THE HEIR

Chapter 4

His eyes opened slowly and all he could see was white. He rolled his eyes, wondering where he was. The room door opened, and he could hear footsteps coming towards him.

"Damian, are you awake?" A voice called out

"Damian? I think you are making a mistake, I'm Javier" he corrected inwardly.

"Do you think he is okay?" The feminine voice asked again.

He tried to sit up to see the people around him, but he felt a sharp pain in his neck and he groaned painfully.

"You should lie back. You shouldn't stress yourself for now", Ashley said, as she tried to help him lie on his back.

"Do you remember my face?" Ashley asked calmly, and the memories of what had happened flooded his mind.

"You almost killed me!" He yelled immediately, ignoring the pain he was feeling.

"I'm sorry, but I did what I had to do. Everyone already believed that if Damian was alive, he would have a scar on his neck. I can't let my plan get ruined because of a sloppy job"

Javier sighed heavily. Then he remembered Ruby, his neighbor that he liked. He realized he hadn't even seen her since the day he had been arrested. He wondered if Ruby would be worried about his whereabouts.

"I won't get to see Ruby again?" He screamed in his head. That was hard for him, and he was sure he would miss their little chats every day.

"Don't worry, the doctor said the pain will go away soon", Ashley added.

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"You said he was barely breathing!" Mathew yelled, and he threw the glass cup on his desk at the guy he hired to kill Damian.

"I never lied to you. There is no way he will be alive."

"I will kill you if Ashley can bring him to the next board meeting. If he is alive, find him and kill him again!" He yelled, and his chest heaved up and down in anger.

"Find the hospital where he is getting treatment and make sure to kill him!" he commanded "To think I even sponsored your trip because I believed you did a great job" he muttered to himself, and yelled at him to get out of his office.

He was fuming with anger as reality dawned on him. If Damian was truly alive somewhere, then his position in the company was threatened. Which he would never allow. Angrily, he began to throw everything in sight.

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"Do you also think I'm doing the right thing to protect the company?" Ashley asked as she stared at her husband's picture in her hand.

"I'm sorry I failed to protect our son" the tears she had been holding back escaped. "Together with Damian, watch over me closely as I make sure to protect your legacy" She held the picture tightly to her chest as she sobbed quietly.

Javier was already tired of being in a hospital room all day without doing anything, and couldn't wait to be discharged. He decided to go for a walk and see the other views of the hospital. While enjoying the cool breeze, a woman making sure her son who was sitting in a wheelchair didn't catch a cold caught his attention, and it brought back the memories he had with his parents. He wondered if his life would have turned out well if his parents hadn't died in a fire accident years ago. His eyes welled up in tears as he remembered how his parents had died in a fire accident when he was just eleven years old. He remembered coming back from school that day to find firefighters and neighbors outside their house. His parents were already dead before the firefighters could save them. Everything his family-owned got burnt down to ashes.

When the fire started due to a gas explosion, it was only his Mom who was inside while his Dad was in his car doing his business. He ran out of his car immediately to save his wife when he saw the fire, but he didn't make it either.

After the incident, he had to be taken to an orphanage home since no family member was willing to take him in. He left the orphanage home at the age of nineteen, so he could start working and make a living for himself. He was taken out of his sad memory when a little boy put a candy in his hand.

"You can have this if you are hungry, but don't cry," the boy said slowly and smiled at Javier. Javier quickly wiped his tears off his face and smiled back at the boy.

"That's so nice of you, huh? Thank you" he said.

"Raymond!" Javier had a familiar voice call.

"My Aunt is calling," the boy said before running to meet his aunt. It was Ruby. Javier's neighbor and crush.

"Javier?" Ruby called when she saw him and walked closer to him. "It's you, right?"

Javier smiled softly.

"Hey, Ruby! How have you been?"

"Oh my goodness! Do you know how worried I was when I noticed you hadn't been coming home? I called you several times, but your number wasn't going through", Ruby said and she looked very worried.

"I got into a situation that landed me here and my phone got lost, I think" He wasn't sure if his phone got lost, or it was with Ashley, but he just said what came to his mind.

"I'm glad you are fine. I was very worried. As much I would love to keep your company, I still have to get Raymond back to his mom". She looked at Raymond.

"Thank you, Raymond, for the candy, and it is nice to see you again also", Javier said and waved at the two of them. He watched them leave till they were out of sight before standing up and heading back to his hospital room.

On his way, he ran into Mrs Stevenson's secretary who was also looking for him, and together they headed back in. The sight of a man wearing a black hoodie with a knife in his hand was the first thing they saw when they opened the door of the ward. Javier got so scared and fell on his buttocks. The thought of being killed because they believed he was someone he wasn't scared him so much that it was a miracle he didn't pee on himself.