Young Master

Chapter Four

Getting to his feet, the man passed the old photograph to August. His jaw dropped as he gazed at the image; it depicted a man striking resemblance to him alongside a woman cradling a baby boy who had yet to walk. 

“Where…where did you get this?” August stammered as he identified the three persons in the picture to be his late parents cradling him when he was still an infant. Emotions weighed on him as the picture reminded him of the sad passing away of his parents eight years ago.

The man stared him in the eyes as he narrated. “Your father Steve Gibson was the eldest son of my master who happens to be your grandfather, Mr Gibson. My master had two children; your father and his younger brother Alexander. 

Your grandfather was the richest man in the whole continent and owned many properties worth several billions of dollars all over the world. 

Your father loved Alexander just like a brother should, but Alexander returned the love with conceit hatred because your father was the heir who was going to inherit all their father’s property and not the other way around.

His hatred towards your father grew into a consuming force when Steve got married to your mother and bore a male son within a year of their marriage. With a male child to secure the continuity of the family’s name and legacy, it was certain Steve was going to inherit all the properties.

To prevent Steve from inheriting their father’s wealth, Alexander faked an attack on my master and framed your father for it. He had it all planned out that all the fingerprints and evidences pointed at your father. It was no longer hard for Alexander to convince Mr Gibson that; your father wanted to murder him since he knew he was going to inherit the properties anyways”.

The man lowered his eyes, not staring August in the face as he continued. 

“In anger of what seemed like a betrayal, Mr Gibson angrily disowned your father as his son and broke all ties with him. He froze all his accounts and banished him as well as you and your mother from all his properties.

With your father now gone, Alexander finally had his way; he was going to inherit all your grandfather’s property.

This picture was taken a day before the saga, you were barely two years then,” the man added slowly pointing to the photograph August forgot he held in his hand.

August eyes were reddened like they were bleeding, he gnashed together his teeth in anger. It is hard to say what exactly upset him; was it the fact that his uncle framed his father or the rash decision his grandfather made. Or was he angry at both of them?

“But your grandfather was only able to discover the truth eight years ago. He banished Alexander and started the search for you and your parents, it was like finding a needle in an ocean, you could be in any part of the world.

But with your grandfather’s enormous wealth and influence, we were able to find out you people had moved here, to the Aurora Bay. But then we also learnt that your parents had just passed away.

When Mr Gibson learnt that your father and mother were dead, he almost had a cardiac arrest. He blamed himself for not believing your father years ago when he tried explaining his innocence, and for the rash decision he made that subsequently led to the death of your parents making you an orphan. 

You were sixteen years old then and guilt could not allow your grandfather to come take you to go live with him. Seeing you every day will only remind him of your father and the biggest mistake he had ever made.

Mr Gibson instructed that I only meet with you and tell you all this when he might have passed away”.

August stood still like a statue frozen in time, captivated by every word the man voiced out. He felt nothing but anger towards the man they claimed to be his grandfather. Both of his parents died as a result of being sick and they were too poor to afford the hospital bills.

He became homeless since their death and barely managed to fed himself, now he was hearing his grandfather is the richest man in the whole continent.

“If your master instructed you to not tell me all this till he is dead, are you not disobeying him?”

The man shoulders fell, and with a heavy heart he disclosed, “he is dead. Your grandfather died a week ago. When he heard about your parent’s death he developed a heart disease which made him bedridden for the past eight years till he succumbed to death”.

August had never met Mr Gibson before, as a matter of fact he never knew he had a grandfather before now. Considering what the man did to him and his parents years ago, he did not all feel bad after hearing of his sadl passing away.

“He deserved it,” August muttered slowly barely loud enough to be heard by anyone but the old man managed to hear him.

The man clearly understood August hatred towards his grandfather, it was justifiable. After his parents passed away, life became tougher for him as a mid-teenager; he barely afforded two square meals, to an extent he couldn’t afford the bills and became homeless. It was all these devastations that made him a victim of Mia’s gimmicks. Things would’ve been different if his grandfather had not acted rashly and sent them away.

The man paced closer till he was close enough to place his hand on August’s shoulder. 

“Young master, I understand your hatred for Mr Gibson, but you should also know that he had lived for this last eight years in regret. Ever since your parents died he always carried this picture with him everywhere he went, he had it on him when he breathed his last.

He knew you would not forgive him, but to make up for what he did to you and your parents; Mr Gibson transferred everything he owned to your name before his death. Everything he owned now belongs to you, August Steve”.

His eyes widened in disbelief, his jaw dropped, and a profound sense of incredulity and shock washed over him as he heard the man’s declaration. “Me? August Steve? You are joking, right?” August said with a forced chuckle.

“No young master, just like your grandfather was, you are now the richest man in the whole continent,” Mr Kane declared. Turning to one of the men who stood behind him, he nodded slowly and the man approached holding in his hand a designated file.

