The secretary looked at him with wide eyes, he could overhear the man on the other end of the call and he was curious. "What is going on, Sir?" The young man asked. Jeremy hissed as the phone disconnected, and the caller hung up. "You have no idea who sent these letters?" He asked, his tone icy. If there was one thing that Jeremy disliked, it was being baited, it was being drawn out and made to feel like prey, he did not come from a family of prey. The young secretary shook his head, "I don't know who sent it, a delivery was made early in the morning, the box was addressed to your name." He said and gestured to the envelopes that had his name boldly written on them. "How many of these have you gotten?" He asked, the secretary rummaged through his suitcase and finally sighed, he retrieved his diary and looked at it, "There's been a delivery of thirteen packages sir, but the letters are just six, and since you haven't been available to take them, I decided to take it home to you
Jeremy could hear the fear in the driver's voice. "We're being ambushed!" He yelled and reached out to grab his phone and call the cops. But immediately, the driver's door was opened from outside and he was roughly drawn out. "Please!" He yelled as he was thrown to the bonnet of the car and told to remain there."We want nothing to do with you, we don't want to hurt you at all, but that depends on you. Now take your car and get out of here." One of the masked men ordered. The driver nodded frantically, he was short of breath and literally gasping. "Please...don't hurt us, I'm sure you have the wrong man, just let us__" he stammered but the masked man cut him in before he could complete that statement. "I don't quite think you heard me, there is no 'us' in this, man." He said and went to the driver's seat where Jeremy was still seated and led him out, taking him to the side of the vehicle and having two men hold him in place. Jeremy did not struggle, he had a fair idea what the en
Jeremy did not have to wait any longer. From the way that Venom's eyes shifted and the way he suddenly looked restless, it was clear that he was considering the offer. "How do I know you're not bluffing?" He asked, his eyes widened to frighten Jeremy. Jeremy simply shrugged, "Why not find out?" He asked with a smirk plastered on his face. Venom hissed, he looked at the henchman by his side, the tall man was suddenly very interested in the conversation, he'd heard $50 million and he knew too well that he'd gotten less than half of that for the job. If Jeremy wanted to pay double, that would be absurd, an absurd blessing that they needed. "Listen, don't try to mess with us, we have been hired by very powerful people and we won't hesitate to deal with you," Venom said and the henchman nodded. "Don't try to be funny, we know you can't afford $100 million, stop bluffing." He said, but his eyes spoke of some sort of hope that maybe Jeremy truly had the money and would pay them double.
There was ruckus downstairs, Jeremy could hear it from all the way up, he could hear the heavy footfalls of his workers as they rushed up the stairs. "What's this riot?" Jeremy asked, pissed at the secretary for disturbing his already stressed thoughts. "Sir, the men have refused to leave, the security men can't throw them out." The secretary replied. Jeremy said, "I'm coming, tell everyone to be calm." He said and took his suit from the back rest of his chair, throwing it in. The secretary rushed down and told the workers to be calm, that their CEO was coming down soon. Jeremy had a fair idea what was happening, he knew it had to be related to Venom, perhaps, the man had double crossed him and took money from his original source to disclose the location of his office, he knew criminals could not be trusted, honor amongst thieves was only in the books. Downstairs, he could see his staff peeking out of their offices and stalls, some frozen on by the elevator threshold. "Yo
The moon was just beginning to cast its faint glow, there was darkness over the street and the alley across was a den of shadows. Jeremy struggled as the bag came over his head, he leaped away from their hold and tried to remove the bag but he wasn't fast enough, one of the men pulled him to his arms and clutched him, his embrace so tight from behind that he paralyzed his arms. It was time to stop struggling and think, he knew that the building was empty, his secretary had just left minutes ago and no one was going to hear him scream into the night, he had to be smart. Jeremy suddenly kept calm, he tried to relax his muscles although adrenaline was coursing through him like a stimulant. The men pulled him into the limousine hurriedly, they snatched his phone and pulled off his earbud. Before Jeremy could yell, a cloth was shoved into his mouth and tied behind his head. "We have him secured, boss." One of the men in the car said as they drove off. In the car, Jeremy wondered
Gilbert Kingston. Jeremy knew who he was before he introduced himself. The photographs did not do him justice. He was much more thin and unsightly in person. His beards grew in all directions and his hair was a mess on top of his head, wrapped in a thick maroon bandana. Gilbert was holding a cigar much larger than his thin long fingers. His cheekbone was prominent, his face looked shrunken, his eyes sank deep into his face, making him look like an object of nightmares. "Did I hear you say you are an heir to my father's inheritance?" He asked, his tone low and deadly, Jeremy could feel the hairs on his hand stand on end as the man spoke. "You heard me, Gilbert." He replied boldly, despite the fact that he'd been overpowered by the three men and now made to kneel before Gilbert. Gilbert sneered at him, throwing the cigar far away and puffing the smoke on his face. "Who do you think you are? Coming here and laying claims to my inheritance right in my face, you must have some guts!
