Number 7

Chapter Number 58 - Hole

Never in his life had Gary ever faced such a hard decision.

Everything within him told him to say no.

To refuse this man.

To save his daughter from whatever horrible fate he may have in store for her.

Gary knew nothing about what he would do to her.

About how he would bring her up, or what he would use her for.

But as a father - even as one whose child was not yet born - everything within Gary told him to shout 'NO!' at the top of his lungs.

"Two hundred... fifty thousand."

Yet his body did not listen to his mind.

"If you give me.... fifty thousand... on top of paying my debts... then I'll let you have her."

Fear.

And Greed.

These two things exploded inside of Gary as he spoke these words, a part of him hoping that this man would rush off and retract the offer.

And another part of him desperately hoping that he would agree.

Never before had Gary ever been so torn about anything.

'I... shouldn't do this.'

'But if I don't...'

'What about your daughter?'

'What about your life?'

'Can you call yourself a father?'

'Can you call yourself a husband if you leave your wife to take care of a daughter on her own?'

'How can you abandon your child like this?'

'What if she is brought up well? What if this man gives her a better life than you could have ever offered?'

'And what if he turns her into a slave?'

With these thoughts, the man debated and argued inside of himself, betting on one final gamble.

Whether this man would accept his offer or not.

"You have a deal."

And as the man spoke these words, a flurry of emotions exploded within Gary.

He didn't know what to feel.

Yet on the surface, there was one emotion that emerged over everything.

"T... thank you..."

Relief.

"Thank you... so much..."

Bowing before the man who had saved his life and his home, tears fell from his face as he desperately attempted to cut off all emotions.

"Then... be sure not to go back on your word. Ah... but even if you do... I will get what I want."

Turning around, the man snapped his fingers as a thug appeared from the crowd, a large silver briefcase in his hand.

The money-filled briefcase was opened before the black haired casino owner, who inspected it quickly before waving it off.

Then another man appeared, presenting a similar briefcase before Gary before leaving it before him.

"There's your payment. We will collect ours when the time comes. If you know what's best... you'll convince your wife to hand over the child peacefully."

----

Gary walked home on that day, briefcase in hand.

As he walked, the light rain pattered as it hit the pavement, creating small puddles which the man muddled his way through with a heavy heart.

'I... did the right thing.'

Clutching his chest with his free hand, the man spoke to himself as he walked.

'I did the right thing.'

'I did what anyone would have done.'

The man began to shiver as the cold rain slid down him, unsure whether it was due to the sudden chill of the icy droplets or due to the trembling in his own heart.

'Of course I would want to live.'

'Is there anything wrong with living?'

Tripping to the ground, the man landed in a puddle as the water splashed all over him, covering him in the muddy liquid.

'Is there anything wrong... with saving myself... at the cost of someone who isn't even born yet?'

At that moment, the liquid which dripped down the face of the man multiplied.

And whether it was the increase in the rain, or the tears which flowed forth as if the valves to his emotions had been opened...

Even he did not know.

'What... have I done?'

----

That evening, the man did not shout "Honey, I'm home!"

Instead, he quietly put up his soaked coat, taking off his shoes before he could track any mud through the house.

Without a sound, the man snuck through the home, hoping against all hope that he wouldn't have to encounter his wife.

"Darling!! Where on earth have you been!? Don't tell me you've been out gambling again!! I was worried sick when you didn't come home from work! Come over here this instant. I have a hot meal and a bath ready for you."

Rushing up to the man with a towel, a gorgeous woman approached him with a gentle expression of concern.

"You know I don't like it when you're out all the time... if I was a normal wife, I would be concerned about you cheating on me... but I know you. I know you were probably at that casino again, trying to make some money. Am I wrong?"

The man hid the briefcase behind his back instinctively as his wife assisted him, helping him to put up his coat with a softness that was unlike any other.

"You know... you've always been like this. Always dreaming... always trying to achieve something big... but you don't need to do any of that. I... am happy just where we are."

The woman said this as she held a hand to her stomach, tenderly gazing upon the child within it.

"Ah... the meal. Please, have a seat. I'll bring it to you as soon as possible. But first get out of those clothes. There should be a dry set on the bed."

"Ah. I... I see. Thank you."

