RETRIBUTION PART TWO
This was Andrew, the man he had thought was kidnapped. He quickly did the maths in his head and fear much greater than what he had felt in his whole life gripped him.
“Andrew?”, he asked to be sure. “Yes, in the flesh”, Andrew says while raising both his hands. “Do you want to check if it’s the real me or you are probably in a dream?”, Andrew asks while moving nearer to him. But Lucious didn’t want to check anything and tried to move back. This time though, he fell back on his chair and that was when his son close to him woke up.
Seeing both himself and his father in such a situation, and seeing Andrew close to them, he starts screaming and saying threatening stuff. His father on the other hand was starstruck on the guts his son had, while his chair had been carried up by the men around. But he couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know who he was currently talking to. He thinks he was still talking to that Andrew who took things in great strides. Andrew was still looking at Alfred dully, but this time around, it was filled with pity. This situation shocked Lucious as to why would Andrew be staring at his son in that manner. Thinking it through, the reason he got at the end grips his heart with fear.
He starts pleading immediately, “Andrew please, it was all the fault of mine. Please spare my child”. Alfred on the other hand says, “Why are you begging him, Dad? Just let him wait and watch how we would deal with him. He won’t be this complacent for long”. “Shut up, fool”, Lucious starts screaming at his child and condemning him. Andrew quickly loses interest in their argument and quickly calls on one of the guards to ask about the whereabouts of Williams. He was made to understand that Williams was still cleaning up those stupid organizations that failed to follow their commands, the Boxos' top officials, and covering up their tracks. Although it didn’t matter if the issue was traced back to them, Andrew hated being in the spotlight, and if not for his brother, he wouldn’t have entertained too much media attention.
“So erm, they are our guests, they shouldn’t be bound. Quickly untie their ropes”, Andrew says. The men quickly removed the ropes. Lucious had a bad feeling about this, but Alfred felt more complacent about all that was happening as he says, “I know how scared you must be, but no matter what you do at this point it’s already too late. You would be dealt with”. Andrew was starting to get annoyed by this boy’s talks. So he orders, “Can you seal his mouth for a bit”. The orders were quickly carried out also as a rag was used to cover his mouth. Alfred tried to complain, but all that could come out of his mouth was gibberish, nothing could be understood.
“What next?”, Andrew asks as if questioning someone, but nobody dared to answer. “Yes, so I wanted to reveal a secret to you. Although I wouldn’t usually do this, debts must be repaid after all”, Andrew says. These words make Lucious uncomfortable, he feels like the next words Andrew would say would be too shocking.
“I don’t know how to put it, so I would be plain. I was the one who made you who you currently are”, Andrew says. “Huh”, Lucious didn’t quite understand Andrew’s words. “I know you won’t be able to understand it easily, but a word from me put you in this current glorious position you are in now”, Andrew pauses while staring at Lucious as shock creeps into his face. Even Alfred who was by the side was shocked by such words and couldn’t believe it one bit.
“You might find it unbelievable and even if it was, why would I do such, right?”, Andrew asks, but he immediately answers his question, “Well, that is because, your wife had fed my brother while I was away and his guardians didn’t deem it fit for him to eat, thus starving him. I took it upon myself to repay such debts. I believe so much in karma after all, thus while performing this country’s cleansing ceremony, the Boxos family was part of the people I had to kill. But I made a deal with the former head you know, I suggested for you to be put in this position in return, I would spare his family. A single woman spared that full family from a great massacre. You should show her more love you know”, Andrew says slowly, explaining every fact without rushing.
These words were like alarm bells going off in Lucious’ head. He had already started believing what Andrew was saying, after all, he knew he wasn’t worthy of entering this position, and he knew his wife usually fed a child some years back and she had brought him inside the house to sleep at a time. Thinking back, Raphael and the child bore a lot of resemblance. The former head of the family just vanished into thin air, but there was still an unseen hand helping him through everything he had been through, even when the top officials had turned against him one time, the next day, they had let him be. So, he now understood what was happening, but it seemed like those unseen hands had stopped doing anything since a year back. Seems like he had found him worthy, and he had learned a lot from the unseen hand’s actions, so he has always been grateful for its help. And it was then that the top officials started acting big all over again, but he had learned how to deal with them, so they couldn’t overpower him in any way. A tear streak couldn’t help escaping his eyes, so the person he had been plotting against and had his brother killed was the same person who had gotten him here.
