It would be an understatement to say that everyone was on edge after the previous day's events. There was an urgency to finish any pending matters and leave without looking back. Nonetheless, the meetings continued until a decision was reached.
With the mansion nearly at full capacity, it was hard to find a place where Taeui, Christoph and the girls could relax, away from the guests, to avoid more incidents and prevent further delays.
Their routine was pretty much the same, spending most of the day in the garden and the pool. Since the pool was surrounded by an extensive garden, there were enough places where they could sit by themselves.
"Is it done?" Christoph asked. It was mid-morning when Ilay walked out of the house and made his way towards them.
"No. We are just on a break right now."
Ilay looked annoyed as he sat down next to Taeui. In front of him was Amber, who looked away the moment she saw him arrive. Taeui gave Ilay a small smile when their eyes met, trying to reassure him.
"You know, Chris said he has bled from his nose a few times as well when he got into fights before," said Scarlet enthusiastically as she looked at her uncle. "He said he is going to teach me how to fight when I grow up."
"Ah, really?" The temperature dropped as Ilay glared at him.
Christoph glared back, but then he noticed Amber looking at him, her eyes narrowed in thought, and he directed his gaze to her.
"I can teach you, too," Christoph said.
Amber contemplated the offer for a moment before replying. "No, I want uncle Ilay to teach me."
For the first time that day, she looked at him. Ilay thought over what Taeui told him the night before as he silently stared at his niece. However, his answer didn't change, and Amber's eyes became angrier than he had ever seen before.
Shortly after, Amber's lips trembled and she looked away, crossing her arms. Frustration was evident in Ilay's gaze, almost turning into a glare, but when Taeui tapped his arm and their eyes met, it calmed down.
"What did you do?"
Ilay wanted to take his frustration out on Christoph for being so oblivious, but thought better of it, and instead he clicked his tongue and walked away without a word. But not before he noticed Amber flinch when he moved.
"What happened?" Scarlet asked, her nose still a bit swollen, looking at her sister. Amber shook her head without a word.
"You know, Christoph is also a good fighter," said Taeui.
She pondered his words, looking at both of them, but her answer was the same, and she shook her head again.
"It has to be uncle Ilay," she explained.
Amber didn't say anything else even though Scarlet asked her again if something was wrong, but Taeui could guess what she was thinking. To distract the girls, they played tag for a bit and then hide-and-seek before having a snack, but before they started eating, Scarlet jumped out of her chair with a yelp.
"I need to pee!"
The trio chuckled at her theatrics, and it was Taeui who stood up to walk her to the house. The mansion wasn't far, but it still took about two minutes from where they were to reach it.
Taeui heard it before he saw it.
The mansion was in a calm neighbourhood and even a calmer street. So speeding cars weren't a normal occurrence, much less when the sound got closer to the estate. A shiver ran down his spine.
'It's just stress. Who would dare to attack Riegrow's mansion in broad daylight?'
However, the sound of the car became louder. No, there were two cars. Then he saw them in the far distance, two black SUVs driving straight toward them, until they crashed and broke the fence, stopping just a few steps away.
***
Ilay was talking with some of his cousins and his brother on the second floor, in a big meeting room, when the crashing sounds and the screaming from outside surprised everyone. Ilay trusted his instinct more than he trusted people, and when he heard it, he felt it in his bones that Taeui was in danger. He stood up and walked away, Richard and Kyle behind him.
"If it were something urgent, the alarms would have sounded by now."
Kyle looked back at who said it, but he didn't reply. He felt it too that something was wrong, and even though there was heavy security in the mansion, anyone with enough time could have learned how to disable it.
***
Before the cars fully stopped, two men from each car climbed out. Two headed towards Taeui and Scarlet. He stepped in front of her, guarding her as his mind raced. One of the men pointed a gun at him while the other approached from the side, barehanded.
His eyes jumped from one to the other, catching the slight shoulder twitch and feet placement, strong indicators that the weaponless man was getting ready to attack. There was nothing he could use for protection and no time to ask for help. The man closed the distance in two steps, throwing a punch, but not catching Taeui by surprise as his body was already moving by instinct, evading it and turning into a counterattack.
