With that thought, Massimo shut down his computers, stretched lazily, and stepped out of the room. Before heading out to finish his task, he decided to stop by home. Things weren’t the same anymore-he wasn’t alone now. His wife was waiting for him.
When he arrived home, the lights were still on! Obviously, his wife was still awake, waiting for him. As he pushed open the door, his eyes immediately landed on her. She was sitting on the couch, her attention fixed on the television.
“Honey, you’re still up?” Massimo asked as he stepped in, his voice warm but tinged with concern. “I need to head out again tonight, but you should go to bed early. Don’t sit for too long-it’s not good for the baby.”
But the moment he finished speaking, something felt off.
“Honey? Are you okay?” he called out, his voice now tight with unease. His gaze sharpened as he noticed her sitting unnaturally still. Her eyes were locked on the television, completely unblinking, and she hadn’t uttered a word since he walked in. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t right.
Something’s wrong!
Massimo’s heart pounded as he dashed toward his wife. Just as he reached out, a deafening gunshot shattered the air.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. Blood erupted from her head, spraying across his face!
Massimo froze, rooted to the spot like a marionette whose strings had been violently cut. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. His wide, bloodshot eyes locked on the scene before him, and his body trembled as if it might collapse. His heart felt as though it was being ripped apart, the pain searing and unbearable.
Slowly, almost as if in a trance, he lifted a hand to touch the blood smeared across his face. But he felt nothing-no heat, no texture, no scent. The world around him faded into a suffocating void. Even the air seemed to disappear, leaving him gasping in silence.
A suffocating stillness consumed Massimo, creeping into every nerve and vein. He could taste it-raw, bitter. No, this wasn’t the flavor of death. It was far worse. It was despair. A frigid wave of hopelessness surged through him, wrapping around his body like icy chains.
Before him lay his wife, her bloodied, battered body. Her face was mangled beyond recognition, and half her skull had been torn apart by the bullet. But this woman wasn’t just his wife. She was his faith, his anchor, his reason for living. Without her, he would have ended his life three years ago when he heard the news of the Defender’s death.
She had saved him, not just from death but from himself. She had pulled him out of the hollow existence he had known, showing him there was more to life than the cold glow of computer screens. She had reminded him that he was human-alive, real, capable of more than just surviving. In his life, there were four people who mattered most: his parents, the Defender who had sharpened his talents to perfection, and his wife-the one now lying broken before him.
The cruelest blow of all was that she had been carrying his child. Six months along.
And now, with a single bullet, everything was gone. His wife. His child. His world.
“No! No! No!” Massimo’s screams tore through the air as tears poured from his eyes, cascading in unbroken streams down his face. His legs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. His body crumpled as though all strength, all will, had been ripped from him.
It was over. His world had shattered into irreparable pieces. Everything he had built his life around was gone!
“No! No!” he screamed again. His hands clawed at his head as he crumpled further, curling into himself on the cold, unforgiving ground.
Finally, he mustered every ounce of courage and stepped closer to his wife. But her face, once so full of life and lit with radiant smiles, was now forever still. Those rosy lips that used to call his name so sweetly, would never utter another word. His trembling hand reached out to touch her cold, lifeless body. It felt as if his entire world had collapsed. His chest felt like it had been torn open, the raw ache echoing through him as if his soul were being pulled apart thread by thread. He opened his mouth, but no sound escaped. Silent, relentless tears poured down his face. The grief seemed to hollow him out completely.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, he let out a groan, a groan of anguish and despair. It was a sound that could only come from a man utterly broken. Massimo collapsed, his tears streaming down and the drool spilling from his mouth. Any semblance of pride or composure was gone. Slowly, his hand moved to rest on her abdomen, where their unborn child lay. Their baby was already six months along, with just three more months left before arriving in this world, but now…
He had dreamed of holding his child, of a quiet life filled with small, simple joys. Those dreams had kept him going, but now, they lay shattered alongside everything else he held dear. Massimo crumpled, his body folding in on itself like a camel brought to its knees by a crushing, final burden.
At the peak of his despair, Massimo felt the chilling barrel of a gun pressed against his head! Numbly, he turned his tear-streaked face. Standing behind him was a man with a face marred by scars. The man’s eyes locked onto him with a predator’s intensity. The man wore a crisp suit, his short-cropped hair slicked back, and he held an AK rifle in his hands.
When their eyes met, the man’s voice was cold, cutting through the silence like a blade. “Massimo, someone wants you dead.”
Massimo wasn’t afraid of death. How could he be? His faith had crumbled to dust. His wife and his child were gone. With nothing left to lose, death was no longer something to fear. Glaring at the man through bloodshot eyes, he bellowed in a cracked voice, “Who are you?”
This man had killed his wife! Every ounce of Massimo’s remaining strength poured into that roar.
The man’s expression remained cold and sinister as he sneered, “Someone wants you dead. It doesn’t matter who I am. Even if you knew, it wouldn’t change a thing. After all, you’re about to die.”
From his words, it was clear this man was resolute in his decision to kill Massimo! He had come prepared. Long before Massimo arrived, he had already seized control of Massimo’s wife. He made Massimo sense something was wrong on purpose. It was a deliberate act of mockery and provocation!
The man was provoking Massimo as if telling him “Even if you understand what’s happening, you’re powerless to stop it.”
This was a blatant provocation!
As if he could read Massimo’s mind, the man’s lips curled into a dark grin. He spoke slowly, his tone dripping with malice. “That’s right. You’ve figured it out, haven’t you? From the moment you walked through that door, I had your wife in my grasp. I told her not to move. If she did, I’d shoot you on the spot. And your wife… she listened. She’s so obedient, so devoted to you. She didn’t say a word. Just sat there, still as a statue, pretending to watch TV on the sofa.”
“What I want is for you to realize something’s wrong all on your own, then rush to your wife! And just as you get to her side… BANG! I put a bullet right through her head.”
“How’s that? Isn’t it flawless?”
He’s insane! This guy is completely a psycho!
The man sneered as though he could see right through Massimo’s thoughts. His voice dripped with icy malice. “Don’t you dare call me crazy! Isn’t this exactly a reflection of your thoughts when you wield your hacker skills to toy with people online? Isn’t this the exact rush you’re chasing? You love that moment-when they sense something’s wrong, and then you hit them with utter despair. Don’t tell me you’ve never enjoyed that feeling. Maybe you’ve never tasted that hopelessness yourself, but others… they’ve felt it, over and over, because of you!”
Massimo’s head snapped up. He stared at the man before him, who had grown even more sinister. The man’s face contorted with cold malice and burning rage, which made him look scarier.
But the man was right. Massimo couldn’t deny it. This was his mindset. He enjoyed the intoxicating thrill of mastery and dominance. He enjoyed his success in hacking.
But he’d never gone this far, never pushed someone to such cruel extremes. Could this man be someone he’d humiliated before? Some tech support agent from a rival country who’d fallen victim to his hacking skill?
No, that’s impossible. He was from Seclela! There’s no way this could be true.