“So erm, enough of the secret revealing”, Andrew says. Alfred on the other side was grumbling, he was probably saying that Andrew was telling lies.
“You had the guts to send people to kill my brother. But don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I would even let you go back to continue ruling over the family and make it richer”, Andrew says with a smile on his face. Being told such words, Lucious felt at ease, but all of a sudden, fear gripped his heart. He remembers the gaze Andrew used on his son and that Andrew was not talking about both him and his son, but rather only him.
He quickly screams, “Andrew please. Just kill me instead. He didn’t have anything to do with your brother’s death”. Hearing those words causes Alfred’s head to reset and he finally gets the gist of what is happening, he finally understands that he wouldn’t be leaving this place alive.
“I don’t usually make people’s deaths this painless also, but as you are about to witness, this is the easiest way I have killed someone”, Andrew says with a smile on his face, but he continues soon enough though, his tone becoming icy, “You are going to watch your only son dying before your eyes and how powerless you were to do a single thing”.
“Bring it over”, Andrew orders one of the men, while he starts putting on a kind of protective gear like he was some kind of scientist, who was about to test a dangerous specimen. No matter how Lucious cried and begged, Andrew didn’t say any other word to him, Lucious was being held down by some of the men to avoid disrupting the ceremony. A keg was soon brought forward though, since the keg was white, it was easy to see the contents of the keg. It was crystal clear just like water.
It was at this moment that Andrew starts talking all over again, “I have never tested this on anyone before, so I don’t know how it would feel. But all I can say is that his death is meant to be painless or that I think”. Andrew doesn’t ponder much on the matter though as he opens the keg and moves closer to Alfred. Fear could finally be seen in the eyes of Alfred. His eyes were pleading to Andrew, but what Andrew said in return was, “Such nice eyes. So this was the way I looked like when my brother died, bet I was more handsome though”. Those words implanted greater fear into Alfred such that his chest was heaving up and down, it wouldn’t be shocking if his heart were to burst out of his body at this time or if he were to die from this huge amount of fear.
The rag used to cover Alfred’s mouth was quickly removed, but he moved his face away, but the men quickly held his face stiff, but he closed his mouth tightly, he was determined to never let that thing into his mouth, his father was still screaming and crying in the background, wondering if a background music would suit this scenario though.
Andrew stared at him with deadpan eyes as if watching the actions of a clown before saying, “Such futile resistance”. Before completing his statement though, his hands had connected with Alfred’s mouth, taking out a few of his teeth. But the purpose has been achieved as his mouth was opened. Andrew emotionlessly poured the liquid into his mouth, not minding if it poured on the clothes he wore. Although most poured on Alfred’s body, with just a little entering into his mouth, it was still a success as the job seemed to be done.
Andrew threw the keg away as he slowly pulled the protective clothes he was putting on.
He watched Alfred as he was trying to spew up what had entered into his body. “No need to try to force yourself, it has already gotten in”, Andrew says with a dull expression on his face. Lucious was still screaming behind, trying to get Andrew to stop his son from dying.
Alfred couldn’t say anything soon enough, he just started scratching his tongue, putting his hands into his mouth to vomit the content of that keg. But seems like as Andrew said, it was impossible for it to be done. “The effects would start being potent soon enough. This is the easiest death I have in my arsenal you know. I am being too generous and I don’t see appreciation in your eyes”, Andrew says while he is in front of Lucious.
“Andrew please”, Lucious says with his head bowed, but Andrew drags his hair, raising his head in the process while his face gets nearer to his. “That’s a nice expression you have got there”, he drops Lucious's head before continuing, “You see, what I fed your son over there is kind of like a slow killer”, he pauses while he orders his men to tie down Lucious, but Alfred was left as he was, rolling on the floor like a blood-sucking worm who had salt sprinkled on it, it was a very amusing sight.
“You see, your son would feel that way for almost half a day before dying. He would go through the most intense pain that he would wish he was dead, but he won’t be able to kill himself in the state he is currently in right now”, Andrew continues. Those words shocked Lucious, he raised his head to stare at Andrew, and if possible he would have him killed right now. “That’s some eyes you have. So full of anger. But that’s not what I am talking about. I know how to repay debts, and although I might have been the reason you got to this rich position you are currently in, I still don’t feel okay with all the good I have done you know. So I have thought hard enough, and I can’t just watch your son die like this, even you won’t be able to stay here and watch your son die in this way”, Andrew says with an expression that shows that he was totally serious.
