CHAPTER THREE: Christopher (part 1)

Dark knight club has always been packed up with a wild crowd. And people here aren't the normal ones, they are mostly those who are involved in illegal businesses. Starting from smuggling of drugs to human trafficking and even worse. You would hardly find any innocent soul in here. you can say that it is a hangout place for all the criminals around the state. I take a sip from my whiskey glass sitting on one of the bar stools. At one of the corners, I can see a bunch of teenagers getting high on drugs, losing their shit completely. The loud music and the smoke around here along with men having glasses in their hands and drooling over the strippers dancing on the pole give an absolute nefarious aura to this place.

You guys must be wondering who am I ? so let me break the ice to you. I am Christopher Harris, another name for the devil you can say. I work in a mafia gang called Cobra which is run by Richard Scott. Richard has been running this business for the past 25 years. but now he wants to loosen up the burden from his shoulders by handing over it to someone capable of managing it as

responsibly as he did. He has only one daughter, Sophia whom he doesn't want to be involved in this profession. He loves her very much. I've known always that Richard believed in me so I am the one next in line to be the Don. People call me devil because there is a reason behind it, they know about my cruel and unapologetic nature. My ruthless aggression and torturous ways. They know the extent to which I can go to get what I want. I love to see people being horrified by my presence. I enjoy seeing that scared look in their eyes. I take pride in being known as THE DEVIL. But nobody knows the real man beneath the facade of this devil.

Nobody knows the truth about me, nobody knows the obscure secret of my life. Hell! even I don't know about it. the thought keeps haunting me that I am still not able to discover it. the secret that doesn't let me sleep at night. little did anyone know that I was never like this before, I never wanted to be like this, to be the man that I am today. But sometimes people don't get to choose the life they want to live, it's their destiny which forces them to take up the path that they never aim to walk on. I always wished to have a normal life with a family. but it never happened to me. How funny it is that I don't even know who my parents were. I never intended to be the cold-hearted person that I have grown into. It had been an upshot of this brutal wold that turned me this way. But I never regretted it. I never felt bad about it, I accepted the harsh reality and was always fine with my life. I believed that my life is going to be a black hole and that not a single soul will mourn my death once I leave this obnoxious world, I believed that wholeheartedly until I met her. Until I met Nicole.

I still remember the day when I first laid eyes on her. when I saw her, the only thing that came to my mind was how can someone be so catastrophically beautiful? did she come straight from heaven? because she seemed like an angel to me. she wasn't wearing anything revealing. she was dressed casually. With a simple white coat and stethoscope around her neck, she still managed to look extremely gorgeous. her long brown hair which was braided nicely. I've never seen someone like her in my life, she was just perfect. I have never felt this way about anyone before, she was different. for the first time in life, I felt like regretting the life I was living. for the first time, I felt like I shouldn't be doing what I have been doing so long. For the first time, I felt like being a better person. I wanted to know how it feels to be loved. because never in my life have I experienced anything like that.

I saw that innocence in her eyes. It gave me new hope. I thought that for the first time that I have found someone who would understand me, who wouldn't hate me. but I remember as soon as her eyes met mine it changed into something else. it turned into disgust and hatred. It made my blood boil with anger because what I thought wasn't true. She was just like everyone else who hated me. But the thing which surprised me the most was she wasn't scared of me. I was able to see the fierce look in her eyes, challenging me. It amused me. I liked that about her and that made me want her more than I've wanted anyone in my life. I know that people hated me but I also know that they quiver with fear when they heard my name. But she was far from being afraid of me. I wanted her to be petrified by my presence. I wanted her to despise me but I also had a strong urge to have her all for me. I wanted her badly. No matter if she liked me or not. Thats why I've been searching for her for the past one year.

I don't know what is it with me, I couldn't keep her out of my mind. I feel the need to find her, I have to find her otherwise I would probably go insane. It is well known to me that she is an angel and I don't have a place in heaven. I was always meant to walk in hell but somehow I have that strange longing to drag her straight with me to hell because she belongs to me. She is mine. No matter what, I am going to get her.

I gulp the contents of my glass in one go. I can feel the burning sensation in my throat. damn! it feels so good. I usually come to this club whenever I have to close a deal or if I had some serious business shit but mostly to have fun, you know what I mean. but I haven't been here for a long time because Nicole kept messing with my mind. I couldn't concentrate on anything. I guessI am pretty much whipped. I look up and I see max approaching me.

"Hey man! how you doing?" he says sitting on a stool next to me.

"Did you get anything on her?" I ask him in a serious tone.

He shrugs and says "Sorry buddy, but we weren't able to track her down yet." I shoot him an irritated glare as he continues" I don't know Chris how she managed to escape that day. and after that when we went to her clinic she was already gone. We even reached the place where she lived and asked her neighbors but nobody had any clue about where she went."

I don't say anything, after a while, he hesitantly says "Chris I don't understand why we are looking for this girl? she is just an ordinary girl, it's not like she is going to rat on us. why are you wasting your time on her when you have so many other important things to take care of. If Richard gets to know about this, he wouldn't be happy with you."

I clench my jaws in frustration and say" Its none of your business to know what I am doing. I just want to get her current location, that's it. if you are not able to do it then Ill do it myself. Do you understand?"

He doesn't say anything after that and I know that he understood what I meant. I didn't want to be rude to Max. He is my only best friend and I know he cares about me but right now I am not in a mood to argue. After a while, he asks me looking confused " Chris, are you drunk?"

" Just a little maybe," I tell him. I can see my vision getting blurry. I guess I had enough drinks for today.

Should I get someone to drop you to your place?" he asks with concern. I run my fingers through my hair in frustration and look up and to my surprise I see Mia dancing at one of the poles.

as soon as she finds me looking at her she flashes me one of her sweetest smiles. Without breaking my eye contact with her, I reply to max "I don't think so. I guess I am staying here tonight."

He moves his head in the direction I am looking and smirks "Okay dude, I get it. I hope you have a good time. See you tomorrow." saying so he leaves.