Chapter Four-Death Wish

“Mr. Sutton really did pack a useless bunch.” He said jokingly and his minions laughed mockingly at them. In anger, Chloe threw a slap at this handsome devilish stranger and brief silence engulfed them, everyone had their eyes widened in utter disbelief, including her own family.

One of the other dogs came in between them grabbing her wrists with enough pressure to break them; he had a nasty scar that ran from his forehead to his jaw and a lot of piercings and nasty tattoos, he was bald too and malicious looking. “You must really have a death wish, you lousy woman!” He bellows in her face but Chloe didn’t back down, she glared back at him.

“Let her go!” Leona screams in fear, trying to pull the scary man off from her sister but fails.

“Leona, stay out of this!” Chloe ordered without looking away from the scary thug grabbing her.

“Master, give me the permission to chop off her fingers.” He said to the other heavily dressed man, whom Chloe had slapped earlier. “I would be more than obliged to take care of a bitch like her.”

“No, it’s okay.” The man mouthed softly, the whole time his mouth raised in a satisfied smirk and it was quite obvious, the amusement in his face. “Let the lady go, what kind of gentleman would I be, if I asked you to chop her fingers off?”

In reluctance, the scarred man released Chloe’s wrist and turned away giving her one last threatening look. “I apologize, master.” He moved backwards to his initial position.

“I must say, despite being small and useless, you really packed a good hit.” He said with a demeaning leer and in anger Chloe raises her hands to slap him again but this time her wrist was caught by him. Chloe always had a short fuse, she could tolerate a lot of things but some hooligans barged into her family property to talk down to them and disrespect her father…she would never tolerate it.

“I’m afraid; I can’t let you keep hitting me as much as I would like to continue playing the gentleman.” He clarified by throwing her hand back to her.

“Bullshit,” She commented rubbing on her wrist, bruises already forming from where the two ruffians had grabbed her. “I pray you know you have no right to be on someone else’s property and threaten them.”

“Oh!” He sounded surprised. “Do I?”

“I could call the police,” she muttered.

“Can you?” He mused.

“Do you think this is a joke?” She yells and the rest of the men burst into laughter, anger seeps into her bloodstream. She is having a shitty day already and these morons are making it even worse. “Leona called the cops.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” One of the minions said he was completely different from the one who had threatened to chop off her fingers. This one had a relaxed face, and even while the rest of them were laughing, he had no reaction. He had silver hair probably from dye that covered half of his face and a few piercings in the ears.

Moreover he was just as intimidating as the rest of them...

“Boss, seems to be in a good mood today, don’t ruin it.” He warned in a creepy and intimidating voice.

Chloe cackled, everyone here must definitely have a screw loose or something. “Do I look like I give a shit, how the bastard feels? What I’m saying is that you are on my family’s property and I would like for you to go back the fuck from wherever you came from.”

“Chloe?” Selena, her mother called and decided to step into the conversation that wasn’t heading anywhere. “They might have spoken to us rudely but you don’t have to be like them?” Chloe rolled her eyes, her mother still treated her like a child, and yet in front of thugs who don’t uphold values or morals but still expected her to be kind and speak to them nicely.

“The only reason I have played with you so far is because I have no business with you.” The man had said. “Is Mr. Sutton in? Or does Mr. Sutton have a son whom we can speak to?” He asked as he fumbled a pack of cigarettes and put one in between his lips, one of his minions put on a lighter for his cigarette.

Chloe regarded them with disgust; she had always hated the smoke from cigarettes, it was disgusting.

Impulsively, she stuck her finger in between his lips and pulled out the cigar before stomping on it. “How rude can you be? Barge into my property like you own it, talk down to me like I’m less of a human and now light up a cigar in my face?” she asked, still stomping on the cigar, she wasn’t satisfied until the smoke and the light had both been extinguished.

“Master give me your permission and I shall kill her.” The scarred man was back to grabbing her at lightning speed, she had not even seen him move. But this time he wasn’t grabbing her wrists he was choking her

“Chloe!” Both Selena and Leona panicked trying to get the hefty man away from Chloe, who stubbornly had her lips pressed together.

“Liam, I would not repeat myself.” The man ordered, the cheerful look that he once had was now gone, it was replaced with a blank cold expression that was indeed frightful. The scarred man, whom Chloe now found out his name, is Liam released her immediately. “Forgive me, Master.”

“Master, Liam isn’t the only one angry; even I want to shred this bitch into pieces.” Another one said finger playing with his blade.

Chloe stumbles slightly only to be caught by her mother, she coughed seriously, the part of her neck from where Liam, the crazy dog had choked her, was already red.

“Miss Chloe I would appreciate it if you would tell me where to get Mr. Sutton as I’m getting pissed.” He asked, his eyes narrowed as he closed off the distance between them. The vibe he was given off now was way different from the first impression she had on him. He was looking even more menacing and cold; the deathly aura that surrounds him was even thicker than earlier. She might not want to admit it but she was now scared out of her wits, the way he was looking at her.

“Mr. Sutton is no more,” she squeaks lightly, breaking the suffocating eye contact.

“What about his son?” he queried.

