Chapter 2

A few minutes later, Nicholas arrived at the meeting place in his werewolf form, bleeding. Everyone, including Cedric, was in a daze upon seeing him almost beaten to death.

As soon as Nicholas shifted back to his human form, his werewolf packs immediately extended their hands and helped patch his wounds and to remove the bullet out of his system before anything awful will happens to him.

On the other side of the story, the woman safely arrived at her dad's enormous mansion. Hundreds of her security hurriedly greeted and brought her to the main house the second she landed in their parking lot.

Unbeknownst to Nicholas' knowledge, he just met and helped, is someone wealthy and powerful beyond his brain could ever imagine. Someone who could either lift his life or drag him to the ground. Hell or heaven.

"What happened back there, Sophia? Did the rescue team arrive on time?" Gregory, the Mafia King, asked her daughter in a worried tone. As soon as the news reached Gregory's attention, he immediately sent a rescue team to make sure Sophia will make it out alive.

Sophia Lambert was the Mafia King's only child. As soon as Sophia's age turned eighteen, her dad immediately trained her on how to become the next kin of his multi-billion dollar businesses in and out of New York City. The Major Family, led by Gregory Lambert, owned eighty percent of the successful businesses within New York City alone.

Because of his old age, Gregory was already having a hard time staying everything in place. So, he asked and begged Sophia to attend one of the most significant meetings with the Minor Families, led by Vladimir, his older brother, and to know how their minor businesses are going.

But despite Sophia's hectic schedule, studying in the morning and becoming the Mafia Queen in the evening, she kept herself on the right track to make sure Gregory would be proud of her, especially when no one could continue his dad's legacy aside from her alone.

"How the hell would I know that, dad? I didn't find any rescue team back at the incident. There's only one ordinary guy who helped me there. Next time you have to send not just ten of our security personnel but hundreds of them if you let me handle your workload."

"An ordinary guy?" Gregory made it clear, partly interested. A few thoughts suddenly run through his mind. What he knew about the incident earlier was that Sophia's car got ambushed by twenty unknown individuals.

And it was purported that no one from her security guards made it out alive in the shooting incident. But with one ordinary guy's help, he managed to make her daughter safe and sound.

"Is he dead?" Gregory added. He was thinking there has no way this ordinary guy could survive if he has no guns or any special fighting abilities.

"No," Sophia shortly breathed. "But he was wounded and in his life-and-death situation right now. You need to help him, dad. I owed him my life." she then grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down the apartment name and address. "If given the chance he made it out alive, I want you to hire him to be my personal security bodyguard, by hook or by crook."

Right after Sophia left the lobby, Gregory was suddenly put into silence. He knew Sophia so well more than anyone in the world. He raised her daughter how to be meticulous and smart when it comes to decision-making.

He was thinking Sophia might have seen something from that ordinary guy for her to be that possessive hiring someone as the Major Family's bodyguard when getting one would take a thorough process. Someone that should be trusted by their little secrets. And someone who is willing to catch bullets for the family.

After thorough consideration, Gregory and hundreds of his men rushed to the apartment address Sophia jotted down on the piece of paper. In a few minutes, they hopped out of the car and broke down the apartment.

Nicholas did not get the chance to fight back, scream, or even say a single word when one of Gregory's men covered his face with a black cloth while the rest were tying his arms and legs with handcuffs by force. Then, they loaded him into the truck and went back to the mansion.

A few hours later, Nicholas got the chance to have a clearer vision of the mansion when Gregory removed the black cloth from his face. He has been applying his werewolf senses to know where they were taking him. But Nicholas could barely sense anything when he was having a hard time breathing inside the tailgate of the truck.

Gregory then laid his eyes on the bandage that was wrapped around Nichola's right shoulder. For him, it only proves they took the right person when Sophia once told him the guy who helped him was wounded.

Sadly, Gregory's first impression of Nicholas did not meet his requirements to become Sophia's personal bodyguard. For him, Nicholas has nothing promising aside from his good-looking face. He expected Nicholas to have a well-built body figure, a terrifying face, and a strong aura. Nicholas doesn't have those Gregory mentioned but only a good-looking face.

"Where am I? And who are you, people?" Nicholas furiously asked as he tried to remove those handcuffs from his arms and legs.