Seeing Andrew this way, Lucious believed that Andrew was about to give his son the antidote of the chemical he had poured into his son, but he was bound to be disappointed as Andrew says with a devilish expression while handling a gun over to Lucious, “So you are going to have to kill your son, so as to put him out of his misery”.
Hearing those words causes Lucious’ heart to beat at several rates faster. This wasn’t what he had expected to hear, and he was told to kill his son. Although he always reigned over his son with an iron hand, that doesn’t mean he would be able to see him hurt or even hurt him.
But now, he was being told to kill his son. What came to his mind at this moment was to kill everybody here and send his son to the hospital after he was untied, but the moment he was untied once again, Andrew was behind his back, whispering into his ears, “I don’t mind destroying your hands and legs and then let you watch your son die, then I would send you back to your wife that way. The trauma you would feel then would be greater than what you would feel if you had just prevented your son from going through this situation. Don’t even think about killing yourself also, it would all end the same way as I had made a promise of sending you back home alive, even if you are incomplete, it doesn’t matter, as long as you are alive”.
Lucious’ eyes widened as he didn’t know when Andrew had gotten behind him and he even seemed to know what he was planning. He was devastated knowing that his plans won’t work. Should he kill his son then?
But he wasn’t able to think much about it as Andrew’s next words put him in greater despair. “It is finally working. Your son is resilient to have been able to hold on till this moment”. He took a look at his son, and he was appalled by the sight. His son has messed up his body with both urine and feces. He was currently spitting while still rolling around on the floor.
“The call is yours then”, Andrew says while moving back from Lucious. Lucious just stood there for a while staring at his son who was rolling around on the floor, not able to utter a single word, except groaning. He didn’t think about killing everyone here again as he was sure that Andrew would surely do what he meant. He was a businessman after all, and with the experience he had gained over the years, he knew when one was serious and when one wasn’t.
He was that way for a good thirty minutes which seemed like thirty years to him, he was having the hope that his son would get through this situation and just die on his own, he even thought about killing himself. As every minute trickled by, the pain of seeing his son this way gnawed at his heart.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and walked towards his son, said in a sobbing tone, “I am sorry son”, shot him at point blank, then carried the gun and was about to kill himself also, but the gun was quickly deflected from his hands by a bullet, which shocks him.
He quickly hears the sound of clapping, and next comes the words of Andrew, “I told you all that he was a good father”. “Why didn’t you still let me die?”, Lucious asks in a devastated tone. “Haven’t I done what you asked me to?”, he screams at Andrew. “Mind your tone”, Andrew says icily which awakens Lucious to the fact that he wasn’t with an ordinary gangster.
“Well, since you have done what you were told to do, I would leave you to your stuff and forgive your act of you wanting to kill yourself”, Andrew says as if he was giving alms to beggars.
“Take him away”, Andrew orders one of his men. He was being taken away before Andrew said, “Wait”. Lucious just stares at Andrew dully, he has truly lost in this game and wants to leave here as soon as possible. Andrew walks up to Lucious and puts a paper in his pocket. “You should do well to read it the moment you get in the car”, Andrew told Lucious, after which he walked away, he didn’t let any of his men follow him, his destination unknown.
A few minutes after Lucious has gotten into a cab that had been called on by one of the men, he finally becomes inquisitive about what Andrew wrote down in the paper, he didn't think about the fact that it could be a paper bomb. He didn't have much reason to live for, after all, thus he quickly took it out and read it. The letter read thus,
“My good friend, Lucious. I am writing this to you with great pain in my heart. I had prepared two letters for this purpose, the first in the case where your child hadn’t been killed and the other where your child was. And this seems to have been the second case, really sorry for your loss....”
Lucious had to stop reading as he didn’t understand the reason behind this letter, why would he write one for the case when his son hadn’t died? He turned the letter a number of times before continuing to read.
