Chapter 39: Rauf Vs Samir

The room smelled like alcohol and smoke, making Rauf shift on his seat as he lifted a glass of alcohol to his lips, throwing all its content into his mouth at once.

The sharp sting of it burned his throat, but it was exactly the way he liked it.

Samir stood in front of him, his hands folded across his chest like a student waiting for his punishment.

Rauf lifted another glass as if it was autopilot and tossed it in his mouth again. He scrunched up his face from the sting and threw the glass unceremoniously on the floor.

It flew a few feet to where Samir was standing, narrowly missing his feet.

The noise around them swallowed the sound of the glass shattering on the floor. To Rauf, it felt identical to the state of his heart. His hand seemed to be bleeding from gripping the glass too tightly. But he could barely feel the pain.

And oddly, he felt right at home. Though he was in a bar, far away from Kansas but in a bar with the finest collection of wine. And with people having the same fun, who couldn’t be bothered by what was happening in front of them.

Henson stood behind Rauf as if sitting was forbidden to him.

It was Samir who broke the silence. "Why did you bring me over here?" His voice held a sort of confidence it had never had in Rauf’s presence.

Rauf narrowed his brow at him. He had been busy searching for his wife by himself that he hadn’t paid attention to the man before.

But today, he was feeling more annoyed. He had thought once Junox was involved he was going to get his response in a few days.

But Junox had been unusually quiet. He needed something to blow off the steam of anticipation. It was Henson that had recommended this as one of the finest bars in the state. And it belonged to Junox.

On getting to the bar, he saw Samir screaming at a man at the bar.

He couldn’t care less about the man, but he remembered Samir owed him for signing a deal with Serena without his consent. He beckoned to Henson to bring the man along, and he did.

When Samir saw that Rauf didn’t answer him, he squared his shoulders. "If you have nothing to say. I’ll take my leave."

He turned to leave, and now another glass fell beside him. This time, a tiny piece stuck in his foot, dragging out blood.

Samir hissed in pain, turning to glare at Rauf.

The other didn’t flinch from the chair he sat there with no expression on his face.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Samir asked, disbelief evident in his tone.

Finally Rauf spoke. "Don’t you deserve to die?"

His voice cold and made Samir alert at once. Who knows what the psychopath could do.

"I am your father-in-law. How could you ever think of killing me?"

Rauf tilted his head. He was used to Samir pretending to be innocent, so his little act had no effect on him.

Instead, he looked him up and down. "Pay me up."

Samir felt his knee go wobbly. He couldn’t possibly pay all of Rauf’s debt at once, unless he was trying to go bankrupt again. "That wasn’t the deal we had, Rauf. You promised to forgo my debts if you got married to my daughter. And you did."

But Rauf clicked his tongue as if something interesting just happened. "Oh. I can see you remember every little part of our agreement, right?"

Samir nodded his head, eagerly.

"Then what about the part about you not accepting a deal without my consent. You forgot that’s a breach of the agreement we had."

Samir shifted backwards. He thought Rauf had forgotten about that, since he never bothered to call him on it ever since he signed the deal with Serena.

"Ehn..." He looked around. The people around were dancing, drinking, and having fun. No one knew what was happening here. His forehead broke into a sweat pand he wiped it off his forehead. "I’m sorry, Rauf. But I needed some money to pay off some of my debts."

Rauf nodded as if he understood Samir perfectly. "Yeah. I’m no longer angry. At least, you would have made some profit from the deal. Drug licensing comes with a lot of profit. I know that was why you’re eager for the deal. You should be able to pay me back now."

Samir sighed, then without shame, he dropped to his knees. He didn’t care if people were staring at him at this point. He knew what Rauf could do and getting on his knee was the better option.

"Please, Rauf. I promised to get some of your money ready soon. Can you let me go for now?"

Rauf leaned back, his eyes full of disgust for the man kneeling before him. Whatever he was doing, it was just a preamble to what he was still going to do to him.

"Well, if you want me to give you more time, call your daughter."

Samir’s eyes lit up with hope. He couldn’t believe Rauf would just let him go with one phone call. He must have truly fallen for his daughter, just as people had rumored.

Immediately, he picked up his phone and started dialing Amie’s number. He waited for her to pick up while avoiding the intensity of Rauf’s gaze.

"Hello, father." Amie’s voice filled the phone, and relief washed over Samir.

"Hello dear. Your husband wants to talk to you."

"Really, father." Her voice sounded excited. "I’ve been wanting to talk to him too, but first, I have something important to discuss with you, Father."

Samir frowned. "We can discuss later. Let me give him the phone."

Before she could protest, he thrust the phone toward Rauf.

Rauf collected it with ease.

The caller id was, ’Best daughter.’

He placed the phone in his ear. "Hello, husband." Amie said with enthusiasm.

But the next thing that happened wasn’t what Samir was expecting.

Rauf removed the phone from his ear and threw it on the floor without hesitation. The phone bounced on the floor, its part separated from each other as it remained useless.

"I asked you to call your daughter."

Panic filled Samir’s voice. "That was my daughter."

"Is that the only daughter you have?" Rauf asked, the anger finding its way back to his being. "Why didn’t you ask me which of your daughters and just concluded that you should call that one?"

Samir stared at him in disbelief. "I thought it was her because she’s your wife, and you might have missed her a lot since she’s been staying at the Vassari’s mansion."

Rauf snorted. "Why would I need you to call my wife for me when I have her number?" He said as if it was obvious.

"Then who...?" Samir blinked

It couldn’t be.

Rauf didn’t say it with words as he leaned back on his chair. "Since you chose to abuse my act of kindness how about you pay up now."

This time, Samir started fidgeting. He crawled to pick up the pieces of his phone. "I’ll call her. Don’t worry, Rauf."

But he knew it was all a false hope, he had been trying the little bastard’s number, but it had not been available.

He had no idea where she was and he didn’t care.

Goodbye and good riddance. He would have celebrated it if she turned up dead. But now, he had to grovel on his knee because of her.

Rauf watched his pathetic attempt to put the phone together and make a call.

He lifted his hand towards Henson.

"Knife."

Immediately, Henson opened his suit and dragged out a small pocket knife.

The sweat was now dripping down Samir’s face.

With a voice lacking expression, Rauf said. "Finger."

Samir immediately placed his finger behind him. "I’m sorry, Rauf. I promise to pay part of it soon."

Rauf waited diligently for him. "How do you intend to pay me?"

Suddenly an idea filled Samir’s brain. "I know I have no money and my deals are yet to start bringing in profit, but my daughter has money." He said shamelessly.

Rauf watched him. He wasn’t surprised. He had sold his daughter off to him to save himself and now he was doing it again.

"The same daughter you just called."

Samir nodded. "She’s the daughter of the Mafia Queen. I’m sure Serena wouldn’t want to be watching her daughter suffering. If she asks her for some change, she would give it to her."

Rauf tightened his fist.

He was trying to use his connection to Serena again.

Rauf knew the money Samir owed him would mean nothing to Serena. But he didn’t actually want the man to pay it off, he wanted to torture him slowly like this occasionally.

He was sure whenever Samir was in pain like this, his father must be at ease wherever he was.

But he couldn’t stop him from trying. "Fine. As long as you bring my money."