Chap 20: Lets deal with him

The Cliff twins hired several people to watch Evelyn and Triston closely, and nothing was out of place. The only odd thing they felt in Triston's schedule was he was accompanying the orphan girl to her Martial Arts class. This was a major cause for concern for the twins. If Triston learned how to fight his uncle and his family, how could they force him to hand over the Cliff fortune?

" Should we tell Dad about it?" Jeff asked his twin, Fred.

" No," Fred replied instantly. " Dad is already angry with us because of our recent failures. If we deal with this matter on our own, we can earn some brownie points."

" So what do you reckon we do?"

" Let's teach him a lesson," Fred said, and Jeff followed him out of his room. It was around 7 P.M., and they went straight to Triston's room.

Triston was talking to someone on the phone when he suddenly felt a kick on his back. His phone flew out of his hands, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

" Do you think you can fight us?" Fred screamed, kicking Triston again on his stomach.

Triston yelped in pain, trying to shield his body from Fred's attacks.

" I heard you have joined Martial Arts. Have you learned to land a punch? Come on, then punch me," Jeff said, staring at Triston angrily.

Triston was shocked. How did they know about it?

" Did you think we would not know what you plan to do behind our backs?" Fred spat. " You can't hide anything from us."

Although Fred and Jeff beat Triston one after the other, Triston was still unable to fight back. The past few months of his Martial Arts training had helped him a great deal in improving his physical ability, but he couldn't yet get past the fear he had towards his cousins and his family. He quietly took the beatings without batting an eyelash.

After hitting Triston for a few minutes, the twins paused to take a breath. Triston suddenly backed away, trying to get away from them, and stuttered, " I-I am not l-learning to fight." Evelyn had warned Triston not to let his cousins know about him learning to fight, so he decided to lie.

" Do you think we are fools?" Jeff spat. " What else would you go to a MA Academy for?"

" I-I work there."

" Work? What work?"

" I-I take care of their a-accounts."

" How can we trust him?" Jeff says, looking at Fred.

" Looking at his response to our hits, he must be telling the truth," Fred responds. " But we got to check it, though."

" How?" Jeff asked.

" Let's check at the Martial Arts Academy."

" Brad said he would be visiting the sports club in that area. I will talk to him," Jeff said and got out his phone to dial Brad's number.

Triston was now worried that once the twins found out about his lie, they might beat him even more. He was still lying on the floor, writhing in pain, when he heard Jeff's phone ringing.

Jeff picked up his phone, and while he was talking, Triston's heart was beating fast with dread.

After talking for a few minutes, Jeff looked at Fred and said, " He's right. He looks after their accounts."

Triston was shocked to hear Jeff's words when he heard Fred say, " Good for you; at least you know your limits."

Fred and Jeff left the room laughing and mocking Triston for his weakness.

Triston got up from the floor, whining in pain though he was relieved at his narrow escape. While still wondering how this miracle could happen, he glanced at his phone, which had fallen down when he was kicked.

" Oh no!!!" Triston exclaimed. Did Evelyn hear everything? He took his phone and checked the last call duration, which showed about 10 minutes. Suddenly he felt ashamed of himself as Evelyn would be disappointed in him again for not fighting back.

He was contemplating how to call her when he got a message from Evelyn asking him to call back soon. She seemed quite worried for him. Even though Triston's body was aching all over, Evelyn's gesture brought a sense of happiness within him. He got up, closed his room door, and dialed Evelyn's number.

" What the hell happened? Do I need to come there and beat them up?" Triston heard Evelyn's enraged voice as soon as she picked up.

"I-I am fine..."

" You don't seem fine to me. Your voice sounds so low," Evelyn said with concern.

" I am used to it, Evelyn," Triston said sadly.

" Why can't you fight back?" It had nearly been a year since she and Triston were friends, but until now, she had made no progress in eradicating his fear. She had tried various means, but everything was in vain.

This was the question Triston was dreading, and he didn't seem to have an answer for that. It's not that he had not tried to fight back. Whenever he was beaten and bullied, Evelyn's words ran through his mind urging him to hit back, but his body seemed to have frozen at that point. He couldn't muster up the courage to lift a finger against them.

As there was no response from Triston, Evelyn could imagine the mental struggle he must be having, so she decided to ignore it for now. " Are you hurt too much?"

" No."

" That's a relief," Evelyn huffed. " But how did they know about the Martial Arts Academy?"

" I have no idea. They suddenly barged into my room and questioned me about it."

" Maybe someone must have seen you in the class and informed them," Evelyn guessed.

" Might be," Triston replied. " But it's strange that when they checked at the Academy, someone said I work there as an accountant."

" Thank me for that," Evelyn said, feeling proud.

" Was it because of you?"

" Of course!!" Evelyn exclaimed. " When I heard you lying to the twins about working there, I called James and pleaded with him to say that."

" Thank you so much, Evelyn. You are always my savior," Triston said, feeling genuinely grateful.

" Stop being so dramatic," Evelyn quipped. " Come early tomorrow. I won't be at peace until I see you are alright."

" I will be there," Triston said with a hint of a smile.

Meanwhile, the Cliff twins were sitting beside the pool at their home and discussing the matter.

" I knew that weakling wasn't capable of it," Jeff said, relieved. " Did you see him cowering like a mouse when we beat him up?"

Fred didn't reply as he seemed to be in deep thought.

"He doesn't have it in him. We have molded him into being our obedient pet who would never dare to bite us," Jeff continued.

Fred still didn't reply, and Jeff said, " Where are you lost?"

" I feel something is not right," Fred said in confusion.

" Why? "

" I don't know why. But I feel it's not as it seems."

" Can you be more specific," Jeff asked, irritated.

" For the past few months, nothing has been going as we wanted, especially after that orphan girl joined our college. She has been protecting Triston from the start, and then this random hooded guy pops out of nowhere and fights us. We have still not managed to track the identity of that stranger, and above all, we get to know that Triston has been going to a Martial Arts School."

" So, do you think he lied to us about working there? Does he have the guts to do so?" Jeff asked, cracking his knuckles.

" I don't think so. I observed Triston's reaction now, and he seemed genuinely scared. The dread in his eyes, I am sure he wasn't faking it. If he had been learning Martial Arts, he would have managed to land at least a single punch. "

" Then what are you concerned about?"

" I have this gut feeling that something is fishy. I can't be at peace."

" What if he has joined recently and still not learned the moves?" Jeff reasoned. " But the Academy instructor said Triston is not a student but an employee. Why would he lie about it?"

" I really don't know... but if Triston is really learning to fight, then we have to stop him before things get out of our control. We have waited for so long. Dad has been training him to be submissive since he was six; we can't let our efforts go in vain at this point."

" I will kill that bastard if that's the case," Jeff snarled. " We need to watch him more carefully now, and if he is learning to fight us, then we will make sure he doesn't step into that MA Academy again.”