Chapter 29: Chapter 29

“That was the start of why this happened to me…”

I was just stunned because I still couldn’t figure out who had kidnapped him that day.

“Didn’t he show up?” asked Erin. Ken shook his head because the person who abducted him had not shown up.

“I-I only heard his voice… Ugh!” Ken groaned, and I reached out to touch him, but he was pale, and his skin was turning violet.

“Ken!” I yelled, looking at my cousins. “Erin, let’s take him to the hospital!” I yelled, and Erin nodded as he took his car keys, but Ken intervened.

“I-I won’t be here much longer, Ms. Scarlett… I just tried to live, so I could tell you everything…” He coughed and vomited blood, as my eyes widened.

“K-Ken… Please?” He shook his head and smiled as I pleaded with him.

“I'm fine, Miss S-S-Scarlett,” he said, taking a deep breath and wiping away his tears. “I-I thought… they’d stop, but I was wrong because they keep messing with my life…”

*** FLASHBACK

Ken became anxious after being kidnapped and couldn’t sleep at night for fear that someone would turn up at their home or even at his workplace. He has chastised several times for being nervous, but he continues to show his coworkers that he is fine and has no problems.

He also believed that the people who kidnapped him had forgotten him because he hadn’t seen them in many days, and he felt a little better.

That is where he makes a mistake because there will be a issue.

He’s already receiving death threats from the people who kidnapped him, as well as letters forcing him to destroy Scarlett and close the bar…

Ken became more anxious and couldn’t speak after receiving many times.

On his way home from the bar one night, some men tried to take him again, but they blindfolded him, so he couldn’t see where he was being taken.

“Mr. Ken, have you considered the favor I’m asking?”

Ken clenched his fists and inhaled deeply. “Is that a favor, huh? Is it a favor to defame Ms. Scarlett? Are you insane?!?”

It smirked at him. “Am I the one going insane, or are you the one going insane?”

Ken was trembling in his chair. “You don’t know the Knights! You don’t know them!”

“Shut up!”

Ken burst out laughing. “Why? Wasn’t I right? You can’t handle them!”

“Shut up!” yelled the person he was talking to, so his men approached Ken and kicked him down.

Ken shook his head and bit his lip. “I-I won’t do that—” he was about to say when it interrupted him by what he said.

“Just does it even involve your family?”

It took him aback and made him shake his head. “W-what? N-no?”

The person laughed at him, and his men drew Ken back to his position.

“I have people outside your apartment where your family is, and I just called them. Your family is going to die.”

As he struggled in the chair, Ken’s eyes widened. “Don’t kill my family! Just kill me! Don’t kill them!”

“Are you going to do what I tell you?”

Ken didn’t respond for a while, closing his eyes and panting. “I will destroy her business for my family.”

‘I-I apologize, Ms. Scarlett. I love my family…’

*** END OF FLASHBACK

“I’m sorry, I’m the reason your bar was closed!”

I just clenched my fists and turned away from him. I don’t care if I can’t reclaim my business, as long as Ken is safe.

“You idiot! You deserve this!” Ara yelled angrily at him, about to attack Ken, but I stopped her. “Scarlett?”

I just shook my head, took a deep breath, and tightened my grip on Ken’s crying hand in front of me.

“I-I’m sorry, Ms. Scarlett! I-I can’t do that unless they involve my family…” said Ken. My head was over our hands as I bit my lip and cried.

“N-no… It’s all my fault, and it’s because of me, you and your family are involved here,” I said, shaking my head because he’s innocent. Ken only did this to protect his family.

“I-I thought they’d stop when I did what they wanted,” he smiled, but he was crying again, and he was still trying to tell us everything. “That’s why, after our last conversation, I decided to stayed away from you because I feel sorry for what I did to you, but it was a mistake…”

***

“Where are we going, Ken?”

Ken turned to face his wife and kissed her on the cheeks. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s hurry, or they’ll catch up with us.” said Ken as they packed their belongings.

