Seveenteen Years ago
1939 Words
There was a pin drop silence in the meeting room, as though there was no-one in, but in reality, there were eleven people seated on the long meeting table; five on each side and one sitting at the end; there was about two feet gap between the man at the table end and the other board members; as though he was infected with some kind of disease.
He was busy with his phone as they waited for him;
He was twirling a pen in his right hand; and although he carried a fearful aura, the female board members, couldn’t resist admiring the god-like sight; his wore a quiff hairstyle but it hadn’t been styled for a while, thus a few strands flopped forward, stopping just below his brows, giving him a fresh messy look. His brows were nicely carved, and although he was looking downwards, his long lashes could be seen. He was putting on a sky blue body-tight shirt which was rolled up at the sleeves, revealing his athletic abs and muscled chest. The first two buttons of his shirt wasn’t hooked and there was a visible tattoo on his chest which led downwards; although he was just twenty five, he commanded an irrefutable aura.
All of a sudden, he dropped his phone and looked at the people in the board room;
‘’Begin. ‘’ he said, reclining backwards on the seat.
A Young woman in her early thirties, who had lost herself staring at him, staggered up from her seat, she blinked severally as she arranged the files in front of her;
‘’The stock prices of the Hilton Skies had risen by 10%; there was about 25% profit in the last month. ‘’
She said, passing a file to him; ;
‘’Next ‘’
‘’The cargo arrived by sea yesterday, the factories had started work in earnest.’’
Another man said, standing up;
‘’Next ‘’
Niklaus said; still twirling his pen. There was silence; he raised his eyes to look at the board members and noticed that they were in a state of panic.
‘’Next! ‘’ He repeated himself, this time, his eyes narrowing at them;
A woman in her forties stood; her hands a bit shaky; the other members pitied her because they knew what was to follow after the announcement.
‘’Warren Corporation acquired an extra 15% of the… Howells Shares, making them among the top 20 highest shareholders. ‘’
The pen twirling in his hand froze immediately and his eyes glanced at the woman who just made the announcement;
Her head was bent and her hands holding onto a file for support, her face was already pale;
‘’What did you just say?’’
Niklaus sat upright on his seat; his brows narrowing;
There was a pin drop silence in the large room, as the board members held their breaths;
‘’Who sold those shares?!’’ He asked, his voice ringing in the room;
No-one could respond;
‘’Don’t make me repeat myself; else this would be the last day you set your foot in this company. ‘’
His chest was rising and falling angrily, his eyes were already dark with rage;
Knowing that he meant every single word he said; they stood up immediately;
‘’They… they bought the stocks from the lowest shareholders, offering them at almost double the price, which was almost irresistible. ‘’
The Chief Accountant said bent low; Niklaus rage was nearly bursting through his veins, he grabbed a pencil holder beside him and flung it across the table;
‘’Get out!! All of you!! Get out!!’’
He screamed at them with rage as he stood up from the seat; they instantly scrambled out of the room; leaving him red with rage.
His assistant was plastered to the wall behind him; he wished he could leave too, but that was not possible, he was his P.A.
Niklaus breathed heavily, his head bent, and fists on the table.
He was so angry, he needed someone to vent it on; turning around he saw his assistant fidgeting, almost hugging the wall.
‘’Come here! Come here!! ‘’
Fredrick hopped to where he was;
‘’Did you know about this? Did you?!’’
He blared at him; riling a file towards him; Fredrick caught it in his hands and he arranged the papers; he didn’t respond.
‘’I don’t know how you do it, I don’t care how you’re going to do it, buy those shares back! Don’t appear before me until it is done, do you hear me?’’
Fredrick nodded and sauntered out of the room; as soon as he was outside, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Niklaus fell back on his seat, his hands gripping the sides firmly; his bluish veins popping out to the surface of his skin. The flashes of what had happened seventeen years ago resurfaced;
That fateful afternoon, he was playing with his sister and they decided to play hide and seek; he knew the one place where she wouldn’t find him was his parents room; so he had hopped into their room, his parents were taking a nap, his Dad had his hand around his mom; he could still remember the flower petals on the gown she wore; he could still remember the red roses on the quilt, not a single memory of that day had blurred, they were still inscribed in his memories. Sneaking in gently, he found his way to the wardrobe and hid himself; a boyish grin on his face as he thought of a million places his younger sister would look for him in their mighty house.
