Gone was the face of the nice man who stroked his head as he sold him off or the man who had watched the car drive off. The man in front of him was the very image of calm but Nate could feel the anger radiating off him. The first question through Nate’s head was, how did he find me?
He tried to recall what happened. He murdered Johnson and left him bleeding in his room, get opened the main door, and was about to escape when…
The door opened again and another man walked in. Nate immediately recognized him as the man who had knocked him out. He had only caught a glimpse of him but he would recognize that scar running from the man’s left brow to his mouth anywhere and any time. It was an evil scar that gave him a creepy permanent smile. It all came back to Nate all over again. Fredrick must have asked the man to follow him which meant that Fredrick knew he killed Johnson. As clarity hit him Nate looked back into the cold gray eyes of Fredrick and saw for the first time the truth about the rumors about him.
“You, boy, have a lot of nerves. You killed Johnson,” Fredrick spoke slowly. He laughed mirthlessly. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I hated the man’s gut, do you know why?”
Nate didn’t know what to say. His heart was beating heavily. Was he supposed to respond? He still didn’t know why he was tied up.
“He was a fool. A foolish, greedy man who wanted my prized possession,” he flashed a smile. “You are my prized possession, do you know that? He paid a lot for you.”
Nate shook his head.
Fredrick ran a hand down the side of his face. Nate flinched at his touch. “You are," he spoke gently. "Anyways, about Johnson. I may have hated the man but I respected him and respect supersedes hate but for your sake, my boy, I will overlook his death.” His eyes turned hard. “But I can’t let you go unpunished now can I?” he waited for an answer. When Nate would not answer he asked firmly. “Can I?!”
Nate shook his head. “N-no, sir!”
“Good.” Fredrick tilted his head toward the door. The man with him opened the door and another burly man with a thick mop of brown hair and a huge build came in. He wore only briefs. Nate knew instinctively what was going to happen even before Fredrick spoke again. “Break him in, Theo,” Fredrick said to the man.
As soon as Fredrick and his guard left the room Nate began to scream for help and struggle against the chains holding him up. The memory of Johnson’s assault was still fresh in his memory, he wasn’t about to go through another experience. He was like a wild animal, he didn’t dare that the skin of his wrist broke when he strained against the chains, all he cared about was his life and sanity.
When Theo’s huge hand hit him across the face his lip burst and blood seeped into his mouth but he continued to fight for his life.
“If you keep struggling you’ll die by my hands,” Theo warned. Nate didn’t care. If he had to break his bones to escape he would do just that and he would fetch Tshepo and Anele and run with them, these were the only thoughts in his head. He didn’t see Theo reach a rack of whips and belts behind him until he felt the sharp slap and sting of hard leather against his flesh.
“Stop screaming!” Theo ordered.
Nate’s eyes watered. His throat was dry and his back stung but he didn’t want to go down without a fight. He jerked the chains around his ankles and twisted and turned. The slap of the belt fell on his back again, breaking the skin. The pain searing through his body was unbearable.
“Bastard!” Theo cursed as he continued to strike him. “Shut the hell up!” he ordered. He was getting frustrated with Nate’s fights that he didn’t hear the door creak open again. It was only when Nate stopped fighting him to stare at the person in front of him that he stopped but for only a second.
Tshepo stood with a pistol held in both of his shaking hands. His face was a mask of fear, sweat, and courage. His eyes briefly fell on Nate’s pathetic-looking state. In his brown eyes were painful untold stories of the horrors he had to go through during the months he was taken away from the mansion. There in his eyes was the fear that his friend was going to end up damaged the way he was.
Theo saw the distraction and told advantage of it, lunging forward so quickly that only quick thinking made Tshepo pull the trigger twice, then a third time. Each time he squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled the trigger. When he opened his eyes he saw Theo’s body slowly descend before hitting the ground with a heavy thump. He was shaking like a leaf when he went over to his huge body and retrieved the keys to the chains holding Nate up. As soon as the locks fell open Nate collapsed into his friend’s hands.
Nate was crying. He didn’t care about his injuries or the naked state he was in. It was the pain in Tshepo’s eyes that cornered him.
“What did they do to you?” he asked, his voice a bare whisper. “What did they do to you, Tshepo?”
“Don’t worry about me, let’s get out of here before Fredrick realizes what we’ve done. Nate, we can’t wait till we are rich to leave, our lives are in danger if we remain here.”
Tshepo was helping him to his feet. It was hard to stand when his ankles were in so much pain but he grunted and pulled his strength together until he could limp on his own.
“Anele…,” he muttered. “I can’t leave without her.”
“She’s in the back. We can take her along. Let’s go.” With his arm hooked under Nate’s underarm, Tshepo lead him out of the room, the pistol was left discarded on the floor. They hobbled through secret passages Nate never knew existed. When they got to the back truly Anele was waiting for them. She hurried forward and almost tripped over when she heard them, Nate reached out to help her stay steady. She smelled the blood on him and tears filled her eyes.
“Fredrick will kill you,” she whispered in tears. “He is going to replace you with someone else…there’s another one, he will take your place.
Nate didn’t know what she was rambling on about but he held her hand tightly and together with Tshepo they began their escape. Getting out of the house was easy since they slipped out the back.
By the time Fredrick’s men, having heard the gunshots, traced the location from which they came, Theo was dead in a pool of his blood and Nate, Tshepo and Anele were moving as fast as they could toward the ocean. Fredrick joined the men and took in the ghastly sight.
“Find them,” he ordered. “Kill them all.”
“Even the boy?”
“Even him.” To another one of his men, he gave a different order. “Bring the replacement.”