The Lost Heir

1 Sight for Sore Eyes Growing up, there is nothing I lacked except the affection of my mother and father. It’s like I was an orphan and I couldn’t stop wishing that I had my parents by my side to lead the way for me, show me where I needed to step, what things I should and shouldn’t do. Not many people know this but growing up with people to look up to, parents to emulate, the world becomes sad and lonely. For the seventeen years I have walked this earth, loneliness and desire to belong somewhere has engulfed me. I always asked myself if I really belonged to the Benedetti family because all I could hear, from the whispers s that I am not a legitimate child of the family. My mother, a beautiful woman who has been praised all my life for being the most disciplined child the Benedetti family has ever seen died when I was just a child. I didn’t have the chance to meet her, talk to her or perhaps listen to her voice. Al I hear about her are stories of her kindness and honesty that defined her personality. Sometimes it’s hard to live to such expectations especially during modern times where everyone is pretentious and cunning. The truth is I want to be the child my mother would be proud of, wherever she is and someone who people respect and adore at the same time. In the Benedetti family, I am the only rightful heir to the empire and my grandfather, Benedetti II has made it his mission to ensure that no one takes my inheritance at all costs. In fact, he told me that if I turn eighteen, he would start showing me how our family works and slowly mentor me into becoming the head of the empire. The thought of leading a multibillion dollar company was exhilarating but I am just a child. All I want and need is knowing who my parents were. I just want to live a normal life just like anyone out there and the fact that my father is on my grandfather’s hitlist, I’m too scared to convince him otherwise. Which is why I wish to turn eighteen sooner than later so that I can clear his name fast, and have a proper conversation about what he did when he met my mother. I had so man questions I wanted to ask him including things about myself, my body that I didn’t understand. I was just a few months from turning eighteen and I had started to notice how my vision gets colorful when I wake up each morning. I would see more vividly, and waves of different scents would be visible to me. I always wondered what that was and honestly, I couldn’t confront my grandfather about it. I once overheard him say that my father was a beast that needed to be tamed. I was twelve then and I didn’t realize what he really meant. As I grew up, I started to read novels and realized that werewolves were real. The big question was if he was one, if the beast my grandfather referred to was not metaphorical. Also, I realized I got stronger each day since I turned seventeen and I could lift heavy objects three times my weight. At school, I had to leave the football team because during the daily scrimmage, it took five of my teammates to put me down, and that is when I wasn’t trying to escape their grip. One day I tried going hard on them and Dylan ended up with a broken ankle and that was I for me. I didn’t want to cause more trouble anymore. When they asked why I was so strong, all I told them was that I was using drugs to enhance my strength, just to lay low. Life was getting more difficult and I didn’t want to live in fear anymore. I needed to find my father, not to kill him but make him answer my questions; and I had many. “Are you going to school today?” “Nope!” “Why? What’s wrong?” “I have a little headache. I feel like my head is spinning while crushing against my skull.” “Let me call Zuri then, he will know what to do.” “No. It’s fine. I’ll be okay don’t worry.” Zuri is our family doctor. I had known him ever since I was little and he attended to my needs each time I fell sick or had unexplained symptom. He always knew what to do, but with the constant headaches and blackouts I had been experiencing, I was worried that he would sell me out to my grandfather. “No you’re not fine. You are a Benedetti and you need to look strong always. Your enemies will strike when they sense any weakness in you. That’s a lesson you should never forget. If you are feeling unwell, it’s better for you to seek medical attention.” My grandfather always had these lessons he threw at me each time he got a chance to and it was suffocating. I wouldn’t breathe without being told I was Benedetti and I need to look strong. I was strong, probably stronger than he was in all the literal ways, it’s just that I knew my headache wasn’t normal. Something in me was changing and I didn’t want anyone to know. If Zuri would take blood tests and realize that my DNA wasn’t normal, he would sell me out to my grandfather and that would be the end of the secret I held dearest. “I know, and I already took medication. I had a few painkillers in my drawer. They should work fine.” “If it persists, then you need to call Zuri. I don’t pay him to stay in his office. He needs to attend to this family.” My grandfather only had one child, my mother, and when she died, it broke him into a million pieces. In one of my “classroom sessions” about what it means being a Benedetti, I was taken