There was stillness across the hall. No one was saying anything. The board members seemed way too stunned to find words for what was happening. All eyes were relentlessly staring at Cory. It would seem as though he had been elevated to the position of a god. Lord Theo couldn't choose his own actions either. He struggled to make sense of this as he looked away from Cory to his daughter. He repeated that sequence of action over and over again until there was no reason to keep up the count. Suddenly, the head of the board signaled at one of the many members. The person who had just been signaled rose to his feet. He was an elderly man but not as old as the head of the board. Age seemed to have a significant role in the order of status in the board's circumference. The man stopped right in front of the head of the board. The head of the board reached into a drawer and brought out something. Cory couldn't tell what the thing was. All he could deduce was that it was obviously an objec
The board members gasped, following what Lord Theo had just said. This can not be real, can it? No one could tell which was the truth or the lie. Lord Theo stepped away from his seat and took two steps towards the three henchmen. "Keep holding him if you want my wrath!" Lord Theo growled at the men. At once, the three men panicked. They let go of Cory with immediate effect. At this point, they were shivering, shaking as though they had just caught epilepsy. "Scram!!!" Lord Theo barked at them. The men pushed themselves hard as they scrambled out of the hall. One of them even fell and had to crawl out before Lord Theo would change his mind. No man in the country! No soul would dare to cross the path of Lord Theo. Not even if they are bearing the commands of the Prime Minister of the country. Anna was shocked by the reaction of her father. Just a few seconds ago, she was scared that she had gotten in trouble and her father would not go easy on her. But now, her father was also wi
Dona and the rest of the guys were still gathered at the lobby. Ella's boyfriend was on his feet, looking towards the elevator every now and then. He was beginning to catch the attention of one of the security guards. When he realized that the security guards were occasionally staring at him, he walked back to join the rest of the group. It was already a taboo for them to be in the vicinity of Loui Grande. Only the board members and guests invited were allowed in. They had been able to come in through the influence of Anna, Lord Theo's daughter. It was better for him and the rest of the group to massage that privilege instead of throwing it away. "What do you think is happening right now?" Kathy finally asked. She seemed to be the jumpiest of the group members. She couldn't help herself. If it was possible, she would have raced into the elevator. "I'm not sure. He's been there for too long. Do you think anything bad has happened?" Ella asked. "I really wish so. I want to see th
"Stop." Cory said to the cab driver. The cab pulled over at the front of a shabby building. He got down from the cab and paid. He walked away as the cab drove off. He headed towards the building. It was a small bungalow. Its exterior was very unkempt. The flowers at the front of the building were outgrown and mingled with weeds. Everything seemed really terrible. He walked to the door and gently pushed it open. But instead, the door fell out of the way, making a very loud noise. This startled Cory himself. The last time he was here, the door was intact and very strong. What had happened since then? He could only but wonder. Walking into the parlor, everything was displaced. There was food thrown everywhere. Clothes slashing across the sofa, a spoon at the top of the olden TV. He almost tripped over a stool that he didn't see when he stepped in. If it was not because of the stream of light coursing through the broken window of the parlor, he probably wouldn't be able to see anyth
Cory's presence when he got to the door intrigued the group of men who were about to march into the parlor. He stopped at the doorstep, looking from one person to the other. There were five of the men. Cory shut his eyes for a while as he tried to suppress all the combustion of emotions rippling in his body. He needed to figure out what the situation was before deciding how to eventually react to it. "Who is this?" One of the men asked with a tone of mockery. Cory still didn't react, yet he was at the door, staring at them. "Are you deaf or something?! Our boss just asked you a question, and you would just stand there and say nothing?!" One of the men barked at Cory. Cory took a glance at the person who had barked at him. Then he slowly looked away at the person who was referred to as the boss. His eyes lingered on the boss for a while. Suddenly, a screen appeared right in front of Cory. [Ping! Odds Clearer loading.][Ping! Cuprit details loaded.]>> Donald Richie >> 42 years
Cory stopped by the roadside as he scanned the road for a cab. There was no cab at all in sight. Mara was still in his arms. He held her tightly with one arm as he waved the other to attract a cab. Luckily, he saw a cab coming his way. He started to wave even more frantically. It would seem as though he was looking to part ways with his own arm. The cab stopped. He opened the door and stepped in. "I'm going to the popular estate. I'm sorry, I don't know the name." Cory said to the cab driver. "Do you mean Eagleville estate?" The man asked, looking through the mirror. "Eagleville?" Cory wondered. The only Eagleville he knew was the mall he just bought. He threw the thoughts off. It could just be a coincidence. Even people have the same names to talk more of places. Plus, this was not a time for him to be distracted by such thoughts. "Yes, I think so." Cory answered. "That's the only popular estate around here. Does it have the Lush restaurant or ---" The man suddenly stopped ta
Cory was quite stunned by the reaction of Elaine. He didn't know how to place it. He just kept staring, trying to figure out the possibility of the events. Elaine was all over Mara now. She was sobbing as she held on to the face of the blind girl. Cory stood aloof quite gobsmacked, still struggling to understand. He was waiting for them to have a breathing space so that he could finally get the question out, but there didn't seem to be a loophole at all. Elaine looked like someone who had been waiting for this moment all her life. "Where have you been? What happened to you? Are you alright? Who did this to you?" Elaine was running from one sequence of question to the other. She didn't seem like she cared about the response to the question. Instead, she was just curious and jumpy. From her reactions, it was obvious that she was having trouble with her emotions. Initially, Cory had wanted to take Mara to the penthouse and get her cleaned up. At this moment, he thought that this wou
Cory inspected the stranger carefully. It wasn't the man from the restaurant. It was not that man who belonged to the bronze party. It was a total stranger. "Excuse me, may I help you?" Cory called the person. "I'm in a haste. If you need my attention, you need to speak up quickly." He didn't hide his intentions. The stranger started to move closer to him. Cory's squinted his eyes as the stranger approached him. The closer the stranger approached, the clearer the details were. It was a very old man. Like someone's grandfather. But that was not all. The old man looked tipsy, really drunk. His walk steps gave him away. As Cory stared at the man in confusion, he noticed that there was a mark on the forehead of the man. The mark looked like the mark of a wound but dried, yet it was very obvious. It was as though the healed wound had a highlight. Cory really didn't know how to explain how weird it was. "Sir? Did you lose your way?" Cory asked. Although he was in a haste, yet he would