Chapter 1. The Only Hope

"Young master Aditya, please come with us," a man named Yosef asked the young man he was confronting.

"No way, why would I come with you, uncle Yosef? After ten years, you threw me out and kicked us out of your great master's house." asked Aditya.

"I'm sorry, young master; believe me, the great master has always protected you all these years; he is a good father; your biological mother knows the truth." Yosef replied.

Aditya thought for a moment. The puzzle of various questions began to make his head dizzy. He just wondered: why, after he was exiled with his mother for 10 years, until he got used to this difficult life, suddenly his father's aide came to pick him up? What exactly did the father he hated so much want?

"Young master, please, sir. Come on, you go home first; we don't have much time left." Yosef said so hastily, as if there was something urgent that required him to immediately take the young man away.

"What exactly happened, Uncle Yosef? What do you want from me, this bastard? Aren't you not supposed to see me anymore after you threw me away?" Asked Aditya, looking so stressed out because he was so bothered by Yosef's presence that he wasn't alone, but rather he had some guards with him as if he wanted to kidnap him.

And sure enough, Yosef couldn't stand the time Aditya seemed to be taking; he signaled his three guards to immediately put Aditya into the car.

"Hey, let me go. What are you guys doing? How dare you? Let go!" Aditya shouted while continuing to struggle, but it was useless; the three guards were so big with such strong power.

Aditya was forcibly put into the black Mercedes-Benz E-300 car, then sat in the back seat and was flanked by two guards, while the other guard entered and sat in the front seat to prepare to drive with Yosef sitting next to the driver. The car then drove off the road. Because when Aditya was confronted, Yosef happened to be walking on a small road to get to his house.

"I'm sorry, young master; I have to do this; I don't want to buy any more time; you are in a very critical situation right now." Uncle Joseph said.

"Suit yourself; I've had enough." Aditya replied with a grunt of annoyance.

The car they were traveling in was moving so fast because Yosef told the driver to get to their destination as soon as possible.

After almost 30 minutes, they were in the car, and they finally arrived at their destination, entering the basement of the hospital and telling Aditya to get out as soon as the car was parked safely.

Aditya couldn't run away; she just followed Yosef, who walked in front. The five of them entered the elevator; one of the guards pressed the 22nd floor, then the elevator doors closed, and they slid up quickly.

Trink, the elevator door rang, signaling they had arrived at their destination. It was obvious that there were only a few upper-class patient rooms on the floor. Aditya continued to walk after Yosef, this time with a calm attitude, because he realized he was in a place where people were sick. He wondered in his heart, "Who is sick? Could someone have died?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Yosef knocked three times on the door. Someone opened it—still someone who looked like a guard. There were many guards inside as well, after Aditya and Yosef were let in.

There was a woman around 45 years old who was sad and crying next to a middle-aged man who was lying weakly on a patient's bed with his nose covered by an oxygen hose along with IV tubes everywhere, filling his hands, chest, and several other parts of his body. The man looked very critical and terrible.

"Mrs. Sandra, young master Aditya is here." Ucal Yosef reported to the woman named Sandra.

Sandra turned to Yosef and the young man beside her. A very sad look covered her whole face with a slightly shaking hand, unwilling to release the grip on the hand of the man who was sleeping helplessly.

Aditya looked closely at the face of the man lying down; he was stunned and very surprised, because the man was his father, his biological father, the father he had hated so much, but when he saw him in such a state, Aditya momentarily melted and felt very sorry.

Mrs. Sandra didn't speak a word; her tears continued to flow freely, especially when she looked at Aditya. She couldn't hold back her tears, and she burst into tears.

"If it weren't for your father's situation, I wouldn't want to meet you; even to death, I never wanted your presence, but you are still my husband's flesh and blood. I know you are innocent, but my heart cannot be forced to accept you." Mrs. Sandra said it with a cry that sounded so sad.

Aditya was just silent; he didn't want to fight a woman named Sandra because he knew this woman was originally kind and patient, so Aditya never once saved harsh words for this woman. The blame was on his biological father and mother, who had cheated on Sandra to make him a child who had the status of an illegitimate child like now, because he was the child of the results of his father and mother's affair, Aletta, when she worked as a secretary of his father's master, Dawn.

"Ta-but for the first time in my life, I want to ask you, Aditya, to help your father. Please come back home and be the heir to our company. I need you; your father needs you, because if tomorrow you don't show up, then the company will be taken over by my younger siblings, namely your uncle, who is crazy about wealth and power." Sandra said it again and again with sobs that sounded heartbreaking.

"What really happened?" Aditya spoke up and dared to ask Sandra or whoever was willing to answer questions in the room.

"Sir was stabbed and shot last night while at the shopping center with Madame Sandra," Yosef replied.

Aditya was so dumbfounded by the events that, like in the movies, happened in his life, and his father experienced brutality from these irresponsible people.

"Robbed?" Aditya asked.

"No, sir, it seems... someone deliberately told the two of them to kill your father and Mrs. Sandra, because they didn't take anything and seemed to have targeted it because when we were off guard they acted immediately." Yosef answered again while giving an explanation.

"Wha-what? Killed? In such a crowded mall, they dared to act?" Aditya continued to ask because he didn't believe Yosef's words, but Yosef just nodded, confirming every question from Aditya, until Aditya fell limp.

"They are cursed humans, daring to kill my husband in front of my own eyes, as if they know that if my husband is not present tomorrow, then my husband's company will go to someone else. That's why, in this critical situation, I really need you, Aditya. Will you be our helper?”

"I am more willing to give my husband's inheritance to you because you are his son, his flesh and blood. Instead of giving it to those who are one of the masterminds of your father's murder," said Mrs. Sandra, with a look full of anger and swearing at the people who had persecuted her husband.

Until now, Sarah had no idea who they were or what their motives were for persecuting her husband. Does it have anything to do with the election of leaders in their company?