George POV.

I woke up as we came to a stop and slowly opened my eyes.
The car was parked in front of an old, rusty, moss-covered steel bunker, which was covered with vines and ivy.
From a distance you would never see this hiding place between all the trees, but we were close enough to see the entrance of it.

My father grabbed my shoulder, not knowing that I was already awake and I winced.
He seemed amused by this and gave a short laugh, then his mood changed again and he motioned wordlessly for me to follow him as I locked my eyes on him.

He got out of the car and I did the same, only then did I see the other cars that were parked there.
Three more of them, two black BMWs and a gray Mercedes.

You could clearly tell that this weird bird dude needed the money desperately...

With a few steps I stood behind my father and watched him as he knocked on the door in a certain beat, it almost sounded like Morse code.

When he knocked one last time, a crack opened in the steel door to reveal the sunglasses of a man who was clearly there to verify that the person was really who they thought they were.
He eyed my father for a few seconds and turned his gaze to me, he didn't seem to know about me and whispered something to my father, who answered in a more serious and louder tone.

"He belongs to me. I assure you, he won't do anything."

His head turned to me and I noticed him looking at me out of the corner of his eye, presumably to say that not only to this guard, but to me as well.
In response, I just lowered my head and looked at my shoes on the mossy forest ground.
A few seconds later I heard the creaking of the door and followed my father, again at a distance, into the bunker.

Once inside of it, I raised my head again and looked around.
We were just walking through a small hallway that also had doors to storage on either side.
There were signs on the doors, which described what was stored there with a printout.

Explosives, enter with caution.

Guns / Weapons, don't enter without permission or by yourself without a professional.

I continued to follow my father down the hall until he stopped in front of another door and glanced at me over his shoulder, before sighing, turning around completely and walking closer to me, which surprised me a little.
He put a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me, however, his gaze wasn't the one I was used to see from him.
His lips had fallen into a small smile and he seemed to think about something for a moment before suddenly pulling me into a hug.

The embrace was quite short and he didn't stay in the hug for more than three seconds, so I hadn't had the time to react or hug him back.
It shocked me a whole lot, if I'm being honest.
He seemed to recognize my confused state and ran a hand through his hair.

"...I don't know what's going to happen in there...
You should know that you are very... Important to me."

He smiled again, but his smile faded as quickly as it appeared and he turned to open the door in front of us.
I followed him and lowered my head again when I saw three more men in the room.
I watched him closely as my father walked towards a table in the center of the room.
A man, presumably the Hawk, stood on the other side of the table and the room was engulfed in silence for a few seconds, before the man in front of my dad spoke up.

"You haven't changed much, James."

The Hawk's voice was deep, strong, and menacing, sending a chill down my spine.

"I can say the same thing about you, old friend."

They laughed a little at their own words.
It felt fake, not like a real friendship, more like a bond, assuring both of them that the other wouldn't attack or betray them.
But that was mostly the case in this business.
They knew it as well as I did.

The Hawk sighed exaggeratedly and seemed to take a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, which he unfolded and showed my father.
He read the list of weapons, whispering their names under his breath so that I could hardly hear or understand them.

"That's really something that would be a good addition to my men..."

The Hawk laughed again briefly.

"understandable, some of them can end the lives of the best fighters in a matter of seconds..."

My father took the list and put it in his jacket pocket.
It was quiet for a few seconds and I couldn't hear anything, only watched the shoes of the two mafia bosses and remained silent.

"So... do we have a deal?"

"Absolutely."

They both leaned forward slightly, presumably to shake hands.
I was happy that this meeting was over soon.
It was really uncomfortable, just standing there and listening to them talk about this agreement.

"Now for the payment...
I don't see a suitcase full of money with you, so I assume you want to modernize it and pay me with PayPal or whatever other app?"

My father suddenly started laughing again, but this time I recognized his laughter.
It wasn't the laugh he would have when he was lying, when he wanted to appear friendly or when he actually was.
It was the very laughter that rang out of his throat when he hit me or generally hurt me.

Just hearing it made me tremble slightly, but this feeling of fear and uneasiness only got worse when I saw him walking towards me calmly.
He grabbed my shoulder again and I flinched like I always did, expecting to get hurt.
But my father didn't hurt me.
He just guided me to the table and pulled my hair back so I was looking straight at the Hawk.

He was wearing all gray clothing, except of his white shirt underneath the suit.
His hair was completely grey, he had a beard and one of his eyes appeared to be blind, it was the same color as the strands that fell into his eyes slightly.
His facial expression indicated that he didn't seem to know what was happening either, but he looked down at me and scrutinized me.
I didn't know what exactly to do, he seemed to be looking my body up and down and suddenly bit his bottom lip.

That reaction was exactly what my father wanted to see.
He took me by my arm and positioned me beside him, yet the Hawk's eyes stayed on me and I felt his strong gaze on me as if his eyes were burning through my skin.
My father gripped my arm tighter and forced me to turn around, which slowly brought tears to my eyes.
I continued to feel his eyes on my body as I stood with my back to the Hawk, but I finally knew why my father wanted to make this deal.

He didn't have the money, just as I suspected.
He didn't have anything on him that would make this guy give him the weapons he wanted.
Nothing but me...
I was turned back over by my father and lowered my head again.
The tears that were in my eyes shouldn't be seen.
Not by the Hawk, not by those other men, and definitely not by my father.

"I was more thinking of a... different payment. "

The smile in his voice was unmistakable.

"You must know, my son George is very important to me..."

He spoke of me as if I wasn't standing right next to him.
Those were the same words he had given me before we had walked through the door.
I felt helpless in that moment.
I had trusted him, I thought he would finally change and give me his fatherly love and appreciation, but it was just a sick and twisted game to him.
A game with my trust, my brain and... my naivety?
I didn't know, but I didn't need to know that to feel how much his actions hurt me.

"Are you sure he's worth $10,000 to me?"

My father laughed and gripped my arm tighter.

"You could do whatever you wanted with him...
He would be 100 percent yours, every single part of his body."

The Hawk stepped around the table and was now only inches away from me.
He reached out his hand to touch me, but my father pulled me back and stood in front of me.
Not because he wanted to protect me, oh no.
He did it to protect the object he was selling to preserve his weapons.

"So... do we have a deal?"

My father's voice was bittersweet as he grinned mischievously at the Hawk and held out his hand, loosening his grip on my arm just slightly.
The man in gray smiled and took my father's hand, I could only watch helplessly as my own body was being sold right before my eyes as they shook hands.

"Absolutely."

1561 Words

A.N.
People from the german version of the story have asked me if the Hawk is dręåm and so to clear it up before you have to ask, no.
The Hawk is just a peace of shit and Dream will be introduced later in the story, dw, I'd never make our beloved
~😍𝓓𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓶𝔂 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓶𝔂 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝔂😍~ such an asshole.
Hope you liked the chapter! <3