Chapter 4: Chapter 4

: The Sacrifice

Justin was on edge the moment he laid eyes on her, adjusting his mask slowly as if that would have made him get a better view of her. Something about seeing this girl made him feel like all wasn't going to end well.

The pregnant widow looked up, a look of horror flashing through her when she saw the girl.

The young girl was visibly shaking, her hair doused with sweat as it stuck to her skin, tears streaming down her cheeks, fear in her every movement. Shawn dragged her by her arm across the room to where the rest were standing.

As she got dragged, the girl screamed trying in vain to pry Shawn's hands away from her, but he only threw her next to the pregnant woman who immediately engulfed her in her arms protectively, pulling her close to herself grasping her closely and whispered in her ear that everything would be alright.

Chad scowled at the sight, his jaw ticking, "Are you crazy? Get the girl away from her!" He shouted at Shawn.

Shawn quickly took hold of the girl’s leg and started pulling her away.

"Mom!" The young girl yelled, trying in vain to crawl back to her but she was already more than an arm’s length away from her mother.

"No! P-please! Bring her back to me-" The woman began, but before l she could finish her sentence Chad had laid another slap in her cheek. "If you or you scream again," he gritted out, his savage expression resting on the young girl, "You won't be alive in the next couple of seconds," he finished, pointing at the both of them.

“This love parade is making me sick, and I'm tired of being patient," Harry complained walking toward Chad.

He was just as sick as Chad was Justin thought.

Chad nodded, "It's time we finish this," he said sighing as he removed a gun that was tucked in behind his back, clocking it and them pointing it at the woman.

The girl screamed out in horror from across the room, her scared beady eyes trailing from the end of the gun to her mother not an inch away from her.

"Gag that little bitch!" Chad roared at Harry.

A minute later, all the girl could do was squirm. He came closer to the woman with the barrel of the gun pointing at her forehead, “where is it?" He asked again.

She swallowed hard but still said nothing.

"Just like I thought," Chad chuckled backing away from her, a sick smirk replacing his hard scowl, "Now, I aint a man of violence, but when pushed I can be real extreme."

He quickly glided across the room and got the young girl by the hair, tugging her head back so hard one could have sworn he ripped some pieces right off it, He removed the gag from her mouth and in its place he put the barrel of the gun.

His hard hand pushed her head down and placed it on his lap with the gun still inside her mouth, "I wonder how strong a mother’s love is? Because from my experience it isn't strong enough." He pulled the girls head back and pushed the gun deeper, his eyes focused entirely on the pregnant widow.

Justin itched to walk and punch his brother but Clair had a firm grip on him, her eyes giving him a clear warning.

"I'm going to count to ten, if you don't tell me where the document is, this little angel is going to go bye, bye!"

The woman's eyes had grown large and her breathing deeper. Her cheeks where red and looked swollen but the tears refused to stop as she blinked them away.

One.

Two.

Three.

(Silence) Chad sighed raising an eyebrow at the woman before going on.

Four

Five

"Stingy bitch" Henry commented under his breath.

Six

Seven.

Eight.

Was she really going through with this? Justin thought.

Nine.

“It’s in a safe in my bedroom wall behind the painting of my late husband. The code is 22315! Let her go! “Chad pushed the little girl on the floor and she crawled back to the woman Justin presumed was her mother.

"You got that shit?" Chad asked turning to Harry.

“Yes boss," He replied motioning to Henry, before they both began to make their way upstairs.

They waited for a total of about ten minutes before Henry came down with a brown envelope.

Chad grinned eyeing the two girls still on the floor, opening the envelope,  glanced inside it, his hands dipping into it as he brought out a few white papers quickly shuffling through, scanning everything  before sealing it and handing it over to Clair with a laugh,

"See, it wasn't that hard, now was it?"

The wide looked at him with so much vengeance Justin wondered where Chad had gotten the courage to laugh it off, as he adjusted his mask.

Chad then turned back to Harry, "Go to the drawer in the bedroom and get the three hundred thousand too. I think I've worked hard for it," he sneered at the woman.

Immediately, Shawn, Harry and Henry, left for the bedroom.

After twenty minutes the three boys came down with three small bags full of money, a thousand in each, and their faces as radiant as the sun.

After all this, it was quite clear that the operation was a success, as it was coming to an end with Harry, Henry and Clair leaving the house with the bags of money.

