CHAPTER 8
Author: Kaylee
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

After signing the papers, Ethan discussed with his family to keep his identity secret for now and that he had some business in Beryl City so he returned to Beryl City leaving Tony as the frontline of the business while he made the important decisions in the background.

Ethan decided to visit his friend from college, Jack Greene whom he hadn't seen since he got married, with plans of catching up on everything that had been going on in both their lives.

“Ethan! It's been a while, man. The last time I saw you was when you got married to that witch, Melissa. Seems you've not been able to take your share of their family money yet ”. Jack said with a chuckle as he shook hands with Ethan and led the way into his home. 

"You and Melissa never got along. You still haven't told me why though" Ethan chuckled as they walked into the house.

Jack's house was a decent modern bungalow with 5 rooms. Jack and Ethan walked into the living room and Jack offered Ethan a seat while he went in and brought out a bottle of scotch and poured some in a glass for him and Ethan. 

“So, what's going on, man? Are you good?” Jack asked as he sat on the couch adjacent to the one that Ethan sat on. 

“Where do I even start from, man? Everything's been crazy for real, I don't know where I'd start from if I were to explain” Ethan said, stroking his beard as he took a sip.

“From the top or anywhere, I'll get it. Just spill." Jack said, rubbing his hands for the juicy details.

“Let me summarize everything in a few sentences by saying, I'm divorced and I plan on getting back at Melissa and her family for everything they put me through,” Ethan said, rubbing his face in frustration.

Jack echoed, “Stop right there man, don't just breeze through with a straight face like you didn't just say you and that witch are divorced? Finally, you're free! What do you mean by ‘get back at her family’ though?” 

Before Ethan could reply, they heard a knock on the door and Jack stood up to get the door.

"Look who it is." Jason sounded delighted as he walked right back to the living room.

"Sarah!" Ethan broke into a smile and stood up to hug her as she joined them.

"Ethan, I'm so so sorry that I couldn't do anything at Melissa's engagement with the way they maltreated and embarrassed you. I tried coming over to you to check on you after they threw you out but I was refrained from doing that. You know the Grahams don't value what I think or do and treat me like an outcast that doesn't belong to their family, sometimes, they even send me away so I wouldn't get involved in family matters, so I've learned to stand alone. Once again, I'm so sorry." Sarah rambled as she tendered a genuine apology.

"It's okay, Sarah. I know that you tried your best that day. I'm not mad at you, turns out, you were my only friend during my stay in that madhouse." Ethan said, placing his hands on Sarah's hand before he removed it and turned back to Jack as Sarah settled into one of the seats.

"What were you saying about getting back at the Grahams though?" Jason asked Ethan as his curiosity peaked.

They both turned to look at Sarah to see if she was uncomfortable but she was indifferent and said, "They can go to h*ll for all I care, I'm not even recognized as one of the Grahams so if there's a plan to get back at them, COUNT ME IN."

"They humiliated me at every chance they got. Melissa's father orchestrated an accident that almost took my life and planned my divorce. As for Melissa, she didn't waste a second before jumping into the arms of another man and getting engaged to him in my face. I'm going to make them lose their respect, their dignity, and what they value so much, their wealth." Ethan finished with a cynical smile.

“Do you have a plan?” Jack and Sarah chorused, then turned to each other with a burst of hearty laughter.

*

The next day, 

Ethan put a call through to Tony.

"Put out an announcement from Emerald Estate, stating that we want to collaborate with a food brand that'll cater for our staff and our events and the contract will be valued at $ 2 million for each event, for a year."

"On it, Ethan. anything else, Sir?" Tony asked like a diligent servant to his master.

"No, Tony. Have a productive day." With that, Ethan disconnected the call.

After the announcement by Emerald Estate was made, members of the Graham family were so delighted as this could be their one-in-a-million chance to collaborate with Emerald Estate, an Estate where business owners would kill to establish their businesses.

"David, you've got to secure that contract for this family." Claire chipped with a proud smile on her face.

David, Sarah's stepbrother and Melissa's cousin, ran a business in the food line and some weeks back, he had thought of establishing another branch of his restaurant at the Emerald Estate and now was his golden opportunity to achieve that.

"Sure will. The contract is definitely coming to me and not some measly restaurant or even Tristan's Treats that just serves trash to their customers, calling it food. No other restaurant stands a chance against me."

David's father added, "You should be on your way to submit your documents and your proposition to Emerald Estate now, come on boy!"

"If it means paying your way in, to secure that contract, by all means, do it. You can't let this opportunity slip by your fingers." Eric said greedily while patting David on the shoulder.

"Alright, alright. I should be on my way now." David said as he gathered and arranged his documents.

"Wish you luck, David," Sarah added in.

"Oh, dear Sarah, luck is for losers. Trust me when I say I'm going to do everything in my power to secure that contract, no matter what. Bye, everyone." David said before leaving the house.

As soon as David left, Sarah walked to her room and locked the doors, then she entered her bathroom and locked the doors before calling Ethan.

Ethan picked on the first ring.

"Ethan, you wouldn't believe it," Sarah said, keeping Ethan in suspense.

"What happened, Sarah? You can talk to me." Ethan said with a soothing tone.

