Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Grace's pov:

Before I knew it, I saw the intruder walk into the living room again with my mother, brother and sister all tied up. They were resisting his grip but could not do so because of his massive strength.

Their faces were covered in tears and had black duct tape stuck to their mouths. I gasped in horror; I couldn't take this anymore. I was so scared not for me but for my family. I loved them dearly and I could not bear to see them harmed in any way possible!

This whole situation made fear grip me. Never in my entire life did I expect to encounter this. What on earth did we do to deserve this? I was desperate for answers, but I also had to ensure that the intruder did not do anything to me or my family.

Just the sight of my family in rope and tape, made my heart ache! The pain was unbearable. This traumatizing sight combined with my claustrophobia, made me feel suffocated! My mouth too was tightly shut!

My family was just staring at me in shock and horror! They were struggling to break free from the rope like I was.

The screams of my siblings calling out to mom left her feeling helpless. I felt so devastated seeing them like this. For some reason I felt that this situation was my fault! If only I didn't open the door!

"Just stay here while I make a phone call. If anyone tries to move in an attempt to escape, you know what will happen!" he threatened while holding the gun right in front of our faces.

We were distributed across the living room so I could not reach my mom or any one of my siblings! They were too far from me and from each other as well. It was truly frustrating!

I needed to think of something quick as I cannot let that man do anything to any of us.

The room grew silent as I tried to think of some way to get us all free and in the arms of safety.

I started looking everywhere! I was scanning the living room, trying to find a way to break free from the knot that was tied tightly on my hands.

If only we were in the kitchen where all the knives where kept, I was thinking in my mind when suddenly I realized that there were shards of glass all over the floor in the corner where I was sitting.

It was from the mirror that I had accidentally knocked down. Guess that was a blessing in disguise!

My eyes lit up! I got hope! This was my chance to break free!

I looked for the biggest and sharpest piece of glass to cut the cloth on my hand. I carefully tried to pick up the glass, trying not to cut myself in the process. The glass pieces were super sharp, and it was very difficult to get a grip of them as my hands were tied at the back.

The fact that It was challenging to get a grip of the glass and the tiny glass pieces were hurting me so much, I felt like letting out a scream of frustration. But I controlled myself in order to avoid any more unnecessary trouble.

My mother was worried for me as she could see some blood dripping on the floor. I could feel her pain written all over her face.

I finally got a grip of the glass, it felt like a small victory that I could not celebrate at all as I had to quickly break free before that monster of a man would come back after attending his phone call to God knows who!

While I could hear him talking on the phone in the master bedroom, I could not understand one word that he was uttering as he was far from us.

But it did not matter that much as my only priority at the moment was cutting the cloth and freeing my family.

After a few minutes, I finally broke free and quickly stripped the duct tape off from my mouth! It stung a lot, but it was the pain that I was willing to bear!

It left a red imprint as it was stuck super tight. Blood was dripping from my hands and staining the floor as my hand encountered a few cuts before I could successfully get the glass piece I wanted!

Even though the blood failed to stop dripping, I did not care about myself, I just wanted all of us to escape this hell on earth! I ignored my pain and ran to my mother and siblings.

Her eyes were filled with sorrow and pain. I wiped her eyes clean from her tears and did the same for my siblings, running back and forth to them.

"Calm down. Let's get away from here!" I whispered to them while my heart was skipping a beat due to my nervousness.

Just as I approached my mother and removed the duct tape from her mouth, I could hear footsteps of the man coming back!

My heart dropped and my body started to shiver. I feared that this would happen.

I froze for a second, not knowing what to do at all. I was panicked! My mind was scrambled.

My mother immediately told me to run away and call the police to help them out.

"No!" I whispered a bit loudly than before as I was very hesitant with even the thought of leaving them at the mercy of the intruder!

I was looking at her eyes with fear and she could see how hesitant I was to leave them alone here, but she kept insisting.

After she kept on trying to convince me to leave, I gave her a quick tight hug and without any further thought, I started running towards the main door. I was hoping that I would reach it in time.

Unfortunately, as I approached the door, placing my hand on the door handle, the man spotted me and immediately yelled, "Stop! Or I am going to shoot you!"

I halted at my position and turned my face towards him, only to find him with an angry face and his gun pointed in my direction.

I was so afraid that I could not move at all! My mom and my siblings looked frightened by seeing a gun which was fully loaded pointed at me.

"Run, Grace!" my mom yelled tearfully, and I snapped out of myself and tried to open the door, but it was too late!

The intruder instantly pulled the trigger on me, shooting a bullet to my stomach. The pain was immense, and blood was just gushing out of me.

As I fell on the floor with a thud in shock and pain, I could hear my family screaming and crying especially my mother.

Before closing my eyes forever, I saw the man shoot all of my family members and all of them fell to the ground with a pool of blood surrounding them.

Michael's pov:

After shooting the family, I placed the gun back securely in my pocket and step away from the corpses as I didn't want the blood to stain my polished shoes. They were pretty damn expensive too. Scrubbing off blood from them was not the treatment they could handle.

I cleaned myself in the nearby sink and walked out of the apartment in a neat and calm manner.

I took off my gloves and while walking to the elevator, I picked up my phone and dialed my assistant.

When she picked up the call after a few seconds, I heard her greet me.

"Tell her it's done!" I murmured while waiting for the elevator. "You completed the whole task?" she questioned. I confirmed and hung up and walked into the elevator.

I walked outside the main gate this time calmly, thankfully no one was suspicious of me. I approached my rental car which was parked at the side of the building and sat in my seat behind the wheel. I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes.

I started playing some random music to distract me from everything. I placed the keys in the ignition, started the car and headed towards the International Airport to fly back to the US.

Ruby's pov:

I was at the office in my own station filing my nails when I got a message from my boss calling me to her cabin. I rolled my eyes and sighed! I never looked forward to going to her office.

Reluctantly I picked up my folder and my bag and started walking towards her cabin.

Her cabin was huge, white and had a large glass door. The place was engulfed in abstract paintings and even had a statute of her face at the center. She was actually obsessed with herself by the way. It sickened me to think of her as worthy of having a statue in the first place.

I approached her and knew why she summoned me, so I did not waste a second for her to repeat things to me.

"It is done! Michael took care of everything and is returning home as soon as possible." I reported with a calm but almost annoyed face.

My boss was facing her back towards me and looking out of the window into the sky.

The early morning sunrise painted her face in a nice golden hue. She turned to me after listening to what I told her and just gave me an angry look.

"Do you know who you are talking to?" she questioned with pride written all over her face.

"Um yes, you! Who else would I be talking to? The walls? Jeez woman, you need to get your eyes and ears checked" I gave a petty reply.

Though I was her assistant, I act pretty chill and don't act like her servant even though she expects me to. We had this informal connection with each other.

After hearing my reply, she walked right up to my face and spoke a bit louder than my liking, "Enough with the smart a** replies, address me the way I taught you!"

The way she demanded respect was so hilarious and old that I just tease and make fun of her at this point.

She made all her employees give her utmost respect. In fact, she dedicated a whole day of work, just to teach us the respect that she deserved.

But of course, it did not matter to me!

Since I was already annoyed and did not want to deal with her nonsense at that point. I decided to do what she wanted.

I rolled eyes, gave out a faint laugh under my breath and while giving her a sarcastic bow which she required us to do as she thought she was some sort of a queen, I declared "Yes Madam Erica, Michael finished your work."