RED NOTES AND KISSES-Chapter 90: FRIDA -

Her body hung limp over his shoulder as he took slow gentle strides through the dark hallway of the grand house.

Paintings adorned the walls, and from her blurry vision, their eyes followed her.

She took deep, suffocating breaths as tears streamed down her face.

He entered a dark room and loosened the chains wrapped around a hole in the floor. It revealed a basement, pitch dark, with only a dim candle showing the way.

He took gentle, calculated strides down the stairs, his torchlight the only light.

Her consciousness wavered in and out.

Then suddenly, the place was dimly lit, and she saw something horrible.

Their names were etched into the chains, a cruel mark of ownership. Soon, hers would be too.

They were all her age or younger, bound in chains, emaciated, marasmic, bruised.

They all looked starved and heavily scarred. She shivered in fear. "Get out of the way, you stupid rats!" he snapped, kicking at Jeff, Sniper, and Ego. They stumbled back, glaring but staying silent.

As their eyes followed her, six of them...

Now he took out his keys and opened the door to the darkest room of all.

Lit in red glowing lights, on a flat surface, she saw him, red glaring strikes on his bare back, folded into himself, hands and legs bound in chains.

She was horrified and paralyzed in fear as the man tossed her body onto the cold ground. She fought not to make a single sound and played dead.

Her breathing slowed, and she folded into herself with fear.

Through her lashes, on a table, she saw tools, strange objects, all laid out. She was sorely afraid of what he had used them for and what he would use them to do.

In the room, there were many seats...

And two dominant seats in front.

She soon realized that the place was arranged in a sort of theater, and he was the entertainment on the stage.

Her heart pounded as he took careful steps toward her. "Will we train this one and sell it off?"

"Should be worth a lot." He chuckled darkly, and she heard a female voice groan.

"No! No! No! This is too risky! Okay, it’s okay to use him because no one will notice, but she???? Our neighbors will notice, and this shit will blow up, and we’ll go to jail..." She lit a cigarette. "Mind you, ###," she said his name.

But she couldn’t remember it. "I didn’t fight to marry into old money wealth to end up in jail without a penny. I didn’t kill his wife, impersonate her, steal her child, just so I’ll end up without a dime, do you understand?" she growled.

"One billion dollars. That’s how much I plan to drain from this fucker, and this trafficking shit won’t get in my way," she hissed. Then a loud slap followed.

The man grabbed her by the hair. "This shit is what paid for your plastic surgery, you ungrateful yapping cunt," he snarled, turning her over, bending her over the table. Frida shut her eyes and counted to two thousand in silent whispers.

After five minutes, their sounds halted, and they spoke again. "What are you going to do with her?"

"Train her, of course. She can either be a tool or a doll..." he chuckled darkly.

"You’re going to fuck her up mentally like you did me?" Laz’s mother whispered, and the man laughed evilly.

"Oh no... much worse," he said.

And indeed, it was much worse.

Because when she woke up it wasn’t a nightmare...

In a few months everything was different...

The Classroom was a place where they were trained to carry out his dirty work.

They worked with their hands bound in chains.

They solved equations 24/7 until their noses bled.

They calculated until their fingers bruised.

They read until their eyes ached and even blinking hurt.

They starved.

They were beaten.

They were tortured.

Among those who came out on top this year were Laz, Frida, Jeff, and Sniper.

Their first task after leaving the classroom awaited them.

They stood outside the museum, observing.

At least five schools had brought kids here to learn something new.

Blending in with their target’s uniform, they donned powder-blue shirts and dark bottoms. They looked the part.

The young, innocent teacher led her students to the next artifact on display.

"Two guys at the door," Jeff murmured.

"Two at the back," Sniper added.

Laz’s eyes scanned the area as he casually licked the lollipop in his mouth.

The perfect distraction.

"Aww, he’s so adorable," a woman gushed as she passed by with her husband.

He glared at the back of her head, irritated.

"Hi, I’m Amy," a girl with short curly hair and a loose tooth greeted him shyly.

He looked at her like she was a fossilized dinosaur skeleton, and she nervously walked away.

"Isn’t he cute?" someone else whispered, further annoying him. He moved closer to Frida, who immediately shifted.

"Can you move? You’re distracting me," she groaned, keeping her focus on observing the area as students giggled and laughed around them.

"What, you don’t think I’m cute?" Laz asked, flashing a smile, or something close to it. free𝑤ebnovel.com

She arched a brow. "Did you hit your head, or do I look like one of those girls giving you stupid letters?"

He flushed at her accusation. "Do not!"

Just then, a girl approached with a card in her hands. "Um...um, I-I really like you," she stammered.

Frida rolled her eyes as Laz shot the girl a look. The girl swallowed nervously and walked away with her letter.

"I don’t know what they see in you. You’re scary," Frida muttered.

