“Y—-” Lesley muttered under his breath unable to complete the statement. He still felt like he wouldn't allow his ego to be bruised in such a manner. He was a Billing for f**k’s sake - the first son of the Billing family. He wouldn't possibly cower for a man like Alan.Alan with a burst of anger walked closer to Lesley who was writhing in pain on the ground. “Get your feet together and kneel to me.”Alan could sense that Lesley wasn't going to have his useless ego bruised so easily so he had to put himself up to the task. He wasn't going to let Lesley go without giving him the humiliation of his life. One good turn deserves another and in this case, one terrible humiliation deserves a worse disgrace.Lesley’s lips pressed into a line of uncertainty as he tried to apprehend what was happening to him. Instead of making it straightforward and serving his punishment, he tried to mock Alan, showing how strong his resolve was. “Are you doing this as revenge for how badly your face was disfi
“How dare you!” Alan seethed. “You are such a shameless fool. It was you, wasn't it? You were the one in the footage. Don't you find it very embarrassing that you try to make yourself look like me just so that Rose could divorce me?”Lesley didn't respond as his face was still red and hurt from the impact of the slap and he clutched his hands to his face in pain.“I prepared just the right punishment for you,” Alan’s face curled into a disdainful smile.Alan signaled Tobiat with a twinkle of his eye and he responded immediately as if they had already planned what they would do to him.Tobiat walked towards Lesley, fastening his fists with his face stern and cold.“Drop your phone,” Alan said firmly as he placed a bowl in front of him where he would put his phone.Lesley’s eyes narrowed in a glare of defiance but he eventually dropped his cell phone into the bowl.“Now, stand up and pull off your clothes,” Alan instructed Lesley, his words laced with a deadly bite of forcefulness.Lesl
“Come over here please, Tobiat,” He said while Tobiat brought Lesley closer. He figured out that Alan was going to handcuff their hands together so that he wouldn't get to escape while they were outside.With Alan’s face set in an expression to subject Lesley, he clamped the cuff around his wrist, his fingers fast with a silent speed of power as it clamped onto Tobiat’s wrist as well.“Now, you are both ready to go,” Alan said, clasping his hands in silent excitement.He knew that Lesley parading the street in broad daylight almost naked was going to draw a lot of reactions from people and many of the reactions were going to be embarrassing. It should be a huge shame to the Lesley family.With pain in Lesley’s voice, he screamed. “You will regret this, Alan. You won't see the end of this.”Tobiat didn't mind being cuffed with Lesley. He wanted to make sure that Lesley served his punishment. Even before he was imprisoned by Mr. Billing, he never liked him. Lesley saw him as a pompous b
A large number of customers at the mall whipped their heads around in a speed of surprise, their necks turned in sideways and opposite directions as they kept their mouths wide open in amazement at the scene they were witnessing.Many of them didn't first realize who it was at first because Lesley tried his utmost best to hide his face from the public view. It was too late though - several people who had recognized him before he got into the mall followed him into the mall to tell the others that it was indeed Lesley Billing - one of the famous businessmen in Townsend County who was naked on the streets.“Could that be who I think it is?”“It is very well who you think it is - Lesley Billing.”“But is this some sort of prank? Why is he cuffed? Perhaps he is being tamed because he has run mad.”“My dear, that is the only explanation for this. He must have gotten mad suddenly. I think the big guy he is cuffed with wants to take him to the psychiatric ward.”Tobiat aligned himself with
Mr. Elias’ investments had always been very steady and it would be a big problem if he stopped investing. Mr. Billing would never forgive him if he knew that Elias stopped investing because of him - as it was already, he was already having doubts as to whether Mr. Billing was going to embrace him after the show of shame.Lesley managed to part his lips and let out a few words. “I am mentally alright Mr. Elias…just suffering from the sins of my past.”“Suffering from the sins of your past?” Mr. Elias was even more confused, his brows furrowed in bewilderment as his eyes were wide with perplexed wonder. What sins had Lesley committed that he thought he was suffering from? A flurry of questions was coming into Mr. Elias’ mind. Tobiat had heard enough of the conversation so he pulled Lesley along with him as they made their way to the exit of the mall.****Mr. Billing’s voice erupted in a deadly roar of anger, his tone sharp and biting as his eyes were red with fury. “What the hell is g
