A PIECE OF ADVICE

Lee’s feet slapped against the well-tiled ceramic floor as he amounted his slow gaits to where Zac and others were staying in the pulchritudinous living room.
“Hi, boss,” he greeted Zac with a small bow and just waved a little at the people standing behind him.
“Yes, fill me in. What’s up?” Zac commanded impatiently as though he had been waiting for him for some time now.
“Her day went normal as usual, boss. But something strange happened on her way back home,” Lee reported, bringing his two hands to his back.
“A guy was trying to talk to her but she wouldn’t allow him and even slapped him, looking so furious,”
Zac’s full brows puckered, as he pondered for a bit.
“Who was the guy? Did you find out?” he asked.
“Yes, boss. His name is Cole and his parents are…”
“Hold on,” Zac interrupted him halfway through his sentence, a flicker of irritation passing over his stony face.
“What did you call his name again?”
“Cole. Cole William,” Lee answered quickly.
After listening to Lee, a flash of that night replayed in his head and he vividly recalled Ava’s words from that night, ‘Promise me you won’t ever leave my side again, Cole,’
Something knotted and painful released in him, he felt a strange of loss as he raised his head to look at Lee.
He took a full minute to respond, possibly because he had trouble unlocking his jaw.
“Find out their relationship. Their past, present, everything,”
Lee bounced his head in understanding, “Sure, boss”
All this time, Reid and the Lady, Arianna, were just standing there quietly, watching from Zac to Lee in bewilderment as they couldn’t quite catch anything.
Zac suddenly rose from his seat and turned to face Reid, “Where’s he?”
“In the dungeon,” Reid reacted immediately, putting away his thought and readjusted his expression.
“Let’s go,” he put his hands in his pocket and strode toward the stairs with Reid following closely behind him.
As soon as Zac was out of sight, Arianna briskly walked over to Lee and stared at his face intently.
“What?” Lee raised his eyebrows and made to walk forward but his movement was stopped by Arianna.
“Tell me, whose day went normal as usual?” she gazed up at Lee and asked inquisitively.
“I’m not under the obligation to share that information with you, Arianna,” Lee responded with boredom in his voice.
Arianna’s jaw dropped, her eyes widening with horror.
Lee ignored the look on her face and proceeded to walk away but then, he was dragged back by his shirt collar and he rolled his eyeballs in frystration, straightening his collar.
“Since when have you started keeping things from me, Lee?” she couldn’t keep the tartness out of her voice.
“Since when I realized that you’ll never look at me the way you look at boss, Arianna,” Lee shot back, his expression darkening.
“What?” Arianna mouthed, quirking an incredulous brow.
“Yes, Arianna. You were obviously aware of my feelings for you, but what did I get in return? Condescension,” he said in a low voice now, emotions churning in his gut like rancid butter.
“No, Lee, that was not true. I was never…” Arianna tried to defend herself, her big blue eyes radiating with sympathy.
“Hey, give me a break,” Lee stopped her from talking by raising a hand to her face.
“It’s alright now, but I need to tell you this,” he paused and leaned over that his mouth was almost touching her ear.
“It would be wise if you quit dreaming of a chance with boss already. Because lately, a college girl had managed to trap his heart without him realizing it,”
Right after Lee said these words, Arianna’s heart stopped with terror, feeling manipulated, frustrated, and aggrieved.
She raised her eyes to meet his grinning face. “Just a piece of advice, you know,” he put in with a broad wink.
Anger rushed up in her heart but she still pretended to be nonchalant. Her gaze followed his figure as he approached the stairs and soon disappeared into the foyer upstairs.
_________
In the dungeon, that looked beautiful with interior captivating sculptures design that one would doubt the fact that it was just an oubliette. Actually, it was not only a prison but a training room too.
A lot of artilleries, including riffles, short guns, handguns, cannons, rapiers, and swords, all could be seen in different sizes and models, shattered around the golden walls.
There sat his majesty on a velveteen chaise with his long legs crossed, his back was leaned in the chair and his fingers were gently on the armrest rhythmically as if he was thinking about something.
Meanwhile, there was a blonde guy sitting opposite him, his head was lowered causing his long nearly black hair to cover his face.
This unknown guy's hands were tied to his back and a soft groan could be heard coming from his mouth as well.
“I’m sure you know very well that we’re not the reason you are still here,” Reid spoke up from the guy’s back.
“It’s very simple. Tell us where Walker is right now, then we let you go,” he proclaimed, amounting his slow pace to stand beside Zac.
The guy muffled a deep groan in his throat, it seemed he was having trouble raising his head and that was because he had received a severe torture from Reid and Zac’s men.
Looking at Zac and Reid now, through the few strands of hair that were covering his face, “Even if you put a gun to my head,” his words were slurred but full of grievance.
“I will never reveal my boss’s location,” he completed through clenched teeth, shaking his head slightly in an attempt to bring his head backward since his hands were tied.
He succeeded with his trial and his swollen face could be seen clearly now.
Zac made a face and then got on his feet. His longer fingers unbuttoned his suit as he ambled to the gun sector.
“Do you know why I won’t kill you, little fella?” his voice was quite distant as if his words were floating in the air.
This unknown guy gulped down nothing as he watched his back that was now backing them. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy at what Zac had said just now or not.
Although, this was the first time he would be meeting Zac since when he had been working for his boss but he had heard a lot of things about him.
He was not a man anyone could mess with and he was by no means a man anyone could control.
However, inferring from what he had just said, without anyone telling him, he knew that he didn’t deserve Zac’s mercy but he said he won’t kill him; could it be that all he had heard about him were all false and Zac has a soft demeanor?
During this time, Zac had rolled his sleeves up and had grabbed a revolver, and was now walking over slowly. Every step was firm and steady.
Sighting the gun in his hand, all the good thoughts this unknown guy was thinking about him disappeared at once as he watched his tall frame crouched above him on the seat.
“I’m envious of your courage, you know. You are so brave and I really wish not to kill you,”
On his lips were sweet words but in his eyes carried no tinge of warmth. His expression was so dark that this guy couldn’t help but shrank inside like a wilted flower.
“But since you’ve said that even if I place a gun to your head, you won’t still reveal Walker’s whereabouts. Then I have no reason to keep you alive, isn’t it?” his tone carried a hint of sarcasm while he trailed the gun from his skull to his throat.
Sweats beaded on this guy’s head and his Adam apple was now throbbing harder.
Zac saw this and looked back into his puffed-up eyes, “Come on, brave boy. Are you afraid of death now?”
This chap couldn’t voice a reply but continued to stare into the pair of powerful handsome eyes that penetrated his.
“You were among those who slaughtered Travis, right?”
This unknown man swallowed over the knot of anguish in his throat. Of course, he was among them or should he say that he was their spearhead.
“You don’t keep quiet whenever I’m asking a question!” Zac bellowed and the next moment, he had taken just a step backward and cocked the gun and then fired it at the guy’s left knee.
“Yes, I was!” the guy cried out in anguish, feeling the sharp pain that had traveled everywhere around his body system.
All this time, Reid just remained stationary, watching as more blood spilled out uncontrollably from the guy’s leg.
“Now you are also going to experience the same thing you made Travis go through,” Zac showed a worse expression as he said these to him.
Right then, he spun around and tossed the gun to Reid.
“While you are at it, make sure Arianna is making the video,” he gave an instruction while walking out of the place.
“Okay, boss,”