to the family accountant who told me that my grandfather had spent a lot of money looking for my father. He wanted revenge for taking his only child from him. His wife, my grandmother had died of cardiac arrest. This was after she heard that her child had been raped deep in the woods and it was a lot for her to process. Despite the measures the family doctor, Antonio at the time, she passed away in her sleep a day later. That was when my grandfather fired him and a replacement was found a week later, Zuri. The story is my grandfather got infuriated having lost the love of his life and with the rape of my mother, he vowed he would never rest until the rapist was found. Ever since, everyone loyal to the Benedetti family was tasked with finding the rapist but seventeen years down the line, no real results had been found. The forest that my mother was raped in was cut eliminated. Word is that there was a village at the heart of the forest where my father, my mother’s rapist, lived and even after cutting down the trees, he was nowhere to be found. Even though they found remnants of a village, its residents were long gone by the time they got there. This made my grandfather angrier and didn’t stop his search. The government restored the forest and today trees have made the forest look denser than it was before I was born. One of the search parties came home one day and told my father that they saw smoke at the valley next to the forest that was cut down. It was possible that people lived there and a plan was underway to have a closer look. That was a week ago and today was when the convoy would leave for the woods. I had faked my sickness so that I would sneak into one of the cars heading that way, and if my father was there, help him escape so that he gets a chance to explain everything. That was how far I was willing to go for the answers I sought and no one would stop me. My grandfather left my room and headed to his tactical room where he debriefed his goons before they would leave for their mission. I had packed everything I needed and was waiting for the right time. I wanted to go hide in the boot of one of the cars and stay hidden until we reached the destination. “Where are you going?” “Jeesus!” While opening the door to my room, Zuri was at the door and while my head was looking back in my room to ensure everything was in place, he attacked me with his question which startled me. “Why do you like sneaking up on people?” “Come inside now” “No! I have somewhere I need to be and you can’t tell me what to do!” “You’re right. But you need to listen to me Meridian.” “Later when I’m back. I’m getting late.” I had heard my grandfather’s hooligans leave the tactical room and were heading to the parking lot. I was supposed to get there before them and Zuri was delaying me. “Have you started to see differently each morning you wake up?” “What? What are you talking about?” “I know you are stronger and with the headaches you were complaining about, they’ll get worse until your first shift. So get inside now!” whispered Zuri who was finding his way inside my room. Looking at his face, he was dead serious and my heart throbbed against my chest. How does he know about all that? I was sure I hadn’t told anyone about my vision problems and I shocked to realize that he knew about that. “How do you know about that?” “Shut up and go inside!” declared Zuri who grabbed my hand forcibly and pulled me inside the house. “Unless you want your grandfather to know that your turning into a wereworlf.” It’s the last word that made me drop all the plans I had for the day and want to jump into my room. “Are you a werewolf? Do you know my father?” I asked while rushing inside my room while locking my door in the process. “Where were you going?” “No! answer me first. Are you a werewolf?” “I know your father and he sent me here to look after you. Monitor you until your body started changing.” “What? Why didn’t you say anything? We’ve been looking for him all these years and you knew?” “Keep your voice down unless you want to get me killed.” “Are they going to where my father lives?” “It’s a trap and they are going to die. Your father’s men set the smoke so that they an lure them into a trap. And I suspected you were about to do something stupid.” “Jesus Zuri. They are going to die? Why don’t you warn them?” “Warn them and risk exposing my identity? I’m the messenger here. They are not my concern. You are and if you die on me, your father will tear me limb from limb. You are the heir to his throne and nothing can happen to you. Do you understand that?” “I’m an heir now? What the f**k! Who the hell is my father?” I asked with a tone filled with a plethora of emotions. I didn’t know I was supposed to feel sad or happy. Complete turmoil filled my mind as I tried to comprehend the fact that my father had been in the picture for seventeen years without making an appearance. “Does he even care about me?” “Why do you think I’m here?” “f**k no! you’re lying to keep me from going. Werewolves are not even real.” I lashed at him while heading for the door. “Three months from now, during the full moon, you’ll shift into a wolf and without proper guidance, you’ll die in the process. You are either with me or take your chances. The choice is yours!”