Chapter 57
Nick
Three years later…
I woke up feeling her hair tickling my face. We wake up this way every day; my wife tangles herself around me every night, and I don’t know where her body ends and mine begins.
I move carefully to get out of bed and not wake her. I take a shower and get dressed in jeans, a T–shirt, and my team jacket. I’m about to graduate; I have to take the reins of the company, but all I care about is continuing my life with Alaia. I decided that our relationship would be just ours. I don’t want her to meet my mother and grandfather.
I kiss Alaia’s forehead as she sleeps. I left the apartment and drove to my mother’s house. She asked me to visit her, which is unusual. Our relationship changed from the day my father died when I was 15, and she sank into a depression, forgetting that we needed her too.
I arrived at my mother’s house and greeted my nanny.
“Wow, you look happy,” she said, and I hugged her tightly.
“You’ll know the reason soon,” I told her, winking. Whatever happens, I have to find a way to detach myself from my grandfather and get on with my life without him trying to interfere.
“Nick, son.” My grandfather spoke, stopping me on my way up the stairs. A certain displeasure washes over me.
“Have all the staff leave the house,” he ordered my nanny. She nodded, lowering her head, and left.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” I said, turning to face him.
“Well, it was my idea that you came.” He took a few steps out of the living room. “Since you’re about to graduate, I thought it was time we talked about your future. It’s something your father would have wanted. I’ve planned your future meticulously, and you will do as I command if you want to be the next CEO of Garnett and Morgan p>
“Do as you command?” I scoffed, crossing my arms.
“That’s right. Everything will be in your name. You will have the power of the companies. I know it sounds overwhelming, maybe, but I’ll be there to guide you, to make you an extension of me in the position p>
“You’ll have to organize your life to begin with. Marrying a woman from a good family in the country. I have several candidates p>
I laughed ironically and made a gesture as if to say, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” But he’s not one to joke, so I decided to tell him what I think.
“Why don’t you just go to hell?” I turned and climbed another step.
“You should mind your language, young man,” I heard him mutter. “I thought you understood by now that you can’t go against what your family needs. But you’re nothing more than the same immature child who left this house almost three years ago p>
“I will not give in to your impositions. If I have to give up my life for the company and your money, I warn you that I will not do it. You’ll have to come up with a new plan and get yourself a puppet.” I took the stairs two at a time.
“Your mother’s not here. I sent her shopping. It’s the only thing she knows how to do,” he said as I’m about to go into his room. So I went back downstairs and headed for the door. I’ve had enough of this absurd conversation.
“So nothing will make you give in?” he asked, and I sensed some mockery in his words. grabbed the lock on the front door. “Not even your father p>
I stopped but didn’t look at him. All I can think is that Killian has lost his mind.
“You won’t achieve anything by mentioning my father’s memory. I won’t give in.” I opened the door.
“I won’t use something I can’t take yet. I can’t use your father’s memory when he’s alive.” He looks so calm saying it that it’s hard to believe him. I can only assume it was a desperate act on his part.
“I don’t believe you for a s**t,” I said, walking out of the house and getting into my car. But in my mind, I’m playing with that possibility, something I wished for when they told us he was dead. He had an autoimmune disease that at the time it started had no treatment, and after two years, my grandfather told us that my father had passed away from it. We saw him a few hours before his life slipped away in that hospital room. Killian took care of everything related to the burial. He brought a box with his ashes. They were the hardest days of my life.
Now it seems incredible to me that he wants to make me believe that he didn’t die, that it was all a lie.
I enter the university and find the woman of my life, along with her dear friend, Cedric.
“Honey!” Alaia threw herself into my arms, and I pressed her against me, inhaling her scent. I took her by the hips so she wouldn’t fall. “How did it go?” She gave me a peck and looked at me.
“Nothing that has to do with my family ever goes well, but I can handle it.” I kissed her little nose. “Come on, I’ll take you to class,” I said, and she tried to get down, but I held her tight. “We’ll go like this.” I smile, and she rolls her eyes.
“Take good care of her,” I heard Cedric say.
“I always do,” I replied avidly as Alaia said goodbye.
I left her at the classroom door and placed a short kiss on her lips.
“See you later.” I traced her face with my finger until I reached her lips.
“Nick!” We hear Barbara’s voice, and Alaia shows her complete displeasure towards her. She gives me one last look and enters the classroom.
“What can I help you with?” I asked as she came to my side.
“Nothing. I just wanted to go to class with you and shook things up a bit. I didn’t miss the look of hatred from your beloved p>
“You shouldn’t bother her p>
“We’re frenemies. You wouldn’t understand.” She starts chattering about what’s happened to her today, as she always does.
I sit in the back of the classroom. Will is in the same class.
A message arrived on my phone. It’s a location: “See you there tonight.” It’s a message from my grandfather.
I ignored the message, put my phone aside, and paid attention in class.
I left class when it was dark. The rain was coming down in torrents. I saw a black car parked in front of the building. My grandfather’s driver was standing next to it. He holds an umbrella and opens the back door, letting me see Killian, who is watching me.
It seemed I wouldn’t get rid of him, so I went to the car. I had to end this. I texted Alaia to let her know I’d be late tonight.
“I thought it was best to make sure you came,” he said as I got in the car.
I sighed in annoyance as the car started up.
After more than an hour, we arrived at a lonely house on the outskirts of town. We entered, and a woman dressed in white greeted us. She merely bowed before allowing us to pass.
I observe the white, sterile walls of the living room as my grandfather goes ahead somewhere.
“It’s this way.” He walked to the end of a corridor, and I followed.
The bedroom door was open. There were a couple of doctors by the bed. I approached it, at which point my blood ran cold, and my hands began to tremble. I approached his immobile body and hugged him as if I were the fifteen–year–old boy who last saw him. I feel my breathing accelerate, and my face becomes moist. HE’S ALIVE. A thousand emotions overwhelm me knowing that we didn’t lose him, but anger soon reaches me as I see my grandfather, who looks at us without showing any expression.
“You’re the worst scum that ever lived! You made us believe he was dead!” I grabbed him by the neck, and the doctors went over to separate us, which they managed to do after several seconds. Killian coughed and straightened his clothes.
“I didn’t lie to them. Your father is dead while alive,” he said coldly. “They did an experimental test on him that didn’t work at the time. Your father lost his vital signs for several hours. I thought he was dead, so I let them know. But his vital signs returned that night, and he went into a coma. His system didn’t respond to treatment. I decided to keep him alive, to keep paying for several specialized clinical centers to find a cure, but nothing worked. So I decided it was better for them to keep thinking he was dead p>
He spoke as if talking about an unimportant matter.
I sit on the bed and can’t believe he lied to us like that, that he organized the funeral for someone who didn’t die and saw the pain in his family without feeling the slightest remorse.
“Leave us alone,” he told the doctors, and they left. “In the last few weeks, I received the latest report on your father’s condition. The response to the treatments continues to be very low, almost nil, so I have decided that I will not continue to finance medical studies to find a cure for your father, and I will disconnect him from life support p>
“Son of a b***h!” I yelled furiously and stood up to see him walk away from me. Damn, coward.
“Now, where were we in our conversation this morning?” He made a gesture of thinking. “Now I remember. You’re going to do as I told you. Only then will you be able to make decisions about your father. I’ll give you time, but remember, he doesn’t have any p>