Page 20 of Amaze

I didn’t bother to move, not that I could if I wanted to. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Maze mentioned thinking that I needed closure. Closure would be knowing that he could no longer haunt my family.

Father or not, he was better off dead if you asked me. Trying to take my son, for whatever reason, had been the final straw. I would do whatever it took to protect my son. He meant everything to me. Amaze had already proven the lengths that he would go to for our son. I felt no different. That didn’t make things any easier on me.

As evil as he was, Zachariah was still my father. Some part of me still cared about him. Although he didn’t deserve it, there were still some remnants of love for him deep down inside me. I winced when they popped the trunk. The car started to rock as Amaze and AJ pulled my dad out.

With as much noise as he made while he was in the trunk, I was surprised to see that he was still hog-tied as they carried him into the building. He was putting up as much of a fight as he could but between those big strong jokers and the rope securing his hands and feet, there was no use.

After a quick debate, I took the keys out of the cupholder and stuffed them in my pocket before getting out of the car and following the men inside. Maybe there were some things I needed to get off my chest.

Zachariah had caused me a lifetime of pain. He had let me suffer at the hands of a man he knew didn’t mean me any good and kept me hidden from the man I truly loved, and for what? Just to maintain control of the situation.

I would never forgive him for the things that I had gone through due to his manipulation. I lingered by the door whileMaze and his brother positioned my dad in a chair. AJ went through the motions of zip-tying his legs to the chair.

Zachariah was livid, bucking like a wild animal in an attempt to free himself from the restraints, but there was no use. The car drying towel stuffed and strapped into his mouth was doing little to nothing to quiet his screams. It didn’t matter because once he was secured to the chair, Amaze yanked the gag down and stooped down so that they were eye to eye.

“You know how long I’ve been waiting to do this, old man?” he quizzed.

“Fuck you!” my father shouted right before he spit in Amaze’s face.

I didn’t even have the chance to blink before Amaze’s fist connected with Zachariah’s face. Over and over, he punched him until the chair toppled over.

“Sit this muthafucka back up!” Amaze demanded.

Blood streamed from Zach’s mouth and a cut over his eye. He spit again, causing blood to spatter on the floor. Amaze’s chest heaved as he stood there watching my dad. Placing his hands on his hips, he began to pace back and forth.

“Fifteen fucking years. You stole fifteen years of my life, fifteen years that I could have been spending loving your daughter and raising our son. You robbed me of fifteen happy years. Instead, I spent my life hunting down my wife’s killer, only to find that she wasn’t dead. No, she was very much alive and married to the man you hired to kill me. Were you surprised to find out I had tracked them down?”

“It took you fifteen fucking years to find her, and you wonder why I knew you weren’t competent to be her husband. You were raised by that imbecile Amar Johnson. You would never be good enough for my daughter. I had plans for her. She was to marry into wealth and influence. Not some college student running from his own destiny. You are a coward!”

Whap!

This time, Amaze knocked him over with one blow. When the chair crashed onto the floor, Amaze kicked Zachariah in the stomach. The second kick was to his face. As he kicked and stomped him, I started to consider that he might beat him to death before I made a decision about if I wanted to talk to him or what I would even say.

“Wait!” I called. Amaze seemed to be in a daze as he continued to stomp Zachariah in his stomach and ribs. I knew this was my last chance to hear the truth, so I ran over to Amaze and grabbed his arm. “Amaze, wait.”

Amaze’s chest heaved wildly as he turned to me with glazed over eyes. It took a couple of seconds for him to come back to me, but eventually his eyes focused on me.

“What are you doing, Wes?”

“I just… Let me talk to him.”

Swiping his hand over his face, Maze looked down at my dad as he took a few steps back to give me what I asked for.

“Dad?” My voice shook as I tried to gather my thoughts. After all these years, my dad still terrified me. Even lying on the floor in the fetal position, he triggered something in me that I couldn’t explain with any other word than fear.

“This is all your fault. You did this. You ungrateful little bitch!” He snarled through bloody teeth.

“That’s all you have to say to me after all this time?”

“What the hell do you want me to say? You know how much money you cost me with that stunt you pulled? All the grooming and training just to make you suitable enough for the best match, and you run off with pure garbage. You knew that boy was the enemy. You knew I was making arrangements to select a husband for you, but you chose to defy me. You cost me millions, you ungrateful whore.”

“That’s enough!” Amaze barked, moving to stand beside me.

“No.” I shook my head and held up my hand.

“I’m not letting him talk to you like that, Wes. Fuck him. You’re not going to get what you’re looking for from this half dead muthafucka.”

After spitting a wad of blood on the floor, Zachariah snapped. “Johnson, you are a joke! You try to pretend to be so noble because you walked away from a multimillion-dollar operation to be a fucking teacher. You think you are better than Amar, but in reality, you are just a joke.”

---