However, the man was highly trained like himself, and this small exchange was just both testing the waters. Taeui found an opening when he closed the distance when the man tried to attack again. He lowered his body, leaning to the side, and aimed for his solar plexus. He wasn't able to knock him out with one punch, but the contact made the man groan in pain and take a step back. But Taeui didn't stop there and stepped forward again, leaning his body to the opposite side, aiming for his jaw, when he saw movement in the corner of his eye.
The man who originally had pulled out a gun seized Scarlet, covering her mouth and took her away. Taeui rushed to save her as the man climbed into the car with her struggling in his arms, but then a pain so acute invaded his entire body and all his muscles contracted, making him yell in pain. He knew what it was even if he didn't see it. He had experienced it before when he was in the army.
Right after, he was hit in the back of his head and dropped to the floor, his consciousness leaving him. The last thing he saw while being carried over the shoulder of the man who shot him with a taser was Christoph fighting against two other men.
Amber was paralysed in place behind him, watching the brutal fight. But something caught her attention, and she looked away and saw her sister being taken away, and Taeui being knocked out. Her feet were frozen to the ground, and the loud, high-pitched noise blared in her head. She realised the same thing was happening to her, but still she couldn't control her body. Her feet didn't move as she saw her sister and Taeui being taken away.
"Run!"
Christoph's shout brought some of her senses back, and she turned to him. One of the men was running towards her, while the other blocked Christoph's path. She turned to the house and ran. As fast as she had ever remembered running.
Ilay, Kyle and Richard crossed the hallway to the other side of the second floor where the sound came from and went straight to the window to look outside. What they saw froze their blood. Taeui was being carried over the shoulder of a bulky man, Amber was running away while Christoph fought a third man, and Scarlet was nowhere to be seen.
Amber saw a pair of eyes on the second floor looking right at her, but before she could scream out her uncle's name, her mouth was covered, and her feet left the ground. Ilay saw the terror in her eyes when the man grabbed her.
Those terrified eyes stuck to him, but it was Taeui's motionless body being taken away that clawed at his heart and mind. He felt his body moving and his surroundings changing, and people yelling and screaming. And noise, so much noise. Without a second thought, Ilay had opened the window and jumped down. There was only one thing he wanted right then. No. There was only one thing he needed. He needed to kill.
Christoph tried to save her, but the second Amber was in the arms of the attacker, he was shot with a taser. That wasn't enough to deter him, and in awkward movements, he attacked the one who shot him. But then another taser hit him, and his body froze.
Amber kicked and fought, trying to break free, but the man was pressing on her nose and mouth, making it hard to breathe. She didn't stop trashing in his grip. If she could resist him for a moment. If she delayed him for a moment. If he stopped for just one moment. Her uncle would surely save her.
But that didn't happen.
She saw her uncle jumping from the window with an expression she had never seen him with, and right there and then she realised how maybe the rumours had some truth to them. A second later, she was put in the car, and right after, the car was moving.
Ilay rushed towards the cars, the one with Taeui was already reversing, but it didn't faze him. He would outrun a car if it meant getting Taeui back. Something hit his arm, but he didn't fully register it. There was just a slight tickle in his muscles. The car was right there in front of him, just a few steps away.
He was shot again. It didn't stop him, but slowed him down enough that he couldn't keep up with the speeding car.
A third shot hit him in his abdomen, and he still didn't stop. Unable to run, he walked as fast as his contracting muscles let him.
Only when there were four sets of prongs attached to him, discharging electric current, did his body stop listening to him and made him stop.
Ilay stood there, on top of the broken fence, watching the cars in the distance.
In a slow and awkward movement, Ilay pulled out the prongs attached to him, one by one, without a word.
"Who was it?"
The mansion was shrouded in a deafening silence when they heard him, as if they heard the howl of a wolf ready to hunt, or the roar of a lion ready to kill.
After a long silence, Ilay turned around in a deliberate, slow movement.