TRASH HUSBAND TO TRILLIONAIRE EX-HUSBAND

Chapter two: Young Master Hayes

Benjamin sprinted through a quiet alley, seconds counting down in his head, his heart pounding along with the monitor beep in ICU where Aria was fighting for her life.

Less than an hour.

 "Hold on, baby. Hold on. I'll be there." His voice trembled. He clutched the briefcase to his chest like it was his lifeline— of course—  his daughter's. "Dad is coming.

 Suddenly, two masked men appeared at the end of the hallway. One held a knife catching the afternoon sun and scattering it across like a promise of blood, the other tapped a baton gently on his palm, his posture relaxed, typical of someone who knew how to stir fear with a weapon.

 Benjamin's heart raced. His grip tightened on the briefcase. Slowly, he retreated.

 "Who are you people? What do you want?" 

 "Good question." The one holding the knife said, his voice muffled under black mask. He waved the knife at the briefcase. "Hand over the money. Now."

 "What—" Benjamin gasped, his heart racing. Losing the briefcase equalized losing his daughter's life. "No..I can't..it's for my daughter's surgery. Just let me go." 

 "That," The knife thug said, "Is none of our business." 

 Benjamin's mind was processing for an escape route as the men slowly closed the gap with him.

 Suddenly, he turned and sprinted off.

 The man holding the baton swung it at him with the efficiency that suggested he'd done this before and had never missed target.

 Whosp! Whosp! Whosp!

 The Boton spun through the air and crashed against the back of Benjamin's head with a sharp crack. 

 His head snapped forward. The world tilted before his eyes as his body lurched forward uncontrollably, crumbling to the floor with a heavy thud.

 Blood pooled beneath him.

 The world spun as concussion dragged him towards unconsciousness but the sheer will to save his dying daughter fought against it. His grip tightened on the briefcase despite pain, despite the unconscious closing in on him.

 The thugs stopped before him, their boots covered in dust.

 One yanked the briefcase from his chest but Benjamin's grip tightened, pulling back with strength that surprised him.

 They exchanged glances.

 "No..no...Let go of it." Benjamin's grip tightened even more.

 A punch landed to his face before the briefcase dropped from his grip.

 His nose broke.

 His grip loosened.

 They snatched the briefcase from him seeing his vulnerability.

 "No..no.. please.." Benjamin cried, crawling after them through pain and dust and unconsciousness that promised to take over him because he was bleeding fast.

 But Sheer will survive him. His fingers dug into the sand as he pushed his weight from the ground, standing on his feet with everything left inside.

 His ear rang with a static frequency that suggested that hearing would be difficult.

 He looked ahead. The men had disappeared.

 Panic crashed over him through the pain.

 He just lost the only thing that would save his daughter. Derrick's threat echoed in his head.

 "I value agreement." 

 But agreement wasn't important at the moment.

 What Benjamin didn't know was that those men were sent by Derrick.

 His pattern of operation: he would loan vulnerable people money. Once they're gone, he would send his thugs to jump them, robbing them of the loan and leaving them broken. Once they missed the deadline, collateral would be taken and the client become debtor. Then they'll start troubling them.

 Benjamin made his way back to the hospital, hurrying along the corridor in panic. He burst into the ward what he saw made his heart fell. 

Aria was gone.

 "Aria.!" His voice came out roughly. "Aria!!" 

 He stumbled out of that ward, yanked a passing nurse by the collar.

 "Aria...where is she? Where is my daughter?!" His voice cracked.

 "Relax, Sir. You're hurting me." The nurse said and fred her collar from his grip. "A man came and made full payment for the Premium ward. Your daughter has been transferred to the best unit." 

 Benjamin paused, his mind reeling.

 "A man? Which man?"

 "I have no idea, Mr. Hayes." The nurse said sincerely. "I should take you there." 

 They stepped into the elevator. Benjamin's mind was unstable circling between two thoughts; Who is the man? Is Aria fine?

 The Elevator stopped at the tenth floor and immediately the door parted, the sight that caught his heart hammered.

 Men in black lined across the vast corridor. A man stood at their front, dressed in an impeccable white suit.

 To his shock, the men— maybe twenty— all of them including the man in white suit dropped to their one knee at once

 "Young Master Hayes!!" They Chorused. "We hail you!"

 Benjamin froze in real-time.

 His eyes were left widely open trying to comprehend what was happening.

 "Who are you people? Where is my daughter?"

 The man in white suit rose to his feet and walked to Benjamin. He bowed respectfully and when he spoke, he didn't waste any words.

 "Master Hayes," He gave a respectful bow. "Jackson Voss at your service. Grandfather Amos Hayes sent me to meet you."

 Benjamin frowned a bit. "Grandfather?" 

 The man who'd just introduced himself as Jackson nodded gently.

 "Yes, Master." He said and simply made a hand gesture to one of the bodyguards. A velvet crimson box arrived.

 Jackson presented it to him. "His package for you, Master."

 "I'm no Master." Benjamin hissed, swatting the box away. "I don't care whatever message he sent you. I don't want to see you!"

 His mother told him the story before cancer took her when he was Twenty. Grandfather Amos Hayes cast his son, Benjamin's father out of the house because he loved a woman, Benjamin's mother who came from a poor family background. His father refused marriage arrangements with another woman from a prestigious family.

 Grandfather Amos was further enraged when he heard his mother was pregnant. He stripped his father off everything. 

His parents left the city to another distant city that night and that night was when his father lost his life protecting them from hired Assassins.

 "I don't have anything to do with him!" Benjamin moved past Jackson.

 "He's dead." 

 Jackson announced.