Alves' jaws dropped. A gate man's son? Was that how they saw him?
He didn't know that he had gone past relegation in the house. He couldn't find his words.
"Oh, the gate man's son. I thought he's Laura's husband to be, your son-in-law."
Manuel looked away from Alves. Madam chuckled,
"You amaze me, Mr Lorget. How could I be so tasteless in my choice of Son-in-law?"
Alves felt like he had been shut. He looked towards Laura, his potential wife to be. But Laura threw her face away. He was more disturbed by the reactions of Laura than Madam's words. He didn't remember having a fight with Laura.
"I'll see myself out then. But I must say, you're such a wonderful woman, Mrs Casper. Not every powerful women give such right to the sons of their gate men."
Manuel pecked her on both cheeks and was led out by Mrs Casper. Alves kept his gaze on Laura. He noticed that Laura kept exchanging stares with the son of Manuel who had visited with him.
People began to leave the funeral hall one after the other.
"I wonder why Manuel noticed in you. You're just a piece of trash that even Max doesn't notice."
Michael walked to Alves and tapped him in chest. Now, they were trolling him with Max, the iguana in the sitting room.
"Don't be too harsh on him, Mikie... bro's eyes are already red."
Simeon scorned and followed Michael. Alves called at them,
'What did you mean by few minutes earlier?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Hey!"
He tried to stop them but they both walked away, followed by their last born who sneered at him.
He was the only one left in the funeral hall. Suddenly, Laura rushed into the place,
"Madam calls you in. She's in the sitting room."
"Hey, Laura. Let's talk."
"We will, but not today."
She hurried away at once. Alves stood there for a while wondering.
"But Laura was good to me just yesterday and even this morning. What has grandpa death really done?"
"Alves!!!!!!!"
He heard someone bark his name. Madam.
"You called for me."
Alves entered into the multimillionaire sitting room, which was extrinsically and exhaustively furnished. The cheapest thing in the room was worth $15million.
Madam was seated elegantly in her usual chair. The bad guys hanging around, and Caidine standing behind a couch.
THIS IS HELL, Alves admitted in his mind.
"Simeon."
Madam called and Simeon left the room for few seconds. He returned with a grocery bag which contained some unkown content. Alves watched Simeon edge towards him and threw the bag in his chest.
"Scram, loser!"
"I wish you good luck, asshole."
Michael added and one after the other, the family started leaving the living room.
"What's happening? Madam, what's happening?"
Madam suddenly stopped and then turned towards the hallway which led to the second sitting room,
"Where are these useless boys?"
Two hefty bouncers rushed out through the hallway bowed before her,
"Madam."
She nearly kicked one of them as she barked,
"Throw this piece of shit off my property. He has no reason to stay anymore. After all, he has no right to any of these."
"You don't mean, ma. I have nowhere to go. Please don't do this."
The bouncers got to him and picked him up like a grocery item.
"Okay, ma I'll stay with the gate man. I'll squat till I find a place. Please don't throw me out."
But Madam didn't wait, she'd walked away.
"Laura please beg for me... Gareth, you're not like the rest, please help me..."
"Who told you that I'm not like them?"
Gareth walked to him and kicked him in the face with his pointed Italian shoe. Alves started to bleed.
"Die on the street!"
Gareth spat on Alves and Alves was taken out.
"Not in the rain please... please Manor, please Ivan... I can't find a place in this rain. Help me please..."
He didn't know that it's been raining. But did that matter to Madam and her children? Of course not.
Ivan and Manor, the bouncers threw him out of the gate. Ivan warned,
"If you love your life, stay away from this property."
The gate was locked and they walked away.
"Please... help me. Don't do this..."
Alves went on his knees. He hadn't been too long in the rain but the heavy downpour has drenched him.
In no time, he was began to shiver in cold, his fingers ***. There was neither a coming vehicle, nor a going one.
CASPER'S MANSION was built in an isolated area beyond assemblies of thick trees. Cars don't usual ply that route. What's the point, there was no other houses ahead.
Suddenly, his phone chimed in his pocket. But he refused to check it. It was natural to ignore such in the rain.
The phone chimed again and then again.
