Chapter One

She really needed to see her grandmother. 

She reached the hospital in a cab. Well, to be honest, she could afford a car but with hospital bills, medicines and staff for taking care of her granny, she wasn't able to buy one. But she wasn't regretting it one bit. She loved the old woman dearly. She was eighty, and still fighting for her life. 

"Gran," Faith entered her room and replaced the old flowers in the vase with a fresh bouquet of pink and white roses: exactly what the woman liked. 

"Faith, oh my sweet angel, how have you been?" Jennifer opened her weary eyes. 

She was getting frailer day by day, Faith noticed. 

"Just fine. I met you yesterday, didn't I?" 

"I don't remember." She shook her head, trying to remember something that had slipped into the vast oblivion of her mind. 

The doctor had said that she would have problems remembering many small details. Well, Faith understood. With cancerous cells rapidly growing in your body, in your blood, it's okay if you forget some things. 

"It's okay, gran. Don't stress your brain. I'm here again, aren't I?" Trying to lighten up the conversation, Faith sat beside her bed and saw her precious Jenny slowly taking breaths. 

"You know, you are a great kid. Don't ever bow down to anyone...." The words trailed off as the woman fell into sleep again. 

Faith sighed. 

She continued to sit there for a few more hours as she watched her granny's chest rising and falling like a child's. Finally, with a lot of effort, she came back to her apartment. 

Her apartment was small. It was a decent neighborhood in Texas. Two rooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room. There was no dining room so she had taken out a small table and chair in the living room, adjacent to the television. 

She plopped down on the sofa and took a few breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart. She had no idea how she would go to work tomorrow and face Mr. Hamilton. She loved him like her own father. She couldn't see him slipping into sickness too. 

She barely ate anything and lied down on the sofa. She didn't know when sleep had hit her eyes. The sunlight teased her and she felt her eyes fluttering open even when she didn't want to wake up. 

It was already eight in the morning and she would be late if she slept a bit more. She got ready in her usual black skirt and white shirt and took the usual bus to her office. The Hamilton Inc. building held its head high.

She entered into her cabin and shut the door. She arranged Josh's schedule in accordance with doctor's appointments and also rescheduled a few business trips. She poured freshly made black coffee from the coffee machine and took it to Josh's cabin. 

"Good morning, sir. Here is your strong black coffee without sugar." Josh gave her a warm smile, took a sip and sighed of relief. 

"Ah, amazing." 

"Did he call back?" Faith handed him all the files of the scheduled meetings. 

"No." 

"Such a jerk!" 

Josh looked at her, angry. "He has reason." 

Faith looked down and nodded. "I'm sorry. Hope he forgets whatever reason he has and comes to see you." 

                             --------

Alexander shut the laptop with a thud! His father was ill? Oh no, he didn't believe that shit! He didn't believe anything regarding the great Josh Hamilton. His blood boiled thinking of that man. 

"Baby, come back to bed." A female voice purred. 

Out from the silver satin sheets, came a beautiful woman. Her face was perfect; a perfect pair of eyes, perfect jawline, lips and nose, all swabbed with make-up, shaping up the appearance of a plastic. A mannequin. 

Her silky blonde hair looked unnatural, Alex didn't know why. 

"Leave! I don't have time for this now, Valerie." Alex looked towards the vast window of his room and kept glancing at the glassy lake in front of his mansion. 

"Why, baby? Last night was good." The woman persisted, making his patience falter. 

No one could seduce Alexander Hamilton. It wasn't as if he didn't get aroused. He did. Very often. But he didn't let anyone know about his deepest, innermost feelings. You would only know what he would wish you to know. From childhood itself, he had surrounded his heart with countless barriers. He rarely showed any emotion, be it love, compassion or anger and hatred. He just knew how to take. So he took. 

He took his own sexual pleasures, he took over companies. He took any damn thing that made him happy. 

And he was soon going to take over Hamilton Inc. It wasn't like he was sad or anything. He had his own company: Isabelle Industries, a chain of five-star hotels all over the world but he wanted his father's company. 

He desperately wanted that old man's hard earned position, his flesh and blood, his success: Hamilton Inc, a leading company of fashion, dealing in dresses, shoes and accessories. Well, everybody loved Hamilton brand and Alex was surely going to snatch everything from his father. 

"I asked you to fucking leave, Valerie!" Alex shouted at the top of his voice and maintained his no-nonsense face. 

Valerie got up from the silken bed, threw her clothes on her body and left, not before giving him an icy glare. It didn't matter. Right now, his father was seemingly ill and being his son and only heir, he needed to meet him. Just for formality. 

"Benedict, book an urgent flight ticket 

to Texas." He said on the phone and threw it on the bed. 

He was restless and anxious as if it had become kind of a background noise, squealing high when cars in a traffic moved and in other times, standing to a complete halt when the congestion got cleared. His feelings were coming and going, like a silent cry of a small child. 

Nothing in him moved, reading that his father had pancreatic cancer. All his emotions were dead or so he thought. He couldn't bring himself to feel any ounce of sympathy for that man. 

Alexander Hamilton remembered. Without anyone's notice, he remembered all of the things he had seen when he was six. His mom, his loving, dearest mom, Isabelle Hamilton was tired. Tired of tied into a loveless marriage with his father. 

Josh hadn't noticed. He had plainly ignored their presence in his lives. Alex knew his mum loved him but he couldn't say the same thing about his father. And now, he didn't care a damn!