Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 449 Failure

Rusher opened his eyes and realized his hands and legs were tied to something. Everything around him was dark, and he couldn't even see his own body. He felt like he was on the ground, but at the same time, he felt there was nothing beneath him.

He tried to speak but soon realized his mouth was also tapped. With no other choice left, he somehow managed to roll his way until he hit something hard and robust.

'Is this a wall?' he thought to himself.

He pushed himself against the wall and used it as a support to stand up. Then, he walked while rubbing his body against the wall so he could scan the place with his body.

Even after a few minutes of walking, Rusher didn't reach the end of the room. He soon realized that he was walking in a circle, and the room he was in was a round structure.

'Why is there no door?!'

Rusher left the wall and began walking aimlessly in the room, hoping to find something or a clue that could help him in that situation.

THUD!

But suddenly, he tripped and fell down flat on his face. But instead of grunting or groaning, Rusher was quite happy.

When he fell, his phone fell out of the pocket and landed near his face as the screen lit up. He noticed the phone had no cellular network, but that wasn't his main goal. He somehow managed to remove the tape from his mouth by twisting his jaw and applying pressure with his tongue.

He brought his face close to his phone and used his tongue to operate it. However, he couldn't even unlock the phone as it had a thirty-two-digit pin code lock.

That was the first time he regretted having such a long secured pin. Still, Rusher kept trying to enter the pin with his tongue, but the saliva was messing up the touch. Hence, he kept his tongue outside his mouth and let it dry so he could enter the pin without misclicking the numbers.

After several failed attempts, Rusher was able to unlock his phone. He then swiped by the screen and turned on the flashlight, which changed nothing as the phone's rear side was facing the ground.

He slowly sat up and moved his back towards the phone to pick it up with his tied hands on the back. He couldn't get it the first time, but he got it the second time and illuminated the room with a flashlight.

It was then he saw that the room was not only circular, but it was ball-shaped. Seemingly, he was locked in a small ball the first maid had also used on the butlers and the maids.

Rusher turned his phone to the thing he tripped to and saw a pair of legs that belonged to his wife. His heart stopped beating for a second before he sighed in relief when he found her breathing.

He slowly stood up with the phone and walked around the room to find an exit. Upon walking, his gaze fell on two more bodies that belonged to his father and mother, who were also alive and sleeping.

'If everyone is here, Maria should be here too!'

He searched the room to look for Maria, but sadly he couldn't find her.

'No, she should be here. I must have not searched properly!'

Rusher checked the room a dozen times, and he was convinced that Maria wasn't there.

'What's going on? I don't understand. I had made sure to have the tightest security possible, and we were still abducted like this?!

The last thing I remember was entering the bathtub to take a bath. Even if some toxic gas was released in the bathroom— which is not possible— there is no way the kidnappers managed to take us out of the estate.

Wait… could it be that someone from the syndicate betrayed us? But why would they do that? Did…'

Rusher's eyes widened as he gulped down anxiously.

'Did they find out what I did with all the fortune of the Ross syndicate?'

The phone slipped from Rusher's hand in shock. He fell to his knees and didn't bother to do anything else. He had no will to survive, and he had given up on living.

Rusher had admitted defeat to whoever had done this to him. However, he was worried about Maria.

'Why did this happen? Even as a Mafia, I spent the first twenty years of my life being an asshole, but when I got my sister— Ria— pregnant, I changed. I swore to become a better man for everyone, but….

I wasn't a good son. That was obvious to anyone at first sight. My father was a son of a bitch, an evil man with no heart. He killed his brothers to get his hands on the throne of the Ross syndicate.

Everyone feared him, not as a human or the leader of the syndicate, but because of how dreadful he was. He married my mother to expand his reach and made the strongest syndicate in the entire world.

He killed many, guilty and innocent together. He showed no mercy to women or children. And that's how he made the Ross Syndicate the wealthiest.

I am the son of a man like that. Typically, parents would raise their children and teach them manners and discipline; my father didn't. When I was four years old, he asked me to kill a maid who had accidentally served me sugarless coffee.

I did what he asked me to do, and I didn't feel a thing. I killed many people and did whatever he asked me to do. I wanted him to be proud of me. I wanted to follow his footsteps to become like him.

But I failed.

I am glad I failed. I am blessed that I didn't become like him; still, I failed as a son.

I destroyed the pure and wholesome relationship between a brother and sister. I got my twin sister pregnant; I failed as a brother.

I am constantly cheating on my wife with Ria; I failed as a husband.

I couldn't raise Maria and Ruby like a father should; I failed as a father.'

"I… am a failure."

"No, you are not… brother-in-law. Or should I say, father-in-law?"

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Thanks, @puremichigan, and @Domfom, for the gift!