Rachel stood up and watched as Mr Anderson walked away from the library. She had felt so nervous talking to him, how could she open her mouth to tell him that she didn’t know what to do from this moment? Wouldn’t it make her look unserious?
It was so strange to be involved in a case like this. In the movies, they made it look so easy – like all you had to do was just find the guilty person, open a court case, win the court case and take the person to jail. But in real life, it was completely different. Sometimes it worked just like the movies but sometimes, just like her own case, it was completely different.
What do you do when you are worth almost nothing and you’re going against someone who was in charge of a multibillion dollar company? What do you do when you are married to the son of that person and you’re not sure if that person would choose to save his family instead of doing the right thing? Who would want to destroy their own family?
It really didn’t always work like the movies….
Rachel moved forward to step out of the library when someone suddenly jumped out from behind one of the huge bookshelves.
A low scream of terror escaped her lips before she looked closely at the figure and gasped in surprise
“James?? What are you doing there? How long have you been there?” Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized something. “You…you heard our conversation?”
James lifted his legs, walking forward till he stood a few feets away from her. His eyes were a bit red with his quiet anger and his lips were firmly set in a thin line. He looked angry.
“Everything I just heard is true, right?”
“You haven’t answered my question,” Rachel retorted. Why would he eavesdrop on their conversation? “I won’t answer you until you answer me.”
James sighed. He put his two hands in the pockets of his trouser and stared at her for a moment. “I was reading through a book, I guess I was so carried away with what I was reading that I didn’t hear the library door open on time. I thought it was George so my first instinct was to run and stay behind the bookshelf by the wall. I would have left when you and the other man started talking but your conversation with him caught my attention. So silly of me”
Rachel shook her head and peered at him “Really? Is that the truth?”
“Yes, it is.” James answered “About your conversation with that man, are you saying my father is actually the one behind what happened to your father? I can’t believe it. I really can’t”
Rachel sighed “I am not sure if I should be having this conversation with you. It’s a very serious matter to me”
“I understand that you don’t trust me. I am not expecting you to, I mean, thinking about it, it makes no sense to expect the son of your enemy to support you in a matter like this. But I want you to know that I need to know the truth in order to make a good decision. I need to know what my father actually did so I can stop him before he does something more terrible”
“That’s the problem! You are not supposed to tell your father anything about this. Unless, you are going to spoil everything I worked for so far. Your father must not know that I am aware of the terrible things he did to my father. You could actually put my life in danger.”
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean it that way, I have no desire to put you in a difficult position. I’ll keep it away from him as you wish” James responded “I am still finding it hard to process all I heard. Why would he do that to your father? I remember he told me they were good friends”
“Clearly, my father was the only one who saw him as a friend. It was jealousy that made him fabricate a lie against my father. Jealousy over the fact that my father performed better than him in building ‘his own’ company and a lot of the board members respected my father so much in a very short time”
“That’s all?” James asked, frowning in disapproval “That was the silly reason why my father ruined your father? He threw him in jail for ten years all because of that? This is so disappointing. I can’t believe this!”
“That’s the truth. You’ve already heard my conversation with Mr Anderson. Now, he is trying to get rid of anybody that knows about what he did or has the evidence that can bring him down”
“No way. Are you serious?” James asked, his eyes full of surprise and fear “When you say ‘get rid of’, do you mean he wants to kill them?”
Rachel chuckled softly. This twenty one year old guy standing in front of her really didn’t know how wicked his father was. Just the things he did to George’s mother, Patricia all these years were enough reasons to shoot him in his skull.
“Of course, what else would it mean? Don’t you watch those action movies where the bad guy kills anybody that knows his weakness? You have absolutely no idea who your father actually is!”
James stood quietly for a minute, his eyes looking sad. He needed as much time as he could get to process this information. He was finding it hard to believe everything. “For years, I actually thought that my mother was the one behind your father’s incident”
Rachel glanced up at him, surprised at his words “Why would you think your mother is the one behind it? There must be a reason.”
“You already know she talks a lot…” James replied “…. She once told me years ago, that by all means, she would be the one to control this company with my father, regardless of who is by his side at the moment”
Rachel scoffed. Judith was unbelievable, despicable and any other extra negative word in the English dictionary. “Around when she told you this, my father was already working with Morris, right?”
“Yes.”
“I see what you mean when you said you thought she was the one”
“Does George know about this?” James asked “He has been acting normal. I don’t think he would act normal if he knew about this”
“I’m not really sure. I don’t think he knows” Rachel looked at James as he stood in front of her, staring at a painting on the wall. “James, promise me one thing”
“What is it?”
“Promise me that you will never confront your parents about this matter until the time is right. If you do it at the wrong time, you’ll put me in danger”
James glanced at her and nodded. “It’s alright, Rachel. I promise you. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I won’t say anything about this to them”