Chapter two

“Kara!!!”

“Mom!” I called out as I walked into the living room and it was pitch black with no sign of them anywhere.

I could have thought the worst but everything was in order.

With the only light shining from the top of the stairs, directly from my room, I headed upstairs ignoring how odd and eery everything seemed.

I paused slightly on the stairs when I heard Kara’s and my mother’s low cries coming from my room. Without thinking, I rushed towards them.

“What’s going on here?!” Scared to the marrow of my bones I asked as my mom and sister were both on the floor holding each other while crying.

I turned to the men standing in front of them and fell to my knees

“Please don’t hurt them, I promise to pay the months we fall behind and three months ahead,” I begged even though my heart was clogged with fear. The men were so huge and looked like they could kill us if they wanted to.

“And let’s hope you don’t plan on paying back with this money?” One of them asked, holding the same small box I used to store my savings for school.

It was only then I realized that my room was completely torn apart.

“Please let them go, I promise to always be on time from now on” I continued to plead.

The man groaned with a scowl on his face like he was irritated by my begging “I would advise you to provide the complete money now because the boss can’t wait any longer.”

“You can take the whole money and then I’ll have three more months to cover up,” I begged as tears slid down my cheeks. I was giving up on college, given up on my dreams to save my sister and mother.

“Ha ha ha, very funny girl you are. This is out of the question,” He said, pocketing my money for college,like it was nothing.

Failing to bear the pains of having my life savings gone to ashes I continue to beg, having no other option.

“Let’s cut the chase, bring the older one here!” He ordered and two men immediately grabbed my mom and pushed her down violently close to their leaders feet.

“Please we’ve shown you where the money is, can you let us go now?” She shivered.

“The boss is in no need of your money anymore, he wants one of your daughters as payment,” he said, dropping the ice and the room immediately went quiet.

“One year with him will settle a month’s payment, so you’ll be free after 10 years.” The man explained and my feet ran cold.

Hearing those words pushed real knives into my heart. I need no soothsayer to tell me my mom is going to sacrifice.

I turned to her and just like I expected, she was looking directly at me.

Without wasting a second, I stood up on my feet and ran as fast as I could. One of the men was about to grab me but luckily, I had been taking gymnastics classes so I was able to swerve before he could touch me.

I ran down the stairs and out the house and they were hot on my trail as they yelled at me to stop but I’ll be damn if I did.

If they thought I was going to marry an old man like Mr Montey, they had another thing coming.

I leg out a scream as gunshots were suddenly fired at me and I turned around to see the man earlier with a gun in his hand aimed directly at me.

“Shit!” I cussed and was about to run past the road when I kicked a stone and fell flat on my face and immediately, I heard a screeching sound.

I looked up and gasped when I saw a car mere inches away from me. I hurriedly looked sideways and saw my pursuers were still after me and it was only in a matter of seconds before they caught up to me.

I tried getting up but winced and fell back on the ground and that was when I noticed I had been shot on my foot.

“Oh no! Not now” I muttered to myself at the same time the owner of the car got out and walked towards me.

I looked up and my eyes connected with the most beautiful honey brown eyes I had ever seen.

“Please help me, I’m begging you” I cried out to the man but he just stared at me with disinterest.

“Crawl out of my way or I’m going to drive over you” He muttered and I stared at him in shock. Couldn’t he see I was shot or did he simply not care?

“Please help me! Some bad men are after me and if you don’t help me, they’ll kill me so please!” I cried out again. Maybe he hadn’t heard me the first time.

“That sounds like a you problem, sweetheart” He uttered then turned around and was about to walk away but I grabbed onto his leg.

“Please! I’ll do anything, anything you want!” I cried out and he paused.

“Anything? Marry me then” He uttered before slowly turning to me and I froze.

“What?” Who in their right mind asks a stranger he just met to marry him?

I was running away from a marriage, I couldn’t get into another one. Why was I so unfortunate in life?

“No” I muttered and he shrugged.

“Then move” He uttered and was about to walk away but the men were already too close. Wasn’t it better to marry this psychotic handsome jerk than an ugly old man?

“Fine, I’ll marry you, just help me!” I cried out and I could have sworn I saw a smirk on his face.

He instantly carried me off the ground at the same time the bad men appeared in front of us. I didn’t know if this stranger was going to beat off two hefty men but I was putting my whole hope and life on him.

“Give us the girl and we’ll let you go" One of the men uttered and my hold on the strange man tightened.

“How can I give her up when we haven’t even exchanged vows yet?” The stranger uttered and I found myself slipping into unconsciousness.

Before everything turned black, I heard one of the men utter fearfully.

“You… you’re Mr Egon?” Then everything turned black