“W-what, are you talking about?!? Who are we trying to escape from?!?” his wife yelled as she's holding their child.

“Audrey, could you please?”

Audrey shook her head, unable to understand what her husband was saying. She agreed to travel to Manila because their son would be born there thanks to Scarlett and Claire.

“Ken, I don’t understand you anymore; you’ve been like that for two months! You’re so anxious that you can’t talk straight!” Audrey pulled on Ken’s arm, but he just kept putting their belongings away. “What is really happening to you?” asked Audrey as she sobbed. Ken came to a halt, approached his wife, and hugged her.

“Shh… I’ll explain everything; the important thing is that we get out of here,” said Ken, smiling at her.

They continued to pack their belongings and eventually left the apartment. Ken gave the owner of the house his last rent and left the key before leaving.

They took a taxi, but someone blocked their path before they arrived at the terminal.

“Just drive!” Ken yelled, hugging his wife, who was terrified of what was happening.

“Who are those people?”

Ken shook his head and yelled at the taxi driver. “Just keep driving, and don't stop!”

The driver followed, but the men shot them before the driver could start the engine. Ken’s eyes widened when he realized the driver had killed.

He turned to his wife to escape. “Audrey, let’s go.” he yelled, but to his surprise, they hit his wife on the head.

“N-no…”

Ken stroked his hair and shook his head.

He didn’t know what else to do. He looked at his son and noticed that he was unconscious, so he took his son and kicked the door, putting his son down. And then covering him with a towel before getting back into the taxi.

He screamed in pain and hatred while hugging his wife. He didn't even protect his family.

Furthermore, he also had the feeling that the men had already taken him, while he was stunned by the sight of his lifeless wife inside the taxi.

His wife was killed, and he hopes that someone will find his son. It filled him with rage for what that person did to his family.

***

“Oh, my goodness!”

“Damn it!”

As tears streamed down my cheeks, I was just stunned by Ken’s story and clenched my fists.

“I-I couldn’t wait any longer, so I forced myself to come to you and tell you everything; I’d rather die fighting,” he says.

I looked at Ken, who was very frail and felt heavy. My grip on Ken's hand became tighter.

“N-no! I’ll take you to the hospital!” I yelled, but Ken just smiled and held my hand. My tears continued to fall as I shook my head.

“I-I don’t need to because I know my death is near, but remember, he’s not alone because there seem to be a lot of them—AGH!”

Ken closed his eyes and his breathing became more intense.

“K-Ken, try to live for justice,” I said, but he gripped my hand and looked at me.

“The voice I’m speaking with is familiar, but I have a strong feeling she’s a woman,” he said. I frowned.

“A woman?”

He gave a nod. “Even if she uses a voice changer, it cannot be mistaken that she is a woman.” he exhaled deeply and looked down at his arms. “W-what they’re injecting me with is a poison that will cause me to lose my breath slowly, so I know I won’t last much longer.”

He smiled as he looked at me.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Scarlett, for the life you gave me, for helping my family, and for your kindness.”

“K-Ken…”

“I-I didn’t intend for that to happen, so please forgive me for everything I’ve done to you.”

“K-Ken…”

My eyes widened as the veins in his arm protruded, and his breathing was now heavier.

“K-Ken!”

“Be careful, Ms. Scarlett; you and your children are their target.”

My head shook. No! He can’t die!

“S-sorry…”

“Ken! No!”

As he closed his eyes and let go of my hands, he smiled, and I cried even more.

“Ken! No! Get up.”

He won’t open his eyes again, regardless of what I do, as I just fell on the floor. I screamed at all the hatred and bitterness I felt.

“He’s passed away at 4 a.m.”

I just cried as I hugged Dad. I can’t accept it because Ken is such a good friend, but why him? Why not me?

“What are you up to, Scarlett?”

