Chapter 42: The Intense Life
Love Quote: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” – C. S. Lewis
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“Is anyone here?” I asked in a low voice, hoping to figure out and snatch the element of surprise from the other party but my eyes widened when I saw the person in front of me.
I did not need that today.
“I am glad you came back here. I have so much to talk to you about!” I heard my dad saying to me in an excited tone as he opened the door.
I scoffed and stepped back. “You should really leave right away. I am in no mood for your bullshit, do you understand?”
“Are you really being so stubborn, Scarlet? I am your father. You shouldn’t—”
“No, actually, you aren’t my dad. You lost that title as soon as you decided to sell me for some freaking money!” I shouted and a few stress lines appeared on the man’s forehead.
“I needed to do that to save the company… and I thought Mr. Valencian was a good man.” He seemed to be so convincing. If I didn’t know any better, I would have believed that he actually thought Xavier was good.
“The one who killed your wife?” I said slowly, “You thought he was a good man? Or you just decided to ignore everything because it was my life on the line and not yours?” I said with a menace in my voice. I really hated him to the core. Not only he gave away his own daughter, but he also put Drew’s life on line. I would never forgive him for that.
“What do you mean, Scarlet? I care about you, I always have!”
“Well, if you care about me, walk out of here right now because I have learned a thing or two about self defense.”
“Woah, woah. What is wrong with you Scarlet?” He seemed surprised at my changed behaviour.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” I said in a low voice, “I have a child to take care of. And unlike some parents, I love him.”
For some reason, he looked a little hurt by my harsh words. But I couldn’t do anything — it wasn’t my fault that he sold me! He lost the right to call me his daughter. Just now I had freed myself from such a big danger, I wouldn’t put Drew in another right away. My dad—this man was no better.
“If that is what you want, baby girl,” He said, “But remember that you’ll always be my little girl and I will always love you. Always.”
“Glad to know that,” I said with an emotionless face and made way for him to leave.
He picked up a small handbag and walked out of the house. I didn’t care enough to stand until he left, so I closed the door and went inside immediately.
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As I sat down inside on the couch, I saw Drew dozing off. I guess he had been really tired the past few days. He wasn’t just a normal kid, he was so smart and understood almost everything at such a young age. I figured he understood at least a few things going on — and took a lot of stress, too.
“Now you are safe, Andrew,” I whispered in his ear as I put him to bed in his room. After switching off the lights, I came outside and sighed.
Well, I guess I had to unpack things again.
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Max’s Point of View:
I was sitting in a meeting when my phone rang. As the last twenty times, I picked it up in a hurry with my heart quickening and the ragged breathing as a side effect coming up immediately.
And as the last twenty times — it was nothing.
I kept it down and put it on silent, my hope fading day by day.
“…land was confiscated by the subsidiary of Tachyon Research Faculty, the leading scientific ally of Valencian Corporation.”
My eyes shifted to the person giving the beautiful presentation in front of me as soon as the name popped up in front of me.
Valencian.
“What about the Valencian corporation?” I asked.
The person was shocked at my sudden question because I had been quiet the entire meeting and this might have been the first time I asked or participated in the last five or six meetings.
“T—The Valencian corporation has been going through a hard time following the events which made Mr. Xavier Valencian, the owner, lose face. Even so, the subsidiaries which deal with a range of… issues and topics… from Science to Architecture, have been trying their best to get their hands on some of the best lands for their practice and experiments like the recent land acquired by the Science Department — known as the Tachyon Research Faculty.”
“Can’t we compete with them?” I asked as a follow-up question.
The person now seemed completely conflicted by my weird interest in the particular company.
“The… lands and the experimental entities are of no such use to our company and will only be a liability from the point of view of Scientific development. Even if many people have lost faith in Mr. Xavier—”
“Mr. Xavier is a liar and his scandals go far more than any of you can imagine,” I stood up and everyone else did too, “So I want you to put all the company’s resources into competing with the Valencian Corporation. We will take over his company within a span of a year. That is our one true mission from this second.”
I looked at the horrid and shocked faces of all the board members, but it didn’t bother me. I turned around and started to leave — considering the fact that I didn’t want to hear anyone else’s views. I knew what I wanted to do and what I was going to do.
I am going to steal everything from Xavier just like he stole from me. He is going to regret every second he spent with Scarlet and he is going to blame her for his fall — and I would be there to make sure it happened.
…
“Does that even matter?” I asked in a low voice as I made my way to the cabin.
“I get that you have been in a dark place, from the view of your personal life. But if we don’t put our effects in the Valley project, we might be at a loss from which the company would never recover,” My advisor spoke from the other end of the line.
“Well, then you better hope we can acquire the company in the minimal time because I am not going to put the company’s resources to any other uses till we have achieved our goal.”
I ended the call and sighed. It was stupid — and I knew that. But it had been so long and I regretted letting her go that day. I regretted letting her pick up Drew. If I hadn’t done that, maybe she would still be here.
I went inside my cabin and sat down. Suddenly I got another call from one of my men.
“Yes?” I picked it up and asked, my eyes fixated on the computer screen in front of me as I browsed through the company files.
“What?” my hand stopped and I concentrated on the person’s voice. “Now?”
“Yes, boss. Please check the news!”
I kept the phone down and immediately searched for news on the Internet.
Xavier Valencian was finally going live after a long time. He was ready to give a statement on everything that happened and everyone was expecting a better response than the last time.
Finally.
I turned on the live feed. He was there — and a small smirk appeared on my lips. I picked up the phone again and immediately called someone.
The person responded quickly.
“It is now. Do it.”
“On it.”