CHAPTER 8

Flynn Holt had his head glued to his mobile phone as he texted his flavor of the day while walking towards the bank. He didn’t see Adrian approaching and they collided. The impact of this collision made his phone drop to the ground, leaving a spider web-like crack on the screen. Taken aback by the audacity of whoever dared to bump into him, he froze for a millisecond before looking up to find Adrian staring with an apologetic expression on his face.

Anger surged through Flynn and before Adrian could utter a word, he shoved him forcefully to the ground, “Are you blind you useless twat! How dare you bump into me with your filthy body!” He sneered as he glared down at Adrian with disdain.

Adrian blinked, momentarily stunned by the aggressive reaction before he rose back to his feet and dusted his clothes, “You didn’t have to do that.” He said calmly despite the growing pain in his shoulder. “I was just about to apologize.”

“Who cares about your stupid apology? You stained my expensive Armani suit with your filthy body, and my phone is now also broken because of you! Do you think your useless apology will fix this?” Flynn spat as he glowered at Adrian.

Adrian's eyes darted to Flynn’s suit and the broken phone on the floor. Even though Flynn clearly overreacted about his suit as there was no single stain, he decided to indulge him nonetheless. “I’ll pay for the damages; a new suit and a new phone. Is that enough?”

Flynn let out an undermining laugh as he eyed Adrian contemptuously. “You? Pay for my suit and phone?” Flynn scoffed. “Do you even know how much they cost? You can’t afford the thread used in making this suit, much less my expensive phone. You’re really talking big for a mere hillbilly.”

Adrian remained unfazed by Flynn’s insults. “Do you want the compensation or not…?” He asked with a bored expression. “I have somewhere urgent to be.”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed, feeling insulted by Adrian’s indifference. How dare that loser regard him with so much disrespect. “You know what,” He sneered. “Perhaps I have been too lenient with you for you to dare speak to me in such a manner. I’ll give you a chance to rectify your mistake. Kneel before me and apologize until I feel appeased then I might consider not teaching you a lesson.” He puffed his chest out pridefully.

Now it was Adrian’s turn to laugh and boy did he laugh out boisterously. “Kneel before you? As who?” He snorted before his expression became serious again. “I can see that you're way in above your head. Since you’ve refused to be civil then there’s no point wasting my time talking to you.” Adrian muttered as he made a move to sidestep Flynn.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Flynn roared, his voice laced with a desperate need for control. "Do you know who I am? I'm Flynn Holt, the General Manager of Holt Holdings! I can make your life a living hell in this city!"

Flynn’s threat meant nothing to Adrian as he retained the blank expression on his face. “General manager of Holt Holdings? You don’t say…” Adrian muttered in sarcasm. “And here I thought you were just another arrogant idiot.”

Flynn looked like he wanted to burst into tears but held himself back and forced a smile instead. “So that’s how it is right? Fine! Since you’re running your mouth, then I want $300,000 in compensation. If you don’t provide me with the money right now, you’ll regret ever disrespecting me.” Flynn demanded condescendingly. In his mind, he believed he had effectively trapped Adrian because there was no way a hillbilly like him could afford $300 not to talk of $300,000.

Adrian smirked at Flynn’s smugness as he casually brought out a bundle of $350,000 from the duffel bag in his hands and threw it at him.

Their altercation had already started to attract the attention of some passersby who stopped to watch the scene. “That man just threw a huge amount of cash at someone.” One of them commented, his voice laced with intrigue.

“He’s definitely crazy.” Another added, eyes wide with disbelief.

Ignoring the passersby, Adrian continued as he pointed towards the bundles on the ground. “That’s $350,000. $300,000 for your ‘designer’ suit and phone then $50,000 for you to consider some anger management classes and maybe a surgery to remove that stick that is shoved far up your… posterior.”

The crowd collectively gasped as the murmurs continued, “How is he even able to afford such money when he looks so poor.” Someone said in confusion.

“Who knows? Maybe he stole the money from the bank” Another chimed in, eagerly awaiting Flynn’s reaction to Adrian’s taunts.

Flynn was overcome with humiliation at the comments from the onlookers. He hadn’t expected Adrian to actually have up to the amount he demanded. Refusing to accept defeat, he decided to support the accusation of the passerby that spoke last. “Yes indeed. I think he stole this money from the bank. I should call their attention and get him punished.”

“That’s right. Inform the manager!” The crowd agreed unanimously.

Feeling a new surge of bravado, Flynn marched to the premises of the bank and instructed the security guards on duty to call out the manager.

Within a few minutes, Alex Peabody came out of the bank to see what was going on, irritation evident on his face. Immediately he got to the scene and saw Adrian, the irritation on his face was replaced with a panicked smile. “S-sir, you’re still here? What seems to be the problem?”

Flynn’s brows furrowed in confusion at the way Alex regarded Adrian. “Why are you bowing to him? Can’t you see that he is clearly a thief?!” Flynn pointed out in exasperation.

“You fool!” Alex kicked Flynn to the ground. “Don’t you dare utter such nonsense again!”

He then turned to face Adrian and said respectfully, “Sir, please tell me what happened here and I’ll rectify it immediately.”

Actually,” Adrian began, his voice calm. “This man here, accused me of stealing this money…” He gestured to the bundles on the floor. “…from your bank. Now tell him, Alex…did I steal this money?”

“Of course not sir.” Alex shook his head furiously.” This money was withdrawn from your account. It is all yours.” Alex replied and glared at Flynn angrily. “You dare accuse our most valued customer of stealing? Oh you are in trouble now.” He spat before declaring in a cold voice. “From now henceforth, you cease to be a customer of Capital Bank. All your assets will be liquidated and your accounts will be frozen. Not only that, but Holt Holdings would be permanently blacklisted from our list of businesses eligible for a loan and all outstanding debts would be recovered with immediate effect.”

Flynn, who was now sweating profusely like a christmas goat, tried to speak, but the words were stuck in his throat, it was as if his windpipe had been crushed.

“Guards!” Alex called out to the security guards who immediately materialized beside him. “Teach this fellow a lesson and make sure he never steps foot in this bank again.” The guards immediately seized Flynn who thrashed wildly in their grip as he begged Adrian for forgiveness.

“Sir, we are so sorry for the trouble this man must have caused.” Alex said to Adrian, bowing once more.

The passersby who accused Adrian all stared in astonishment at the turn of events. Some began to quietly disperse for fear of being taught a lesson as well.

“Good work Alex. You’re already redeeming yourself.” Adrian said in appraisal as he picked up his bag.

“And oh…” He paused his steps and looked over his shoulder. “When the security guards are done teaching him a lesson, put all that money…” he gestured to the wad of bills. “…in an envelope and give it back to him, he’ll need it to treat his…wounds.”

With that, Adrian walked away from the scene while Flynn kept screaming in pain as he was mercilessly beaten.