I let go of my father’s hug and wiped my tears before standing up to look at Ken, who was lying on the sofa covered in a white blanket.

“Find his wife’s body. I’ll give them a funeral; I want Ken to be buried peacefully with his wife and find his son,” I said. They nodded, and my father wrapped his arms around me.

“We’ll do that; for now, you rest, and we’ll look after Ken and his wife’s body.”

I clenched my fist, but we came to a halt when we heard a voice.

“No need; I found his wife’s body.”

We turned to face the newcomer, Rios, who had just awoken as he entered the mansion.

“Did you find it?” I asked. Rios nodded, looked at Ken’s body, and shook his head.

“Since when, Rios? Wait… you know this is going to happen?”

I approached him, but my cousins stopped me to calm me down because they could see I was getting upset.

“You knew this was going to happen, Rios!” I pushed my cousins to face Rios. “Rios, we were together! Why didn’t you tell me? I hope I could find a way!” I screamed and struggled in my cousins’ arms, but they wouldn’t let go.

“Let her go,” said Rios, so they let me go.

I approached Rios and grabbed his clothes. “Ken died! His wife died because of me! Do you understand?”

Rios let out a sigh and grabbed my shoulder. “I didn’t know this would happen, okay?” he reassured me, holding my shoulder. “I just heard on the news what happened to the taxi they were riding in because it discovered the body in the river.” He sighed. “So I devised a method to get the body and have it examined,” he explained. I gave him a hard stare.

“I found that this is the wife of one of your employees, so I tried to find Ken like brother Carter did, but I couldn’t find him.” He approached Ken and removed the white blanket.

He also moved his body to the side, and our eyes widened as he revealed a tattoo to us.

“It’s a symbol, and his wife has one as well,”

It confused them of what he is saying, and a tattoo startled me.

“What exactly does that mean, Rios?”

Before looking at me, he just shook his head and messed up his hair.

“You are their actual target, so I tried to investigate, but the information I gathered is misleading me,” he sighed, turning away from me. “Brother Carter and Dominic do the same.”

I blinked as I heard the name of my ex-husband. I haven’t seen him since he picked me up from the bar.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why he got involved because he talked to me, or should I say begged us to join the investigation.”

Dominic doesn’t know how to listen. I swallowed and turned away once again.

“He said he’d help you find Ken, so you could get back at him, but because Dominic’s family has a close connection to the police, we just agreed to what he wanted, but it was difficult for him to gather information.”

I shook my head and bit my lower lip. Why do I seem to be the only one who doesn’t understand what's going on? When I looked at my cousins, they just looked away. F-ck!

“You are also searching for it.”

They bowed and shook their heads.

“You are the only one who is unaware of this because we already know you are the target.”

I sighed and wrapped another blanket around Ken.

“How come you didn’t say you were the target?”

Dad’s question brought me to a halt. I sighed and averted my gaze.

“I haven’t confirmed if I’m really their target, which is why I didn’t tell you; I’d rather be the one to find out if someone really wants to kill me,” I explained as I combed my hair. “Young also told me they paid him to kill me, which I suspected the night we met his men.” I looked at them. “It is not the chairperson who is their target, but me…”

They’re quiet, but I can tell they're disappointed because I’ve been keeping things quiet with them, so I swallowed and shook my head.

“I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you; I don’t want to keep it a secret from you, but I also don’t want you to get involved in my problem; as long as I can, I’ll face them alone,” I said, returning my gaze to Ken's corpse. “All I want right now is a proper burial for Ken and his wife.” I turned away from them and clenched my fists, but I continued to my room.

I shut and locked the door, then went straight to my walk-in closet and opened the cabinet, which was full of weapons and a few tools I owned. Not only that, but I kept it for a long time in case there was a major crisis in our family, so I would know what to do.

I will also use all of this to bring Ken’s death to justice. I will not let his death go to waste, and I will seek justice for him.

And I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a long time. For a knight, entering the real world.