He could still hear her distant counts; she was almost nearing ten and he was eager to win this time; when all of a sudden she stops counting at eight;
Thinking she might have stopped because she wanted to get him before he finds a place to hide, he smiled to himself; she won’t ever think of their parents’ wardrobe. There was still a grin on his face when suddenly the doors to the room pulled open and he heard the footsteps march in; four armed men, wearing all black and a mask over their faces stepped inside, then there was a clanking of heels; his brows furrowed as he wondered what they were doing in his parents room and he saw her;
Catherine Wills; he could never forget the smirk on her lips when she stepped into the room; she walked to where his parents lay and woke them up; his father stirred and looked at her;
He sat up in shock, his mom followed suit;
‘’Surprise! ‘’ She said, her hands in the air and a wicked smile on her lips;
‘’What are you doing here?! Who are all these people, who let them in? ‘’ his father asked, seriously confused as to what was happening;
‘’aren’t you happy to see me? ‘’ She asked, the grin leaving her lips, her eyes bore extreme hate and disgust;
‘’What are you doing here? ‘’
As soon as his father asked again, a thunderous slap landed on his cheeks; making his mother shriek and tears falling from her eyes;
‘’I’ve always wanted to do that. ‘’ Catherine said and she swung her gloved arm;
‘’What do you want? ‘’ His mom cried as she rubbed on the part of his face that was bruised;
‘’Can’t you see? Are you blind?! I’m here to kill the both of you! ‘’
She said walking to the couch which was opposite the bed, she sat down;
‘’But first, I have to tell you something I want you to take to your graves. ‘’
‘’Catherine, don’t be stupid, you are making a grave mistake‘’ His father said, this time his voice was sober;
Catherine laughed wickedly; ‘’that shouldn’t be your concern; you are a dead man already. ‘’
‘’I always wanted to be this woman; She said pointing at his mom; ‘’I always wanted to be your wife; Jeffery. I loved you with everything in me; I got pregnant for you, so maybe you would change your mind and marry me; but no! What did you do?
You chased me and my little boy away and married this filth! IS she prettier than me? Uh? What does she have that I don’t, uh? Why did you have to choose her!’’ She lifted a porcelain vase and threw it across the floor, it made a shattering sound as it scattered into numerous pieces.
‘’Catherine, you know that is not true, I gave you Warren Corporation and I never intended to have a child with you, you drugged me. ‘’
‘’Shut up!! ‘’ She blared, standing up from the couch; she paced around the room for a some seconds, stabling herself;
‘’Well, I don’t need you anymore, I have your baby now; and that means, I get to own everything you have! ‘’ She laughed hysterically; a little tear dropping from her eyes
And you know how I’m going to do that? I’m going to kill you both now, I know you may be thinking, oh, I have two kids, ha-ha, I’ve killed them both! So you see, I’m inches away from achieving my goal, you’ve always wanted to be with her, no problem I’ll let you have her in your grave! ‘’
His mother burst out crying as she heard what she just said; Niklaus was shuddering inside the wardrobe, he could not even move.
Has she killed his sister?
Dipping her hand into her trouser pocket, she took out a small gun;
‘’You see this gun, it is paper weight, you won’t even hear a sound, neither would you feel anything, until your blood fills your mouth and you drop down dead. ‘’ She raised it and removed the safety then aimed it at his mother’s head;
No matter how much he tried to look away, he couldn’t bring himself to, Niklaus, sat still, watching the woman; he was helpless, thoroughly helpless.
‘’Catherine, please, we can talk about this… wait… ‘’ As though she didn’t hear him speak; she fired the gun, but it wasn’t on her head, she had shot her on the neck.
‘’No!! No! What have you done? What have you done! Lily! Lily! ‘’ His father cried as he held his mom to his chest; his mom was not yet dead, it was as though the woman had intended what had happened; she intentionally shot her on the neck in order to slow her death;
His mom’s blood flowed like a loose tap; splashing on the wall, the rose colored bed sheets turned dark red in a matter of seconds;
His father tried to stop the blood flow with his hands but it wasn’t working; his mother bled until she died in his arms;
Tears flowed from his father’s eyes as he watched his wife’s life seep away slowly;
‘’My bad; I wasn’t trained to use a gun, but come on why the tears, wasn’t it epic? ‘’
She asked; her laughs ringing through the room;
‘’Kill me and get done with it! ‘’ His father screamed; his whole body soaked in his wife’s blood;
‘’Oh yes baby! I’m going to kill you now; ‘’ She aimed the gun at his head;
‘Bye bye! ‘’ And poof the trigger went off and his father fell backwards; his head fell just below the edge of the bed, which made his eyes stare straight at Niklaus;
Blood trickled down his forehead and dropped on the ground;
‘’Find the boy! ‘’
‘’Yes boss! ‘’
She commanded as she walked out of the room, the men following suit.
If anything was more scarring, it was the fact that he had to stare at his parents dead bodies for close to six hours before the police officers came by the house and rescued him.
The incident scarred him for life; he lost every person he loved, his sister, his parents, in a single day, and he had watched them die.
- Writer
