Eric walks up and down in front of the hospital entrance. He pulls his hands through his hair. What is he going to do if something horrible happened to Ally. Why else would the nurse bring her things to him in a clear plastic bag. It feels so cold and final. He stares at the stars above with his hands in his pockets. This has to be the worst night of his life. Even being blinded didn’t feel this terrible.“Mr Symons.” One of the hospital staff calls out to him from the hospital door.Eric turns his attention to the man without moving his feet. He looks at him, waiting for him to say more. The man looks worried and uncomfortable. Eric knows that he can seem unapproachable when he is stressed or angry.“Yes?” Eric can barely get the word out.“The doctor is ready to speak to you.” The man tells Eric. It looks like he is waiting for a backlash. Eric has no energy to give the man what he is expecting. It feels as if the life is drained out of him. He keeps his hands in his pockets and tur
Eric is visibly upset when the doctor comes back into the room. He stands up to greet him.“We have received the toxicology reports. We are treating her accordingly. With poisoning, there is always a chance of kidney failure. We are monitoring her and the baby closely.” The doctor has decided that it is best to give Eric the most information as soon as possible. Everyone in the hospital feels a little intimidated by Eric. They know the family connection he has to Bennet and Bennet has made quite a name for himself in this city. Bennet is known to be a ruthless man who would not mind taking out anyone to get what he wanted. Eric used to think that his father was a mighty man, but now he does not idolize him at all. Today, his biggest fear is that he would become like his father. Eric wishes that he had known sooner to be able to protect his mother.“Thank you. May I see my wife?” Eric asks the doctor, forcing his voice to remain calm. His temper is flaring but he suppresses it as best
Eric drives up to the house and gets out of his car. He walks purposefully toward the front door and knocks loudly on it. It takes Megan a minute to open the door. Eric pushes past her before she could slam the door in his face. Megan looks terrified and stutters, trying to tell Eric that he shouldn’t be there. Eric has never been one to listen to other people’s rules. He makes his own rules.He walks into Megan’s house and stands in the middle of her living room. He looks around at the furnishings and gathers that the person who bought the house also paid for the furnishings. Furthermore, is there no way that Megan can afford to maintain this size of mansion. The person paying for everything must be looking after her as well. Too bad, that person did not think of assigning any security to Megan. She must not mean too much to them after all.“You can tell me of your own accord or I can pull the information from you. I promise you; the second option will be painful.” Eric bites out. Th
“Alex!” Megan yells out. “It was Alex.” Megan starts to cry. She has no idea if Max will really keep her safe, but she knows for a fact that if Alex knows that she has told Eric who her benefactor is, she will be dead in the next week. “Rick’s brother?” Eric is suddenly calm and surprised. He is grateful that his father is not the one who arranged for Ally to be poisoned but he is utterly shocked that Alex is the one responsible for all the drama they had to endure during the last two years. “Yes. That is him.” Megan says between sobs. “But I do not think that he wanted to poison Ally. I honestly think he wanted to poison Rick.” Eric can understand this. Rick and Alex never had a lot of time for each other. Alex was ten years younger than Rick and he felt that Rick took up too much time from their parents. Rick was always getting into trouble and his parents always had to find a way to get him out of a mess. At one stage they just stopped trying and Rick became Bennet’s responsibili
After Gareth’s team searched and cleaned out the house of all things electronic, Eric walks into the office to see what else could give him clues as to why Alex would have a vendetta against Ally. The office is a complete mess. There are papers strewn everywhere and some of the sheets of paper is torn in half or more pieces.Eric pics up a piece of paper that seems to show a partial address. He holds the piece of paper in his hand and reads the hand written note on it. An anxious feeling rises in his chest. The address on the paper seems to be the same address as the warehouse where Bennet sent Eric to on a business trip. Eric particularly remembers how he struggled to find the warehouse, because it is half hidden in a dessert. Eric had to take a helicopter to the premises and even when he got there, it was difficult to gain access to the warehouse. The security was above standard and also a key signature of how Bennet did business.Eric cannot think of one single venture that Bennet
Eric pulls up to Rick’s house. He sees Rick standing outside, waiting for him. Eric cannot help but wonder who it is that keeps informing others that he is on his way to them. Eric gets out of the car slowly. He closes the door softly and walks around the car to where Rick is standing.Rick is looking at Eric every single moment, from when he entered the main gate, to where he comes to stand in front of Rick, at the base of the outside steps leading to his front door. Rick is standing with his hands in his pockets. He has a look of defeat and regret on his face. Eric feels hatred for this man rising in his chest. He is not quite sure how Rick is connected to everything that feels like it’s ruining his life right now, but he knows that he is connected and that is enough to make Eric hate him more than he did before.“I see that you have been expecting me. Would you like to just get into it? I cannot say that I am in the mood to really have a long chat with you.” Eric tells Rick with a
Rick stands up and pours himself another drink. If he is not going to survive this day, he may as well numb his feelings. He takes a sealed bottle out of the bottom cabinet. It is a good year and the bottle is insanely expensive. Rick kept it aside for one day when Eric and him could be good friends again. Today, he knows it will never happen. He walks to Eric and hands him the bottle. “It’s sealed. You can trust it.” Rick says as he takes the glass out of Eric’s hand and tosses the alcohol inside it into a pot plant. Rick smiles and shakes his head slightly. He used to really love making plants grow and taking care of his garden. It was somehow therapy to know that he could help something live after he was involved in taking someone’s life. Knowing what he knows now, it doesn’t matter if his plants die with him today. He hands Eric a clean glass and goes to take his seat again. “Bennet made sure that I survive the interrogation and that I had a squeaky-clean record after the dust s
“I was asked to get rid of a problem. When I showed up, I was told that the problem was a person. I couldn’t do it. I begged Bennet for other instructions. He told me it was this person or myself.” Rick has the decency to look ashamed. Eric shakes his head. He cannot bare looking at Rick anymore. He was as bad as Bennet was. Doing all of Bennet’s dirty work. “Where is Alex?” Eric asks bluntly. “That, I cannot tell you. Not because I feel like protecting him. I just simply do not know where he is.” Rick tells Eric, he is developing the same indifference as Eric has. “See, the thing is, when I called Alex to help me, he didn’t tell me what he wanted in return. It turned out that Alex have always been envious of our friendship and after the accident, he grew envious of how your father treated me like a son.” Rick sighs. “If only he knew, Bennet didn’t treat me like a son, he treated me like a servant. He spoke to me as he did to the help. He paid me well and he kept me busy. He made s