CHAPTER 5 "Dad’s dead"

ANONYMOUS

“Sir, why did you let that man leave, when he saw you killing Jasmine?” He asked, as I left Jordan alive that night.

“We needed the murderer, and he arrived at the moment. Otherwise, I would’ve just killed that bitch and left it as a mystery. But now, I had someone whom I can put the blame at.” I said smoking the cigarette.

“Oh! You are clever boss.” He said smiling and putting his hands on my shoulder.

“Aren’t you too frank? I’m your boss remember?” I said glancing and he corrected his posture.

“Sorry sir, but don’t you feel bad for that guy? He is the famous designer, people can look for him, this can cause problem to Mr. Lee.” He said fixing his tie.

“Hmm, I was also thinking the same but later when I found his phone in the car, I texted his secretary stating that he is going on a vacation for two months. And he had no one in his family so that’s not a problem.” I said because I didn’t want Lee to face problems.

Lee was important to me as I loved him a lot but he never looked at me in that way. Instead, he fell in love with that whore Jasmine. Jasmine was just using him, in order to take his money and fame but Lee was madly in love with her to think rationally. At first, I respected his choice but when I found the truth about Jasmine, I wanted to kill her as framing her and let Lee catch her red handed was a lot of work for me. Also, I didn't know if Lee would actually punish her or not because he was crazy for her.

“Sir, why did you kill her though? Mr. Lee was really serious towards her; don’t you think he’ll kill you or something when he gets to know the truth?” He said, and I looked at him as this was something I never thought about, if somehow, he gets to know that I’m behind this murder will he actually kill me?

“Enough, die in curiosity.” I said and he nodded before leaving.

“Asshole.” I continued as he walked towards the door.

LEE-

I went towards the gym, I worked out for hours but didn’t know why I was this angry. I ran on the treadmill as fast as I can, I lifted heavy weights in order to suppress my emotions. Why is he bothering me so much? Do I have to feel bad if someone from his family died? Do I really care for that nut job? I calmed down after several hours of workout, I knew I had turned into a beast. So many things had happened and I really felt like I’m going crazy. The thought of killing Jordan ends up with saving him. Why the fuck did I touch his forehead?

“Lee? For how long you’ve been here?” Dad entered and asked me. Dad used to workout with me but then he got old and started getting tired easily so he gave up.

“Errrrr.. I’m just going at the ‘Tennyson’s in a moment.” I said while doing crunches.

“You should now come back to your senses; it’s been a while now. People look up at you and trust me, they don’t want to see you this miserable or else we’ll lose everything we’ve built.” He said and looked concerned.

I had to finally pull myself together as Cole mentioned it too. I want to find the truth behind Jasmine’s demise. And also, take a look at our business. It’s been days since I haven’t showed up at our bar. We had many branches of ‘the Tennyson’ across New York, and many illegal sources of income. I had to go and check everything once a month, but now I was too busy to focus at anything but Jordan.

“Yeah! I just needed to…...” I said and he interrupted.

“I get what you are dealing with, but now go back to your normal self, Cole is also acting strange, I’ve talked to him too. Now gear up.” Dad said patting my back and I stood up.

“I’m sorry, I disappointed you.” I said peering down on the floor.

“You haven’t my son, I’m proud of you. I understand what you’re going through.” Dad said and hugged me. Everything was emotional and I finally found peace in dad’s arms. I wanted to cry badly for everything that happened, but didn’t show my weakness, so I hugged him more tightly.

“Am I ruining a father-son moment?” Cole interrupted, and we both smiled.

“Scram you bastard.” I said mocking Cole. My dad opened his arms towards him and embraced him too.

“I’m proud of you, my son.” My dad said pointing both of us out.

“Which one, exactly?” Cole said and I punched him in the stomach.

“Of course, me, you dumbass.” I said and we all started laughing, I looked at us with so much affection. Even though jasmine is dead, I still have my family right here.

Cole and I left to look at everything. My entire day was involved by observing things around me and I showed up at home late. I chose to go lastly talk to Jordan about the homicide. As I went upstairs into his room. I glanced around and saw him resting. Would it be a good idea for me to wake him up? Maybe, he had another episode and finally nodded off? For what reason am I being so thoughtful? My psyche again loaded up with questions and I chose to talk to him early in the morning. I went towards my room and hopped onto the bed yet couldn't sleep. I wandered around starting with one corner then onto the next, then, after some time, sat on my seat and took documents in my hands and read them, still didn't feel languid by any means. Hence, went towards the garden.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Cole as I saw him coming down the stairs from some floor.

"Nothing, investigated in the event that everything is okay or not." He said looking towards my room and wiped off some sweat from his forehead. He used this cute little cloth made of cotton which always had his name’s first letter stamped on it.

“Aren’t you sleepy? It’s 1 right now.” He said looking at his watch.

"Nah! Just going towards the garden, do you want to come?" I said asking him courteously.

"Nope, not in the mood. Too tired to deal with you..." He said scorning me.

"You don't miss any chance of teasing me, do you?" I said and walked past him.

I wandered around, remembering everything what Jordan had said about Jasmine. Why would a designer kill someone from the mafias? He is just a pathetic human who still hasn’t recovered from my beating. He doesn’t have the guts 

 to kill anybody. But then, what was he doing there? If, by any chance he is speaking the truth, why was he there? Even if everything he said is true, he still needs to be killed as he left my Jasmine to die.

