Chapter 9 No one messes with Xavier

As soon as he left, the wind of realization brushed against her pale skin. She swallowed hard, gazing at her apartment. Now she had to face it all again. Her distraught self walked towards her house with guilt washing through her. She thought of how she dismissed Chloe in the hospital cowardly and instantly felt stupid

"Long day?" A familiar voice was heard just when she was about to press the elevator door open. She swirled around, planting a fake smile on her face. It was something she was fond of _masking her misery with curved lips.

"Patrick," said Rachael to her neighbor who developed a pesky habit of always checking up on her. Despite how much she wanted to shun him for it, she couldn't. He always had a grin on his face that made her wordless. "Yes" she mouthed

"New job?" He asked, gazing at her from top to bottom. Her outfit was too formal for her and he noticed it.
"Yeah"

"Wow! A famous blogger, now an office worker. How amazing"

"Not it's not...." She snapped. "It's not amazing a bit," she said in a soft tone. With the way he furrowed his eyebrow, it was obvious he had a lot of questions and she was the one who created them for him.

"I have to go Patrick" she blurted out before he could part his lips to speak. Her hand pressed the elevator button as she got in. She had many things to worry about. About how her mother had only a month to leave. Her wobbly legs almost failed when the thoughts stormed in. Her bleak heart threatened to do the same too.

Rachael felt chills as she opened her apartment door. Chloe sat on the couch, staring blankly into space. She didn't bother glancing at the door as if she knew it was Rachael. Rachael stayed quiet, standing at the door, consumed by the awkward silence.

"You home finally" Chloe turned to her whilst she spoke.

"I... Am" Rachael breathed out sharply."Where's mum?"

"In the damn hospital. Didn't you get the message when I told you she is terminal!" Chloe yelled at her. Rachael broke down, letting the tears flow.

"They didn't let her come home?" she paused to catch her breath. " She is terminal, what the fuck is she still doing at the hospital. Aren't we supposed to spend her last... Last days with her?"

When Rachael said this Chloe fell back in her seat, rummaging her already rough hair as she sobbed. "I can't lose her Rachael" she looked up at her with red puffy eyes.

"I know honey" Rachael rushed to where Chloe was after carelessly dropping her bag on the floor. She sat with her, resting her head on her shoulder as she patted Chloe's hair slowly. That didn't take away the pain, she knew, but there was nothing she could do.

It stunk so bad that it made it harder for her to breathe. Words couldn't express how much she needed it to go away, but she was stuck in the reality of the impossibility of that.
"It's okay," said Rachael with a cracked voice while Chloe sobbed on her shoulder quietly.

***********
Austin shifted uncomfortably on his seat with his eyes not leaving Xavier's. He was scared of what Xavier might do if he looked away. It was stupid of him to think that way when he was surrounded by two confraternity members; Lucas and Hardy accompanied by three bodyguards. Xavier wasn't the only one he needed to worry about, but poor Austin couldn't help it. Especially when Xavier had that stiff look on his face.

"Jerry said you didn't want anything to do with me" Xavier spoke first and watched as Austin shuddered at his voice. Austin looked around at the tightly secured room which had a little lightning enough to see the look on all their faces, but still, deem as their black suit blended into it.

" H... He... He got it all wrong my friend" he gave off a nervous smile
"Friend?" Xavier humphed. "Friends don't act that way Austin"

"Yes, that was wrong of me. We can sign the contract as soon as possible. We could even do it right now"

"There's no need for that"

He stood up from where he sat and walked towards Austin. Austin stiffened a bit.

"You know what happens to anybody who messes with me?" He asked as Austin shook his head like a scared child

"I kill them, bury them, give the police no clue for investigation, and just like that" he snapped his hand. "They are forgotten"

"Jerry got the wrong idea" he begged, following Xavier with his eyes as he kept circling where he sat.

"This contract was supposed to be a great deal, not only for my company, but also for my confraternity, but you messed it up because of an article" he stopped in front of Austin who was sweating profusely. "Lucas doesn't like disappointment"

Austin drifted his eyes away from Xavier, looking behind him. He couldn't tell who Lucas was. One of them had an angry look on his face. While the other one had a relaxed nonchalant expression. He looked back at Xavier. The intense look in his eyes almost made Austin pass out.

"If you don't want the contract signed, what do you want then"

"Nothing" Xavier whispered.

Austin was confused at first, but when he saw Xavier take a gun from one of the bodyguards, the confusion turned into fear. He immediately dropped to the floor with his hands placed together.

"Perfect position to die" Xavier smirked

"Please let me go. I'm begging" he cried like a child, tears trickling down his cheeks.

"I would have, but Lucas would go after you instead. Isn't that right?" he turned to look at the both of them. The black-haired guy who seemed relaxed nodded. "Trust me, you don't want that" he dramatically placed his hand on his chest to create an effect.

"Please"

"Enough!" Xavier yelled angrily at him and he gulped.

"When you recover from this, probably you'll learn a lesson" Xavier shrugged. As Austin still tried to process what Xavier said, he was shot in his left leg. He fell to the floor with his lips parted. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. The pain was too excruciating for him to react. Xavier didn't stop there, he fired at his other leg, bringing Austin to a state of unconsciousness as a result of shock.

Xavier stepped back, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The room was stuffy with the smell of blood filling the place.

"You didn't kill him?" Hardy said to Xavier, moving closer to the scene.

"No, I did not " Xavier tilted his head, peering his eyes into Hardy's as if challenging him to utter his decision.


"I thought you were going to"

"It's not worth it"

"At least both of his legs would be gone. I can live with that" Lucas tutted

"Clean this up," Xavier said to the guards as he dropped his gun on lifeless Austin and began to make his way out of the warehouse. The blood and sweat gave him breath issues.