The Understated General Returns

Chapter 1 - General's return

Four hundred guests sat in silence under the crystal chandelier; this was a wedding of the heir of the Blackwell family.

At the altar stood Sean Blackwell with a relaxed smile, while Doris Brennan stood beside him, trembling in a gown worth millions. But it couldn't hide the fresh bruises on her cheeks.

Her teary eyes fixed on her son, a terrified seven-year-old boy, Liam, who was held by one of Sean's men.

The priest stood firmly as he stammered, knowing what would happen if he didn't go ahead with the wedding.

"Do you, Doris Brennan, take Sean Blackwell to be your husband, in sickness and health, till death do you part?"

Doris's lips parted, but she couldn't utter a word. Tears dropped from her eyes, not of joy but of panic and tension that had engulfed her body.

The guests murmured silently, knowing what would happen if their voices were heard.

"Mummy, save me." Her son whimpered, his face crimson and his body shaking uncontrollably.

The guard's grip was so tight that the boy could not move his wrist.

"What are you waiting for? We don't have all day." He then turned to face the guard. "You either give the priest an answer, or I order for your little boy to be beaten at this moment."

Doris shook her head; she was broken, seeing her son in such condition. She used to live peacefully, but now she was just standing before a monster, and if she refused to marry him, her son would pay dearly for it.

"Please, don't hurt him. I will do anything." She said between sobbing.

"Then what are you waiting for? Give the priest an answer and let's get out of here." Sean yelled in fury.

The priest could sense the tension but was scared to utter a word, knowing anything against the man before him would lead to his death.

Instead, the priest, with shaking hands, repeated the vow.

Without hesitation, Doris responded with a low but shaking tone. "Yes, I do."

"Say it again, Louder." He commanded.

She looked at her son's terrified face and forced the words out like they were tearing her apart on the way up. "I do!”

An evil smile formed around the lips of Sean. "That's my girl."

He then turned to the priest. "I do take her as my wife, so now we are legally married." He grabbed her closer, kissed her lips and smiled.

"Now you're my wife. Your son goes to my men tonight; they'll teach him how to live without a mother.”

"No, no. Please," Doris said, shaking her head in disapproval.

"You don't dare to challenge my decision," he snarled.

He winked at the guard to take the boy away. Doris protested, but no amount of words could save the boy.

Liam cried so loudly that it touched some of the guests, but they didn't do or say anything.

Just as the guard opened the heavy oak doors.

A hand slammed into his chest.

The impact sent the guard flying backwards across the marble floor, his skull cracking against the base of a marble pillar, and he didn't get up.

The entire hall gasped as one. Leaving everyone gasping in disbelief and shock.

A man stood there at the entrance, holding Liam's arm. He wore a Black coat and combat boots still dusted from the road; his eyes were so dark and still they looked like they belonged to something that had stopped being afraid a long time ago.

"Who could that be?"

"Did he just hit one of the Blackwells' guards?"

Doris looked at her son, and then to the man. Immediately her expression changed, and something within her felt different.

"Dennis!"

It was him! Dennis Kensington, her husband. The man everyone in this city had thought was dead, the man whose death had left her defenceless enough for Sean Blackwell to come circling like a wolf that smelled blood.

“How is he alive?” She thought.

Sean looked shocked but masked his expression. “Whom do we have here?" he said with a smirk, then gripped Doris's hands so tightly. "The ghost is back. I thought you were dead. How did you make it back? Did you fake your death because you were scared of what would happen to you then?"

Dennis didn't utter a word. He looked at Sean with hatred, then remembered how the Blackwell family had been on his tail for years, and even when he was announced dead, how Sean Blackwell and Doris's stepmother had to force his wife into marriage.

How could they?

Dennis dropped to one knee and looked into his son's eyes. "I'm sorry for being away for so long. Daddy is back now. I am here to protect you and mummy."

Liam cried, stumbled toward Dennis and embraced him. "Daddy, I miss you."

For a second, Dennis felt a pang of emotion run through his spine.

Sean was furious; he stumbled his foot against the marble floor in anger, then He turned to his men.

"Get that bastard, and make sure you break his bones, and for his son, I want you to take him away, find someone who needs him, or throw him into a swamp. I don't want to see that little thing anymore."

Fear engulfed Doris; her knees buckled. She shook her head, trying to free herself from Sean, but his grip was so tight that she could only watch in pain.

"Please, run away." She managed to scream.

Six bodyguards in black suits rushed Dennis, drawing out their steel batons.

"He is going to die!"

"He should listen and run away with the child!"

The first two guards swung their batons, aimed at Dennis's head.

Dennis' movements were so fast that even cameras couldn't catch them. He caught the batons' mid-swings; with a twist of his wrist, bones snapped through the hall.

Crack!

Crack!

Just as the guards opened their mouths to scream, Dennis kicked them both in the chest. The men flew meters away, landing close to the first man beside the altar, and blood gushed from their mouths.

The other four guards exchanged looks in shock and disbelief.

"Get him, kill him!"

Sean roared from behind, his voice a mixture of fear and tension.

The men swung their batons, but within the blink of an eyelid all four men lay on the floor, twitching in pools of blood.

Gasps rippled through the hall, as guests couldn't help but wonder who the man was and where he was from.

The room fell into deadly silence.

Dennis adjusted his clothes and turned to his son. "Stay behind me, son! Nobody is going to hurt you, I promise."

His eyes averted toward Sean's red eyes.

Sean's legs shook slowly; he forced himself to maintain a cold face, just so the people wouldn't notice the humiliation that was about to take over him.

He reached for his phone with his shaking hand.

"You think you're strong, right? Wait for me; I am calling my best friend. He is an Admiral! Admiral Cody. I will tell him to break all your bones and feed your remains to the dogs."..

The name moved through the crowd like a cold wind. Admiral Cody wasn't a rumour; he was a man known across the city as an executioner who had never once shown mercy to anyone, for anything.

Dennis didn't say anything; instead, he looked at Doris's face.

"Go," she whispered, barely moving her lips. "Please, take Liam and go. I'll be fine.

Ring! Ring!

A sharp ringtone erupted; everyone turned to the sound that came from Dennis's coat pocket.

Sean eyed wide; he looked at Dennis with a raised brow.

He tried the number again, and it rang in Dennis's coat.

Slowly, Denis pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it calmly.

"I have everything under control!" Dennis voiced.

Sean's hands trembling with disbelief, he couldn't help but wonder how Admiral Cody's phone ended up with Dennis.

"Isn't that Admiral Cody's phone? How is it with him?"

"Did this man steal it from Admiral Cody?"

"How the hell did he get the phone? Is Admiral Cody dead? No, it's impossible?"