95

CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE.
Jamal received a call from his father that morning for them to meet up and talk about Shannelle’s near rape incident. He didn’t want to go, but Adele urged him to do so and he had no choice but to agree.
They were to meet at one of the private suits he owned in the city. When he got there, he met his father already waiting for him.
“Good morning father.” He greeted as he took a seat on the couch opposite that which his father was occupying.
“Good morning Jamal, how are you doing?”
“I’m doing just fine, father.” He answered for formality because he knew his father was not the least concerned for him even though he had asked.
“Good. Your sister told me what happened to her.”
“Of course she did.”
“What have you done to the bastard?” Mr. Dominick asked in fury.
“I’ve had him locked up. He’s going to be in there for a very long time.” He explained. Mr. Dominick let out a satisfactory smile before posing another question.
“What about Danielle? Why haven’t you put her behind bars as well?”
“I will deal with her differently. I plan to send her out of the country and make sure she never returns!”
“Send her out of the country? That’s no punishment! I want something harder. Make her family go bankrupt or something, don’t just send her out of the country and end there!” He fired fiercely and Jamal looked at his father long and hard, confirming in his heart that the man was indeed a monster!
Mr. Johan Owens was his very good friend, best friend to be precise, but there he was, petitioning for his son to bring his downfall.
Jamal calmly shook his head and chuckled. The world of the rich was indeed complicated, in a nasty way.
“I didn’t say anything funny. So why are you laughing?” Mr. Dominick asked and Jamal gave him another intense look. That was a man Jamal had looked up to almost all his life. He was his first teacher, his role model and he wanted to be just like his father, but all of that changed when the truth was laid out before him.
The only Jamal felt for the man was hatred and disgust after finding out all the bad plans he had for him. He was struggling to show his father respect.
“Father.” He called as he rested and leaned forward, both hands on his thighs and his fingers intertwined. “Isn’t Mr. Johan Owen, your very good friend?” He asked and his father nodded.
“Yes, he is.”
“But here you are, advocating for his downfall. Is that how to treat a friend?” He asked with creased brows and his father waved him off.
“Forget it, Jamal. His daughter messed with my daughter because he did not train her the right way and his entire family has to pay. Do you know the scandal that would have caused this? The entire country would be buzzing about what happened. That would have brought shame upon this family and ruined our reputations.”
“Ruined reputation, shame upon the family name, scandal! Father, is that all you are concerned about? What about Shannelle’s well being? She almost got raped and you haven’t even asked how she’s coming along, how she’s recovering from the shock, but here you are being worried about our reputations and family name. Seriously father? Seriously?” He asked, looking his father deep in the eyes.
“Shannelle was not raped, that’s what is important. She should be fine by now, there is nothing for her to shocked about. What we need to do now, is make sure to punish the people who tried with her. To make them understand that they touched the wrong family!”
“Even when those people are your friends? Father have you even had a talk with Mr. Johan about this issue? Have you heard what he has to say?”
Mr. Dominick snorted and shook his index finger before him.
“No, and I don’t want to have any sort of conversation with him. He has been calling nonstop, but I won’t pick his call. Nothing he says to me will make me change his mind. He has to go down!”
Jamal couldn’t believe the man’s head before him was his father. His words made no sense. He was handling the situation in the most irrational way and he was ashamed of the fact that he was his father.
“How did I ever consider you my role model?” Jamal asked around and his father creased his left brow at him. “How did I ever admire a man like you? Father you are cruel, you are heartless and thoughtless! I am ashamed to even call you my father. What happened? When did you become such a heartless monster?”
“Jamal!” Mr. Dominick scolded at the top of his voice and he sat upright on the couch he was sitting on. “You might be a rich and powerful man right now but that doesn’t mean you have the right to insult me. I am still your father! I made you who you are. You are who you are today because of me!”
“And I accept that, Father. You’d also agree with me that I never used to be this way. I used to be very submissive to you, I respected you alot. I was grateful to you for all that you did to me, for all that you taught me. I was grateful and I worked hard…” his voice was shaky. There were tears shimmering in his eyes and a painful lump had formed in his throat. “I started working at Dominick Co with you when I was eighteen years old. I juggled school and work, it was hard, but I wanted to prove myself to you. When I started working full time, I created that new company not to bring Dominick Co down, father. It was still going to be part of the company but you didn’t even let me explain myself, you went ahead and made me do illegal things just so you could have me subjected to you. Just so I wouldn’t leave. I wasn’t even planning to leave. Dominick Co has always been my home and I had no plans to leave.” The tears in his eyes spilled as he explained himself to his father, who was by then, speechless. “You turned me into the monster I am right now. You made me lose all my respect for you. You pushed me away!” He cried hard and his father went weak on his spot.
Mr. Dominick looked at his son who was crying like a baby before him and guilt stabbed his heart like a thousand daggers. It was all Mr. Johan’s fault. He had been the one who connered Mr. Dominick poisoned his mind. He told him Jamal was going to leave the company someday if he didn’t pin him down. It was Mr. Johan who had proposed all the traps he had set for Jamal and now he deeply regretted ever listening to him.
His relationship with his son had been ruined just because of his foolishness and greed.
“Jamal…” Mr. Dominick called. “It was not my intention to…”
“Father, I don’t want to hear it. I know you are not sorry and I know you hate me for taking everything from you. You think I don’t know?” He asked with creased brows and his father gave him a confused look.
“Know what?” He asked, confused.
“You think I don’t know about the revolution you are planning against me with some of those petty shareholders at the conglomerate?” He asked and his father’s eyes shot open in shock. “Yeah, I know you are planning a comeback. You want to bring me down and take over Dominick Co once more.” Jamal chuckled in mockery. “That’s only going to happen in your dreams! I had intended to work for you until you handed the company to me when the time was right, but I found out that you had no plans of doing so and if I had left, this company would have gone down because of your foolishness. I had a talk with grandpa before he died, he told me this conglomerate was mine and Shannelle just as much as it was yours and it belonged to our offsprings just as much as it belonged to us. That’s why I took this personally. This is an inheritance, father, not your personal property, you were meant to care for and hand it over when the time was right and I am meant to do exactly the same, but you wanted to sit on it and bring down this heritage. I’m not going to let you do that. Never!”
“I have had enough of your insults!” Mr. Dominick roared as he rose to his feet and started walking away.
“I will make sure Mr. Johan’s company goes bankrupt and I’m not going to do so because you have asked me. It has always been on my mind. It is his time to pay for masterminding the plot you had against me.”
Mr. Dominick walked out of the office shamefully and Jamal fiercely wiped his tears away and let out a heavy sigh he didn’t even know he was holding.
He was setting the records straight and he loved how smoothly things were moving.