Leaning toward her, Laz smirked. "You think I’m scary?"

She leaned back. "What?"

"Don’t girls find that cute?"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "What twelve-year-old is this cocky?"

"This one," he said, smirking as he pinched her cheek.

"They’re on the move," Sniper informed them.

Instantly switching to business mode, they followed their targets in a single file and boarded the bus.

The bus was filled with the chatter of laughing kids and their teacher.

"Remind us again why you brought her on the mission?" Jeff glared at Laz as they settled into the back of the bus.

Laz shrugged, looking out the window. "Why not?"

Sniper pulled a cig*r from his pocket. Laz’s glare snapped toward him. "You’re not old enough for that."

Sniper ignored him, slipping the c*gar between his lips. Laz repeated firmly, "Don’t."

When Sniper didn’t listen, Frida kicked him hard in the jaw. He bit his tongue, swallowing a scream as the cig*r fell to the floor. Laz picked it up and tossed it out the window.

"Laz, if she messes up the mission, it’s on you," Jeff muttered.

Ego, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke. "Can we just focus on the mission? Time’s running out."

Tim nodded. "I’ll distract the teacher. Who’s going in front?"

Without hesitation, Frida moved. She approached the bus driver.

"Hey, sir, can you stop outside of town?" she asked.

The old, grumpy man grunted and glared at her. "Get the hell back in your seat, kid, before I—"

His words died in his throat when he felt the cold metal of a g*n press against his waist, concealed under a cute pink wrapper.

That was no toy.

"Drive," she commanded.

Sweating, the man did as he was told, driving past the school.

"Um, driver, sir, I think you’re going—" the teacher began, but her words were cut off as Jeff knocked her out cold.

The kids were too busy laughing and playing with Sniper to notice.

Frida’s gaze met Laz’s.

He nodded and made the call.

"Yes, boss. We’re bringing the goods."

They moved cautiously through the abandoned road when Frida did something Laz didn’t expect.

She raised her gun and fired at the driver’s wheel.

The bus swerved violently, skidding out of control.

"Frida! What are you doing?" Laz shouted, rushing to her. He stepped in front of her gun, blocking her aim.

"I’m getting us out of here," she whispered, her hands trembling. "Away from this nightmare, Laz. Come with me."

"Damn it, I knew she was going to ruin this!" Jeff spat from the back.

"Get her under control, Laz! I thought, she was locked down!" Sniper snapped angrily.

"How irritating," Ego muttered, wincing at the chaos.

Laz turned to them with a cold glare. "Don’t yell at my girl," he ordered darkly, silencing them all.

Turning back to Frida, he softened his tone. "Frida, I know you want to get out of here. I do too," he said, gently taking her trembling hand. "But... if we leave now, what will happen to these kids? Do you really want them to end up like us?"

She screamed, "No! No! No! No!"

Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed, her voice breaking. "I don’t want to go back there!"

Her words came out in desperate bursts. "I’m hurting everywhere! My body’s battered!"

She held her trembling hands out as if to show proof. "I have marks everywhere, Laz... bruises... I can’t! I just can’t do this anymore!"

Her voice cracked as she choked on her sobs. "I just want out! I can’t... I can’t... I can’t!"

Her cries echoed around them, raw and filled with unbearable pain."I’m hurting, and it won’t stop! I’m battered in places I’m too ashamed to even mention!" she cried, her voice trembling with anguish. "I can’t go back there—I just can’t! Don’t you understand?"

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence. The children on the bus, wide-eyed and trembling, watched as she sobbed uncontrollably, her body shaking with the weight of her pain.

They were frightened, frightened of her, frightened of the raw, unfiltered anguish that poured out of her. Flashes of the horrors she had endured played out in her mind, vivid and unrelenting, pulling her further into despair.

And then he hugged her.

Her body crumpled into his embrace, breaking under the pressure of her torment. He held her tightly, his arms a shield against the world.

"It’s my fault..." he whispered, his voice thick with guilt.

"No... it’s mine," she sobbed, her words tumbling out between gasps. "I came to save you... I thought I could save you, but I... I couldn’t..."

"You’re just a kid," he murmured, his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face. "It’s not your fault..."

He held her tighter, as though he could piece her shattered soul back together.

"We’ll get out of here," he promised, his voice steady despite the tears. "I swear it. We’ll make it out of this. Together."

Her eyes filled with tears as the weight of his words sank in. She lowered the gun, her shoulders sagging as silent sobs racked her frame.

When they finally arrived at the drop site, he was there waiting for them, his expression twisted with fury.

"You’re three hours late!" Laz’s mother’s boyfriend snarled, his lips curving into a dangerous smile.

As the group stepped off the bus, his voice dropped to a venomous sneer. "Someone is going to be punished for that."

Their hands intertwined, a silent promise that no matter the pain ahead, they would face it together.