“You might be wondering what I meant by the first case when your son hadn’t died. Well, I didn’t lie about your son being in that case for almost half a day. That’s the longest duration though, the shortest being approximately two hours, and from the way your son was going, it would have been two hours. You know these rich kids and being able to afford a countless number of things, so he didn’t have many things in his body to remove. Well, the thing with that chemical was actually to cleanse the system, but it performs such a role in a forceful manner, so it is usually administered after the patient has been injected with anesthesia. So that it could carry on its work while the patient was asleep. I even used it on myself at one point, but I did it while fully awake and it took it almost half a day to cleanse me wholly you know. If you had just waited another hour or more, perhaps you would have been able to save each other. As you can see I can be forgiving at times, but that was if you are patient though”.
At this point, Lucious was angry, his head was banging bells, and he was at a loss, how could Andrew perform such an act? He allowed him to kill his child. He just had to bore through it and continue reading the letter.
“Well, now that I have gotten that off my chest. You know you did me bad twice. The first being that you had killed my brother. The second was you defaming me in public. Although I have performed things worse than that, that didn’t give you the right to do such a thing to me, so I prepared a little surprise for you back home, hope you would like it”.
That was how the contents of the letter ended, no matter how hard Lucious tried to look for any other words, he couldn’t find. His heart started beating anxiously though, he wondered what kind of surprise Andrew had prepared for him, perhaps he had killed his wife. His heart started trembling, and he hurried the driver to speed up.
Soon, he was before his house, it was around past five already, but there were various reporters in front of his house, he was shocked, thinking maybe his wife was dead, he came down from the cab and started running towards his compound, hoping that his wife was alright.
But he didn’t get in before he was held by policemen, he wondered why he was being held down by them, probably cause of his defamation of Andrew which he had admitted to, he thus tried to explain, but it was at this moment he saw his wife coming out of the house with tears in her eyes, Lucious becomes relieved and tries to free himself to hug his wife, but the officers didn’t let him move one bit.
What came out from the officer’s mouth drowned him in total despair though, “I would advise you to stop resisting. You are under arrest for the murder of your son, Alfred. Anything you do or say will be used against you in the court of law”. His wife got to him at this moment and hit him hard across the face. “You are a monster”, she screams while she spits on him. She wanted to do more, but she was stopped by the officers.
It was at this time that the little surprise Andrew planned for him dawned on him. This was not a little surprise at all, it was something bigger than what he had done. He finally understood he was a kid in this underworld game. The news had carried the news of him killing his son, there was even a short video to back it up, probably shot on Andrew's orders and the body of Alfred had been found, cleaned from all the abnormalities with just the shot wound on it. Lucious felt like he was about to go insane.
Meanwhile, Andrew was currently in the cemetery, he stood in front of the place where his brother had been buried, he just stood there quietly, his thoughts unknown. He then picked a big cigar from his pocket, but after checking for a while, there wasn’t anything to light it with, he was about to keep it back when a hand stretched forth with a lighter to light the cigar. Andrew wasn’t shocked in the least, he quickly used the fire to light the cigar and took a big drag before removing it from his mouth, blowing out the smoke before saying, “You are late, did the cleanup have to take this long?”. The person who was behind him happened to be Williams who had led the clean-up operation. “Sorry it took too long, there were some hidden hands in the shadow whom we had to cut off also”, Williams replies.
“Okay then”, Andrew says. After which there was a long awkward silence before Williams broke it by asking, “Did you see my son?”. “Ohh, I did”, Andrew replies after taking another drag. “Where is he now?”, Williams asks calmly. “He is dead”, Andrew replies almost immediately.
“Ohh”, Williams' eyes dim. Andrew just stood there for a while before saying, “This place is perfect, there aren’t many people, it is a serene environment also, very peaceful...”, Andrew pauses to turn around before he continues, “To kill me”. Those words were like thunder in Williams's mind. “You don’t need to suck it in anymore. I knew how many times you had to rein in the urge to shoot me from behind, but you understood that if you tried that, you would be dead before you even drew out your gun. So I am giving you the reward of having to kill, Andrew. You know I do hate all this publicity”.
Williams's eyes were already red, but he quickly drew his gun and shot him at point-blank range. Three bullets quickly entered Andrew’s body, and he fell on top of his brother’s grave.
The scene quickly shifts to when Andrew’s death is being announced in the news. “Just a week after his brother’s death, the richest man in the country was shot dead in front of his brother’s grave. Such a tragic end for a great business tycoon and youth icon. The country is grieving over such a loss”, the news reporter says.
There were different reactions to this news, but the most sentimental came from Francis’ mother, “Noooooo. It can’t be. Noooo”, she cried while watching the news.
She was still alive and kicking to date.
