Page 79 of Guarded By the Phantom

“After the video surfaced and your father agreed to Ernest’s demands, he sent the mind manipulator to fake the attack on you. However, he didn’t allow the information about it to surface until he was sure your father wouldn’t go back on his word. We tried to get it publicized, but Landizza is incredibly influential. He shot down all our attempts and made it clear any news coverage that came out would need his go ahead. Your father was impressed with the man’s power. They spent a lot of time talking. You came up.”

Her face soured in an accusatory look. “You know, Barbara, if you tried a bit harder to be the woman you’re supposed to be, you wouldn’t have attracted filth like the Landizzas and that horrible bodyguard of yours. Like calls to like, daughter. You should have known better, but it’s too late now.”

“I came up… how?” I asked, my voice so hoarse, it was barely a whisper.

She laughed nastily. “Well, Landizza mentioned his youngest son was interested in meeting you, but all his attempts at scheduling a meeting were shot down by your team, very rightly,of course. So Ernest added it to his list of demands. You will marry Adonis.”

I shook my head. This was outrageous, all of it, but the thing that hurt me the most was that both my parents had so obviously sacrificed me for their own ends.

“I don’t understand,” I shook my head. “Why didn’t you fight? Father is influential, too. He could have at least tried!”

“Oh, we tried,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I got you your bodyguard, didn’t I? We called in favors, offered Ernest other things… But the Landizzas have no class. They can’t negotiate like well-bred people. It was either their way or no way.”

I hid my face in my hands, trying to put it all together while my mother sighed, clicking away at the keyboard. So what happened was, Ernest Landizza sent the mind manipulator to record a video of me slamming my father. After he secured my father’s cooperation, he sent the manipulator again to attack me, and the viciousness of the attack was supposed to prove that our family were the victims of terrorists.

Though, it all depended on how it was spun in the media. Ernest Ladnizza owned most of the news stations that mattered and a bulk of online information centers, plus a popular social media platform. If he wanted a story told a certain way, he got it done.

Now I understood why the video went viral so fast. He did it on purpose to show my father his power.

And after they made me fall from the balcony, they left me alone, since Landizza secured my father’s help. The attack was publicized just before the gala, our good name cleared, and… And I was introduced to Adonis, who wanted to marry me—on a whim, most likely. He probably felt humiliated after he was rejected by my team.

“Okay,” I said, sitting up with a deep breath. “But this changes nothing. I still won’t marry him. I’m done living my life around my father’s career. Neither you nor him really care about me, so I will stop caring about you, too.”

“I thought you might say that, you little ingrate,” my mother said with a grim smile. “So take a look at this.”

I flinched when I saw the screen. It showed a paused video of an abomination man wearing jeans and a leather jacket, three human men holding chains surrounding him. It was shot from above, likely by someone recording from a second floor window.

“Is this… Phantom?” I asked, my throat convulsing.

He wore different clothes just this morning, but he could have changed. I had no idea when this was taken. I hadn’t seen him in over an hour, so it was possible this was him. The camera was too far away for me to see the abomination’s face properly.

My mother snorted with disdain, ignoring my question. She hit play.

The three men circled the abomination slowly, swinging their chains. He watched them, standing on bent knees, ready to move. They attacked together. He dodged one chain, rolled away from the other, and kicked one of the men. His movements were fast and sure, but the humans had the advantage of the chains, keeping their distance while they attacked. He seemed to have no weapons.

It’s not him. He always carries a grenade!I tried to convince myself as my heart beat faster and faster.

One of the attackers managed to get his chain around the abomination’s arm. Another got him from behind, winding his chain around the abomination’s neck, but that was fine. I knew that neck was armored. He wouldn’t suffocate.

And yet, those chains were enough to restrain him, just for a moment.

The third man had a gun. He brought it fast to the abomination’s eye and shot. I screamed.

The recording ended, and I turned to my mother, shaking. My knuckles were in my mouth, and I was breathing too fast, wheezing from fear and shock.

“Relax,” she said with a snort, unmoved by my distress. “It’s not your guy.”

I shook my head as bile rose in my throat. If I could have spoken without fear of vomiting, I would have told her she was sick. How was I supposed to relax? I just saw a real person murdered!

It was a monster snuff video, just like the ones Scarab told me about. I didn’t understand why my mother had it and why she showed it to me, until she spoke again.

“Those three men with chains are professional abomination hunters,” she said softly, almost with pity. “They are Russians, and it so happens, they are in the US currently. I hired them.”

“What?” I looked up, shock and nausea burning in my throat.

“Last night,” she said, a victorious smile spreading her lips when she saw how affected I was. “After I saw the footage of him taking advantage of you.”

God.I had to find Scarab right now and warn him. He might be lethal and hung with weapons, but if they were professionals, they could still hurt him. It was shocking how easily they had killed the abomination man in the video. If they got Scarab… If they shot him through the eye…

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