Lucian's surprise was palpable. So much so that he forgot about his situation for a minute and was more concerned about this young man–Kady's–presence in this compromising situation. And also, what did his words just now mean?
Boss Ry had also turned to see who had intruded on his conversation with his subordinate, and his expression became intrigued hearing the surprise and familiarity in the insolent bastard's tone. Turning to his lackey, he asked in his rough voice, "What's going on here?"
The lackey sighed, hearing the interest in Ry's voice. With a deep breath, he began, "Boss, this little nuisance here is the friend of this disobedient bastard. According to him and further digging, they're even best friends."
"Is that right?" Ry mused with a sharp gaze.
The lackey nodded. He then seemed to struggle with his next words, but remembering Boss Ry's wrath, he dared not tamper with the truth. He forced himself to continue, "He was also the one who caught him during the pursuit. He delivered him to us."
Ry's eyes seemed to light up at that statement. "So he betrayed his friend, did he? You're an interesting kid."
Kady, whose actual name was Kadrian, let out a forced smile at the compliment. "Thank you, Boss Ry."
Meanwhile, Lucian felt his whole world crumbling right before him.
'I...was betrayed... by Kady?'
His body slumped even further to the ground, all his strength and will abandoning him. He couldn't believe that his best friend would betray him like this and sell him out. He tried looking up at him, but it became obvious that Kadrian was trying hard to avoid his stare. In a lost voice and broken spirit, he asked, "Why?"
Kadrian seemed to have been frozen stiff at Lucian's words. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and his fist clenched. His gaze flickered, directed towards Lucian, but he barely caught a glimpse before his eyes darted away, fixing on some unseen point in the flickering firelight.
"Enough with the worthless sentiments. You had the guts to disobey an order from me, and now you're suffering the consequences. That's all it is. Your buddy just made the right call," Ry's voice came, claiming everyone's attention. Lucian's eyes went back to Ry's large, menacing figure just in time to see him pulling out a small vial from his pocket filled with blue liquid. Light reappeared in his eyes. They widened at the sight, and he immediately became agitated.
"Bastard! That belongs to me. Give it back!" Lucian growled in a threatening tone.
The entire plaza went quiet at his words. The slum dwellers, the gunmen, and thugs, Ry included, seemed a bit surprised at his words and the guts to say it considering his precarious position. Well, everyone but Kadrian. He knew all too well how hardheaded his friend could be.
'Come on, you idiot. Just shut up for once. You'll spoil my plan,' Kadrian thought with a hint of worry in his eyes as he watched Ry's expression for signs of anger or annoyance in the chilling silence.
But that didn't happen as instead, a wide, unsettling smile appeared on his rough face. He walked forward, under everyone's watch, to reach Lucian, who was still bound to the ground, and squatted down to get a closer look at him. "Looks like you don't understand your situation yet, kid. You do not own this anymore. In fact, pretty soon, you'll own nothing... nothing but your pitiful life, that is."
Lucian kept growling at him with malice, but his mind also raced with confusion at Ry's last sentence. Even Kadrian seemed distressed by his declaration and wondered what he meant. But it didn't take long for clarification to find them and give them unsettling closure.
A moment later, a slight commotion broke out, and a few goons could be seen pushing their way through the crowd to the front. About five of them came into view at the front and seemed to be carrying something, but because of the angle of the bonfire's illumination, no one at the front—Lucian, Kadrian, Ry, and the others—could see their baggage. But the grin on Ry's face that increased was all they needed to know that it was nothing good.
Ry stood up and, turning away, he listened as a nearby thug leaned in and murmured in his ear. His words weren't very audible, going within the lines of 'it's done, boss'... or at least something within those lines.
When the thug was done with his report, Ry dismissed him to go back to the others who were still guarding whatever it was they had brought down here. He then turned back to look at Lucian with his vicious grin, "I've just gotten interesting news for you," he said, his gruff voice laced with malicious glee. Lucian's discomfort grew even more hearing that those thugs' actions concerned him. His belly churned as horrid possibilities filled his mind.
Ry, though, didn't let the suspense pan out for long. "My men went over and paid a visit to your place. Quite a nice home, I hear. Unfortunately, that was in the past."
Both Lucian's and Kadrian's eyes opened wide simultaneously with shock and horror. Lucian himself couldn't take it anymore and roared in a loud voice, "Bastard! What the hell did you do?" The fear in his voice was very obvious.
Ry didn't bother about his pain-filled roar and continued in a slow, deliberate tone,
"They burnt it."
Lucian froze, and a great feeling of anger and terror filled him. Angry because Ry had sent his men to do something so vile, and terror because everything that was happening was his fault. If only he had just given up the miracle drug, his house wouldn't have been burnt down. Him not knowing his mother's current situation broke him more than anything.
"But there's no need to worry. They burnt down your place, but your mother is safe here."
Hearing Ry's words rekindled Lucian's hope. His eyes widened a bit as he saw the bunch of Ry's lackeys who were standing at the front walked forward, and their baggage finally came into view. It was a human.
To be more precise, it was a woman.
"Mom!" Lucian exclaimed as he saw his mother being thrown roughly onto the floor. She seemed to be in a lot of pain as she struggled and groaned on the floor. She forced herself up with great difficulty, looking around in confusion. She was clothed in rags, just like the rest of the slums, her face seemed emaciated and sickly and so did her hands. But despite her horribly weak appearance, her gaze seemed to be fiery.
