The Rise of the Heir

Chapter 8

Theo grimaced, his teeth grinding against the throbbing that radiated from his shoulder to his fingertips. The usually cramped room now seemed to squeeze him with suffocating heat. The faint stench of blood lingered in his nostrils, mixed with the pungent aroma of liniment oil and antiseptic solution.

He tried to sit upright on the edge of the bed, but his right rib immediately protested with a sharp pain. Damn it. The blow from Valen's men last night had truly left a crack there.

Theo glanced at his right shoulder, now wrapped in a tight mitela bandage. Last night, after Valen's men left, Bima and Yanuar had immediately dragged his body to the back room of the restaurant.

Without anesthetic and without further ado, Bima had grabbed his body while Yanuar had pulled his arm with one brutal tug, snapping his shoulder joint back into place. Theo had fainted for a few seconds from the pain exploding in his head before Yanuar finally drove him back to this boarding house at dawn.

"Idiot," Theo thought, his eyes staring blankly at the cracked mirror in front of him.

Until now, he had felt strong enough on the streets just because he could take down market thugs or amateur debt collectors. The fight at Rouza Grill last night was a slap in the face that tore his ego to shreds.

In front of Valen's chosen men, the martial arts techniques he had honed in secret were nothing more than childish dance moves. They fought to destroy organs, not simply take down their opponents. He was far from good enough.

Bzzzt... bzzzt...

His phone, its increasingly shattered screen, vibrated on the cement floor. Theo reached for it with his uninjured left hand. It was an unknown number.

"Hello?" Theo's voice was hoarse, his throat as dry as sand.

"The week ends tomorrow, Theo," the voice on the other end was cold, emotionless, yet filled with a clear threat. It was the debt collector from the middle-ranking loan shark faction. "Prepare the four million, or we will come to take your life instead."

Tut.

The line was disconnected abruptly. Theo threw the phone back to the floor and leaned his head against the damp concrete wall.

His mother's debt. The breakup with Agent RX. Valen's threats. It all came together, crushing his already-shattering shoulders like an endless weight.

The one million rupiah he'd received from the mysterious man named Yanuar before his identity was revealed yesterday wasn't even enough to cover the interest on this loan shark. And in this physically shattered state, he wouldn't be able to work as a courier or a cleaning service for weeks to come. His brain had to move faster than his body.

Knock... knock... knock...

The knock on the door was soft and hesitant, very different from the harsh pounding he usually received from his landlord or debt collectors.

Theo winced. His left hand instinctively felt for the sharp shards of plastic chair leg near the mattress—his only weapon at the moment. He dragged his feet slowly, holding his breath to avoid the pain in his right ribs as he moved.

As soon as the door opened, Theo froze.

Risa stood there. Her mother wasn't wearing her usual thick makeup. Her face was pale, dark circles hung under her eyes, and her fingers were nervously fidgeting with the strap of her handbag.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Theo asked, his voice carrying a wary tone he couldn't hide.

Risa didn't answer. She barged into the small room. But her steps stopped short as her eyes swept over the mess—and more importantly, when she saw the bandages wrapped around Theo's shoulder and chest, and the purplish bruises on her son's face.

"You... did you fight again?" Risa's voice trembled. She stepped forward, her cold hands trembling as she tried to touch the wound on Theo's temple.

Theo gently pushed her hand away, then took a step back. "It's none of your business. Didn't you say I'm a bad luck kid who only makes your life difficult?"

For the first time, Risa didn't retort with a sharp insult. Instead, she fell silent, staring at Theo with an unreadable gaze. There was a very slight flash of regret, but it was quickly overshadowed by a layer of overwhelming fear in her eyes.

The woman suddenly lunged forward and gripped Theo's left arm tightly—so tightly that her nails turned white.

"Listen carefully, Theo Atmaja," Risa whispered, her voice hoarse as if something was stuck in her throat. "Stop. Stop whatever you're doing right now. Never interfere with the affairs of people from your father's past again. Never find out about them!"

Theo stared deeply into his mother's eyes. He searched for the hatred or disgust that usually lingered there, but this time he found none. All that remained in Risa's eyes was pure fear.

"Why? Are you afraid I'll die?" Theo snorted bitterly, holding back the pain in his chest."Or are you afraid I'll find out that Dad isn't really the street loser you've been saying for the past ten years?"

Risa released her grip, her body trembling violently. She took a step back, as if seeing the ghost of Roy Atmaja come back to life in Theo.

"Your father..." Risa paused, her eyes darting wildly around the cramped room. "He's the one who ruined our lives, Theo. He brought darkness into our home, and that darkness never left even after he died!"

"But Dad has a legacy, Mom! He has people willing to die at Rouza Grill! He fought the corrupt factions in this city!" Theo raised his voice slightly, triggering a sharp pain in his right rib.

Risa laughed dryly, a laugh that sounded incredibly pathetic. "Die? Yes, they'll all die! In the underworld, there's no such thing as loyalty, Theo! There are only life debts and betrayal! Why do you think I always curse your father in front of you? Because I want you to hate him! I want you to stay out of his shadow so you can live!"

Risa approached again, this time holding Theo's face with both of her cold hands. Her eyes widened, filled with a very real warning.

"Listen, Theo. You don't know who you're facing out there. Valen and his men aren't just market thugs," Risa whispered very softly, almost like a gust of wind in Theo's earlobe. "If they knew you were still alive... if they knew you'd started touching the Atmaja Group's inheritance documents again... they wouldn't just beat you black and blue like this."

Risa swallowed, tears falling without sobs.

"They'll make sure you die in a far more horrible way than what they did to your father, Theo. Hide while you can. Don't come to Handaya's house again, and never show yourself to any faction."

Theo stood frozen in place.

For the first time in his life, he realized that his mother hadn't simply hated him for his poverty or because he was his father's son. Risa was scared to death. And that fear, somehow, felt more real than the blow of the iron rod that had struck her shoulder last night.

There was an enemy far greater than Valen—a force that made Risa prefer to appear like a cruel mother, as long as her own child remained safe hiding in the darkest corner of Monia.