"David is on his way to submit his proposal for the Emerald Estate contract and he is prepared to do anything it takes to secure the contract, even if it means bribing the staff in charge of vetting the proposals before sending it to their manager. These people don't know when to stop." Sarah sounded annoyed and frustrated.

"I don't think you should let yourself get so worked up about it, Sarah. The staff of such a big establishment should and would have a smart team of employees who wouldn't be swayed by such antics. David is fighting a lost battle with such strategies. I think you should get some rest, Sarah. Everything will work out well." Ethan reassured Sarah.

"I hope the contract goes to someone that deserves it." Sarah heaved an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sure it will. Take care of yourself. We'll talk later, Sarah." Ethan said as Sarah disconnected the call when she heard a knock on her room door.

"Lunch is served, ma" A maid that was standing in front of Sarah's room informed her.

"I'll be down in a minute. Thank you." Sarah closed the door and heaved a sigh of relief before joining the Grahams for lunch.

Immediately after Sarah's call, Ethan called Tony and said with a smirk, "Be ready!" 

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    "Nice to meet you, Kehlani. You seemed to be in a haste when you tripped over the huge rock in front of the hospital, causing the fall that impacted your head. Is everything alright?" Kehlani instantly remembered that she was rushing to the hospital to plead with the doctors to accept half payment in order to proceed with her mom's surgery, as she was informed that her mom needed the surgery urgently."My mom! Where is my mom? I need to get to her right now." Kehlani moved to leave the bed frantically, but Ethan didn't let her."Your mom? What happened to your mom? I'm sorry I can't let you get off this bed. The nurse said you need rest." Kehlani tried struggling in Ethan's grasp but Ethan didn't flinch and she broke into tears."My mom needs urgent surgical attention and I only have half the money for the surgery. I need to plead with the doctors to understand my situation and help my mom, so I won't lose her." Kehlani said in-between tears."That's the problem? I need you to stop

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    “Good day sir, please help me” Kehlani said, as she dropped slowly to the floor with her injured forehead bouncing off the hospital tiles.“Somebody help her! Nurses! Doctors! Help!” Ethan cried out as he saw the young lady look up to him helplessly before she passed out.A team of doctors and nurses ran out and lifted the patient onto a stretcher and admitted her to be treated, while Ethan waited to make sure she was okay.Ethan paced back and forth the waiting room as his thoughts raged free enough to make him scared for the lady.“Who could she be?“She fell so abruptly, will she need surgery?”“I hope she gets better,” Ethan whispered under his breath.“Mr. Ethan?” A nurse called out.“Yes? That would be me” Ethan replied as his body trembled with thoughts of what the news could be .“Sir, the patient you brought to our attention is stable but she's unconscious. Do you know her name and other details we could write down in her file?” The nurse asked with a smile.Ethan heaved a si

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    Hello, Why are you not home yet?” Henry said on the phone. He had gone back to an empty house he had rented for her but coming home to the empty house wasn't quite unusual.“I…I went to see mom. The doctor called so I had to rush over, I should have called to inform you, I'm sorry about that.” Kehlani said hurriedly knowing fully well what reaction would follow the situation.“Well, get here. Now.” Henry ended the call abruptly, then tossed his phone on the couch.He reached to lessen the pressure of his tie while striding towards the mini bar. A smile curled on his lips as he thought about the plan he's about to actualize.He got hold of a bottle of bourbon before he could think of an actual choice of drink. He chose the bottle of bourbon because it tends to help him think better.The sound of a closed door drew him out of oblivion, he checked his watch to find out that an hour had gone by.“Took you long enough.” He said blandly. His eyes moved up and down her figure, and a smile t

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    “How about doing something that he would never be forgiven for and no one will want to side him on?” Henry suggested.“Yes? But that's almost impossible, he won't do anything like that. He's too much of a righteous being when it comes to the things he does and doesn't” Melissa chipped in.“So what do we do about that?” Claire questioned.“Can we set him up and make him do it? By drugging him or any means necessary?” Eric added.“Who said anything about him doing anything? Henry said as he sat upright on the couch.With everyone staring at him expectantly and their eyes signaling him to continue with sharing the details of his plan, he began to explain, “What if we can find someone that will be willing to blackmail him for doing something unforgivable and we can forge proof with Photoshop. The Internet doesn't do much research with these sensitive matters, they mostly just go with the ladies' story. If we can use that to our advantage, he'd be locked up for life”.“That's a brilliant i

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    "Baby!!! You look like you just got hit by a truck, what happened?" Claire inquired, as Melissa and Jason walked through the door."C'mon mom, it's not that bad." Melissa said, trying to console herself with how terrible she looked and felt."Not thay bad, huh? Jason is literally limping and your mascara is all over your face like you cried. What happened at the reunion?" Melissa and Jason fell unto the couch, fatigued.Before they could respond to all the questions that Claire was throwing at them, Eric came storming down the stairs,"What the heck did you two do now? Why are the Grahams trending again, for the wrong reasons? I thought I gave a stern warning concerning that?"Jason was groaning in pain as he had sprained his ankle from the fall.Melissa begun wailing after Eric yelled at her and Jason."Mom, Dad, everything is ruined and it's all Ethan's fault.""Ethan's fault? What did he do this time?" Claire asked impatiently."Ethan.." Jason was about to explain what happened, w