Everyone reacts to his words.
Beverly is holding Melissa tightly, both of them crying while Senator Hughes’s father is on his ass on the ground, glaring at Emmett with a mix of anger, fear, and shock.
“I would’ve remained cordial had you demonstrated some basic human decency and restraint, Senator, but then again, somewhere along the years of you being a rabid dog for myuncles, you inflated your own ability and ego, which is why tonight you dared to lay a finger onher.”
A chill unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before rushes through my body due to the soft tone in Emmett’s icy voice.
“Now, you know I can’t stand for that nonsense,” he says almost softly, taking a step toward Senator Hughes, who immediately shrinks away, with potent fear in his eyes.
“S-stop! You can’t get away with this!” Senator Hughes’s father cries.
“Let’s find out, shall we?”
Like a command was just issued to the dark forces, a group of silently ruthless men appear and lift Senator Hughes’s bleeding body.
A chain is brought in quickly and then tossed up in the air.
Like a weightless, meaningless thing, Senator Hughes’s body is hung up easily by his bleeding wrists with a strangely secure binding that makes me realize Emmett’s men are skilled beyond measure when it comes to torture if they can hang up a man who no longer has hands.
I look up and notice the several pipes running the length of the ceiling with hooks on them. Now from one of those hooks is a bloody, mutilated man barely conscious, dangling from the chain.
“Y-you can’t do this!” Emilio suddenly shouts.
Emmett’s gaze lands on Emilio, who is bristling with rage and shock. “Uncle, please wait your turn. I’ll get to you soon.”
“Y-you!” Emilio stutters angrily, pointing a finger at Emmett. “You don’t have the right!”
Emilio’s outburst only makes Emmett chuckle, then he turns to look at Vaughn.
“Do you agree with your so-called father?” Emmett’s gaze on Vaughn is considerably much colder, darker, and more sinister than ever.
“You lost!” Vaughn seethes. “You have no power or authority here!”
“Oh?” Emmett says, as if really perplexed. “Then the people who have the authorityshoulddo something about my impetuousness.”
Silence like a void space falls over the garden, even Senator Hughes’s muffled cries are now muted.
Vaughn angrily looks at his grandfather, as if expecting him to say something, but Grandpa Armando looks like he’s watching a Shakespearean play.
Emmett circles Senator Hughes’s body, then he finally stops in front of him.
“Senator, I have a few questions I wonder if you can enlighten me on,” Emmett questions quietly, like he’s talking about the weather. “Why did you stop her from telling the truth just now?”
Senator Hughes’s hand is removed from his mouth by one of the men.
His entire body is obviously weak, but the hatred and anger burning in his eyes is still there as he glares at Emmett.
“S-she’s my daughter!” he shouts. “I can discipline her however I want!”
“Your daughter?” Emmett says dramatically, as if stunned. “Is this true, Mrs. Hughes? Is your daughter this rotten pig’s child?”
Suddenly all eyes swing to my mother. She’s trembling and her lips are quivering.
“I-I…” my mother stutters, her eyes full of tears. “Please don’t do this.”
“Where are you going with this?” Vaughn suddenly steps in, his voice clear and loud. “Using cheap tricks just to stop my legitimate win is beneath you.”
“You’re talking to me about legitimacy?” Emmett says sardonically, then he glances at me.