Chapter 39 Scoundrel
Kian
Every nerve in me screamed ‘run’, ‘it isn't too late to return home but ego said ‘yes’.
What was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like my uncle would harm me when he was the one who was clearly in the wrong. Verena must have called him concerning the wreck that I’d made. After realizing that there was no losing with me, he must have given up entirely on her.
That was it. That had to be it.
Finally, I won in the end and Verena would return home and this whole divorce thing would become shambles.
A smile of victory slipped on my face, fading as soon as it came when my car’s dashboard lit up with a sudden vibration that sent me clenching my jaw.
How could she call me after forcing Zita on me? She was supposed to give her support to me, stand behind me like every reasonable mother would. But, she chose Zita over me.
I wanted to ignore but in the end, she was still my mum. Rather than keep grudges with her—although whatever bad blood I had with my father wouldn't end soon—I answered. “Kian,” Her sweet, soothing voice filled my ears—a huge contrast to the way her voice cracked the last time we met.
“Mum,” I pulled into the parking lot that was surprisingly not packed with cars.
“How have you been?”
“Good!”
She sounded taken aback by the hoarseness that my tone carried. “Kian?”
“What!—” I almost snapped. “I have to prepare for work tomorrow. Goodnight”
“What is wrong with you? Why do you keep acting like a child? I called because your dad wants you and Zita to come over for dinner on Sunday”
“Okay”
“Just okay?” She asked.
I grunted while she clicked her tongue in her mouth. “Anyways, how is Zita faring? How is the baby”
Zita. Zita. It was only about Zita and I had had enough already.
“You know you could have called Zita instead of asking me about it. And the baby hasn't formed yet. So it isn't a baby. It is still an embryo. Insignificant for you to ask me about” I spat each word out like it was venom repulsive to my body.
She snorted. “Kian, you brat—”
I hung up on her, almost rolling my eyes until the brightness from the headlights of a car cut through the stark dark parking lot. A sleek black McLaren sports car rolled in and I could feel the corner of my heart twinging.
Was it from the anxious feeling that came from knowing that Verena would be returning home tonight or was it the fear of standing face to face with my uncle?
My chest squeezed further as I unbuckled my seatbelt and came out of the car. The wind blew through my hair as I sucked in a deep breath, stalking towards the car that was parked across from mine.
Then I halted, slipping both hands into my pocket as I peered into the passenger’s seat. “Verena, come out of the car. It is time to return home—”
A click followed. The door opened and for some weird reason, my breath caught.
“Shouldn’t you say ‘hi’ to your uncle? What happened to your manners, Kian Cooper?” His frame was tall, imposing, and completely menacing as he blended into the darkness like he thrived in it himself.
The wind halted completely at the power his deep voice commanded and I had never felt so small. No one had ever made me feel this insignificant except the man that I had once looked up to.
“Where is my wife?”
Then he laughed—a dark chilling one that sent a shiver rolling through me and sent my pulse stuttering. Then he stalked out of the darkness with lethal grace.
Slowly a smug smile spread through his face and my heart stopped.
There was a saying in my family that I had thought lightly of. “It was better to wait for a prowling jaguar than when Daxton smiles at you!”
A bolt of panic rushed through me and I didn't think twice—I followed my instincts and ran. Damn! I was so stupid, brainless and if there were any derogatory words to classify myself, I was it all.
What made me think that he would return Verena to me after the desecration I had made at her house? What gave me the fucking spine to meet my uncle all alone at night?
As I bolted off, Dad’s words flashed through my mind. “Daxton isn't the calm person that you think he is. If you hurt his personal interest, it wouldn't cost him a thing to go after you. Even if it means going against his family.”
I had counted his words as total bluff and I believed he painted him badly because dad and his other siblings were secretly jealous of the success he had achieved.
I threw a glance over my shoulder, only to see him still standing in the same spot, and just as I fixed my eyes towards my car, two men who made my eyes widen in shock came from behind it.
“Fuck!” I hissed, scampering to the left only for another two to stalk towards me with a club in their hands.
“Shit!” I ran my hands through my hair, turning right and another two bulky men emerged from the darkness.
And behind me was my uncle, watching me with a spark of dark amusement in his eyes—like I was an animal being hunted.
“Fuck this!” I groaned. I wouldn't go down without a fight.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, throwing a punch at one of the men but he missed it, causing me to stumble forward. I turned, sending a fist flying at the face of the one with a scar slashing through his jaw
Before I knew it, he grabbed my wrist, and a sickening cry ripped from my throat as he bent my arm so bad that I could hear the bones cracking and dislocating.
He was still wringing my arm as I slowly dropped to my knees, tears stinging the back of my eyes. He released my arm and I had barely registered the pain when I was forced to the ground on my chest.
A groan and another cry left my mouth when my wrists were wrenched behind me, and the aching pain—fuck!
Something cold pressed against my wrist, doing nothing to soothe the fire that burned through my aching arm.
Something clicked and it soon hit me that I was being cuffed.
Only then did my uncle saunter to me with his hands slipped down his pockets. “How could you do this to
me—” He halted before me, his shoes—
“Argghh” I let out a hard yelp when I felt the coarse gravel of his shoes pressing hard against my cheeks like he was about to crush every bone.
His voice was a lazy drawl. “You are in no position to utter any word, Kian. Talking too much would only complicate things”
I was forced into the car trunk, blindfolded, and stripped of my clothes except for the pants that I had on. I couldn't explain the intense thumping of my heart in my chest with the scary thoughts that flooded my mind.
Was he about to dump me into the river? What if he buried me alive or clipped my toes off and made me watch? Would my uncle really do that to me?
I was his family for crying out loud.
The car screeched to a halt and two rough hands gripped me by the arm, hauling me out of the car while my brain tried to source where I was.
The sensual music that filtered out of the walls, the air that reeked of vodka and rum, and the smell of weed that wafted through my nostrils screamed only one place. A place I had been warned about too many times.
My uncle's strip club!
Blood rushed into my ears, heart slamming hard against my ribcage–enough to break and bruise it as the music faded with every second we descended some stairs—
Could this be the infamous dungeon that I had heard about—Where debts are collected painfully? Where tortures are inflicted on those who disrespect the strippers in his club, those who cross him—
And I crossed him.
I was sure that my heart rate was high on the radar because it was pumping so fast that I couldn't even feel it. The fear hit me harder—What was my uncle going to do to me?
What sort of uncle tortures his nephew over a woman?
The sound of an iron door creaked open and I was shoved to the ground before being forced to my knees.
I groaned and my thoughts were about to spiral when the—
The door slammed shut, reverberating against the wall, and my chest as I shuddered. The blindfold was yanked away from my eyes and for a second, I saw white.
I blinked. Blinked again until my vision cleared and this time, my uncle came into view. He slid into a stool, staring at me with scaring interest grazing in his eyes.
At that moment, I didn't see my Uncle. I saw the devil.
“Let me go!” I muttered through ground teeth, fear curdling my stomach. “You want to punish me, right? Call the cops on me”
He smiled. An uncanny one. “I have done too much work tailing you just for the cops to take credit”
“I would rather be tried in a court than this”
Darkness crawled through his eyes. “You are in the right place, Kian,”
“I would like to call this place my court—” His eyes swept around the dimly lit room in amusement like some sort of psychopath. “—where scoundrels like you will be judged by me,”
“Shall we begin, nephew?”