“What the hell is going on here?” the voice of Bruce echoed through the walls. And Cassie immediately got off the man she was humping, adjusting her dress quickly as though it'll make Bruce forget what he just saw.
“So this is what you've been doing? Huh? After everything I've done for you and your family, this is how you repay me? By sleeping with other men?” Bruce had always known she was doing something like this, but he didn't have evidence. “What have you done for my family?” Cassie snapped. “You did nothing for us. But we are the ones who helped you Bruce!” She added, while trying to zip up her gown from the back. “You said you helped me? You must be outta your mind!” “You're the fool who's outta your mind!” She raised her voice even more. Cassie’s friend also turned to Bruce, telling him “Oh yeah you're the dumb fool that I know in this family.” “Shut up you dirty whore! You know nothing but to sleep with men all around, not caring if they are married or not. And now you've finally infected Cassie with the same sickness of unfaithfulness.” Cassie felt so attacked by her husband's words and she approached him with anger, giving him a dirty slap across the face. “How dare you talk to me and my friend like that?” Bruce frowned and clenched his fists, trying so hard to hold himself from doing anything he'd regret. It was always no big deal if a lady hit a man, but the law didn't look at it the same way if a man hit a lady. “Look me in the eyes Cassie, I'm gonna pretend you just didn't hit my face after I caught you cheating on me with this good for nothing man. But I swear to God if you do that again, you're gonna regret it.” “Good for nothing? Did you just call him good for nothing? He does better in bed, he knows how to hit me in the right spot but what about you Bruce? All you know is how to dirty yourself in the dirty mud ha ha.” Cassie, her friend and the man they were having fun with, all bursted into laughter. “No remorse?” Bruce couldn't believe it. She didn't care and she even made fun of his job as a builder, saying he worked in the mud. It was so painful to hear that considering the fact that his wife's family had a building company that Bruce helped them start from the ground up. He was the one who convinced many of his friends to join him in setting up the company which specialized in building and construction. Cassie’s greedy father named the company ‘Salvator Construction Company’ and he claimed to have given Bruce some shares. “Cassie, you dare make fun of my job, a skill that I used to help your father build the construction company. You all are gonna regret this.” Bruce didn't know that Cassie had already sent a text to her father while this argument was happening. Mr Forbes Salvator received a message from her daughter “Hey dad, Bruce just caught me cheating with the man I'm supposed to marry after I divorce Bruce as we secretly planned. He's angry and he might withdraw from the company. We all know the company can't do without him, if we let him go, he'll convince his friends to also leave the company and we will have nothing. So what are we gonna do? Please come up with a plan quickly.” Forbes read the message quickly then gave a devilish smile, he never ran out of evil ideas and he'd just gotten another one to use, he replied the text simply “Don't worry daughter, we're gonna frame him. If we make him go to prison, he wouldn't be able to leave the company along with his friends.” Back in the bathroom, Bruce was already disgusted with looking at the faces of all those terrible people. “You know what Cassie? You're the most corny, selfish and inconsiderate person I've ever met in my life.” Bruce said in conclusion as he turned to walk out on them. But before he could place his hand on the door handle, Bang! The door was kicked open from the outside and three policemen came in holding guns. “What's happening?” Bruce had never been so confused in his entire life. The police ignored his question as they walked towards him, pointing the guns straight at him as one of them said “Don't try to do anything funny Mr Bruce Ortiz, do not move an inch.” “Hey I don't know what I did, what did I do?” Bruce looked around as though he could see an explanation of this written on the wall somewhere. “Mr Bruce Ortiz, you're under arrest for the theft of $750,000!” “What!” Bruce's eyes opened in shock “What the hell are y'all talking about? I've never stolen anybody's money in my life.” Cassie’s father walked in casually, holding the Briefcase that Bruce brought along with him to the house. “Bruce, is this not your Briefcase?” He asked holding it up so that everyone could see.” “Yes that's my Briefcase of course, what about it?” His answer came with anger and confusion at the same time. “When we were having this dinner, I announced that my money was missing.” “What? That's a lie from the deepest pit of hell. You never said your money was missing.” “Of course I did say someone stole my fucking money, and now we found the $750,000 in your goddamned Briefcase! You are a thief!” Forbes said with anger, pointing a finger directly at Bruce! As the police got even closer, Bruce tried his best to talk them into believing him “Officers you have to listen to me, I did not take any money, and he never even announced that his money is missing. This is a set up! Officers you have to listen to me, this is a set up.” But the police ignored every word he said, pushing Bruce to hit his face against the wall while they cuffed his hands behind him. “Mr Bruce Ortiz, you're under arrest for the theft of $750,000 from the Salvator Construction Company, anything you say or do would be used against you in the court of law.”The smell of those prison walls was familiar. Bruce had definitely perceived that before. The walls smelt of betrayal! “Fuck! Here we go again. Thrown in prison just like my father who did nothing wrong.”Bruce couldn't believe Cassie and her father would do such a thing to him. He'd always known they really didn't love or care for him, but he didn't know their hearts were filled with so much evil, so much darkness that they would frame him up, send him to prison just to get rid of him. “I swear to God I'm gonna make them pay for everything they've done to me!” It was already one week since Bruce had been in prison and he found himself trying so hard to hold in his tears as he remembered the day Cassie walked in to see him behind bars, but only to present the divorce papers for him to sign. “Sign the damn papers you stupid thief! I can't be a wife to someone who steals money from my father's company.”“First of all, I'm not a thief and you know that y'all just framed me for this. S
