Alone

Chapter 37

You're kidding?"

No response.

"You're kidding, right?"

Unfortunately, judging from his rigid expression, he definitely was not kidding.

What the actual fuck? My so-called father was associated with a gang or a cartel or whatever the fuck it was. This had to be a good fucking joke.

"A...c-cartel?" I repeated dumbly.

He nodded his head in agreement. "Now, are you sure you want me to continue?"

I paused to contemplate whether I actually wanted to hear what he had to say. Would it be better to be ignorant as I had been this entire time or learn about my father and the dark world he plunged into due to his greed for power and money?

"Alex?" Christian uttered, pulling me out of my daze.

I glanced up at him to see concern swirling in his eyes, which helped me make my decision.

"I want to know, no, I need to know." I said softly. There was no going back now. 

"Okay, but if you want me to stop. Just say the word." Words like these reminded me of the old Christian, my brother.

I nodded, letting him know that I was prepared to hear what he had to say, at least I hoped I was prepared.

"He cut a deal with the leader of the cartel, a loan, so his company could take off. Once that happened, every dirty penny would be returned with full interest. And somehow, it worked. But after seeing the amount of money that was generated through selling, he got greedy."

"He helped the cartel flourish even more by investing a shit-ton of money, acquiring the confidence and reliance of the leader. He got richer by the day and so did the cartel. He then demanded for a few men under only his command to do his dirty work."

"Dirty work, like kill?" I asked densely.

This stuff was supposed to happen only in movies. Not real life.

"Not precisely. Sometimes it would be to roughen up people or scare off competitors. Only in an extreme case would he have someone killed." Bile rose up my throat on hearing that. How inhumane could a human be?

"Of course, he got whatever he wanted since he was on good terms with the leader, who was more than happy to provide it. On various occasions, he had asked me to be his right hand-man because I was the only one he could trust. I put it off as long as I could until I couldn't anymore. For months, I dealt with all his dirty business even though I wanted nothing to do with it or him."

"On the other hand, I was working with a partner on building Halcyon, so I could get out of there. After considerable hurdles and challenges, I somehow managed to get out of working for our father, and he definitely wasn't happy about it. Quite a lot of time passed when I heard from him again, he said he had some information that he wanted to talk about with me." He seemed hesitant to continue.

"Which was?" I urged on.

"He found out that he has a daughter."

The silence that proceeded had shivers running down my spine and made me want to throw up.

I didn't want anything to do with that man, he was the farthest thing I would ever call a father.

"I was fucking shocked to say the least. He already knew that Mum had passed away, and through that he found out about you. He searched far and wide, but you had already changed your name and moved away. It turned into an unhealthy obsession with how unrelenting he was on finding you."

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed. This was getting too much.

"You reminded him of Mum, and he wanted to make everything right. He admitted that leaving her was one of his biggest mistakes and he would do anything to take back what he did."

"That's a load of bullshit, and you know it." I spat out.

"There was another reason he was looking for you. He knew that Mum had left behind a ton of money; he didn't know that it was divided between us. I kept my share in an offshore account, so that left you."

"I tried my best to throw him off track and mislead him. But one day, he completely cut contact with me. I confronted him about it, but he just laughed and told me to fuck off."

I let out a sigh, my anxiety building up with everything that he was telling me. When was I ever going to get a break?

"I heard from an acquaintance that he hadn't found you yet, but he knew you were in the city. After that, I searched for you with everything I had, but you covered your tracks well. You were like a ghost until the day I saw you at the hospital." He trailed off when he saw the expression on my face.

I felt like throwing up, the breakfast that I had consumed earlier was slowly inching it's way up my throat.

"Alex, are you fine?"

"Just give a minute." I huffed out, finding it difficult to breath.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have unloaded all of this on you." He reached out his hand to hold mine for some sort of comfort, but thought better of it and pulled back.

After regaining my composure, I asked him the question that was pestering me, "What does this have to with Greyson?"

"When I saw him with you at the hospital, I knew he looked familiar so that night I went home, did some research and I finally figured it out." He stopped.

"Figured what out, Christian?" I pressed on, growing impatient.

"Greyson Blaise works for our father and he's been sent to spy on you—"

My vision blurred and my ears were ringing. It couldn't be true, he would never do that to me. He would never hurt he, he had told me so.

I trust him.

If he wanted to hurt me, he would have already done it by now.

There was no way he was sent by my father to spy on me. But that nagging voice inside my head told me that this was a huge accusation and Christian wouldn't blame him without proof.

"No, there's no way. Do you any evidence?"

"Unfortunately, no. I had never worked with him, but I recognized his face from one of the files when I worked with Tobias. I wanted to tell you this before, but I knew you wouldn't believe me. I've already made enough of mistakes, and I needed tell you before it was too late."

"If you don't have any proof, how do you expect me to believe you?" I asked softly, having an internal war on whether to believe him or not.

"There has to be something at his house; it will probably be a file."

He must have seen the doubt on my face.

"I swear, Alex. I'm not lying. I wouldn't lie about this."

And somehow I trusted him, but that would mean Greyson was...

"Is there anything else that I need to know?" I questioned wanting to get out of here as fast as I could and into the safe comfort of my home. I needed time to think and be alone before I lose it completely.

"No." He answered softly.

"We should go then." He nodded, almost reluctantly. We got up and made our way to my car in silence; my mind was reeling with all the information that had just been revealed.

Once we reached the apartment complex, I parked the car and sat quietly waiting for Christian to say something.

"Alex, please be careful." He pleaded.

"I will. I have been taking care of myself all this while." I murmured.

He sighed, "I'll see you around and if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me. I want to rectify my mistakes, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes so please give me a chance."

I nodded in response.

He climbed out of the car, but before he could close the door, he muttered, "I love you, little sis."

And I watched as he drove away.