''Are you a Ban for real?'' the colleague that joined Charles Ban at the police station asked him after they left. Charles Ban rolled his eyes. ''You heard the policeman, didn't you? There's no need to ask me again...'' he replied impatiently. ''So how come you are working with the boss? Greg, I mean. Are you not arch enemies with him?'' Charles' colleague asked. Charles glanced at the man and saw that the look on the man's face was highly perplexed. He was disturbed. Charles didn't reply. ''Why are you not working for your family man? The other Ban, Damien. I heard he is in the hospital now. He is in a coma. How is he?'' Charles' colleague asked him. Charles's eyes widened as he looked at the man beside him. ''What did you just say?'' He asked the man. Charles' colleague was taken aback, thinking that he had said something to offend Charles. ''Is he not in a coma? Did you not hear of the war between him and our boss here, Mr. Chase?'' Charles' colleague asked. Charles wa
Charles Ban, after taking a glance at Damien Ban who was still intensely in a coma, started towards Damien Ban's house for the first time since he returned. Margaret Ban had given him the address, and he was going there to see what he could gather. If Damien Ban was incapacitated and could not work, for now, it didn't mean that the business should just die away like that, so Charles thought it best to spring into action. Charles Ban took Margaret's car and drove directly to Mr. Ban's house. The place looked very deserted. It didn't look like a place where anyone had been living recently. Charles got down from the car and walked towards the house. He tugged on the front door and saw that it was open. Charles Ban frowned. He opened the door gently and entered the huge house. The scent of his brother, Damien Ban lingered everywhere as he walked in. The house was empty and quiet. Charles walked until he entered the notorious corridor that led to Mr. Ban's room. While he walked,
Barter had stepped out, and returned to Mr. Ban's house, only for him to see Margaret Ban's car outside. He squinted in shock. What could she be doing there at that time?She hardly ever visited that house when Mr. Ban was around, not to talk of when he was not around. Barter quickened his steps into the house. Even if he had seen Margaret Ban's car outside, he couldn't risk being on guard.For all he knew, these were dangerous times, and it was possible that anyone could have taken Margaret Ban's car and driven down to Mr. Ban's house. Barter walked slowly and stealthily into the house. He didn't make a sound.He was so quiet that even Laura who always heard anyone that passed by her room door did not hear him walk past her room this time. Barter sensed another presence.A foreign one. One that he was not used to. He could also perceive a foreign scent. Barter walked slowly like that until he got to the door of the study, showing up with his gun pointed out in front of him, r
''There is a woman in the room over there. Why is she being locked up?'' Charles Ban eventually asked Barter after deliberating about Mr. Ban's business for a while. He looked at Barter rather inquisitively, anxious to know the reason behind Laura being locked up. Although he didn't tell Barter that he knew Laura yet. Barter heaved a deep sigh. ''She tried to run away on several occasions. She's your brother's wife. I found her at a mall and took her away back here. She keeps trying to run away so it's best she stays locked up,'' Barter said with malice. There was silence between both men for a while. ''Can I see her?'' Charles eventually asked. Barter looked at Charles Ban carefully. ''What? Is she aggressive? Is she violent?'' Charles asked, feigning ignorance of the fact that he had met Laura, AKA Ramian before. ''She killed my sister...'' Barter said to Charles Ban with a low voice. Charles was stunned, speechless. He stared at Barter as if he was looking at a
Charles Ban didn't know what to say again. He glanced at Laura AKA Ramian, and removed his eyes quickly, for fear that Barter would sense the familiarity between them. ''But if we are going to help my brother kick start this business again, we would need as many hands on deck as possible. I mean...you know that I am a public enemy, and I cannot be found just anywhere, so I will work mostly from here. We need more hands, and I think she has some skill concerning that, especially now that you claim that she killed your sister...'' Charles told Barter, flashing him a look of apology when he made mention of Barter's dead sister.Barter clenched his jaw. He glanced at Laura with hate again, and Charles Ban saw it. ''Okay, take her back inside the hole, for now, we can bring her out when we need her attention...'' Charles Ban said, avoiding Laura's surprised and pleading gaze. She was so sure that he would not allow Barter to take her back inside that horrible feeling room, but to her s
For two straight weeks, Charles was concerned with studying the dynamics that Mr. Ban had put up behind his business, and he found out that it was practically the same as Greg Chase's.Charles raised an eyebrow the first time he noticed the similarity.Initially, he had planned to quietly quit working for Greg Chase, and face his brother's business, but when he noticed the similarity he thought of an idea. He would continue to work with Greg Chase, this time in pretense. He would also be more committed to work this time around so that he could grab as much information and knowledge as he could from Greg and replicate it in Mr. Ban's business. While Charles was showing up as a regular worker for Greg Chase, he would run Mr. Ban's company as well until Mr. Ban would be back on his feet. Charles Ban didn't have in mind to be in competition with Greg Chase at all, he just wanted his brother's empire to be back on his feet, and if it meant him playing spy to Greg, he would do it. After
Greg saw that someone was playing his game against him. Trying to beat him at his own game, the very one that he invented. The same way he had dethroned Mr. Ban, was the same way someone else was trying to dethrone him and was doing a better job at it than him if everyone was being sincere.Every single one of his customers had left him, and Greg only had the likes of Bane and Don Black under his clientele. After the accountant left, Greg started to make several calls. He had to get to the bottom of it before he became completely out of the scene, just as Mr. Ban had become. Another thing that bothered Greg Chase was the fact that this new player seemed to be faceless. When he made calls to former clients that had left him, they all told Greg that they hardly knew who this new guy was, as the person acted very discreetly.''In fact, the transactions are so seamless that we don't get to see any representatives from this new man. We make payments to an unnamed and special account,
Charles' heart banged against his chest every time he went to work every day.To think that he was right under Greg Chase's nose. What if Greg found out that he was the traitor?Greg would roast him alive, and Charles knew it. But so far, it had been three successful months of operation and Greg had not been able to spot him as the person that was spoiling his business.Charles was a sell-out to Greg. But, as much as Charles Ban seemed to be recording progress with his new venture, he was restless. At the back of his mind, something tugged at him, telling him that all was not well.Charles Ban had taken his time to check himself in other to find out the reason behind why he felt that way, but he could not find any. Yet he felt empty, and the urge to look over his shoulder was heavy. Charles Ban had moved into Mr. Ban's house, following his interim position as the CEO of Mr. Ban's company.He no longer lived in the lonely estate where he had met Laura AKA Ramian, unknown to him t