Chad also turned away and headed for the door. Shawn followed and so did Justin, relieved nothing drastically bad had happened when suddenly, Chad stopped in his tracks.

He walked back to the girl and woman, roughly pulling the girl away from her mother completely ignoring the woman's screams as he gagged the squirming girl.

Shawn held her down as Chad took hold of the pregnant woman's hair and dragged her the opposite direction.

Justin stood there petrified. Chad put a pistol to her head and readied it for fire,

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Justin yelled, as Chad looked up at him.

"Stay out of this" he growled,

"She's given you the documents and the money!" Justin retorted eyeing both girls.

“Which I went through hell to get, I told her if she refused to corporate she would die.. And she wasted all of our god damn time, plus I never leave a witness" He was just about to fire when Justin charged at him, tackling him to the ground.

"Get the fuck off me!" Chad yelled as he wrestled his brother for the gun.

Shawn immediately let go of the girl rushing toward Justin and prying him off his brother, just as Henry walked back in.

“No! You said no one would get hurt!" Justin yelled as Henry and Shawn held him back.

They were surprised how strong he actually was as both men had to use all their power to hold him down, Justin pushing and tugging to get out of their reach bit he was admitted no match for the two grown men.

Chad stood up dusting himself, sending his brother a hard scowl, his eyes trailing toward the mother and daughter who were cuddled against the wall.

To Justin's surprise he suddenly paused, turning around for a second as if in deep thought, his sly eyes turning to rest on to, "okay"

Justin stopped struggling surprised. Had his brother just agreed? "Okay?" He echoed both confused and suspicious.

Chad rubbed his jaw, sniffing, “yeah, Okay, but only one condition, “He replied Justin's face falling. He knew his brother wouldn't just let him off like that,

He clenched his jaw his eyes trailing to the ground.

"Only if you rape her,” Chad said glancing at the young girl.

Justin eyes shot up to his brother in alarm, his expression that of shock "what?" He asked clearly not having have heard well, he froze when he saw his brothers expression, "Are you crazy?!" Justin snapped, horrified his brother would suggest such a thing.

Chad slowly looked up at his brother, his face read nothing but bitterness and cruelty, his hard eyes trailing Justin's features, "you heard me boy,”

"No,” Justin replied shaking his head, his voice tripped as he registered what it was exactly his brother wanted him to do.

“I didn't promise you no one will get hurt, I told you don't get things for free." Chad gritted out.

A great request requires a great sacrifice.

Justin watched as Chad walked to him, dumbfounded, He trailed his rough finger down the side of Justin's smooth face , coming even closer until he was inches away, his hot breath fanning just above Justin's ear, so close he could practically feel Chads evil grin, "your choice, brother, " he spat, his words dripping like venom.

He retreated from him, sitting on a chair opposite them, lighting up a cigarette, his legs, with a lazy smirk as he puffed out some smoke "tick tock, tick tock, what you going to do J boy?" he snarled.

Justin stared at the monster he called brother, he could feel the heat rising up from his clenched fists, his eyes burned with fury, watching as Chad motioned to Shawn, "I'll even make it easier for you, " he began motioning to the other guy, "take the girl to the bed room, we'll give 'em some privacy," he sneered quite amused.

Shawn immediately grabbed the girl ignoring her mother's pleas and the girl’s screams dragging her up the marbled stairway, Justin looking away from the sight, trying to push away the feeling of helplessness he felt bursting inside him.

He spared a glance at the weeping widow before him, reading her eyes as they came into contact with him, her head shaking to the side , her eyes were pleading. She didn't want him to do it.

“Look, you either do it or she dies," Chad said casually, he seemed tired as he reached out, grabbing the woman and forcing her to her feet. He put his hand around her neck and a gun pointing at her head.

"Please, she's all I have left," the woman cried out to Justin, her eyes were swollen but dry at the moment, it was like she had no more tears to give.

“Shut the fuck up bitch!" Chad roared in her ear as she cried, he looked up at Justin," I don't got no more patience, I will count to five and if you don't get your ass up there, this woman's going to meet her husband sooner than she predicted!" Chad jeered.

Justin's heart raced, why him? What did he do to deserve being in such a situation? He should walk away this very instant and just leave,

"please don't!" the woman cried out to him before her head swung the opposite way, the echo of a hard slap bouncing of Justin's ears.

