They remained mute as Hank’s words crept subtly into their minds. They weren’t convinced, as their minds raced with a dozen possibilities of Hank being truthful with them. “Lies,” Alex said in a low tone, his voice barely escaping his mouth, “they are all lies. Gusto would not do such a thing, you are lying.”He was right. Gusto, although a criminal, was as pious and honest as a selfless man could be. He had his morals judging him between the wrong things that could be a disruption to his state of mind, and betraying the people he called his friends was one of those things.They knew it. However, Hank’s persuasive voice raised a second doubt in their hearts thinking better of Hank’s words. Elijah ran out of time as reality slipped from his hands every passing moment. He knew Daniel approached faster than he could imagine, and had a faint imagination of what Daniel had on his mind.His corpse was supposed to be laying cold on the floor. However, the reverse was the case, and he n
“Is this what you truly are?” Elijah charged at Hank, gripping his neck firmly like a Lion holding on to the jugular of its prey.Before Hank could say anything in his defense, Elijah almost choked the life out of him. His fear would not let him let go of Hank’s neck, even though his body strength was declining rapidly. “Let go of me, you crazy dimwit,” Hank said, yanking Elijah’s massive hold on his neck away from him.It was a moment Elijah had to decide on whether to return to being a captive or die as a freeman. He wasn’t scared of death, not by a single bit. What scared him the most was his inability to make the most of the time he had to reach out to Richard.His guilt bummed him, not able to give his friend, his father, and his brother, the kind of justice they deserved.His failure smacked around him.He was immediately restrained by Hank’s minions, and he could not shake them off regardless of how much he tried. “You backstabbing ingrate, you would sell out any man
“Trust me? After all, we have been through,” he said with a slight rise in his voice. He gave little thought to his words before uttering them.Hank’s eyebrows creased into confusion, “We been through? What have we been through? I find it difficult to understand people like you who barely get out of their shells. Just because we planned an escape does not verify the existence of a ‘we’. It is only Me.” He took his legs off the table and walked toward Elijah, coming down to his ear level to drop a whisper, “There is no ‘we’, it is either the money or nothing.” A cold breath seethed through Elijah’s neck, as Hank’s whispers resonated like a church bell’ He’d thought Hank showed some kind of interest in becoming partners with him, rather than just the money he offered. His conscience forewarned him of the dangers of having to trust Hank a little, and at that point, he had to choose between trusting him again and taking his life in his hand. It was a matter of what next to do. Elija
“The cops… for what?” “You ask too many questions, just do as I say. You have two minutes and it starts now.”Elijah wished he’d asked too much questions before taking the cup of wine that turned his life into a miserable one. He wished he asked too much questions when he was with the Greene family, it would have come in handy, rather than having to do everything they asked him to do like he was a freaking zombie.He was not, and now he had the awareness of who he was, and refused to be tossed around by anyone. He was an heir and not any man’s salve. He picked the phone, and dialed the only number on it, Bishop Leo’s line. He was ready to hazard a truth. He put his life on the line that Leo’s phone would be in the possession of Richard. He dialed the number the first time, and there was no response on the other end. “Is your magic man not picking? I will blow your brains off before Daniel discover I have tricked him again,” Hank yelled at Elijah fiddling with the p
“I have asked the wrong questions all theses while, thinking it was the right thing to do,” Daniel began his questioning, after noticing Elijah’s reluctance to bend to his wishes, “a wise man said, ‘only a fool will do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result’, is it right or wrong?”Elijah remained silent, unsure of where Daniel was driving at. Just like before, he chose stealth over hastiness. “Am I a fool or what?” “If you call yourself one, then you definitely are,” Elijah muttered, letting the cat out of the bagDaniel responded with a light chuckle, and took another sip from his beer, “well, I am definitely one, I guess.”Elijah shrugged, making no comment on Daniel’s following words. Daniel rose to his feet, and traversed the four corners of the warehouse, and finally settled at the only window that provided illumination to the warehouse, aside from the light bulb hanging down the ceiling. As the rays of sunshine splashed on Daniel’s fa
“I don’t care what you choose to believe,” Hank returned Daniel’s tricks with one of his own making, “it is left to you to believe what I tell you.”Daniel squinted his eyes and scanned around with a quizzical look, watching Alex and the other members of the group standing behind Hank like giant oak trees, except that they were in no way looking like giants. “Why?” “Excuse me?” Hank raised the corner of his eyebrow. “Why then did you choose to offer him back to me? You could just have made the same deal you claim Gusto tried to make, and run away with it, in exchange for you sparing his life”Daniel took short steps toward Hank, but was still a reasonable distance away from him. he scrutinized vividly the scenery, and hoped everything Hank talked about was the truth. He knew Gusto to be pious, and was not ready to choose Hank’s words even though the story seemed convincing and perfect to the core. “Don’t tell me you no longer have a price.” Hank’s lips curled into a short
