THE DEVIL'S PREY
CHAPTER TWO
Panic filled Sarah's chest as the large hand clamping down on her mouth muffled her screams for help.
She tries to struggle as she's dragged down the foyer. Her heart pounded and questions filled her mind.
What was going on? Where were her parents?
She's dragged into the living room that's now a complete mess. From the table to the pictures hung on the walls everything was strewn messily on the floor.
Her eyes locked on her parents who were on their knees in the center of the living room held down by men in black. They looked disheveled in a way she had never seen them, her dad especially had taken a serious beating as he had bruises on his face.
All her life, she had never seen her father in this state. He looked helpless and that scared her.
The dad in her memory was a strong man who would do anything to protect his family and the society.
The image in her head differed so much from the one before her that her heart ached.
She broke free from the person holding her and shouted. "Mom! Dad!"
They both looked up at her with panic in their eyes, before she could rush to them, she was roughly pulled back and pressed down to her knees. She hissed in pain when her knee knocked on the ground.
"So, this is your daughter. I guess we can start now that the whole family is here." A low voice came from the side and Sarah finally noticed the masked man seated in the corner.
He was tall and wore a black slim fitted suit and in his hand was a gun.
Sarah looked right into his eyes through the black mask which perfectly covered his face and all she saw was nothing but dark hatred.
He suddenly stood and cocked the gun.
Sarah felt her blood run cold. She wanted to speak, to scream, to question what was going on but her dad shook his head at her and mouthed the word 'one'.
Sarah instantly knew what he meant.
Rule number one: In danger, your safety is paramount, stay calm and think clear.
She had to stay calm, just like her father had taught her.
Sarah bit her lips as she watched the man approach her parents, he stopped in front of them, raised the gun and turned off the safety.
"I've waited for this day for a long time. It's finally time for you to leave this world. Are you ready?"
The man's voice was cold with no emotion.
Tears began to fill her eyes as she looked between the gun and her parents.
Her dad finally spoke. "Close your eyes, Sarah." His voice was hoarse but he tried to sound gentle.
"Dad!" she sobbed.
"Be obedient. Close your eyes baby, don't look." Sarah shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Listen to your father, sweetie." Her mom smiled like she did during breakfast, like there wasn't a man with a gun in their living room. Like she wasn't about to lose her life.
Sarah gritted her teeth, lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut like all this would be a dream when she woke up.
A low chuckle soon filled the air, with her eyes closed, the sound was amplified in her ears, it was full of mockery.
The next second her head was yanked up and her eyes were forced open. She met the man's dark bottomless eyes and couldn't help shivering.
"Why can't she look?" He turned to look at her dad and sneered. "She needs to keep her eyes wide open so it can burn into her memory. So she'll never dare to forget."
Her dad hung his head and his shoulders dropped defeatedly.
"Now, now, such a sight should be nothing to the great Sam Parker so I'm sure she can bear it since she has your blood. After all, we both know that you've seen and done much worse." He squatted in front of Sam and lifted his chin with the gun's barrel. "Isn't that right Mr. Alessandro? I'm sure you haven't heard that name in a long time, Alessandro Sam Rossi."
Sarah saw the complex look that flashed in her dad's eyes at the name as well as her mom who raised her dad to look at her dad with a tight expression. Sarah's mind was filled with confusion; she couldn't understand what was going on or make sense of what was being said.
Who was Alessandro? Why was he calling her father by that name?
Her confusion was clearly reflected in her words as she called, "Dad?"
Sam raised his head and saw the confusion in his daughter's red eyes. The sight of her tear stained cheeks, messy appearance, her frail form being held down, the mix of fear and hope in her eyes his heart felt like it had been cut with a knife. He was supposed to protect her, protect them, but instead he had put them in danger.
He had failed as both a husband and father.
The masked man looked between Sam and Sarah with interest. "So she doesn't know?" He chuckled darkly. "I guess even a man like you is ashamed to tell your daughter who you really are."
He tapped the gun on Sam's chin. "But your wife seems well informed." Sam looked at him sharply with a dark look in his eyes but it only lasted a few seconds before the masked man used the gun to hit him across the face causing Sam to fall on his side with a pained groan as blood poured from his mouth.
"Honey!"
"Dad!"
Emily and Sarah shouted anxiously.
"Leopards really don't change their spots." The masked man rose to his feet slowly fiddling with the gun. "Since your wife is so well informed, let her go ahead first."
The second he finished his words, he lifted the gun and shot at Emily.
There was no loud gunshot as Sarah expected but her ears rang and the world seemed blurry. She watched as the blood seeped through her mom's clothes, watched as her mom looked at both her and her dad with a smile before falling limply to the side.
