Ch. 3: Lead

Third person’s point of view

“Well, too late to explain. The damage has done. You can kiss my baby for me, come on.” Maddox teases her.

“Don’t come near me... Please,” Sariel begged Maddox. As he sees the terrified girl he once loved, he seems to enjoy knowing that his simple punishment is effective.

Maddox’s so enraged that it’s as if all memories of the two of them together have vanished from his mind, and what he sees in front of him right now is a total stranger.

He ends up being pretty close to Sariel. When Maddox allows the ball python to creep around her shoulder, Sariel freezes. Maddox can't tell if she is still breathing because all he can see on Sariel's face is how scared she is and how much she wants to get rid of Maddox's pet.

"Please… take it off. I'm begging you, Maddy. I can't breathe,” Sariel begs again, her breasts rising as if she is really struggling to breathe.

When Maddox heard someone pounding on the bedroom door, he instantly grabbed his pet ball python from Sariel’s shoulder.

“Sh*t.” Maddox hisses under his breath. Sariel plopped down abruptly. A second later, she rushed to the bathroom to throw up.

Maddox hurriedly went to the door and opened it. When he unlocked it and saw his brother’s ugly face, he hissed at him.

“What the hell, Kenzie?”

"Hey! What're you doing with your snake girlfriend?"

"Damn it, what do you need?"

"I just wanted to say that we have a lead on where Finn is," Kenzie, Maddox's brother, explained.

"The hell?"

“What are you doing to baby Sar?” he asked again. Kenzie is about to enter the room where Sariel is when Maddox grabs Kenzie's shirt collar, pulls him out, and slams the door. His brother gave him a dirty look.

“Damn. Let's go." While walking to Maddox's office in his house, Maddox asked Kenzie a question. "What's the lead?”

“Hmmm. He has a secluded warehouse, and they’re loaded. I believe we won't be able to survive if we launch our attack now."

“The hell if he’s loaded. Don’t underestimate me, Kenzie. I can make it alone,” Maddox said, gritting his teeth with annoyance.

“Wooaaa, come on. We both know we can’t handle Finn,” Kenzie went on to say.

“At least, let’s try our best. We’ll just look at them. You're aware that their plan to destroy my company was unsuccessful. If we don’t stop Finn and his minions, he might have more evil plans. Look at what happened to our parents.”

“Okay, calm down. I understand the anger that’s bursting out of you, but we need to be careful. Finn isn’t someone we can take lightly. You know he has a lot of syndicates backing him up, along with his illegal schemes.” Maddox ran a hand through his hair and pulled on the ends.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?” He mumbles to himself.

“Come on, man. You’ll get your revenge on Finn,” Kenzie says to Maddox while tapping his shoulder.

“Tsk. Let’s go see them. I promise I won’t do anything stupid; just spy on them from afar,” said Maddox, heading to the parking lot.

"Yeah, as you say," Kenzie nodded, shrugging his shoulders and following him.

When they got to the car, Maddox instantly pressed the button on his new Ferrari key fob. “Damn. Are you really going to take that?” Kenzie quipped.

“What do you want me to take? A Jeep Wrangler?”

“Oh, nevermind. Come on,” Kenzie pondered, getting into Maddox’s car first. Maddox swiftly followed and drove them to Finn’s location, which is an isolated warehouse.

He parked at a range where their opponents wouldn’t spot them. Maddox got out of his seat and shut the door behind him, followed by Kenzie, and then pressed the lock button on the key fob.

“Are you kidding me? This is it?”

“No. This is really it, I’m sure,” Kenzie reassured Maddox.

“Damn. Is this a trap?”

“You think?”

“Are you messing with me? You’re the one assigned here.”

“Shheems, let’s go in; there might be people inside.”

“Tsk.” Maddox shoved the door open, slowly peeking inside the house with a sense of frustration.

"Clear; nobody is inside."

“What? Are you serious?” Just as Kenzie posed that question, a loud noise and gunfire erupted.

“Damn. Come on, bro. It's a trap," Kenzie yelled at Maddox, just before another bullet struck them, causing them to fall heavily.

“Sh*t, why do we have to fall for their trap?”

“Stupid, shut up, and let’s get out of here.” They crawl to the door together. When they were sure that it was safe, they stood up immediately and ran towards Maddox’s car.

When they got into Maddox’s car, he accelerated off the driveway, smashing through gears and driving straight to their house. There was a car behind them, attempting to pass them, but Maddox chuckled.

“Is this chase never going to end?” Maddox mumbled.

“Is it a curse?”

“Shut up,” Maddox snapped at Kenzie. After driving for two more miles, Maddox turned the car to the side, letting the wheel spin back into his hand before snapping back into place.

“Are we losing him?” Kenzie inquired. “I think so,” Maddox says as he hits a bump in his paving path and stops abruptly just in front of his house.

On the other hand, Sariel rushes to the bathroom to throw up everything out of her stomach. It had been a long time since she felt the need to throw up.

While she was allowing the harsh waves of her churning stomach to settle, she heard someone calling her.

“Sariel? Are you there?” Lowe called from outside the room. Sariel ignored it and remained calm because she was still weak.

“Sariel?” When she heard another voice, she assumed it was from Lowe. She sensed it getting closer to her.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lowe asked her with concern. Then she thought, 'Why would they worry if they brought me here to pay for a crime I didn’t commit?'

“Hey, talk to me. What happened?”

“Maddox’s girlfriend happened.”

“Girlfriend—what? Bro doesn’t have a girlfriend.”