Awakening The Hidden Dragon

CH 0003 A MOTHER'S TEAR

Dylan's face turned red upon hearing that, “Regina, today is Thursday! The money waits for our presence! Or would you rather I let Lady Morgan know that you're ready to be thrown back to the streets?!” He barked breathlessly, his eyes filled with contempt.

Knox was taken aback for a second. Wait.. Lady Morgan? She.. she is his dad's mistress.. She is the reason his mum is partially blind and permanently crippled. She is also part of the reason his life turned for the worst years ago. Her presence in his dad's life cost them everything!

Initially, Knox had no idea his father had another family until Lady Morgan demanded her kids to be in his Will and not Regina's! Her greed and selfishness for his father's assets is the reason he and his mum lost everything, by making sure his mum could neither see nor walk in order not to demand anything from them..

“Haha! I don't think Lady Morgan would want her out of her watch yet.. she still enjoys the old hag’s misery! Haha!” One of them laughed and the rest joined him.

The moment Knox heard that, his fist tightened and his eyes turned cold.

“Forgive me Dylan,” Regina tried to wheel her chair but Knox was standing firmly in front of her, “I forgot to place the money there, not to worry.. I'll go get it right away.”

“No you wouldn't,” Knox said sternly, “You're not giving anybody a dime.” He tells him mum, his eyes still fixed spitefully at Dylan and his men.

Dylan shifted his gaze instantly, stepping in front of Knox, then casually placed a cigarette between his lips. He took a long drag, then deliberately blew the smoke directly into Knox's face, his eyes scanning him with open contempt. This was Dylan's signature move. The intimidation tactic that had broken dozens of men before Knox. He was the most dangerous one amongst them, the enforcer who'd personally dealt with anyone foolish enough to offer Regina a helping hand.

"Who the fuck gave you the right to speak without permission from Dylan?" he growled, his voice dripping with menace. The heat radiating from his body was palpable, dangerous. The air around them seemed to thicken with violence waiting to be unleashed.

Even Regina could sense it from her wheelchair, her body tensing as she faced their general direction. "Son... don't worry, I got this," she said quickly, her voice trembling. "They came for their monthly collections. I'll give them what they need, so they can go. Please don't get involved."

Knox's expression didn't change. His voice came out flat, cold, carrying the weight of absolute certainty. "I give you thirty seconds to walk out that door, or you won't be walking out alive."

"What?!" Dylan and his men exclaimed in unison, genuine shock crossing their faces.

Dylan inched even closer to Knox's face, so close their noses nearly touched. He studied Knox carefully, like he was examining an insect. Then he took another big puff from his cigarette, smirked, and said tauntingly, "You've been released? Well, what a shocker. Is he the one who killed Lady Morgan's husband, or the one who tried to kill the one who killed the man?"

"HAHAHAHA!" The entire group burst out laughing, their voices echoing through the cramped apartment.

But Knox's expression remained exactly the same. Blank and dark. Like he was counting down to something inevitable.

"With those scars on his body, you can tell he was the one who killed his father!" one of the men shouted between laughs. "Poor kid is back to see his mother still paying monthly bills to Lady Morgan for the crime he committed! HAHAHA!"

Their laughter intensified, filling the room with cruel mockery.

Knox's jaw tightened. His teeth ground together as the realization hit him like a physical blow.

For seven years, Lady Morgan had been making it mandatory that his mother pay for the death of his father? Even in this state? Even while she was blind, crippled, barely surviving? How evil could someone be to create such a rule? To extract payment from a woman who had nothing left to give?

Knox's mind raced. His mother had rejected Daniel and his entire team when they'd tried to help. She'd refused every offer of assistance.. could it be out of fear? So where was she getting the money?

"Mom," Knox said quietly, his voice cutting through the laughter. "Where do you get the money to pay Lady Morgan?”

"From the fruits in the backyard. I pluck them from the garden and sell them."

Knox's heart shattered into a thousand pieces. His mother. Blind. In a wheelchair. Crawling through a garden to pick fruit just to pay extortion money to the wife of the monster who'd destroyed her life.

Lady Morgan sent these men monthly to take his mother's hard-earned money? Money earned from selling fruit she picked while unable to see or walk?

The rage building inside Knox was volcanic. His entire body seemed to radiate barely controlled violence.

"Are you trying to gain sympathy from this loser you call a son?" Bruno, one of Dylan's men, barked at Regina. "You old bitch, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Actually," Knox said, his voice dangerously soft, "I should be asking that question. Are all of you tired of living?"

