Chapter 22
The Art Of Revenge
Brandon’s Pov
She stared at me puzzled; certainly, I was perplexing her and doing everything I could to hide my
delight. I felt my life was over the instant I mmed into my own vomit. I feared I’d never see her
beautiful face or hear her sweet voice again.
To be honest, I’d been awake since Nestor had stepped in and had been listening in on their
conversation.
It was a bummer that I’d wasted five days, five days that I’d never get back. The man on the other end
was adamant about my case. He wanted my torment to start on earth before I even reached hell.
I clenched my teeth and told her to get ready for the meeting the next day.
“So, we’re back to plotting? Just like that and we are not going to talk about what happened to you? ”
she inquired.
“What exactly do you want us to do? Reunion sex?” I inquired, further enraging her. We didn’t have
enough time, we’d missed too many days, and there was nothing on the ground for revenge.
I focused my attention on my tablet, as I checked all my missed emails. My private investigator had
delivered all of Gentex’s secret documents that I needed. I sighed when I found what I was looking for.
Even though he had stated that thepany was clean, I needed to go through them myself to be
sure. I looked up as Thalia moved up to the bed and ced her hands over my tablet.
“Brandon, you were so close to dying, I believed you were dead, I thought I was never going to see
you,” she said, avoiding eye contact.
“We lost time, Thalia, and I’m dying regardless; nothing has changed,” I responded, but she demanded
that I consult a doctor. She stood up and reached for her phone, requesting one of my doctor’s lines.
“Thalia, I lose consciousness frequently; it wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be thest,” I stated in a
solemn tone.
“ But Brandon…”
“Go and make something to eat,” I requested. Whatever it took to get her off my back. I needed to go
through all of the paperwork and look for ws.
She locked her gaze on me for a brief moment before disappearing into the kitchen. I promptly
forwarded the files to all of my directors; the fact that they took over five days to respond indicated that
they were interested in Gentex; I couldn’t do the work by myself because my head was a little foggy.
They began responding in seconds, asking for the percentage shares. Unlike other boards of directors,
mine was made up of co-operating crooks whose primary mission was to discover tiny businesses and
corporations that dealt with transportation and force them to be devoured by Mandel.
We bought them off, legally or illegally, if they refused. We anonymized the shares and went on to the
next target.
Gentex was the new target, apany that was highly distinct and tough to corner, we saw it as a new
challenge. We liked difficulties and were willing to take them on. I offered them 40%, but they declined,
they wanted thepany’s majority shares.
Which irritated me forcing me to put a bounty on Thalia’spany since she requiredplete control.
They’d collect their sixty percent if they could find a solution faster than I could. It was a risk, but I didn’t
have time to debate.
I scanned thepany files for thirty minutes, looking for any abnormalities in how he stole the
loopholes or holes that the judge might have missed, but I couldn’t find any. The corporation was
legitimately acquired.
n B was activated in ce. I started looking for any shady or illegal dealings Josh Nelson may have
had or been involved in. But, ording to my private investigator, he was spotless. He only ever
I noted that none of my directors had contacted me, implying that they, too, were stuck. My head was
whirling with the word failure as I hurled the iPad and roared in rage. Thalia was holding a te of food
when I brushed my hand in my hair and looked up. She slid it onto the table, moved across to the bed,
and grabbed up the tablet, which she put aside.
She climbed into bed and asked for me to lie on her thighs, much to my astonishment. To be honest,
lying on her chest seemed more appealing to me.
While messing with my hair, she said, “Take it easy, Brandon.”
“I’m running out of time, Thalia.”
She murmured, “Come here,” and snuggled me into her chest, as if she had read my mind. I’m not sure
if she was attempting to motivate me or not, but it was enjoyable. Maybe I should have been slumping
into aa often.
“Brandon,” she eximed.
“Yes?”
“Why haven’t you lost your hair like most cancer patients?”
“All my tests never showed any recognized cancers, but for my pubic hair…”
“Hey, I was merely inquiring about your head hair!” She quickly blocked me.
Iughed out loud.
“On a more serious note, if Magie and Nestor genuinely care about you, why did you lie and im that
no one cares about you?” she inquired.
I shifted my head away from her chest and onto her thighs, suggesting that she had just spoiled my
mood.
“Aren’t we all suicide buddies, Brandon? We are expected to be truthful to one another,” she stated.
I turned to face her, telling her that I was truthful and that Nestor and his mother were simply my
employees.
“Brandon please, they are more than that.”
“So he told you how generously I helped his mother pay for her heart surgery?” She offered a slight
smile when I asked her. “I was drunk and wasted on some drug on the day he came pleading, and if he
hade to ask for mypany, I would have signed it over.,” I stated, “He was just lucky,” I added
and then begged her to shift the topic.
“Brandon, but they looked like they genuinely loved you because I saw it in their eyes.”
“Would he have been here if I hadn’t helped his mother?” I inquired, but she remained deafeningly
silent. “Thalia, whatever love you witnessed, was conditional. Everyone you’ll meet or have met feels
they owe me something.
I once performed something good for which they believe I should bepensated, even though I never
requested any retainer,” I coldly stated.
“Is that how you perceive me?” she questioned as she jumped out of bed.
“Thalia, no. You stand out from the crowd.”
Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.
“How am I different?” she inquired.
“Let’s not go overboard, what have you prepared?” Even though I had no appetite and had no intention
of eating, I inquired.
