Deathly Green Eyes

Chapter 18

The man wipes his face with a hand while with the other he closed the book he had opened in front of them, the one he was looking at with so much interest before getting scared by his entrance, and he stands up sticking a hand in his direction.

"G' morning. May I help you...?" He cuts himself blinking a couple of times, before talking again. "Heir Shire?"

He smiles in return, taking the rough hand and barely shaking it out, ignoring the stupor from the man. Taking a seat on the other side of the desk, he fixes his clothes, as the other did nothing more than stare at him and copy the arrangement. "It's very good to see you. We were worried, as your father hasn't come here in months, and you, well, Mrs Langfeil even thought you were dead." His smile freezes in a place.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, never mind that, you are fine so it's not a big deal, but there was an attack in Ireland and so..." he exhales a laugh, that became a coughing fit. "Excuse me." The man gets a handkerchief out of his pocket and coughs violently in it. Hadrian felt himself grimace at the sounds as he reclines away from the sick man. "Well, your father hasn't been here, and then that. We thought that the line had died."

Hadrian blinks, listening to the man burst hysterical laughter.

"But it's safe." He finishes, fidgeting with a fountain pen in his trembling fingers.

Hadrian knew that there was something else going on, the Shire line wasn't old nor important, it was just a secondary family that managed to get some amount of power and, somehow, make money. What would it matter if the shire family was lost when they meant nothing more than debt? But it was that: debt.

And that it's when it hit him, not only was the line useless, and in debt, he wasn't a fit heir, was he? Being adopted and all.

Recollecting his thoughts, he nods just once with his eyes set on the other man's eyes, wishing to make the process faster by just reading his mind, but the consequences could be far greater than worth it.

"... Yes. Father, it's just away from England, he sent a letter just days ago that he met a single woman from a good family in Eastern Europe, and that he was starting to court her."

"Oh?"

"No one knows. It's, eh, a secret, he wants to bring her home, but it's for you to stay at ease, my father is not in danger. He left just before I had to go back to school last year, needing to leave. It's been hard for him lately, I don't exactly know why, but he admitted that to me."

"Oh!" He lets a deep breath out, some giggles mixed there. "That's a relief."

"Why is that a relief, Mr..." he checks the plaque on the desk" Darcy?"

"Hadrian, I met you when you were a baby, you can call me Adam." Did he? How can this man expect that he remembers every single person he supposedly met when he was still being held in his mom's arms?

"Well, thank you, Adam." Why should I refer to you with your name? "But is there something wrong?"

"No... well, your father is in debt. Not with the bank but other people..." the pink tone leaves his face to be replaced with a white greenish tone. "I shouldn't have said that. But, yes, he is in debt. I have been moving just enough to pay these people for your protection."

"My protection? But you believed I was dead."

"... Yes. Still, there was a possibility that you were alive. I had to believe in that..."

Hadrian nods, tightening his fists, feeling the long nails stab his skin and break-in. He understood what this squishy and smelly man was saying: thanks to your death I was taking money from the account. How much was it? Would it affect his and Tom's life in the future? Or was this man sneaky enough to take just small amounts of money?