Selfless Love

An Impossible Choice

"NOT ABLE?!" the man roared. "They refused because they have been stealing donations and lining their pockets! They don't have the money to help others because they are keeping it for themselves!"

"Have you brought this up with-"

"Of course I did but they were paid off to keep silent!" The man was nearly spitting due to the intensity of his rage. "This corruption and treachery runs deeper than either of us can fathom. And because of that, because you have been so blissfully unaware of what is happening to the people right in front of you, my child is dead."

Victoria let out a sharp screech as the large man pinning her down yanked her hair when she squirmed in his grasp. Andrew tried to protest but was struck across the face and Maxi cried out in worry. Seeing her brother hurt enraged Victoria and she began to scream and kick with all her might. The child's captor quickly gagged her to shut her up and avoid drawing unwanted attention.

"I understand that you are rightfully furious with the system that failed you," Maxi said as gently as she could behind her seething rage. "And again, I am terribly sorry for your loss but my children are not to blame for this atrocity."

"Please let us go and we will go straight to my husband and will address this immediately." her voice became more desperate as each word tumbled from her lips. "While we will never be able to ever amend the pain you have suffered, and continue to suffer, help me ensure that she will be the last child who is lost due to such malicious greedious actions. I cannot help make that happen if you don't let us go."

"I have nothing left," the man muttered so quietly Maxi had to strain to hear him. His voice sounded hollow and far away as though he were lost in his thoughts. "She was all I had left and now she's gone. I don't want to make things better, all I want now is to see you suffer the way I have."

"But it's not the fault of my children!" Maxi begged, "They are innocent. Please let them go!"

"My child didn't get a second chance when she was failed by the cruelty of this world," he bellowed. "Why should your children be any different!?"

"And before you threaten me claiming your brute of a husband will tear me limb from limb for laying a hand on your little angels," he sneered. "I'm afraid the knights are a bit busy at the moment. The strangest occurrences are happening in the market as we speak. As soon as they end a fight between vendors, another quickly breaks out, how convenient."

Maxi tensed. Her mind raced, the fights in the market, even releasing the rabbit, had been a part of their plan to separate her family and keep them that way. He had her restrained and her children in his clutches. It would take nothing short of a miracle to escape this ordeal unscathed. Her eyes watered at the sight of her children still pinned down before her, unable to help them.

"Don't look so distraught my Lady," the man cooed mockingly as he briefly removed the dagger from her throat to point towards her children. Maxi caught a brief glimpse of the man's face, though she wished she hadn't. His eyes looked hollow, empty and cold. A madman was holding her captive. There would be no reasoning, no bargaining, no hope. "After all you have more than two choices."

"What?" Maxi asked blankly, not comprehending his words.

He tightened his already painful grip on her shoulders as he pivoted her body to the left, towards Andrew. The boy, despite the danger, tried to put on a brave face for his mother and sister. But his eyes, his eyes showed just how terrified he truly was, nearly watering at the thought of never seeing his family again.

"Your son," the vile man sneered.

The man shifted Maxi in his grasp again, now facing little Victoria who continued to cry through her gag. She continuously wiggled in the arms of her captor, trying desperately to get away. Her child's tear stained cheeks tore painfully at Maximilian's heart.

"Your daughter," her captor spat annoyed at how much of a handful the girl had been.

"Or," the man began as he lowered his hand. Maxi gasped so harshly as she realized what came next that her breath caught in her throat causing her to cough harshly. The heartless man that held her now pointed his cold dagger at her large baby bump. He didn't need to explain the third part of her choice. Carve out the life growing inside of her, probably killing her in the process. Leaving her children and her husband alone to mourn.

She released a shaky breath as she suddenly felt dizzy, almost faint from the stress of their dire circumstances.

"We are also running out of time, Maximilian," the man threatened with a sickening joy in his tone. "Your wretched husband and his men will be here soon in a failed attempt to save you."

The man suddenly tightened his grip on her, his crusty fingernails digging into the small bit of exposed skin just above the neckline of her dress. Maxi didn't flinch or even react to the pain, she was numb from what this horrid man was making her do.

"If you don't choose soon," he warned darkly, "we'll simply kill you and your children and leave your bodies to be found long after we've vanished from the alley."

Her captor released a psychotic and gleeful laugh.

"How much would it break him to lose all four of you in the same day all because you couldn't make a choice," he said coldly with a wild unhinged grin on his face.

Maxi writhed in his arms, eyes shut tight trying to wake herself from this hellish nightmare. This couldn't be happening. She thought of Riftan and how broken he had been when they had reunited after her years of study at the World Tower, how cold and shut off he was. She never doubted her husband's almost inhuman strength of will but even she doubted that he would survive losing his entire family.

The faint clanking of heavy armor could be heard in the distance. The Remdragon Knights were close, but not close enough. Maxi choked out a  sobbed at the thought of the soul shattering devastation on her husband's face when he arrived too late. 

"Time's up."

TO BE CONTINUED...

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thoughts? Suggestions? What happens next??