REAL POWERIt was Brian's turn to start laughing “You wanna kick me out?” Did everyone hear that? Mrs. Sinclair wants to evict me”.“That's right”, she replied “and my manager will back me up too, I've never let her down in the past and I don't intend to now”. She walked closer to Brian, Their noses were almost touching. “I could kick out a dozen customers like you and she still wouldn't fire me”. Are you sure the manager will listen to you?” Asked Brian.The surrounding people looked at one another, convinced that Brian was too arrogant and stubborn for his own good. He was in one of the most exclusive stores in San Clemente, and Eddie was refusing to do as he was asked, Some of them were even wondering if he knew who owned the store, convinced that he must have never heard of Elizabeth Ragnar and her powerful husband Lincoln. Getting on the wrong side of either of those two people could only end badly for him. By that time, several security guards had arrived. “Throws his man ou
THE UNEXPECTED“Watch it”, Brian muttered warningly. “Bite me”, Rory snapped back “Just look at how dumpy he looks, this is a high-end store and he's making the other customers uncomfortable and kick him out already”. Elizabeth took two steps up to Rory and slapped him across the face. The surrounding crowd gasped. The CEO had not only slapped an employee, but she slapped a customer as well. Rory stared at her with wide eyes. “But my father is one of her business partners”, he thought. “How could she do this? Doesn't she respect my family name?”“ Both of you need to apologize to this man immediately”, Elizabeth spoke angrily. “I don't know how much more I can say”, she thought.“Brian prefers to stay low-key, and that's his right. If I give away too much, he's going to be angry with me as well. She took another quick glance at Brian and saw that his expression had eased, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Why Rory? he's not worth an apology, He's just some deadbeat we tried to
RIVAL“Something is really wrong”, Brian thought. “She was the one that gave me her bank card, how could I have messed this up? I don't understand”, he said.“Why are you so upset about the lipstick?” brian asked, “You don’t get it at all, do you?” Do you see this?”.She held the tube out in front of his face. “This is one of this season's limited edition colors. “This little tube is worth $250”. She continued to dig through the box.”In this nail Polish, also a limited edition and worth over $100. And this foundation”. She continued searching through the box, doing the math in her head.“Brian! This whole block contains over $5000 in cosmetics, I can't afford all these”, she thought angrily. “And that's more than the limit on the card I gave you” she said “Let me explain”, he said. “What is that to explain?”“ One box of cosmetics $5000 down the drain? I can't trust you to do anything right”!Samantha shouted. “I didn't even pay attention to the price when I swiped my card”, he tho
THE BAIT The following day, Brian got up to leave early It received a report that there was a new development regarding Duke..Brenda hustled out She didn't want him to be there when Nick showed up. Nick pulled up to their house and a brand new luxury sports car at eight o'clock.Brenda met him in the driveway and greeted him effusively. “It's so good to see you”, she gushed, It's been so long”.“Wow, I think you're taller and even more handsome than you used to be” Gary had followed her out. He grabbed Nick's hand and gave it a firm shake. “It's good to see you too ”, Nick replied. It was a little rush getting into town, so I hope you don't mind that I don't have time to pick up a real gift”. He handed an envelope to Gary. This card has $10,000 in it I hope that's OK Ohh, “we can't accept this”, Brenda said, flustered, but she took the envelope anyway. After all, she thought, to refuse a gift is to refuse hospitality and we wouldn't wanna hurt his feelings Gary was also in support “
THE AMBUSH“Frankie and Malcolm can handle themselves.But maybe I should pay a visit to the club” Brian said.At the nightclub, All of the guests had been cleared out to allow a private discussion between Frankie and Duke. Lincoln stood beside Duke, His heart was beating fast.”We are in Frankie's territory now, he thought. “ I know he had planned an ambush and we could be attacked at any time”.“Frankie, you said All these years I've treated you well i left you alone after the Three gang was disbanded i didn't need to do that, you know.And now I hear rumors that you're working against me.” Duke confronted him.“Hey, Duke, You've wronged me, Frankie said, feigning hurt I've done nothing but run my nightclub I just wanna stay outta trouble from now on”.“And that's the problem”, Duke replied. “Because I think you're in big trouble indeed.I know that you and stone's boss have reached an agreement And that you're planning to ambush me.” Frankie trembled internally, but he kept his expr
TRAITOR“Weren't we going to deal with Duke?” someone asked. “Where is he, Frankie? What happened?” Another ask. “Where's Danny? Frankie demanded. “Why isn't he here?” The men looked at each other. “Frankie, I haven't seen Danny all morning”, one of the men said. “I'm sure he just got delayed by something. “But that's not an excuse”, Frankie frowns. “He knew that today was a big day and he knew better than to be late, Find him”. He said. The men pulled out their phones and each one tried calling Danny. One by one, each man shook his head as a sign of Danny not responding, and Frankie got extremely furious.Frankie tore one of the couch cushions out of frustration “he betrays me like this!”. None of the men dared to speak. They stood around the room, eyes lowered, hoping not to be the target of their boss’s Anger. But Brian also saw confusion in their eyes. They did not know where Danny was, and they were astonished that he had double-crossed them. “Frankie,” Brian said. “Since Duke
