The Midnight Thief

The Vance clothing company stood proudly as one of the most famous fashion labels across the entire globe. The people running the Vance household held massive respect everywhere they went, mostly because of their heavy donations and charity work. Even high-ranking politicians and city leaders would always make time to meet Gregory, the head of the family. They were not the sort of people who just bought the best seats at a movie theater; if they wanted to watch a film outside their own massive home theater, they simply booked out the whole place for themselves. That was just the kind of massive influence and power the Vance family held.

With the Vance brand worth more than twenty billion dollars, it made complete sense that every family member had millions sitting comfortably in their bank accounts. Well, all of them except for one person. They treated everyone else like royalty, but they saved all their cruelty for their one and only son-in-law, Leo Vance.

The real reason they started treating him so terribly went back to a massive national fashion show. The entire family had been invited to walk the main stage together. While he and his wealthy in-laws were walking toward the venue, he accidentally ended up stepping on the hem of his mother-in-law’s very long formal gown. The sudden pull made her trip forward and crash straight onto her face, breaking her nose right in front of thousands of screaming fans and cameras.

Even though everyone acted like they were willing to forgive him at first, their kind smiles slowly faded, and their true, wicked intentions started showing more and more as the days went by.

Leo had actually earned three employee of the year awards at the main Vance headquarters before Gregory even noticed him. Gregory decided to have his daughter marry Leo mostly because Leo had no living family of his own. That way, he could easily move in with Gregory’s daughter, look after her, and obey every single rule they set down without causing any trouble.

Leo had no clue before the wedding that the marriage contract was basically a slave agreement in disguise. Not only did the Vances completely stop paying him any salary for his hard work at the office, but his wife also refused to let him even touch her. She always made up the excuse that she had been forced into the marriage against her will, even though she had happily agreed to marry him the moment he asked her before the wedding day.

In just sixteen months, Leo had been completely broken down from a strong, confident man into a depressed, hopeless shadow of his former self by everyone in the household, except for maybe one person. They called him useless and worthless over and over again, taking total control of his life. If he wanted to spend even a single dollar, he had to ask his mother-in-law for permission. If he wanted to walk into his own wife's bedroom, he had to get permission from his mother-in-law. If he wanted to wander freely around the massive mansion, he had to get permission from his mother-in-law. Heck, if he even wanted to scream out in frustration, he needed permission from her too, which she would never grant in a million years.

Even though his married life was already an absolute nightmare, he still held onto a tiny spark of hope that his wife might one day notice his hard work and pull him closer to her heart. Instead, she took that hope, spat on it, and crushed it completely by bringing some big, rough-looking guy named Andres straight into the house and even inviting him into her private bedroom. Even though she claimed Andres was just a friendly pal, Leo wasn't blind or stupid. He demanded that she send the guy packing. But instead of listening, the Vances had their security guards gang up on Leo, holding him down while Andres brutally smashed and broke his knees. After that, they dragged him out and threw him away in an old, rotting shed on the far southern side of the estate.

They did not give him any cash or a single drop of food; they just tossed a small bag of seeds at him and told him to grow his own meals if he wanted to stay alive. But how on earth was he supposed to do any farming when his knees were shattered and he couldn't even stand up on his legs?

With both his broken body and shattered heart giving out, Leo finally decided to give up on everything. He just lay there in the dark shed, letting himself rot away without drinking a single drop of water or eating any food. For the first couple of weeks, he survived on nothing but thin air. Then, someone started tossing food straight through the broken window. It was fresh vegetables, but since he had no idea who was throwing them, his pride stopped him from eating. Even pizza boxes started flying inside, and pizzas from his favorite local spot the exact same ones his wife loved so much, landed on the dusty floor. The hunger was unbearable, and the temptation was even worse, but he refused to touch a single bite or drink the water bottles. He just watched the vegetables dry up and shrivel away, while long lines of ants crawled over the pizza boxes, stealing away the dried crusts right before his eyes. He didn't care about the food because he didn't care about staying alive anymore. He just wanted it all to end.

On the forty-first day after being thrown into that miserable shed, he had a strong feeling that it would be his final day on earth. He wasn't even sad because he didn't have a single person left to call family. His only true regret was dying before he could pay the Vances back for every single horrible thing they had put him through.

"I wouldn't wish this kind of slow death on my worst enemy. What did I ever do to deserve this?" he cried out using the very last bit of strength left in his dry, burning throat before closing his eyes for good. A single tear, full of all his shame and deep regrets, slipped down the corner of his eye.

His heartbeat slowed down bit by bit. His pulse weakened until it could barely be felt at all.

He was just a second away from breathing his last breath. Yet, even with his hearing fading out, his ears caught the faint sound of the shed door slowly creaking open. Then, something sharp sank deep into the skin of his neck.