10 YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!

BENJI

Bria: "Hello?"

"Hello? Anybody there?"

Stranger: "Bria Maxwell. How are you doing?"

Bria: "Who's this?"

Stranger: "Ah! So, you have a problem with short-term memory loss, I see. You don't remember me?"

Bria: "um- I -aa"

Stranger: "You wounded me, butterfly"

After a pause...

Bria: "H-how did you get my number?"

Stranger: "How are you?"

Rustling sounds...

Bria: "Cut the crap bulldog. Come straight to the point"

Stranger: "What. Did. You. Just. Called. Me?"

Bria: "Oh, I apologise if you couldn't hear me the first time, BULLDOG."

Stranger: "You ..... I will make sure that you will regret it, woman."

Bria: "Yeah. Whatever. Just spill it out already. I don't have time for your bullshit."

Stranger: "What have you decided?"

Bria: "What are you talking about?"

Stranger: "My boss wants you to sign your home and the property around it off to him. You got the message that day when you punched and hurt our man."

Bria: "And I thought your man told you my answer which is.... fuck off,"

A brief pause...

Stranger: "Have you ever heard the name KING?"

Bria: "Of course, I have heard the name king in the fairytales, what about that?" Chuckles...

Stranger: "This is not funny Maxwell. You don't know who you are messing with!"

Bria: "Really? Maybe you are right but you know what, tell your boss that I don't give two shits about who he is and what he wants. Just because his name is King it doesn't mean he can have whatever he wants! This is not a monarchy, wake up!! And also tell him that if he or any of his goons threaten me or my family in any shape or form, I will call the police and will make your life hell!" With that, the call ended.

I sighed, rubbing my face harshly, trying to refrain from venting out all the bottled-up anger. But Bria shouldn't see that side of me.

Never!

"Benji, I think Juan is right. This is getting creepier every day. I don't want to take any risk for the safety of kids. I think we should call the police-"

She jumped in fright as I slammed my palm on the table between us. Her cell phone, on which I just heard the call recording, jumped with the impact, and she was quick to pick it up before it fell and broke.

Because she knew that we couldn't afford to buy a new one!

"How many times I have told you that we are not going to involve the police in this. Why don't you understand?" I glared at her, and she shrank back.

I felt terrible, watching the fear on her face. Her eyes turned misty as she took a small step back.

"I am sorry!" And she ran out of there.

I groaned in frustration. The situation was too ridiculous for me. If it was someone else, then I would have done something to get rid of that man but King... I hadn't met him before... to be honest, nobody knew anything about him except his name and the terror it brought with it.

Bria should understand that involving the police was not going to help us in any way.

That man was too powerful and had his men rooted in every sphere of society. We couldn't trust anyone. There are many of his pawns in the police, who may inform him about our complaint and then...

I didn't even want to think about it!

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and it was already time for dinner. I apologised to Bria, and like always, she just hugged me and told me to never leave her alone.

My Princess!

The kids must have sensed the tension between us as after they saw us talking normally with each other, they suggested going for a night walk. Bria groaned and by the look on her face, I could tell she wanted to sleep.

But for the kids' sake, she agreed.

'If anyone can make Bria Maxwell do something even against her will then it is only her family!'

Little did we know that when we would come back home, another surprise would be waiting for us!

We returned home once the younger kids began complaining about feeling sleepy. Bria looked exhausted too so we decided to head back home, but what we saw there, we didn't expect at all!

The front door was open. I distinctly remember that I had locked it before leaving then...

I made everyone stand outside, but as expected Bria protested and followed me to the door. I was scared, to say the least. If it was any other time, then I would have thought about a theif, but with everything going on these past days, I couldn't help but think about the worst.

I made Bria stand outside and enter the house. My eyes tried to make sense of things in the dark. My ears were alert to pick on any dull sound. But the house was serenely silent, yet I got the chills padding softly on the floor.

Once I was sure that nobody was in there, I opened the door wide open, but that only made Bria jump in fright. I let them all in, but then I noticed something.

"Where is Juan?" My voice resonated in the silence of the night.

Bria looked troubled for a moment before she masked it with a dumbfounded face, giving me a sheepish smile.

Something was wrong!

"I am here. Sorry. I was tying my shoelaces."

The boy came inside as calmly as he could portray, but I could see through his eyes. He was lying!

"I will deal with this later." I was not in the mood to interrogate the two of them as my head felt heavy with numerous thoughts.

I was about to tell the kids to go into their rooms when the ringing of Bria's phone pierced through the thick tension around me. She fumbled with the device but managed to place it against her ear.

I narrowed my eyes and strained my ears to hear the indecipherable sound from the other end as she spoke.

"H-hello?"

"I can feel how scared you and your family is. And I am liking this feeling."

Then I heard a male voice from the other end. I could hear him speak as the sound came out of her old phone, and the silence only helped more.

"So, you are the mighty King?" I could feel Bria's nervousness though she tried to put up a tough front.

I heard the deep chuckle. "Eager to meet King, are we?"

"What do you want?" Bria spat at him in anger.

"You know what we- King wants. He wants you to sign your property in his name."

"Why?"

Right!

We only knew that King wanted Bria's property, but we never got a chance to know why.

After a brief pause, he asked. "You don't know?" He sounded surprised.

"Umm .. yeah. I never asked and you idiots never told." Bria confessed.

"Your property is located in the perfect spot. It is big enough and is situated away from the city crowd in a peaceful and serene environment. King is planning to build a resort there. We were planning to take it without your consent but we don't want to deal with any legal shit. So here we are asking you nicely to sign the papers. Is this enough explanation?" He said in a professional tone.

I was speechless hearing that. What kind of shitheads they were?!

"Asking me nicely? My foot! Threatening my family is a definition of asking nicely in your dictionary? Unbelievable!" Bria fumed.

And I refrained myself from snatching her phone and showing him who he was messing with!

The kids were watching us!

He ignored Bria's outburst. "So, what have you decided? When can I send those papers?" He asked in a bored tone.

That despicable pig!

"Why make efforts to send them to me. Please do me a favour and show them to your ugly ass!" Bria seethed, and this time, I didn't give her a warning look for using such language in front of kids.

Because that rascal deserved just that!

"Now listen here, bitch! If we can break into your house and scare the living daylights out of you and your lovely family then you can imagine what we can do more. We are not some nuisance gang that you can threaten with police. Trust me when I say you would not like to know more about us. And fix this in your little thick skull that King doesn't take a no... ever!" He yelled from the other side.

I saw kids shrinking back in fright at his voice.

"I don't care you leech. If you don't stop this nonsense then I will make sure that your King Kong would take his precious family jewel in his big filthy mouth." That made me snap my head towards Bria with the speed of light that I thought I would get a broken neck!

Now that was too much!

But the reaction from the kids was completely different. They cheered her, and gave her thumbs up as if she was just about to win a debate competition at the school!

I could hear his angry breaths through the speaker of Bria's phone. "Trust me when I say you will be not using that smart pretty mouth of yours when you will deal with King. He is the worst nightmare of every living person on this planet. Don't say that I didn't warn you!"

And he hung up.

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