CALEB'S ASCENSION TO POWER

Target

Chapter 7

The people noticed the sudden change in his mood and they began to fear that whatever message he had just received was going to affect them.

Caleb smiled and finish his conversations with them before telling them to leave and resume their position that he had forgiven them.

They thanked him and left.

"What happened boss?" Jack asked.

Caleb was about to answer but he remembered the text he received and he decided otherwise.

"Nothing I can't handle," Caleb said.

"Prepare the private jet but we will stop by somewhere before leaving, I want to check on something."

"Alright sir, do you need anything else?" Jack asked.

"No, just tell the manager to give you and the guys rooms to stay for the night, I want to be alone and it has been a long day, I want to sleep now," Caleb said to Jack.

"Yes sir and thank you, sir," Jack said as he walked away.

***

It had been two hours since Jack had left but Caleb was still finding it hard to sleep.

The text he had received kept ringing in his mind.

The number was strange and the text was also strange.

He brought out his phone and he checked the message to read it again.

PREPARE TO MEET DEATH WHEN YOU RETURN TOMORROW BUT YOU WILL SURVIVE IT IF YOU LEARN NOT TO TRUST ANYONE.

Caleb would have overlooked the text but he could not because it was written in red.

He began to think who else apart from Jack and his father knew that he was returning the next day.

Though he had not wanted to take the text seriously, instinct was telling him otherwise and he found himself unconsciously feeling guarded even to Jack.

Jack had been working for Caleb since he returned from his studies overseas.

Jack was given to him to work as his assistant by his father.

For the past ten years that Jack had been working for him, Jack had been loyal so he could not understand why his instincts were moving towards Jack as the suspicious one.

Caleb tried to remove the thoughts from his mind and force himself to sleep after deciding that he would go and see Jenny one last time before he left permanently.

***

The next morning, Caleb woke up and called Jack to come over and prepare his things.

He was waiting for Jack when his phone rang.

He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Jenny.

He was surprised but he still wanted to talk to her so he picked up the call.

'Hello Jenny.' He said.

'Hello loser, I'm calling to let you know that my lawyer sent the divorce papers for you to sign but you were nowhere to be found so I decided to take the pains to call you myself and tell you that you should go the house and sign that paper and appear in court by 10 pm for the divorce to be finalized. Goodbye.' Jenny said without pausing and ended the call without waiting for Caleb to reply.

Caleb looked at the phone and bowed his head in pain.

Of all the women that he had dated, Jenny had been the only one that he had truly loved and had given his all and so her betrayal had affected him deeply.

Jack came in just as he finished getting dressed.

A new suit had been ordered and delivered to his room the night before so he put it on and he looked like the wealthy Caleb who had left his company in search of love.

"You are looking good sir." Jack complimented him as they left the hotel to the convoy that was waiting outside.

"Thank you," Caleb said as he entered the car that was opened for him. "Jack, I need to get to somewhere before we go to the airport, so relay to the rest that there is a change of direction,"

"Noted sir!" Jack replied.

Caleb closed his eyes as he listened to Jack instructing the rest of the convoy.

He vowed in his heart that he was never going to love a woman ever again in his life.

When the car got closer to the former apartment that he shared with his soon-to-be ex-wife, Jenny, he told them to stop and that he wanted to walk to the place to avoid the prying eyes of the neighbors.

Caleb walked the few blocks to the apartment and went straight to the mailbox where he saw the envelope containing the divorce papers.

He quickly signed it without bothering to check inside the house.

He did not want anything that would remind him of Jenny so he refused to check the house.

He did the same thing when he got closer to the courthouse.

He did not want Jenny or anyone to see him with the convoy.

Immediately he stepped into the courthouse, he saw Jenny and instead of the love he usually felt for her, he felt a wave of nausea flood over him.

"Wow, wow, I guess someone had decided to look nice by borrowing a suit." Henry mocked.

He had come to watch the divorce proceedings and also to mock Caleb.

"Don't worry babe, no matter how much ne borrows, he can never take me away from you and besides, a pig will always be a pig even if he puts on the most expensive clothes in the world," Jenny said insulting him as she wrapped her hands around Henry.

Caleb was already tired of their charades so he walked away from them to await the judge.

It did not take long before the judge entered and the divorce proceedings were finalized.

"Good riddance!" Jenny hissed as she passed by Caleb on her way out of the court.

"And don't bother coming to work because your replacement has already been made." Henry intoned as he walked out hand in hand with Jenny.

Caleb clenched his fist in anger as he called Jack to come pick him up.

On their way to the airport, they passed Jenny and Henry but they could not see him because the window of the car was tinted.

Meanwhile, Henry and Jenny saw the convoy passing by and they were in awe and were wondering who could have been inside.

While Henry was wishing that he was the person, Jenny was wishing that she was the one married to the person.

***

Caleb came down from the private jet with Jack to meet another set of convoys waiting for him.

The others would come by road because they needed to bring the cars back.

"I would have loved to see my father first, but I want to get to to office first," Caleb said to Jack as he entered the car.

"Yes, boss," Jack replied.

A wave of nostalgia hit Caleb as he saw the company building.

He had missed it.

As soon as Caleb got out of the car and started walking to the entrance, he suddenly paused as he noticed a red laser light shining on his shirt but before his security details could react, he was already falling to the floor with blood stains on his shirt.