Inside the Study, Reginald, who noticed that Jeremiah’s mind was elsewhere, asked him what he was doing.Jeremiah had actually been eavesdropping on David, wondering if he would say anything that would expose his involvement in the gas processing plant’s explosion and prove to Jeremiah that his suspicion was right. However, that didn’t happen and Jeremiah got annoyed that David stopped talking all of a sudden. From the last sentence Jeremiah heard David say before abruptly cutting himself off, he concluded that David knew he was onto him and was actively trying not to expose himself. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence, and Jeremiah was wrong about the whole thing—meaning David wasn’t involved in the explosion at all.There could only be one answer to the two possibilities, and time would reveal which one was correct because sooner or later, David was bound to slip up.All Jeremiah had to do was wait for that moment to come. Jeremiah replied “Nothing. I was just listening to what D
"Where the hell is my rent, Jeremiah?!" Inside the poorly furnished living room of a one-bedroom apartment, the elderly landlord and his son glared at a young man who had tape, ribbons, and pieces of popped balloons all over his body. "But, Mister Owens, my rent hasn't expired yet and you know that. I still have a week until I have to renew, so why are you hassling me for it like this?" Jeremiah Garrick said with a confused look on his face.The landlord frowned."Did you forget that I gave you a one-week extension when you didn't have the money on time last month? That extension means that you owe me a week and I'm deducting it from the one you have left which means your rent expires today!" Jeremiah's eyes widened."That's not fair! You can't just decide to do something like that without first informing me about it. Even if my wife and I go around town and start begging everyone we see, it'll be impossible to make the rent within the amount of time you're giving me" Jeremiah comp
Jeremiah couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was like he was stuck in a nightmare and no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to wake up. On closer inspection, he realized that the man who was making love to his wife was none other than his former boss and owner of the Ludwig resort, Mr. Paul Ludwig. "What was that—?" Mary asked as she told Paul to hold on a moment and then checked what caused the noise she heard. To her surprise, she saw Jeremiah staring at her infidelity with grief in his eyes, and her mood immediately soured. "What are you doing here, Jeremiah?!" Mary asked angrily as she quickly got out from under Paul and covered herself with the bedsheet. "Mary, how could you do this to me?" Jeremiah sniffled. "Weren't we supposed to be celebrating our anniversary at home, so why are you here, in bed with Mister Paul?" Tears fell down Jeremiah's eyes. “Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?” Paul frowned at Jeremiah. “It’s my useless husband, that’s w
Jeremiah spent a whole ten minutes lying on the ground, not being able to believe that in less than a couple of minutes he had lost the only person that made him happy. "What do I do now? All the years I put into our relationship, trying my best to make her happy was all for nothing. If only I wasn’t a nobody who couldn’t afford to give her what she wanted—" Jeremiah said but was interrupted when his phone started ringing. "Who the hell is it this time?" Jeremiah grumbled and decided to ignore the call. After a few seconds, the call ended but then the phone started ringing again. Jeremiah got angry that the caller couldn’t take the hint to not call back. He sat up and took out his phone from his pocket so he could terminate the call. He was about to hit the terminate button but looked at the caller ID and his eyes widened. He quickly changed tunes and, instead, swiped to answer the call then he put the phone on his ear. "Good evening, nurse Victoria! I hope everything is alri
Jeremiah, who tried to cope with what he just heard, chuckled. “I’m sorry, doctor, but I don’t think I heard you properly. You said my mother is what—?“ Jeremiah said, trying his best to trick himself into not believing what Doctor Gabriel told him. Unfortunately, the sad expressions he saw on the doctor's and Nurse Victoria’s faces made it hard. "Doctor Gabriel, please stop joking,” Jeremiah said and then looked at Nurse Victoria beside him. "My mom is fine so tell Doctor Gabriel to stop lying to me. Please" Jeremiah pleaded but all he got from the nurse was the look of pity. "I'm sorry Mister Jeremiah, but as I said, her body was just too weak for the severity of the heart attack. Please accept my condolences" Doctor Gabriel lowered his head to Jeremiah. Jeremiah's eyes widened when the realization of his mother’s death finally sank in. Confused and lost about what to do, he looked at the Doctor and didn’t know what to say back. “I know this doesn’t ease your pain but
Mary threw the jewelry box on the floor and held the necklace between her middle and index fingers."I said are you fucking stupid? This cheap thing is what you thought a classy woman like me would like? Tell me, Jeremiah, how am I supposed to walk around with this nonsense around my neck?" She asked aggressively and Jeremiah grimaced."But you were singing how much you wanted it not too long ago, which is why I got it. What changed?” Jeremiah asked.“I did! My level has been upgraded, thanks to Paul, and even holding this thing makes my skin crawl. This is what I think of your stupid anniversary gift," she said then walked over to where the trash can was and threw the necklace inside.She smacked her tongue then returned to the couch to get her cardboard box of personal belongings and started heading for the door. "Mary, how can you be this cruel? Can we just sit down and talk about all of this? If not for me then do it for the years we spent together" Jeremiah pleaded but his words
