Vexon
I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Mane. Twisted people like that actually existed in this world. It was unbelievable!
"Enough chitchats. Get to the confession, Vexon Bevine," Liam spoke up, pushing the muzzle of the gun against Everley's head hard, which made her whimper. It broke my heart at that instant.
"I will confess. Stop hurting," I let out.
"Okay, fine." Liam took out the sound recorder from his pocket and held it out. "On the count of three, start speaking. I don't have all the time in the world for a criminal like you," he warned.
"Liam, please," Ruby requested, tears brimming out of her eyes.
"Sorry, Ruby. I have to do this," Liam told her, but I could feel that it seemed like a genuine apology to Ruby. Was I hallucinating?
"It's okay, Ruby. No matter what happens to me, I'll know that my family will be safe. You will keep your promise, right? Don't let my family get hurt in all of this," I said to her but she shook her head, her gray eyes telling me to stop all these from happening.
"Yeah, yeah." Liam was getting impatient. ��Hurry.��
I sucked in a deep breath and started speaking, "I am��"
Ruby held her breath and closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to hear me confess at all. Everley was shaking her head in denial, motioning me not to confess. On the contrary, the smug grin on Liam's face was at its peak as promotion was waiting for him after he got me, a Mafia king, arrested.
I smirked and said, "I am not stupid."
Liam's eyes widened as he let out, "What do you mean? Do you want me to kill this girl right now?" He grabbed Everley by the hair, making her squeak.
"Let go of my daughter," I spoke up in a dangerous voice, which immediately made him let go of her hair. Yet, he had the gun trained on her head. "Do you think everyone around you is stupid? I don't know which sorts of Mafia you have dealt with until now, I sure as hell that I am not falling for your trap."
"You talk as if you have got anything against me," Liam snickered, however I could see a little bit of fear in his eyes.
"I don��t know about you having anything against me, but are you sure that I don't have anything against you?" I challenged, which made him waver a little bit.
"What do you have against me?" he asked fearfully this time.
I let out a humorless laugh. "Why are you afraid now? Aren't you the best police officer there one can ever have? There's nothing you fear, right?" I taunted him, while he gulped. ��Or is there any?��
"Stop beating around the bush, and tell me right now!" he yelled this time, losing his temper.
"At first glance, an officer who doesn't take bribes and puts the bribe offerer behind bars may seem like an honest officer. But no officer can be more heinous than the ones that put innocent people into jail for the sake of promotion," I started repeating what Mane had told me. "You have put countless innocent people in the jail as criminals and have been using dirty methods against the real criminals to get them to confess, by blackmailing them about their families."
Ruby gasped hearing all this. She couldn't believe her friend, more like her childhood friend was carrying such a disgusting personality behind that polite nature. She was friends with such a disgusting person like that.
Liam sweated, clearly nervous about being exposed.
"Why would you even do something like that?" Ruby couldn't help but ask. It just slipped out of her mouth.
��Obviously for promotion,�� I blurted out, which made Liam dumbstruck. ��If he caught world-famous criminals on a regular basis, promotion letters would be arriving at his desk very often, won't they now?�� I let out.
I would have to give a trophy to him for using his job in such a clever way. Since he didn't lack any wealth, he climbed his way up in his job through dirty methods. Cops like him still existed. How disgusting!
"Didn't you say you would be an honest officer, Liam? How could you change like that?" Ruby asked him, with her broken voice.
"You have no place to taunt me, Ruby. I have nothing against Vexon for this because he was born in a family full of criminals. But Ruby, how could you marry someone like him? Didn't you ask me to protect you from a Mafia if he ever came after you? Then why are you the queen of a Mafia gang now?" Liam retorted.
"He is not in the Mafia. Besides, if he ever is in the Mafia, I would still stay with him. Because I love him, and nothing else matters," Ruby replied without any hesitation. "If being with him requires me to be the queen of a Mafia gang, I would gladly sacrifice my life for that,�� answered Ruby while I adored the way she covered up my secret of being in the Mafia.
Liam was just guessing I was in the Mafia, he didn��t have any proof.
Whereas, Ruby never failed to make me feel proud of her. She may have been a crying mess at home and all the way here, but since the moment she arrived, she had been very strong and patient. Our daughter was right in front of us, tied up to a chair, yet we were holding back for the sake of peaceful trade.
"Doesn't his profession bother you? He can get you killed," Liam tried to reason out, still trying to make us confess that we were in the mafia. ��And stop lying about not being in the Mafia. You guys have weapons.��
��We run an armament company so we are bound to carry weapons,�� Ruby replied to him, while I just watched them. "Also, to answer your question, like I said, I would die for him."
I hated hearing the word 'die' from her mouth, but at times like this, it only made me love her more. She was covering up for me and also openly confessing her immense love.
��And I would kill for him too.�� With that, Ruby took out her gun and fired at Liam's arm. Her aim was on point and it hit his wrist, making the gun on his hand drop.
If someone ever thought Ruby wasn't compatible to be the Queen of Gladiolus, they should have seen Ruby at this moment. I never made the wrong choice about her. It made me feel guilty for even thinking that she would be a liability. But now wasn't the time to think about that as I rushed over to Liam and punched him in the face, knocking him over to the ground.
Liam was about to grab his gun back with his other hand, but I kicked off his gun and picked up my gun from the ground, and pointed at him, mumbling, "Move another inch and you are a dead meat."
I glanced at Ruby sideways to find her unwrapping the ropes around Everley. Both the mother and daughter were a crying mess by the time they hugged each other. They really longed to see each other, and I knew how they felt. Come what may, I was a father too.
