CHAPTER 33: – GOOD BOY –

A young man, tall and buff with a pair of glasses perched atop the bridge of his nose, dragged another man across the wooden floor into an empty room.

He tossed him roughly, and the man, who was none other than Gin fell with a thud. Gin slowly lifted his aching head, pausing at the figure before him.

Nikolas Bastiani was sitting with his back leaning on the chair. He had his right leg over his left leg as his left hand was placed on his knee, while his right hand was holding his chin softly on top of the chair handle.

His dark hair was casually hanging over his face, eyes squinted, showing a leisurely demeanor. But Gin was swallowing. There was this sense of danger, the need to leave this place.

"Now, what is this, York? I didn’t say you should beat him up," Nikolas said to his right hand man, York.

York adjusted his glasses with two fingers. "It wasn’t me, sir. I didn’t touch him at all."

"Then what happened to his face?" Nikolas pointed.

"Ah." c York blinked lazily. "According to what I gathered, it was your wife who beat him up."

’Heh?’ Nikolas lifted a brow in confusion. "My wife? As in, Viviana? My actual wife?"

"Yes, sir."

The edge of his lips thinned as they spread far into a smile. "Give me details."

York cleared his throat and straightened up to begin, "According to my intel, this man over here, named Giancarlo, was doing what you would call bullying at work. He’s been overworking her deliberately, of course, with the most useless of tasks she shouldn’t even be doing. He didn’t just spill coffee, but he went as far as to insult her mother. That seemed to have been the snapping point for your wife, at which she grabbed him by the hair and pummeled his face over and over into his desk. That is the reason he has a bandage around his nose. She broke his nose."

Hearty laughter spurted out of Nikolas as he casually leaned on his chair.

Viviana had her moments of craze.

’But she is my crazy.’

His laughter came to a stop, and he sighed. "For a man who bullied my wife so casually, I didn’t think you’d be so... boneless." He scrutinized him thoroughly. "Come over here." He wiggled a finger at him.

Gin swallowed.

It was only now that he’d come to recall where he’d seen this man before. He was the one on the news, the lowlife Viviana Di-grassi had crashed her own wedding with, disgracing her entire family.

"You crazy son of a b*tch!" he shouted. "You kidnapped me!"

Nikolas drew his head back as if accused. He glanced at York, asking, "Did you kidnap him?"

"No," York answered casually. "I threatened him a little and he came with me. I didn’t touch him at all. I didn’t even hold him at gun point."

Nikolas sighed and looked at Gin. "Do you really feel kidnapped?"

"Wha... what?" Gin’s eyes ping-ponged between the two men, face twisted in confusion. "That makes no sense!!"

Both men immediately glared at him.

"Who asked you to speak?" York kicked him in the back. "Shut your mouth!"

Nikolas stood up from the chair and walked toward Gin. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at him for a few seconds before squatting down to scan him over again.

The look on his face changed. He was no longer amused, almost unrecognizable to Gin, who paled instantly like paper, his body flying into panic mode.

He felt a bone-freezing fear rattle up his spine.

"Oh? Look at that." Nikolas was speaking to York, though he had his sight on Gin. "He’s gone quiet like a mouse."

"W-why are you doing this?" Gin stuttered.

Nikolas cocked his head to the side. "Why did you bully my wife?" His stare was cold and dead. "Or is it only okay when you do it to someone else? You think it’s unfair that I’m bullying you now?"

"I didn’t bully her!" he spat.

Nikolas snatched him by the throat, squeezing the life out of him.

"It’s one thing to fuck around, but a whole different case when you don’t admit it. Let me ask you a question." His eyes shone with a cold light. "Who do you think you are to insult my wife? Ah... Let’s not forget you splashed coffee on her and ruined a dress you can’t even afford. Did you ask her to make it?"

Gin was turning green with fear. "She’s a low-status worker, so what’s wrong with me asking her to?"

"Is that so?" Nikolas further asked, "Why didn’t you drink it quietly?"

Gin couldn’t speak.

"Give me your hand."

He trembled violently at the demand. The fear pushed him to do it, and before he could even understand why, Nikolas grasped his hand.

"This–" He broke one of his fingers. "–Is for insulting my wife."

Gin’s cry burst out in the empty room, echoing off the walls before choking into silence.

"And this–" Nikolas didn’t stop. "–This is for soaking her in coffee. Next time you feel so thirsty for coffee, make it yourself. My wife is not your maid that you can talk to and walk on however you please, do you understand me?"

Gin rapidly nodded, his face covered in cold sweat and tears. "I’m sorry! Please, I’m sorry! It won’t happen again. I won’t do it again!"

"Good boy."

Nikolas rose up and fished out his handkerchief from his leather knee-length coat to clean his hands.

Then he pocketed them into his suit pants, eyes descending on Gin. He warned, "The next time you make a repeat of this, York over there won’t be the one finding you. I’ll do it personally. And when I do..." A ghost smile touched his lips.

He stepped past him to leave but suddenly stopped, startling Gin, who crawled back away from him. That only made Nikolas grin as he moved after him until Gin was pressed up against the wall, butt cold on the wooden floor.

Nikolas stepped on his finger, deliberately. And he didn’t stop, not even when Gin screamed his lungs out, begging, pleading with snot all over his face.

"It hurts! PLEASE IT HURTS!"

"Good. It should hurt," he said, voice vibrating with glee. "Because this pain is for insulting her mother. When you see my wife at work tomorrow, go down on your knees and grovel like a dog. Your forehead must touch the floor as you apologize to her, are we clear?"

Gin frantically nodded. "I will! I will, SIR!!"

"Don’t even for a second assume I wouldn’t find out if you did or not. It won’t be funny–" Blood pooled over his eyes, pupils gone pitch black. "–At all."

He grinned, fangs displayed in the scariest way possible.

Gin, at the sight of all these, widened his eyes so much his expression grew unsightly and he passed out. Unconscious.

"Boss!" York snapped.

"I didn’t think he’d pass out. Tsk."

The man slumped his shoulders with a deep sigh, shaking his head. "Now, I have to carry him."

"I don’t pay for you for nothing." Nikolas laughed heartily, walking off.