RETRIBUTION PART TWO
This was Andrew, the man he had thought was kidnapped. He quickly did the maths in his head and fear much greater than what he had felt in his whole life gripped him.
“Andrew?”, he asked to be sure. “Yes, in the flesh”, Andrew says while raising both his hands. “Do you want to check if it’s the real me or you are probably in a dream?”, Andrew asks while moving nearer to him. But Lucious didn’t want to check anything and tried to move back. This time though, he fell back on his chair and that was when his son close to him woke up.
Seeing both himself and his father in such a situation, and seeing Andrew close to them, he starts screaming and saying threatening stuff. His father on the other hand was starstruck on the guts his son had, while his chair had been carried up by the men around. But he couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know who he was currently talking to. He thinks he was still talking to that Andrew who took things in great strides. Andrew was still looking at Alfred dully, but this time around, it was filled with pity. This situation shocked Lucious as to why would Andrew be staring at his son in that manner. Thinking it through, the reason he got at the end grips his heart with fear.
He starts pleading immediately, “Andrew please, it was all the fault of mine. Please spare my child”. Alfred on the other hand says, “Why are you begging him, Dad? Just let him wait and watch how we would deal with him. He won’t be this complacent for long”. “Shut up, fool”, Lucious starts screaming at his child and condemning him. Andrew quickly loses interest in their argument and quickly calls on one of the guards to ask about the whereabouts of Williams. He was made to understand that Williams was still cleaning up those stupid organizations that failed to follow their commands, the Boxos' top officials, and covering up their tracks. Although it didn’t matter if the issue was traced back to them, Andrew hated being in the spotlight, and if not for his brother, he wouldn’t have entertained too much media attention.
“So erm, they are our guests, they shouldn’t be bound. Quickly untie their ropes”, Andrew says. The men quickly removed the ropes. Lucious had a bad feeling about this, but Alfred felt more complacent about all that was happening as he says, “I know how scared you must be, but no matter what you do at this point it’s already too late. You would be dealt with”. Andrew was starting to get annoyed by this boy’s talks. So he orders, “Can you seal his mouth for a bit”. The orders were quickly carried out also as a rag was used to cover his mouth. Alfred tried to complain, but all that could come out of his mouth was gibberish, nothing could be understood.
“What next?”, Andrew asks as if questioning someone, but nobody dared to answer. “Yes, so I wanted to reveal a secret to you. Although I wouldn’t usually do this, debts must be repaid after all”, Andrew says. These words make Lucious uncomfortable, he feels like the next words Andrew would say would be too shocking.
“I don’t know how to put it, so I would be plain. I was the one who made you who you currently are”, Andrew says. “Huh”, Lucious didn’t quite understand Andrew’s words. “I know you won’t be able to understand it easily, but a word from me put you in this current glorious position you are in now”, Andrew pauses while staring at Lucious as shock creeps into his face. Even Alfred who was by the side was shocked by such words and couldn’t believe it one bit.
“You might find it unbelievable and even if it was, why would I do such, right?”, Andrew asks, but he immediately answers his question, “Well, that is because, your wife had fed my brother while I was away and his guardians didn’t deem it fit for him to eat, thus starving him. I took it upon myself to repay such debts. I believe so much in karma after all, thus while performing this country’s cleansing ceremony, the Boxos family was part of the people I had to kill. But I made a deal with the former head you know, I suggested for you to be put in this position in return, I would spare his family. A single woman spared that full family from a great massacre. You should show her more love you know”, Andrew says slowly, explaining every fact without rushing.
These words were like alarm bells going off in Lucious’ head. He had already started believing what Andrew was saying, after all, he knew he wasn’t worthy of entering this position, and he knew his wife usually fed a child some years back and she had brought him inside the house to sleep at a time. Thinking back, Raphael and the child bore a lot of resemblance. The former head of the family just vanished into thin air, but there was still an unseen hand helping him through everything he had been through, even when the top officials had turned against him one time, the next day, they had let him be. So, he now understood what was happening, but it seemed like those unseen hands had stopped doing anything since a year back. Seems like he had found him worthy, and he had learned a lot from the unseen hand’s actions, so he has always been grateful for its help. And it was then that the top officials started acting big all over again, but he had learned how to deal with them, so they couldn’t overpower him in any way. A tear streak couldn’t help escaping his eyes, so the person he had been plotting against and had his brother killed was the same person who had gotten him here.