"Who's this in this rain?"
There were options. And of all these options, it was obviously someone he was owing.
After the unchecked test, came a call. Yet, he ignored it. But unlike the text, the call kept coming in and in.
Out of rage, he brought of his phone, an iPhone 5s and answered without looking,
"Who the hell is this?"
"Sorry to bother you, sir."
Came the voice.
"Who's this?"
"I'm the bank manager of Mavelik Banks."
"Mavelik?"
Alves repeated, probably finding hard to believe. Because Mavelik was the biggest bank in Grimmings Hills.
"How may I help you? I can't talk for long..."
"I have to talk to you in person, sir. I'll be free whenever you are."
"Talk? I'm not sure I understand what you mean?"
"Isn't this Mr Alves Loinglot?"
"Yes that's me."
"Then I'm speaking with the right person."
The manager added,
"I'd love to talk about the money."
"What money? I didn't borrow any loan from Mavelik. I could never even meet the conditions of taking loans in this lifetime.
Alves was alarmed. There was a strange tone to the manager's voice,
"Wait. Did you check your phone yet?"
"My phone?"
Alves muttered.
"Are you in the rain? Sounds like it..."
"Don't worry about that..."
The manager finalized,
"You know what, stay where you are. I'm sending a car to pick you up now. But please check your phone, sir. I'll be with you in a while."
The call dropped.
"What was that about?"
Alves looked at his phone, trying to shield the rain drops away as he went through the message. His eyes widened at the first message that popped up. It read,
CREDIT ALERT: $1 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000
SENDER: ANONYMOUS.
Alves decided to keep quiet all through the drive to wherever the bank manager was driving him to. He neither wanted to be forward nor did he have an idea what to say. It all happened like a total shock to him. He looked at his phone again, making an attempt to count the numbers of zeros behind the one. No matter how hard he tried to, he couldn't say for sure what that range of number is called. He knew thousand, million, billion, trillion and --"We should get you changed first, sir. You must feel uncomfortable in those wet clothes."The manager offered and pulled over at the same time. SIR?It was like a dream. That was the only definition Alves could find. He watched the manager step out of the car and walked towards and into a boutique. To Alves, everything was strange. Ranging from the fact that he was being driven by the manager of Mavelik, and now the manager went to get him a new pair of clothes?!Not only was Mavelik the biggest bank in Grimmings Hills! It's an acclaimed
"We'll love to see you around again sir. Whatever and however little your concern is, you are totally and absolutely welcomed."The manager said to Alves. He had just walked Alves out of the office and was bidding him a goodbye."Is there any other thing you would love for us to do? I mean, we could have a car take you home if you don't mind. And even if you so wish, you could take my own car home."Alves wasn't sure how to respond to the generosity of the manager. Though the manager really appeared kind to him, but he knew too well that it was an offshoot of professionalism. The manager was just working for the money. If Alves had not received such amount of money, he wouldn't have been pampered."No, I got it covered. You don't have to worry."He said and the manager nodded. He turned away from the manager. If he kept looking, the man might keep on the idle talk which Alves was already getting tired of.As soon as he noticed that the manager had left, he walked away from the vicinit
Alves couldn't bring himself to accepting what had just happened. No matter how hard he thought about it, it didn't make any sense to him. There were a lot of things that left him speechless. Just yesterday, she had promised to follow him to a gala event, even though Madam was so much against it. Before the sudden and unfortunate incident of Grandpa's death which pulled all plans apart. He didn't remember having a fight with her. If it was something else he might have been able to stand it and probably ignore it. But that wasn't even the main concern. What struck him to the depth of his conscious was what followed the whole shocking event. She slammed the door in his face!!!He wanted himself to believe so badly that he was held up in some sort of trance or probably a dream. That was what if felt like. Like he was dreaming!LUARA... IS CHEATING ON ME... SLAMMED THE DOOR IN MY FACE. He didn't know which of the two thoughts was the most devastating. All he did was stare, he couldn'
