The Toxic Deal

12. DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

BRIA

Benji gifted me a cute white coloured dress on my fourth birthday. I fell in love with the dress the moment I saw it. It was very pretty with a large pink bow on the front of my waist. I wore it only on special occasions and never in school because I didn't want other girls to get jealous of my beautiful dress. 

At that one time, Benji made me wear it saying it looks good on me when we were out for shopping. I was wandering in the market when Benji was busy in bargaining with a fruit seller over the cost of one kg of oranges. The rainy season had just begun soothing the parched mother earth from the intense summer heat. A rainbow had decorated the blue sky peeking shyly from behind a white cottony cloud. I was fascinated with its beauty while jumping with my little hands raised skywards in the hope that they could grab the seven coloured wonder. Failing after several tries I gave up the idea and decided to enjoy it from where I was.

 Soon I got distracted when a boy caught my attention who was around my age. He fell in one of the puddles that decorated the road. His clothes were dirtied with marks of mud at places. Remnants of the brown mud-covered strands of his blonde hair. He was crying and his hand was scraped. No one really bothered to help him as there were not many people out for shopping just after the heavy rains, unlike us. We were in dire need of orange sponge cake so that was why the bargaining with a fruit seller was happening.

I stood in front of the boy and my heart saddened to look at his body covered in mud. He was crying while looking at me for help. I took a step towards him but stopped instead of his plea for help. I wanted to help him but in the process my dress was sure had been ruined. I didn't want that. I loved that dress. After contemplating for two minutes I made my choice. I took his hand and pulled him to stand up. When Benji saw my condition, I expected him to scold me as my pretty dress was now ruined with brown dirty marks all over it but that never happened.

He smiled at me and gave me the best compliment that I ever got- I am so proud of you darling. You are a good girl with a kind heart just like your mother.

That was the first and the last time I had taken such immediate crucial decision in my life on my own. Taking the kids under care was our, mine and Benji's, mutual decision though I had to shed a bucket full of tears so that doesn't count.

And now it was the second time that I had to take an immediate crucial decision, without any help from Benji. That time it was only one little boy and this time it was about six kids. If not me then someone could have helped that boy but now, I was the only hope of these innocent souls. That time the boy had few scratches here and there but now it was about eight lives, including me and Benji. Cody had nothing to do with this but unfortunately, he got stuck in this mess of ours. The two situations were very different but very similar at the same time.

I know what I was about to do was unfair. I know Benji would be heartbroken along with kids. But had to make a choice for them. For us.

My mom would have done the same if she had been in my place. She would have put others' lives before her. And that was exactly what I was about to do.

"do you think I am that naïve to trust words of a f*****g gangster? Do-"

"mafia"

"what?"

His face hardened as words left his mouth smoothly. "mafia. I am mafia"

Oh boy!

I gulped down nervously as now I was near to shitting my pants. But I couldn't let them know that I was scared out of my mind. "Yeah, whatever. It doesn't change the fact that you are a dickhead." I retorted feigning confidence.

A loud growl erupted from his throat that made my knees go weak but I pulled myself together and stood as confidently as I could. I ignored his animalistic sound and continued, "I am not an i***t to don't know that the moment I signed those papers I also sign my death warrant. So, NO. You will follow my conditions and when I get satisfied then I will sign the papers."

"you worthless shi-" Cameron growled at me but I cut him mid-sentence.

"complete that and you will face the recap of what happened earlier you, worthless shit." I sneered.

"you are walking on thin waters, Miss Maxwell. I am the one with guns and men here." His calmed yet collected voice sent chills down my spine.

" I am not a kind of person who changes my stand for other people Mister... Whatever. And I think we have established the fact that I am strong enough that you felt the need for bringing men and guns to deal with a girl. After three failed attempts, may I add."

Again, there was a prominent presence of the vein on his forehead and clenching of the jaw. He would break his teeth into thin powder at this rate. But whatever... who cares! Within a blink of an eye, he pointed his g*n right between my eyes.

