The auction room had grown cold since Zed Jefferson and his subordinates returned with Maliya looking disheveled. Everyone had suspected that the portrait incident was only an excuse for something else but no one expected Major General Zed Jefferson and his subordinates to dehumanize her in this manner, not talk of bringing her out to the auction room and letting everyone know what had been done to her. Rushing back upstage, to where Maliya lay, Zed pulled Maliya up by her hair. He wanted to hold her hostage. “I can use her to buy my way out of here if this doesn't go the way I want it”, Zed thought.Gbaaaa! Andrew hit the auction room door with one of his legs and the door fell making a loud crashing noise. Everyone turned their attention to the doorway. “I’m right here Zed Jefferson or should I say Major General Zed Jefferson”, Andrew said standing at the entrance of the auction room. His voice was calm and angry at the same time. Then he walked in.The room grew colder with ever
Pete was quick. He had served and trained under Andrew for years and one of the things he had learnt was urgency. He moved as soon as Andrew gave the command. Without wasting any time, he made his way to the back door where angry soldiers from the western troop under major General Zed Jefferson's command charged towards him. He paused halfway into the hallway. In his hand he held two short shiny silver knives with extremely sharp edges. And as the soldiers approached him he zoomed towards the first man slashing his throat with one of his knives. He stabbed the second man that approached him deep in one of his eyes. The third man followed before Pete could remove his knife from his eyes so he drove his second knife through the third man’s ear and pulled both knives out at the same time.As the next man approached, Pete jumped and as he kicked the side of his head, the spikes on his boots scraped the skin of the soldier's face. And from then on it was a bloody frenzy, slashing of thro
The auction finally ended after Marc Jefferson ordered everyone out of the Jefferson villa. But in all honesty, the auction ended when Zed Jefferson and his subordinates escorted Maliya out of the auction room after falsely accusing her of breaking the obviously fake portrait. Everyone cleared out of the auction room and the Jefferson family villa as a whole almost immediately. They looked happy to be out of all Jefferson villa. They would have all left a long time ago if they could but the event had taken a rather forceful turn after Maliya was accused of breaking the portrait.Major General Zed Jefferson and his western military troop hijacked the events and people had to buy fake and substandard artifacts. They even forced people to buy the remnant of the broken Lisa's Smile portrait. Before leaving, Zed gave the order barring people from leaving the auction and with all his soldiers, no one dared disobey him. Even in his death, they remained frightened by what would happen if th
By morning, news of Major General Zed Jefferson's death had traveled round Klinland. The Jefferson family was one the top rich families in Klinland. Not only was the family rich, it was also very popular and influential. Everyone with the Jefferson surname was treated in a godlike manner. They were welcome in every home. Parents wanted to marry their daughters into the Jefferson family.As a result of their family status, literally anything about the Jefferson family would be sure to become the talk of the city. When Vlad Jefferson was killed, the story of his gruesome death spread like wildfire. The stories surrounding his death and his missing head were yet to die down when rumors of the family's bankruptcy began circulating. As if that was not enough tragedy to befall one family, Zed Jefferson, a major General in the western army and the second son of Vlad Jefferson had been murdered. Everyone was talking about the Jefferson family.****“Breaking news: Major General Zed Jeffers
Maliya woke up twenty minutes after Andrew ordered her breakfast. She woke up feeling really weak. Everything looked fuzzy and she couldn't focus on anything. Andrew who had remained close to her all through the night was there to hold her hands when she woke up.The night before had been very long and gloomy for Andrew. He blamed himself for Maliya's condition. When she woke up, Andrew was stroking her hair. And because she could not see clearly, she tried to rub her eyes with the back of her hand. But she felt so much pain just trying to raise her right hand to her face. She also noticed the burn on her face from the cut Zed Jefferson had left on her face. And all of a sudden she felt a cold breeze blow all over her. The events of the night came flooding back to her memory. She remembered being accused of breaking a Lisa's Smile portrait worth over two billion dollars. Major General Zed Jefferson had agreed to let her pay two billion dollars.Her family had been invited and detain
Andrew looked as dumbfounded as Maliya, maybe even a little more. He had known all this time that Zed Jefferson was dead because he killed him by himself but he had acted as surprised and shocked as Maliya for her sake. In his mind, he said, “My dear Maliya, how do I tell you that I am the masked man? How do I tell you that I am responsible for this Zed Jefferson and his subordinates’ death. How do I tell you who I really am?”, Andrew wondered to himself. He turned to Maliya and said with a smile, “This is good news my love. Now that Major General Zed Jefferson is dead you don't have to worry about him being angry at you. It's all over now”. Tears welled up in Maliya's eyes. She let the tears flow and even though its wetness made the cut on her face burn, she was happy. “I know it's not right to be happy at Major General Zed Jefferson's death but …”, she sniffled and continued “why me? What did I do to deserve….”, she trailed off again. “I did not break the portrait honey. Then
Hmmmmph! hmmmmph!Stanley cleared his throat and waited for everyone to coordinate themselves. He was about to make a serious announcement and he wanted everyone to settle. “Yesterday you all saw what happened in this house. The way those soldiers barged into our homes and forced us into their van. You saw how those animals insulted us, how they treated us with no respect. To worsen the situation the Jefferson family who have been long term friends, have now become enemies. Yesterday we were humiliated, I was humiliated because one of my children chose to do the wrong thing”. Stanley Coker said when everyone had finally settled.As he spoke the room was quiet as a graveyard. The only other sound apart from Stanley Coker's voice was the tick tock of the wall clock. “For years now I have emphasized the importance of family and sacrifices for the family. I have also made it clear to everyone in this family that no form of indiscipline or misbehavior will be condoned. There are rules
Andrew kissed Maliya's forehead before leaving. He wanted to buy her lunch from her favorite restaurant. By the time he got to his personal packing space, Pete was already there waiting. When Pete saw Andrew, he rushed to open the door of the car for Andrew then he went back to the driver's seat and drove off.“Any reports Pete?” Andrew asked. “Yes sir. The Jefferson auction assignment was successful. Not one member of the Western army under Major General Zed Jefferson survived. I ensured that. The other Jeffersons are unharmed. I have kept an eye on these past few days. They are all in town, just laying really low. I also questioned the Jefferson's individually about the whereabouts of the lava heart but sir they did not seem to know. Martha Jefferson thought that only Zed Jefferson would know that he is dead now”, Pete said .“Good job Pete. Keep monitoring the Jeffersons. I want to know where they go, why they go there and when they do. ”. Andrew paused and lit a cigarette.“Abo