The Worthless Son-In-Law's Trillion Dollars Secret

Chapter 4: Face to Face

Romeo's Point of View

The chuckle died. Time stood still. The world seemed to freeze just then. My bones knew what my brain now grasped. The monster who took my folks was near. In this home. Just past this wall's other side.

Vincent hushed me with a finger to lips. He edged toward the door, peeking out. His face seemed still, but his jaw was tense. He beckoned me, and we crept forward to the main room, hugging shadows tight.

What I saw chilled me to my very core.

Emma was down, pressed against the far wall. Her fine dress was ripped, blood on her lip from a strike. Four men stood around her in dark clothes holding guns. But my eyes saw past them. My eyes locked on one man, in the room's heart. He seemed to own all, just by being there.

He was big, wide-shouldered, with a scar down his face to the left side. The scar gave his face a cruel, strange look. He looked fifty, dark hair and dark eyes like dark holes. His face felt known, my gut turned sick. I had seen this face once. In dreams I thought I lost. In nightmares half-forgot.

"Where is he?" the scarred man spoke out. His voice was deep and icy, like ice cracking slow. "Where is the boy now?"

"I’ve no clue who it is," Emma said then. Her voice fluttered, yet she stared right back at him. Though scared, though bleeding on the floor, she tried being bold. She tried hard not to crack. "My husband scrubs floors there. He’s just no one. He’s really nothing."

The etched man laughed once more, and I felt my chest tighten to a weird knot. That strange laugh. I knew that strange laugh since I turned five years old. I knew chasing round a vast house as a kid, hearing it come closer and closer. I knew my mom shoved me in a closet saying stay quiet, stay so quiet nobody finds you.

I knew she did not return.

"The boy’s Phoenix Empire’s heir," the etched man spoke. He went round Emma like a shark hunts its food. "His grandpa Edward Martinez thought he could hide the boy. But now Edward is dead, and the boy is alone. When he knows his wife’s in my hands, he must come get me. He will give what I crave."

Emma’s eyes got so big. She seemed lost, scared, plus one thing I just could not place. "What are you saying now? Romeo’s no heir to a thing. He's just...he's just Romeo.”

"Not that much longer," the etched man spoke then.

Vincent tapped my arm with care. He leaned in, then whispered so low I heard barely him. "That's Marcus Black now. He’s been hunting for you since your folks died. He killed them since he wanted control of the Empire. Your grandpa Edward stopped him, and Marcus spent twenty-three years hatching revenge."

I wasn't hearing Vincent speak anymore. I was just staring at Emma. She seemed afraid, and I did that to her. This was all unfolding because of my actions. Because fate put me in the wrong family tree. Because I was locked away for my own safety. Because I spent those years wed to this woman while keeping myself a secret.

Emma looked straight at me through the big room. I don't know how she could tell I stood there. Maybe it was just intuition working. Maybe some hidden sense linked us somehow. But she gazed right to the place where I stood back in the gloom, and, just for a moment, time took a breather again.

Then Marcus Black spun around fast.

His gaze locked with mine in the dark place, and his wrecked face made a weird grin. "There you are," he said in a hushed tone. "Little Romeo Martinez. All big and bad now."

Everything kicked off right away then.

Vincent took a step and spoke into his wrist tech: "Go now!"

The back door we used just then blew open wide, and guards in black outfits came into the mansion. At the same time, guards came from all rooms, cornering Marcus Black and all his bad men. The goons grabbed for their guns, but they were all trapped. They couldn't run to anywhere.

"You're stuck now, Marcus," Vincent spoke so calm. He moved into the room with his hands held up, showing no weapons. "Free the woman up. Give up now, and maybe you'll glimpse the sun before you’re dead."

Marcus Black's face got all red with pure anger. He bent and grabbed Emma hard by her lovely hair, and pulled her up to stand up. A gun came into view in his hand, and pressed to her head so hard. Emma gasped softly from the great pain, but she made no big sounds. She didn't weep at all. She stood still and just waited.

"If you desire the boy, you must release me," said Marcus. His tone felt like a cold, hard stone. "A single car. A single driver. The lady and myself. Should anyone try to interfere, she dies. Is that clear?"

Vincent stayed still as a statue. The guards were still like statues. All were just waiting there. All eyes watched, eager to see fate unfold.

Then I emerged, a shadow taking form.

I walked slowly into the bright room, and Marcus's eyes found mine. I saw in his eyes a spark of knowing. This was the moment he'd long awaited. This was the boy he chased for decades.

"Release her at once," I spoke softly, yet with an inner fire. Something deep and wild stirred in my soul. "Your issue lies with me, not this woman."

Marcus grinned, and his damaged face was a monster's mask. "Ah, Romeo Martinez. At last, we meet face to face. I can settle the score from when you were small."

He shoved the gun harder to Emma's head. Her eyes shut tight. Her lips moved, like she said a last prayer or farewell.

"You ended my parents," I spoke clear and strong. "Now you are gonna pay for that dark deed."

"Really?" Marcus laughed a terrible laugh. "The boy dares threaten me, holding a gun to his wife. How funny. How dumb. Two paths are open, Romeo. Either you let me walk away freely, or I stain this wall with her own blood."

I took a step forward in that space.

Though Vincent gripped my arm, I didn't stop. The gun meant nothing. Only stopping Marcus Black mattered most. Taking a step, my body felt strange. My muscles felt like steel all of a sudden. My mind became razor-sharp instantly. Fake memories poured into my mind. Fighting skills came to me like a dream. I recalled combat and how to defend people.

I now knew my true self.

Marcus Black noticed something different in me. I saw him realize the scared guy disappeared, replaced by another person. He lifted his gun and shot at me.

Before the gun fired, Emma stunned us all. She jabbed her elbow into Marcus Black’s chest powerfully. He gasped, falling back as the gun fired up, and the bullet hit the ceiling, not her.

Everything flipped in that moment. I got why my grandpa wed me to Emma Chen so long back.