Tʜᴇ Mᴀғɪᴀ Aɴᴅ Hᴇʀ Bᴏᴅʏɢᴜᴀʀᴅ (ɢxɢ) ᴀɴɢɪᴇ_ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Chapter 3

"I'm okay." Parker finally responded, closing his eyes as a tear rolled down his cheek. Paris immediately embraced him in her arms, stroking his head.

"But..." Parker sobbed, "Uncle isn't."

Paris' eyes widened slightly at this. "Where is Uncle?" She asked as she slowly pulled away from the hug to stare at him.

"The rent people took him to the backyard to..." His voice trembled.

"What? To do what?" Paris shook his shoulders.

"To beat him up." Parker finally said in between sobs.

Paris didn't think twice and rushed to the backyard where she found her uncle being kicked by four men at the same time. "Uncle!" She came closer, but her steps stopped as one of the men got on her way. "Didn't we already cleared off all my debts? Why are y'all beating him like this? There must be some kind of misunderstanding here." She told them.

"Cleared all debts? I think you are the one at a lost here, young lady." The burly man in front of her said. "There wasn't any money delivered to us."

Paris' expression was filled with confusion as she stared at them and then at her Uncle. Her Uncle looked so miserable right now. His face was swollen and bleeding all over the places.

Another of them spoke, "Your Uncle invested that money in my club. But he must have forgotten that all the investments have risks. He still owes me about fifty thousand dollars more."

Paris couldn't believe what was just being told to her. This only meant that all that money that was taken from the watch was all invested into a club, and the house rent was still not even paid yet. Did her Uncle seriously fooled her like this? He took all that money for himself, and didn't even think of his family? This can't be happening.

'This has to be a lie. Please tell me this is not true, Uncle.' Paris thought to herself as she stared at her Uncle who couldn't even make eye contact with her from the shame.

The men were about to continue beating him up, but Paris interrupted them, saying, "Uncle, tell me the truth. They are lying, aren't they?" Her voice sounded both furious and pained, but her Uncle still didn't reply to her.

"Young lady, stop fooling yourself even more. Everyone knows already that your Uncle is a regular at my club. He lied to you about the money, and he was also cheated by his own friends." The man explained.

Paris' expression was dark underneath her bangs. She didn't even know how to feel towards her Uncle anymore. She couldn't believe that her Uncle's gambling addiction would become this bad to the point that he would betray his family like this.

Her brows furrowed, eyes becoming red as she gulped down both the tears and pain. "Fifty thousand, right? Give me one month, and I'll return it to you." She told the man.

The man inhaled his cigarette and then exhaled the smoke in Paris' face before answering. "Alright, but I won't give you a month. I'll give you just one day! If you don't have it by tomorrow night, your uncle will be dead meat!" He threw the cigarette on the ground, and stepped on it. "Let's go." Was the last thing he said before he left with his people, leaving Paris and her Uncle finally alone in the backyard.

"Paris, I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry." The Uncle finally spoke. He grabbed Paris' hand, hoping for her to understand him, but Paris pulled away immediately, and ignored him. He continued, "Paris, I didn't mean to do any of this. I swear. My friends really cheated. You have to believe me."

"Uncle, stop bullshitting." She turned her pained gaze to face him. "Are you done with your bullshit, Uncle?"

"Paris..." The Uncle was shocked by her cold reply. She had never spoken to him like that. "I'm your Uncle. Calm down and talk to me nicely, will you?"