“So erm, enough of the secret revealing”, Andrew says. Alfred on the other side was grumbling, he was probably saying that Andrew was telling lies.
“You had the guts to send people to kill my brother. But don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I would even let you go back to continue ruling over the family and make it richer”, Andrew says with a smile on his face. Being told such words, Lucious felt at ease, but all of a sudden, fear gripped his heart. He remembers the gaze Andrew used on his son and that Andrew was not talking about both him and his son, but rather only him.
He quickly screams, “Andrew please. Just kill me instead. He didn’t have anything to do with your brother’s death”. Hearing those words causes Alfred’s head to reset and he finally gets the gist of what is happening, he finally understands that he wouldn’t be leaving this place alive.
“I don’t usually make people’s deaths this painless also, but as you are about to witness, this is the easiest way I have killed someone”, Andrew says with a smile on his face, but he continues soon enough though, his tone becoming icy, “You are going to watch your only son dying before your eyes and how powerless you were to do a single thing”.
“Bring it over”, Andrew orders one of the men, while he starts putting on a kind of protective gear like he was some kind of scientist, who was about to test a dangerous specimen. No matter how Lucious cried and begged, Andrew didn’t say any other word to him, Lucious was being held down by some of the men to avoid disrupting the ceremony. A keg was soon brought forward though, since the keg was white, it was easy to see the contents of the keg. It was crystal clear just like water.
It was at this moment that Andrew starts talking all over again, “I have never tested this on anyone before, so I don’t know how it would feel. But all I can say is that his death is meant to be painless or that I think”. Andrew doesn’t ponder much on the matter though as he opens the keg and moves closer to Alfred. Fear could finally be seen in the eyes of Alfred. His eyes were pleading to Andrew, but what Andrew said in return was, “Such nice eyes. So this was the way I looked like when my brother died, bet I was more handsome though”. Those words implanted greater fear into Alfred such that his chest was heaving up and down, it wouldn’t be shocking if his heart were to burst out of his body at this time or if he were to die from this huge amount of fear.
The rag used to cover Alfred’s mouth was quickly removed, but he moved his face away, but the men quickly held his face stiff, but he closed his mouth tightly, he was determined to never let that thing into his mouth, his father was still screaming and crying in the background, wondering if a background music would suit this scenario though.
Andrew stared at him with deadpan eyes as if watching the actions of a clown before saying, “Such futile resistance”. Before completing his statement though, his hands had connected with Alfred’s mouth, taking out a few of his teeth. But the purpose has been achieved as his mouth was opened. Andrew emotionlessly poured the liquid into his mouth, not minding if it poured on the clothes he wore. Although most poured on Alfred’s body, with just a little entering into his mouth, it was still a success as the job seemed to be done.
Andrew threw the keg away as he slowly pulled the protective clothes he was putting on.
He watched Alfred as he was trying to spew up what had entered into his body. “No need to try to force yourself, it has already gotten in”, Andrew says with a dull expression on his face. Lucious was still screaming behind, trying to get Andrew to stop his son from dying.
Alfred couldn’t say anything soon enough, he just started scratching his tongue, putting his hands into his mouth to vomit the content of that keg. But seems like as Andrew said, it was impossible for it to be done. “The effects would start being potent soon enough. This is the easiest death I have in my arsenal you know. I am being too generous and I don’t see appreciation in your eyes”, Andrew says while he is in front of Lucious.
“Andrew please”, Lucious says with his head bowed, but Andrew drags his hair, raising his head in the process while his face gets nearer to his. “That’s a nice expression you have got there”, he drops Lucious's head before continuing, “You see, what I fed your son over there is kind of like a slow killer”, he pauses while he orders his men to tie down Lucious, but Alfred was left as he was, rolling on the floor like a blood-sucking worm who had salt sprinkled on it, it was a very amusing sight.
“You see, your son would feel that way for almost half a day before dying. He would go through the most intense pain that he would wish he was dead, but he won’t be able to kill himself in the state he is currently in right now”, Andrew continues. Those words shocked Lucious, he raised his head to stare at Andrew, and if possible he would have him killed right now. “That’s some eyes you have. So full of anger. But that’s not what I am talking about. I know how to repay debts, and although I might have been the reason you got to this rich position you are currently in, I still don’t feel okay with all the good I have done you know. So I have thought hard enough, and I can’t just watch your son die like this, even you won’t be able to stay here and watch your son die in this way”, Andrew says with an expression that shows that he was totally serious.
