“Who did you sleep with?” Colton gritted, holding her harshly by the arm. “Who was it this time? Huh? The president?”
April pulled her hand from his grip with a burning look on her face, “How dare you insult me?”
Colton wore an evil smile, cradling her face with his fingers. “How dare you take food from my mouth?”
April scoffed at his words. “Take food from your mouth?” She hissed. “I got that deal fair and square. Since when do you care about the nitty-gritty jobs? Didn’t you sell off the companies? What do you care, Colton?”
“You are darn right. I don’t give a fuck about the stupid deal. I probably would have messed it up anyway. But that doesn’t mean I will sit back and allow you to disrespect me in such a manner.” He fired back, eyes blazing.
“If you don’t have something meaningful to say, I suggest you get yourself off my property before I involve security,” April said, stepping back. “We went our separate ways when you decided to betray me. Are you hurt from being served a cup of your coffee?” She mocked.
“Look at you. Confident with that smart mouth of yours.” He smirked, “You must have worked hard with some old guy to give you this company and a little confidence. You’ve always been such a hard worker.”
Before Colton could finish his words, April delivered a resounding slap to his face.
“I will not stand here and watch you insult me, Colton.” She hissed, eyes burning with anger. “You have overstayed your welcome. Get out or I will involve the police.”
“You dare not,” Colton said, mouth open from the slap. “You will regret this, love. I promise.”
“Get out, Colton.” She said in a firm tone, “This is your last warning.”
“Good luck with the deal you stole from me, baby girl. You’re going to need it.” Colton turned around and walked back to his car with a scowl.
His heart burned with anger, and his face stung from the slap. No one had ever disrespected him in such a manner and gone scot-free. He would teach her a lesson to serve as a deterrent to others.
Meanwhile, April returned to her office as a raging woman. She couldn’t believe Colton dared to threaten her! April wasn’t foolish to take his words carelessly. She knew first-hand how terrible he could be.
They had worked together to take down the Rivera and Lontoc families, and he had a lot of materials that could bring her down. She couldn’t take chances with him. Not when she was slowly recovering from his betrayal.
April paced around her office with a frown. She needed to stop him and that right early. If Colton was the same man she remembered, he probably sought ways to destroy her. She needed to beat him at the game. But how?
She didn’t want to soil her hands. She had a new company and intended to do everything to ensure it was protected from scandals. She was smart enough to know that any little scandal could marr the face of her company and she couldn’t have that.
She intended to surpass JL and leave a lasting legacy that would be enjoyed by her generations yet unborn. April was distracted from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing.
Mrs Beatrice was on the line. A huge smile grew on her face as a light bulb went off in her head. If she was going to take out Colton, she needed a stronger power. Who better to do the job than the Matriach of the powerful Ambrose family?
“I heard you signed the contract,” Mrs Beatrice cut to the chase as soon as the call connected,
April was in a great mood, “Yes, yes. I must say you did the perfect job, Ma’am.”
A permanent scowl etched on Beatrice’s face. “Good. Meet me at the house by noon. You must fulfil your part of the deal and delete that video.” She ordered and April could barely stop her laughter.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Beatrice.” She replied. “As you know, I recently opened my company and it would look very irresponsible if I upped and left the company on my first day, no?”
“What in the world are you getting at?” Beatrice asked in a grave tone.
“You are a smart woman,” April tutted, “Did you honestly think I would delete the video and call it quits after one deal?”
“We had a deal,” Beatrice said with gritted teeth. “I did all you demanded, it’s only right that you follow through with my demands.”
April laughed in an unhinged manner. Her voice suddenly turned cold as she said, “Let’s be clear. This is not a mutually beneficial agreement between us. I call the shots and if I say the deal is not over, it isn’t.”
“You are a dupe.” Beatrice said, shaking her head, “You are nothing but a cheap dupe.”
“Whatever floats your boat.” April waived the topic. “I’m glad you called. I have a job for you.”
“Since when have you given me orders?” Beatrice roared. Do not take my leniency for stupidity; I could ruin you with a snap of my fingers.”
“That’s the beauty of our relationship. You could but you wouldn’t.” April said in a sing-song voice. “Because let’s face it, you have more to lose and would not like to be on my sh! t list.”
“I will send you a name, and I need you to dispose of him before the end of the day, or tomorrow’s news will be riddled with your son’s scandal. Do not test me, Beatrice.”
Before Beatrice could speak a word, April ended the call with a smile on her face. She typed in Colton’s details into a text and sent it to Beatrice with a subtle threat to go with it.
Mrs Beatrice threw her phone on the wall after April’s call. Her blood pressure skyrocketed as her anger grew in leaps and bounds. “That wench! That bloody Rivera wench!” She cursed, unable to stop her anger. “I will kill her! I will kill her even if it’s the last thing I do!”
“Grandma?” Mrs Beatrice was jolted by a small voice from the door.
She turned around and behold, Luis stood with an unreadable expression. “Oh, dear child! Are you done with your classes? Are you hungry? What do you need? Huh? Tell Mother and she will make it happen.”
“Who do you want to kill?” Luis asked with clear eyes, causing Beatrice to choke on her saliva.
“Oh dear! I was only remembering a movie! Yes! A movie I watched!” She quickly waived it off. “This old woman can’t kill anyone. I was only brushing my acting skills you see. Just forget about it.” She hastily looked over the time. It was past noon.
“Oh my, you should be hungry! Come, come, let’s have lunch together, I’m hungry with all that acting,” Mrs Beatrice didn’t wait for a response and ushered Luis out of her office.
She broke a sweat at how close she had been to getting found out by her grandson. It was all because of that treacherous wench and family. She needed to bring a permanent solution to that woman before she drove her to the brink of insanity.
But first, she needed to secure her family’s image and to do that, she needed to get the matter sorted out quickly. While they awaited lunch, Mrs Beatrice texted her trusted right hand, asking him to carry out a clean operation on the profile sent.
On the other hand, Colton stood in a room filled with computers as they reached out to the various media outlets in South City. “I need this to be the morning news. The video should be spread around the internet at midnight. I want her stripped of everything she stole from me.” Colton gave orders as he encouraged them to work more efficiently.
His phone suddenly rang and it was an unknown number. He hesitated and on the second ring, he picked it up. Colton remained silent, waiting for the person to speak up. Just when he decided to end the call, he heard the words that changed the course of things.
“You have two hours to leave the city. A bounty has been placed on your head. Run and don’t look back.” The voice said and immediately hung up the phone.
Colton was shocked at the statement and tried returning the call, only to hear the line was out of existence. A text beeped into his phone reading the same message. Someone was after his life!
He left the meeting early, stating he had an emergency. Colton was part of the underworld and believed the warning was given to him as a result of his contributions to the underworld.
“That wench!” He cursed under his breath as he boarded a cab towards the outskirts of town, where he was to join a bus that left South City. He would lay low for some time and return when things were much settled.
Colton could only think of one person who would want him dead and that was April. He couldn’t deny he was taken off guard by how fast she moved to kill him. Unknown to him, he was walking into a trap.
Colton got to the border as predicted. A sniper lay in the bushes, awaiting his arrival. The moment the cab zoomed off, Colton felt a bullet pierce his heart. His eyes became bloodshot and he fell on the floor, wheezing until he breathed his last.
Some men walked out of the bushes with gloves and a body bag. “Grab him quickly. We don’t have much time.”