“Shut up!" Chad screamed out. He clocked the gun, his thumb on the trigger, "after she goes, the girl follows." The woman clamped her mouth shut while shaking her head. Chad tilted his head to the side watching Justin's expression before signing, "agh well I never liked the bitch,” he said pushing the gun down to fire

"Stop! Fucking stop it!" Justin yelled his heart racing fast. Chad looked up at him, "look away if you can't handle it" he grunted his thump a second away from slipping of the trigger.

“I’ll do it! I'll do it!" Justin yelled his eyes a sad red, his fingers trembling in defeat, "j-just don't hurt them," he said finally.

Chad looked up at him with a victorious grin. His rough hand pulling the woman back, his gun pointing up the stairs, "go on then J Boy,” he cooed

Justin stared one last time at the two before sucking a deep breath in, his head was thudding loudly in his chest, making it harder for him to focus as he  started up the stairs, his brain counting them, one by one, like some sort of countdown to doom, step by step closer to regret.

Two steps closer to being a criminal

Three steps closer to losing his humanity.

Four.

Five.

Ten.

Eighteen.

Twenty five.

Thirty.

He looked down from the top of the stairs to see Chads eyes still on him, his gun still on the widow’s tempo, clenching and unclenching his jaw before looking up before him to see Luke guarding the door of the room that the girl was in.

As he approached the door he discovered he found it harder to breathe, his mind was screaming at him to run back down the stairs, this would not make him a hero or some sort of savior. But would he be able to live himself if they died knowing he could have done something?

His thoughts seemed to completely disappear, his eyes coming into contact with the oak door  as Luke stepped aside to let him pass, "leave the door open" Luke growled by him.

He clenched the door handle for a second, one last thought passing through his, mind. A plea to just let it be before it dissolved into nothingness. He took a deep breath pushing it and gently opening the door.

He had to blink twice to get adjusted to the dimly lit room, making out the outline of the girl sitting on the bed.

Surprising she had changed and was wearing a dark bath robe and her dark hair was down, looking strangely calm. The way the shadows danced in the room completely hid her face from view but one didn't need light to tell she was scared, her body was shivering slightly.

His brain screamed at him to run, run run. But he knew that was damn near impossible.

He took a step in as he pushed the door wider causing her to stand up, evidently startled. Her small frail body was shaking her fingers resting on the bed covers.

He closed the door a little, his eyes trailing around the room, taking as much time as he could before he looked at her, her face tilted to the floor giving away the fact that she was starting at anything but him. He didn't blame her trying not to imagine how it would feel like to be in her shoes, a masked man standing in front of you in your dark bedroom.

He took a step near her and she slid away. He reading the uncertainty in her ever movement causing something in him to snap, shaking his head ferociously tears filling his eyes.

"I can't do this, I can't" he muttered, he was not a hero, nothing about this was alright, it was sick and twisted and he wouldn't play his brothers wicked games, he immediately turned away heading  back to the door but before he could open it and stomp away from this cursed house, the girl called out to him,

"Wait! " her voice was small and unsure ultimately causing him to freeze, slowly turning around in surprise, their eyes met and locked.

She suddenly began to untie her bathrobe dropping it standing there naked before him.

He quickly turned around clenching the door knob tightly, his jaw ticking, "Put your clothes back on, please!" he begged his voice a trippy mess, his eyes married to the floor. His hands clenched into a fist.

Oh God what did he get himself into?

“P-please sir, p-please ...I-If we don't do this t-that man will kill my m-mother. I'd do anything for the h-her, she's pregnant with my b-brother, so please don't make this anymore difficult."

He shook his head tears falling, "I'm sorry. I’m really sorry but I can't, I can't do it, and I don't want to..."

He trailed off closing his eyes, "I don't want to hurt you,” He said lowly, his eyes refusing to look to her.

She on the other hand looked straight at him , "I-I k-know," she paused, "but you'll hurt m-me more if y-you walk out... please, my mother is all I have, my father’s dead."

Deep down, Justin knew she was right, yet deep down he knew this was wrong.

He shouldn't do it, he should walk out of here and forget about this whole thing and of course live with the burden of having knowing he had blood on his hands, that he could have done something but didn't. And what would that make him? Just like Chad.

Don't think, just do it? For her mother’s sake. Even for her. Chad would definitely kill both of them if he didn't do it.

He had to do what he had to do.

A great request requires a great sacrifice, you remember that

He closed his eyes, his fists shaking, breathing in deeply taking two strides, meeting the girl in the middle and kissed her.