Chapter 2

The punch wasn't enough to vent Zach's emotions. He was truly messed up. If he had no conscience left, he might have done something worse than just cursing and swearing at them.

"You know what makes me want to destroy you?" said Sam as he stood up with Ava's help. This time, his eyes showed no friendliness or care. "You're an annoying guy! Your dreams are too high, and your ideals are impossible to achieve! The best bar in this city? You're delusional! All your capital came from debt, and you don't have the experience or connections! You want to own the biggest F&B company in this country? That's disgusting!"

"Shut up!" Zach was always ridiculed by those around him just because he came from a poor family. He had nothing, not even a stable family. A drunkard father with many debts, acting like a parasite in Zach's life, and an education that didn't guarantee a future.

Zach worked from a young age to save money and with that money, he wanted to achieve his dreams. But everything he had dreamed of was destroyed in a day.

"Sam is right," Ava chimed in. "I'm tired of waiting for you to succeed. You always make promises, but all you have to show is that lousy bar!" She refused to remember everything Zach had done for her.

"You talk like I never paid for your life! Bags, cosmetics, clothes—even this apartment!" Zach hated bringing up what he had given, but Ava's words and actions made him sick. He hoped that by saying this, Ava would realize that Zach truly loved her.

"That's not enough, Zach! I can't wait any longer!"

"And you chose to cheat with him?" The blue-eyed man pointed at Sam. "Couldn't you find another guy to sleep with? You could hire a gigolo! But why my best friend? Why this bastard?!" Zach's shout echoed in the room.

Fueled by anger and not accepting Ava being yelled at, Sam stepped forward and punched Zach in the face. "Get back to reality, Zach! You're just a poor guy born into poverty. Forget all your dreams and disappear from this world!"

Sam grabbed Ava's hand and left. They left Zach, broken, disappointed, angry, and hopeless.

Zach's life had no footing anymore. Everything was destroyed. Business, love, and friendship. Nothing remained in his life but despair. His debts were so massive that it might take a lifetime to repay them.

He returned home after shedding deep tears of disappointment in Ava's room. He didn't know where the two people he once trusted were. Ava had taken away his faith in love, and Sam had given him the bitterness of betrayal.

Zach's dreams might have been too high, but he had just started with courage and sacrifices he had built up for a long time. Nothing remained except this house. All his savings were at risk of being exhausted. And the bar had to be closed because loan sharks kept threatening to destroy it if he didn't pay the debt quickly. Of course, Zach was confused about how to pay it all off when the bar couldn't operate as it should. The bar's reputation was ruined, and no customers would want to go there after the incident that morning.

The next morning, Zach was shocked by a report that the house was being seized by the bank due to his father's debt's interest growing out of control.

"No, this must be a mistake." Zach tried to block the bank officers who were about to seize his house. "My father's debt was paid off a month before he died. I made sure of it."

This house was all Zach had. Since childhood, he had survived on his own. There was no trace of his mother, and his father had always ignored and abused him. His father's debt was a hindrance for Zach to reach his dreams, but he managed to pay it off a month before his father was found dead from a drug overdose.

"You can see the report on your father's debt," said the bank officer.

He received a document detailing the total debt, which was just as significant as the debt Sam had caused. At that moment, Zach felt that this misery was a nightmare that would last forever. This was clearly beyond Zach's capacity as a human with all his limitations.

"This is impossible," murmured the man. His hands trembled, gripping the document tightly. He then looked up in utter confusion. His legs felt weak, and all his joints seemed numb. Zach's body felt like it was floating and thrown into a pit full of sharp bushes, which then slashed all his skin. "Tell me this isn't real. Sir, I did nothing wrong. I paid it off. I paid on time. I worked hard. I didn't eat for days."

The officer ignored Zach's increasingly incoherent, desperate words. No matter how hard Zach tried to stop them, he ended up facing the bitter reality.

Nothing changed. Everything had been taken from him in such a short time.

That night, Zach carried a backpack filled with clothes and whatever money he had left. No home, friends, or even a lover. He was a vagrant now. The bar was the only place he could go. The sign with the blinking lights and the words Bar Refaeli made Zach feel even worse.

"Damn it! Why has everything turned into crap and shit like this?" Zach roughly wiped his face. Tears flowed freely, unwanted. Then, with heavy steps, he entered the now-dark bar.

That night, he spent drinking the leftover beer from the fridge. His mind was in chaos, and he didn't know what to do to survive. The ridiculous amount of debt, the betrayal from the people he loved and trusted.

It had been seven days since his personal hell began. Zach isolated himself in his bar, cutting off all contact, turning off his phone to avoid the loan sharks and the bank.

He hadn't found a way out. All his assets were gone, even in the negative. What could Zach do but hide? Cowardly, but it was the only temporary way to survive.

The bar was locked from the inside, but the banging and shouting from the loan sharks had been nonstop for the past hour.

"Zach, come out, you bastard!"

"I know you're in there!"

"Come out, or I'll burn this damn bar down!"

"Zach! Pay your debt, you coward!"

"Damn it! Do you want to die?"

"I'll kill you if I catch you!"

"Even your organs wouldn't be enough to pay off your damn debt! Get out!"

Zach hid in the kitchen area, squeezed between the stove and the wall, covering his ears with his trembling hands. He looked a complete mess. His hair hadn't been combed in who knows how long, dark circles under his eyes, and pale lips. He had lost a lot of weight since a week ago due to poor nutrition and mental stress.

"I need to get out of here," he whispered to himself.

This place was no longer safe. Their threats were not just words, especially since Zach had tested their patience long enough.

When he heard the sound of breaking glass and other items being smashed with blunt objects, Zach jumped. He quickly crawled toward the back door, his only escape route.

As Zach was about to reach the door, one of them spotted him and yelled, "Stop! Don't run!"

Zach rushed as fast as he could. He ran as soon as he got out of the bar. But with the number of loan sharks, Zach was quickly surrounded.

"Wait!" Zach said, trembling as he clutched his backpack. "I'll pay the debt, but give me time."

"You ran away, you bastard!" snapped one of the large men.

Four men surrounded Zach from all sides. As Zach tried to find an opening to escape, his collar was grabbed, and he was easily thrown to the ground. He tried to get up, but a strong kick from the large man quickly incapacitated him.