Gilbert stared, awed at how his safe and secret island was being invaded. "Where are the security men outside? How could they not know this was happening?" He thundered. Butcher and the tall man could not say anything, they were trembling fearfully. "They've all been overpowered, sir," Butcher replied as he tried to reach out to the guards on his Communication system and came up with nothing. "Impossible, no one can come to this island without me being notified, someone must have sold us out, who is it? Who betrayed me?" He asked angrily and the men all backed away from their boss. Trevor had very terrible anger issues and they'd faced his wrath enough to know that he was to be avoided once in that mood. "Boss, it doesn't matter, we need to leave." One of the men said as he saw that the chopper had landed right by the house and the soldiers were heading up the stairs. Trevor shook his head, grabbed hold of Jeremy, and said, "We have him hostage, if they want him alive then they wi
The bus smelled like a gym floor, the bodies standing right next to him made him feel a little claustrophobic. Jeremy was not raised in the finest of places, he'd tasted the ghetto live one time too many times, even in the hands of his in-laws where he was being treated as trash, but still, he disliked his rides more than anything. But he had no choice, a bus was the only thing that could take him to the place he wanted. Information on Sinclair's latest case had reached him and he knew he needed to act fast if he was to influence the outcome of the case. Jeremy wanted to reach out to Sinclair once more and perhaps see if they could come to a diplomatic agreement, after all, he was legally a partner of the inheritance and he deserved equal rights to all information about the will, all he needed was a copy of the will, he wanted to see the terms of the will himself, all that his father had told him was simply not enough. But he second-guessed that option the moment it came to mind.
The room was as brooding and intimidating as the men who sat in it. It was so large that the walls could almost not be seen from the entrance. The cold air blasted from the air conditioning unit and there was no single furniture in the room except the mahogany table and six chairs that surrounded it. It was Jeremy's first time appearing before the council and he was dressed for the occasion. His white suit was immaculate and he'd had his show made the previous day. He was dressed like the heir he was as he stepped into the room. Sinclair smiled at him from across the room where he sat with the rest of the council but the smile was so slight that someone else couldn't have noticed it.Jeremy wasn't the only one standing before the council. Gilbert was likewise dressed in a white suit - making Jeremy regret picking the color - and his mother, Hilda was dressed in a tight purple dress that hugged her bodice like a second skin and extended to the floor like a wide wave, covering most of
Jeremy was shaking on the spot as he stared at the face of lord Kingston. He'd seen the man only a few times in real life as a child. When his father had taken him to meet with him once and a while. His memories were a little shaky but he knew that the lord was a handsome man who was aging finely. But even if he had never seen the lord before, he would still be able to recognize him. Right there on the makeshift hospital bed was lord Kingston with tubes sticking out of him in all the wrong places. His face was peacefully calm and his nod remained still on the bed. After the first shock wore off, Jeremy became alert again and quickly rushed to check his vitals. Even without grabbing his wrist, he could tell that the lord was still alive because the heart monitor on the wall was still ticking strongly. Jeremy however still checked his pulse and heartbeat manually, just in case the monitor was faulty. He looked around the room and could see different cabinets and drawers, they were al
The next day, Jeremy arrived at a tool shop very early in the morning, he was dressed in a form-fitting spandex and a pair of sunglasses, his feet tucked into a sturdy boot and his fingers gloved. "I'll have a chisel, a hammer, and a six-meter rope," he said to the girl at the counter who looked at him skeptically. "Are you working on something?" She asked and swallowed nervously. "You could say that," he replied and he could see the girl's eyes widen. "Don't worry, I'm not a psychopath," he said and she sighed but then he added, "I think," as he swiped his card, paid for everything he'd just bought, and backed it into his trunk. He was driving a nude-colored truck with tires larger than the regular, his backseat was filled with everything he needed to take down a door and even a wall if he needed to.Jeremy had spent the past night trying to make sense of what he had just seen the previous evening. It shouldn't have been anything worthy of note that Eugene went to the drug store a
The sound of the rain falling on the roof of his car sort of calmed him. Jeremy sighed as he cuddled a hot styrofoam cup of coffee on his lap and listened to the weather report on the radio. It was morning and the weather had surprised him as it did everyone else in the city. The day had started pretty sunny and then the clouds were out and soon, it was raining cats and dogs. "Climate change," Jeremy muttered as he listened to the reporter go on and on about the unpredictable state of the weather for the past few days. But if Jeremy was to be entirely honest, he'd seen a few clouds gathering the previous evening and it was a little chill too. Turning down the volume of the radio, he pulled on his raincoat from the backseat over himself and grabbed a towel from the glove compartment. He didn't have an umbrella on him because he wasn't exactly expecting the downpour. Opening the door, Jeremy raced to the porch of the restaurant and huddled with the crowd there. His eyes scanned throu
