FORREST
“YOU ARE arrogant son of a bitch!” He spat out a furious breath. He was mad. Damn right, so did I.
“That makes the two of us. And here you thought that I am interested in being a part of your cabal and cohorts, don’t you? The only reason why I am here. And then right now, you think I will dethrone you? Am I that desperate? And you see as that boy. When desperation arises, I will leave that old man to death and save my own arse, will I?” I smirked evilly. “I know you would think something like that. And that situation might have happened once in your pathetic life, am I right?” I narrowed my eyes into slits as his face flushed with rage about to put two holes in my head with his blazing glare. “Or was it the other way around?”
“You cross the wrong man, boy. You just sign your death wish.”
“In fact, I do, since I planned on meeting you. That’s the fate that I already accepted, but I also have patience and hope that that moment will not come. Why am I not even surprised that you’re going to threaten me? As I told you, I don’t want anything to do with your business or whoever you have entangled with. I only offered your shipping company some handsome cash to lure you in. And let’s be honest here that what’s got your interest, isn’t it? I only want two things though then my business with you is over.”
“What do you want?” he spat out.
“I have a lot of money. My family owns a mining company, leading jewelry industries all over the world. I have a connection in the black market if you think I haven’t have experienced being in your awful corrupt world. I am about to launch a multi-million dollar project for the benefit of many people. You probably ask yourself now, why nobody knows a certain Forrest Wood, do you? Who Forrest Wood is? Two years ago, my company developed a security system that has facial recognition. Visual does ring any bell? If you ever stepped closer to my home, you’re dead, considering your situation.” I was already towering over him, looking at him from head to toe in disgust. “Atto Tech is mine, and that’s something you are interested in. Tell me now who I shouldn’t cross or who you shouldn’t? Are your lackeys watching this conversation right now?”
“This is none of your concern.” His eyes narrowed into hostile slits. His lips pulled taut in displeasure that maybe he was thinking right now that I was richer than him. Damn right, I was.
“It certainly is.” He still didn’t get it, did he? “But fine by me, and they better be listening.” I scanned for the possible places where they installed the camera. “I want Leandrei and Constance out of your lists.”
He gasped, staring at me with wide eyes. Horror and shock were so deep in his pools. His face was ashen as he froze. He clamped his mouth shut as his chin started to tremble. What an awful sight for the almighty? Tsk tsk.
This was not the reaction I was expecting. Anyhow, I took it as a victory.
He swallowed hard as he spoke. “I-I knew the first time I looked into your eyes.” Pain crossed his face as if I just triggered a switch to his past life. Fuck him!
“Well, that must be unfortunate for you right now.” I snorted. “Twenty million for you to leave us alone.”
“I’ve been looking for you and your mama for so long.” A wave of defeat crossed his face. He sagged against his chair. It was priceless to watch that he seemed powerless before me.
“You should have asked someone to check the background of Kentworthry Capital before you accepted meeting me. Or maybe your health clouded your judgment, eh? Or you’re too desperate to save your barely standing bloody shipping business.”
He rubbed his hands over his face and paused, somewhat sorting out through the bits of what I just spilled. “I’d been asking people to search for you, but they ended up in the dead end.”
“I think I should give credit to those people who gave me my new identity. Our business here is over, Francois Xavier or should I call you Oliver or Papa?”
“Forrest.” His voice was low and wasn’t deadly anymore, but my anger and disgust towards him were still boiling.
“And let me finish your story. The old man feeds the boy because he’s the only chance they have to survive. And the love of a father is selfless. Since the boy is stronger than the old man, there’s the possibility that he can save their lives.” He kept telling me that story when I was a boy, and that confirmed now that I was his son. “Now, you will leave me and my mother alone. If you set foot to England, I will have a bullet right between your eyes.” Without waiting for his response, I walked towards the door.
When he called my name, my feet just stuck to the floor. It was my real name that I had not heard in years.
Leandrei Edward.
Leandrei bloody Edward.
He just fucking called me by that name. How I hated it.
That boy was too weak to save his own mother.
I knew meeting him would trigger my past, and memory lane was not always fun to visit. Not even years had passed that would make me forget the pain I felt in that fire, seeing my mother atoned for my father’s sin just shredded my heart in ribbons.
When I turned around, he was still staring at me with eyes enormous in shock.
I tightened my eyes as I stared back at him. He was nothing to me than a dead man since he left us in that burning house. “See how fate had played you? If you only had a little patience in yourself, in us, you would probably have me and mama until now.”
“Where’s your mama?” Unfuckingbelievable!
I snorted. “Just do me a favor and spare me. You have the money within twenty-four hours. You won’t ask someone to dig around about me, Mama, and Alan. I may be younger and know nothing about whom or what you’re dealing with, but I wear this ring, and you owe a huge debt to one of the members who have like this.” I raised it for him to see that I was dead serious. “I won’t hesitate to call someone to shoot you in your damn head from a distance that you thought you are safe.” I should have done that years ago, but I would be just like him, a cutthroat son of a bitch if I have his blood on my hands.
