A cold smirk crept across Tommy’s face as he exchanged a glance with his lackeys.
“Kill that filthy beast. I’ll take full responsibility.”
Their crazed laughter echoed off the walls as several boots came down hard on my body. My face was smashed into the floor, pressed and twisted under their soles until I could barely recognize myself. I watched helplessly, eyes wide with horror, as Tommy raised his foot. And just like that—Oliver was gone.
“NOOO!”
My scream ripped through the room, raw and broken, as I watched my cat’s fragile body go limp. Tommy turned toward me, his face warped with venomous satisfaction.
“Little pest handled. Now it’s time for the bigger one.”
Without another word, he yanked off his belt and began lashing it across my face. Again and again, each strike landed with a brutal crack, his voice gleeful as he counted.
“One! Two! Three! Hahaha, look at him! His face is swelling up like a pig’s head!”
“Let me add in my ‘Pretty Boy Punches,” one of the cronies joked, landing slap after slap.
My lips split open, swollen and numb. I couldn’t even feel them anymore. Blood and broken teeth slid down my chin like water. The agony turned everything inside my head to static. I could barely make out their words.
Still, I forced my busted lips to move. Somehow, I managed to speak through the pain.
“I... am Wilson’s great-grandfather. If you treat me like this... the Wilson Family will never let you walk out of here alive.”
Tommy burst into laughter, spitting in my face.
“Just because your last name is Wilson, that makes you his great-grandfather? Then I must be the ancestor of the whole Wilson surname! Let me honor my ancestors by tearing that lying rat mouth of yours apart!”
Suddenly, a firm voice cut through the chaos. “Who’s causing this racket?”
Everyone froze. We turned to see a man in the Wilson Family steward’s uniform standing in the doorway, exuding authority and presence. My heart leapt. Hope sparked in my chest.
“Steward! It’s me! I’m Danny!”
For the first time, Tommy’s followers hesitated. Their grip loosened slightly.
“Wait… is he actually someone important?”
The steward looked me up and down, then scoffed.
“Some filthy beggar off the streets? I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
“Use your brains, will you? The Wilson Family’s great-grandfather would be what—eighty or ninety years old? This kid hasn’t even grown all his hair yet and you believe he’s that guy?”
Of course he didn’t recognize me. Only the innermost circle of the Wilson Family had ever seen my real face. This steward was new. A nobody. Hope crashed to the floor like shattered glass.
Tommy sneered, hocking up a glob of phlegm and spitting it straight into my face. Then he turned and gave the steward a thumbs-up. “Smart man. That’s my dad right there.”
And just like that, everything made sense. Tommy’s arrogance, his recklessness—he wasn’t acting alone. He was hiding behind the steward’s authority the whole time. A blaze of fury ignited in my gut. My vision turned red as I glared at the man who dared stand in my house like he owned it.
“You let a stranger into the Wilson estate without the master’s permission? You’ve got some nerve.”
SMACK! Another slap from Tommy. More blood, more teeth gone.
“I am the future master of the Wilson Family. I go where I want, when I want.”
“Now shut your damn mouth. You’re ruining the vibe.”
They tied me up again—tight this time. Duct tape wound around my mouth, layer after suffocating layer. I couldn’t move. My head was shoved down, humiliated beneath their crotches as they laughed and rubbed against my face like animals.
Then something caught Tommy’s eye. My phone. He picked it up from the floor and used my bloody fingertip to unlock it. His face twisted with disbelief as he opened the photo gallery.
“You’ve got some imagination, don’t you? You actually Photoshopped yourself into pictures with Sandra?! You’re fantasizing about her this hard?! Even I haven’t gotten this close to her and you made it look like you’re her boyfriend?”
“Wait, wait, look at this one—a whole family photo and this clown photoshopped himself in the center. Playing make-believe in his little billionaire fantasy!”
He swiped through more images, then turned the screen to his friends.
“Who knows how much other perverted crap he’s hiding in here. We have to teach this sick creep a lesson.”
The goons gathered around him, whispering, laughing under their breath. Planning something even worse.
