Chapter 374: Stay Away From the Scum
The two of them stopped talking, and the room fell silent.
After some time had passed—Amina wasn’t sure how long—she was starting to worry Zeke was about to pass out. Suddenly, he turned his head and whispered to her.
"Amina, find me something. We’ll cut these ropes and escape tonight."
"What?"
Amina was more traditional. Even though she knew her brothers had gone too far, she’d never considered breaking ties with them completely.
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Zeke said angrily.
"After they’ve treated you like this, you still want to stay here? Do you really want to let them push you around, marrying you off to one person after another for money? Hurry up and find me something. Let’s go, and never come back!"
"But my grandma..."
"We’ll take her with us. Hurry up!"
’Zeke is willing to take Grandma with us?’
Amina thought for a moment and finally made up her mind.
But she was tied to a chair and couldn’t even stand up.
On the long table in the living room sat a bowl used for ancestral offerings, with incense sticks inside. If she could just smash it, she could use a shard to cut the ropes.
Amina summoned all her strength, stood up with the chair attached, and shuffled toward the table.
But she’d only taken a few steps when a door in the house creaked open, startling her into sitting back down immediately.
After a rustling sound, the person who emerged was, to her surprise, her grandmother.
Her grandmother gestured for Amina to be quiet, tiptoed over to her, and untied her ropes. Then, the two of them worked together to lift the table off of Zeke, freeing him.
"Go, quickly. The two of them are asleep. You need to leave now, and don’t ever come back."
"No, Grandma, you have to come with me!"
"I’m old. I’ll only slow you down if I go with you. Just go by yourself, Amina. Don’t worry, they won’t do anything to me."
Looking at her frail, pitiful grandmother, Amina couldn’t stop the tears of reluctance from streaming down her face.
"No! If you won’t go, then I won’t go either. I know that if I leave by myself, my brothers..."
Seeing the two of them dithering, Zeke simply swept the grandmother up into his arms.
"No more talking, let’s go! Don’t grab anything else. Just get the car keys and come with me, now!"
Amina knew that if her two brothers woke up and rallied the villagers in the morning, they’d have no chance of escape. In a panic, she followed Zeke out the door.
The three of them ran through the darkness, following Amina’s lead as they sprinted toward the car.
They hadn’t even made it out of the village when a deafening roar erupted behind them.
Her two older brothers had heard the commotion, woken up, and roused all the villagers.
Everyone came chasing after them, carrying flashlights, shovels, and wooden clubs.
Zeke pushed through the searing pain, never slowing his pace. Finally, amid the chaos, they made it back to the car.
"CLANG! CLANG!"
The people behind them had caught up and were throwing shovels and ropes, aiming for him.
Zeke quickly slammed the car door shut, started the engine, and peeled out just as her eldest brother reached for the door handle.
Zeke was a skilled driver, and with his speed, he quickly left them far behind.
Watching their furious pursuit in the rearview mirror, Amina trembled with rage.
"I have no idea what that damn cousin told them to get my brothers so worked up. They’re like madmen; I hardly recognize them anymore. God, how are Grandma and I ever supposed to come back after this?"
Zeke had two ribs broken by her brothers, and the pain had him drenched in a cold sweat.
"Still thinking about coming back? You actually want to come back to this hellhole?"
Zeke was completely floored by her family and said furiously,
"You are forbidden from ever coming back. Cut ties with them for good! They don’t even treat you like a human being! If I’d known, I would’ve brought a few more guys and taught them a harsh lesson!"
Amina was mortified that Zeke had to see how awful her family situation was.
"Do you... look down on me now?"
Only after he’d yelled at her did Zeke realize his tone had been too harsh.
No one chooses to be born into a family like that, and no one would want relatives like those. She was a victim in all of this, too.
His tone softened.
"How could that be possible? You know how much I care about you, how much I worry about you. How could I ever look down on you? My heart just aches for you."
He took her hand and pressed it against his cheek.
"From now on, I’m going to cherish you and make you the happiest person in the world, so you’ll never have to suffer the slightest injustice again. Don’t be sad. People like them aren’t worth your grief."
Amina suddenly felt her heart begin to beat a little faster.
It wasn’t the first time they had held hands—they even frequently slept in the same bed—but still...
Her grandmother’s eyesight might have been poor, but she wasn’t deaf.
Over the past few days, listening to people slander her granddaughter had felt like a knife to the heart, and she had grown utterly disappointed in her two grandsons.
As a woman herself, she sincerely hoped her granddaughter would never have to return to this place.
But seeing her granddaughter return today with a handsome young man in tow did bring her some comfort.
She could tell from the sound of his voice that Zeke was a good kid. The grandmother extended a trembling hand.
"Amina, you’ve been back for a while and haven’t had a chance to say a proper hello to your grandma. Who is this young man? What’s your relationship?"
Amina was about to say he was a friend, but Zeke spoke up first.
"Grandma, I’m her boyfriend. Please don’t listen to the nonsense those people are spouting. Amina is very well-behaved and decent. She’s been with me this whole time, and her reputation is spotless."
Hearing that Amina was a good girl with a clean slate, and that there was a man willing to believe in her and treat her well, her grandmother could finally rest easy.
The three of them traveled nonstop, taking more than a day to get back to Veridia.
Zeke set Amina and her grandmother up in one of his apartments, moving in as well. He hired a housekeeper to look after the grandmother and take care of their daily meals. Amina went back to her food delivery job, waiting for the new school semester to start.
He had only just managed to get a few peaceful days in when Damien Vaughn called, and he felt a little put out.
Hearing that Damien Vaughn was back from a business trip and wanted to get together, he agreed at once.
On a whim, Damien Vaughn tried calling Brandon Jacobs again and was surprised when the call actually went through this time.
Brandon Jacobs was back in Veridia too.
The guys arranged to meet at Club DL.
Brandon Jacobs was no longer the frivolous playboy he once was. Although he was still sitting in a place of hedonistic pleasure, he was much calmer and more taciturn.
Wyatt Wynn asked what he’d been busy with, and he said he’d gotten sick of being at the club every day and went out for a change of scenery.
Wyatt Wynn, who didn’t know about his situation with Elsa, jabbed at him sarcastically.
"What made you suddenly decide to grace us with your presence? Had your fill of fun out there?"
’It really wasn’t because of that.’
Brandon Jacobs’s family was in politics. Ironically, he had gone into the entertainment business purely as an act of rebellion against them.
Since his family was in politics, his father had always been staid and serious, holding him to incredibly high standards. His mother also acted with constant caution. The family atmosphere was so oppressive that he grew to despise it.
So later, in college, when his father told him he had arranged for him to enter politics as well, he was fiercely resistant.
His father disregarded his opinion and arranged a position for him right after he graduated from college. Unwilling to live a lifetime of being cautious and duplicitous in that kind of environment, he, in a fit of anger, borrowed some startup capital from Damien Vaughn and founded Club DL.
And even though his business had been booming over the years, his parents always looked down on it, wanting him to return to what they considered the proper path.