Gerald had already shifted back in his chair, his eyes wide with shock and horror.
Lucas, on the other hand, was practically shaki
"And yet," Raymond said bitterly, "you wonder why I lack respect for you."
He stepped closer to his father.
"If you were ... would you respect you?"
Gerald could not answer.
"A man as filthy as you does not deserve my respect in this lifeti or the next."
Raymond then bent down slightly and whispered sothing into Gerald’s ear that no one else in the room could hear.
Whatever it was, it clearly rattled him.
Gerald’s face turned even paler than before.
"That’s enough, Raymond."
Grandpa Black’s voice cut sharply through the room.
"That is in the past now," he declared firmly.
"Everything that happened was a terrible mistake that I would prefer to remain in the past."
His gaze moved across the room.
"No one in this family is allowed to bring it up again."
His eyes finally settled on Raymond.
"Have I made myself clear?"
Raymond said nothing for a mont before nodding slightly and returning to his seat.
Grandpa Black leaned back in his chair.
"I do not want what happened today to repeat itself," he continued. "The Black family has a na and prestige to maintain. We cannot allow outsiders to look down on us."
His voice carried the authority of decades.
"And another thing... when a house is divided, the company will shake. Shareholders do not like instability among the people who run a business."
He paused briefly.
"The Black Company has been in this family for generations. It has maintained its position as one of the top companies in this country for years. Sotis not always number one, but always within the first ten best companies within the country."
His gaze hardened.
"That will not change during our generation."
He tapped the desk lightly.
"So pull yourselves together and stop fighting like children."
The room fell silent.
"Raymond," Grandpa Black said finally. "I do not want what happened today to happen again. Reinstate your brother’s position."
He looked directly at Raymond.
Raymond held his gaze for a few seconds before giving a slow nod.
"Good."
Grandpa Black waved a hand dismissively.
"That will be all. Gerald, Lucas, you may leave."
Then he added calmly,
"I want to speak with Raymond alone."
Both n nodded stiffly and stood up.
They walked toward the door, though Gerald could not help glancing back at his father suspiciously before leaving the room.
Looking at my grandson brought a little joy to my heart. The boy had been hurting since birth. My useless son had never been much of a father. I had practically raised Raymond myself because his father was rarely around.
I still rember those days clearly. Gerald and I had gotten into nurous argunts over the way he treated Raymond. I had scolded him more tis than I could count, warning him that a child needed a father’s love, not cold indifference. But Gerald refused to change. He always brushed off like my words ant nothing.
Not long after, Lucas’ mother ca to inform that she was pregnant. That mory still sat heavily in my chest. But the night everything changed... I rembered it like it was yesterday.
Gerald’s voice on the phone had been shaky and coaxing, almost panicked. He told to hurry to the family mansion.
His wife, Raymond’s mother, had passed away.
For a mont, my brain simply short-circuited. I had seen her only days before and she had been perfectly fine, laughing and walking around the house as she always did.
"She fell down the stairs and hit her head on the tiles," Gerald had said hurriedly over the phone. "It was a mistake. I didn’t an for it to happen."
His sobs broke through the line.
"It’s okay. I will be there soon," I told him, trying to calm his nerves despite the confusion flooding my mind.
I grabbed my coat and hurried out of the house.
It was as if the heavens themselves knew sothing was terribly wrong. A heavy rainfall poured from the sky, accompanied by flashes of lightning that illuminated the dark road. My driver sped through the rain as we made our way to the mansion.
But nothing could have prepared for the scene that welcod .
Raymond was on his knees, crying bitterly in the middle of the hall. In front of him lay a bloodied woman.
As I stepped closer, my heart nearly stopped.
It was Lilith... my son’s wife.
Shock coursed through my veins.
"What happened to her?" I asked, a chill running down my body as my eyes darted around the room.
"She fell," I heard my son say behind .
"No, you pushed her!"
Little Raymond suddenly turned, pointing a trembling finger at his father.
"You pushed her and she slipped and fell down the steps!"
My eyes moved between the two of them and then down to Lilith’s lifeless body on the floor. My mind struggled to understand the situation unfolding before .
"Like I said, it was a mistake, you little shit!" Gerald suddenly scread like a madman. "She slipped! What is it that you do not understand?"
But his shouting did not deter the child.
Raymond stood there, small but fearless, glaring at his father with a hatred that no child should ever possess.
I tried to diffuse the situation calmly, but it only escalated.
"Oh yeah?" Raymond said coldly. "Why don’t you go stand at the steps too and let push you? Who knows, you might actually survive. But if you don’t, I would call it a mistake and tell everyone you slipped."
A chill ran down my spine.
In that mont, I realized sothing terrifying.
My little grandson had changed.
"That is enough! Both of you!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the hall.
"I do not want to ever hear either of you speak about what happened today again."
I turned to Raymond first.
"Raymond, your mother’s death was a mistake. She slipped."
Then I looked at my son.
"And Gerald, be a better father. Try to understand Raymond instead of fighting with him like a child."
Gerald rely rolled his eyes and turned his back on us.
I nearly lost control of my anger.
But nothing could have prepared for what happened next.
"I don’t want him as my father."
Raymond’s voice rang through the room like thunder.
"From today, he is dead to . He is Gerald to , just like he is to everyone else."
My heart dropped.
"Consider dead too," Raymond continued coldly. "Because I will never acknowledge you as my father again."
His small fists clenched tightly.
"And I don’t want to ever see you in this house again. If I do... I will stab you to death in your sleep. And any woman you bring ho with you."
The words ca out of the mouth of a child, yet they carried the weight of sothing far darker.
Then Raymond turned away and knelt once more beside his mother’s body.
"Raymond, don’t say things you don’t an," I said, exhausted by everything happening around . "Gerald will always be your father."
But even as I spoke those words, I looked between my incompetent son and my broken grandson and knew the road ahead would be long and painful.
I sighed deeply when I saw neither of them was listening.
In the end, I had no choice.
I called in a favor from Damon’s grandfather, who was a good friend of mine at the ti. An ambulance arrived quietly and took Lilith’s body away to the mortuary. A cleaning company followed soon after and cleaned the entire house, erasing every trace of what had happened that night.
But one thing stayed with .
Raymond never cried again.
He lived in that enormous mansion alone, like a ghost wandering through empty halls. Years passed before Liam eventually ca along to keep him company.
Even then, Raymond rarely visited . He only ca to dinner when I personally called and invited him.
I sighed as I returned to the present.
I had done everything I could to protect him, to make sure he was okay.
But it seed I had done a very poor job.
I knew about Raymond’s darker side, the way he treated those who went against him. Still, I had hoped that sowhere deep inside, he had forgiven his father... or at least learned to tolerate him.
Perhaps there was still one thing I could do before the end.
"Raymond," I said slowly, "I asked you to stay back because I decided that I would let you marry Lena if she is truly the one you wish to marry."
I said it with a smile, hoping to see so happiness on his face.
But there was nothing.
Instead, I noticed his jaw tighten.
Sothing was wrong.
"What is it, grandson?" I asked gently. "Is sothing wrong?"
"No, grandfather. Everything is fine."
He paused.
"Lena and I broke up."
He stood up as he said it.
My eyes searched his face, trying to read what he was hiding. But Raymond simply walked over to calmly.
"Grandfather, if that is all, I will get going," he said.
Then he added quietly,
"Don’t forget to take your dication."
And with that, he left.
I sat there in stunned silence.
For the first ti in years...
I had seen pain in my grandson’s eyes.
User Comments
0 comments from readers