“I must be dreaming” Jeremiah couldn’t believe what he was seeing and he started slapping his cheek multiple times. “Wake up! Wake up! No way any of this is real” he said as he continued to slap himself, but instead of waking up like he expected, all he got was a hot and stinging cheek. He changed tactics. “Maybe, it’s a mistake from my bank” Wanting to confirm, Jeremiah called the manager of the bank he uses and after a couple of seconds, the phone was answered. [“Hello?”] Jeremiah said hurriedly “Good evening, Mister Victor. This is Jeremiah Garrick, one of the customers of Polaris Bank and I got your number when I opened my account” [“Okay and why are you calling at this time of the night? Don’t you know I was about to go to bed?”] Jeremiah could hear the irritation in Victor’s voice but he understood where it was coming from. After all, even he would be annoyed if someone called him at that time of the night, so not feeling insulted by it, he pushed on. “I sincerely ap
A victorious smile crept onto his face.He hadn’t felt so alive in his entire life. After reveling in his victory for a few seconds, Jeremiah called his father.“Dad, I just fired Victor so please find a new and respectful manager that’ll take his place. Also, ban him from ever finding work in any of the businesses owned by our family”[“No problem, son. Kingston will be on that with immediate effect”]“Thank you” Jeremiah smirked.[“You’re welcome, son. Now, back to why I called you earlier. Because of the large amount of money you received in your bank account, the money would most definitely be frozen. The account would need to be upgraded before you can access the money and you would also need a better debit card with a bigger spending limit. With that said, can you go to the bank first thing tomorrow morning to get that done? Victor’s replacement would have already been instated and awaiting your arrival”]Jeremiah, who thought he could just use the money that was resting in his
Inside the Study, Reginald, who noticed that Jeremiah’s mind was elsewhere, asked him what he was doing.Jeremiah had actually been eavesdropping on David, wondering if he would say anything that would expose his involvement in the gas processing plant’s explosion and prove to Jeremiah that his suspicion was right. However, that didn’t happen and Jeremiah got annoyed that David stopped talking all of a sudden. From the last sentence Jeremiah heard David say before abruptly cutting himself off, he concluded that David knew he was onto him and was actively trying not to expose himself. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence, and Jeremiah was wrong about the whole thing—meaning David wasn’t involved in the explosion at all.There could only be one answer to the two possibilities, and time would reveal which one was correct because sooner or later, David was bound to slip up.All Jeremiah had to do was wait for that moment to come. Jeremiah replied “Nothing. I was just listening to what D
David, looking at Jeremiah, blinked multiple times to emphasize his shock.Even though he had once thought that Jeremiah had joined hands with Dean and Adam to kill all the guards—after seeing the dismembered bodies when he escaped the plant—the fact that this was only an assumption and was never confirmed left him with some doubt that Jeremiah had ever gotten blood on his hands.That assumption quickly vanished after he heard about how Jeremiah saved everyone at the welcome ceremony from the Rubik's Cube bomb and even traveled a great distance to save him.However, when Jeremiah admitted outright that he had killed Dean—and went on to elaborate on how he did it—it sent a shock through David's body. He realized he might have been wrong about who Jeremiah had killed, but not about the fact that he had killed someone.‘So he really is a cold-blooded murderer’ David thought and gulped.Just then, David noticed something that felt concerning.He looked at Reginald and the three other men—
David tried standing up but before he did, Kingston offered him a hand. David looked at Kingston’s hand but instead of accepting, he felt insulted. The fact that he had just heard that Jeremiah, his one competition for the throne, was a powerful being who could do whatever he wanted, made him feel weak and useless in comparison, and seeing Kingston’s hand annoyed the hell out of him.Still, he had to maintain composure.“No thanks. I can stand on my own” David said, feigning a smile.“As you wish, Sir” Kingston replied then retracted his hand and stood upright while David went on his feet and walked back to where he once was.“Are you okay?” Reginald asked.However, David, who was annoyed that Reginald felt it necessary to ask that question out of concern for his earlier reaction, forced a smile.“I am Uncle, so please, continue,” David said. Reginald looked at Jeremiah and said “You should also listen to what I’m going to say because it involves you as well” “Okay,” Jeremiah grim