"Mom!" she struggled trying to go to her but the man behind her held her down tightly, her struggles seemed futile.
"Shut her up!" the man ordered.
Soon a large hand covered her mouth tightly turning all her cries and shouts into muffled sounds.
Sam scrambled up from the floor trembling like he was the one who'd been shot, his eyes were red as he stared at his wife and slowly crawled towards her limp body.
The masked man kicked Sam down. "As satisfying as it is to see you crawl like the animal you are, there's no need to be in such a hurry since you'll meet her soon." He placed the gun against Sam's temple. "Instead of chasing the dead, shouldn't you focus on the living?"
After hearing his words, Sam finally managed to tear his eyes away from his wife to look at his daughter who was crying bitterly and whose cries were muffled by the hand on her mouth.
Momentarily pulling himself from the pain, Sam spoke hoarsely. "My daughter. Please spare my daughter."
"You don't need to beg. I'll make sure your daughter lives a very long life." A menacing smile curved his lips underneath the mask. "She'll live a long life wishing for death every single day and regret having a father like you."
The little hope he had at first was brutally crushed as the man finished his words. Sam closed his eyes, as tears slowly slid down his cheeks.
Today was the first time Sarah had seen her father cry and it was going to be the last.
"I'll see you in hell, Alessandro. Seat tight and wait for me."
Sam opened his eyes and looked at Sarah, they were completely red as if filled with blood.
"Rule-5, Sarah. Don't forget." He managed to mouth before the man pulled the trigger.
This time, the shot wasn't silent. It rang in the air as a bullet cut through Sam's head and he fell to the side.
"Dad!" Sarah's shout was muffled by the man's hand, she struggled fiercely but the man had a grip like steel.
Sarah knelt there with sobs racking her body as she watched her parents lie motionlessly on the floor.
It felt unreal, like a horrible nightmare.
Just this morning they talked, laughed, and made promises. They were supposed to have dinner at Morgan's while she talked about the tour.
It was supposed to be a normal day but everything shattered in an instant.
Her world had crumbled right before her and she was helpless to stop it.
What could she have done?
She wondered what her parents could have done to deserve such an awful death.
What had she done to witness such a terrible thing?
Her eyes shifted to the masked man who stood there staring at her parents' dead bodies. She couldn't see his face but she wondered what he was thinking.
Was he smiling underneath that mask?
Was he happy to have made her an orphan?
He turned to her and slowly walked over, her heart thumped in her chest with every step. She looked at the gun in his hand, the gun that had killed her parents, and wondered if it would kill her too.
Sarah couldn't trust the words he'd said, perhaps he'd said it to hurt her dad. Sarah looked at her parents and suddenly smiled. She didn't mind dying with them, they were the two people who loved her the most in the world.
She couldn't imagine living without them.
The masked man stopped in front of her and stared down at her, his dark eyes were filled with hatred and a hint of madness. She wondered who he hated.
Her? Her mom? Her dad? Or all of them?
"I won't kill you. I'm a man of my word." He spoke like he'd seen her thoughts. His voice was laced with malice, those deep and malevolent eyes locked onto Sarah's like a predator on its prey.
"Baby girl I'll make sure you wish for death each day."
That was all Sarah heard before she blacked out.
The masked man stood in place staring down at the unconscious girl briefly before he turned and headed for the door as he ordered. "Clean up and bring the girl."
Ten minutes later, three cars blended in with the darkness and drove away from the empty house.
Farther down the street, a lowkey black car was parked under a dead streetlight shrouded totally in darkness. Inside, a man with headphones sat watching the cars drive away with a pale face.
He quickly picked up his phone and made a call, his heart pounded as it rang and when the person on the other end picked up, he respectfully called. "Boss."
The person on the other end only gave a low hum.
The man tentatively continued. "He's just left with his men." The man went on to report everything he'd heard and seen.
Once he was done speaking, the person on the other end only hummed again before hanging up the call.
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In a warm dimly lit room, a middle aged man with graying hair sat next to a fireplace staring out a large floor to ceiling window with a lit cigar in his hand and a phone in the other.
He put down the phone and picked up the glass of wine on the side table and took a sip. Recalling the report he's just heard, he leaned back on the chair and murmured. "You've finally gotten your wish."
He shook the wine glass slightly. "But are you happy? Are finally satisfied." He said to no one in particular then put the cigar in his mouth and inhaled deeply.
"What will you do now, little Xavier?" Smoke slipped through his lips as he spoke and slowly curled up in the air, the wood in the fireplace crackled loudly as the fire consumed it.