The next morning, Steven woke up pretty early as always, put on his training gear and picked up the duffel bag with his change of clothes.

He picked up his phone and card from the bed, before leaving his apartment.

He walked down the empty hallway to the elevator, which came quickly after he called it.

Steven got in and rode it down to the garage. Its doors opened up and he stepped out, walked to the Porsche and got in.

He started the engine, then slowly steered the car out of the underground garage, into the morning street.

A minute after he pulled out into the street, he noticed a car trailing behind him. He looked at it properly to see if it was either of the two cars from before, but it wasn’t. He continued driving, while still paying attention to the car.

And just as he was about to make a turn onto the road that the gym was on, a car cut out from the same turn and blocked the entire road, and his path.

He realised what was about to happen and he was about to reverse, but the car that had been trailing him immediately pulled up behind him, cutting off his path.

Steven smiled in understanding and prepared himself for what was about to happen.

The next moment, a couple of figures, with masks covering their faces, stepped out of both cars and walked towards the Porsche, pointing guns at him.

Two of them reached the car, still pointing their guns at him.

"Get out of the fucking car before I blow your brains out!" One of them, who seemed to be the leader of the masked men, bellowed.

"Drew made his move this quick, huh?" Steven said, shaking his head.

"I’m not here to have a conversation with you. Get out of the car in five or I will plant a bullet in your head!" The masked men’s leader said.

Steven nodded, opened the door and slowly stepped out of the car.

Immediately after he stepped out, the leader smacked him in the face with the butt of the gun, but Steven didn’t feel much of the expected pain.

The leader noticed this and immediately pointed the gun at Steven’s face.

"Don’t try anything funny. Calmly walk to the car in front," he said.

Steven glared at the leader for a moment, before walking to the car in front. As he walked, he counted the number of masked men.

He counted eight, including the two behind the wheels of each car, then the leader making them nine. And they all had handguns.

Steven wondered if he could take them all on but he wasn’t too keen to find out if he was faster than a bullet, yet. And he also wanted to meet Drew.

They reached the car in front and one of the masked men opened the door to the backseat and got in.

The second masked man tried to shove Steven into the car but he barely budged. He turned to the masked man with a deep frown on his face, then slowly got into the car by himself.

The second masked man got into the car and jammed his gun at Steven’s hip.

"You look at me like that again, I will give you a little gift in return."

Steven scoffed and said nothing.

The leader turned to the other masked men standing by the Porsche.

"José, follow us with the car. The rest of you, let’s move!" He instructed and got into the passenger seat.

Another masked man got into the car, started the engine and jammed his foot on the gas, causing the car’s tyres to screech as he drove off.

Steven watched as the car sped through the street. It was still very early in the morning, so the sky was still a bit dark, but he could see where they were going clearly, since they didn’t bother to cover his face.

He noticed that each car had taken a different route, as the Porsche wasn’t behind them.

They drove for a few minutes before they pulled up in front of an uncompleted building.

Steven looked around and noticed how quiet the street they were on was. He smiled, understanding that they had chosen the best possible location for the whole ordeal.

Immediately after pulling up, the leader got out of the car.

"Bring him out and let’s go," he said, before walking ahead into the building.

The man on Steven’s right got out first, pointed his gun at Steven, and made a hand gesture for him to get out of the car.

Steven was already getting out without being told. And when he was out, he was led by the group into the building.

He noticed that the driver drove the car away immediately.

They walked into the building and he was led through it, down a corner where they came to stop in front of a door.

The leader opened the door, revealing a dark room. He stepped through, with the two other masked men leading Steven in.

Inside the dark room, Steven noticed how dimly lit the room they were in, was. If it wasn’t for the light bulb lighting the room, it would probably be pitch dark.

Steven saw a figure seated on a chair at the end of the room. And due to the fact that he was standing behind the only source of light in the room, Steven couldn’t quite make out his face completely. But he could make out the person’s features and they bore a solid resemblance to Drew.

He simply smiled, allowing the men to lead him forward.

They reached the middle of the room where the light bulb illuminated more, and they stopped.

The leader, who was at the front, took off his mask, turned to them and gestured to his men with a nod.

The next moment, the two masked men took off their masks. Then the man who had threatened Steven with a gun to his hip shoved him and tried to throw him down to his knees, but Steven barely budged.

Steven smiled mockingly when he saw this. He wondered what the man was going to do next, when he felt the coldness of metal on his back.

"Get on the floor, you b*st*rd!"

"Tsk. How predictable," Steven muttered, feeling disappointed.

He decided to just go down on his knees for the sake of it.

The man saw Steven going down on his knees and decided to shove him one more time, but it still didn’t do much.

"Aren’t you going to give up? How many times has it been now?" Steven asked in a mocking tone.

The man immediately got angered by Steven’s words and smacked the butt of the gun at the back of Steven’s head, but he saw that Steven didn’t react as he would have expected.

This made him frown deeply and his ego hurt even more.

Steven didn’t bother with the man behind him, as he turned his attention to the man seated at the end of the room.

"Just show yourself already, Drew. Don’t make me kneel for too long," he said.

The following moment, the seated figure stood up and slowly walked into the light, confirming Steven’s thought.

"It seems you don’t understand the situation you’re in, for you to be talking so freely," Drew said.

"Why? You wanted me to grovel and beg for my life the moment they walked me into the room, saying that I will do anything you want, as long as you don’t hurt me? F*ck you," Steven said with a toothy grin.

"Such confidence. I like it. I wonder if you will still have such confidence when there’s a gun pointed to your face?" Drew muttered, cocking his gun and pointing it dead at Steven’s forehead.

Steven sighed heavily, hearing Drew’s words.

"Your guys made sure to greet me with a gun pointed at my face. I thought you would be more civil than them but I guess I was expecting too much from an underdeveloped monkey baby like you," he said with a completely neutral tone.

Drew’s face darkened with rage. He was about to shoot Steven, when something shocking happened.

In one fast and fluid motion, Steven ripped the gun from Drew’s grip, got behind him and pointed the gun at his head.

It all happened in a split second.

"Now, let’s talk like civilised people," Steven said with a small smile.

Drew’s men were shocked by the series of events that had just taken place. They looked at their boss, who was now being held hostage by the same person who had been kneeling on the floor a second ago.

Drew was also shocked but he quickly recovered and bellowed instructions at his men.

"Don’t just stand there! F*cking shoot him already!"

Drew’s men immediately pointed their guns at Steven.

"Put the gun down right now!" The leader said.

"Are you deaf? Put the f*cking guns down!" The man who had threatened Steven bellowed.

Steven sighed heavily once more when he heard this and shot the man who had spoken last, precisely in the shoulder, as a sharp, loud and violent bang echoed throughout the room.

"Stop cursing at me," he muttered.

Without giving the others time to react, he shot the leader in his right knee and shot the other man in his left knee. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Aahhh! F*cking bastard!" The first man Steven had shot first, screamed in pain.

Steven turned his attention to the person who had screamed, shot his other shoulder and then shot both his knees.

"Now, shall we talk like civilised people?" He asked, with a neutral tone.