65 Cold Steel

The hand tightened on her painfully squeezing her face. A menacing voice growled at her, "stop struggling. Scream and you die." Chang nodded her eyes filled with tears. The hand released her face and she gratefully took in lungfulls of air, trembling.

She pressed herself up against the wall trying to avoid the cold sharp metal pressed at her next. As she inhaled she started to be able to focus through the pain in her head to see that she was surrounded by three large men.

Chang realized that she was in a really bad spot right now, and that her only option was to do as they said if she wanted to live. She needed to find out what that was first.

"What do you want from me?" Chang fearfully asked.

"Heheh, we dont want anything from you, we are merely here to deliver a warning." The man who held the knife to her throat on her left chuckled menacingly. "You have become an eyesore to a certain someone. Leave this place before we have to give you 'encouragement.'"

"What do you mean."

The man in front of her scoffed. "You've been warned once already and you still claim to not understand. Woman you are not a match to the family you are attempting to ingratiate yourself into. Leave before you embarrass yourself further."

Chang felt prickly hearing the man's sentence, she understood now this man was here on Jian's father's behalf. "My husband has already proven the lie to what I was told before. He cares about me and says it doesn't matter, and I believe him! I wont leave Jian again!"

The man in front of her shoved her and ground her head against the wall. He sneered at her before releasing her to collapse on the ground. The man took a stack of photographs from his robe and threw them down on her.

Chang pushed herself into a sitting position and grabbed her knees burrowing her face in them. She let out a few tears, her nerves on edge after that.

'What is with my luck in alleys. From now on I'm going to avoid them like the plague."

After she had settled herswirling emotions with a good cry, she thought about the stack of photos the men threw at her and reached over and grabbed the bundled photos. When she saw the first picture it felt like her blood froze and started to flow backwards in her veins.