the iron rod.
But he managed to get the nails rigged stick from the leader after punching him in the nose and the throat with no intervals. With this weapon in his possession, he was able to beat them up till they were groaning and rolling around on the ground with broken limbs, then he took his trembling girlfriend's hand and horribly escaped.
His girlfriend was still crying and clinging to him when he phoned his family to assure them that he was fine, because apparently the kidnappers still informed his family that he was kidnapped, and hundreds of phone calls and texts had swamped his phone. His elder brother offered to send him a car, but he assured his brother he was fine.
He found his car packed outside the abandoned building and he used that to drive himself and his girlfriend to his apartment, despite being extremely beat up and bleeding from certain areas.
During the ride, he kept asking his girlfriend if she was fine, because he believed he had scarred her and felt guilty.
After he got home, he let himself and his girlfriend into the house, but was shocked to meet his four siblings right in his sitting room, looking extremely pissed.
First, they weren't supposed to be in here— because they didn't have the key to his house. And secondly, they're supposed to be happy he was alive and safe, not looking so furious.
"How the hell did you survive? You were supposed to fucking die." Zade's eldest brother bit out, and Zade stumbled from how taken aback by shock he was.
"What?" He whispered, feeling lost and dumb founded as he looked between his siblings that he had spent over ten years with.
However, what he didn't expect was his girlfriend shrugging out of his arm and walking right into the arms of his eldest brother.
He was too shocked to comprehend the sight before him. His mouth opened and closed multiple times like a fish out of water.
"What's this supposed to mean? Sara?" He croaked out after finally finding his voice.
Sara, his girlfriend who was just trembling in his arms, turned up her nose at him and let out a loud scoff, then she leveled him with a glare that's intense enough to make grass wither.
"It is as you're currently seeing it, Zade. Or if you're still too stupid to figure it out, let me spell it out: I'm dating Charlie, your eldest brother. I've actually been with him for over a year now, and it's beyond hilarious that you never dumped me despite how horribly and offhandedly I treated you these whole time, but I guess I can understand why: it's because no woman as pretty and sexy as me has ever given you the amount of attention I gave to you."