Chapter 38: Chapter 38 Framed and sentenced.
With the transformation of the box into a flying camera recorder, everyone’s attention was drawn to it, and they all rushed toward where their boss stood.
Adrian raised his hand, signaling they shouldn’t come any closer.
Daniel and Alex walked forward, stopping a few feet before the others, and slowly Adrian got down from the rock where he stood and faced them.
"Now it’s time to know the truth of what happened here," Adrian declared, his eyes locked on someone specifically.
Daniel Lancaster felt like he was about to pee on himself. Salvation had departed him—now it was time for the reckoning of his sins.
"Someone among you betrayed our code of conduct," Adrian began.
Silence stretched, filling the air with chilling tension.
"And I know you all understand the result of committing such unforgivable sins. It’s mummification," Adrian stated coldly, raising the omen high in the air, tightening the pressure.
Daniel almost cried. He was going to be mummified. Adrian would have his head and organs.
Oh shit.
"I thought perhaps I did something wrong, but no—I didn’t. My plan has never gone wrong!" Adrian yelled, his face twitching in rage.
"The mission was planned out. It was meant to be perfect—our way of paying them back for conniving against us and trying to create a deadly weapon that could wipe out all of our members." Adrian’s fists clenched as he scanned their faces, searching for the betrayer. But nothing was revealed—only pretense and facades.
"And now, not only were we outnumbered in what was supposed to be our surprise attack—they even used our battle strategies against us!" Adrian stamped his foot, bubbling with anger.
He couldn’t keep it in anymore. He wanted to wound the person responsible, the same one who caused Gianna’s death.
They deserved to die.
"I planned this with my members, and that son of a bitch—that pussy—went on to snitch, is that it?" Adrian’s red eyes blazed, promising untold misery to the guilty.
"Now, I could have looked over it, since none of my team members died. We still managed to pull through, even though we were seriously injured. But look at it—the same person gave the enemies a way into our headquarters.
"Can you imagine the effrontery? Maybe you all thought I had gone soft. Fine, then. I’ll play it. And that person—after being publicly flogged fifty strokes of the cane—will be put in a cell, starved, and finally mummified." Adrian deadpanned.
Jake stood beside Adrian, watching the crew give out different expressions. This was it—the moment to find that motherfucker who nearly destroyed them.
If not for Alex’s quick reaction, they all would have been brutally killed. But Jake wanted more—he wanted to avenge Gianna’s death. The attackers would pay.
"Bring out your phones, all of you," Adrian commanded.
At once, the crew slid out their devices.
All except Daniel. The boy shook so badly, but thanks to Alex, who stepped forward and stood before him, Adrian didn’t notice his trembling.
Daniel’s confidence was gone. The weight of consequences thundered in his ears, nearly knocking him unconscious.
"Take hold of yourself, Daniel, or Adrian will suspect," Alex whispered, gripping his hand and holding his own phone as instructed.
Then, through the flying camera recorder, Adrian connected them all.
After five minutes of suffocating silence, a video was sent to their phones.
When Daniel began watching and saw the clothes shown, he nearly collapsed. It was the backside of his own dress.
But the direction the figure was heading—he didn’t remember ever going there.
"What’s happening? Please, God—don’t let that be me." His heart pounded as the video zoomed in. Then he saw the clear face.
It was him. Daniel himself, walking to the east side of the penthouse in the middle of the night, holding a small torchlight he had never even seen before in his life.
"No! This can’t be happening!" Daniel trembled as Adrian’s death-like expression locked on him. He shook like a leaf.
The figure in the video stopped before a group of six guards guarding the weapon room. All of them were heavily asleep, snoring like pigs, legs twisted into unnatural positions. Daniel—or the figure resembling him—walked through, collected the door key from their clothes, and opened the weapon room.
Inside, weapons and maps of their headquarters and maze were laid out. He picked some up. On the way back, he snapped the weapon room and dropped a bag at the edge of a couch.
No one could see it, but inside the bag was the same bomb—the weapon that wiped everyone out.
Once done, the figure disappeared into the shadows.
Everyone shouted, staring at Daniel with shocked expressions.
How could someone so fragile-looking commit something so evil?
Daniel fell to the floor as the video ended—at least, he thought it had. But it continued.
Now it showed Daniel battling Matt and Gianna. But instead of showing Matt attacking first, it showed Daniel pushing him, sending him over the barricade, his skull smashing against the marble floor.
Then Gianna—it replayed Daniel pushing her, showing his attempt to save her, only for her to fall to her death.
The crew was speechless. Titania, who had previously declared Daniel a fraud, only smiled.
"I said it, didn’t I? This boy is evil. See what he did. Even we mafias aren’t this brutal," Titania mocked, still staring at the screen.
Greta screamed, clasping her mouth in horror. She couldn’t believe what she saw.
Yet deep down, she was happy. Finally, Daniel would be gotten rid of—finally killed. But she masked her delight with fake concern.
"Why, Daniel? What didn’t our boss do for you, that you went ahead to betray him?" Greta questioned.
Daniel sat on the floor, stunned. This was beyond unexpected. He had only killed Matt in self-defense, and Gianna’s death was by mistake. But betraying Adrian? Never. He couldn’t even dream of it.
All he wanted was freedom—to escape from the contract, to be free. But now, instead of freedom, he would be killed.
"I’m telling you, that’s not me! I don’t know who that is—I’ve never passed that corridor, only once when I tried to escape. Please, Adrian, you have to believe me—"
His words were cut off when Jake kicked him in the forehead. Daniel fell back, blood bursting from his face.
Alex looked dismayed, confused by what was happening.
Daniel turned to him, hoping for help—for someone to at least stop Jake. But Alex stood still, like the others.
Adrian hadn’t even spoken yet. This time, unlike before, he didn’t stop them. He had once banned them from touching Daniel—but now, Jake was free to kick him like a football. Adrian allowed it.
"You’re one dreadful human! How dare you lay hands on Gianna? You evil soul! Why, Gia?" Jake yelled, throwing another malicious kick to Daniel’s back. Blood spurted from his mouth as he rolled on the floor in pain.
"Adrian, you know I’m always in your room! I couldn’t have gone out—please!" Daniel begged, his face pressed to the ground.
Cassian and the others watched with disgust as he grovelled. They loved it, adored it—finally, Daniel was on his knees, crawling.
At last, Adrian ended the oppressive treatment and proclaimed his verdict.
"Flog him fifty strokes of the cane. Tie him in chains and put him in my car boot. We move to our new headquarters."
Jake and Cassian dragged Daniel to a pole. He cried, kicked, screamed—but no one listened. They shoved him down, beating him with kicks and slaps until his hands were bound tightly against a pillar.
Cassian tore off his clothes, leaving him in boxers.
They were about to fetch the cane when Adrian stopped them.
"I want him completely bare. Pull off his boxers."
And so they did, leaving Daniel stark naked before all eyes.
He groaned, screamed, his body manhandled. But as the pain burned, his thoughts drifted.
Who did this to him? Who set him up?
His gaze swept over everyone, and one person lingered in his mind.
Alexander McQueen—that weird boy. Daniel twitched his face. He knew it. He shouldn’t have trusted him.
Fuck romance. Fuck friendship. Fuck relationships and everyone else.
He wasn’t going to die here. This wasn’t over.
Adrian—this wasn’t over.
And his death list? It just grew longer.
At the top stood Alexander McQueen. And Adrian Valez.
Both would die by his hands.
NOTE...
DONT WORRY DANIEL SUFFERING FOR NOW WILL SOON BE OVER SO DON’T BE SCARED.