CHAPTER 16***Lesley Billing had served his punishment which was well administered by Alan. “Boss, I am sure you must have seen everything going on in the media. We have done as you wanted,” Tobiat informed Alan, his posture exuding a sense of duty.“Oh, I am quite satisfied with the outcome,” Alan settled back with an air of satisfaction, a sigh of contentment on his face. “I am sure this must propel a lot of controversy and that is what I want. The Billings must learn to behave humanely toward others and sometimes you have to give them a taste of their own medicine for them to learn.”Tobiat nodded his head in agreement with what Alan had said.Lesley was in a private room monitored by two guards as he put his clothes back on. His mind was reeling with what he was going to face when he returned to the Billing family manor.What would Rose think of him? What would Margaret think? What would everyone think? Of course, he was going to tell everyone about what Alan did to him. But h
“If you gave me this new responsibility to distract me from the fact that you have cancer or the fact that you have something bothering you, then I regret the day I signed the document,” Alan continued. “Either way, I would continue with as much vigor as I can gather, and trust me, this might just be the last time you see me.”Alan darted fiery glances and stepped aside in readiness to leave Mr. Greyson’s manor. Alan’s eyes were red and contorted with pain. A part of him wished that he didn’t have so much empathy for his father who was ready to use him as the fall guy for federal offenses and send him to jail.Mr. Greyson blinked away in tears of sorrow as he watched Alan leave. His face was contorted with a twist of misery as a drop of tears escaped the corner of his eyes.He whispered, his lips quivering with anguish. “Alan,” he called.Alan arched his neck as he heard his father whisper his name.“I will tell you everything you need to know,” Mr. Greyson uttered, wiping away the te
“Hello, you have new instructions. Close up the gates and do not allow Lesley in. Is that understood?” “Yes, Sir,” a voice responded through the phone.“But, dad—” Margaret tried to intercede further but was met with a shush from Mr. Billing.Lesley was still struggling his way through the microphones and cameras until he finally broke free of them.The reporters decided to wait behind while they watched what was going to happen with Lesley and whether he was going to enter into the manor.One of the reporters in carrying out his duty uttered. “As you can see. Here is Mr. Lesley Billing knocking at the Billing family manor. We await to know if he will be let in considering the delicate situation that he seems to have put himself in.”“Isn’t that so, Kelvin?” He transferred the podium to another reporter.“Yes, still reporting for Eagle TV. As my colleague reported earlier, Kelvin seems to be keen on getting through to the manor. It appears that Mr. Billing, Rose Billing, Margaret Bil
He was in a hurry to get things done quickly because he knew that it was going to be only a matter of time before the guards would discover that the public service system had been hacked.“When you get on the other side of the purple fence, just hang in there until we come to get you okay?”Jackson’s hands were large and measured, his touch gentle as he took Brody’s hands into his own.“Come on, I will show you the way and then you will complete the move,” Jackson’s voice was soft, his voice sincere as he was careful not to scare the boy with too much haste even though he was in a hurry and rightfully so.They crept until they got to the entrance which was just a few meters away from where they were. Jackson’s eyes were alert as he watched to see that there was no guard close to them that would impede their move.They hid behind the cars, creeping through the shadows with their eyes narrowed with a tense intent to get as far away from view as possible.Jackson then reached a point whe
“Come on, let’s go. We can't just sit here and do nothing after all. We have to do something.”With a grim determination, the guards all filed out of the lobby one after the other, their footsteps resounding through the empty hallways.The tension was palpable in the air as their weapons glinted in the harsh fluorescent light.Their bodies were taut with adrenaline as they headed towards their destination.Alan’s face glimmered with a relieved twinkle of gratitude the moment he saw that the guards had all gone.He then whispered to Jackson. “Hey, Jackson. Call Fred now and tell him to his way to the purple fence area. That’s the easiest route out of here. Tell him to get there as quickly as possible. That’s where Brody would have to go meet him.”Brody was confused, his face darting left and right as he was trying to understand what Alan was saying.Where was he saying that he was going to go? Since when did the plan become that he was going to go somewhere?Alan crouched down, his fa
“No one, I believe. You see what I am saying. What if they already got past this place and they are already heading outside.”“Think about it, I don’t think they would want to escape through the outside. Look at the way that they came in. We didn’t even know. None of us knew until they got to the top floor and killed two guards.”“It’s obvious they are trained so we have to think along the line of the fact that they are more than prepared for this.”“They probably outlined every step of the way before they came.”“Not probably, man. They did, it’s quite obvious.”“I guess it’s a draw right now. Mr. Lawrence already has one of them while they have gotten Brody.”“We must get back Brody, man. That’s the instruction. Mr. Lawrence has ordered a closure of all entry points right now and it is already in process. Everything must be on lockdown until Brody is found.”“We can’t afford to fool around.”“What if they are holed up in one of the offices? We should search each room systematically.