Hilda wasn't going to take chances with the new lady in town talking about Kingston like she knew him more than anyone else. Despite Gilbert and Eugene's warnings, she decided to take that risk and try to meet up with Cynthia once again. At first, Cynthia blatantly refused but after a second phone call and agreeing to go over to the spa again, she finally gave in. Hilda had to shift grounds and agree to meet in public since Cynthia was skeptical about coming to the estate. Dressed in a pair of black trousers and a chiffon top, Hilda moved into the spa and took a seat closest to the pool. It was a different crowd from the one she'd seen the last time at the spat. But they were very similar in many ways, rich, uppity, and lazy women who knew nothing about making a penny but a lot about how to spend it. Hilda could not help but feel a wave of jealousy wash over her as she waited in the spa. Cynthia using the place twice in a row was a sign that she visited there often. It was not a c
The three men looked at each other in silence. What Fred had said made no sense at all, there was no singular way of knowing who the true heir of the Kingston inheritance was or what the illegitimate child should look like. "This sounds like utter bullshit and I mean no offense, Fred," Jeremy said. Maybe it was his cravings for Chinese food or that he was just hungry, or maybe it was the irritation from the previous day's meeting with Cynthia and Tricia. He wasn't certain exactly why but he could tell he had no patience for crap. "No offense taken, Jeremy, but it is rather sad that you can't see what's right before your face," Fred said and shook his head, sipping his black coffee that had just arrived at the table. "So you came all the way here to find me and speak to me in parables?" Jeremy asked, he was about to call him jobless but then he did not want to offend Fred. "That's a thoughtful thing to do, thanks," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Fred laughed at his sarca
The smell of coffee and freshly baked loaves was thick in the air. Sinclair grabbed his mug and it warmed his fingertips as he blew on the surface of the brown liquid. "All that sugar isn't so good for a man your age," Jeremy reminded him as he drank his latte. “You need to live a little, Jeremy," Sinclair replied with a smug smile. Jeremy rolled his eyes and grabbed his cup of espresso. He did not order the pancake-like the lawyer did because he didn't have an appetite for anything other than Chinese soup. Sinclair was allergic to Chinese food and so he had turned down the offer to meet at the exquisite Chinese restaurant downtown. But even with his allergy, Sinclair sometimes indulged in the nice dish. He was an embodiment of a strong and resilient man. Earlier that day, Jeremy could still remember walking into him making a phone call with a client that he was representing for a murder case. It was a surprise how Sinclair bounced back right on his feet after such a tragic incide
Cynthia was placed under the heat of the midday sun, her eyes flicking at her watch now and then. She was a little anxious to meet the anonymous caller who had asked to see her. She was well aware that she'd stirred up a little talk in town with her sudden emergence, but she was basking in it. "How long are they going to keep us here for? We've been waiting for forever," Tricia, who was in the back of the car, snapped. Cynthia rolled her eyes at her daughter and replied, "We came here earlier than we were supposed to, in fact, technically it's just not time for the meetup yet," she stated. Tricia groaned and muttered something under her breath about rich people and their nasty habits. "You'll have to quit saying that, Tee," Cynthia warned her but she retorted defensively that it was the truth. "But I'm right, mum, rich people don't care about anyone but themselves, and right now, we're trying to get into their world, it's gonna be frustrating," she groaned again. Cynthia leveled
It felt good to see the Sinclair firm standing strong again after the unfortunate incident that ruined the entire place. As Jeremy drove in, he couldn't help but marvel at the sight.The building was towering, the signpost proud at the entrance and the grass had been replaced with synthetic grass carpets that looked way healthier than the original thing. Jeremy couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of plastic. At the parking lot, he could see Sinclair's car on the left side as he stepped out and shut his door, locking the car behind him. The lobby was redesigned a little but he could still see some semblance of the old firm in the renovations. In the elevator, he looked at his watch, it was a few minutes after noon and he was happy to have arrived on time. His mission at the bank proved abortive. Benedict had not been kidding when he said that he was risking his life and entire career just by getting copies of the records. Jeremy was barely allowed into the accountant's office and