Seeing Andrew this way, Lucious believed that Andrew was about to give his son the antidote of the chemical he had poured into his son, but he was bound to be disappointed as Andrew says with a devilish expression while handling a gun over to Lucious, “So you are going to have to kill your son, so as to put him out of his misery”.
Hearing those words causes Lucious’ heart to beat at several rates faster. This wasn’t what he had expected to hear, and he was told to kill his son. Although he always reigned over his son with an iron hand, that doesn’t mean he would be able to see him hurt or even hurt him.
But now, he was being told to kill his son. What came to his mind at this moment was to kill everybody here and send his son to the hospital after he was untied, but the moment he was untied once again, Andrew was behind his back, whispering into his ears, “I don’t mind destroying your hands and legs and then let you watch your son die, then I would send you back to your wife that way. The trauma you would feel then would be greater than what you would feel if you had just prevented your son from going through this situation. Don’t even think about killing yourself also, it would all end the same way as I had made a promise of sending you back home alive, even if you are incomplete, it doesn’t matter, as long as you are alive”.
Lucious’ eyes widened as he didn’t know when Andrew had gotten behind him and he even seemed to know what he was planning. He was devastated knowing that his plans won’t work. Should he kill his son then?
But he wasn’t able to think much about it as Andrew’s next words put him in greater despair. “It is finally working. Your son is resilient to have been able to hold on till this moment”. He took a look at his son, and he was appalled by the sight. His son has messed up his body with both urine and feces. He was currently spitting while still rolling around on the floor.
“The call is yours then”, Andrew says while moving back from Lucious. Lucious just stood there for a while staring at his son who was rolling around on the floor, not able to utter a single word, except groaning. He didn’t think about killing everyone here again as he was sure that Andrew would surely do what he meant. He was a businessman after all, and with the experience he had gained over the years, he knew when one was serious and when one wasn’t.
He was that way for a good thirty minutes which seemed like thirty years to him, he was having the hope that his son would get through this situation and just die on his own, he even thought about killing himself. As every minute trickled by, the pain of seeing his son this way gnawed at his heart.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and walked towards his son, said in a sobbing tone, “I am sorry son”, shot him at point blank, then carried the gun and was about to kill himself also, but the gun was quickly deflected from his hands by a bullet, which shocks him.
He quickly hears the sound of clapping, and next comes the words of Andrew, “I told you all that he was a good father”. “Why didn’t you still let me die?”, Lucious asks in a devastated tone. “Haven’t I done what you asked me to?”, he screams at Andrew. “Mind your tone”, Andrew says icily which awakens Lucious to the fact that he wasn’t with an ordinary gangster.
“Well, since you have done what you were told to do, I would leave you to your stuff and forgive your act of you wanting to kill yourself”, Andrew says as if he was giving alms to beggars.
“Take him away”, Andrew orders one of his men. He was being taken away before Andrew said, “Wait”. Lucious just stares at Andrew dully, he has truly lost in this game and wants to leave here as soon as possible. Andrew walks up to Lucious and puts a paper in his pocket. “You should do well to read it the moment you get in the car”, Andrew told Lucious, after which he walked away, he didn’t let any of his men follow him, his destination unknown.
A few minutes after Lucious has gotten into a cab that had been called on by one of the men, he finally becomes inquisitive about what Andrew wrote down in the paper, he didn't think about the fact that it could be a paper bomb. He didn't have much reason to live for, after all, thus he quickly took it out and read it. The letter read thus,
“My good friend, Lucious. I am writing this to you with great pain in my heart. I had prepared two letters for this purpose, the first in the case where your child hadn’t been killed and the other where your child was. And this seems to have been the second case, really sorry for your loss....”
Lucious had to stop reading as he didn’t understand the reason behind this letter, why would he write one for the case when his son hadn’t died? He turned the letter a number of times before continuing to read.