And no, it wasn't solely because of the shade of her sunlit brown irises which seemed to glow fiercely under the burning watch of the incandescent flames of the huge bonfire. No, it was something else. A sort of different quality to her gaze compared to other slum dwellers, one depicting what could only be considered defiance. Defiance to what exactly, no one could tell... well, no one but Lucian and Kadrian.
Tears flowed down Lucian's eyes seeing this, while Kadrian bit his lower lip in slight frustration.
It was a defiance to succumb to the disease that plagued her. It was a defiance to give up on the world when it had clearly forsaken her. It was a defiance to death itself.
'A defiance to disallow your son to be free of your cursed existence!' Kadrian snarled spitefully in his mind. It was the entire reason they were even currently in this situation. Lucian was like a brother to him, so he would never so readily betray him like this. His mother was the cause.
"Lucian?" Her voice came weakly.
More tears poured vigorously from his eyes as he replied to her. "Yes, Mom."
Looking at her bound son, crying hopelessly on the floor, she seemed to become hesitant. With a slow, somewhat faltering but worried voice, she asked, "What's... going on?"
Hearing the increasing frailty in her voice, his heart bled.
Shaking his head at his confused mother, he tried to reassure her. "Nothing, Mom. Nothing at all. Don't worry one bit. I'm going to discuss with these gentlemen over here, and it's all going to be fine. Completely and absolutely..."
Bang!
A loud gunshot rang through the air, shocking everyone and disrupting Lucian's sentence. Lucian's words got hooked in his throat as he watched his mother's once vibrant figure slump to the floor, a bullet hole at the side of her head. His eyes followed her slumped figure, a shocked and disbelieving gaze coloring his expression. A commotion broke out in the crowd as everyone was completely caught off guard by the gunshot, but this didn't claim his attention. He just kept his gaze on his mother's dead, unmoving body, his eyes still mirroring disbelief as if struggling to accept the terms of his mother's death. He stared on a bit more at the body before his gaze eventually trailed onto the source of the gunshot.
He saw Ry's vacant gaze sweep over his now dead mother. He didn't seem like someone who had just murdered another. No, probably he did, but from Lucian's point of view, he seemed like someone who had just taken out the trash. There was even a look of disgust on his face. And this completely set Lucian off.
Turning around with a dissatisfied sigh, "All these stupid 'touching' moments really make me sick," said Ry with sarcasm and disdain. He was about to give out orders to one of his lackeys when he heard Lucian's voice come from behind in a low tone.
"I'll kill you."
Ry froze hearing his words, a flicker of genuine surprise tightening his features before a strong feeling of annoyance, accompanied by a pinch of anger, spread through him. Honestly, he couldn't really be bothered by the pathetic ranting of a helpless kid, who didn't even have the ability to stand right now... a typical Tuesday to him. But today specifically, he had been on edge. The unexpected difficulty in securing the damn miracle drug intact already had him pissed, and now the kid actually dared threaten him...
The brat was pushing his limits.
"You must be tired of living," Ry muttered, his voice dropping dangerously low, his gaze turning colder as he turned to face Lucian once more. He stared down at Lucian, who was making fruitless attempts to stand up... well, not entirely fruitless. Even with his limited movement, he still managed to get onto his knees. Unfortunately, that was as far as his determination was willing to carry him. Ry scoffed at the pitiful display.
"Why am I even wasting my breath on a corpse?" He drew his pistol, the cold steel glinting in the incandescent firelight. "I should put a bullet in your skull so you can reunite with your mother. Consider it a mercy, boy," Ry's voice echoed menacingly as he cocked the gun, the click echoing in the silence as he pointed the weapon at him.
Lucian's heart went cold staring at the black barrel pointed at his head. He was angry, sure, but there was no way he could get over the very rational fear of guns. A single pull of the trigger was all it took for him to become past tense. But before that could happen, he found the view of the gun being blocked and came face to face with someone's back, one that seemed extremely familiar.
"Boss Ry, I hope you can forgive my stupid friend. He's very hotheaded and doesn't think most times before he acts. I hope you can just show him this one act of mercy, and I'll make sure to take responsibility for any of his future actions. Please, I beg of you," Kadrian said as he shielded Lucian from the loaded gun.
Ry heard his words and seemed confused. "But you were the one who betrayed him and brought him to me. Why?" he asked with a menacing glare.
Kadrian let out a smile as he answered, "Well, because you're the lord of these parts, and I couldn't watch my friend disrespect you."
"That so?" Ry asked with a raised brow, to which Kadrian carefully nodded. Ry was silent for a second or two before pulling his gun back and tucking it in. Kadrian let out a sigh of relief as he bowed to Ry.
"Thank you, Boss Ry. I will never forget this kindness you have shown me," he said as he watched Ry turn his back to him and start walking away.
"Tame your friend," Ry said, his voice flat and utterly dismissive.
But before he could take any further steps, he heard a voice, so dripped with malice and hate that it almost felt chillingly tangible.
"You had better come put that bullet in my head because I swear to the living hell that governs us in this torment of a world, gods rise, demons fall, I will stop at nothing till I'm drinking wine from your skull!"