Bound by Vows of Revenge

I raced up the hospital steps like I was chased by bulldogs. I pushed past people who yelled profanities at me, and nearly knocked a doctor down. I could barely see my way forward as my vision was hazy with tears. Finally, I sprang into the ward where my father was said to be, and I collapsed on the floor beside him. He looked so frail, so weak. Nothing like the man who had single-handedly raised me for the past twenty-three years and taught me the true meaning of being strong. I grabbed his almost lifeless hand. “Father, stay with me. I’ve got the money for your treatment. You will soon be out of here.” He flickered his eyes open but I saw that it took him so much strength to do that. I brought his hands to my lips. “Dad, stay with me please.” I whispered at the back of his hand. “I can’t…” He coughed. “The pain is too much.” “Miss Julliard,” the doctor called at my back and I stood up. “I am sorry but you brought the money too late.” My mouth fell. His eyes whipped to my dad who was hanging on to his last breath. “Follow me.” He beckoned outside. I followed him outside the ward, my insides tearing into tiny pieces at the suspense of what he would say. “I am so sorry miss Julliard. The surgery that was supposed to save his life was an emergency surgery. It is too late to save him. If we try to take him to the theatre, he will die once we cut him open. That is how weak he is.” Tears poured out of my eyes. I had sold half of my belongings to get that medical bill. My dad, the CEO of Haven Estates was supposed to be on a multi-dollar medical insurance. But I returned from Havard Business school to meet him broke and dying, his companies on the verge of bankruptcy. The doctor patted my back in a bid to console me, and I dried my tears before going back to the ward. Dad would not see me crying. I took his hands in mine again. I needed answers, before he died and left me to a crumbling business and a harsh world I was not ready for. “Dad what happened? You were very successful when I left for Havard.” My voice cracked with tears. “I just came back yesterday and everything has been so overwhelming.” He squeezed my hands. “Killian Jones…He is the reason…” he coughed and I patted him slowly. “He used to be my business partner. I didn’t know he was coveting all that I had worked for. He framed me for embezzlement, dethroned me as CEO, and everything went to ground zero from there.” As he was speaking, he was rasping for breath and the heart monitor was beating too rapidly. “Its okay pa.” I patted him. While he went silent, my mind raged. Whoever Killian Jones was, whatever he did to diss dad like this, I was going to make sure that he was going to pay with his last blood. He would forever regret crossing a Julliard. My dad weakly turned on my sleeve. “Eva.” My head turned. “Pa?” “The..re is a con…tract.” He coughed. “A Henderson’s contract tomorrow. It’s a huge real estate bid. I want you to represent and pitch for me.” I edged closer. “Yes dad. I’ll do it.” there was a determined eagerness in my voice. “How much time did the doctor say I have left?” My voice was like a ghost’s. “Just tomorrow.” His grip on me became tighter. “you have to win that contract at all cost. It is thirty million dollars. Enough to salvage my legacy.” I nodded eagerly even though I had no idea what I was going to pitch or where I would start from. “Zeke would help you. I have told him everything about the contract and I have told him to brief you.” He rasped. I patted his chest gently. “It’s ok pa. stop talking.” He started coughing violently and I tried to ease his pain by making him sit up and offering him water, until blood started spurting out of his nose and mouth due to the violent coughs. I screamed, and I ran to call the doctors or nurse or whoever that was available. When I came back, he was hanging limply from the side of the bed; his tongue stuck out from his mouth black in color. His heart machine beeped in a straight line. “Dead.” The nurse proclaimed and covered him up with blue sheets. I could hear someone screaming, begging him to wake up as the nurses held her back. That person was me. When the nurses were able to calm me down, I was exhausted from all my weeping. But I left that hospital with one name chanting in my head all over and over again. Killian Jones. I searched him up while the car drove me away. There were no photos of him on the internet but there were several articles about him. The orphaned boy who came from a poor background, and rose to fame by ‘legitimately’ stealing thousands of dollars from my dad’s company in a court case about embezzlement. He used the money to set up his own business, a startup that grew rapidly because he used the tactics and practices that my father taught him. A start-up that was very successful by the way. I clicked off my phone, my mind made up. I would win this contract and come after the bastard with everything in me. The contract presentation was tomorrow and I needed to see Zeke today to tell him about daddy’s death and have him teach me all I needed to know to ace that contract presentation. I stared at the engagement ring sitting prettily on my finger. I could only smile. The only thing that made sense in all this madness. Zeke Erigga Brown. My fiancé. I closed my eyes in bliss as I envisioned us winning the contract presentation together and celebrating it with a wedding in the Maldives as he promised me. “We’re here.” The driver called out to me, jolting my thoughts. I stepped out from the car and paid the fare. It was around 8.oo pm in the evening. It was too late for him to receive visitors. Yet I saw a pink Porsche sitting prettily on his front garden. A pink Porsche that I had bought for somebody very close to me. A pink Porsche that belonged to my best friend