"Please…!" Bob Ogden begged on his knees. "Don't kill me. My boss is on his way. He's the mastermind behind your friend's situation. He ordered me to beat him up and fudge the records!"
Victor eyed the fat man with disgust. He despised people of his breed, selfish, cunning turncoats who'd even sell their parents and children for money. Bob had absolutely no loyalty for Kyle and summoned him without realizing the danger.
A parade of footsteps echoed throughout the corridor outside. The door slammed open, and a multitude of men barged into. They were at least thirty, armed with baseball bats and metal rods. The Slicers gang had arrived.
"Ha!" Bob exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "You fell for my trap! I delayed you with words until the gang came to my rescue! You fucking idiot! Do you think the Slicers will apologize to you?! Now you're screwed! The guys you beat up earlier were rookies. Now it's time to face our best fighters. They'll bash you into a pulp!"
Victor turned towards the new arrivals. They were men in their late twenties and early thirties. Most of them looked seasoned in fighting. They had lived out on the streets and sported battle scars. A few were jacked and exhibited huge muscles. The scenario would make any regular person piss their pants.
Victor barely even turned toward the Slicer gang. It was as if he failed to notice their existence.
"Acting tough, huh!" Bob barked. "Kill him, guys! Let the world know that the Slicers are not to be messed with! Mr. Shannon should praise us when he arrives!"
The gangsters shouted battle cries and rushed at Victor together from all directions. They swung their weapons wildly at him, aiming to kill and maim.
Victor barely gave them a chance to approach him. He stepped to the right and swung his arm with such massive force that a dozen assailants were thrown into the wall, their weapons splintered or shattered.
Victor's left leg rose and rammed into a man's head, taking it clean off. The headless body fell to the floor and convulsed before laying still. Victor skipped forward and punched a muscular man square in the gut. The attack's shock traveled to the man's backbone, splintering it into pieces. The poor guy collapsed like a beanbag, dead on the spot.
Seeing the gruesome, bizarre deaths before their eyes, the rest of the attackers were horrified. They dropped their weapons and escaped from the carnage, wailing in terror.
"He's a monster!"
"Fuck this! I'm quitting the gang!"
"Bob is as good as dead!"
"Run for your lives!"
Victor turned to Bob Ogden. "You were saying?" he asked coldly.
Bob's eyes were wide with terror. Who was this killing machine? Was he even human? Bob backed into the wall and broke into tears. "Please! Please! I was mistaken! Please let me go!"
Victor was about to take Bob's life when he detected a presence near him. A shadow fell on the room from the doorway. A handsome, slender man walked in, a machete swinging on his hip.
"Mr. Shannon!" Bob exclaimed. "Thank goodness!"
Kyle surveyed the massacre inside his office. Outside, Daphne had run away at the first sight of blood. She had no idea who was causing pandemonium in the agency.
Kyle approached Victor and met his eyes. "So you are the one causing trouble in my kingdom? Is this a suicide run? Of all places in the world, you had to come here to die?"
Victor had no interest in speaking to a nobody like Kyle. He might as well kill the kid with one move.
Kyle was a trained fighter and detected Victor's bloodlust. He gulped anxiously. Who was this stranger? How did he butcher all his experienced soldiers? Was he a gang leader? Even Joe Savage wasn't capable of such carnage.
"Are you mute?" Kyle taunted. "In that case, let's settle this with a fight!"
Kyle slid his machete out of its sheath. The dark blade glistened in the light eerily. The young man licked his lips and rushed at Victor. However, all his instincts told him to stay away. Or something terrible would happen.
"Nooo!" A distressed voice from the doorway stopped him in his tracks. The voice was familiar to Kyle.
"Bro!" he exclaimed. Edward Shannon, the Chairman of Shannon Inc., walked in with a huff. It appeared he had run up the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.
"Kyle…"
"Bro! Don't come in between! This guy killed my gang members and trashed my place! I must kill him here!"
A thick vein throbbed on Edward's forehead. "You fucking idiot! Do you want to die so much? Have I trained you all these years to be so stupid?! Do you think you are a match for Mr. Damone?!"
Kyle turned to Victor and saw him in a new light. The adrenaline had made him panic, but now that Edward had intervened, his mind was relaxed.
"He’s just a regular guy standing up for his friend!" he told his brother.
Edward approached Kyle and slapped him across the face. "A regular guy! He is Caesar of the New World Order! How blind you must be not to recognize a god among men!"
Kyle staggered back, and his knees gave way. Caesar? He had heard stories of this legendary man who was an ideal for fighters worldwide. The young man trained and aspired to follow Caesar in his exploits one day.
Kyle had read Victor's bloodlust earlier. Every soul in his being asked him not to attack. If he had, he would be dead already.
Edward Shannon approached Victor and knelt before him with a downcast face. "Mr. Damone. Please forgive my brother. He is young and stupid. I had not imagined he’d be narcissistic enough to offend you. Please kill me if you must but spare him! I beg you!"
Bob looked at the scene in absolute shock. Why was the magnate, Edward Shannon, paying obeisance to an ordinary man? Was Caesar such a superior being?
"It is unforgivable, Edward," Victor said coldly. "Your brother has killed innocent people, defrauded others, and dared to fight me. I must end his evil stint here… And I will judge you too for not having raised him well…"
Edward looked broken, and a tear escaped his eye. He rushed to his feet and shoved Kyle to the ground. "If this is my brother's last day on earth, sir… I want to be the one to kill him!"
Edward kneeled over his brother and raised the machete to stab him.
"Stop!" Victor's voice echoed throughout the room.
Edward's lips quivered, and he dropped the weapon. He turned around and knelt again, overcome by sorrow.
Victor's icy glare scrutinized him. Regardless of the events, Edward was really determined to kill his brother to please Victor. Such loyalty could not go unrewarded.
"I will spare your brother's life as long as he spends the rest of it repenting and making amends."
Edward raised his face, relief flooding into his cheeks. "I am grateful, sir! Your mercy is boundless! I will make sure he carries out your orders!"
He dragged Kyle to his knees and shoved him towards Victor. "Make your apology and pray he accepts it," he whispered.
Kyle walked on his knees towards Victor and folded his hands before him.
"Mr. Damone… I apologize for my disgraceful behavior… I also repent all my misdoings… The first thing I will do to make amends is to return your friend's commission. Then he'll be promoted to a managerial position in the company with a four-fold salary. Finally, I will dismantle the Slicers gang and start working for the city's well-being… Please accept my apology."
Victor considered for a moment and nodded. "There's no need to dismantle the gang. I may need them in the future. Train them well in fighting, but teach them moral principles. No more fraud, extortion, or violence."
"It will be as you say, sir…"
Just then, something occurred to Victor. "Is Julia Cameron here?" he asked.
"She… It's not my fault…"
Edward walked forward and slapped Kyle on the head. "Answer him!"
"Sir… Julia is in the recording room…" he mumbled, sweating profusely. "My manager, Daphne… She took money from a producer… to let him sleep with Julia… She's in the room with the producer right now…"
Victor's jaw clenched, and his eyes flared in fury. He rushed out of the office to find Julia.