"Waohhh," Logan Allen yelled and gulped down his beer. He was drinking heavily tonight and was betting wildly. Dexter Allen stood in a corner of the casino watching him. Logan, his brother-in-law, was a thirty-one-year-old, flashy, large-scale gambler. His gambling activities, which were condoned by Karen Allen, his mother, involved hundreds of thousands, even millions in both profits and losses. He has been famous for years in gambling circles from Miami to Las Vegas. Two days ago, he won $115,000 at blackjack tables in the evening and lost it all in the morning. He would spend hours after hours, never leaving the table, while the casino supplied him with drinks.
Dexter sighed. He shouldn't be here. Logan had ordered him to accompany him to his Hubspot. He had no choice but to obey so as not to offend Karen, his wealthy mother-in-law, who was looking for an opportunity to kick him out of the house. He had been trying to please her, but his very efforts seemed to provoke her more. She was like a ticking bomb.
"More beer!" Logan shouted.
Dexter shook his head sadly. Such a waste of resources. Sir Richard, his father-in-law, would be so heartbroken to see Logan squandering the wealth they both had worked tirelessly for. Alas, Logan was the most delighted at the news of his father's death two years ago and had hosted an extravaganza party three days after the funeral. While Sir Richard was alive he had disowned Logan, who had been indulged by his wife Karen. Logan engaged in horrendous vices again and again, trampling his prestigious name in the mud. Turning a deaf ear to the pleadings of his wife, he had accepted as a son Dexter who worked tirelessly in his company and had given Lena his daughter's hand in marriage.
Their marriage had been blessed with a son Ronnie, who was autistic. Lena didn't mind marrying Dexter despite him being a penniless broke. She wanted to be in her father's good book and Dexter wasn't ugly to behold. In fact, he had the raving beauty of a woman. At the early stage of their courtship, she had shown him off to her friends, who wished Dexter was their boyfriend. The only problem was, Dexter didn't have the money to support the looks and she being a high-class lady with great taste, didn't like a mediocre lifestyle which was to her the exact definition of poverty. After her father's death, she realized she had made a mistake in ignoring her mother's advice. Dexter was nothing without her family and would continue to be so.
Logan was served another pint of beer and Dexter watched him gulp that down too, then continued his game. He was dumb. He was being served drinks intentionally so that he would become drunk and lose bets.
Logan slammed his glass on the table and belched loudly. He placed on the table the $200,000 worth of chips left from the $700,000 he purchased from the cashier four hours ago. He had already lost $500,000 and was still losing the game because he was inebriated.
In a few minutes, he had lost all the money and began to yell gibberish. The pit boss beckoned on Dexter and pulled Logan away from the table. Dexter helped Logan to his feet, but he could barely stand or walk. Dexter frowned. Now he had to carry a full-grown man home and without any scratch on his body to avoid incurring the wrath of his mother-in-law. He grabbed Logan's hand and pulled him towards the door.
Breathing the cold fresh air outside, Dexter began dragging Logan, who had slumped on his shoulders soused. A van pulled up beside them, the door opened and three men in black got out. The men advanced towards them and Dexter, sensing trouble, took a few steps backward, dragging Logan alongside. One of the men grabbed Logan and pulled him towards the van. Dexter tried to stop him but was punched in his stomach by another. The other two began to pummel him. They left him writhing in pain on the ground, got into their van and drove away.
Dexter lay on the ground for some minutes trying to recover his strength. With great effort, he tried to stand up groaning as he did so. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth and there were bruises all over his face. Grunting, he started for home.
He got to his mother-in-law's mansion where he lived with his wife Lena, who was a model, and their four-year-old son, Ronnie. When they newly got married four years ago, Karen Allen had insisted they live in the mansion, so she could keep an eye on Dexter, whom she despises. To please her, Dexter had accepted to live in her mansion. Karen had no problem with Logan coming home anytime he liked but imposed a curfew on Dexter, who was seven years older than her son. She also came up with a lot of ludicrous rules which restricted Dexter alone. She sacked and banned him from their company following a money scandal that took place while her husband was on his deathbed. Dexter had observed a huge amount of company funds were missing and investigated the matter. He discovered Logan had conspired with Sheldon Lodge, the finance rep in Richmond company, and had stolen millions of dollars. Dexter reported this to Karen, who slapped his face and called him a liar. She also had him arrested for harassing her son. Immediately after her husband died, she sacked and banned him from Richmond company. Devastated, Dexter was confined to the house where he was constantly ridiculed and treated with disdain by Karen and Logan. Lena didn't care about the way her husband was treated by her mother and brother as long as it didn't boil down to her. She lived her life like Dexter didn't exist. They had stopped sleeping in the same room for two years due to Karen's interference in their marriage. She dictated what they ate, wore or did. Dexter endured chagrin, much to Karen's umbrage. She sacked all her house staff and made Dexter do all the work, validating her actions by quoting "There is no food for a lazy man". Dexter bore the mockery silently because of his son Ronnie, whom he loved.
He climbed the front porch and rang the doorbell. There was no answer, and he sat on the floor groaning with pains in the cold. Minutes passed, and he got up stiffly, rang the doorbell and continued to do so till the door opened. Lena eyed him all over and turned to walk away, but Dexter reached out and grabbed her slender wrist. She turned to face him reluctantly.
"Your husband just returned home with bruises, Lena," Dexter said in a hoarse voice filled with emotions. "Aren't you going to ask me what happened?"
Lena rolled her eyes. She didn't care if he came back with an arm missing or his eyes missing from their sockets. She was bothered she had to go open the door. She pulled her hand away and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Dexter forced a smile, but he felt his heart squeeze. Lena had told him she loved him twenty years ago when they had just met. They had met at O'Connor's nightclub when Lena came to a party with her friends. She and her ex-boyfriend, Lukas Hart, argued and Lukas hit her. Dexter had intervened and they soon became friends. He liked her personality, but Lena liked his looks and physique. Lena introduced him to her father, a businessman struggling to build his company, and because he had feelings for Lena, he decided to work for Sir Richard. For eighteen years, he helped him build Richmond company and it became a success in the high-stakes finance world. Sir Richard was proud of him and joined them together in matrimony. He constantly told Dexter he was the son he never had, but everything had changed now. They had forgotten he was the reason they had a company to ban him from, a house they always threatened to kick him out of. They had forgotten he had spent a good chunk of his life building the reputation they enjoyed in society. Lena kept reminding him he hadn't been kicked out of the house because of her, so he should do as he is told to do.
With a heavy heart, Dexter walked to his room which was formerly used by their house servant. He was glad that Karen was asleep already so he could rest well tonight before facing tomorrow's ordeal when he announced Logan's abduction.