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2024-12-20 10:17:47A shot of applause went up as it did for each family that arrived as Elina and her parents arrived at the entrance of the Hazel’s mansion. They smiled and made their way to their seats, Nicholas in tow with them.
“You know, I’m still finding it hard to believe that the heir himself, had sent his limousine over to bring us down here. It feels like a dream come true!” Patricia chipped in as they settled down.
“Well, we all Nicholas all of these. It was his influence that got us a spot in the Hazel’s Forbes Initiative,” Jacob grinned and raised a glass in salute.
~~~~~~
A knock sounded on the door as Jonathan stood before the mirror getting ready for the grand unveiling, and the shock he was about to subject the Jacksons to.
“Come in.”
It was Via.
“Hey. I'm ready. And I just got word that most of the guests have arrived. I believe it's time for you to make your appearance.”
“And the Jac–” Jonathan began asking as he turned around to face her but his breath caught in his throat.
Via was dressed so beautifully in a sexy low-cut blue-green gown with a thigh-high slit that he couldn't help staring. Her hair was down for the first time and it blew Jonathan’s mind away. It was a good thing she was his date.
She smiled, “Yes the Jacksons just arrived. You seem to have such an love for the family?”
Jonathan cleared his throat, regaining his composure.
“Yes. I do.”
~~~~~~
“And now for the moment, you've all been waiting for!” The master of ceremonies boomed, dazzling everyone with his smile, “Permit me to make welcome, the most wanted man in the world!”
Everyone laughed out loud at that,
“Well, it's true!” The man joked. “With a standing ovation, let's welcome –”
Elina and her family were one of the first people to rise to their feet and begin clapping.
“– the richest bachelor in the world, Jonathan Hazel!”
All of the lights focused on Jonathan as he came up on the stage with Via. His smile took everyone's breath away.
Patricia particularly because she collapsed onto her chair.
A look of horror had graced Elina’s face as she stood frozen, looking at Jonathan and refusing to believe her eyes.
“It can't be…” Nicholas breathed.
Jacob was white as a sheet and could only place a hand on his wife's shoulder as she trembled, looking like she'd just seen a ghost.
“Thank you. Thank you very much, Steve.” Jonathan clapped the announcer's back jovially.
“And thank you Venice City for this wonderful opportunity to meet you all in a relaxed environment. I must commend your brains and efforts in putting this together.”
There were murmurs of assent from the crowd and another round of applause.
“Well I'm glad to meet you all and I'm sure you're all elated to have been the first to see the new heir of the Hazel Empire.”
Everyone laughed.
Jonathan wasted no time as he went straight to announcing the three family businesses that were finally picked to be beneficiaries of the Hazel’s Forbes Initiative with the Jackson’s family not included.
“Well enjoy your evening and I'll be around, mingling and answering any non-business questions you might have.” Jonathan remarked, as he took Via’s hand, looking directly into her eyes and smiling as he did.
Another round of laughter filled the hall, as they looked at the two of them, believing that they were already a couple in the making.
“Yes please, this is the only night I'll get away from business in a while so please,” Jonatahn said in a mock-serious tone.
Everyone laughed and applauded as he and Ivy exited the stage, waving at them.
“Now isn't it a peach that our new boss has a great sense of humor?” Steve demanded jovially. “Enjoy your evening everyone!”
“Now Mr. Duke, what did I say about business earlier?” Jonathan joked to a middle-aged man.
“Oh well –”
“E – excuse me Jonathan?” a voice interrupted from behind Jonathan and his companion.
Jonathan turned around and it was the faces he'd been waiting to see all evening.
He smirked.
“J– Jonathan please can we –”
“I'm sorry but if you'll excuse me I've got better things to do.” Jonathan quipped and moved away.
Elina ran after him and grabbed his arm.
“Jonathan, please let's –”
“Excuse me!” Jonathan snatched his arm from her grip. “That's harassment, miss!”
“Jonathan, why are you doing this?”