When the f**k he pulled it out? Did he have it hidden somewhere?

I straightened my back daring him to pull the trigger when there was a tornado raging inside me. Again the screams and sobs echoed in the otherwise quiet night which belonged to kids.

Pleasedontshootpleasedontshootpleasedontshoot

I sighed in relief when he pulled his hand to his side and continued to stare at me without uttering a word. I swear I hate when I don't get to see people's eyes because it left me clueless about their thoughts.

"talk"

My crazy mind was smiling goofily giving me high five.

I took a deep breath and cleared my throat, "ok. Here is my proposal. I will sign the papers but I have some conditions. Condition 1- It will be your responsibility to protect my kids. You will not let anything or anyone including you and your dogs hurt even a strand of their hair. Condition 2- all the kids will attend a good private school and college of their choice until all of them complete their graduation. And you will take care of the fees and all expenses. Condition 3- you will provide my family with another house with all the good facilities. Condition 4- Benji will be the guardian of kids and after him Juan. Condition 5- you will provide Benji with a decent job so he can take care of other expenses.

And condition no.6-the most important one- I will give you three months to fulfil all the five conditions and when I get satisfied then I will sign those papers."

By the time I finished my proposal a window of the nearby car was broken into thousands of pieces and there stood the devil himself with b****y knuckles and ragged breath but without a single expression on his stone face apart from the clenched jaw. I was praying that his next target should not be my head. 

Someone grabbed my elbow and turned me around so fast that I felt the world spinning around me.

"who do you think you are? Do you even hear yourself? You are stretching it too far butterfly. It will need only one bullet to blow that tiny brain of yours." The way Gabriel said the word butterfly made me never want anyone to compliment with it again.

I huffed, "you could have killed me at the very first chance you got. But no. You didn't. You know damn well that if I die then you will never get this property as it will directly go to the government-run charity trust. And mafia or not, no one would want to waste their time, money and energy dealing with government and hiding a murder for a mere piece of land."

On another occasion, I have had flipped my hair in the i-am-the-smartest-girl-alive fashion and laughed my best girly laugh at Gabriel's shocked face. But not now. I maintained eye contact with him to show that I was no kidding.

"how do you know this?" it was barely an audible whisper but I heard it right.

"I am not as dumb as you think, dumbass"

The devil was quite the whole time excluding the part where he broke the window glass with his bare hand in a single punch.

"what? Cat got your tongue jerk?" I controlled the urge to smirk in victory as he still had a g*n in his uninjured hand and I was really walking on the thin waters.

"You are a greedy b***h Bria Maxwell" Cameron grunted trying to decapitate my head with his eyes.

Silence.

My heart was beating fast with every ticking second. I had already thought about this during these past days. If only I could get a time of three months then I would find a way out of this. I would contact the authorities and sent this bastard and his goons in prison for good. If only he agrees...

"I accept your proposal, Miss Maxwell." 

My heart leapt in my chest in delight when these words left his mouth. But little did I know that the devil had something more on his mind.

 "BUT... there is one rule. And it will not change no matter what."

"What rule?" I cast an alarming glance towards the kids.

 "For these three months, you will be my guest, at my place, away from your family."

My eyes widened at this and before I could open my mouth in protest, he fired two rounds at the dead body of Cody as a warning then turned the aim at kids' direction.

Juan roared in anger and punched the man holding onto him in an attempt to reach Devil's neck. I watched in pure horror as He pointed the g*n straight at Juan's head without looking at him. His eyes were fixated on me, commanding me to follow his order. With the sound of gunshots all the courage and confidence I was feigning crumbled down like a pyramid of cards.

When I took long to answer, Juan got a hit from Cameron and he yelped in pain. Hot tears gathered in my eyes as Gabriel's hold on me became tighter. This was my last chance to save my family.

"deal?" his voice was impatient and that was my clue that I had no time to overthink this. I couldn't risk my family's life. I had to do this.

With a last guilty look towards unconscious Benji and a longing look at the kids I nodded.

"DEAL!"