Gregory was surprised. He expected Nicholas to be scared or will burst out crying after knowing he was kidnapped. But that was not the case. Gregory could sense how sharp Nicholas' expressions are while staring at him.

The kind of stares telling Gregory that if he could only get those handcuffs out of his arms and legs, he would certainly break his neck. And for Gregory, that was one basic requirement to be part of the Major Family. Unfortunately, not enough.

"I'm not here to hurt you, young man," Gregory said in a calm tone to make sure the flow will go according to his plan.

"You and your men already did, old man. You kidnapped me. How do you call that a good thing? And I don't even remember having conflicts of interest with someone. My memory tells me nothing about you." Nicholas retorted.

While Nicholas kept talking, Gregory was secretly studying his body movements, facial expression, and tone of voice all at once. In some instances, he could sense Nicholas' utter toughness. He did not show any signs of worries and fears while facing him despite the fact the advantage does not side with him.

"Apology for that, young man. We did it on purpose because I'm pretty sure you will not come with us in peace if we asked in a good way, right?" Gregory broke a smile in front of Nicholas.

Then, he nodded his head to one of the security guards around and ordered him to untie those handcuffs from Nicholas' arms and legs to test his trust and the ability to react to the scene.

"By the way, my name is Gregory Lambert. There's nothing to know more about me aside from the fact that I considered myself as one of the world's super tycoons," he added.

"What does it have to do with me?" Nicholas asked back right after removing those handcuffs. "Or should I rephrase the question? What do you want from me?"

Undeniably, that was one of the attitudes Gregory liked the most from Nicholas. He was too upfront to the person talking to him considering the tone of Gregory's voice was already threatening. For that same reason, he believed Nicholas feared no one.

"I already introduced my name. Isn't it better if you will introduce yourself to me as well?" Gregory asked with a smile on his face. He then turned around and slid towards the glass wall and pointed his gaze from afar.

"Jerome." Nicholas could not help but grit his teeth while uttering profanity when his lifeline glimmered for a few seconds and has been reduced by five minutes. He could not believe fabricating his name would cost him five minutes.

And he was thinking that if Gregory will keep asking questions, his one-hour lifeline might not be enough.

"Okay, Mr Jerome. I have this huge opportunity for you. A job offer to be exact. Based on my impressions about you, you were earning like how much? A thousand dollars per month? Two thousand is too much for someone like you. Be my bodyguard. Not everyone will be given such an offer from someone like you, Mr Jerome. You can ask one of the security guards around how much they earned from me." Gregory proudly announced.

Out of curiosity, Nicholas laid his eyes on the security guards from his left side. The security guard then lifted four fingers through the air and displayed a half-smile at Nicholas. Four digits per month. That was what the security was trying to emphasize.

Unfortunately, money has no value for Nicholas since he was part of the Curse System. So, he said, "The offer was completely tempting, Mr Gregory. However, I think I'll pass on that. Are we done here?"

Everyone, except for Gregory, enlarged their eyes when none of them could believe Nicholas would decline such an opportunity. All of the security guards have undergone a few impediments to being part of the Major Family.

But for security guards around, felt envy for Nicholas. It was their boss who personally put effort and negotiated to work with him. For them, Gregory sounded like he was begging for Nicholas.

"Of course, Mr Jerome. I will let one of my men send you back to your apartment." That was Gregory politely offering. "But if you might change your mind, please, let us know."

"There's no need, Mr Gregory, I already knew the way out. Thanks though." Nicholas immediately rushed to the exit of Gregory's enormous mansion.

As soon as the mansion was already out of sight, Nicholas shifted into a wolf and rushed back to his apartment.

"Did I miss something, dad?" Sophia immediately kissed Gregory's cheeks and stood behind him watching the enormous landscapes that belongs to the family.

"He declined my offer, Sophie. I guess he's not worth it to work for the family. To be your personal bodyguard. I'm sorry." Traces of being dismayed was marked on Gregory's face while keeping his gaze from afar.

"Don't worry dad. Let me handle him. I'll make a way he would say yes to my proposal." Sophia said back positively. She then grabbed her phone and reached out to someone. And the call was about no other than Nicholas.