“Mr. Sutton never had a son. I’m his first daughter, what would you like to discuss with my father?” The man sighed heavily, rubbing on his very smooth and sharp jaw. “Your father, Mr. Sutton, came to me some few years back to take a loan for a very huge amount of money.” He said putting emphasis on the very, Chloe’s widened in shock; her father would never take out a loan, if he did why is his company in ruins?

“How much did my father take out?” She asked curiously, her arms folded across her chest. “About twenty million he…” she interrupted him sharply, surprisingly for the third time that day.

“You’re lying.” She declared. “Let me see the documents stating that my father had actually received some sort of funds from you, with his signature on it.”

“There is actually documentation but I can’t show that to you, it might be difficult to understand for a little girl like you. Please call a lawyer tomorrow and we will sit down and talk.” He said coldly and he gave her a small black card. He turned on his heels and walked away towards the fleet of black Alfa Romero Giulia they had brought.

Chloe was too stunned to speak, even though she didn’t trust him but she could help but entertain the idea of what if it was true?

“Leona, Mom, are you okay?” she turned abruptly towards them.

“Yes I am.” Leona answered with a smile, she held Chloe’s shoulder. “You were so cool; I had trouble holding my laughter.”

“Oh yeah, I think I should have burnt him with the cigarette instead.” They both laughed until they met their mother’s dark gaze, her eyes narrowed angrily and then the smile on their faces slowly faded away.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous those guys could be?” she queried. In an attempt to slap her shoulder, Chloe ducked the first hit but the second landed clumsily on her back. “Mommy!” she whined.

“You’re a lady; you have to be more careful among hooligans who know what they could have done to you.” She warned, her eyes watering up. “I was worried they would actually chop your fingers.”

“Mom come on, please don’t cry.” Leona said hugging her mother, Chloe never expected that her mother would ever be sad because of her actions. She didn’t think this through, she should have been more careful.

“I’m so sorry mom, forgive me.” She apologized, handing her a handkerchief, her mother sniffled as they all walked in. “I can’t bear to lose any of you, so just promise me now that you will never be so careless.”

“I promise!” They both chorused.

“Are you sure my father never told you about a loan?” she argued over the phone, she was pacing back and forth in her room.

“What happened?” Mr. Hawkins asked, since he was her father's most trusted person, she felt he should know about these details but he kept denying it.

“Some strange men, came in this evening and requested to see my father, they claimed he had come to take a loan of twenty million some years back but my father never told me about it.” She complained even more. “They made an appointment to meet them tomorrow with the father's lawyer.”

“Then let’s just meet tomorrow.” He concluded. “I’m sure they won’t probably show up.”

Something bothered her with the way Mr. Hawkins spoke, she knew something was fishy but she didn’t probe it further, she glanced at the business card the strange man from earlier had given her. Mr. Henry Sanderson. That seems to be his name, she read through the contact information that had just his name and his contact number.

For Mr. Hawkins did not know about such a deal, it must be false, Henry Sanderson and his goons are probably scammers trying to rip them off with cheap money… Those fraudulent bastards.

After a lot of thinking and pondering, she fell into a conflicted slumber; she had a lot of things going on in her life recently. She’s just so tired of everything, she needs a break.

“Chloe?” She felt something tapping her; she turned away from the point of contact, burying her head in the sheets. “Leave me alone.” She purred when the tapping continued.

“Well, I would love to leave you, but you're going to get up late and scream at me for not waking you up.” Leona reported as she got on the bed to straddle Chloe. “Leona, I’m so tired.” She groans, pulling the pillow over her face.

“Mom called Mr. Johnson this morning.” She whispered and Chloe flew up, Mr. Johnson was the family lawyer, and she had spoken to Mr. Hawkins about the meeting yesterday but had forgotten to call the lawyer. “So? Did he have any idea about the loan?”

“Sadly, he said dad had mentioned it briefly but never really got into details. We need that scary man from yesterday to bring the documents to prove the authenticity of his statements.” After hearing that Chloe immediately rolls out from the bed; her head has begun to hurt.

Mr. Johnson had confirmed her father had mentioned the loan but didn’t go into details, she had hoped desperately that they weren’t in debt especially after what she did to them.

“Mom, I’ll meet up with Mr. Johnson outside home.” She announced putting on her coat, and brushing her hair. “It would be best if we had all sat down to know what had really happened.”

“Mr. Sanderson and his men will likely be present; I don’t want those goons to be around you.” She said picking up the car keys from the table. “I will be careful, I promise. And I’m taking your car out.”

Selena wasn’t even able to oppose or contradict she heard the closing thud of the door.

“What am I going to do with that girl?” she sighed, rubbing on her forehead.

Chloe started the engine, and sped out, her thoughts rioting in her head, she scrolled through her phone searching through it looking for Mr. Johnson’s number. She got it; it rang a few times before he answered.

“Hello,” came his breathy voice from the other end of the phone.

“I texted you an address, let's meet there now.” She replied, glancing at her phone, she heard a honk and before she could look back at the road, she crashed into a car.

Even though she had slammed on the brakes, it was a little bit late and she had crashed into a very expensive car. “Shit! Shit!” she cursed as she unbuckled the seatbelt, the other man had opened the door, he came out of the car and she realized it was Liam, the scarred goon from yesterday.

He closed the door and began to stalk towards her car. “You must have a death wish.”