Chapter 6: Death Keeps Knocking

“Ohh my poor baby, I have missed you so much. Look what your stepbrothers have done to your cute chubby face,” Isabella said pitifully before landing a backhand slap at Ryan’s face. Blood immediately began to flow on the right side of Ryan’s cheek forcing him to reminisce the trauma he went through in his childhood.

“It is so sad that your stepbrothers could not recognize you earlier at your arrival in Silverlake Academy and bullied you so much. Well, I would also not blame you for not recognizing them as you were all very young back then. Moreover, their surnames still remain Gwendolyne. How could you have guessed they were your brothers?”

Isabella continued as she aggressively dragged Ryan’s hair backwards, “Now, listen to everything I am about to say Fatso cause it might be the last thing you ever hear.”

As though nature was eavesdropping, everywhere was as silent as the graveyard. Neither the chirping cricket nor the couching frogs could be heard. “After your father took you away from me, I completely forgot about your existence as I had always detested the sight of your obese body.” Isabella said as she stared disgustedly straight into Ryan’s soul.

She continued, “However, everything changed when I noticed your father was meeting the family lawyer a little too often. While going through your father’s documents in his absence, I noticed he had been sponsoring everything about you even in the foster care you were in and your scholarship to Silvercare Academy through a fake name.”

Isabella paused to catch a breath. Ryan on the other hand, could not believe what he was hearing. He had always hated his father for abandoning him believing he got the scholarship by his own effort and had always survived on his own.

“At first, I was not so concerned he sponsors your education. I mean, you are his good for nothing son. That is the least he can do for you. However, I decided to dig up more documents and saw his intending will he had planned out. He willed the company and half of his properties to you and left just half for my sons and I who have been with him for seventeen years. Awful! Right?” Isabella rhetorically asked. “Want to know what makes this even more awful? The original will is locked in a safe somewhere at the Arcane Treasury with encrypted symbols that can only be decoded by some unknown combinations.” “Now, whimsy willow, you are going to tell me everything I want to know lest your father is dead” Isabella threatened.

At this point, Ryan knew whatever was going to happen next was no joke. “I promise I know nothing about encryptions or any codes.” Ryan said trembling as this was the second time he was been threatened with death the same night.

“Oh! My cute honey-pie,” Isabella said while holding Ryan’s cheeks. “Do not be scared. Your father is the one going to die now, not you. In case you think I am bluffing, let me tell you a short story.”

“There lived a particular man who thought he was smart but never knew his wife was smarter. This man had a little problem with his sight and took pills for them. However, this woman paid the family doctor who exchanged the pills with Shadowgaze Elixir, a pill that worsens the eyesight and slowly kills anyone. This pill also happens to be neurological and guess what Ryan? Just a tap on this button in my hands is capable of killing this man.”

Ryan knew immediately who this man was. It was his father. He could not help but shed tears at how evil his stepmom was as to even try to eliminate her husband. In truth, Ryan had no clue what the encryption and code was. Nevertheless, he was determined to save his father, Astralforge.

“I will count down from 3 and if I don’t get an answer, I will terminate your father’s life and thereafter, send you to heaven. 3…..2……1…..” “WAIT! WAIT!” Ryan cut in immediately. “The combination is 15072000@EVAN.” The intense aura of the environment immediately dampened. “How do we know this meathead is not playing with us?” Orion asked. “I am not lying. The numbers entail my birth date and EVAN is short for my mother’s name, EVANGELINE. I would never lie with my dead mother. Would I?”

Damien looked at his mother, “I think doublewide is telling the truth.” “Ryan darling wasn’t that easy? We didn’t have to make this as difficult right?” Isabella said while letting out an evil chuckle. “Well, your father was destined to die tonight with or without this button. The pill has cumulated overtime making him weak and liable to sudden death. All I had to do was increase the dosage today by mixing it in his meal.” Ryan found himself pale, red with anger and fighting off the tears that hung therein his eyes. “ISABELLA!’’ Ryan yelled, “I promise you are going to pay for this.”

Isabella was utterly shocked because it was the first time Ryan had called her by her first name. “Don’t worry about me sweetheart. Worry about your hairline and your obese self because soon enough, you will be with your mother and father in hell.” Isabella retorted. Turning to the boys, she said, “Take care of him peacefully.” “Yes ma!” The notorious 3 answered in unison as they bowed their heads respectfully while she elegantly left the hallowed cave.

“Hey Fatso, I am going to untie you right now and don’t try any funny move. If you run faster than me, my bullet will run through you.” Orion’s threat immediately silenced the voices of an escape in Ryan’s head. As the ropes fell away from his wrists, Ryan felt a flood of relief wash over him, as if he had been submerged beneath the weight of his captivity and was finally allowed to rise to the surface. With trembling hands and a heart pounding with temporarily newfound freedom, he flexed his fingers, savoring the sensation of movement after what felt like an eternity of immobility.

“Move,” Damien ordered with a gun pointed at the back of Ryan’s head. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Ryan realized that his ordeal was far from over. And as he was led away into the unknown depths of his captivity, he could only pray that somewhere, somehow, a glimmer of hope awaited him in the darkness.