"I knew you were a fraud."
I turned slowly.
It was the driver.
Esmeralda's driver.
He must have followed me from the accident scene. He stood at the entrance of the alley, breathing heavily, holding a small package in his hand.
For a moment he looked at me like he was examining something dirty.
Then he laughed.
A sharp, mocking laugh.
"So this is where you ran off to."
He stepped forward and tossed the package toward me. It landed at my feet.
"Miss Esmeralda asked me to give you this."
I didn't move.
The driver looked around the alley with visible disgust.
"Figures," he muttered. "Filthy alley. Rotting walls. Trash everywhere."
His eyes landed on me again.
"You must have been really desperate," he continued. "Jumping in front of a trailer like some starving dog just to save a rich girl."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Do you even know who she is?"
I said nothing.
His smile widened.
"She's the daughter of billionaire Dimitri Sergei."
He leaned closer.
"Men like you don't even exist in the same world as people like her."
His eyes scanned my clothes again.
"You probably thought today was your lucky day," he sneered. "One heroic act and suddenly your miserable life changes."
He chuckled.
"Maybe you imagined she'd invite you into that mansion. Maybe give you a job."
His tone grew colder.
"But look at you."
"You smell like the street."
"You look like something that crawled out of a gutter."
His voice dropped with pure contempt.
"People like you don't belong near people like her."
He nudged the package closer with his shoe.
"There's money in there," he said. "More money than you'll probably ever earn in your entire worthless life."
Then he looked straight into my eyes.
"Take it."
"Because let's be honest… trash like you doesn't risk their life for kindness."
"You did it hoping for scraps."
He straightened his coat.
"But I'll thank you anyway for saving my boss's daughter."
He kicked the package again.
"Take the money."
"And crawl back into whatever hole you came from."
For a long moment I said nothing but there was something familiar with this. Oh I remember now , the man on purple from my past.
Then I asked quietly,
"Do you have a family?"
The question confused him.
"What?"
"Do you have a family?" I repeated.
He hesitated.
"…Yes."
I nodded slowly.
"You're lucky."
He frowned.
"What's that supposed to—"
"Pick up whatever you threw at me," I said calmly.
He blinked.
"What did you say?"
I stepped closer looking him in the eye.
"I said pick it up."
"Because the next thing I pick up might be your spine after I rip it out of your body."
The driver froze.
"You have a family," I continued quietly. "So imagine their faces when a box like a Christmas present arrives at their door."
I leaned closer so only he could hear me.
"They open it slowly."
"And inside… they find what's left of you."
His breathing became uneven.
"Or," I continued calmly, "I could show mercy."
I looked down at his legs.
"I could shatter every bone in your body and leave you breathing… but unable to walk for the rest of your life."
"Your family pushing you around in a wheelchair."
"Watching you rot slowly."
"Now i won't repeat myself," I said.
"You have less than a minute."
"For your sake… start running."
The arrogance drained from his face.
My warning had reached him.
Slowly he bent down.
He picked up the package he had thrown.
Then he backed away.
A few seconds later he turned and hurried out of the alley without looking back.
The Dimitri Mansion
Later that evening the massive doors of the Dimitri Mansion burst open with a violent slam.
Sergei Dimitri stormed inside.
His face was pale with fear.
"Where is she?!" he shouted, his voice cracking in a way the servants had never heard before.
Servants froze in place.
Some lowered their heads immediately.
His wife, Elena Sergei Dimitri, rushed down the staircase.
"Sergei," she said quickly, reaching for him. "Calm down. Esmeralda is safe."
For a moment he didn't move.
Then the tension in his body collapsed like something inside him had broken.
"Safe?" he whispered.
"Yes," Elena said gently. "She's upstairs."
Sergei closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, like a man who had just escaped drowning.
But then his eyes fell on the driver standing near the entrance.
And the relief turned into fury.
In one motion Sergei pulled a gun from his coat.
The driver's face drained of color.
Before Sergei could raise it, Elena grabbed his arm tightly.
"Sergei!"
His hand trembled with rage.
He stepped closer to the driver until they were face to face.
"The only reason you are still breathing," Sergei said slowly, his voice shaking with restrained fury, "is because my daughter is alive."
The driver couldn't even look at him.
Sergei leaned closer.
"If anything had happened to her…" he whispered, his voice filled with something darker than anger.
"…even if you ran to the ends of the earth…"
"I would find you."
"And I would kill you myself."
A long silence followed.
Then Sergei lowered the gun.
Without another word he turned and walked upstairs.
He stopped outside Esmeralda's room.
For a moment he just stood there, his hand on the door.
Then he opened it quietly.
Inside, Esmeralda sat on the bed wrapped in a blanket.
The moment he saw her alive, something in his eyes softened instantly.
He walked to her slowly, as if afraid she might disappear.
"How are you feeling?" he asked softly.
"I'm okay," she said with a small smile.
Sergei sat beside her and gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
"Do you have any pain?" he asked quickly. "Did the doctors check you properly?"
"I'm fine, Papa," she said reassuringly.
For a moment he simply looked at her.
Then he pulled her into a tight embrace.
Not the formal hug of a powerful man.
But the desperate hug of a father who had almost lost the most important thing in his life.
He held her there for several seconds.
When he finally let go, his voice was softer.
"I bought the ranch I promised you," he said.
Her eyes lit up.
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Anything for you."
Then he paused.
"The man who saved you… did you see his face?"
She shook her head.
"Not clearly."
She thought for a moment.
"But he had pale skin."
"And dark blue eyes."
Sergei nodded thoughtfully.
"If we find him," he said quietly, "I will reward him with anything he asks."
Esmeralda shook her head gently.
"I tried to give him money," she said. "But he refused."
Sergei smiled faintly.
"Then it seems," he said softly, "that truly noble people still exist in this world."
Hades
I returned to the only place that had truly become my home.
The burning kingdom beneath the world.
Hades.
Rivers of fire flowed through endless caverns. Flames crawled across black stone. The distant screams of the damned echoed through the abyss.
I walked past them all.
Straight toward the throne.
There sat Azazel.
The same being the humans once called Razak.
His burning eyes followed me as I approached.
Then he smiled slowly.
"Well…" he said.
"What a great job you've done."