The Memoir of Aderyn Clark

Little

You know how karma works? It works pro-rata, what goes around, comes around. Like the wheel of life, sometimes you'd be at the bottom, and the next you might came up on top.

Right now, I'm talking about Rexroth Grimes, he's one of King's bully buds. His family used to have a winery in Italy, a very famous one, very successful, then a drought happen, and all the grapes started to produce less and less, so they do some trick about it to hide the fact the winery is failing, and got caught. There's a big falling out before finally the family filed for bankruptcy, and Rex ended up working as one of my employees. I heard he asked a favor from King, but he's a vicious SOB, so no favor for his poor bestie.

"Hello, Rex," I stopped at his cubicle just before lunch time

"Um, hi," he looks unsure. I know he knows who I am, he remembered me from high school, but he also remembers me as his boss's boss's boss's boss.

"You have time? I need to ask you a few questions," I give him a smile, which was more then what he deserved after I gave him a job despite the torture he did to me in the past, but... I gave him some slack remembering how his parents killed themself after the debacle, it was supposed to be murder suicide by his father, but he survived the murder by his father part. The only survivor in the family of 5.

"Sure," He still look unsure of what part I'm playing now.

I mean it's obvious, a CEO like me doesn't come down to talk to any random employee, something big must be happening for the big boss to ever come down to the mud herself

"Come with me." I walked away not bothering to wait for him to follow, which I know he will, eventually, after the shock come to pass

I take the elevator up to my floor, but instead of going to my office, I brought him to an empty office that usually belongs to Lexa, my CFO, she's on a maternity leave right know, so it's empty, also, her assistant works from home while Lexa is not here, so it's more or less deserted

"I'm here right now not as the boss," I told him quickly, "I just need you to tell me about Luca Benson."

"The loser you date on high school?" He asked like confirming we're talking about the same Luca Benson

"Not a loser, but yes, him." I nodded

"He's a loser," I gave him a pointed look, "okay, okay, sorry, what do you want to know?"

"Sally Whitman,"

"Oh yeah, I don't know how you didn't hear about them, they're basically doing it every where, like everywhere, everywhere." He said nonchalantly

"Yeah well, I'm sorry I'm too busy being torture by King, you, and your buddies," I said it sarcastically

"Yeah, personally I didn't want to do it, but you know King, what he said, goes, I'm sorry though," he shrugged like he's apologizing for a simple stepping on the toe, "I appreciate you hiring me, I was depressed and desperate."

"I ask for info about Luca Benson, not your half ass apology." I told him sharply, "so what happened to him?"

"Luca basically telling the whole school about how gullible you are," he started "taking the first guy ever dare to defy King and closing in on you, also how he felt powerful he could deceive King, when King always knew about it since the first moment, but for some reason he did nothing, maybe he thinks it's another way to torture you—"

"Get to the point," I cut his babbling

"Okay, King always knows about it, so Luca is not exactly managed to fool anybody, well, anybody but you of course," he shrugged, "because Sally, wanting to be in favor with King, told him the longterm plan before Luca even approached you,"

"And the plan is..." I said when he didn't seem like he's going to keep talking

"Let's just say Luca was planning to humiliate you by doing an amateur video," Rex said it carefully

"He did not," I shake my head

"Oh but he did, Luca already planned everything, but just before he actually do the main event, that's when finally King interfered. I guess the cruel King still have a little heart in him," Rex nodded surely, "I remembered King's exact word, he said to Luca," Rex smiles, clearing his throat and do a whack impression of King, "if I ever see you, or your family ever again, anywhere in this world, I would make all of you really disappear, nobody would ever find out where you all disappear to."

"Really? That sounds terribly dramatic," this time I'm the one laughing and Rex with a serious face

"King never joke around with his threat, Aderyn," for some reason I got a feeling he received the consequences first hand

"Is that how your vineyard suddenly have a mysterious drought?" I asked but Rex just laughs at me, I take that as a yes

"Anyway, last I heard Luca Benson changed his name, and now is a nomad, but King always knows where he is, always giving out clues where he's gonna next be so he didn't need to make anybody really disappear." Rex ended with a smile, "why? Why'd you suddenly asked about all this?"

Ignoring his question, I went on and said, "so you're telling me, that Kingston Kane, the guy who tortured me all through school, saved me from being humiliated and not just that he also threatened to off the guy?"

"Pretty much," Rex nodded

"But why? Isn't that his main goal in life? To see me suffer? What Luca gonna do aligned with what he always do to me!" I can't believe this, "why did he 'save' me?"

"Aderyn, nobody touches you unless he said so," Rex told me convincingly, "he always said that you belong to him, that he owned you and you're his plaything, and no one dare to say otherwise because they like their head,"

I did heard about that, about him owning me like I'm some kind of object to be owned. But I always thought that was just some kind of label, not like an actual thing. I'm a human, I belong to myself, maybe God, but that's for later, right now I belong to nobody else but me. This is not the old west, I'm no slave that could be owned! Now I'm just angry! Fuck him!