Daniel chuckled sitting unfazed by what Hank had just said. He needed his answers and could only resort to means like this to get the truth from a lie. At its best, his plan could only enrage Hank, but not break him. “You idiot, I was just messing with your head a little,” Daniel said mid-laughter. He covered up his anger with laughter to blend in with the emotion of the moment., Hank leaned closer to him, giving Daniel deaf ears to his final show of surrender, “Don’t try it, because you won’t survive it. The shits I have in my head will suffocate if you even try to spend a minute there.,” he pinned his hand on Daniel’s chest. “Fine. I will see what I can do about it if only you would understand me and let us get going after we are done here.” Daniel yielded with a frown but was still adamant about not releasing Hank. Hank was starting to get disturbed and scared. ‘The police will be here soon.’ Hank thought to himself. He tried to control himself on who the police would
“Why are the police here?” Daniel questioned at the top of his voice, glaring at Hank, “Why the fuck are the police here?”Elijah plastered an elfish grin on his face and charged at Daniel with a takedown to his side. He thrust a right hand into Daniel’s face, and then returned his face with a jaw breaking left. Daniel tossed him off away from him, but before he could get back to his feet, Elijah charged with another spear to Daniel. He continued to land repeated punches to pattern Daniel’s face while the siren of the police got closer. “We have to go now,” Hank said with an intonation and fear creeping in his voice, as he tried to pull Elijah off of Daniel. Elijah resisted, throwing Hank away from him, as he refused to give Daniel an breathing space however possible. His fist tightened after each successive punches with each one creating a lasting effect than the previous one. Hank fidgeted for a while, and would not want the police to meet him there, “that is enough, let us get
“ I won't kill you Master Xi'an, instead, I will make it fair. We would participate in a sword fighting, whoever wins, kills the other” Elijah said, making Isabella gasp as she stood up and walked towards him.“ What are you doing? Now is your chance to end him, why are you trying to kill yourself once again?” Isabella was extremely worried.“ Did I ever tell you that I can't die if death isn't natural? So put your mind to rest, this will only make it a fair game” Elijah smiled.“ Kelvin, let him go. He needs to clad his sword with Lotus flower poison, so he can kill me once again” Elijah said in a mocking tone which made Hank and Dracula burst into laughter.Once Kelvin let Master Xi'an go, he disappeared from the board room. All this while, Elijah held Tim so that the members of the board meeting wouldn't know what was going on.“ Don't tell me you hid back time?” Isabella was surprised.“ Yes I did. I practised my powers so much that there is literally nothing I can't do” Elijah sm
“ Hey, Grant. Don't faint just yet, I am not done.” Elijah smirked and walked closer.Everyone was surprised including Hank and Dracula, but Isabella was more surprised than anyone else.Her eyes were as wide as an orange and her mouth parted which refused to close.“ He is not the one, he is a ghost?” Nora stuttered as she spoke but Elijah turned towards her.“ I see you survived from death after what Isabella did to you right?” Elijah smiled but she shifted back.Before Elijah could turn to Isabella she fainted on the ground which caused him to chuckle.“ I guess she is the most surprised one” he muttered and walked towards her.“ Hank,” Elijah called, snapping Hank from the surprise mode he was in.“ Yes…yes young master”“ Get me a bottle of water” Elijah ordered and Hank took one bottle of water from the table, handing it over to Elijah who fetched some into his hand before sprinkling it on Isabella's face.She woke up almost immediately and the first person her eyes met with wer
THREE MONTHS LATERIsabella came down from a Lamborghini Aventador which was driven by Hank while Dracula was her assistant.“ What is on my schedule today?” Isabella asked as she walked into West Empire, her heels clicking on the marble floor as she walked.“ The board members called for a meeting today” Dracula replied looking at his tablet while Isabella nodded.“ Okay, just let me know when it's time for the meeting “ Isabella replied and the trio walked into the elevator leading to the top floor. On getting to her office, she sat down in the swivel chair which belongs to Elijah.She kept touching the chair and table and it felt like Elijah was in the office with her.“ I know you're missing him, but you need to move on” a voice said inside Isabella's head.“ Yeah, I need to move in as prove to him that his Empire is in safe hands” Isabella nodded her head and almost immediately he became business-minded and focused at the same time. She took the telephone to place a call cr