The man spoke few words, shifting himself quickly as he made his way up the stairs.

Approaching the bed, the man found his breathing become ragged as he took off his tie.

'Why...'

Struggling to get the tie off, the man's motions became more and more frantic as he soon attempted to rip it off his neck.

'Why.'

Then, tightening it, the man held his hand to his throat as he looked forth with a distraught expression.

'WHY!?'

"Honey, is there something wrong?"

The sweet call of his wife resounded through the man's ears, causing him to stiffen up as he slowly looked back.

"Ah... n... nothing... just give me a minute!"

"Alright!"

'Why.'

Slowly, the man undid his tie as he dressed himself in a fresh set of clothes.

'Why.'

Yet even if he dressed himself in a fresh set of clothes, there was nothing he could do to refresh his life.

For he had committed a sin.

A sin which weighed upon his soul, bogging him down into the dirt.

'Filthy.'

Holding his hand towards his face, the man walked into the bathroom as he began to wash his hands.

'Filthy.... filthy filthy filthy...'

He began to scrub furiously, however no matter how much he tried, the dirt would not come out.

'Absolutely... disgusting.'

For the dirt which covered his body was not physical.

----

"Here's dinner! I hope you enjoy it!"

With a smile, the woman placed a plate before the man.

"You look so exhausted... Did you lose again today?"

Taking a seat next to the man, the woman looked over to him with that beautiful expression as she gazed towards him.

"Ally. We need to talk."

"Hm? You seem very serious. Is something bothering you?"

Bringing his hands to the table, the man could not stop himself from shaking.

"What's bothering you so much?", the woman asked as she placed her hands on his, gazing into his eyes.

"I... lost."

"You lost again. Well, I can't say I didn't expect that. How much did you lose this time?"

With understanding, the woman replied.

Not a hint of anger was present in her voice - only that of resignation to his tendencies.

'How... could I have ever been so fortunate... to find a woman like this?'

More so than anything the men at the casino had told him just earlier, the man felt as if the words of this woman were stabbing straight through his heart.

'I don't deserve this.'

Looking up to the woman with a pained expression, the man opened his mouth to speak the words.

However upon seeing the understanding face of his wife, he could not say them.

"Is it that bad?", she asked.

Then, tears.

And just as these tears flowed, the rain began to pick up in the background.

The wind blew, and a downpour began as lightning cackled, shaking the entire home of the two as the lights flickered on and off.

"I... lost... our daughter."

Forcing these words out, the man almost choked while he said them.

And as he looked up to the woman, her kind expression was no more.

Her gentle face had been replaced with a pale expression, devoid of emotion and filled with absolute shock and horror.

"What... Did you just say?"

Slowly, the woman placed her hand to her stomach as tears formed in her own eyes, and she looked down with a pained expression as the tears dropped.

BANG!

Thunder roared as the wind howled, and it was at that moment that the lights went out.

"I... I'm sorry..."

The man let out this pathetic cry for forgiveness, yet he despised himself for even being able to do so.

For he knew, deep down in his heart, that he had done something UNFORGIVABLE.

He had done something so sickening, so disgusting, that the very act of asking for forgiveness... was not a luxury which he deserved.

"I... need a moment to rest.", the woman said as she stood up, leaving the man on his own as she headed upstairs to the bedroom.

"I... am sorry.", the man cried once more, holding his hand as he covered his tear filled eyes. "I... never wanted things to be this way."

----

Days passed.

And with each day, the hole within the heart of Gary grew.

His wife no longer held the cheerfulness which she had shown previously.

She was a husk of her former self.

"My... my baby... my baby..."

The woman locked herself in her room, separating herself from society.

"She... she's mine... she's mine... I... I won't let them have her... I'll protect you... I'll protect you from them..."

The woman stopped eating.

She wouldn't leave that bedroom, locking the door and never coming out.

And for the first three days, Gary couldn't bring himself to say anything about it to her.

'What could I do?'

'What SHOULD I do?'

Sleeping on the couch for the first three days, Gary told himself that there was nothing to be done.

The deal had already been made.

'Do we run?'

An idea made its way inside the mind of Gary.

'Do we flee? Leave the country? But where would we even go?'