"Say that one more time and I'll put you in the same position as this old hag!" Dylan barked, stepping so close their faces were inches apart. He snapped his fingers, and his group immediately surrounded Regina and Knox, forming a tight circle of threats.

A cold glimmer flashed across Knox's eyes.

Then he moved.

One moment he was standing still. The next, his leg was a blur of motion.

CRACK!

Knox's boot connected with Dylan's nose with devastating precision. Blood exploded across Dylan's face and before Dylan could even register the pain, Knox had already pivoted, his body moving with inhuman speed.

He sent two men flying across the room with a single spinning kick. They crashed through the door, their bodies breaking the wood completely as they tumbled into the corridor outside.

SMACK! SMACK!

Teeth scattered across the floor like dice. The men screamed, blood pouring from their mouths. One of them passed out immediately from the impact. The other writhed on the ground, groaning.

The remaining men stood frozen in absolute shock, their eyes darting between Dylan's bleeding nose and the teeth scattered across the floor.

Did he just take down three men in less than a second?

Dylan was still shaken from the kick, his vision blurred, blood streaming down his face. Before he could recover, Knox grabbed a fistful of his hair and dragged him forward like he weighed nothing. He shoved Dylan down in front of Regina's wheelchair.

"Get on your knees and beg her like your life depends on it!" Knox's voice was ice. "Do you see those legs? Lick the dirt off of them or you will wish you were never born on this planet."

"Son? Stop! What's going on?" Regina's voice was confused, frightened.

"Mom, stay out of this for now." Knox's eyes never left Dylan. "Dylan! I won't repeat myself!"

Dylan almost threw up at the thought. "Are you insane? You want me to lick these rotten feet? Do you know who I am?" he shouted, his pride warring with his fear.

"Yes! Have you lost your mind?" Bruno barked breathlessly from where he stood. "Let the boss go or I'll make you and your mother regret it!"

Knox's response was simple. He lifted his foot and brought it down on Dylan's head with crushing force.

CRUNCH!

Dylan's scream was inhuman. Bones shattered like glass. He tried to pull away, tried to stand, but the moment he moved, Knox hit him again. A precise strike to the solar plexus that left Dylan gasping, unable to breathe, tears streaming down his face.

"Don't just stand there!" Dylan wheezed to his men. "Kill this fool!"

The remaining men rushed Knox all at once.

Big mistake.

The first one threw a wild haymaker. Knox caught his wrist mid-swing, twisted it until the elbow joint popped, then drove his knee into the man's ribs. The sound of cracking bones echoed through the room as the man crumpled.

The second one came from behind with a metal pipe. Knox didn't even turn around. He simply stepped aside at the last second, grabbed the pipe as it passed, and yanked it from the man's hands. One swift strike to the temple and the man dropped like a stone.

The third and fourth came together, trying to overwhelm him with numbers. Knox moved between them like water, his movements fluid and impossibly fast. A palm strike to one throat. An elbow to another jaw. Both men went down hard, gasping and bleeding.

It took less than ten seconds. Ten seconds to dismantle an entire group of trained thugs.

"Stop! Please stop!" Regina was shouting, her hands reaching out blindly, trying to make sense of the chaos around her.

Bruno, the only one still standing, watched in horror as Knox stood calmly among the fallen bodies of his crew. Then Bruno pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at Regina.

"Stay back or the old woman dies!" Bruno's voice shook but his finger was on the trigger.

Everything went still.

Then the pressure hit.

It was like the air itself had turned solid. An invisible force slammed down on everything in the room with crushing intensity. Furniture groaned. Glass cracked. The temperature plummeted so fast their breath became visible mist.

And the men all dropped to their knees simultaneously, their bodies forced down by a weight that shouldn't exist. Bones creaked under the pressure. Blood vessels burst in their eyes. They couldn't move. Couldn't breathe properly. Could barely think through the agony.

Everyone except Knox.

He stood perfectly still, completely unaffected, like he was the eye of a hurricane.

"Make it stop! AHHH!" One man screamed.

"ARGH! PLEASE!" another begged.

They all groaned in synchronized agony, their bodies trembling under the invisible weight.

Dylan's eyes went wide with primal terror. "What... what are you?" he cried out, trying desperately to crawl away from Knox's domineering figure.

Knox's eyes were cold. Empty. "You're about to find out."

Dylan froze. Then his gaze shifted to Regina's legs, to the dirt on her worn shoes, and something inside him broke completely. Without hesitation, without pride, he crawled back to her feet and began licking the dirt off them with desperate, humiliating strokes.

The other men watched in absolute horror and disbelief.