"Tell me how are you related to that person?" Lisa interrogated.

"Which person?" He tried to act dumb, but none of them bought the act.

Brad and his mother crossed their hands over their chest and looked at Franklin imploringly.

"Tell us something. What is your relation to Raymond Westerfield?" Amelia asked him directly.

"Heh." Franklin smirked saying, "Why should I tell you?"

"Haha. If you don"t tell me, then…" She trailed off, before giving him a chilly smile, and pa.s.sing a cell phone to him. On it was playing a video. A man and a woman tied to chairs and were blindfolded and gagged. Two guns were pointed at their forehead.

He shivered. It was his wife and son. How did they know? That was his first thought as his eyes widened. Another possibility crossed his mind as he shivered.

"If you don"t choose to cooperate, they will be the next." Amelia answered the question he had in his mind.

"Don"t do anything to them."

"Then, speak."

"I will. I will. Please don"t do anything to them. Please." He kept on pleading, snot running free from his nose. He lowered his head and wiped them on his shirt before he continued, "He approached me a month ago, and asked me to do a few things, and that involved harming him." He pointed at Brad with his chin.

"Who else is involved?" Brad asked. The matter did not look as simple as the way he mentioned. On asking this question, he saw Franklin shivering.

"No… No one." He stuttered while looking everywhere other than them.

"Don"t lie!" They yelled together, scaring Franklin out of his wits.

"I.. I… I am not lying." Franklin said, clearly afraid of the trio now. Cori, who was silent all this while, got up from the chair, went near Franklin. He pulled his chin with one hand and said, "Enough of the games now. If you don"t spill the beans, forget about them being spared. You are thinking that your grandchildren are safe, aren"t you? Hahahahaha." Franklin heard Cori"s insane laughter and felt frightened.

"What? What did you do to them? Don"t you dare harm them. "Franklin shouted, but Cori slapped him on the face and said, "Stop yelling. You don"t know of my reputation. Tsk tsk. You won"t have the chance too. Not anymore."

Cori opened his cell this time, before pa.s.sing it on to Franklin. He saw a boy and a girl of the same age playing with two burly men. They looked quite happy. They were none other than his grandchildren.

Franklin gulped as he saw the video. It had no sound, but he could see that they were happy with the men. What if they kill him? What if they destroy everything? Many what ifs were running through his mind as he pondered whether to sell Raymond out or not. Raymond was no one, but they are his family.

"I… Raymond is somehow a.s.sociated with Mr. Tyson. It was Mr. Tyson who asked him to harm Brad and everyone related to him." He told everyone what he knew, and pleaded, "I told you what I knew. Please spare them."

"Why would he want to harm Brad?" Amelia was completely puzzled now. She looked at Brad and asked, "What enmity do you have with them to try taking your life?"

"I don"t know, Mum." He knew that his mother"s ident.i.ty was a secret, so he kept as quiet as possible through the entire process. What he failed to understand was, why would they try to harm anyone related to him.

He called Olympia through their soul connection and asked, "Do you know the reason?"

"No Master, I don"t." Olympia was puzzled too. Merely beating someone in the compet.i.tion should not make someone go as far to kill their family members. Something extremely fishy was going on, and they failed to lay hands on it.

"Master, let"s go to the East Village right now." Olympia suddenly said.

Brad nodded before tugging on Amelia"s clothes. "Mum, can I leave?" He asked as softly as possible.

"Where do you want to go?"

��EV" He said the short form, hoping that his mother would understand, and she surely did. He called out again, "Mum?"

"Yes, my child?"

"Mum, Father? Can he be saved?"

"Brad, believe in Olympia. She can do it."

Brad nodded, and Amelia patted him on his head. Both of them nodded at each other again before Brad silently left the place.

As he walked through the streets, he felt someone following him. His sharp senses helped him. Olympia said, "Master, we have company."

"Mmm." Brad hummed in response, as he closed his eyes and tried to sense the surroundings. Having no education in magic, he couldn"t do anything. But he could easily sense his surroundings.

He found everything so still. There was no sound except for his footsteps against the concrete pavement. He couldn"t even detect their breaths. As he was mulling over these thoughts, someone came up from behind him and said, "Hands up."

He could feel a cold metal against his head. Obediently, he raised his arms over his head.

"Come with us." The voice belonged to a middle aged man. Brad did not protest and let them pull him away.

Olympia nearly lost her patience. She yelled from her s.p.a.ce, "Master, let me out. NOW."

Brad calmly answered her, "No."