Alves phone started buzzing in his pocket. He brought it out before any other thing; he was still on his knees, in an open place. The hidden exit which he had taken led to an exposed roadside. He looked at the caller. Seeing the caller, he helped himself to his feet. He could see people gazing at him, but he didn't care. If they had an idea what he was going through, they probably would tell him to continue doing whatever he thought right. "Why is Charles calling me?"He thought first, staring at the number for a while. He knew he has to make a decision as soon as possible else the call would fall through. He answered the call. "Hey Charles. I was just about to call you."It wasn't a lie. That was the next thing he had in mind before the whole Laura situation. "Makes sense that I called you first then. But it doesn't matter who calls who first."The husky voice of Charles came over the speaker. Alves could hear a voice underneath, over the speaker. He could tell that it was the v
No matter how much Alves thought about it, he couldn't bring himself to a definite conclusion. He quit tossing the thoughts from one side to the other. He walked towards the open space and stopped a cab."Majood Riverside."He told the driver and the cab zoomed off. It didn't take much time to get there. He got off and paid. He turned at once in the direction of the Riverside.He stood there for a while, doing the last thinking, perhaps he could take a guess of whom the person he was going to meet was.It was only grandpa who would take him to the Riverside on his birthdays when he was younger even up to this day. If it wasn't because of the cold hands of death, he probably would be there next week too. His birthday.He shook his head scoffing,"Impossible. His coffin was taken away."That was the funny thought he had.WHAT IF IT'S THE REAL OWNER OF THE MONEY?That was the thought he had been trying to avoid all the time. He realised finally that he was wasting time standing there. Al
It was hard for Alves to put his thoughts together. It was quite a difficult task to align his thoughts at that moment. There were so many things going on in his mind, but the greatest of them all was,DID GRANDPA KNOW ABOUT THE MONEY?He shook his head slowly. That didn't seat right in his mind. It was as though he needed to make a rethink.IF HE DOES, WHY DID HE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL HIS DEATH TO TELL ME ABOUT IT?He couldn't provide an answer for that question either. He opined that he would be able to answer a question with another one.IF HE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT THE MONEY, WHY IS THIS LETTER ADDRESSED AS THE ONE I GOT FROM THE MANAGER OF MAVELIK?It was as though his head would explode. He had gone through a lot for that day to be greeted by such a mystery."It's not a compulsion to open it right here. You can take your time. It seems to bring so many memories."The aged voice came from beside him. He had almost forgotten that he had the old man there with him. He had been so engrosse
Alves was quite puzzled by the fact that Madam couldn't tell that he was the one from his back view. If it was the other way round, Alves would had known she was the one. He could even tell by the way she turn her neck whenever she was going to hop into a discourse which she wasn't invited to in the first place. Before Alves could choose what to do; whether to avoid her or turn to face her. He felt a force which shoved him to the side. He crashed heavily into the nearest wall, almost breaking an arm. It was sudden and ruthless. "How dare you stand in the way of our Madam." Came the voice of one of the two bouncers who had thrown him out of Casper's earlier that day. While it was raining. That got on his nerve. He didn't plan to hide his face any longer. There were quite a number of thoughts going on in his mind. WHAT IF I WAS A RICH MAN, WOULD HE HAD SHOVED ME AWAY LIKE THAT? HE HAD NO IDEA WHO I WAS, AND PUSHED ME OUT OF THE WAY IN SUCH A ROUGH MANNER? Then he remembered that i
Even though Alves knew that there was no point struggling with the cops, yet he tried to put up a fight. He was quite a realistic person, but at that moment, logic had nothing on him. He was so pained and pissed off that he just wanted to exchange fists. In his mouth was,"Bullshit! Bullshit!! Fucking Bullshit!!!"He took beatings. Several punches in his face. His cheeks folding in at the effect of the angry fists. To think that police men could be this brutal towards a SUSPECT left him speechless. Literally. Both sides of his mouth had blood trailing off. He could feel pain in his nose. He must have broken it at the ruthless contacts. He was shoved into the van of the cops before he could have himself a moment to think. He should ask them who sent them. He had an idea who it was. But it was strange. He knew Madam to be plain whenever she wanted to attack him. She had nothing to lose, so she didn't make attempts hiding her true color. He could remember vividly that Madam humiliate