But Jonathan was already off.
Elina ran after him once more. The whole debacle had caught the attention of nearly half the hall at that point.
One of Jonathan’s guards stopped Elina before she could grab him again.
“Jonathan, you don't have to embarrass us like this,” Nicholas spoke up shakily from behind Elina.
Jonathan stopped in his tracks immediately. He turned around slowly.
“You're right. I don't have to embarrass you like this. I can do it another way.”
He walked up to Nicholas and when their faces were mere inches apart he raised his voice for the silent room to hear,
“Nicholas Ray, aren’t you the one who submitted a business proposal to have over a billion dollars invested in your new startup?”
Nicholas, quickly realizing his mistake started trembling, as he could already tell where Jonathan was steering the conversation towards.
“S- sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I am.” He stammered, hoping it would appease Jonathan and prevent him from carrying on with whatsoever plan that was already cooking up in his mind regarding the investment proposal.
Jonathan looked at him in a very disgusted way,
“Well then, I’m not investing! You are free to take your proposal somewhere else,”
Nicholas’ eyes widened,
“Y– you can't do that!”
Jonathan smiled devilishly,
“Oh, but I can, and I just did,” Jonathan turned to leave and signaled for his guards.
“J – Jonathan, p– please don't do this –” Elina begged, still running after him.
“Don't go down that lane honey. You know what I can do.” Jonathan snickered, not even bothering to look her way.
Elina and her family stood there hopelessly for a moment, then they turned around and saw the entire hall staring at them. They'd been publicly humiliated in front of the entire city.
Their faces were infused with red as they stuttered trying to explain themselves.
The hall erupted in frantic muttering as everyone whispered amongst themselves about what the Jacksons could possibly have done.
Everyone moved away from them as they walked back to their seats.
“W– we don't have to take this, let's go home,” Jacob muttered.
They made to leave the hall but Jonathan spotted them from the gallery.
“Don't let them leave.” He muttered to his guard. “They should stay back and enjoy the waves of humiliation bathing them.”
The guards at the entrance refused to allow them passage. Jacob furiously called their own guards to get them out of there but as Jonathan saw from above that they were the same men who'd beaten him up to a pulp the night he'd been forced to sign the divorce papers, he muttered to the ears of his head of security.
“Arrest their guards.” The man instructed with his voice reverberating through the hall.
As their guards were hijacked and handcuffed while they were pushed back into the unforgiving hall, Elina’s eyes moved up in desolation and she saw Jonathan smirking down on them from above.
Tears filled her and her mother's eyes as they stood, feeling completely ostracized.
“This is only the beginning.” Jonathan muttered.
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"I have never been so humiliated in my life!" Jacob Jackson thundered as he and his family barged into the house. He threw his coat onto the floor, his face red with anger and embarrassment. The fact that they had gone to the ceremony in a beast limousine, and then had to return in a cab, had added more to the humiliation they had suffered at Jonathan’s hands."This wasn’t supposed to happen this way not after all the care we gave him, talk more of the support we showed him, your mother went to all lengths to make sure he got a job in that delivery company to show she cared, but he does this instead!" He continued his eyes red with anger and pain from the embarrassment.Elina and her mother sat quietly on the couch, Patricia embittered dried up her tears whilst shaking her head in disbelief. Elina lost in thoughts, her mind occupied as to how the Hazel’s heir turned out to be Jonathan, the man whom she had just thrown out of her house not long. She had never imagined it to be him re
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CH. 8 (Humiliated in public)
A shot of applause went up as it did for each family that arrived as Elina and her parents arrived at the entrance of the Hazel’s mansion. They smiled and made their way to their seats, Nicholas in tow with them.“You know, I’m still finding it hard to believe that the heir himself, had sent his limousine over to bring us down here. It feels like a dream come true!” Patricia chipped in as they settled down.“Well, we all Nicholas all of these. It was his influence that got us a spot in the Hazel’s Forbes Initiative,” Jacob grinned and raised a glass in salute.~~~~~~A knock sounded on the door as Jonathan stood before the mirror getting ready for the grand unveiling, and the shock he was about to subject the Jacksons to.“Come in.”It was Via.“Hey. I'm ready. And I just got word that most of the guests have arrived. I believe it's time for you to make your appearance.”“And the Jac–” Jonathan began asking as he turned around to face her but his breath caught in his throat.Via was d
