Where Sinners Gets Cleans

Clara POV

A gun was being pointed at Lucia's head, and three other hefty men were standing behind the sofa where the boss had sat.

Looking at Lucia and looking at my dog, who was in his hands, I was confused and couldn't speak. And not just that, Otis didn't appear to be aggressive at the boss; it's as though the had known each other from somewhere.

Lucia's eyes were filled with fear as she stared at me, and the boss was sneering while staring at me as well.

"I've been waiting for a reply, and because I didn't get any, that's why I had come to ask for the reply myself," he said softly, as though he was trying his best to subdue his anger and trying to act nice. "So tell me, what was the answer? Do you prefer to be mine, or do you prefer to be the little bird in the cage?"

Cage!

The word "cage" repeated inside my head like a plague devouring me. Not only has this man tracked me down, he was also pointing a gun at my best friend's head—who had taken all risks just to help me.

Realizing it won't be of any good if I argued and the end result would end up putting my friend's life at risk, I fell on my knees and began to beg.

"Please, I will do all you asked. Don't just hurt my friend, please, I beg of you."

He scoffed. "Who says I was going to hurt your friend? I didn't come for her, I had come for you, and I will take what I had come for."

His expression changed after ending the last words, and with that, his gaze went down at Otis, my dog, before adding, "Is the dog yours?"

I didn't answer. I was just there with my knees pressed against the ground, and then he added, "The dog looks pretty."

He then checked if it was a male or female dog, and when he discovered it was a male dog, he chuckled with a slight laugh before saying again, "Oh, it's a male. No wonder he could recognize the alpha very quickly and submit to me."

He was saying this while staring and running his hands over the dog fur, and when he lifted his gaze to me, he asked coldly, "And here is the question: will you surrender to me?"

He burst into laughter after making these words. It was just so annoying that I couldn't even tell when he was angry, neither serious nor being cold to me; the mixed feeling coming from him was becoming too much for me to comprehend.

"If I may ask, what has she done to you? Let her go..." Lucia, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke, but she dared not to move because the gun was still pointed to her head by another man that had come with the boss.

"And who gave you permission to speak when I don't..." The words sounded one at a time, like a predator warning its prey, and Lucia, who I thought to be a tough woman, coiled up like a snail into its shell.

"Please don't hurt her, she has done nothing to you! If you want to take me, then do it, but don't extend any of my suffering to my loved ones..." I cried out.

The boss scoffed before gesturing for his men to take me.

The men came to me and dragged me up by my shoulders, and before walking me out the door, the boss's voice sounded: "For trying to run away without giving me an answer, there's a price to pay."

He sounded very cold and serious when making those words, and I wasn't even given a chance to say a word before they completely dragged me out the door. I didn't know what he would do to Lucia, nor my dog.

I became very worried. I cried out to him not to do anything to Lucia, but my words were like wind swirling in the air as they kept dragging me to the car they had come with.

I tried to struggle out, but I couldn't. I even went ahead to punch one of the men in his face and tried to break the glass, but the car entirely was bulletproof, and every detail and glass on the car was reinforced with security and heavy metal proofing.

The men tried to hold me down, but in every try, my body kept finding a way to slide out from their restraints. With no choice left for them, they had to do one thing.

One of the men brought out a white cloth and covered my nose with it, and the moment I inhaled it, I gradually began to lose Concoursness, and so I passed out.

Waking up, my head throbbed with an intense headache, and I couldn't even see. Everywhere was dark.

Could I have died?

I wish I could know if I had died, but the only thing meeting my gaze was absolute darkness.

I felt my legs restrained—restrained by iron, like I was being chained. And not just that, when I raised my hands, I heard a cracking chain sound.

Could I be chained in hell? Could I have died and gone to hell? But what have I done to go to hell?

I couldn't make sense of anything before me, which was darkness. My heart kept on racing, and my panic intensified, until the switch clicked upward and the room lit up with light from the bulb.

Before me was the boss, seated on a wooden chair. The part where he was supposed to lean his back was facing me, with his legs spread at both sides of the chair and his hands relaxed at the part facing me, with his head on top of his hands and a sneer on his face.

"It took you longer to wake up. At some point, I thought you were dead or something," he said. No smile could be seen on his face.

"So you think you can disobey my orders and think there won't be consequences for it? You trying to escape means you have gone against my words and against the only privilege that was left for you to very well live the life you have always craved."

He was looking scary as he spoke, and I was already shivering. With a dark, mocking sneer, he added, "Welcome to my purgatory, where all sinners get cleansed before repenting.”