God of Restitution : Zero to Sovereign

Chapter 2: Broken Bones and Broken Vows

The two giant bodyguards grabbed Leo by his wet shoulders. Their hands felt like heavy iron clamps. Leo tried to break free, but he was too weak from riding his bicycle in the freezing storm all day.

They dragged his feet across the clean restaurant floor, leaving long streaks of muddy water behind.

Chloe turned her back to him. She did not look at him even once. She simply picked up her glass of expensive wine and touched it against Julian’s glass with a sweet smile.

The heavy back doors of the restaurant slammed open. The bodyguards threw Leo out into the dark alley behind the building.

Leo fell hard onto the wet concrete. The rough ground scraped his palms, making them bleed. The freezing rain poured down heavily, soaking his face and blinding his eyes.

Julian Vance walked out into the alley under a large black umbrella held by another servant. Chloe walked right beside him, holding his arm tightly to stay warm. She looked down at Leo with a cruel, mocking smile.

“Take a good look at yourself, Leo,” Chloe said, her voice sounding louder than the thunder in the sky. “You are just a pathetic delivery boy. You will always be at the bottom of society. How can a common bird ever fly with a true prince? Julian is a prince. You are just mud.”

Leo pushed himself up on his trembling elbows. His heart felt completely broken. He looked up at the woman he had loved for three long years.

“Chloe, I gave you every single dollar I earned,” Leo cried out through the heavy rain. “I starved myself so you could buy designer bags. How can you be this cruel to me?”

Julian laughed loudly, stepping forward in his expensive leather shoes. He pointed his finger at Leo’s face.

“Because your hard work is worth nothing in this world, delivery boy,” Julian sneered. “In this city, my family owns the buildings you ride your little bicycle around. Your entire life savings cannot even buy one tire for my sports car. You are nothing but trash.”

Julian looked up at his two massive bodyguards and nodded his head coldly.

“Teach this garbage a lesson,” Julian ordered. “Break his bones so he remembers his place.”

The first bodyguard stepped forward and kicked Leo heavily in the stomach. The force of the kick lifted Leo off the ground before he slammed back into the mud.

Leo gasped for air, coughing violently as a sharp pain exploded in his chest.

The second bodyguard did not stop. He picked Leo up by his wet collar and punched him hard in the face. Leo’s lip split open instantly, and blood mixed with the cold rainwater running down his chin.

Chloe watched the brutal beating without a single tear in her eyes. She did not ask them to stop. She did not show any pity.

Instead, she leaned closer to Julian and spoke in a clear, heartless voice.

“Make sure you hit him hard, Julian,” Chloe said with a nasty chuckle. “Otherwise, a annoying cockroach like him will keep crawling back to me and begging for money.”

The bodyguards continued to punch and kick Leo, targeting his ribs and his legs. Leo could hear the sickening sound of his own bones cracking under their heavy boots.

He could no longer find the strength to scream. His vision began to blur, and his body felt completely numb from the intense pain and the freezing cold.

After a few more minutes of pure torture, Julian raised his hand to stop the thugs. He walked over and stepped heavily on Leo’s bleeding hand, crushing his fingers into the wet mud.

“Remember this day, loser,” Julian hissed, spitting on Leo’s wet face. “If I ever see your ugly face near Chloe again, I will make sure you disappear from this world forever. Let us go, Chloe. The air out here smells like garbage.”

Chloe giggled and kissed Julian’s cheek. “Yes, let us go back inside, honey. My food is getting cold.”

They turned around and walked back into the warm, golden light of the luxury restaurant. The heavy metal door shut tight, locking Leo out in the dark, freezing night.

Leo lay flat in the thick mud, completely alone. Every breath he took felt like a sharp knife twisting inside his chest. He could feel his warm blood leaking out into the cold puddles around his body.

He looked at the small restaurant window. He could see Chloe laughing happily with Julian, drinking wine and enjoying her expensive lifestyle.

He had given her three years of absolute devotion. He had ruined his own body just to make her happy. And in return, she had thrown his ring into a bowl of soup and watched men break his bones.

Deep anger began to burn inside Leo’s chest. It was a dark, fiery rage that he had never felt before.

I will make you pay, Leo thought to himself, his fingers digging into the dirt. I will make both of you kneel and beg for mercy.

But his body was failing him. The darkness was closing in fast, and his eyes were becoming too heavy to keep open. His breath became shallow, gasping for air in the silent, empty alleyway.

He felt his consciousness slipping away. He was dying in the mud like a stray dog.

Suddenly, a loud, thunderous roar broke through the sound of the falling rain. The ground beneath his bleeding body began to vibrate violently.

As Leo's vision begins to fade, headlights blind him as twelve identical black luxury sedans screech into the alley.