99 - YOU ARE A BASTARD!

MIKE.

Couldn’t believe that this bastard has so many lives, like a damn cat. I hated him. I even came to hate him more than anything else in the world. What had I done wrong to want him to see me destroyed?

He kidnapped my wife and my unborn child, even though I left and withdrew from his life. I left him everything, but it still wasn’t right. What else did he want? Emily was mine. I wouldn’t leave her to anyone. I was fighting for her, as I wasn’t willing to lose her, too. Mary caused me enough pain. Then, when I saw Emily lifeless, it was cruel.

I knew for sure where he was hiding, and I wasn’t afraid of him or his goons. Rather than live a panic-stricken life, then fight with my life. I was doing it for the woman I loved and for myself. I owed myself, Mary, and Emily.

I raced at top speed toward the house where the bastard was holed up. I felt my blood boiling and my heart pounding with the rage I felt.

When I got there, I burst through the gate, oblivious to the guards running after me with guns. Kevin was on the terrace, quiet and in a good mood. It shocked me to see none other than Carla accompanied him. My mind immediately raced to Emily’s shooting. Did she have a part in it? I immediately remembered her words when we parted. She wanted revenge. Too bad she’d found her in the arms of my brother, who didn’t know the meaning of life or true love. I really pitied her.

I approached them. I controlled my impulses as much as I could, though I wanted to strangle him. He watched me out of the corner of his eye as he kissed Carla.

“Baby bro! What an honor! Did you cry a lot when you found out I died?” she asked me, laughing.

He had a sadistic, demonic laugh.

“Imagine that I suffered. I wasn’t that miserable to be happy,” I replied just as sadistically.

“You're lying, asshole. I know you’re lying. You enjoyed thinking you were going to stay with my wife. You bastard!”

“Think what you want. I won’t justify myself to you.”

“You’re trash. You’re worth nothing.” He got up from Carla and walked over to me. She looked me in the eye with a hatred I had never encountered before. But why did she hate me so much? “You never were and never will be my brother. You’re a fucking bastard who wanted to take everything from me.”

“I wanted nothing of yours.”

“You liar!” he yelled at me. “You always wanted everything that was mine.”

“I have not! I even left to leave you alone. Your fortune wasn’t what I was after. I knew Dad would leave it to you. So I decided not to come to the division of assets. I talked the lawyer into giving you everything. I tried to rebuild my life away from you. But you still weren’t satisfied.”

“Of course I wasn’t satisfied. You were always a thorn in my side. Dad and Mom always preferred you.”

“I didn’t ask them either.”

“But it suited you. Even stupid Emily chose you over me,” he yelled at me.

“Don’t you dare mess with her,” I snapped.

“Don’t you dare! You listen to him. How about it Carla?”

I glared at her. Her smile was harsh and contemptuous. She was no longer the woman I knew. She had changed so much for the worse, becoming like one of the women in that dangerous world that Kevin had been spinning in. An unscrupulous woman who didn’t care about anyone or anything.

“I don’t understand what I did wrong that you hate me so much?” I asked him.

“You don’t? I’ll tell you. It’s just that you were born and came into my life. You took everything, absolutely everything!”

“I took nothing, Kevin.”

“Yes, you have! Your parents’ attention because you were the good, obedient one. Later, you took my place next to my father at the firm and then you took my firm. You think I wanted to be in this world? I tell you I didn’t. You pushed me. You and our inept parents.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I didn’t get you any sign. I don’t need one.”

“You’re an asshole. You went around and talked them into passing everything to you. And where was I in this whole equation?”

“No, you weren’t! I always told them I needed nothing. As I always knew, everything belonged to you. I didn’t take a dime when I left.”

“You’re the lowest man I ever saw. You came into our family, you bastard, and took my family fortune. Pretended you were gonna run the company. You fool! I wouldn’t allow it.”

“What fucking fortune are you talking about? What do you want from me?”

“I want to make you pay. You’re the reason our parents are dead.”

“No, they didn’t! They were sick.”

“I hastened their deaths because of you,” he laughed.

He looked like a man who was mentally ill. It was frightening. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It seemed unreal.

“You’re lying!” I told him dryly. Although I wanted to jump down his throat. It just wasn’t the right place. If I took one wrong step, I was dead.

“Carla, what do you say dear, will you explain it to him?”

She looked at him, kissed him, then stood up and walked over to me. She looked more dangerous than a viper. I didn’t recognize her, or maybe I didn’t even really know her.

“You really don’t know?” she asked me.

“Know what the hell do I know?” I asked, puzzled.

“Just play dumb,” Kevin yelled from the couch.

“Your parents named you the sole heir. Kevin they disinherited. They cut him out of all the paperwork,” Carla told me.

“Don’t I understand? How do you know all this?” I kept asking.

Instead of answering, she started laughing sarcastically, then continued to tell me.

“According to them, you were a saint, and he was the shame of the family. I’ve been with Kevin since before your parents died.”

“And why did you stay with me?”

“And Emily?” I continued the line of questioning.

“Emily, she was the victim of her mother. Emily carries on her shoulders the shadow of the past for which I’ve had so many sleepless nights full of pain. The sin of betrayal hangs so heavy on her shoulders, but you were too stupid to see it,” Kevin told me.

“Treason? Revenge for money? The sin of betrayal? I don’t want any of it. I wasn’t interested in anything. I called my lawyers and told them I’d sign everything over to you.”

“But you signed nothing,” Kevin yelled.

“They didn’t ask me to sign. They said they didn’t have to,” I replied fiercely.

“You practically own the entire Parker family fortune. You’re the rich one. Kevin would be a loser if he wasn’t shrewd,” Carla told me.

“I don’t get it. Why would they disinherit him? They always worked together,” I asked her, puzzled.

Kevin stood up and approached me. He grabbed Carla by the neck, kissed her, then gazed at me with a fiery look.

“I worked for a while. I was only good if I did what he wanted. The moment I told him that one deal was too risky, and I didn’t want to get involved, he got extraordinarily upset. There was something fishy there. I explained to him he could lose everything and he could be in big trouble. He wanted nothing more to do with me. Besides, he always loved your mom. She always told me you were like your smart mom, and I was a sugar daddy like my mom. My mom was just the woman who raised his kids, and that was it. Don’t you think that’s reason enough? He told me he was going to leave everything to you because you were the most obedient and did whatever he said,” Kevin told me.

I was totally distraught. He silenced me. I felt like I was listening to a movie script and not my family’s back story. What kind of brother did I have? Did he kill his own parents? Was he a normal man? And why did Dad make these big mistakes that ruined our relationship?