Reginald started by revealing the history of Crimson Fall to David, who at first was confused as to why he was telling him an old folk tale but soon realized why when Reginald told him the part that only the king and a select few knew. The moment David heard about reincarnation, his eyes widened, asking himself if such a thing existed.Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only bombshell he was going to hear as the story continued to unfold.Reginald told him that it was the Garrick family's mission to make sure that Lord Crimson, the powerful dragon who ruled over Crimson Fall for centuries, reincarnated and like that wasn’t enough, he gestured at Jeremiah and told him that Jeremiah was Lord Crimson, reincarnated.“I’m sorry what?” David asked, trying to make sure he wasn’t mishearing things. “You heard me right. Your cousin, who we all thought was dead, is our one true ruler. The all-powerful, Lord Crimson” Reginald said passionately. David’s eyes blinked multiple times as he looked at
The boldness with which Jeremiah said “Yes, I did” demoralized David. It was like he was telling David that he didn’t regret what he did and was daring him to reprimand his actions. Knowing that he couldn’t lash out at Jeremiah for what he did, David had no choice but to gulp and accept what happened and move on— making him more mad because he hated being made to feel small and insignificant. “I’m sure you had your reasons but can you please tell me why you hurt my friends,” David asked, making sure to choose his words carefully so as not to sound like he was confronting Jeremiah. “Friends? I think you’re misunderstanding something, David.” Reginald said and David quickly looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. “Jeremiah didn’t hurt your friends but your friend. Only one person was hurt by his hands” Reginald clarified. David grimaced. He reflected on Reginald’s words and remembered that the king had said “friend” instead of “friends” when he revealed that the per
That’s right, he had completely forgotten about his punishment because of the night he had, but it’s a good thing Reginald was bringing it up now.What was his uncle going to say? Hopefully, something along the lines of, he had seen that David had learned his lesson and because of that he had decided to bring the punishment to an end. David thought and started smiling discreetly.“After the aftermath of the explosion at the welcome ceremony, I have decided that—“ Reginald said, but David cut him off.“Explosion at the welcome ceremony?! What explosion?” David asked and Reginald paused.“You haven’t heard about the explosion yet?” Reginald asked. “No, I haven’t. There was another explosion but at the welcome ceremony?” David replied.David had been so anxious to find out what Jeremiah knew about the gas processing plant explosion that he was tunnel-visioned from everything else. He had just gone to his room to freshen up, changed clothes, and then went to Reginald’s study for the mee
After looking at everyone in the Study and seeing how they were staring at him— especially Jeremiah’s whose stare was like a predator’s to a prey— David, who realized that he was in a hot mess, thought of how to get away from the situation.How could he spin the story and change the narrative in his favor? He wondered and his brain started working at a million miles an hour in search of the answer.Soon enough, a thought came to his mind and he decided to go with it.David started chuckling, making everyone wonder why he was doing that.What did he find so funny?“Uncle, what gave you the impression that I knew about the explosion before it happened?” David asked.Reginald, who thought about the question, grimaced and adjusted how he sat.“Well, if I remember correctly, you were rambling about how we should leave the area and were adamant about it for a good minute before the building exploded, so I thought that your behavior was because you beforehand that the building was going to e
Once inside the study, the first thing Jeremiah did was pause and groan when he saw David standing in front of the desk. Kingston, who was just as surprised as Jeremiah at the sight of David, jolted and asked “Sir David, you’re already here?”“Yes, he is. Truthfully, even I was surprised when he arrived before you two did, but for some reason, he seemed eager to have the meeting which I guess is a good thing because I have so much to ask him” Reginald said.David, who was trying his best to keep his cool and act normal, turned to Reginald and smiled. “I just wanted to tell Uncle what happened because I know how worried he was about my disappearance and maybe that will calm his mind a little,” David said.Reginald, who didn’t know the young man’s true motive and believed his words, smiled. He took David’s feigned concern for him as a sign of David changing and attributed it to the punishment he gave him working. Speaking of the punishment, what was going to happen now that the guard
Jeremiah, Kingston, and Steven went to Reginald’s study while Elizabeth went back into Jeremiah’s room to spend some more time with Lynette’s corpse.Since the body would most definitely be kept in Jeremiah’s room until the funeral tomorrow, this was going to be her only moment of privacy with her former protégé. Though it would be a one-sided conversation, as Lynette could talk back, Elizabeth was going to say everything she had in her chest and hopefully feel at ease with losing someone she cared about so soon.A couple of minutes later, after finally being at peace with Lynette’s passing, Christabel came to the room and she too got her chance to say goodbye to her friend and fellow protégé.After that, Christabel and Elizabeth reminisced on past moments they and Lynette spent together when she was alive and the experience made the remaining two form a stronger bond than what they had before.Just then, the room door was knocked. “Who is it?” Christabel asked after Elizabeth used