Under the Spotlight : The Obsession

"I'm surprised you finally wanted to bring your son to see me, Ruby. He is indeed a very handsome child. His face resembles Clark."

David commented casually as his eyes stared at Enzo, who looked disturbed by his behavior. The adult man chuckled before his hand roughly pulled the face of the woman near him to stroke gently afterward.

"So, you came here just to show him off? I don't mind looking after him if you want. Here, I can teach him many things you two may have never taught him."

"Where is your child, David?"

David's smile suddenly faded when Ruby said something out of the topic. His caress on the cheek of the woman next to him stopped immediately. David's gaze sharpened for a moment before his expression returned to a calm face that seemed shiftless to hear the nonsense his younger sibling was spouting.

"What child are you talking about, Ruby?" David asked, pretending to be stupid. Ruby's face looked like she was holding back her anger after that. Ruby stared coldly at David, which was returned with an indifferent gaze by her older sibling.

"Don't act stupid, David. I kept quiet when you kidnapped a woman at that time. I was still quiet when you bought many women to be your servants. But don't ever think that I will stay quiet if you start involving a child in your madness. Your child doesn't deserve your treatment of him! He's your child! How could you hide his existence from me all this time? Would you still lock him up in that horrible place if I never knew where the child was, David?"

BAM!

"You dare to spy on me all this time..."

The atmosphere turned tense when David suddenly hit the table in front of him very hard. His eyes began to stare at Ruby, full of warning. However, Ruby could not be easily affected by all that. She stood her ground when her firm voice was heard again.

"Give me the child and calmly enter the mental hospital, David. You need treatment. Let me help you or-"

"Or what?" David asked deliberately. Ruby stared at her brother for a long time before the woman finally made up her mind.

"Or I will be forced to destroy your power with my hands, David. I will drag you myself to undergo treatment. You're my only family member right now. Saving you from this madness is the last mercy I can give as a younger sibling."

"Mercy, you say?"

The atmosphere became increasingly tense when David finally got up from his sitting position. The women near him finally got up while taking out their respective pistols. Ruby and her family were surrounded until Ruby's husband was forced to send a signal to his subordinates, who had been preparing around David's house all this time.

Before the two of them had time to start the confrontation, the lights in the house suddenly went out, and the noisy sounds of people fighting filled the dark room. Enzo also killed several people who tried to approach him. Enzo knew that this had been part of his mother's plan.

The lights came back on when the room was quiet again. Enzo looked at the sea of ​​blood in front of him with a casual gaze. There was her uncle lying motionless on the floor and her mother sitting on top of the man's body with a gun held in one of her hands.

They seemed to have wrestled in a room without light before. Ruby also did not escape some injuries. Her breath was short as she finally moved away from her brother's body when her husband's men managed to put handcuffs on both of the man's arms.

"You chose this path yourself, David. I have to save that child and free you from the past that I can no longer fix. Forgive me. We can meet again after you are willing to reflect on your sins."

Ruby spoke softly as her eyes followed David, who was taken away by several of her trusted men. After her brother's body was no longer visible, her eyes only noticed the surrounding environment, which was in ruins, with several bodies lying covered in blood in several parts of the house.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked her son and husband. Both of them nodded, making Ruby breathe a sigh of relief.

"You guys, clean this all up," Ruby ordered some of her subordinates. "Yes, Madam!" they answered in unison. Ruby chose to go inside the house instead. Enzo followed her steps, followed by Ruby's husband when a man from David's group suddenly appeared after hiding in the second-floor room of the house.

"Boss, the child is in the basement."

Hearing from the way she spoke, Enzo finally knew that the beautiful woman who had just come out was one of her mother's subordinates. They were taken into the stuffy basement, where there was an iron door at the end of the poorly lit hallway.

CLACK!

"Oh my!"

Ruby had often heard that her brother's child was in a pitiful condition. However, the figure she saw far exceeded the word pitiful.

The figure of the little girl she was looking for was curled up in the corner of the room, staring at them in fear with a slightly trembling body. Her skin looked dark because she was covered by dirt. The little girl was only wearing torn clothes. The girl's body was thin, with several wounds on her body. There were also wet wounds that tore her skin from the ankles to the knees.

Their family was indeed famous for being cruel in the underworld. However, children are still off-limits. Ruby's blood boiled with anger when she remembered that the one who committed that heinous crime against an innocent child was none other than her brother.

"Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you."

Everyone there was shocked when they saw Enzo, who never cared about others, was the first to reach out his hand to the child. Enzo seemed enchanted when he saw the round, innocent eyes peeking at him in fear from between the child's long, messy hair. Enzo was initially silent. But without realizing it, his hand began to reach out to touch the child before his mother could say anything.

For the first time, the little girl looked scared and curled her body even more against the cold wall behind her. But when Enzo continued to move forward to stroke the girl's hair gently, the thin girl finally looked up to look at Enzo's rare soft expression. With trembling hands, the girl finally tried to touch Enzo's hand, which continued to reach out to her. Her innocent eyes sparkled slightly when the girl saw Enzo smile at her. 

"My..."

Ruby, who rarely cried, almost shed tears when the thin girl finally showed her innocent smile. The little girl mumbled incoherently, her hoarse voice as if trying to tell Enzo that she already liked Enzo at their first meeting.

"Hello, Sweetie..."

The child's happy face was immediately replaced with fear when Ruby tried to talk to her. Ruby glanced at her child, trying to tell Enzo that they had to treat the wound on the child's thin leg.

Receiving his mother's signal, Enzo nodded before stroking the child's hair once more. Enzo smiled as he crouched down to speak to the child.

"Will you come with us first? We need to treat the wound on your leg. Forget everything that happened here. You will be with us from now on. I promise you will be happy once you get out of this place," Enzo said as he picked up the child, who immediately clung to the teenager's arms.

Both Ruby and her husband promised from then on that they would protect the poor child from all harm and sadness from then on.