Anabelle immediately comes barreling over to me and nearly pushes me on the ground with the strength behind her tackle. I can’t help but let out an ‘oof!’ at that and put all my strength to not fall. Anabelle might be small, but she is deceptively strong.“Jesus fucking Christ, you asshole,” she punches my chest as soon as she lets go of me from that bone-crushing hug, “what the actual hell happened to you, Jace. I call Mal and he tells me that your girlfriend had been kidnapped and now she’s dead and some murdering bastard killed her right in front of you so please tell me that he’s pulling my fricking leg here because dear god, I can’t even imagine…”“It’s all true, I’m afraid, Anabelle,” I try to give her a watery smile, “a lot of things happened, and in the end, she’s gone.”Her eyes start to shine, and she whispers, “Oh, Jace, I am so very sorry.”We embrace again, and I feel a pang in my chest because her hug reminds me of Coraline’s, although Annabelle as a person is not at all
I got a few days of respite where I could at least pretend that I was just another normal college student coming out of tragedy, and during those days I admit I got a little comfortable in that role. Gerald told me that he wouldn’t ask me to come back to work until I had plenty of time to settle myself and he knew that working in the same space I shared with Coraline all this time would be torture for me. Rick Erikkson promised that he would take care of the eco-conservationists, saying that it was the least he could do for us. And that I wouldn’t have to be involved in the court case that was about to be filed at all as I had no connection to the case, at least not on the books. I was grateful for this as well and made sure he knew that.I admit that these days of respite were not the worst, but they weren't the best either. One of the cons that came out of the situation was the sudden fondness for alcohol I felt. Pre-Clandestine city me would have been abhorred by the amount of alco
“Mr. Greyson, good evening,” one of the black-clad men says as if he’s greeting me while in class like he wasn't clearly stalking me here with his friend.“No,” I say, “don’t you dare ‘good evening!’ me, you stalker, what the hell are you doing here?!”“There is no need to get agitated, Mr. Greyson,” Man in Black 2 says.“Sure, buddy, I got no reason to be concerned that I’m being fucking stalked by people I’ve never even met before,” I reply heatedly, thrusting a finger in their direction, “What do you want from me now? What the hell does your family want from me?”“The Wilkens family only require you to have an audience with them,” Man in Black 1 says, “just a conference. It will not even take a couple of hours.”“Yeah, I don’t think the Wilkens family send their agents to meet some random college kid in the middle of the day-““It is the evening now,” Man in Black 2 interrupts me and I glower at him for it, which he just ignores. swear these people are just so infuriating, how are
I sent Gerald a quick text saying. 'If I'm not back by nightfall and won't answer my phone, trace it.'It's bound to get him agitated, but without knowing what the Wilkens family wants from me I can't give him more information. And telling him that I was actually accepting an offer to meet up with the said family was only going to get him agitated.However, this is going to get him in quite a tizzy too, so I add, 'I'm going for a meeting.' Just in case. The men in black clothing, agents for the Wilkens family seem to notice me sending the texts but do not say anything against it which does bring me a certain degree of relief, I will not lie. If they didn't want anyone to know where they were taking me or who they were taking me to, I surely wouldn't have been allowed to keep my phone. Hell, if that's the case, I was pretty certain that they'd have just forcibly taken me in even when I said 'no' multiple times. Maybe the reason the Wilkens family wanted to see had nothing to do with
The car pulls next to what looks essentially like a close gated community. It is a massive estate with lavish houses built equidistant to one another. The outside is immaculately groomed, and the houses and subsequent facilities looked like they could sustain a group of very wealthy people within the estate forever without having to go outside. At a side, there was even a plot of land that looked like a mini-golf course. There were so many vehicles parked in the driveways, and there were so many people walking around the estate grounds as well, dressed in uniforms to show their status as workers. And they weren't the only ones outside. There were people of all ages dressed far more nicely loitering around, engaging in games with children, conversing, playing tennis and golf, even swimming…“What the heck is this place?” I ask John and James, mesmerized by what I’m seeing.“This is the Wilkens family estate,” replies James, “every member of the Wilkens family resides within the estate
Inside the room, there is a man reclining on a sofa.That’s it. It’s a large circular sitting room with windows all around bringing in light through the lace curtains draped over them. There is a set of garish gold and ivory-colored sofas placed around a coffee desk and the man is lying on the longest sofa there is. He’s a frail person who lies face up on the sofa, with an Afghan laid over his legs. His eyes are closed, and his hands are laid with fingers intertwined, he looks like he’s sleeping. I stand there right next to the door, frozen, not knowing what to do.This is the weirdest shit that’s ever happened in my life, and that’s saying a lot considering what I’d gone through.Is this guy even alive? Should I wake him up? What was he doing here sleeping in a sitting room? Is this the master of the Wilkens family? I’m not the one to judge people based on their appearance, but this is the master of the family everyone seems to be afraid of. I honestly thought that he would be bigger
I blink at him. Once, twice, thrice.Oh, God.What?“What?” I repeat the word running in my mind, and he nods.“I am your step-grandfather,” reveals Harcourt Wilkens, “your father married my daughter.”The words run in my mind over and over again. I mean, when I woke up today with an empty bottle of some spirit or the other cradled in my arms, sprawled on a couch rather than my own bed, I did not even think of finding out this tidbit of information. I thought the two guys in black were dangerous and were trying to get me involved in some trouble, but this? I did not fathom that the letter I received was from my father’s actual wife’s father.And that is a whole other can of worms that had been forcibly opened with that one confession. I’m the illegitimate son! My father and my mother never married, he carried on an affair with my mother while his wife was this guy’s daughter. Was married to him. He had a kid with his affair partner while his wife was still freaking alive!!!For all in
“I don’t think I’m ready for it to be honest,” I say, “a lot of things had been going on, and if there were any earlier plans, I had to gain more experience in order to do a better job, all of that had been derailed with everything that happened. A lot of my father’s business information is still a mystery to me, and I think he needs to hold onto his position at least until I graduate. I still attend university, by the way.”“I see, I see,” the man nods, “well, I don’t think your father expects you to take over this year either, although it’s always better to have a successor waiting for you once you want to step down. Most likely he told you that he would be retiring at the end of the year so you would take it seriously.”“I always take things seriously,” I reply, “he didn’t have to lie if he wanted to keep me here.”“Did he know about that? You were quite adamant in your insistence on being independent, last I heard.”“I was going through a rough patch when I came here,” I confess,