JONAS
Several days have passed and we haven't been able to find anything. After Oliver told me what my uncle did, I launched into an investigation myself. I couldn't trust anyone else with this task.
The people who work for me may be loyal, but it was easy to buy someone with money. I made sure everyone working on this did not leave my house without permission.
They were also not allowed to use their personal communication devices. All the phones they used to work had chips in them that recorded every conversation.
If there was a mole, I would know. This task was too dangerous for there to be a mistake. Lives were at stake, and it was my job to protect them.
For the last few days, I've had these men look through every business transaction record from 2009 till the present day involving my uncle. That wasn't the only thing I asked for.
It took a lot of calls, but I gathered all my uncle's bank statements from all his accounts, including the hidden ones. I would examine all of them myself until I found the truth.
If Oliver was telling the truth, there would be receipts. It would have been easy to deceive me back then. I was a child who had to go to school while lead a group of dangerous men.
My mother was meant to assist me, but I know she would care about such petty details. It hurts me so much to suspect my blood relation, but I never trusted any of them.
My apartment was covered in boxes containing old PC drives which these men had to look through. Some of the records were done by hand and were even harder to look through.
"What's taking you guys so long?" I asked, entering my living room, which had been turned into a workspace. "How hard is it to find the details of the order my father made in 2009?"
I was running out of patience. Aiden was busy trying to fight things out on his end. I used to think it was a blessing that he could break out of this family, but seeing him struggle now told me otherwise.
The elite families may be dangerous and toxic, but they had their uses. I'd known for a long time that Nicole was from an elite family. Like Aiden, she ran away, and that's why I thought they were perfect for each other.
While I dealt with my problem, I tried to guess how they would deal with theirs. However, I came up blank. Aiden was very predictable, but Nicole was another story.
"Boss, we found something!" someone exclaimed.
I walked to the desk of the person who spoke and waited for him to show me what he found.
"Sir, it was exactly like you suspected. There's barely any business Benjamin Callisto was involved in between 2005 to 2009. Your father was in charge of everything. I didn't find anything strange in the businesses he was in charge of till date either. So I looked at his bank statement like you said,"
"What did you find?" I grabbed the file from his hand and looked through the transaction from the month of December, which he had opened.
"There was a suspicious transaction in his hidden bank account from a few years ago. I don't know if it's what you're looking for, but the amount is quite similar to what we're searching for,"
"Explain,"
"This transaction started in 2016, but he didn't get the full payment until a few years later. He got paid for 150 million dollar's worth of construction materials. The company is also a suspicious because we all know he has connections there,"
"Let me guess, Japan,"
"Yes sir,"
"I can't believe it. All these years, he was in my house and he betrayed us."
I scrunched up the paper in my hands as new found rage spread through my body. How did it take me so long to realise this?
It all made sense. My uncle may have been in talks with the yakuza for years, but he wasn't able to succeed until he found a good cover. Unfortunately, that was Oliver.
Our shipment got hijacked around the time Plover disappeared and he got paid $150 million for selling out his family. I'd always wondered how much Oliver benefited from selling my family out.
I rushed to my bedroom and got dressed. The only thing I could do now was take the evidence and confront my uncles. With how angry I was, there was no telling what I would do.
He didn't just lie to my face for years; he stole from me and blamed it on someone I loved. My uncle's crimes were equivalent to treason, and I knew he would try to run away.
However, I couldn't wait until I called everyone. I picked up a gun and checked to see if it was loaded before putting it inside my jacket. I don't care if I had to kill my uncle, he would pay for his crimes.
"Danny!" I yelled as I picked out which car to drive.
"Yes, Boss," he replied beside me.
"I'll go first. You make sure the people here keep searching for more evidence. Find them even if my father was alive when it happened,"
"Yes sir,"
I grabbed the key to any car and the files containing the evidence of his betrayal. I was ready to leave my apartment when Danny stopped me. I know I was being reckless right now, but how could I not?
On the day I turned 18, I was inducted as the head of the Callisto household. I controlled everything and everyone was meant to listen to me.
My uncle Benjamin swore to serve me until the day he died. That was in 2016, when he was already planning to betray me.
"What will you do now, sir?" Danny asked.
"I'll go confront him about this. Send some men to the house without anyone finding out. We're doing a purge tonight," I replied and left the apartment.
I've always been careful and a law abiding boss. But today, I could not control the speed at which I drove to my family's house. It was all fueled by my rage constantly boiling within me.
Is this why he never respected me? All these years he probably still saw me as the child he had to take responsibility. I finally understood why he tried to convince other family members that he was a better fit.
If he decided to do business with the Yakuza when he was leader, he would be immune. He talked with them for years and sold out our personal information for $150 million.
That is what his loyalty to me and to my father was worth. I barged into the house I grew up in, surprising the staff moving around.
"Jonas!" my mother exclaimed as soon as she saw me. "It's a good thing you're here. You should stay for dinner so I could invite the guest I told you about,"
She was still going on about that girl that claims to be interested in me, but I was looking around for my uncle. I ignored my mother and marched all the way to my father's study.
Benjamin Callisto liked going to the study, even if I forbade anyone else from going in there. Before I could hold the door, he came out of the study and smiled at me.