It was already two years after serving his term and Bruce smiled casually as he shook hands with the police officer during his final hours in that God forsaken place “Mr Bruce Ortiz, you're now a free man. Try not to live a life of crime when you go out there.”“I can't even say I'm a changed man because I never was a bad man in the first place. I've spent two years in jail for a crime I never even committed.” As soon as Bruce took a step outside, the air immediately felt different. “This doesn't smell like that prison walls no more. This? This smells like freedom.” He couldn't help but crack a smile. Just when he was about to clean the dust on his shoulder, his phone buzzed in his pocket with a new message “I guess it's that Bitch Cassie tryna mock me. She must have heard I'm outta prison.” He reached for his phone in his back pocket but was puzzled with a message from a new number “and who might this be?” He clicked on the message with a curious finger “and what do they want from
Neighbors heard the gunshots and they immediately knew something was wrong. Rosa was a female Italian neighbor who lived with her dog after the death of her husband. Bruce was her favourite neighbour and she couldn't believe the shots came from his side of the big compound. She rushed to open the window, trying hard to see if she could spot someone in Bruce's house. “Is Bruce back from prison? Who the hell is in his house and why are they shooting?” She didn't know Bruce was back already. “Oh my God I gotta call 911” She rushed to get her phone and dialed a number. The shooter was cold and confident. “Rest in peace you big fool.” The assassin said to Bruce's body before kissing his pistol. “The problem with y'all is that you're all infected with a main character syndrome. You think this is some movie and you tryna be some kinda hero. All you had to do was beg me, and I might have let you live.” He said putting his pistol back where he'd removed it. He took out his phone from the bac
Two weeks after the incident, Bruce was discharged from the hospital. “I'm truly glad you survived this.” Jonathan Gusman said, taking a spoonful of rice into his mouth. They were having dinner at his house where Bruce had been living for a while after being discharged from the hospital. Jonathan insisted that “ Hey Bruce, you gotta stay at my house for a while now cos your home ain't safe. Who knows when the assassin might come again looking for you after knowing you survived the attack.”“Thank you so much for everything Mr. Jonathan.” Bruce smiled carefully as though too much of it would break his weak ribs. He still didn't know why Jonathan picked interest in him. Why he was nice to him despite having no connection with him. It was all so strange, and the super rich Jonathan Gusman was yet to tell him the business proposal he wanted to make on that day Bruce got shot. “How are you feeling now?” Jonathan asked. “I'm all good I think.”“Can you kick a soccer ball?”“Aha ha… I can
“Alright,” Bruce said as he leaned back in the wooden chair, his patience visibly waning. He was obviously tired after waiting in the police station for so long. He glanced at Jonathan, who sat across from him with his arms crossed, staring blankly at the white walls of the police station. “Jonathan” Bruce called. “Yeah man what's up?” “I'm just wondering what's is taking them so long”Jonathan let out a slow exhale. He was also tired of waiting to get the results of the fingerprint. “They said they’d get back to us as soon as they finish the fingerprint analysis.”“I'm already exhausted right now.”“We’ve already waited for so long, a little more patience won’t kill us.”Bruce was slowly getting angry and impatient. “Two weeks, Jonathan. It's been two damn weeks and they’re just checking something as obvious as the cigar.Before Jonathan could respond, the door opened, and Detective Martinez walked in with a file in hand. His expression was completely unreadable, but the slight tig
Bruce had already forgotten how to feel comfortable. He couldn't believe Jonathan got shot just a few days after he was discharged from the hospital. He was shot and now Jonathan Gusman also took a bullet. “This is all happening so fast. I think there's a connection to all this. There's a reason why all these shootings are happening.”The dimly lit hospital hallway felt like a scene from a nightmare. Bruce paced back and forth, the soles of his shoes squeaking softly against the tiles. “I just hope he's gonna be alright.”A nurse finally emerged from the operating room, her face calm but serious.“Yes!” Bruce rushed towards her asking “How is he?”The nurse shook her head and that's all Bruce needed to know that everything wasn't alright.“Is anything wrong?”“He’s lost a lot of blood. We’ve managed to stabilize him for now, but he needs a blood transfusion urgently.”“Then give him one. Do whatever it takes.”The nurse hesitated, looking at Bruce with sympathy as she said “the proble
Bruce felt completely different knowing that he was sitting right there beside Jonathan not as any other person anymore. He was sitting right there as his brother. “You're gonna be alright.” He said about the hundredth time while leaned back in the hospital chair, exhaustion evident on his weak and tired face. He hadn’t left Jonathan’s side since the transfusion. Jonathan was still weak but stable, and Bruce finally felt a faint glimmer of hope. “Honestly I don't see any improvements yet but I hope they'll be soon” He's been speaking to himself a lot. He looked at his brother’s pale face, the thought of losing him twisting like a knife in his chest. Bruce was already feeling sleepy, but his eyes suddenly opened wide as he heard something disturbing. The sound of hurried heels clicking against the tiled floor interrupted his thoughts. “Who the hell wears high heels in a hospital like that damn! That's annoying” He turned towards a direction only to see Cassie approaching, her face p
Gernacho wasn't scared of being arrested and everything about his looks just made it clear that he wasn't even remorseful. “I'm a broke man in a world where we the broke people don't matter, I clean the floors and nobody pays me good money, I became a hitman and I got $15,000 in a few hours.” He spoke to himself like someone who was mentally ill. At the station, Detective Martinez sat across from Gernacho in the interrogation room which was dimly lit on purpose. The janitor-turned-assassin looked ready for whatever was about to come, he knew the consequences of what he did. But for some reason, his hands kept trembling in cuffs. Two officers flanked the door, their eyes fixed on him like hawks. “That crazy son of a bitch might run away if we relax for one second.” One of them said. Martinez leaned back in his chair with his normal unreadable expression. “So, Gernacho, let’s make this easy. We’ve got enough to bury you, but if you cooperate, maybe the judge will go lighter on you. St