The ambulance sirens pierced through the night’s air as Elijah was rushed to the best hospital in Georgia.Isabella, Hank and Dracula followed closely behind the ambulance, their faces etched with worry and fear, most especially Isabella. She just couldn't accept the fact that Elijah died in her arms. She refused to believe it.As they arrived, the best medical team from different hospitals in Georgia were already present in the hospital waiting for the arrival of Elijah. He was quickly taken into the emergency ward, leaving the trio waiting for the news anxiously. Thirty minutes felt like an eternity as they paced back and forth in the waiting area. Isabella sat in a chair, her hands and legs shaking against her will. Sweat clouded her forehead as he kept biting on her quivering lips.Finally, the doctor walked out of the emergency ward, his expression somber. Isabella stood up from the chair she was seating and rushed towards him, her eyes locked with his, pleading for answers.“
“ Look around Uncle, your disciples are all dead and you will be the next” Elijah smirked as he took slow steps towards Master Xi'an.“ Not so fast, Nephew. My disciples might all be dead but I think you will be the next, I am not dying but you're the one dying” Master Xi'an said as he took his sword from its sheath.It glittered amidst the collision with the sunset.“ Nice sword you have there,” Elijah smiled, but his smile disappeared almost immediately as he positioned himself, ready to charge towards Master Xi'an. Isabella, whose heart was beating faster than normal, wanted to join Elijah in the fight with Master Xi'an but Hank stopped her from going.“ It's his fight, don't get involved” Hank gave her a reassuring smile before taking her to a small house where they stood waiting for the fight between the two relatives to take place. Isabella kept rubbing her two hands together, praying earnestly to whatever god she believes in to help Elijah win the fight... Master Xi'an a
MASTER XI'AN’S TEMPLEMaster Xi'an came out of the temple to the field where all the soldiers were gathered.“ It's time to march. The battle font!” Master Xi'an shouted.“ Yes, Master!” The soldiers chorused before marching with Master Xi'an and Nora behind them As they marched, Master Xi'an had a smirk on his face because he had something to rely on that would surely kill Elijah.“ I am sorry Nephew, but you're dying by my sword” Master Xi'an said inwardly. After ten minutes of marching to the alley where the battle would be taking place, they already met Elijah and his men there. They were standing with a blank expression. That's number one rule in winning your enemies; they shouldn't know your next move or your expression on what you feel at that moment.“ Dear Uncle, have you told your disciples the truth?” Elijah stepped forward with a mischievous smile on.“ Uncle?” Nora's eyes widened in shock. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that Master Xi'an is
Dracula did as Elijah told him. Surprisedly, it didn't take long before his father agreed to help Elijah with hope of nothing in return.Dracula kept asking his father repeatedly, maybe he would change his mind about helping Elijah but he never changed his mind.He assembled all his men, as they all prepared for the mission, with their guns in their hands and their faces void of emotions. MASTER XI'AN’S TEMPLEOutside the temple were hundreds of men with their swords in its sheath. They stood in a straight line with master Xi'an as their leader.“ Today, we will take our fate into our hands! We must kill the Lord of the Seven Heavens if not, doom would be brought to the Earth!” Master Xi'an shouted so that the people at the back would hear him.“ We must kill him or he will kill us, I understand!” Master Xi'an shouted.“ Yes Master!” They all shouted in unison. “ Do not move, stay until I give further orders” Master Xi'an said and walked out of the field with Nora behind him.“
After much struggle, Rose kicked the bucket when the poison had affected all her system. Her body turned black because of the poison effect. Almost one hour later, Kelvin and Tristan got back from school only to find the house empty.They were surprised because usually, their mom would already be preparing dinner for them before they got back to school, but she was not in the sitting room, nor was she in the kitchen.“ Mom?” Young Kelvin called but there was no answer.“ Kelvin? Where could Mommy be?” Young Tristan was already afraid.He loved his Mom so much that he would always stick to her wherever they went, so not seeing his mom made his heart skip.“ Hey, don't cry. We will find Mom soon” Kelvin was trying to stay strong because of his younger brother, Tristan. “ Tristan, stay in the sitting room while I find Mom “ Kelvin said and placed Tristan on a sofa before running upstairs to his mom's room. He stood on his toes to open the door and when he did, the sight that gre
“ What? My late wife? How did you know about it?” Mr Ramos started to stutter.“ Why won't I know when you have a son here?” Elijah smiled pointing at Kelvin who stepped forward.“ Why would you say something like that? We both worked hard for this company, it belongs to us both but now that she's dead, it belongs to me” Mr Ramos shouted angrily.“ It doesn't belong to you, Father, because you killed my mother all because you want the company to yourself and want to bring in Gregory and his mother” Kelvin said, his eyes blazing with hatred as he spoke.“ What are you talking about, bastard! Why would my father kill your pathetic mother?” Gregory stood up from the ground and rushed towards Kelvin, but Elijah held his wrist tightly, not letting him take another step further.“ What do you know?, bastard!” Mr Ramos walked towards Kelvin and landed a deafening slap across his face.“ You can slap me for all I care, but I won't let a murderer reap where he didn't sow” Kelvin gritted his te