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CH. 6 (Final funeral rights)
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CH. 5 (Last will and testament)
“Jonathan it's such a shame that I couldn’t be there to welcome you myself but life has always been so fair to me I don’t mind it playing a smart one on me and making me absent at this time. But enough about me. I’m sure everything still seems very confusing. Especially your identity.”The man cleared his throat.“You are Jonathan Hazel the child of my first son Robert Hazel. I’m sure you are confused as to why you never met me or knew anything of this life before. It is because your mother chose to raise you out of the family.“Your father, my late son died from a tragic plane crash a year after you were born and your mother who had never been a fan of the problems that came with being a member of such a widely known family, more or less blamed the family for his death. She decided to take you far away from us to live out there with the rest of the world where you would be safe.“I didn’t rest, I sent out a search party to find her. We then came to an agreement. I didn’t want the las
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CH. 4 (The Home coming)
Jonathan couldn’t comprehend what had just happened; all he could process at that moment was the unexpected journey that he and the police chief had set on immediately after he'd been discharged from the hospital he was rushed to.His wounds had been treated and he'd eaten a decent meal for the first time in days. He was so confused he was on high alert. What could be going on? Was this going to be another form of torture? Were they fattening him up for the slaughter?“Young Master Jonathan, do you need anything, and are you in any pain?” The Chief asked, turning away from the steering wheel for a second.“There will be a doctor on ground immediately we arrive and you will be tended to more closely.” The Chief added.Jonathan was still trying to adjust to the situation before him so it wasn't out of disrespect that he turned his face away to the window.“Where are we headed, sir Chief?” He asked cautiously.“Call me Chief.” The chief replied, trying to be as cordial as possible.“We a
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CH. 3 (A signet of power)
“Are you ready to confess or do we still need to take this interrogation session further?” The tall man with a scar on his face who'd become Jonathan’s kinsman of pain, asked as he forced his fist onto Jonathan’s already bleeding face.Jonathan groaned and spat blood.“You – you've been asking me that –” he coughed and spat more blood as his head lolled forward. “– that question f– for the past t– two days. And j– just like before… I don’t know what you are talking about!” Jonathan yelled the last sentence with all the strength he could pull out of his already mutilated body.He felt pain and anger at the fact that he was going through so much pain for something he knew nothing of.“Fine.” The senior police officer turned around and picked up a damp towel from the table, wiping his bloody fists. “You leave me no choice.”He rushed hastily out of the room, frustration carved in the hunch of his shoulders.Immediately he left, Jonathan burst into tears. How could this be happening? How
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CH. 2 (Knocked Out)
"Sign these papers," Elina retorted. I'm sick and tired of being tied to a failure!"Jonathan’s heart dropped to his feet,“E– Elina?” He queried, not looking further than that at the contents.“I don't want to hear anything from you. Marrying you was a mistake I intend to remedy. Now sign these papers and leave my life forever.” She spat.“E– Elina –”Jacob interrupted him with a punch, seeing that Jonathan was proving stubborn and that could affect his chance of being helped by Nicholas Ray“I don't want to hear a word from you, you bastard! You heard what she said, sign the damn papers!”“P– please – Elina please,” Jonathan begged, a tear rolling down his eye without his permission.“You're not worthy of our daughter you scrap! Heck! You're not even worthy of breathing the same air as her!” Patricia shouted into his face.Elina didn't even act like she cared, she spat at his feet and ran back to Nicholas’ side. She caressed him, as she accepted the ring from me, her smile widening.
