Chapter Two-Hundred and Eighty-Four
John squared his shoulders, preparing for the fight. Leon had put him against six big bruisers, each one bigger than the last. He was battered, bruised, and bloody, his foot hurt like hell, and he was pretty sure he'd torn a ligament in his knee.
He looked up at his opponent, able to see that this guy had to be a champion. He'd gone up against enough of these giants to know that they were trouble. He'd discovered that they all seemed to rely on their size and weight more so than their strength. Sure, they were big and hard to take down, but they were clumsy on their feet.
Leon grinned, there was no way in hell this kid could beat Chet. The champion would be even more vicious tonight, with the offer of a shortened sentence he wouldn't lose this. "Kid's minced meat." His joy was short lived though.
While Leon was thinking about the profit he would make, John had been sizing Chet up —looking for the tell. He favored his right shoulder, an old wound but one that still caused discomfort. John stayed on his right side, going straight for the liver and sweeping his legs under the brute and going for a head lock. The whole fight was over before Leon could take a breath.
"That little bastard…" Leon growled, grabbing John by the collar and dragging him back to his cell.
He shoved a paper and pen into John's hands. "You're going to write a suicide note. Otherwise, I'm going after your family."
"Hell no! I won't hurt them like that!"
Leon pulled a lighter out of his pocket, grabbing John's arm and rolling the sleeve up. "Do it, or you won't have any skin left and all they'll find is your bones."
John pulled his arm back picking up the pen and starting on the note. "Fine, but just know that Thomas and Clarissa will come after you with everything they have."
Leon left John to his work, walking into the bathroom after he'd grabbed a length of rope. He tied the rope into a noose, looping the other end over the beams and setting a chair underneath it.
John worked furiously at the note, writing as much as he could before he slipped the code word into it. A word that they'd chosen to tell the family that who ever had written it had been forced into something 'Breakfast.'
Leon appeared a moment later, grabbing John by the shirt and hauling him into the bathroom and slipping the noose around his neck. "Any last words?" He asked, showing the teen one last form of compassion before his life was take.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." His head snapped up as the door burst open, joy flooding his heart as he laid eyes on Clarissa, Sara, Thomas, and Asher. "Mo-" He choked as the chair was kicked out from under him, his neck popping as his weight was transferred from his feet to his neck in a matter of seconds.