My foot step grew heavier as I rushed for him and dragged him by the hair till his body was under mine.
"Jonas! What are you doing?!" my mother screamed, but it was too late.
My fist met his face, and I pounded over and over again. With each punch, my anger grew in size. My mother and a few other people were screaming in the background.
Good. I wanted them to see what happens when you betray me.
When I stopped punching him, his face was covered in blood. Benjamin looked at me and spat out blood on the floor, then he laughed with his bloodied teeth, as if mocking me.
I threw the bank statement towards him, and he glanced at the paper before bursting out into laughter. What was funny to him? Was this beating not enough?
"Oh, you're just finding out about that? I guess you're not a total lost cause," he touches his face to see the blood then to my mother, who is still in shock. "There's hope for your son,"
He laughs and struggles to get up from the floor. However, his bloodied face pulls his body down.
"Explain yourself," I growled, my fist tightened beside me.
"I don't owe you shit," Benjamin spat in front of me. "If you want to punish me, you have to catch me first,"
I knew he was going to run. If I had wanted to leave the house, he would have found out about my plan. However, I was fully capable of keeping him here by myself until my men arrived.
The easier thing to do would be to order the bodyguards present in this house to keep him locked. However, I did not trust anyone here, which is why I had to wait for my men.
"You think I can't find you if you run?" I smirked.
My body was calm enough to talk to him and flexed my fingers to get rid of the pain from breaking his face. His blood stains were on my knuckles, but I didn't mind.
"I know you don't care about a petty 150 million." My uncle replied. "It's always been about that cunt you have next to you. I know he came back for you,"
He was talking about Oliver! I don't even ask about the things Oliver accused him of doing, but he just revealed himself. He was the person responsible for the messages Oliver was getting.
"So you've been texting him? Everything he said you did to his family, did you do them?" I asked.
"Why should I care about them? They don't have Callisto blood, so that's fair game,"
"He was my boyfriend!"
"And he betrayed you! Yet you kept him alive! That's when I knew you were weak!"
"You used him to cover your crime,"
"But you didn't know that, so why did you let him live?"
"You know I'm right Jonas. You've always been soft. That's why I know you won't kill me for betraying you,"
His words added fuel to my rage. I'd only brought the gun with me, knowing I wouldn't have to use it, but he was asking for it. I pulled out the gun in my jacket and pointed it at my uncle.
He smiled at me, daring me to shoot, so I pulled the activation lever down and shot in the air once.
"Ahhh!!!" my mother screamed. "Jonas, put the gun down. Let's talk about this like family!"
Even with a loaded gun pointed at him, my uncle continued to smile and laugh like it was nothing. I knew he was not afraid to die by my hands. Killing him would be a blessing compared to what I could do to him.
"You would believe a hoe like him over me your own flesh and blood?!" My uncle laughed. "This is why you should have never taken over from your father,"
"Do you even want me to believe you?" I asked. "You're not even trying!"
Benjamin Callisto continued laughing in my face like he would when he would bully me as a child. His laughter was mocking me and my capabilities. I would show him that I wasn't that boy who just lost his father.
"I know you can't do it," he said. "Even if you can kill me, you won't, because you still need me."
"Why would I need scum like you who would betray his own family for money?" I asked.
"I'm the only one who knows what happened to your father. You want to know, don't you?"
I froze at the mention of my father. Even my mother stopped talking about him. Everyone hid the truth from me, so I stopped asking. Did my uncle know something?
While I stayed frozen in place with my finger on the trigger, my uncle used that role to slip away out of the house. The next thing I heard were a series of gunshots and screams.
I was lost in my thoughts until Danny and a few of my men came and snapped me out of it.
"Boss, are you alright?" Danny asked.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"He got out of the building, but some of us are chasing him as we speak,"
"Don't kill him, I want him alive,"
"Yes sir,"
"Gather everyone in this building, including my mother. They must all be interrogated. I need to know his accomplices,"
"Yes sir,"
Anyone who tries to run is an accomplice and should be killed. I would need them to find out what they know. Thanks to the arrival of my men who were telling orders and fighting the people who tried to run away, I was able to think clearly for once.
Everything Oliver told me was the truth, and I spent years hating him for something he didn't do. The other day, I punched him in Nicole's house and he was innocent.
I felt even more guilty knowing that Oliver never betrayed me. He really did love me and I couldn't protect him. I betrayed him. I didn't deserve him.
I released the gun in my hand and returned it to my jacket before dashing out of the house. Danny could handle things here. There was somewhere else I needed to be.
It was already evening, and Oliver would be back for work. He wouldn't be expecting me, but that's a good thing. As I drove back to my apartment, I thought long and hard about how to apologise to him and came up blank every time.
Did I even deserve his forgiveness? When he tried to warn me and tell me the truth, I branded him a liar. I was being unfair to him because he hurt me. I rushed out of my car and to our floor.
It was probably the first time I was knocking on his door and I was doing so with such urgency. My chest was about to burst open and there was no telling what I would do.
"Jonas, what the hell is wrong with y-"
I kissed him, cutting off everything he was going to say. I heard it all and felt it all. Now it was my turn to apologise.
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Song recommendation: Yun - RM ft Erykah Badu