The Last Dynasty

Chapter Three

"Hey Daniel! I'm looking for something, a document sort of in an envelope. It was in my room earlier. Have you seen it?" Damian asked when he went over to the dinning and saw Daniel munching porridge. Duncan was sitting on one of the cushions and turned towards Damian observing his hysteria and then turned back to the screen where he continued his show.

"No! What's the document about?" Daniel asked, licking his lower lip.

"It's some personal work stuff. It's very important," Damian replied and then turned over to Duncan, "have you?" He asked.

"No, I don't know what you're talking about," Duncan replied firmly.

"Well someone went to my room and collected it," Damian added.

"Ask Laura, your fiancée. She's the only one who goes into your room," Duncan suggested and Daniel concurred.

"Laura has been out of town and you know it. She's preparing for the wedding and hasn't visited since she travelled. Wait a second... That girl," Damian said snapping his fingers. "There was a girl in my room yesterday. She must have been the one who took the document." He paced about having the sole of his shoe make sharp tap noises as it had contact with the floor.

"You must mean Theresa, Daniel employed her yesterday," Duncan replied fiddling with the remote control as he tossed the remote between both hands.

"Daniel you employed a total stranger? What happened to proper scrutiny before employment? Now someone has stolen something very important to me because you just let her into our house!" Damian's voice echoed about the room hitting the walls as he tapped the dinning table at whose end Daniel sat.

"I'm sorry OK? I felt for her. She needed that money for her mother's treatment. What was I supposed to do? Not help her? It's not her fault that she's not in school. No one deserves that," Daniel had replied.

"While you two bicker... As always. I think I have something that might solve our money problems," Duncan said walking over to where they were and handed over the card Celine had given him to Damian. "I met this lady yesterday and she gave me that card. She was willing to partner with us given the fact that we are makers of wine and she owns a hotel. We could supply enormous amounts of wine to the everyday guests that troop into her hotel. Plus she knew dad."

"Duncan, how could you keep this till now before telling us? This contract might be a life changer. It might be exactly what we need," Damian said observing the complementary card. "I'll go pay this woman a visit but for now, keep an eye out for a white envelope," he said and Duncan nodded as he watched him leave the house.

*****

Duncan too had a place he had to be. A place he felt he would get all the answers he sought for, his mother's house. She had dropped her address the last time she visited should hopefully one of them needed to visit. Damian of course had no plans of visiting ever but Duncan had to.

"I didn't think you'd visit after the other time at the house," she said as she offered him a seat. She lived in a small bungalow an hour drive from the Sunrise estate as according to her, she didn't want to be too far from her children.

The house felt warm and yet surprisingly very neat. He didn't feel a speck of sand no matter how often he shuffled his feet on the floor. There was a flat screen television hung to the wall and a shaky cupboard by its right holding small pictures in its frames and some other papers protected by a large office file. A large black leather Bible graced a large portion of the shelf in the living room. There was a calendar by the right and behind those flowery curtains, he knew there was a room maybe two even and a kitchen by the side. "Would you like coffee or tea? You used to love your tea with so much milk in it as a baby," she added.