“…!”

“Josh!”

“Jo—”

Mark and Isaac yelled as Josh tumbled to the ground before he could make so much as a noise. The landscape before his eyes spun and turned black. It was not until after that that he felt a twang of pain. Something viscous trickled down from the side of his head.

His temple was soaked in a matter of seconds, and crimson blood began to drip. As Josh lay prone on the floor, Chase opened his mouth.

He squinted downward and twisted one corner of his mouth as he said, “Who do you think you’re bullsh*tting, motherf*cker?”

That wasn’t the end of it. He tossed the gun into the air and caught it with his other hand. Right away, Chase aimed his gun at Josh. Everyone stood in shock as he opened his mouth.

“Why don’t we see if your blood splatters on me or not if I shoot from this distance?” he asked mockingly as he pulled the trigger without hesitation. Josh quickly pulled his head into his arms. The bullet only just grazed him. Everyone around them exclaimed in shock, trying to stop Chase.

“No, Mr. Miller!”

“Run, Josh! Quickly!”

“You can’t do that, Mr. Miller—”

Chase gave no damn to their desperate attempts and pulled the trigger once again. Josh was sure that his head was going to be blasted away this time. No human in this world could run from a bullet.

In the end, Josh decided to glare right at Chase. For a moment, it seemed like Chase had knitted his brows together. However, it was too late for him to stop—if he had even intended to stop at all. He had already pulled the trigger.

Click. 

A heavy sound slapped Josh’s ears. Chase’s face scrunched up, this time for sure. He repeatedly pulled the trigger, but all that returned was the despondent echo of the empty gun.

“Damn it!” Chase cursed as he flung the Desert Eagle away. Small sighs of relief emerged from here and there. At least they didn’t need to worry about him getting shot and killed by a gun.

Chase seemed taken over by anger as he violently ruffled through his brilliant blond hair. Nobody dared to say a word. Everyone stared at Chase in silence, unable to even gulp. Even at this moment, Josh wondered why he couldn’t peel off his gaze from this madman.

Finally, Chase managed to somewhat calm his breathing and messily swept up the hair that had fallen down his face. His sharp gaze suddenly pierced Josh once again. In the next moment, Chase had marched up to him and kicked him hard without notice.

“Josh!” cried Isaac, his face as pale as death.

Josh couldn’t even groan in pain. He curled up as acid sourly burned the inside of his throat. His pulse pounded like a ringing in his ears, and his sight became taken over by a spectrum of colors that turned pitch black before finally returning to normal at a very gradual rate.

Reclaiming his senses one by one with great difficulty, Josh’s vision came last; he saw Chase turn around.

“Load it and put it away, you piece of trash.” He was referring to his Desert Eagle. He had sputtered those words to a nearby bodyguard with such indifference, it was as if he didn’t care at all about what had just happened. He loaded himself back into his car.

The security team, who had belatedly snapped out of it, scattered about. A moment later, the sedan with Chase in it rolled across the front garden toward the mansion.

“Are you all right?” Isaac finally rushed in and pulled Josh up to his feet. Josh couldn’t bring himself to tell him not to worry. He placed his heavy hand on one side of his forehead. His hand quickly became drenched.

“Let’s head in and get you patched first,” said Mark as he quickly led the way. Everyone followed after him in silence.

*

*

Josh tossed himself onto the empty couch and finally let out a sigh. Isaac, who had let Josh borrow his shoulder to walk all the way here, exploded with anger. “What’s the problem with that son of a b*tch?”

Josh pressed the bag of ice onto his throbbing head and slouched with his arm cradling his stomach without saying anything. Mark also clicked his tongue and shook his head.

At least he had just been beaten, not shot.

“Why would you say something insane to a madman? Should’ve seen that coming. If you had just said sorry and called it a day, you could’ve saved yourself from being beaten up,” barked Henry as he fetched a new towel to apply pressure to Josh’s wound.

Josh smiled unenergetically. “Yeah, I wonder…”

Henry immediately smacked him on the back of his head. “Why you smilin’, huh? Giving me butterflies and sh*t.”

“Henry, don’t!” yelled Isaac as Josh curled up more, unable to even let out a yelp.

Mark, too, joined in and scolded Henry for once, “Yeah, maybe avoid smacking him on the head for a while.”

“The stomach, too,” Isaac chimed in from the side. Fair enough, Josh felt as if his brain was bouncing off the sides of his skull like jelly.

When Josh let out a groan, Seth asked, “Do you really not need to go to the hospital?”

Josh nodded quietly. He suddenly started to miss Pete like mad. If only he could kiss the boy’s soft cheek and pull his small body into a tight embrace, he felt as if all of this pain would disappear. As everyone sat in silence, a series of knocks sounded from the door, and the previous security team head walked in.

“Would it be all right to continue the handover process? You know, it’s almost time for us to leave…” he trailed off.

He seemed to be looking away from Josh on purpose as he smiled awkwardly at Mark. Josh’s team all kept their lips pursed in the face of inescapable reality.