“Brandon have you fallen in love with me?” she inquired, causing me to burst outughing. My heart
raced, but I ignored it, she was so forthright that I didn’t anticipate her to catch me off guard. My
desire to find out. I finished myughter and requested water.
I was staring at her as I sipped it, while she was waiting for my response awkwardly. I removed the
ss from my mouth, cleared my throat, and said, “What kind of question is that, exactly? Have you
fallen in love with me?” I diverted the question.
“No, I see you as the protective brother I never had, the brother who would have pped me in the
face with reality,” she replied in a way that disappointed me. The way she said it without hesitation was
the part that hurt the most. I quickly recovered and said “Well, then, little sister, have a seat and let’s
eat, the food is getting hot,” I remarked.
She took a seat after a brief stare at me. It was awkward, as opposed to prior times.
where she was smiling, her legs crossed and making strange noises to persuade me to eat. She sat in
the corner of the bed, sipping her juice, with a lot on her mind but fearful of finding out the answers.
When my tablet beeped, I urged her to hand it over; a message appeared from all of my directors,
stating that they had failed to locate any loops on Gentex and that they needed resources and time that
Icked.
However, instead of mypany, they had something to upy their time and heads with which was
good on my part. I gave them all the time in the world, I knew it was also a bonus to them, while they
waited for my death andpany, Gentex was the icing on their cake.
I set down the tablet and focused on Thalia, asking, “How far would you go to take Josh down?”
“Do you mean killing him?” she asked, her face lit up.
“Do I look like a killer to you, Thalia?” I asked.
“I’d kill him if you agreed to hide the body,” she said, shocking me to death. I waited for her to retract
what she had just said, but she was dead serious. She wasn’t like the old Thalia I had half polished or
left five days ago. Something happened as a result of my absence, but I had no idea what it was.
She cleared her throat and said, “During their vows, he only asked Jessica for a functioning brain in
their marriage, Brandon, he was mocking me,” she continued, tears streaming down her face. I became
silent and focused solely on her face.
“I apologize for ruining your dinner, and I apologize for the dumb question I asked before,” she
remarked as she wiped her tears away.
“It’s just that he was so happy at their wedding that he talked about having ten children with her,
children that he denied me having,” she sobbed.
I locked my gaze on her; the confident Thalia had vanished, and in her ce stood the low-esteem
stinky hair I met on the bridge earlier. She’d given up hope, knowing full well that I’d never been able to
take back herpany.
I was going to die, and she was either going to drink herself to death or kill herself. I simply sat there
and watched her cry, saying nothing to console her. She stood up and walked to the restroom, most
likely to continue sobbing.
I was left alone in the room, soaking in the humiliation of my defeat. I had made amitment that I
was unable to fulfill. After my diagnosis, I was finding it easy to give up without a fight which was not
my usual lifestyle.
Never once did I give up hope. I took up the tablet and went over Josh’s papers, use by use, full
stop by full stop. Something had clearly escaped my notice. In all of my years of dismantling
businesses, I’d learned one thing: there was always one use that was overlooked.
I had no idea how many hours had passed when it dawned on me, “a child.” Josh had gone to great
lengths during his marriage to Thalia to ensure that she never became pregnant for him.
I returned to the shares and saw that more than half of them were inheritance shares, which he had set
aside for his firstborn kid with his first spouse. I was stunned and had to read it again and again.
Inheritance shares were a new way or trend in bigpanies to make sure thatpanies were
passed down to children. Somepanies set aside as much as 60% or just 10% for shares that were
not to be sold but inherited. The shares were kept in thepany umting profits.
Different uses applied to differentpanies, it was up to the owners of thepany. It was a smart
move and preventedpanies like mine from taking over otherpanies or buying off shareholders.
ording to Thalia’s story, those were her shares that her father set aside. Josh never changed them,
not even a full stop; he only became the rightful owner of them and could pass them to his first child
with his first spouse.
In theory, if he and Thalia had a child, that child would own half of thepany. Whether he was
divorced or not, Thalia was his first spouse while Jessica was his second spouse.
Her father must have ced a strong emphasis on the first spouse because he didn’t want whoever
married her to pregnant another woman and flee with his business. It looked like Josh had forgotten to
remove or overlooked the phrase, FIRST SPOUSE.
I continued reading and discovered that if the initial spouse who inherited the shares failed to have a
child they were free to sign off on the shares.
When I understood how meticulously Josh arranged everything, I clenched my teeth. He made sure not
to impregnate her and duped her into signing off the shares. I was impressed. I got up, scarcely able to
stand because the room was bing heated.
With more than half of the shares in the child’s control that could put Thalia back into thepany as
its mother and I would be able to quickly buy off orpel a sale of the remaining shares. My directors
wouldplete the take over even if I died.
But would Thalia agree to have a child with the guy who had her sanity stripped in front of the entire
world? Then I remembered she was ready to kill him only a few moments ago. Having a child with him,
on the other hand, was another matter
Then there was me: was I going to allow her to have a child with someone else? But, to be fair, I was
dying, and she would live, get married, and have arge family happily. On second thought, a baby was
just what she needed toplete her and forget about suicide. She packed all of her degrees to bear
children for an idiot who took advantage of her.
But how was Josh’s worthless sperm going to get into her? I was perplexed because sex was not an
option. No way was that jerk putting his filthy hands on her. I was certain she wouldn’t agree to the s*x
part.