Chapter 4

Daniel’s POV

What I wanted most right now was to get to the tallest building and jump down, without feeling any pain as life slowly leaves my body.

I felt like hell. Hell was an understatement, I had lost everything that ever mattered to me, I felt useless and devastated and the pain shoot through me like dagger stabs, radiating all through my body and making me feel less alive than I did as I called that Blackwood boy. I looked at my hands, my fingers, they had typed the simplest, but deadliest message to the young blackmailer called Blackwood, simple words of "I accept your offer."

I wasn't in the right state of mind as I sent that to him, I was obviously afraid to lose, to go back to being penniless after all I've been through to build my oil empire. Even my wife contributed to the growth of the business, now, with my own hands, I sold it out in less than twelve hours.

Slowly and painfully, I let my mind flow back to the disastrous meeting that put me in this dilemma. The moment I saw him, I knew I wouldn't be the same again, and then when he brought out that file from his brief case and placed it on the mahogany table, my heart must have done at least thirty somersaults before I was able compose myself.

He had stared at me as I inquired about the file he kept on my table, I didn't even look at it and the next thing he said could have made me stab him with the ball pen I was holding.

He had stated, as a matter of fact, "Mr Andrews, this is a document of all your illegal dealings and flaws in your oil production for the last ten years.” Damn him for still looking me straight in the eye and telling me that.

And he had continued as I expressed my shock. "Look, Mr Andrews, I'm going to make this fast, simple and clear. I want Exxon Oil. I've wanted it for a while now. Sell your company to me and this doesn't leak to the public."

At that moment, I loathed him, I wanted to kill him when he mentioned selling my company because of some fake lousy reports he gets from his minions. The skepticism in my eyes must have been a vivid irritation. I had looked him in the eyes, replying flatly that I was selling the company, now....

I drained down the whole glass of whisky and it dangerously burned my throat. The taste was bitter but I loved it. I was wasted and spent out with nothing left in me. How was I going to face my daughters? What will I tell them happened to Exxon company?

The thought of it made me pour the last content of the bottle right into my mouth and I spilled most of it on my plain white shirt. I looked at the wall clock in the bar and it read few minutes past 11pm.

"Get your ass up," I muttered and got up staggering. It was the pitiful stagger of a drunken man and I knew I wouldn't end up sleeping anywhere good tonight.

I paid for the alcohol and hit the street, occasionally sobbing and chuckling like a broken record tape. I walked into a car pack and saw two lone guys smoking cigar by the barbed wire. They didn't acknowledge my presence but when I started to laugh, they saw me.

"Hey, what you laughing at, jerk?"

"You're the jerk, jerk." I blurted out, still laughing. One of the men approached me and pushed me.

"Get out of here, you freak."

"You're the freak!" I returned and laughed again.

The first man I insulted me came behind me and I felt the cold touch of metal. I stood rigid for a while, the realisation of what the cold metal might be made me go down on one knee.

"That's right, kneel. Now, empty all you have now."

I didn't answer at first but when he kicked violently, I realized I didn't have much of a choice and surrendered my wrist watch. That wasn't enough, they emptied my wallet and took my sliver necklace and phone.

"Run along now and don't you look back," the men said, kicking me again.

I stood up slugglishly, the effect of the alcohol still in my system. I staggered forth and back walking on the lonely street. The moon was out and it lapped all over the floor, I felt like crying but nothing like tears was coming. I was devastated, I was broken and I've lost it all in a day.

The only worse thing that could happen to me was death and now, I was ready to take it.

~

The rays of the sun made me open my eyes, followed by the foul smell of garbage and God knows what. It prickled my nostrils that I felt like throwing up. I was up in no time and as my eyes scanned my environment, I gave a loud shout.

I saw garbage and broken bottles all over the floor. I was in a dumpster and I slept here. The realisation that I slept in an uncalled place like this could have brought tears to my eyes but I slowly got up and got my acts together. I had lost everything but I wasn't about to lose my life.

It was all I got after Tyler Blackwood ripped me of what I had in exchange for nothing. How did he even get those files of sabotage? I was hundred percent sure they were not real, they were probably from his minions he had paid to source for information, buried information about me. I could have asked to check it but I didn't.

Tyler wouldn't drive all the way to my office to present me with a fake file about my activities in the company, he must have digged a lot and paid to get those information accumulated into a file.

"What more is left?" I asked no one in particular. "What more is left?" I repeated again. I couldn't go home, there was nothing to go home to. No wife and never would I face my daughters in this state. How will I begin? How will I tell them that the only thing that puts food on the table, their only inheritance had gone off to a competitor with nothing to call a price? It was uncalled for, it was a shameless thing to say and God forbid I tell my daughters.

"I wouldn't go home." I told myself. I'd stay away until I was able to stand on my feet again.

With that in mind, I made my way to a free coffee machine in front of a shop on the highway and helped myself to a cup of black coffee. It wasn't hot, I drained it down in gulp.

"This would do, I could leave for the nearest city and stay there for a while," I thought. I was about to take the second cup of coffee when I heard something on the radio.

"Bussiness news..." As I heard that, I looked away. I was familiar with the reporter, she was always broadcasting news about the oil sector and the agricultural industry. She stated at a time the rapid loss of the Exxon oil and how Tyler had his bussiness in control.

I drank the second cup of coffee, uninterested in the news about to be told. But then, when I heard what the reporter said next, my head turned to the TV.

"It came as a shocking news that the owner of Exxon oil is now the formidable Tyler Blawood. Words came out that the business man has merged the two biggest oil companies in New York and is ready to take profit to the next level. He stated that he would increase profit to a maximum 20% alongside the already profits made from his original oil company before the merge..."

"Damn!" I cursed, throwing the cup away. The anger in me multipled as I heard the news.

How dare he! He had been waiting for this for so long, the bastard Blackwood had it all planned. It was fast, so fast and the news was everywhere. It would even reach my wife and she would mock me. She had always mocked my investment in Exxon oil. She saw it as a failure and even me as the master failure. Now, everything she said is right.

The next news got me emotional. My daughters, particularly Thea had announced my absence and now I was on the list of missing people. Sooner or later, I was sure Thea would place a ransom for whosoever finds me. She was that good. She loved me too much to lose me. She was there when her mother left me; she comforted me and took good care of her sister.

Thea will set things right, that, I know. But for now, I belong to the shadows. They will be fine without me.