15

Richard sat on the plane on his way to LA. It had been three months since the operation and almost six months since he left Los Angeles.
He didn’t miss the place. Maybe he had a few happy memories like when Cassy and he were in love but after that, it was all a nightmare.
What kept him going was the fact that he was a trained martial artist and endurance was one of the things he had been taught by his master. If not, he would have let go a long time ago.
But he kept holding on to his marriage because he had truly loved Cassy and because he believe that they could still give Mel a complete home.
The private jet touched down and when they alighted, a limo was waiting for them.
This was one of the reasons why Richard loved Cash. Cash was a former navy seal and he now worked for the Armstrong family after falling out with his superiors.
It was because of the protection that Richard gave him that he stayed with them. Cash was effective, very effective.
Due to his years in the military, he knew who was who and that made it easier for Richard to work with him.
For example, Cash was a bodyguard, a right hand man, the secretary, the PA and all that to Richard. He was an all rounder.
This time, Richard came in all his glory. Not many knew him even in DC because he liked to keep a low profile but today, he had come to LA with a mission.
Take back the years he lost and give back the hate they gave him.
He had worked with Asher, who had insisted on tagging along but his brother refused, and he knew that he had bought both the Parker industries and the Carter Real Estate Company.
He didn’t give them much choice in fact. He only gave them two options, sell to him or he would close them down because he had enough dirt to fly them with.
Given the choices, the old Parker matriarch cried hell and wondered who it was that did that to her but Asher was a good hacker because none of the hackers she got could tell where the information on their dirt and the offer was coming from nor the person who was buying them out.
As Richard walked towards the hotel where the meeting was being held, he smiled slyly when he thought of their shock when they saw him.
He was in a navy blue fitting hand made Italian suit. He looked impeccable with that well set jaw that looked better now that he was back home. His face looked beautiful to a fault and his eyes, those grey eyes, looked cold.
His legs were long and now that he didn’t have a limp, he looked like a prince out of a fairly tale.
He wasn’t the Richard everyone in LA knew. This looked like his long lost look alike.
He walked with straight unhurried steps with guards flagging his sides though he really didn’t need them. But these people didn’t need to know that.
He hoped that William Carter, his ex wife’s new husband, would provoke him giving him a reason to break two or four of his bones.
He and Cash at the front, walked to the lobby of the hotel and as if by a lucky strike of fate, he met with Cassy and her friend Selena.
This was the woman who humiliated him when he went to buy the anniversary gift for his then wife. She made sure that all the people in the shop thought that he was a thief.
He smiled inwardly because he would also make her suffer.
Cassy and Selena also saw him and gawked.
Cassy bent her neck to the side as she tried to look at him well. Her mind seemed to be spinning as she thought.
Richard could tell what she was thinking. She might be wondering whether this was the Richard she knew or it was a look alike.
She then looked at his leg as she walked and she shook her head.
“Couldn’t be him, right?” She turned and asked Selena who was also as confused as she was.
“Can’t be. How would that beggar afford such a suit. I recognised it as an Armani. He can’t be. No it isn’t your worthless good for nothing ex,” Selena said and Richard, who had heard everything, pretended not to have heard them.
What these two women didn’t know was that Richard was among the top elites assassins. As such, part of his training was training his eyes and ears. Once he concentrated, he could hear something that was being said meters away.
This was so as to be able to use the element of surprise on his enemies and also escape danger.
“Let us go up. Your husband must be waiting,” Selena told Cassy who was still looking at the man.
They were all waiting for the elevators to take them to their destinations.
The elevator Cash had commanded opened and he stood aside as his boss went in first. The guards filed in after him and Cash was the last to enter.
The two women ran to that side wanting to get in but Cash stood at the front as he pressed the button for up.
He didn’t speak but his posture and the look he had told the two ladies that there was no space for them and they gawked as they watched the elevator doors close.
No one spoke in the elevator because no one knew what was in their boss’s mind.
All of them had been given photos of the people Richard was coming for. They thus didn’t know how to behave after seeing his ex wife, the mother of his child.
They thus pretended they hadn’t seen anyone because wasn’t their boss pretending too?
Te elevator dinged once it got to the eighteenth floor and opened.
They filed out and Cash led the way to the conference room where the meeting was supposed to happen.
“Everyone is in boss. Shall we go in?” Cash ashes and Richard shook his head.
“No. I want you to remain here and prevent anyone else from coming in except that woman. Kill anyone who tries to outsmart you,” Richard said as he looked at the two men who were standing guard at the door.
He guessed they might be William’s bodyguards.
‘Let’s see if you will afford them after I am done with them,’ he thought as one of his men opened the door and he entered.
In the room were the old Parker matriarch, Susan, Cassy’s mother, William and other men he figured might be their lawyers and all. In total, there were eight people seated at the top of their table.
They stood when they heard the door open and they all looked surprised when they saw who it was. Like Cassy and her friend, they also looked confused. This was because this looked like Richard and not like him.
He walked to the head of the table where William was seated and banged the file Cash had handed him on the table.
“I believe you are seated on my chair,” Richard said as he looked at William straight in the face and William grimaced like he was in pain.
“It’s you. It’s actually you! How… how… Why are you here? What are you doing here?” William asked as he stood to meet Richard but he found that Richard had some height on him.
William was six four but Richard seemed to be around six eight.
Before, when Richard had the knee injury, he always walked with a stoop and that had given William the false sense that he was taller than him. But here he was, Richard was towering over him.
“Get out of the chair, now,” Richard commanded without answering William’s question and the time he used made William obey even without registering what he was doing.
“What are you doing here? We have an important meeting and the last thing we need is your shenanigans. Didn’t my granddaughter make it clear to you? We must have been very soft to you.
She is already married and if you think that wearing a borrowed suit and walking straight will get her back you are mistaken.
Now, get out. We are waiting for an important person. There are companies at stake and we can’t deal with your stupidity and poverty now,” the Parker patriarch said and Richard seems deaf.
Instead of listening to her, he pulled the chair William had just vacated and sat down. He then started tapping on the table as he waited for the old hag to stop rattling.
“Are you done?” He asked when she was done speaking and it was Susan’s turn.
“How dare you talk to mother like that? She had asked you to leave. How did you even know that we are here? It must have taken all your savings to buy that suit. Ha! Get out,” she shouted and at that moment, the door opened and Cassy walked in.
“Well, my savings can’t buy just a suit, it can buy two companies at a go and even your lives and I would be left with billions that even if I spent the rest of my life just cruising around the world, I would die before I made a dent in them,” Richard said and Cassy walked towards him.
“Richard? It’s actually you. You look… different,” she said as she went to touch his shoulder and he avoided her touch.
“Don’t touch me,” he spat with a low calm voice that told Cassy that she would lose her fingers if she dared.
“Sorry,” she said as she went to sit next to her husband.
“Is there anyone else who wants to shout or we can start?” Richard asked and they all looked at each other in confusion.
They seemed to slowly register what Richard had said.
“Are you Richard Armstrong?” One of the other people who hadn’t spoken before spoke.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” Richard said with a flat face and the man opened the file he had.
“It’s him. We are supposed to meet with Richard Armstrong,” he said and they all turned to Richard.
“Aren’t you Richard Michaels?” Cassy asked but Richard ignored her.
‘This is going to be good!’ Richard thought and sat up straight.