“This document contains information about all the properties your grandfather owned which now belongs to you,” the man said as he handed over the documents to August.

Reluctantly, August collected what was bulk enough to be a textbook and slowly opened it. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he eagerly flipped through every page; more than forty properties worth from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars registered under his name.

August was still trying to convince himself that all the properties listed in the documents he held in his hands now belonged to him when the man made another disclosure.

“And young master, this is the house Mr Gibson bought for you and your wife Mia when he learnt about your marriage two years ago”.

His mood changed at once at the mention of Mia’s name; he gnawed on his lips and clinched his fist in anger. Just few hours ago he was dying to crawl into her arms, but now he couldn’t bare to hear her name. The love he had for her all these years had now turned into a bitter resentment.

"Forgive me, young master, did I say something wrong?" The man asked nervously, observing August's sudden surge in anger following the disclosure of what should have been good news.

August stared at the name tag pinned to the man’s chest. “No, Mr Kane! You did not say anything wrong. I caught Mia cheating on me today and confessed our wedding was a sham: she used me to secure inheritance from her dying father. She deceived me all these years,” August said dejectedly.

Mr Kane frowned at once, “nobody dares does that to a Gibson! Young master, all you need to do is say ‘yes’ and I will make sure she is arrested and rots in jail,” the man said angrily. Pulling that up was as easy as walking down a stair case for Mr Kane, considering the influence his late master held in the country.

August also wanted nothing other than to teach her a lesson but not like this. At the moment, he was starving and exhausted. “No, Mr Kane. What I want from you at the moment is something to eat and a warm shower”.

“Of course, young master,” Mr Kane said as he led August into the mansion. 

Though the exterior of the mansion was breath taking, the interior was even more stunning and opulent; from the marble floor to the expensive murals hanging across the wall, spoke of nothing but luxury. It’s funny how things had changed for August; he went from being homeless to owning one of the most luxurious mansions in the country within a blink of an eye.

Numerous dishes and drinks of all kind filled the grand dining table. The aroma coming from the table could full the stomach of a hungry person without getting to eat the food. Though August worked as a waiter in a restaurant, this was his first time seeing some of the drinks and dishes. He gulped so hard as he couldn’t stop himself from salivating.

“Are you having a feast here?” He asked as he noticed the food was enough to stomach full thirty people.

“No, young master, this was specifically prepared for you please have a seat,” Mr Kane said as he pulled a seat at the grand table signaling for him to seat.

He did not for sure know where to start as the servers opened all the dishes revealing their contents. But the vibrant cornucopia overflowing with a kaleidoscope of colors and flavors was conspicuous enough that he couldn’t deny himself the opportunity to start a bite with.

Though he tried jumping into every dish, he had not tasted half of them before his stomach was full. By the time he dropped the cutlery, his face and shirt were covered with sauce and meatballs, making him to look like a human pasta. 

Mr Kane couldn’t help but giggle as he led August into the master’s bedroom. The room did not fall short of his expectation, it was large enough to accommodate three rooms at Mia’s mansion. After his shower which seemed to be the best he had ever had, he found a velvet robe adorned with intricate golden threading and soft fur kept on the neatly arranged bed and his clothes disposed of.

He wore the robe and rested his back against the luxurious king-sized bed staring at the ceilings with a profound smile on his face. What a day of his life?

A lot had happened within the last few hours; he was given the boot at his work place and when he got home, he caught his wife cheating and discovered they were not even married. Now he just learnt he is the richest man in the whole continent owning many properties all over the world.

He couldn’t sleep throughout the night, who would? After discovering you now own such an enormous wealth when you have lived your whole life as a pauper. If this was all a dream, then he prayed to never wake from it. Just when his eyes closed, he heard a light knock on the door. 

“Good morning, young master!”

The voice was clearly Mr Kane’s. August lazily reached for the door knob with heavy eyes full of sleep. When he swung the door open, the man was already on his limbs kowtowing.

In as much as August disliked it when the man greeted him like he was a god, the man insisted it was the right way to greet a master.

“Young master, I came to give you this since you might be needing it when you go out for shopping later in the day?” Mr Kane said pointing a card to August as he got to his feet.

August collected the card puzzled; “shopping? And what am I to do with this blank black card?” 

August had never seen a black card in his life, he did not even know something like that existed till now.

“Yes, young master, I have already arranged for you to go shop for new clothes since we do not know the type of clothes you like. And the card is not just a blank black card. Your grandfather had it specially designed for you, it is a credit card that gives you access to unlimited daily transaction from an account with over one trillion dollars”.

All the sleep in his eyes changed into wide awake excitement. August was more than wowed, he did not even know how many digits make up a trillion. But he held in his hand a card linked to an account with a trillion dollars!