A chance to play God: The Devil's way

Chapter 6: A ghost's threat

Hector lowered the gun and put his hands up to show that he wasn't a threat.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my father's house??" Cassie demanded.

"I'm a friend of your father, Cassie," Hector said.

"How do you know my name?" Cassie questioned.

"Like I said, I'm a friend of your father's," Hector stuck to his defense.

"He's dead, you're a little too late for a reunion," Cassie responded. She was truly Henry's daughter, she had his smart mouth and wicked sense of humor.

"I'll explain everything to you in the morning, you need to get some rest," Hector glanced at her once more before he attempted to walk out.

"Don't tell me what I need!" Cassie whipped her hair at him and walked out first.

***

Hector had fallen asleep somewhere between 4 am and 4:30 am. He was not ready to attend to the chiming doorbell at 7:30 am. He groaned into the pillow and tried to smother himself.

"It's Josh. Wake up," Henry called from the corner of the room. Hector groaned again before he stumbled to the door.

Joshua — who preferred to be called Josh — looked nothing like what Hector would assume a lawyer would be. He was buff and had tattoos curdling around his forearms. He wore only a shirt with a large tie and a cigarette hung loosely from his slightly pinkish lips.

"Josh?" Hector asked lazily.

"Yes, and you are?" Josh tucked the case in his arm and stretched his hand for a handshake.

"Hector, Henry's friend." Hector took his hand in a firm grip.

"Follow me," Josh walked into the house and moved toward a glass shelf. Hector stared at the buff man who continued to charge toward the shelf. Josh traced his fingers along the books and pulled out a purplish one.

The shelf grumbled and shifted. Hector was surprised by a secret room. He wondered what more things Henry had in this big house of his. Well, it was now his.

"Take this," Josh whipped out a slick black card from his case. It had Hector's name calligraphed in gold.

"What's that?" Hector took the card and stared at it.

"It's a black card," Josh said as he began to pull out papers from the case.

"Like an actual Black card?" Hector checked the card again.

"Yes, like an actual high-end credit premium black card, Hector," Josh closed the briefcase, clicked the tip of his pen and stretched it toward Hector.

"Sign here," Josh pointed at the bottom of the document. Hector looked at the corner, and Henry nodded. He scribbled his awful signature.

"And here…and here…here, as well…don't forget this." Hector was sure he had signed about twenty different documents but he didn't know what he had just signed. He may have sold his soul for all he knew.

Josh stuffed the papers back into the case and locked it.

"All the companies Henry owned have been alerted about the change in CEO, however, they do not know who it is, yet. We should keep it that way for now till everything settles. We don't want the sudden demise of the uprising CEO."

Hector couldn't tell if Josh was joking or not because there was no smile on his face. He nodded. Josh nodded once more and walked out of the study.

"Now you're up, let's get to work," Henry moved toward a painting on a wall. Hector sighed but he was used to staying awake with very minimal sleep.

"Shift this painting aside," Henry called out to Hector. Behind the painting was a safe.

"Punch in 020398."

"Cassie's birth date?"

"How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." Hector pulled out the leather folder from the safe that had brown papers. It smelled like dust and abandonment. Hector blew on it and a cloud of dust swirled around.

Hector opened the unnamed folder and it had clippings of different people: eight in total.

"Who are these?" Hector asked.

"Those are the men responsible for your wife and daughter's death. They are the men whose drug operation you disrupted."

Hector hadn't felt this much anger while reading like he felt now. He scanned through the brief front summary and he saw the men all had wives and children. Yet, they hadn't thought twice before taking his.

"Hector, look, you need a clear mind. You cannot allow yourself to be blinded by rage which will make you do hasty things," Henry said when he noticed the change on Hector's face.

"Isn't that the point? This…this rage, I feel," Hector said.

"You can be fueled by rage, but not blinded by it."

Hector breathed out, but the annoyance still stayed. He needed to work on it, this was a mission and he sure as hell never failed.

He flipped into the next folder: it was a detailed account of one of the eight men. The rest of the folders contained the remaining seven men.

"You'll have to start with him," Henry said.

"Why him?" Hector asked.

"He's the weakest link and chains break at their weakest links," Henry said. Hector skimmed through the file. Councilman Billy was a political gladiator who loved politics, but his campaigns were secretly sponsored by his multimillionaire wife who owned a large business.

"You'll take out the wife," Henry said.

"If I take out the wife…" Hector started.

"...you take out his funding which makes him vulnerable," Henry completed. Hector loved the plan. He flipped to the next page expecting more details about Barry but was met with another person.

"Where's the rest?" Hector asked Henry. He needed as many details as he could get, as little as his favorite drinks and how many sugar cubes he loved in his coffee.

"In my office, in town," Henry said.

"Where is that?" Hector asked.

"Send Cassie. Explaining who you are and why you want to be in a dead man's office will be a lot of work," Henry said.

Hector walked out of the study to find Cassie. It wasn't difficult due to how loudly she was trying to make breakfast.

"Cassie?"

Cassie jumped and clutched her heart in fear.

"Jesus, don't do that. Why the hell are you still here?" Cassie asked rudely. Hector ignored the question and went straight to the point.

"I need you to stop by your father's office and grab me some files, it's important," Hector said. Cassie scoffed and crossed her hand on her chest.

"I don't even know who you are and you want me to steal my father's files? You must think I'm a fool," Cassie said. Hector glanced toward her chest and then to her face.

"Look, Cassie, I know what happened to your father wasn't an accident. Those men that killed your father? They killed my wife and kid as well, and I want to make them pay."

Cassie's face morphed into sympathy.

"I'm sorry," Cassie apologized.

"It's alright. Those files are locked away at the base of his drawer. The key is taped to the frame of you on his wall," Hector repeated what Henry had just said.

"Okay, give me a minute let me finish with breakfast," Cassie smiled and went back to cooking.

Hector glimpsed it. When she wasn't being headstrong, he could feel this pull toward her. She looked different. Then Henry's voice floated into his ears, stern and threatening.

"Fall in love with my daughter, and we're done, Hector."