“You might be wondering what I meant by the first case when your son hadn’t died. Well, I didn’t lie about your son being in that case for almost half a day. That’s the longest duration though, the shortest being approximately two hours, and from the way your son was going, it would have been two hours. You know these rich kids and being able to afford a countless number of things, so he didn’t have many things in his body to remove. Well, the thing with that chemical was actually to cleanse the system, but it performs such a role in a forceful manner, so it is usually administered after the patient has been injected with anesthesia. So that it could carry on its work while the patient was asleep. I even used it on myself at one point, but I did it while fully awake and it took it almost half a day to cleanse me wholly you know. If you had just waited another hour or more, perhaps you would have been able to save each other. As you can see I can be forgiving at times, but that was if you are patient though”.
At this point, Lucious was angry, his head was banging bells, and he was at a loss, how could Andrew perform such an act? He allowed him to kill his child. He just had to bore through it and continue reading the letter.
“Well, now that I have gotten that off my chest. You know you did me bad twice. The first being that you had killed my brother. The second was you defaming me in public. Although I have performed things worse than that, that didn’t give you the right to do such a thing to me, so I prepared a little surprise for you back home, hope you would like it”.
That was how the contents of the letter ended, no matter how hard Lucious tried to look for any other words, he couldn’t find. His heart started beating anxiously though, he wondered what kind of surprise Andrew had prepared for him, perhaps he had killed his wife. His heart started trembling, and he hurried the driver to speed up.
Soon, he was before his house, it was around past five already, but there were various reporters in front of his house, he was shocked, thinking maybe his wife was dead, he came down from the cab and started running towards his compound, hoping that his wife was alright.
But he didn’t get in before he was held by policemen, he wondered why he was being held down by them, probably cause of his defamation of Andrew which he had admitted to, he thus tried to explain, but it was at this moment he saw his wife coming out of the house with tears in her eyes, Lucious becomes relieved and tries to free himself to hug his wife, but the officers didn’t let him move one bit.
What came out from the officer’s mouth drowned him in total despair though, “I would advise you to stop resisting. You are under arrest for the murder of your son, Alfred. Anything you do or say will be used against you in the court of law”. His wife got to him at this moment and hit him hard across the face. “You are a monster”, she screams while she spits on him. She wanted to do more, but she was stopped by the officers.
It was at this time that the little surprise Andrew planned for him dawned on him. This was not a little surprise at all, it was something bigger than what he had done. He finally understood he was a kid in this underworld game. The news had carried the news of him killing his son, there was even a short video to back it up, probably shot on Andrew's orders and the body of Alfred had been found, cleaned from all the abnormalities with just the shot wound on it. Lucious felt like he was about to go insane.
Meanwhile, Andrew was currently in the cemetery, he stood in front of the place where his brother had been buried, he just stood there quietly, his thoughts unknown. He then picked a big cigar from his pocket, but after checking for a while, there wasn’t anything to light it with, he was about to keep it back when a hand stretched forth with a lighter to light the cigar. Andrew wasn’t shocked in the least, he quickly used the fire to light the cigar and took a big drag before removing it from his mouth, blowing out the smoke before saying, “You are late, did the cleanup have to take this long?”. The person who was behind him happened to be Williams who had led the clean-up operation. “Sorry it took too long, there were some hidden hands in the shadow whom we had to cut off also”, Williams replies.
“Okay then”, Andrew says. After which there was a long awkward silence before Williams broke it by asking, “Did you see my son?”. “Ohh, I did”, Andrew replies after taking another drag. “Where is he now?”, Williams asks calmly. “He is dead”, Andrew replies almost immediately.
“Ohh”, Williams' eyes dim. Andrew just stood there for a while before saying, “This place is perfect, there aren’t many people, it is a serene environment also, very peaceful...”, Andrew pauses to turn around before he continues, “To kill me”. Those words were like thunder in Williams's mind. “You don’t need to suck it in anymore. I knew how many times you had to rein in the urge to shoot me from behind, but you understood that if you tried that, you would be dead before you even drew out your gun. So I am giving you the reward of having to kill, Andrew. You know I do hate all this publicity”.
Williams's eyes were already red, but he quickly drew his gun and shot him at point-blank range. Three bullets quickly entered Andrew’s body, and he fell on top of his brother’s grave.
The scene quickly shifts to when Andrew’s death is being announced in the news. “Just a week after his brother’s death, the richest man in the country was shot dead in front of his brother’s grave. Such a tragic end for a great business tycoon and youth icon. The country is grieving over such a loss”, the news reporter says.
There were different reactions to this news, but the most sentimental came from Francis’ mother, “Noooooo. It can’t be. Noooo”, she cried while watching the news.
She was still alive and kicking to date.
