LEVEL UP: HAREM EMPIRE

CHAPTER TWO : TOO LATE

"Leave me alone you scum!!"

The words tore out of Alex as the two security men dragged him across the marble floor and threw him into the backyard.

He hit the grass hard. Cold and wet.

His black suit soaked through in seconds. The fabric clung to his skin and the dirt stained the knees.

One of the men stepped forward. His face was stern, finger pointed at Alex like a weapon.

"If you try to cause a commotion out there, we promise it will be two times worse than what Madam Victoria asked us to do," he said, voice low and angry.

Alex stared up at him, stunned to the bone. Did they just drag him out of his father's house? Like he was nothing?

And this was one of his father's loyal men. One of the men who used to nod at him in the halls and call him "young master."

Why were they suddenly turning against him?

He watched as they turned and walked away, leaving him there. Detached, and miserable. Sitting on the wet grass with his suit ruined.

Something was happening.

He could feel it in his chest, heavy and wrong.

Overnight, after his father's death, everyone had changed. The smiles, the loyalty, the respect. It was all gone.

Monsters he never knew existed were walking around in familiar faces.

He pushed himself off the floor. His legs felt weak but he forced them to move. He needed to find one person he could still trust.

George.

His father's trusted assistant.

Now that Alex thought about it, he hadn't seen George since yesterday. Not since right after his father died.

How had he missed something that important?

He rushed through the mansion to George's private quarters at the far corner. He didn’t knock, he shoved the door open.

And the room was actually empty, and it was a mess too.

Papers scattered across the floor

A chair knocked over, and drawers pulled all open. It was as if someone had torn through it in a hurry. Or like something had happened here.

Panic clawed up Alex's throat, as he pulled out his phone with shaking hands and dialed George's number.

It rang. Once, twice .... three times.

Then voicemail.

"Pick up," Alex whispered. "Please just pick up. Just let me know you're fine."

No answer.

He could feel his chest tightened with panic.

He had to go. He had to go to George's house in the city. Where his wife and two kids lived. He had to make sure they were safe.

If something happened to George, then maybe something happened to them too.

He ran to the garage, in a rush. His hands fumbled with the car keys, as he got in the car, bringing the engine to life.

As he gripped the wheel ready to take off, a thought stopped him for half a second.

His father's burial.

He might miss it. He might miss the last moment.

But he had to do this, there's no way he is letting his leverage of last hope down.

He slammed the car into drive and shot out of the mansion gates and onto the highway.

----

The road blurred past him, as he drove through the highway, his jaw jaw clenched and his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

Thoughts crashed into each other in his head.

George's missing. A unkown lawyer named Riggs. Victoria's red lips and that cold smile. The security dragging him out like trash.

His father dead, and nobody nobody cared.

Anticipation burned in his gut, and dread too.

What if he was too late?

What if Victoria got there first?

He pushed the car faster.

Twenty minutes later he pulled up to George's house, and what he met was chaos.

The front gate was half open. The lawn looked trampled.

Inside, the living room was destroyed.

Sofa cushions ripped open. Pictures knocked off the walls. Glass from a broken vase scattered across the floor. It looked like the place had been robbed. Or attacked.

Alex's heart dropped, as he rushed further.

"Hello?" he called, voice rough. "Anyone here?"

He heard footstep coming from inside.

George's wife came running from the kitchen. Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair was a mess too. The kids were behind her, clinging to her legs, crying quietly.

"Alex," she choked out when she saw him. She collapsed into his arms.

"What happened?" Alex asked, holding her tight. "Where's George? Are you okay? Are the kids okay?"

She was shaking. "He came back last night," she sobbed. "George. He came rushing in, panicked. He told us to pack. To leave immediately. He said it wasn't safe here anymore."

Alex's stomach twisted. "Then what?"

"Then, while we were still packing, some men came in," she said. Her voice broke. "A group of them. Big men. They didn’t say anything. They just… they dragged him away. Without mercy. They dragged my husband away, Alex. I tried to stop them but they pushed me down."

The kids were crying harder now.

Alex felt something cold and sharp cut through him.

Sorrow, rage and fear. All of it at once.

Victoria.

It had to be Victoria, because no one else had the power or the cruelty to do this.

He pulled back and looked George's wife in the eyes.

"I promise you," he said, voice shaking but firm. "I promise I will get him back. I will get them all back. Just stay here and lock the doors. Don't open for anyone."

He didn't wait for her answer, as he ran back to the car.

Without wasting more time, he drove back to the Kane Crees Villa like a man possessed.

Traffic didn't matterb likewise sspeed limits.

His mind was screaming instead of the fear of everything that was about to happen. What has he being doing? Why had he let his guard down and let his step mother control everything?

When he screeched to a stop in the driveway, the villa was quiet. Just too quiet. And this time, the music was gone the laughter too was gone. The backyard was empty now.

His chest felt like it was being crushed.

He ran inside tp search but it was empty too. Chairs are already stacked. Glasses cleared away. Like the party had never happened.

He ran toward the garden at the back of the property. Where they always did burials for family.

And he was too late.

A small crowd stood around a fresh grave. His father’s casket was already lowered into the ground, with dirt already shoveled over it.

Alex stopped in his tracks, his heart hammering against his chest.

They buried his father without his presence!?

He missed it. He fucking missed saying goodbye.

Standing next to the grave, in a black suit, holding a leather folder, was a man Alex didn’t recognize.

He's thin, with gray hair and cold eyes.

It had to be him. ‘Mr. Riggs.’

The man looked up as Alex approached. While Victoria stood beside him, arms crossed, face unreadable.

Alex rushed forward immediately.

"Stop!!!," he screamed. His voice came out hoarse. "Whatever you're about to do, stop."

Victoria didn’t even look at him, instead she tapped the man to carry on. Mr. Riggs cleared his throat and opened the folder.

“The will." He said as he searched through the folders.

Alex tried to step between them but two security guards blocked him.

He struggled but they held him back.

And then the lawyer began to read.

His voice was smooth and practiced. Like he’d done this a hundred times.

"And I, KANE CREES, with the power bestowed on me, will be leaving all my riches and all my wealth, estate to my lovely wife, VICTORIA."

The words hit Alex like a punch.

And then silence followed. Then slowly murmur from the crowd. Then Victoria’s small, satisfied smile.

Alex stood there, held back by the guards, staring at the grave, at the lawyer, at his stepmother.

His father was in the ground. His father's assistant was missing.

And everything his father built was now in Victoria’s hands.

He had been too late.

"What the hell have you done!!"