THE ALLY“Who else besides you and Jack knew about our plans over the next few days?, How did Duke find out we were going to ambush him?”. Danny was speechless. He had no comeback, nothing he could say to change Frankie's mind. “Take him out of here”, Frankie said. “And get rid of him, i don't wanna see him again”. There were no questions about what that meant. Jack sighed and hauled Danny to his feet. “Wait”, Brian said, stepping forward.“What?” Frankie demanded. “Do you wanna plead for his life? Because it's not gonna work, I've made my decision”.“Nothing like that, But he might know more than he's letting on", Let me deal with him”.“And when you are done q”“when you’reuestioning him. I'll take care of this traitor””. Frankie shook his head. “ “After all we've learned, you're still determined to go up against Duke” Don't you see how pointless it is? If Duke could bribe my top Lieutenant, he could bribe anyone””. He said “ “Well, we won't know until we ask him, will we?Mayb
THE RIVAL“If that's true, why don't you join me?Stone and Lincoln” Brian suggested. “We can work as one,How about that?” Danny felt honored. Brian used to be a man who didn't have any previous street friends but he had moved to become a topic of gossip on the streets. However, they ignored the gossip and continued to do whatever they wanted.As people got used to having Brian around, Lincoln joined his gang and the gossip started all over again. Everyone wondered how Brian had nabbed a powerful fighter like Lincoln.“I'll think about it”, Danny said seriously. The two of them exchanged their contact information before parting ways. Brian went to the company's office for a while before returning home. When he pulled into the drive, he saw an expensive sports car parked in front of the house. Samantha was standing beside it, talking with a wealthy looking young man. Brian frowned. Although Samantha didn't like the idea of Nick wanting to spend so much time with her, she had been h
JELOUSYRoss shoved him aside. “You want me to give you another chance? “If I keep providing protection for you and your store, how am I going to explain that to Mr. Maxwell when he finds out? it's best for you to just shut the whole store down at this point, otherwise, next time He comes here, he's going to be offended that you're still here, and then you don't want to offend Mr. Maxwell”. He said to the manager. “I'd laugh if anyone else said that. But if it's what Ross thinks is best that would only mean I'm done for it wasn't easy to get to this point. I thought with Ross providing protection, I could do whatever I wanted. I never thought I would offend someone that even Ross is afraid of”. Ross just looked down at him, “Let me give you one last piece of advice”. He said, “try to be a good person from now on if you know what is good for you”After leaving them all, Laura was in no mood to continue their day out, so she and Brian got in the car to head home.Laura was clearly p
THE MANAGERBrian tilted his head thoughtfully “Ross? he asked.“you're not talking about Ross Gilmore, are you? the same guy I had a little chat with yesterday” he thought.“I think I left quite an impression on him”.“ you know Ross Gilmore?” the manager asked. “You could say that” the manager was surprised but then he saw Laura’s panicked expression clearly showed she had also heard of Ross or at least she knew of his reputation.“that's right,” he said “My shop is under Ross Gilmore’s protection so if you two both get down on your knees and beg for mercy I’ll consider asking for less compensation, otherwise you'll have to beg Ross for mercy” “and at this point, the compensation is the secondary”. he thought. just look how pretty that girl is, Ross, is going to be very happy when he sees her”. many people in the crowd had also heard of Ross and his reputation as a local thug they were not surprised that someone as Petty and nasty as the owner of this store had someone as vici
CHAOS Brian smiled at her but did not comment.The shop manager returned in short order with a Gray scarf draped across his arms. “Go on, Brian, Laura said. “Try it on and see what you think”.She lifted her hand, but the manager turned and held the scarf out of reach. “What?” She asked. “ Aren't you going to let us see it before we buy it?” The manager replied. “You've already seen and handled the other one.Isn't that enough?Except for the color, the two scarves are identical. Come up to the register and I'll get you checked out”.He smiled arrogantly. “They Caused the most trouble”, he thought. “They really need to put their grubby hands all over a genuine branded cashmere scarf.The rich ladies who come in here just point at what they want, pay the bill and leave without any fuss”. Laura's eyes flashed with anger. “Is that how you do business?” She asked. “If you don't try on clothing.How will you know if you like it or not?Maybe we won't like the feel of it.But we won't know until
