CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN.
Aliya’s mind was in turmoil the entire day. When she had asked her son why he was not on good terms with his father, he had only smiled and asked her husband so he could tell her all what he did to her. She was worried.
She was extremely worried because she had no idea what to expect.
Jamal and his father had always had a very close relationship. He was always closer to his father than he was close to her and that sometimes made her jealous, but a few years ago, she discovered that the bond between father and son had been broken. When Jamal just started working at the conglomerate, he adored his father and he did everything his father had asked him to do, but a few years later, everything fell apart. Jamal lost all respect for his father and had even kicked his father out of the company.
At first, she had thought Adele was the cause of all what happened, but after realising herself, she knew there was something bigger and she needed to find out. She understood the fact that her son was a very cold person, but she also knew that Jamal was not the type to push people away for no reason. If her son had cut his father off, it meant his father had done something very bad to him and she needed to find out ASAP.
“Dominick.” She called when she walked into the bedroom. Her husband was seated on the couch in the sitting area with a newspaper in his hand. When he heard his wife call his name, he put the paper aside and looked up at her.
Mr. Dominick had been married to his wife, Aliya for over thirty years. He knew her like he knew himself. She knew what every look on her face meant and that moment, the look he was seeing on his wife’s face made him understand that they needed to talk and the talk was going to be a serious one.
“Yes, Aliya. Do you need anything?” He asked and Aliya shook her head. She looked at the man long and hard before taking a seat by his side.
“No. I don’t need anything.” She told him and he nodded his head. “However, I need you to explain to me why you and Jamal are not in good terms.”
Mr. Dominick gave her a sharp look and she nodded her head.
“Yes, I want to know why. I used to think it was Adele causing all the problems, but now that I’ve thought of it critically, I just realised that it couldn’t be her. You and Jamal used to have the strongest father and son bond, but suddenly, out of the blue, all of that changed and you two became sworn enemies. It takes more than just a woman to put two men in that kind of situation. I asked Jamal about it and the only thing he did was smile before proceeding to tell me to ask you. So here I am, asking you, what happened between you and our son. What did you do that hurt him to the extent where he had to kick you out of the company? I want to hear it.” Aliya told him with her most serious tone and Mr. Dominick began to feel uncomfortable.
He was very much aware of the fact that what he did to his son was evil. It was very bad and he knew his wife would be very mad at him if he told her, but he had no choice but to tell her because if he did not and she found out from someone else, things were going to go very wrong and that was not what he wanted.
He cleared his throat and gently threw the newspaper on the centre table before them. Aliya watched patiently as her husband prepared himself to tell her what she needed to hear.
Some part of her wished that what he had to say was serious. It wished that her suspicions about her husband being the cause of their separation was wrong. That Adele was truly the one behind everything, because she didn’t know how she was going to look at her husband if she were to find out that he did something very terrible to their son who had dedicated almost his entire life serving them by working tirelessly at the conglomerate.
“Well,” her husband’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned to look at him. “May I ask why you suddenly want to know?” Asked Mr. Dominick in an attempt to drag things out.
“I’ll tell you when you tell me what I want to hear.” Her tone was firm and her husband understood that she meant real business.
“Okay.” He nodded and heaved out an exasperated sigh. He didn’t know where to start. “Many years ago, I made some bad investments which almost cost me the conglomerate.” He began to explain and Aliya focused her gaze on him. “I was in a tight spot, the conglomerate was barely making any progress. Jamal, who was still at the university by then, pleaded with me to let him take control for some time because he had some ideas that could remedy the situation. I was adamant to let him at first, but when I saw that there was another way out, I had to let him in. He came and he did well. He brought Dominick Co back to its feet and we were at the top again. After he completed his studies, he started working full time at the company, still under me. He was doing so well and I got threatened when I found out that he had started a new branch of the conglomerate under his name. I was scared that he would one day leave the conglomerate to start up his own business and I will fall once again, so I decided to set him up.”
Aliya’s eyes popped wide open upon hearing that. Mr. Dominick nodded.
“Yes, I decided to set him up. Mr. John Owens brought up the idea. I made Jamal sign documents and run errands that would ruin his reputation if it reached the police. I wanted to have those documents so I could get him to stay in Dominick forever.”
“No you did not.” Aliya whispered with so much disappointment in her voice. Her eyes were teary as she looked at her husband in total incredulity. She could not fathom what her ears were hearing. “You decided to blackmail your own son because you were scared that he’d leave your company? Really?”
“At the time, there was no other way I could do it. I noticed he liked a woman so I knew he was making plans to get married and start a family and I knew that when that would happen, he would leave us and focus on his family, that’s why I made those documents against him, but unfortunately, someone ratted me out to him. He found out about the documents, he stole them from me and he destroyed them and now I have nothing against him. That is why Jamal hates me so much. That’s why we have not been on good terms for a while now.”
“Goodness Dominick! And here I thought it was his wife who had brainwashed him.” Tears were spilling down her cheeks as she spoke to him. Her heart was hurting after hearing all of that. “How could you do such a thing to your own son? Jamal dedicated his entire life to that conglomerate. He worked day and night to make sure Dominick Co was at the time all the time. He fed us all, he made sure we lacked nothing, he kept this family name flying high in this country even when you failed to do so and this is how you repay him? By blackmailing him because you thought he was going to leave the company? Seriously Dominick? You stooped that low, you did something that petty?”
“Aliya I was in a tight spot okay.”
“What tight spot? Dominick no tight spot on this planet earth should make a father do what you did to your son. You were greedy and heartless, that’s why you listened to bad advice.” Aliya scolded as she rose to her feet. She was breathing so hard and her heart was beating so fast that she was scared she would pass out anytime soon.
Mr. Dominick had nothing to say to defend himself because he knew what he did to his son was terribly wrong.
He was condemnable.
“Aliya I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to our son.”
“You didn’t mean to?” Aliya scoffed. “I think that’s a blatant lie. You probably had those documents for years, waiting for Jamal to make a move so you would castigate him! That doesn’t sound like something one would do unintentionally. You were serious about ruining our son’s reputation and it was God who saved him!” Aliya scolded at the top of her voice and Dominick just stayed still. He was so guilty, he had nothing to say.
“Aliya, I’m sorry.”
“You know what? I’m going to leave this house and I will only return when you must have apologized to our son and made peace with him. If you dare try to stop me from leaving this house, one of us will die tonight.” She threatened and walked over to the closet with her husband following her behind.
That was the first time in about ten years they were having such a heated argument.