Chapter 04 (b)

A terrible sound of breaking things jolted everybody around. The man in his study room — as he was having a meeting with some of his partners, flinched in his spot. He grabbed the edge of the table and a sigh escaped him. 

He looked up at the members and gave them an apologetic smile, uttering, “I shall go out and check. Excuse me.” He got up as all of them just nodded. He left the room, his body posture a bit nervous but then, he squared his shoulders and walked ahead until he spotted the scattered pieces of an antique vase lying near a table, placed against the white wall. 

He sighed when he found a red stiletto heel lying with the pieces and then, his restless gaze immediately turned to look at the stairs. There he spotted his everything — his loving daughter, marching up to her room, stomping her feet against the floor. There was one sandal on her foot while the other was bare. She was having difficulty but she was so stubborn that she did not even care about her discomfort. 

She opened the door and went inside. 

“Maddison!” He uttered, and a woman rushed from a room and bowed before him, uttering, “Yes, Sir.” 

“Tell them to leave. We’ll continue it tomorrow.” The lady nodded and left. He also walked up to his daughter’s room. The door was opened like always because he knew that even though Gabriella did not seek attention, she had a habit of ignoring everything when she was angry. 

His gaze softened when he found her curled up in a corner of her room. She hugged her legs and was panting like a fish out of water. He did not get why she looked so scared. So he carefully walked in her direction and crouched down, putting his hand on her head and caressing it slowly. 

“What happened, my princess? Why are you so scared?” He mumbled softly, so she would not run away due to fear. She already looked horrified. 

“D-Dad!” She looked up and he noticed her beautiful emerald eyes were glassy. It made his heart clench badly. “D-Dad, I did something w-wrong!” That confused him more. 

He frowned as he heard her. “What did you do?” He asked, still caressing her head. 

“I-I… I k-killed s-someone! D-Dad, please!” She could not stop herself and started crying. That was more twisted. 

“Who?” He asked firmly. 

Gabriella looked at him and mumbled, “I-I don’t want to go to j-jail, dad. I’m s-sorry, please… forgive me! I-I’ll never do something l-like that a-again.” She cried more hysterically then. “I swear I—”

“God, Gabby, shut the hell up and tell me who you killed! I won’t send you to jail, my love! I won’t! Now tell me.” 

“It’s John,” she whimpered and her father as if stopped breathing for a second. His lips parted in bewilderment because he knew John was one of the bodyguards Christian assigned to his family. But he was also good at gathering information. He had no idea how Gabriella ended up killing him, but he had no other way than to save his daughter. 

“Please, dad, please!” She clasped her hands together and cried harder. He hugged her, shushing her softly, “It’s okay, Gabby. You don’t have to worry about it. You’re my daughter. I won’t let anything happen to you, baby. You’re my angel. Now please, stop crying.” 

As he said those words, Gabriella peeped at him and nodded softly. “It wasn’t intentional, dad.” She shook her head lightly. “I didn’t want to k-kill him,” she continued, laying her head against his chest and sobbing on it. 

“I know, Gabby. Now please don’t cry. You can catch a cold, sweetheart,” he said soothingly as he caressed her back. “I won’t let any harm come to you.” 

“You promise, dad?” 

“Yes, baby.” 

~⁠♪

“Robert,” he said in a whisper as he walked out of his daughter’s room after sending her to bed. He carefully closed the door and walked downstairs. 

“Sir, sorry for the inconvenience, but now, John’s in our captivity.” 

He frowned after what he heard on the line, confusion masked his face. “Captivity, what? He isn’t dead?” He asked, keeping his voice low. 

“No, sir. Ma’am thought she killed him but it was just that he fainted.” 

“How?” 

Robert sighed over the call. “Ma’am got to know that Mr Daud sent John to check on his penthouse for Ms Paulose.” 

“Who?” 

“Um… the girl Mr Daud bought from India.” He tried to keep it formal in the most formal way because he did not want to disrespect the girl. He had no right, according to him. With that, he did not think she deserved disrespect. 

“Oh, I get it! His youngest whore.” Robert stayed silent. He continued, “He wanted John to check on her? What’s so special?!”

“No idea, sir. And then Ma’am asked me to check on John. She asked me to kidnap him and so I did. She came to meet him but John escaped and tried to run away when she threw a metal box on his head and he fainted. She thought he was dead and I asked Milo to drop her at the mansion while I took care of John.”

He heard everything carefully and asked, “Is he conscious yet?” 

“No. But I guarantee you—”

“Kill him.” 

Robert was dumbfounded but he regained his senses as he uttered, “Is it compulsory, sir? I mean we can just make him understand —”

“And how?” 

“By… by a good beating.” 

“You sure we should take a risk, now, Robert?” He gritted out. “John worked for the Daud family for more than seven years. He’s a loyal dog. You think we can buy him?” Robert stayed silent because he had no answer. He just wanted to save John. All in all, he did not want to kill someone uselessly. That was wrong. And he was a bodyguard, not a killer or mafia. 

“Kill him, Robert. It’s the best.” He was about to cut the line when Robert interrupted, “We can kidnap his wife and kids, and that’s how we can keep his tongue-tied. We just shouldn’t kill—”

“You want to save him, Robert, don’t you?” 

“We’re humans, sir!” He sounded irritated. “Besides, he did nothing wrong.” 

“My daughter cried so much because of him, and you say he didn’t do anything? If we leave him, he’ll tell Christian everything and I don’t want to lose a son-in-law like him! It’s better if you listen to me, and kill him, Robert,” saying that, he cut the line and Robert sighed over the call. 

He looked back at John who was tied to a chair. He was already staring at Robert and he froze. He heard everything, and Robert concluded inside. 

John’s busted lips curved into a small smirk before he groaned, “You all are the pieces who make a shit together. That old man stooped too low and he’s spoiling his daughter.” 

“You don’t have to speak nonsense about Ms Smith.” 

“Hm, right. Kill me, that’s the order, after all.” He rolled his eyes and Robert could not help but feel pity for him. John did nothing wrong except for listening to his master and that is what he was getting in return for loyalty. 

Robert averted his gaze from the wounded John and brought out a gun from his waistband as he set it on John. Remorse made a layer on him and his hand shivered before he clenched his jaw and tightened his hold before pulling the trigger.