I walked for some time, and went towards my room and slept as soon as my body touched the mattress. I woke up determined to have a serious conversation with Jordan. I showered taking my time and got ready to start with my day. As I entered in his room, the doctor was leaving with a smile on his face, what was he smiling at? He talked to Jordan and smiled? What’s going on between them? Then I saw Jordan walking and I realized he will run away from here so I quickly grabbed his hand firmly. We looked at each other and I felt the unusual feeling rushing in my body. His eyes were not saying anything, he looked too innocent as he had just woken up. His hair were messy but he still managed to look cute. Wait…. What am I thinking? Holy fuck.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He said and I looked away from him.

“You can’t escape from here.” I said gripping his hand tightly.

“How am I supposed to run with this chain?” He said while lifting his other hand. He was tied already and cannot run even if he wanted too.

“Oh! Good.” I said as smiled passed through my lips.

“Leave my hand now, you bastard.” He said and I realized I hadn’t left his hand till now. I loosened my grip from his hand immediately and his hand swung in the air causing him pain.

“How’s your wound?” I said and he looked at me with surprise.

“Like you care, just fuck off or kill me if you are here to do so?” He said and I was disappointed as I genuinely asked him with all sincerity I had.

“Oooooh! I was serious though. Never mind.” I said taking it lightly and not ruining my mood or else he would die without giving me answers.

“So! Let’s say, you didn’t kill her. What were you doing in the forest?” I asked, calmed as fuck.

“You won’t believe me, even if I tell you the truth.” He said, he’s starting to get on my nerves now. Why wasn’t he appreciating my calm?

“I’m not a very polite and patient person, so don’t try your luck and answer everything you know.” I said gritting my teeth.

“I told you already, yet you still nearly killed me. So just fuck… off.” He said, ugh! I’m done now.

I grabbed his neck while pushing him towards the bed he was tied to and got on top of him. I really wanted to punch him in the face and make him bleed like hell but he started coughing as I held his neck. I loosened my grip and let him breathe a little. The poor man was on the verge of dying, so I moved my body away from him.

“I was being considerate, I wanted to believe your story but you have no wish to be alive.” I said because I really wanted to listen to his part but he was being a dick.

“You can’t believe it, when you’re calling it a ‘story’.” He said as though he already made his mind that I’m not going to listen to him.

“What were you fucking doing there?” I said getting furious than earlier.

“I was so angry at you, that I drove into the woods without realizing. I am in this mess because of you. So, stop blaming me and LET ME FUCKING GO.” He shouted and emphasized every word he spoke being dead serious.

“Shouting won’t help, what happened next?” I asked him as he started telling whatever happened that night.

“Then I heard a gunshot and saw someone coming towards me.” He said and took a long pause, as if recalling every single moment, he saw. His voice came down at a normal pace and he stopped shouting.

“What?” I asked getting angry as he stopped suddenly and I could see the vision of Jasmine being so helpless and I felt pathetic as I had no idea what Jasmine was going through.

“I tried to hold her, but someone shot her in the back and she…………. fell.” His eyes were filled with tears as if he was hurt and conveyed Jasmine’s pain with his eyes.

“Were you just standing there when she was killed?” I shouted and threw everything on the floor that my eyes saw in the room. He was terrified as tears rolled down his eyes.

“I couldn’t do anything. He threatened me and I…. I… ran. I was selfish and scared.” He said regretting every decision he made that night.

“What should I do now?” I took my gun from my back and pointed it towards him. My Jasmine was dead, I knew Jordan couldn’t do anything as she was already shot, but my eyes were filled with rage. I got angry because I somewhat believed his story but couldn’t handle Jasmine’s death as he reminded me of the pain she went through. I punched him hard in the gut, his head hit the wall behind him and he collapsed on the bed.

“I... wanted to help….” He said but was interrupted.

“What are you doing, he is barely alive.” The doctor entered the room and stood between us in order to protect him.

“What am I supposed to do, when he couldn’t save her.” I shouted at the doctor, hitting my hand in the wall.

“I don’t believe a word you blurted, just fucking rot in hell.” I said turning in his direction and pushed the doctor away.

“Mr. Lee……. Mr. Mathew……” Cole barged in, his hands were covered in blood and I looked in his direction.

“What? What happened to dad?” I said, I didn’t want to lose anyone else, I would rather die than handle the pain of losing someone close to me. I pushed Cole from my way and ran towards the 8th floor. I didn’t bother taking the lift because I was out of my senses as I saw blood on Cole’s hands. Everyone else followed me while Jordan was still grunting and looked at me with pain in his eyes. As I climbed every stair my heartbeat got faster, I saw blood coming out from his room and opened the door.

“Dad!” I entered in the room, and saw the most horrendous thing I’ve ever seen. Dad was lying on the floor and canvased in blood.

Someone had tied his hands and mouth; I saw several cuts on his body as someone stabbed him without any sign of mercy. His body had turned blue as all of his blood was drained; he wasn’t moving. I fell on the floor as I saw him in a bloodbath and dragged my body near him. The doctor didn’t dare enter the room as he already knew dad’s dead with the amount of blood he saw on the floor.

My clothes were all covered in his blood, I removed the cloth covering his face. I held him in my arms and cried for hours without moving, Cole didn’t dare to move, our eyes were showing pain as tears rolled down our eyes. The two of us sat quietly and soon the bodyguards came in.

“You can’t take him; he’ll wake up soon.” I shouted as they started picking him up from the floor.

“You can’t take him……... he’s, my father.” I shouted and cried while Cole hugged me tightly in order to stop me. I grunted and wanted to break free from his embrace, I was losing myself as I saw them taking dad away from me. My vision got obscured and I fell oblivious.