"Baby, are you alright? Where does it hurt? Let Mom see it." Ruby checked for any wounds on Everley's body. She caressed her cheek and the bruise on her forehead. "How did you get these?" she asked Everley.
"Liam slapped me when I asked him to bring me to you," Everley mumbled in a quiet voice, still afraid of Liam.
Hearing Everley, my nose flared in anger. I kicked him in the guts a few times, which made him cough up. That bastard deserved it. He wounded my daughter after all. I punched him in the face. Beating him up like this was nearly not enough for making us suffer like that. He deserved at least a year's worth of torture in our dungeon.
I placed the muzzle of my gun straight at his forehead, which made him cower in fear. "How does it feel being on the other side of that gun, huh?" I asked, in a deep and dangerous voice.
"Please don't kill me," he begged, looking at me as tears sprinkled out of his eyes.
I placed my hands on the trigger. I knew I would regret killing him at this moment, but nothing would please my soul more than his dead body right now.
"Vexon," Ruby called out. I could feel her glaring eyes at the back of my head. I immediately removed my finger from the trigger, well aware of what she was going to say next. "You promised me that you won't kill Liam."
"Yeah, I know." I rolled my eyes and focused my attention on Liam again. "Hey, you, let's make an actual deal this time."
"Sure, I would give anything in exchange for my life," Liam let out desperately. ��Please offer any deal as long as it doesn��t cost my life.��
"From now on, don't ever mess with me or my family. Don't even think about doing anything to my family. Or else, I would expose everything about you. So, the deal is that we both will stay out of each other's way and keep each other's secret," I offered before standing up on my feet.
"You really won't expose or kill me?" he asked.
I huffed and replied, "I really don't care what you do to others as long as it isn't related to me or my family. Go ahead and put innocent people in jail, I don't give a fuck. And as for killing you, you can see that your friend won't let me do that. Therefore, you are free to live your life the way you used to. Be grateful to Ruby for that."
"Thanks, Ruby. I'm really grateful," he let out, trying to sit up.
"Don't be. Think of it as a payback for all the times you have helped me out as a kid and protected me from the neighborhood bullies," Ruby told him in a kind voice. I wondered how she could still be so kind. "But I can never forgive you for hurting my daughter," she concluded and started making her towards the car with Everley.
I was about to walk too when Liam spoke up, "If you ever need any help with anything, I will always be willing to lend a hand."
"I don't think I will need that anytime soon," I said to him and ran after my wife and daughter. Why would I ever need his help? It was better to never even see his annoying face ever again.
I picked Everley in my arms and hugged her tightly. Everley wrapped her small arms around my neck and let out in a muffled voice, "Dad."
She still must have been shaken up for all the things that happened in the past few hours. I decided not to say anything and held her in my arms for a few moments. Before I knew it, she was already fast asleep. I opened the back seat car door for Ruby and made Everley lie down there.
I got in the driver's seat and drove off.
"Rescue mission is completed. Don't get involved with Liam Jackson anymore. Everyone, head back to the base," I commanded Mane over the earpiece and took it off from my ear.
Mane was waiting nearby with some of the members of my gang. They were planning to invade upon my order. But fortunately, they didn��t have to invade and Liam didn��t get any proof of me ruling the Mafia Gladiolus. It was better that way because I didn��t trust that cunt at all.
Sun was already on its way to rise, indicating the start of a new day. I hoped for this day to be better than last night. All I wanted now was to lie down in the bed and sleep with my wife and daughter for a few hours straight, without caring about my work.
I glanced at the rearview mirror and smiled, looking at my beautiful wife and daughter. Ruby was caressing Everley's head lightly while looking at her wounds with sad eyes. When she noticed me looking their way, she shot me a glare.
I turned back my gaze to the road.
Well, I sure had a lot of apologizing to do, didn't I? I screwed up everything very badly. Fuck my luck!
___
I walked into the Bevine mansion with Everley in my arms and Ruby behind me. Everley was awake by the time we reached home, probably due to a nightmare she had in the car. She would have those for some time and we had to find a way to lessen it. She was traumatized with the kidnapping. In fact, if she wasn��t traumatized, it would have scared me.
I made her sit on the bed of her room and ordered Maya to get some water for Everley on the way. I brought my first aid kit from the room and placed it beside her. I and Ruby, we both started to treat her wounds.
Even though I was applying antiseptic on her cuts, Everley wasn't expressing any pain. How much did that bastard hurt my daughter to make her feel like this?
"Does it not hurt, Ev?" I asked but got no response from her. "Ev?" I shook her shoulder and she snapped out of her trance. "Is something bothering you?"
Everley lowered her head and shook her head meekly.
"You can tell us, Ev. Mom and Dad are there for you," I assured her.
Ruby was quiet the whole time. She was just observing me and Everley with an emotionless face.
"D-Dad��" Everley choked on her voice and once again wrapped her arms around my neck. She broke out crying. "I was so scared. I thought you and Mom won't come to save me. I thought I would die."
I let her cry as I continued stroking her hair, waiting for her to calm down. It pained me to have my daughter cry for something like that. She had always been so strong for a kid of her age. But things like this would traumatize anyone. Even I felt like crying.
"I am so sorry, sweetheart. Dad has disappointed you, hasn't he? I'm so very sorry," I murmured, rubbing her back in circles.
"Never. As your daughter, I can never be disappointed in you, Dad," Everley mumbled, which managed to make me smile slightly.
However, the next few words which came out from Ruby made me snap my head in her direction, as she mumbled, "But as your wife, I'm very disappointed in you, Vexon."
