Confrontations And Two Bullets

Confrontations And Two Bullets

"What?!" Christian's eyes bulged in shock.

"Excuse me." I maintained a calm, polite exterior as I walked away from him, forgetting every thought of what he was about to tell me about him and Denise, towards the stage where uncle Pete was smiling and waiting for me.

"Wait! She is what?!"

I heard the gasps following the announcement. Making my way through the crowd of guests, eyes followed me. But that very familiar voice had me stopping on my heels, and slowly I took a slow turn.

My look of astonishment was profound, I was speechless for a few nanoseconds, then came the emotions rolling in, threatening to shatter my composure form within.

Disbelief. Shock. Betrayal. Anger.

And I held onto that last boiling emotion like it was a lifeline, refusing to feel any other thing.

"Denise?"

"In flesh and blood, sister."

People were now watching us and I could tell they recognized Denise, she'd been a society lady when Codza Company was still in existence and under her.

And she had come with a partner — Jerome Johnson. He was equally shocked but he had a way of concealing it beneath all those bad boy personalities.

"Sister?" He looked at Denise. "What's going on here? You didn't tell me you know her."

"He doesn't know we're related? How did you guys even meet?" I had to ask. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in prison. Was he the one who pulled strings to get you out?"

I wasn't expecting Jerome to walk into my party with my stepsister.

"And you're the CEO of the biggest company in the country with successful branches scattered around the globe." She could not quite believe it. "I guess we could agree that life is full of surprises"

"Who let you out?!" I questioned harshly, but then changed my mind. "You know what? I don't care, you're going to prison and rot there!"

Shutters of camera began clicking and people recorded the scene.

"And then what, Hailey?" She left Jerome's side, stepping forward to face me.

"What?" I scrunched my face.

"You throw me in prison and then what?"

"And then I'll be at peace knowing my father's soul will rest."

"You do know I'm not the only one involved in the death of our father, right?"

My gaze searched for Christian but he was nowhere to be found. Fuck! He'd probably gotten spooked by Jerome's presence and ran off.

This was not going according to plan at all.

"But I'll be starting with you."

From a moment I saw the flash of fear and tears, but she quickly blinked them away, putting on defiance. "You grew up privileged, so I'm guessing you have no idea how much I..."

"Oh spare me the sob story, Denise!" I interrupted, anger curling my hands into a fist. "Killing your own father is no excuse."

"I was angry, okay?!" The fear was back, I detected it in the slight trembling of her voice.

"And I am angry! I am angry your thoughtless actions put me through so much."

She blinked and stepped away a little, her face crumbling, losing its defiance a bit. "Why do you think I agreed to help find you?! There are a lot of things you do not know right now."

"I am not understanding a thing, right now. Will you explain to me, Denise?!" Jerome's anger was palpable.

She wriggled her hands nervously, a sign she was scared of Jerome. Her eyes searched the room, then landed on someone behind me.

My brows furrowing even further, I followed her gaze and looked over my shoulder to see Jared looking intensely guilty.

"Why are you letting me take the fall alone, Jared?" A tear fell, she angrily swiped at it.

"What is she talking about, Jared?" My heart thudded within my chest. It couldn't be.

Slowly with despair and apprehension in his every approaching step, he finally reached where I stood. He looked like he was about to cry but he didn't. "Can we talk in private?"

"No. Nobody is talking in private! I have to know what the hell is going?!" Jerome wasted no time in bringing out a gun from behind him, pointing it at every one present.

Fuck! The cops were not here yet. What the hell was taking them so long?

Finally, he settled it on me, his gaze on his brother. "Start talking, brother. Or I'll have my men, who are everywhere in and outside this building, start shooting."

"Jerome, take the gun away from her, please I beg you." He appeared so scared, just as I was in that moment.

My thought raced to my son, he should not be seeing this. A quick search told me he and Miss Nancy were missing. Thank goodness! She must have taken him out of there once she noticed the drama taking place.

Uncle Pete quickly reached us. "You need to stop, Jerome."

"No, tell your favorite nephew to stop." His emphasis on 'favorite' was filled with hatred and anger. "Start talking!" He ordered.

I heard frightened whispers amongst the guests, everyone staying still so as not to be a casualty in this chaos.

"Fine." Jared put his hands up, his eyes begging for my mercy. But I glared in strong disappointment and anger. "I went to get her released."

"What? Y-you..." I didn't even know what to say further.

"I'm sorry, baby. I just wanted to find you. When you lost your father's company, I couldn't bear to watch you blame yourself and be so sad and in despair. I just wanted to help ease your pain..." He licked his lips. "I sought out the only way how."

"By releasing an enemy? She's a part of why everything fell apart, Jared!" I no longer cared that a gun was aimed at me, I was furious and deeply disappointed.

"So she was the method you wanted to use, huh?" Uncle Pete's gaze also held the same disappointment.

"Uncle, please, it's not like yours worked. If anything, your method wanted her dead." He defended quite roughly.

"Fair enough." Uncle Pete conceded, but he had more to say. "But you should have come to me, if not Hailey. This is usually the outcome when you put people like your brother and her sister together."

He heaved a sigh, facing his twin brother. "I know that now. Jerome please, for once, do something right. The media is watching."

"Like what? Me shooting your brains out because that's the right thing to do."

"Jerome..."

"One question, Jared." A furious Jerome cut his brother short.

"What?"

"Did you bring Denise my way and have her get information from me?"

I saw him swallow before nodding. "Yes."

"Why you..."

"Get on your knees right now, Jerome Johnson!" The Russian accent caused relief to course through me.

I noticed shock, disbelief, fear, apprehension and then rage cross his features.

But before they would have him, he pulled the trigger, twice. Through shocked eyes, I saw the bullets come at me with such speed and I was only too paralyzed with fear to dodge.

Everything happened in a blur as someone pushed me out of the way and fell to the ground with a loud, echoing thud.