OUTBURST Laura looked up from her plate of eggs and watched her sister confused. She glanced at Brian, who shrug. “I don't know exactly what's bothering her, but I can guess” he thought. “But I don't wanna talk to Laura about the whole situation with Brandy.That's too much to get into this morning”. “Hey, sis.Did you forget that Brian and I were going out for a fun day today? You should come along.Change your clothes. I'm gonna leave right after breakfast”. “No thanks”, Samantha replied. “I have some important things I need to get done today|”. “Is there anything more?Important than.Quality family time”.Samantha stood up. “You've got Brian, you don't need me”. She left the kitchen.And they heard her bedroom door closed a few seconds later. Gary Wandered into the kitchen, still half asleep.He looked from Laura to Brian. “Where's Samantha?” He asked. “I thought I heard her voice”. “Well, she's not here”, Laura said. “She's having a hissy fit or something”. “Come on Brian, let's
STILL IN LOVE“I'm glad to hear it”, said Brian. “If you'll excuse me”.With that, he walked over to the backstage door. He was determined to see Brandy, and Ross had held him up long enough.He could hear the sound of television through her door, it sounded like a cartoon and you could hear her laughing loudly at it. He Knocked several times before she heard him. “Come in, She shouted once she finally heard his knocking. “Ohh, it's you. Hello”.She walked over and gave him a huge bear hug.She squeezed him so hard he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said eventually. “Are you trying to kill me?” It took him a moment or two to disentangle himself from her grip.“You never change, do you?” He said, his words full of affection.He always spoke to her with the affection of an older brother talking to his favorite sister. Annoyed, Brandy pounded him on the chest.Always hoped that Brandy would stay as innocent as a child, but that was never going to be the case.Uncle Sam had already to
BRIANAs he realized that Brian had seen right through him, anger began to take over.He had a powerful urge to kill him.The slower and more painful death, the better.However, that was something that would have to wait.Murdering Brandy Hall's friend in a busy bar wouldn't win him any popularity contests. It was a plan he would have to save for another day. “Don't be so quick to criticize me”, he said. “You may have gotten away with it this evening, but I will get my revenge on you soon”.“I wouldn't be so sure about that”, said Brian.“But I can be sure”, said Ross, a smile starting to appear on his face. “I have a Big Brother and plenty of friends to help me.Next time you might not find the bartender quite so helpful”.“You're going to hide behind your Big Brother?” Asked Brian. “Why is he someone special?”The door to the bar opened.A man walked in.Ross smiled. his Big Brother had just walked in and his timing couldn't have been better.The man saw Ross and walked over.Ross began to s
THROW HIM OUTRoss was surprised that the bartender knew him, but he certainly wasn't complaining.He knew they had backup when it came to making Brian's life even more miserable than he had hoped. “He's the scruffy man over there”, he said, pointing to Brian's back. “He's trying to go backstage to see Brandy, which surely is a serious offense.My advice is that you have him evicted immediately”. “Well, we could always ask Brandy what she thinks”, said the bartender. “After all, she's the star performer.It's only fair that she should decide if she wants a visitor”.Ross was not impressed it wasn't the answer he had wanted to hear. “However”, continued the bartender, winking at Ross. “If she doesn't want any company, young Rossier gets to decide what to do with the unwanted visitor”.Everyone in the room held their breath, listening very carefully. “What's the punishment?” Ross asked one.Ross smiled. He made a choking gesture to the crowd, much to their delight.A huge cheer went up, sig
CODY’S BAR“Don't worry, maybe Brian will come with me”, said Lynn.Samantha looked at her. “Since when have they had such a good relationship?” She thought.But she didn't bother to ask Laura directly.“What's happening tomorrow?” She asked instead.“I thought you were busy”, said Laura. “But seeing as you're asking, it's a social event organized by the college. I thought you might have wanted to come with me”.She sighed.“If you're busy, I'll ask Brian. he won't mind coming with me. he'll make sure I'm OK”.It's sorted Laura, Take Brian”. Being her brother-in-law, she could go out with him without arousing suspicion.Samantha looked at her suspiciously, not convinced that Brian could keep her sister safe.In her mind, it was almost funny.Much more importantly, she was sure they were keeping something from her.Pretending that nothing was worrying her, she decided to go too, despite the pressures of her job. “I think I'll come too”, she said. “It'll be good to have a break from work”.Sh
UNEXPECTED His friends started to laugh mercilessly.By that time, Samantha was in earshot.When she heard laughter, she relaxed, thinking they had already resolved their differences and made-up.Deciding not to get involved, she stayed out of sight around the corner and listen.Has she gone around the corner, she would have realized that she had gotten it drastically wrong. Brian and Ross were staring at each other. Neither had any intention of backing down.Ross threw his cigarette butts on the ground and stepped on it. “I've had enough of your nonsense. It's time I taught you a lesson.Lesson”. Brian repeated questioningly. “A student?,I don't need to be taught a lesson.I think you've got it the wrong way around”. With that, he stepped forward and landed a blow in Ross' stomach”.Ross doubled up, completely taken aback by the punch.As he struggled to catch his breath, he couldn't believe such an unassuming looking man could be so strong. Started to feel nauseated and his vision st