Caught in the Alpha's Billion-Dollar Cage

Eastern Brooklyn City- 00:11 AM

"Are the goods ready?" A man's voice sounded at the empty porch. It was dark and only a bit of light from the post shone in the vast space.

Another man was waiting, leaning in a black car, smoking.

"It's already in." He answered.

The other man approached and positioned himself beside the man. Took out his own cigarette and lit it.

"How many crates is this transaction?" He questioned again.

"About 20-30 crates this time."

"It's much less than last year."

"Well. Business in Brickston is not that good, I heard."

Brickston City, the city that was made by the Mafia solely for their human trafficking business. The human trafficking business is still going strong because of this city. In this place, people are cultivated or "farmed" with the purpose of trade. The history boild down when the Mafia bought the whole city, but the people was adamant to stay and not leave their homes. Therefore, in exchange, the Mafia takes the payment and debt through the people themselves.

"Why did you reject the offer of the boss, Carter? If you just accepted, then you won't be transporting goods right now." One of the men asked the other.

James, who just smoked his cigarette, did not answer. When he saw the cargo ship arriving from afar, he threw his cigar on the ground and stepped on it.

"It's here, let's go." He said to the other man and went ahead to welcome the cargos.

The latter only followed with a sigh.

The cargo that is to be shipped to Eastern Brooklyn City arrived. The two men supervised the transfer of the goods to the plane, which will be flown to their headquarters.

After the transfer, both men went to the other plane. It was not long before they took off.

But sadly, only one plane would successfully arrive at the headquarters.

..................................

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"At 1:40 AM this dawn, a plane carrying two passengers, a pilot, and 3 stewards malfunctioned and exploded. The bodies have been found and..."- The sound of broadcasting was heard in a nearby store.

Selene Carter was walking home from work. She is now working part-time after graduating high school, and when she decided to halt her education. She was fending for herself at the moment.

"Child, want to know your fortune?"

Suddenly, an old woman's voice sounded. Selene was startled and she turned towards the origin of the voice.

An old woman was sitting at the side of the road, a mat with unusual but unique patterns was spread on the ground, and antique and some gadgets that were also unusual were displayed.

Selene studied the old woman suspiciously, seeing the white hair and the ornament hanging on her neck, also the beads that she held on her hand, she tried to smile politely.

"Uhm, no thank you.." She started but was cut off when the old woman suddenly grabbed and pulled her hand.

Selene stumbled towards her direction.

"You, child had a hard life." The old woman's voice trembled as she spoke.

"But I am blinded by your light." She whispered.

"Uhm, excuse me.." Selene tried to struggle but she was gripped hard.

"A punishment haunts you from your past life till now.." The old lady's eyes plastered on Selene's face as she grabbed her hand tightly. Her eyes were as if reading something on hers.

"Grandma, what are you saying?" Selene became creeped out, as the old lady was spewing weird words and looking at her with eyes as if looking at her deepest heart.

"Be warned, there is more to come. The payment for love will be collected in this life."

Selene also felt drawn to the eyes of the old lady. Fear started to creep in her heart. Past life? Payment? What was this about?

"Be warned! Be-"

"Hey! That's not allowed here!" A loud voice interrupted. The old woman saw the guard that was approaching and quickly let go of Selene. She hastily grabbed her things and rushed to leave.

The guard who was about to chase saw that the old woman was leaving, stopped. He turned towards the young lady.

"Are you alright, miss?" He asked.

Selene woke up from her stupor and turned to the guard.

"Uh, yes! Yes.." She responded.

"Don't mind that old lady. She's always loitering around here making some superstitions. Something might be wrong with her head, don't take her words seriously." The guard advised as he patted his uniform.

"Okay. Thank you, sir." Selene said to the guard.

The guard only nodded and walked back to his post.

Selene was left standing in her place. Her head was still circling about the old lady's words. She was curious about what those mean. But she remembered the guard's words, so she could only brush them off.

Maybe it was really just nonsense.

She sighed as she massaged her wrist and continued walking. After a number of steps, the people and establishment gradually decreased.

Walking through this dark and desolate street still gives Selene shivers. The people and vehicles became fewer and fewer until she was the only one walking on the dark street.

It was always like this going home, so Selene, despite the nervousness, kept cheering herself.

But when she saw a white van approaching, her heart immediately dropped. She felt something bad was coming.

She turned around and walked the other way. Her heart was thumping hard on her chest, and she felt breathless. Her gasp quickened as her steps also quickened.

Until her brisk walking started to become running, she was absolutely sure the white van was following her!

But how could two feet beat the wheels of a vehicle?

Not long, the white van caught up and stopped in front of her.

Selene stopped abruptly because of this and backed away fearfully.

Before she could turn around to run away, men in black immediately came out of the van and grabbed her.

Someone covered her nose and mouth and immediately she became dizzy.

Suddenly, everything went black.