Chapter 3

3

The burly thug swung the steel pipe straight toward my skull.

His technique was completely sloppy.

I stepped inside his guard, effortlessly dodging the blow, clamped my hand around his wrist, and wrenched it downward.

A sharp snap echoed through the room.

The thug let out a high-pitched shriek as the pipe clattered against the floorboards.

I drove my boot directly into the back of his knee, forcing him to crash heavily onto the floor.

The remaining four men froze for a second before lunging at me together.

Street brawlers possessed zero discipline.

In the peacekeeping force, I had faced heavily armed insurgents. Taking down these street punks was barely a warmup.

I refrained from using lethal force, relying instead on precision joint locks and nerve strikes.

In less than thirty seconds, all five thugs were sprawled across the floor, groaning in agony.

The living room fell dead silent.

The contempt in the eyes of Mandy’s family had completely morphed into sheer terror.

Kyle’s face drained of all color, the glass bottle trembling violently in his grip.

“You… you really are a professional!” Kyle stammered, stumbling backward. “Normal people don’t move like that! You’re an assassin!”

Mandy pointed a shaking finger at me. “Wyatt, you’re terrifying… You actually know how to kill people…”

I brushed the dust off my sleeves and fixed my gaze on Kyle.

“Do you want to keep going?”

Kyle’s eyes darted around frantically. Suddenly, he screamed, “Mandy, look out! He’s going for a hostage!”

I instinctively glanced back toward Mandy.

In that split second of distraction, Kyle whipped a canister of tactical pepper spray from his pocket and aimed it directly into my eyes.

A harsh hissing sound filled the air.

The burning chemical mist coated my eyes instantly.

An excruciating blaze tore through my vision, plunging everything into darkness as tears flooded down my cheeks.

I grunted in pain, raising my hands to shield my face.

“Get him! Pin him down! He’s blind!” Kyle roared with wild excitement.

The thugs on the floor pushed through their pain and scrambled up, swarming me like feral dogs.

Even the best training cannot fully compensate for sudden blindness against multiple attackers.

Arms locked around my waist from behind while heavy boots kicked out my legs.

A barrage of fists rained down on my chest and ribs.

I fought back purely on muscle memory, kicking two attackers away, but the sheer weight of bodies eventually bore me down.

“Get the rope! Bring the rope!”

Mr. Davis’s voice rang out, dripping with vindictive glee.

Coarse hemp rope bit deeply into my wrists as my arms were wrenched behind my back and bound tightly.

“Drag this animal outside!”

Kyle kicked me hard in the ribs, the sharp pain forcing the breath from my lungs.

They dragged me across the floor like a slaughtered animal, hauling me out into the front yard.

A heavy blizzard was falling, and the frozen ground burned against my skin.

“Strip his coat off! Let him freeze until he learns his place!” Kyle ordered maliciously.

My winter jacket was violently ripped away, leaving me in nothing but a thin dress shirt.

The icy gale sliced across my skin like razor blades.

Yet the cold creeping into my heart was far more bitter than the winter wind.

I heard Mandy’s voice nearby.

“Kyle, don’t… don’t kill him out here.”

“Relax, I know what I’m doing,” Kyle panted, his tone thick with perverse excitement.

“Scum like this needs to learn who runs this town!”

They slammed me against the trunk of the old oak tree, wrapping coils of rope around me until I was pinned securely against the bark.

My eyes burned with agonizing fire. Forcing my lids open a crack, I could only make out blurry, distorted silhouettes.

Kyle stepped up and slapped my cheek repeatedly.

“Weren’t you a badass a minute ago? Where’s all that swagger now?”

I spat a mouthful of bloody saliva directly into his face.

“If you’ve got the guts, finish the job.”

Kyle wiped his face furiously, his voice turning shrill with rage.

“Fine! If you’re begging for death, I’ll gladly oblige!”