Closing his eyes, Gary sat up on the couch one night, his eyes reddened from drink as he gazed upstairs.

'No... that doesn't matter. We need to leave. Now.'

Throwing off his blankets, the man began to pack his things.

'If we leave... we can keep the child. We can start over! A new life in a new country! I heard that Vorathia is dangerous near the border due to the attacks, but if we move to one of the Northern City States we should be safe.'

A guilty smile crept its way across the man as he threw together his belongings.

"Honey! Honey! Let's get going! We're leaving this place! We can start over! We'll get another chance! We'll gamble everything on this final-"

Bursting into the bedroom, the man entered to see his wife sitting on the bed.

Her eyes were blank, and her hand gently caressed the stomach as she muttered to herself.

Her hair was disheveled, her skin decrepit from the lack of nutrients, and her eyes darkened with lines of exhaustion.

However this was not what surprised Gary.

It was the fact that surrounding her were five men.

Standing around the bed with pistols in their folded hands, these men stood perfectly still as they motionlessly guarded the woman.

"How... did you get into-"

"We will retrieve the child when the time comes. I did say this, didn't I?"

From behind him, a voice spoke as Gary turned around with shock.

The creaking of the floorboards entered his ears as his eyes landed on the staircase - at which a man slowly ascended.

"The time has not yet come."

Holding up a pistol, the man with bright yellow hair that had been slicked back held up a pistol of his own.

"And we have no intention of allowing you to run away with our property."

"Police... I'll call the police... I'll call them and you all will be-"

"Do you care at all about your wife?"

As the man took off his sunglasses, his eyes met with Gary, who felt a chill rush down his spine as he met the gaze of the man.

Heartless.

The once playful expression of this man who had seemed so excited when they had first met had turned completely sour, filled with a contempt unlike anything he had ever experienced.

"I do not need her to remain alive. I only need the child. If you wish to go against our deal..."

Bang!

The floorboards near the foot of Gary erupted as the man fired without flinching, bringing his weapon to his mouth as he blew off the gunsmoke.

"Then I would be perfectly happy to break MY END of the deal."

Falling to his knees, Gary was left hopeless.

Unable to do anything, he shriveled up as he realized that he had dug far too deep into a world that he never should have entered.

"I won't... let you have my baby..."

The woman said this quietly, yet firmly as tears formed in her distraught eyes.

She clenched her teeth, gritting them to the point where blood dripped from her lips.

"No matter what you do... no matter who you are... you won't take my baby... even if... even if I have to die for her."

"I see."

Stepping forward past the defeated man, the mafioso smirked ever so slightly as he approached the woman.

Placing the gun to her forehead, the man looked the woman into her eyes - which were filled with a courage unlike anything he had ever seen before.

"So you would die before giving up your child?"

This statement was met with a glare.

A glare to the likes of which the man's soul would have - should have - been shaken to its very core.

Yet even faced with this glare, the man did not move a muscle.

"However... I am not like my brother."

Pulling the gun from the head of the woman, the man swirled the weapon around on his finger as he walked off, sliding the weapon back into his pocket.

"I made a deal with this pathetic excuse for a man. And when I make a deal..."

Turning around, the man's eyes shot straight through the woman.

"I keep it."

Walking down the stairs, the man waved off as he left the house.

"Don't do anything that would invalidate our agreement. Otherwise... the number of children that you two will be producing for me will not be LIMITED to just the one."

----

Surrounded.

Wherever Gary turned, there were men surrounding his home.

Perhaps it was by the orders of the blonde haired mafioso, but they never entered his home again.

They left that day, however even as they did so, he found that he couldn't go anywhere without being followed.

The same of course went for his wife.

They were under complete and absolute surveillance.

If he were to call the police, then his wife WOULD be killed. Perhaps they would extract the child then and there and escape if he were to do such a thing.

The child was already 7 months old, after all.

Even if it was born prematurely, they would likely take their chances on it's survival if he were to pull something.

'What do I do?'

Never before had Gary been at such a loss.

His wife slowly degraded, each day losing her soul more and more as she showed less and less emotion.

"You should really eat something today."

"No."

"Please, darling. I-"

"If I eat... then will that benefit my child?"

The woman spoke with a coldness in her tone, responding with such things yet holding not a shred of anger in her tone.

