ADIRA'S HEART

Mondays are always busy , the hustling and bustling and all the noise of the traffic, indicated that people were in a rush to get to their place of work, parents rushing kids to school and business people to their businesses.. Emerson Anderson stood in the fourth floor of his office building watching this while sipping his morning coffee and enjoying the silence his sound proof glass window offered watching struggles of people with the new York traffic , and lost in his thoughts.. " sir, sorry to disturb but .." his secretary started but he held his hand out to stop her, it is a known fact that the boss's morning routine of sipping coffee and gathering his thoughts while looking out his window was not what should be interrupted and in her five years of working for him, she knew well to apologize "I am guessing this is serious?", he asked with a raised eyebrow, coffee still in hand while staring straight at her, with his challenging eyes ,daring her to give a flimsy excuse or an intangible reason for bursting In to his office, Mary's heart was beating rapidly against her chest. Mr Anderson was an intimidating man in his fifties, although he was good looking with his chiseled jaw, straight noise, nice lips and a sexy smirk, his imposing height,big figure and cold piercing eyes made it impossible to fawn over his looks"your brother is here sir and he is asking for you"she answered,the moment she got to control her heart beat and compose herself" I tried to tell him that he couldn't talk to you right now and should book an appointment for meetings with you especially business, but he's not having it and threatened to destroy the peace of the office if I don't let him see you" she continued in one breath. Her boss sighed and cussed in Italian,his mother tongue "let him in and thank you" Mary smiled, he might be cold but he treated his employees with humility and appreciated them, without those imposing looks, her boss was the best..."Brother" Ernest greeted his older brother once he got into his office but Emerson welcomed him with a frown and a look of dissaproval"trantrums this early eh?" he questioned Ernest "don't blame me , this is important ,and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't" Ernest countered his elder brother who still wore the frown he welcomed him with earlier on his face " why are you here Ernesto?" Emerson asked impatiently,"can't wait to get rid of me right?" he asked but continued when the frown did not leave his brother's face" the casino", he started" I want out, I am tired of dealing with those low lives , I want to manage one of the hotels or resorts, give me a restaurant or even the school, I don't want to stay there anymore" he continued with a pleading look in his eyes, Emerson gave him a blank stare with his frown still prominent, " please huh? ,I can't deal with them anymore I am totally capable of dealing with the bigger chains now , I have learned my lesson" hoping his brother would understand his position, sympathize with him and give in to his request. "you fucker" Emerson's voice was low but full of rage, it sent shivers down his brother's spine "after what you did, the havoc you caused to the business, you have the nerve to come here and ask for a chain of the business you almost ruined,did you forget what you did?, the loss we suffered??" , at this point, Emerson was boiling with rage and it was evident in the way his eyes burned with fury. Ernest knew he messed up and he didnt need anyone telling him that he was not getting his request answered and he'd be lucky if he still had the casino to manage after this. Emerson took a deep breath with his eyes closed and stayed that way for a while before opening then and addressing his brother who looked like he wanted to cry," I don't want to talk about this again, I will you know when you are ready to manage something else apart from the casino,but you're stuck with that business for now , use this time to redeem yourself and make sure we do not suffer any losses , else you'd be jobless SI?" the cold look was back as he waited for an answer"yes boss"came the timid reply as his brother got up to leave "don't forget to come over with Anna and Eli" Emerson continued stoping the brother from leaving and listening to him"I won't " came his reply before he left, closing the door gently behind him knowing fully well how banging doors irritated his big brother... Soft melodic music filled the ball room of the Anderson's,with the birthday boy as the pianist dressed in a fitted tuxedo suit that looked like it was tailored for him, Sofia, his mum stood by the piano holding a glass of wine swirling it and swaying her body in tune with the music, she was draped in a green dinner gown which looked exotic and at the thesame time sophisticated,her hair in a nice hairdo and her lips red as blood, she looked elegant and graceful,like the wife of a business tycoon,both mother and son closed their eyes enjoying the music the piano produced... Sofia smiled as she perceived her husband's signature scent and familiar arms wound around her petite body, she leaned into her husband's embrace, her smile present with her eyes closed, "welcome home " she whispered to her husband" how's the birthday boy?"Emerson whispered to her " he's okay, happy you could make it, this was his wish , to see his idol" she replied turning in his embrace and giving him a peck on the lips, Emerson chuckled as she moved away grabbed her neck locking their lips in a deep kiss which ended as thesame time their son finished playing his song..Emerson greeted his son with a pat on his back" happy eighteenth birthday son" "thanks dad, m glad you could make it today" Emmett replied his dad with a big smile on his face,"what do you want from this old man today son?" his dad questioned with a raised eyebrow and a soft smile graced his face "I want you to live happily with mum and love each other to death" Sofia blushed at her son's words and delved deeper into her husband's embrace, she was thankful for having such a thoughtful son and a doting husband, she looked over at her son, the gratitude prominent in her glassy eyes. Emmett knew his mum was about to cry, what's with Italian ladies and tears from mushy talks? he asked silently as he rolled his eyes and escaped his mum's arms, saw his dad hold her to himself through the corners of his eyes as be beelined for the bar section to get a legal alcohol.... He felt a pat on his back as he nursed his drink at the bar, shortly after, his uncle came to view"good evening sir" he greeted Ernest formally, their family is big on respect and formality especially in public to maintain the family's image and protect their only source of income, the business "happy birthday boy" Ernest said with his boisterous voice with a smirk on his face " you're now a man. si? " " yesir " " happy birthday cous" Eli appeared by his side giving him a one sided hug. They were like best friends and had a good relationship, although it is a known fact that Emmett's inheriting the family business,there wasn't any bad blood between the two, Eli originally showed no interest in involving himself in the business much to his father's disappointment, he's all for building a security company, it has been his dream and after university, he's going into making it a reality, although his father didn't approve, he had Emmett's support and that of his uncle too " what's the man of the moment doing, sulking by the bar? " Eli asked ," being eighteen is not an achievement guy, m a closer to having more duties and responsibilities, heck I know m getting more work from dad" he sighed earning a chuckle from his pal, b***h he cursed him in his head " you're one Lucky guy"he murmured under his breath but Eli heard and burst into laughter, he was both amazed and envious of his brother who did what ever he wanted regardless of what whoever thinks or wants including his dad, while all his life he had lived up to the expectations of his parents, not that he hated it but the didn't exactly like it either, because I'm all he did , he had to be cautious so as not to give a bad representation of his family, the e weight on his shoulders were heavy and he had to bear then with a smile and still live as an example to other kids as well, it was suffocating sometimes so he wished he had the courage and nonchalant attitude of his cousin to do what he wanted sometimes. Emmett shook his head to get rid of the pity party in his head and tried paying attention to what his brother was saying but he was talking about women and he didn't know how to feel about it or what to say either so he just pretended to understand as Eli was telling him about the girl he met on a boat cruise in wherever he said it was The sound glass shattering and screams filled the large hall, Emmett and Eli who were at the balcony keeping each other's company were startled and they rushed to see if everything was okay they had to fight their way into the hall because people were scampering out almost stepping on those who fell getting in , Emmett was shocked by the scene in front of him, his dad was crouched on the floor hugging the small lifeless body of his mum, his blazer damp, the floor red.. It felt like time stopped, because he couldn't get past what he was seeing, couldn't move or talk,he was just there, the noisy hall was suddenly quiet almost like he was deaf.. His mum was dead..... on his birthday