Mr. Lawrence then moved his eyes closer to Della’s face to get a clearer view of what was going on.“Wait, what? You look familiar,” Mr. Lawrence’s eyes narrowed, his gaze piercing into Della with the intensity of a predator sizing up its prey.His expression was hardened as a cruel smile spread across his face.“You look awfully and strangely familiar I must say,” Mr. Lawrence remarked again.He wasn’t sure of whether to keep up with his suspicion or to ignore it. He was sure that there was something about her that was too strange to ignore.It dawned on him that the person that she traced her face to was actually that of Rose Billing, the same woman that he murdered.He paused once more and spoke. “I know who you are, don’t I?”Della’s lips curled very slightly by the side as if she was trying to give Mr. Lawrence the clue that he needed.And Mr. Lawrence picked up the clue. He was shocked by the resemblance that Della had with Rose and even though he tried to ignore it as nothing b
“You are Brody, aren’t you?” Alan asked.The boy nodded in affirmation. Jackson’s grip on Brody’s hands loosened and Brody’s shoulders were relaxed gradually even though he knew subconsciously that there were most likely going to be some problems lying ahead.“I know you,” Brody spoke to Alan. “I saw you the other day when Mr. Lawrence killed Rose. You are Rose’s husband right?”Alan paused as if he was in a deep emotional thought before he then nodded.“Yes, I was.”It was a moment of reflection for both Alan and Brody as they both seemed to have missed Rose.Brody didn’t get to spend much time with Rose but it was obvious that the little time that he had spent with her was more than enough for him to miss her for a lifetime possibly.“And Della, the lady who texted on the phone. Are you her partner? Do you work with her? Where is she?” Brody asked.He was in a hurry to receive answers to his questions because he was still a little bit scared.“She is going to be with us soon, Brody
The air seemed to thicken with tension, the silence broken only by the faint click of gun safeties being engaged.Alan then whispered into his radio, hoping that he was going to connect with Della. “Della, are you there? We are about to open fire on the guards who want to lock Brody in the basement. We are going to need backup, over.”That was all Alan needed to say and he believed that he had said enough already.They moved a few more steps with deadly precision, their footsteps soft and stealthy as they crept closer to the guards. They saw as the guards were shoving and dragging Brody and this time, they were going to lock him into the basement.They were no longer interrogating him about the phone because there were bigger issues to deal with.But Alan and Jackson thought that it was time to raise a response.The guards burst the basement door open and were prepared to shove Brody into a dark room but there was a sudden startling noise of gunfire.Pow! Pow!Boom!The hail of bulle
Alan was just a few feet away hiding behind one of the pillars. The moment she saw the harsh slap that was performed against the boy, he gritted his teeth in frustration as he became provoked to cause a disruption.Why would they treat such a young boy like that? He had to hold and keep himself in check so that they would stay according to plan.But considering the way he was feeling, he wished that he could just start a gunfire right away. He began to rethink whether it was best to engage the guards with gunfire right away or if they should wait a while until Brody got locked in the basement and they would try to open it up.Just as he was still having a deliberation in his mind, the guards continued with their harsh treatment toward the boy.“Yeah, right, we are not stupid,” Guard two spoke. “Look at the faces of all of us standing here.”Brody’s face was still facing the ground as he was dealing with the harsh effect of the assault but he felt a hand shove his head back up so that
Alan and Jackson froze in place, his breath caught in his throat as he clung himself to the wall. His heart pounded in his chest as he heard the guards’ footsteps growing closer.Time seemed to be very slow as the guards drew nearer, their footsteps echoing off the walls of the hallway but Alan gripped his weapon tightly just in case the situation was going to demand it.But as they got closer, two other guards joined them. They now seemed to be five and they were discussing.Alan and Jackson were picking up on their conversations.“The boss said to keep him in the basement.”“There are many ways that the boss can get the boy on his side. After all, he is his son. I don’t see why there should be an issue between them.”“The boy is a cool guy to me.”“This isn’t about whether he is a cool guy or not. We should listen to what the boss says.”“Come on, this is not to say that I wouldn’t listen to what he says. I am only telling you as a colleague that there is no need for being so harsh
Fred was ready to go for it all. “If you need our main ID badge, my colleague can go them now. She will get mine too but I was hoping you would already know the company we are coming from. We already have a contract here.”The guard who was talking balderdash earlier scurried into the conversation. “But I haven’t seen you guys before. Especially the bright-skinned darling we have here. I would have known if I had seen her before.”Fred responded. “Well, we are not always the same and I am sure you already know that. Today, it is our shift to come to complete the repairs and as we said, we are actually running out of time.”“My colleague can quickly go and get the ID badges if that is what is delaying us from entry.”Fred was speaking with the hope that the guard was going to shrug off the situation and ask Della not to worry.But he needed to show that he wasn’t hiding something and the only way that he could do that effectively was to pretend as if everything was going fine and as ex