I grabbed the door and stopped before I forgot what was my real intention of facing this dead man I once called Papa. “Answer me one question though. Why did you burn Mama alive?”
He looked afflicted and in pain than before, but I didn’t give a shit about him anymore. As far I was concerned, he was dead to me since that day he left us with nothing.
“I found out that you and your mother were going to leave me. I knew I wasn’t a good husband and a good father to you, but—”
“But you couldn’t accept the fact that Mama had a gut to leave you because you caught her on a pretty short leash.”
“Your mother asked for help from my boss. I knew that that bastard had feelings for her. When I found out, I tried to stop her. We fought.” He shifted in his chair, seemingly losing his strength. “I wasn’t ready to be a husband—”
“Cut the bloody shit. Just fucking tell me the truth for fuck sake!”
“Your mother never told this story to you because there was no point. We love you the moment you were born.”
“That’s quite a tough love you got there. You got Mama pregnant because you couldn’t just keep your dick in your trousers, could you?” A violent rush of rage had filled my veins that I felt dizzy, and I wanted to punch him so bad. What was stopping me? Because I wasn’t violent like him even though we shared the same blood.
“Yes. Her family was so adamant that they didn’t want their only daughter to give birth out of wedlock, so I had no choice.”
“Everyone has a choice!” I was shaking. All I wanted was to wring his neck until he let go of his last breath. “You had a choice! We always have a choice!”
“We were still young. I barely enjoyed my adulthood. Five months after our wedding, we had you. I was happy at that time, but things got tough when it was hard to find a job where I had to rent a small apartment we called home.”
“Then why did you have to kill your boss and took over his business?”
“That’s not what happened, but he was a greedy bastard.”
“And so do you. You’re greedier, Papa!” Fuck! I just lost it. His eyes glittered with a tiny hope.
“I’ve been at my lowest point, and I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but you have to do something to survive. Now that I have money and power, I can’t still feel the satisfaction. Something’s still missing, that’s why I asked people to search for both of you.” Jesus, I couldn’t take his lies anymore.
“Well, your action just backfired you. Clearly, your power corrupts you completely. Maybe forgiveness from the people you hurt and from the family you killed would achieve the required result. Not having us, because we don’t need you in our lives anymore.” My eyes burned with unshed tears.
Jesus Christ, I had not seen this coming.
There was a fine line between love and hatred, and I was losing my shit. He was still my father, and I fucking hated that fact for years.
He stood up. “I want to see your mother.”
The moment he mentioned my mother, my muscles ached with so much tension to control my urge to punch him. Blood rushed towards my head that all I saw was red. Every cell in my body melted into lava with so much anger for him I kept for years.
“If I am like you, I already kill you the moment I step inside and call it a good bloody day! But thank fuck, I was raised by a wonderful and respected man I called Father. And meeting you today, for sure, would upset him, but I have to do this for the sake of his wife. Your ex-wife.”
He flinched. Good! “You’re a good man, Leandrei.” Hell, I was because he was still breathing, but maybe it would end today if he would not stop talking.
Shaking, I collared him, pushed him against his chair as I bore my piercing eyes on his. It made me madder that for some reason, I couldn’t hurt him. It fucking sucked.
“That boy died in the fire years ago. Leandrei is dead. And you won’t dare go and see her if you still value your remaining days. You won’t dare come looking for me ever again. Did you fucking understand me? For us, you are rotting six feet under!”
My intuition was right his brainless goons were watching our entire conversation. Francois jerked and stiffened when I heard a click at my back. He looked furious but not at me.
His man just pointed a gun at my head, and I could feel the cold metal pressed against my skull. I couldn’t even remember how he quickly got inside the room without me noticing him.
I was too furious, lost my focus that I could end up with a hole in my head.
I shut my eyes closed, waiting for the moment to come. Mama, Megan, Alan, my friends—their images sprang into my mind like an instant roll of a black and white film. This was a terrifying experience before a person died. Then I remembered Father. What would he think of this moment, of what I became when he raised me to be a better version of myself before today? He would be very disappointed.
I waited for the fierce pain to hit my skull, but it didn’t happen. At least, not yet.
“Don’t!” I was startled, my eyes flew open to his roar.
“Oh, go ahead. Let your man shoot me at the back of my head,” I dared him. “That must be quite a victory. It must feel good knowing you just have your own blood on your hands.”
“Put that gun down! Or I will end your miserable life together with your entire family. Tell everyone that no one touches this man. Ever! Or I have all of them slaughtered!” He was dead serious about his threat. I could see it in his eyes. As much as I shivered with fear, I slowly sighed in relief.
The man retreated his gun. I stood up and fixed my suit before I walked out of that room.
Papa was still calling my name, and I didn’t give a shit to turn around and face him again. For the first time in years, all my efforts were pretty rewarding.