Don: The Blood Chains-Chapter 37: Reality.

It was a tense moment. Her hand started shaking as she was gripping the gun so firmly, aiming still at Joseph... but the thing was, it wasn’t really playing out how she wanted it to... because she was the only one who was tense... and no one else.

Joseph was staring at her unbothered, not even a single sign that he was worried about anything or scared, while Pablo was still holding the gold bar like a baby in his hands, as well the other two just... didn’t react at all.

And well, of course not because this whole situation was like a hallucination or something, because in front of their eyes was a park ranger... with a gun aiming at them, her hand shaking, and looking way too fragile to have any kind of authority over them... but she tried.

"I said put your hands up!" She shouted again, her voice still fragile, she sounded like she wasn’t even sure of herself. "Up now or I’ll shoot!"

"Up, guys."Joseph said calmly as he lifted up his hand, dropping the money on the ground as well as the others lifted their hands too, and it just became a more surreal situation.

Like a park fucking ranger was... ordering them around... ordering the Cassian family, Joseph the Don... it was just pure disrespect, though Joseph seemed to enjoy it.

"Why would you shoot?" Joseph said as he put a smile on his face. "We didn’t do anything wrong."

"You are destroying a protected forest and you are Joseph Cassian!" freeweɓnovel-cøm

And she knows... fuck, I knew someone was following us... He thought, because at the waterfall, when he splashed himself for a brief moment he saw her, kinda hiding and looking suspicious, and now she was in front of him aiming a gun at his head like she was a hitman.

"Must be a misunderstanding, because yes, I am Joseph Cassian but I was pardoned." He took a slow step forward, still that smile on his face, hands raised. "And aiming a gun at a civilian without any valid reason is against the law... officer... park ranger."

"Against... the law?" She asked back, her voice still trembling, even though she had the upper hand. "Coming from your mouth, that is just unbelievable." She said, but then her eyes for a second swayed from Joseph to what was in Pablo’s hands.

Yeah Pablo didn’t drop the gold bar but he held it up over his head.

"I’m changed and my past has already been cleared by the Justice Minister." he said as he saw that she was eyeing that gold in Pablo’s hands and immediately knew the weaknesses of her... the weakness that everybody has in this world. "You can take it."

"What?" She asked back, and it was just more sign to Joseph that she already thought about it, because an officer who is a real one, who is for justice, wouldn’t ask back but wouldn’t give a single fuck about it.

"You can take it. Look, we have more, we can share it." He nodded his head toward the suitcase, and she immediately looked up at it, seeing the sheer wealth that was in it. The bars, the money in packs... "12.5 kilos that can change your life around, buy a shabby house, and—"

"I’m not corrupt!" She shouted.

"It’s not about corruption but a chance, miss." Joseph spoke again as he made a step forward, now barley 2 steps away from her. "A chance to walk out from this beautiful park."

She felt it, or more like she already knew this was going to happen, that in front of him there is somebody who is on a level that she can’t even touch, can’t even reach, because even his words were like snakes wrapping tight around her and ready to crush her whole body.

"Are you threatening an officer?!"

Joseph smiled for the first time and started laughing a bit. "Threatening?" He shook his head. "Miss you decided to follow one of the most dangerous gangster family last survivor who got pardoned after ten years... you decide to follow me with my 9 men deep into the forest. Look at them." He said, and she did, for a brief moment. "What do you see? Are they scared? Do they worry? No, they have no single flicker of fear in their eyes, they’re ready to die."

Yeah, the only one in danger there was her... she felt it and saw it as she looked at them. All of them were eerily calm and silent.

Which was a clear indication that she fucked up the moment that thought went in her mind that she was going to go after them... or maybe the moment when she recognized Joseph.

"So miss... Linda Miras." Joseph read her nameplate. "Just take one of the bars and go live, because you can’t kill all of us, and even if you kill me, everybody will die in your bloodline... every single one of them. And judging by that you know my past... you exactly know I tell the truth."

Yeah, she felt it once again, those eyes of his were digging deep into her soul, and exactly knowing his past, and what happened to the families... she realized that she just walked into a trap on her own... she was pointing a gun at the last Cassian, surrounded by people who didn’t even have a flicker of fear in their eyes.

"How old are you, Linda?" Joseph asked as he reached his hands toward Pablo, who put the gold bar in it. "24? 25?"

"I am... 24." She said as the fear started to creep up on her more... and well, she realized that there is no power nor authority that she holds, they don’t give a fuck about neither the gun nor the badge on her side.

"Good... then take it, and go on a vacation, buy a house, and live your life." Joseph said as he now held out the bar toward her. "Nothing’s going to happen to you, nor your family, I promise, this money is nothing, so just take it and leave us, go home and be happy that you found me in the right mood today." He winked at her... literally fucking winked at her.

"I-Is this what you do?" she asked quietly, her voice dry. "B-buy silence?"

"Silence?" He chuckled and then again looked deep in her eyes, but now it was different than before... more almost a suffocating feeling. "No, it’s different, miss. I’m buying your life rather than taking it."

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