CHAPTER 14

Elisa's father fell back into his seat, a strange calm emitting from him as he spoke his final words. “Kill them” he ordered, his mind seemingly made up. And just like that, we were surrounded in seconds, multiple guns pointed at each of our heads, our men already restrained far behind us. “Eliot, you're going against our agreement!!!” Father retorted, trying to maintain his composure. “Agreement?” Elisa's father repeated, mocking father's choice of words. “The marriage alliance was only accepted with the hopes that you'd care for my daughter and treat her as one of your own, but instead of fulfilling your end of the bargain, you allowed your family to mistreat her, reducing her to such a state. I can't believe I actually entrusted her life into the hands of her mother's killer thinking we could bring an end to the disputes between our families and leave the past where it belongs but it seems you weren't truly in search of a reconciliation”. Father greeted his teeth in anger, looking like he was about to attack Elisa's father when uncle chimed in, still unfazed and unamused by the situation. “Mr Darkhorse, would you consider ordering your men to stand down and allow us to walk away from this unpleasant interaction, in exchange for a donor?”. Elisa's father laughed at uncle's offer, mocking his insolence. “It seems you truly are Nicholas's brother, you're just as good a liar as he is. Do you seriously expect me to believe you're capable of finding a donor for such a rare blood type? Are you trying to play me for a fool?!!!” he yelled, his frustration boiling over. “I don't expect you to trust that I'd keep to my end of the bargain, but would you really be willing to risk Elisa's life instead?”. He silently pondered upon hearing uncle's words, his gaze subtly shifting from the operating room to his men. He let out a deep sigh before finally speaking. “Stand down” he ordered, looking defeated as his men hesitantly obliged. Moments later the surgeon emerged from the operating room, his eyes landing directly on Elisa's father as they conversed, seemingly familiar. “Mr Darkhorse, it's good to see you're here. We've managed to stabilize her but it won't remain the same for long if we don't find a donor. If you don't mind me asking, how was she able to sustain such injuries? She has a fractured skull and was stabbed multiple times by what seemed to be glass shards, 2 of her ribs were broken and punctured her organs, causing them to fail and triggering her heart condition to relapse. She also sustained multiple other minor injuries but none as life threatening as the latter. How could you let her get hurt this badly despite being aware of her medical history…” the doctor's report on Elisa's condition was cut short by the arrival of the donor uncle had found. The doctor then proceeded with the donation, leaving the rest of us waiting in the lobby. The tense atmosphere was soon dispelled by Elisa's father's words. “Leave” he demanded, glaring hatefully at us as he spoke. “The marriage alliance is off, from now on we'll settle our differences with violence and brute force alone, negotiations are no longer an option. So I'd advise you to take your family and get lost, your fake concern isn't needed here, you should focus on finding a way to protect your family from what's to come, because I have no intention of holding back on my attacks anymore. I'll avenge my daughter's assassination as well as my wife's murder. I fully intend to rain hell on you Greyhounds for the harm you've caused my family, so you best be prepared”. His eyes blazed with hatred as he signaled his men to escort us out. I tried resisting, desperate to see for myself if Elisa was truly alright but great grandma stopped me. “It's of no use Damian, let's just leave peacefully”. Not willing to cause her anymore stress, I obliged. Just as we began to leave, the doors of the operating room burst open, bringing us to a halt as Elisa was rolled out on a stretcher, headed for the ICU. The image of her pale bruised face imprinted in my mind as we were forced away by the guards. It had only been 30minutes since we arrived at the family estate when we started receiving reports from different bases that had already been wiped out by unexpected attacks from the darkhorse. Father immediately called for a meeting to strategize retaliation but was shocked by the resistance of his officials. “Sir Nicholas, we've already lost 50,000 men with over $12 billion in damages of 7 bases just in the last 30 minutes. Our men are being crushed like ants, with nowhere to hide and no way to fight back as the darkhorse are making use of never before seen technology to wipe out each base in a single strike, we don't even have any information on this so called technology, considering the fact that everyone who has seen it is dead, the only thing notable about it from the reports is that a bright light is emitted before calamity grade destruction is unleashed. We can't possibly think of retaliation when we're barely withstanding their initial strikes”. The other officials nodded in agreement. Just as father was about to respond, several other reports came in stating that 13 other bases had fallen, raising the death count to over 300,000 and $85 billion in damages. The room fell into an uproar as the officials questioned father's leadership. Suffocated by their heated exchange, I stepped out to clear my head, eventually heading back to my room to think in silence. The moment I turned on the lights upon arrival, I was met with Sophia's unwanted presence. “What're you doing here?” I voiced with obvious displeasure. Before I could even take the initiative to force her out, she shoved a bunch of medical records into my hand as she spoke the words that shattered my already chaotic world. “I'm pregnant, and it's yours”.