Instead, there was nothing more than dullness.

"I have no need for such things."

Gary felt himself becoming more and more distant, and as this happened he slowly realized just how much he had before.

And how much he had given up in the pursuit of even greater riches.

'Why... was I so worried about getting more?'

'Why... was I so concerned about rising beyond my place... when I had everything I could ever want right here?'

'Why... did I not realize what I had... until it was already gone?'

Truly.

His wife was gone.

The loving woman that he once knew had been reduced to a shadow of her former self.

And he was the one who had sold her soul.

Not a day passed by that the hole within the heart of Gary did not grow, until it was so large that he couldn't take it any more.

Two nights before the expected delivery, the man found himself on top of a bridge.

Behind him were a number of the men who had been ordered to follow him, however they merely watched with their hands folded behind their backs, not making any moves to stop or convince him otherwise.

'It was my fault.... it was my sin... my GREED... that caused my wife to suffer like this.'

'It was my own blindness... that led to the demise of my child.'

The wind blew as the man stood atop that ledge, at which he turned back, meeting his eyes with the men that stood behind him.

"Whatever you do with my daughter... please... I beg of you... don't let her end up like me."

However even as he said this, the man was met with not a single response.

With professionalism, the men merely stood there, not uttering a word.

"I suppose... that's too much to ask for...", the man said.

Turning around, the man looked down upon the bustling highway below him, gulping as he shivered in the cold breeze.

"Tell my wife that I'm sorry. And that even though this is nowhere near enough to atone for my sins... it is all I can do."

Skrrrrt!!!

As the man said this, the screeching sounds of tires rubbing against the pavement filled his ears, causing him to throw his head back only to see a yellow lamborghini as it pulled up in style.

The men rushed as they opened the doors, bowing before the well dressed man who stepped out of the vehicle.

"You're right. It is too much to ask for. But let me ask you something, Gary."

Pulling out a device from his ear, the man approached Gary with elegance, leaning on the handrails of the bridge as he stood just below the man.

"Do you think doing this will do anything for your wife or your child? No... more importantly... Do you think you're actually punishing yourself by doing this?"

"What... what do you mean!?"

Visible agitation appeared on the expression of Gary as he looked down upon the man, who stood with a smile as if he couldn't care less.

"Well you know... this is just my opinion as an observer... but I think that you're just taking the easy way out. Just like how you abandoned her when she needed you to care for her... aren't you just avoiding the consequences of what you've done again?"

These words shook Gary to his very core, causing him to freeze in his tracks as he lost his balance.

"You... you're wrong... you're-"

However as he stepped back with fear, the man lost his footing.

His chest exploded with terror as he found himself in a freefall, now looking up to the man who watched him as he fell downwards.

'Oh... oh my goodness...'

'I... am going to die.'

Splat!

The man's body exploded as it collided with a semi truck, and the consciousness of the man ended at that moment.

Looking down as he watched this happen, the blonde haired mafioso held out his hand as one of his henchmen brought him a cigar, which he struggled to light.

'Tch... what a disappointment.'

Taking a puff of his newly lit cigar, the man gazed into the moonlight as he looked up into the skies.

'I was hoping that he would have worked for me... until his debt was paid ten times over.'

Closing his eyes, the man took in a deep breath as he slicked back his hair, gazing down at the chaos that ensued in the roadway below.

'After all... there is nobody more loyal... than a father who has given up his child... and wishes to see her just one more time.'

"Sir, it's getting chilly out. Are you sure you should stay up here?"

"Indeed, Sir. Would you like us to take you back to the hideout? Or perhaps you would like us to head over to backup those who have been assigned to the woman?

'See?'

With a smirk, the man stepped off the bridge as he approached the vehicle.

"No, that will be enough for you all tonight. I'll take myself home. Do as you please."

Getting into his car, the man gripped the wheel as he began to drive off, leaving his henchmen in the middle of nowhere without a place to go.

'But even so... I always have a backup plan for when I make an investment. After all... with the father out of the picture... that means I can build the child into anything I want. And perhaps... that will make me more than I could ever get out of any father.'

With a toothy grin, the man sped up as he flew down the street, revving his engine as he switched gears.

'I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.'

----