THE ULTIMATE REVENGE OF DON ROCH

AT HIS LOWEST

NIKAELEON

***

Everyone turned to look at me, but I didn’t give a damn as long as I got Connor’s hands off my woman. I’m sure this was all a big misunderstanding, Uri would never leave me. Connor must have forced her into this.

“I said let her go!” I said again as I walked towards them.

Everyone moved out of my way. Uri looked petrified as I got closer to them, but Connor just smirked. I realised why he was so calm when some security personnels tackled me to the ground. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face so badly. The old Nik they knew would have been subdued by guards, but not this prison hardened Nik. I punched the first guard that was on top of me on his face and it felt so good to hear his bones crunch because of the force of my punch.

I kicked the second one that was crouched close to my legs and had been trying to cuff my hands and dragged the third one down to headbutt him. People screamed as I battered three more guards, and hearing how afraid they were of me filled me with immense satisfaction.

“How could you betray me like this, Connor? You were my best friend. You have so much, why take the little I had, huh?” I asked as I smashed a vase from a nearby table on another guard’s face.

“Peasants like you don’t deserve more than crumbs, Nik. You should have just agreed to work in my company like I offered you back then, now you have nothing.” Connor said with a smirk.

“We signed an agreement! You lied to me, you took from me, you sent me to jail.”

“You went to jail because you almost murdered a man in cold blood. You’re nothing but a criminal.” He chuckled and I moved forward to grab him, but I suddenly felt excruciating pain radiate through my whole body.

I collapsed to the floor and convulsed as currents of electricity assaulted my cells from the taser gun that Connor had shot at me.

“How does it feel, Nik?” Connor said as he crouched next to me.

“How does it feel to be reduced back to nothing, to be sent back to the streets where you came from. Look at you, dressed in rags and smelling like a dumpster.” He laughed.

“How did it feel to see the woman you love in my arms? We have a daughter by the way, a little bundle of joy. We’re leaving for our honeymoon in a few minutes. How does it feel to know that you’ll spend the night on a cold floor in a cell, while I have your woman in every position known to man on a soft bed in Paris? It was so nice of you to attend our wedding, Nik.”

As l lay on the floor, I suddenly realised that Connor planned this. He knew that I wouldn’t be able to resist coming here. He must have pulled some strings to make sure I was released today.

“Why?” I asked weakly.

I needed to know why he would do this to me when I had never done anything bad to him throughout the years we had been friends.

“Why? I’ve always hated you, Nik. Do you know that my parents loved you more than me? They adored you. You were always so responsible, always at the top of the class, good grades and perfect records. You were the son they wanted. On the other hand, I was the bane of their existence. Nothing I did ever seemed to impress them, so I stopped trying and started planning. My mother was so heartbroken when you were sent to jail, but don’t worry, I put her out of her misery. I duped my old man into willing everything he owned to me, then I killed them both, you should have seen their faces.” He laughed.

The other guests were too far from us to hear him admit to his crimes.

“They looked so surprised like they never would have thought I had the guts to do something like that. But that’s how it has always been, they have always underestimated me, and they paid dearly for it. I almost feel sorry for you, Nik, because you really didn’t wrong me. It was just unfortunate that you stole my parent’s love from me and Uri.”

“Uri is m…”

“She was never yours. I saw her first.” Connor hissed in anger.

Connor wanted to hit Nik, but people were watching so he kept his composure. He didn’t need a scandalous video that would ruin his good public image, it was bad for business.

“I was friends with her first, and you would have never met her if I hadn’t introduced her to you. You stole her from me like you stole my parents' love. "

"I never stole anything from you Connor, you're delusional."

"Now, I’ve taken her back. We’ll build a family together while you rot in jail. I’ll send you back and make sure you stay there for a very long time.” Connor paused in thought.

“In fact, no, I won’t send you to jail. Jail is too good for you, you stayed in there for three years and somehow managed to come out of it looking more handsome than you used to. I’ll leave you as a free man, so it would hurt you more that you can’t do anything to stop me. You’re a nobody, Nik. The earlier you accept it, the better. I was born royalty, you weren’t even wanted by your parents that’s why they dumped you in the garbage as a child. Piece of advice from an old friend, stop trying so hard to be what you’re not.” Connor said as he stood, just as more security guards arrived and picked Nik’s limp body from the floor.

The current from the Taser was no longer running through my body, but I was still weak from the impact.

“Will you press charges, Mr Grant?” One of the reporters that had been allowed to cover the event asked Connor.

Connor sighed like he felt sorry for me and moved closer to Uri to hold her around the waist.

“No.” Connor replied.

“But he’s a criminal, an ex-convict. He attacked you, ruined your wedding, and you’ll just let him go?” The reporter asked incredulously.

The reporter wasn’t the only one taking a video, other guests were recording him too, waiting to hear his reply. Everything was happening just as he planned it.

“Yes, I’ll let him go.” Connor replied with a sad expression.

“Why, Mr Grant?”

“Because, despite what he did in the past, he’s still my friend. We’ve been best friends for a long time. He just got out of prison, I don’t want to send him back to that awful place. He just needs time to heal and adjust. I’m willing to help him in any way that I can, if only he’ll let me. He’s upset with me because he thinks I took from him.”

“That could be said to be true. I mean, you just married his ex-girlfriend. His business is now yours.” The reporter said.

“You have everything all wrong. First of all, yes, My Uri dated Nik for a while in the past.” He kissed Uriel’s forehead.

“But she was never happy in the relationship. You see, Nik has serious anger issues and he sometimes took it out on her.”

“Why was it never reported that he was abusive?”

“Because Uri begged me not to, she thought that she was in love. But Nik manipulated the state she was in at the moment. She had just lost her father and her subconscious was trying to find a replacement for him in Nik. She just couldn’t bear to lose Nik, till I talked with her and helped her break off their relationship.”

“So they had already split up before Nik was sent to jail.”

“Yes. I’ve never wanted to speak about all these because I just want it to stay in the past. But I’d rather it be the truth being circulated than rumours that would hurt Uri’s feelings. As for the company, it was never his. It only had his name on it because I allowed it for the sake of friendship. I’ve been behind the success of the company formally named Roch Enterprises, every project, every funding, it’s been me all along.”

I groaned but the word ‘liar’ that I was trying to articulate never left my lips. I was too weak to speak.

“Wow, this is all so surprising.” The reporter said.

“Yeah. After Nik was sent to jail, Uri and I got close and look where it ended up. I’m the luckiest man on the planet, and I have the best wife. I never imagined myself getting married so early, everyone knows that I’ve always been a ladies man.” Connor said and the guests chuckled because of his notorious reputation as a manwhore.

“But Uri made me realise that some things are not worth the delay. I wanted to officially make her mine for my peace of mind. I was always so scared that she would wake up one day and realise that she deserved better than me, and leave me. But I now understand how irrational that fear is and our love is stronger than it. Now, if you'll excuse me, my wife and I have a honeymoon to get going to.”

~

Connor picked Uriel up in a bridal style and there were a lot of whispers about how sweet Connor was and how good the couple looked together. The videos of Nik crashing the party and Connor’s speech were already trending on the internet.

Nik was carried out of the hall by the guards and dumped in an alley while the rest of the guests thought he had been taken home. The guards took turns beating him up before they left. He lay on the dirty floor, weak, tired, hungry and heartbroken, staring at the sky. At that moment, something in him changed. He promised himself that he would never let himself be humiliated that way again.