"how about I do a recap?" He asked and watched as Hardin's eyes held fear.
"Martin will regret ever messing with me" with that said, Xavier fired the gun at Hardin's second leg. Before he had the chance to scream, Xavier had already pounced on him, rendering him punches until he was satisfied. By the time he was done, Hardin was too thrown off to even shout for help. He was already weak due to loss of blood and the assault made him weaker
"I don't see you running your mouth anymore," Xavier said to Hardin whose eyes were already closing due to how weak he was. The floor was filled with the blood that trickled from his injury. "Maybe in your next life, you won't think of messing with my wife"
"If you kill me, you won't achieve anything. Martin will still .."
"He won't do anything and speaking of things I would achieve. Satisfaction can be added to that list right?"
Immediately after Xavier said those words, the door to the room opened, revealing Francis, one of his men.
Xavier left Hardin there, groaning in pain, and walked to where his guard was. After a while of brief talking, he got back. There was a glare on his face, rather than the mischievous smirk he had on his face earlier.
"Well, I think we should end this here," he said, pointing the gun at Hardin's head. "Any last words?"
"Just remember Xavier. No matter how hard and well you try to be good, you are no better than me"
Those words made Xavier's anger double. He gritted his teeth. "I guess this is then. So long Hardin" with that said, the gun was fired and that was the end of one major problem.
******
Amelia had a cup of water on her lips when she heard the sound of a gunshot. Her heart skipped a beat and she almost choked on the drink.
Fear took hold of her immediately because she knew for a fact that it came from the house, but she couldn't tell where exactly because the house was so big. There were so many places she hadn't been to in the house, so it was hard to point out where it came from.
She got out of the kitchen and looked around in fear. Xavier wasn't home. He had left for work early that morning.
"Peter" she called out to one of the guards that was always around and he turned to look at her. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, I did. But I don't think it's anything you need to worry about ma'am. It could be one of the electric appliances.
"That doesn't sound like any electric appliance I know of"
"You don't have to worry about it ma'am," he said, reassuring her again, but Amelia wasn't relaxed a bit.
She still felt the need to confirm if the house was safe.
While she was still thinking and worrying about her safety, she heard footsteps from the stairs. It was Xavier. She was surprised because she was sure he went to work that day but had no idea he had been in all this while.
"Have you been home?" She asked, confused.
"Yeah, I came to get something real quick. I'm on my way back"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
She was stunned. There was no way nobody else heard it when it was very loud. "You didn't hear the gunshot?"
He acted surprised. "I don't think so," he said. "Don't worry about it. Maybe one of the appliances got bad. Anyway, I'm off to work," he said briefly and walked away before she could even get a chance to speak further.
Xavier killing Hardin in his house wasn't a mistake. If Xavier took him to one of his warehouses, that would be the first place Martin would check if he suspected anything. Xavier wanted to make Hardin's death a surprise to Martin.
****
Xavier
"They want the company, Xavier. What did you expect me to do?" Austin, Xavier's father said with a look of frustration on his face, but that only pissed Xavier off the more.
"And the most reasonable thing you could think of doing was selling Daphne out. Do you know how ruthless those people are?"
"They are not that bad"
"Daphna is not getting married to them" Xavier stood his ground, still confused about what had gotten over his father. He adored Daphne so much to give her off just for Hardik.
"There's nothing more I can do"
Xavier sighed. "You can give them what they want so bad"
"Hardik?" He asked and Xavier nodded. "But Hardik is for you..."
"I don't care if you planned on giving me the company. I'm not letting my sister go down for a mistake you made years ago. And besides, I have Fredo and Lucas has Jexs. We can afford to let Hardik go"Xavier didn't know why he suddenly didn't care about Hardik. It was the main reason he got married in the first place and now he was willingly letting it go.
If Hardik was not going to be his after all, then there was no point in getting married to Amelia to prove himself. He thought about all these things, but he still didn't relish the idea of divorcing Amelia.
He had already formed a type of bond with her and couldn't imagine living without her. His life would return to the dark tunnel it was initially in. He couldn't afford to go back to that.
"Are you sure about this?"
"I have never been so sure about something else in my life. I can't let Daphne take the fall. And I can't imagine Justin laying his hand on my sister"
It was sealed, and in the next 24 hours, Hardik would cease to belong to the Garcias.
*****
Martin had just finished making a call when one of his men entered his sitting room
"Someone delivered a present to you sir"
Martin was taken aback as he looked at his guard. "Who?"
"I don't know. Someone dropped it with the guards at the gate, saying it's a special gift for you"
"What gift is that?"
"A couch sir "
Martin scoffed. It was unbelievable that someone would give him something as minor as a couch.
"Where is the gift?"
"Outside sir"
"Bring it in," he ordered. Although it was minor, he still felt curious about who would deliver something like a couch anonymously. He wanted to see how special this couch was.
His men brought the couch to the sitting room. With the way they struggled, it was obvious the couch was two times larger than any regular couch.
They set it down and Martin immediately closed his nose. The couch stunk so badly. He was about to shout at his guards for not being sensible enough to leave the couch outside, but he saw a little note attached to the couch and he kept shut.
*From Xavier* He read it and he immediately picked interest. He kept looking at the couch, wondering what was so special about the couch. There was no way Xavier could just deliver a regular couch to him
"Sir, I think you should see this,"One of his men said, looking at a particular place. Marin walked to that place and saw what the guard was looking at. It was a tiny slit. Martin bent to look at the slit, during the cause of examining it, he realized the slit ran all the way round the couch. The chair was most definitely a disguise. He concluded inwardly.
He slipped his hand into the slit and flung the couch open. He met the shock of life. The look on the guards' faces also held shock. Nobody could process what happened as they all stared at Hardin's body lying lifeless on the couch. There was a note beside him. It read
*Now we are even*
Mardin scrunched the note in anger. He had never felt so angry before. He didn't know Xavier had the capability of doing something like this.
The death of Nathan triggered him. But Martin didn't care if he went too far in killing Nathan. What he cared about was ending Xavier and his wife completely.
"Take this out of here" one looked at Hardin and he felt guilty. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, he couldn't lie to himself, he loved Hardin.
No matter how many times they would argue and fight, that didn't stop the feelings Martin had for Hardin. It felt like another part of him left and the thoughts alone made his heart darken. There was no way he was going to back off. Now Xavier was going to see the devil in him.
As he watched the guards take the couch away, his heart tore into tiny beats as he blinked to prevent the welled-up tears from falling.
****
"You are letting Hardik go?" Lucas asked in amusement as soon as Xavier told him what happened.
" Would you rather Daphne marry from that ruthless family?"
" Of course not. What I'm saying is You loved that company so much to let it go"
"That's the peaceful resolution to this case. It's all Dad's fault. How could he sign a contract with someone as ruthlessly as Mark Herbert."
Lucas leaned back on his chair as he placed a glass of wine on his lips and took a sip of the content." So when are you going to divorce Amelia?".
The moment he said those words, Xavier felt a tingle in his heart. It was obvious he didn't want to let Amelia go. Lucas knew that too. He only asked the question to confirm if his assumptions were true.
Those assumptions involved Xavier being in love with Amelia. There was no need to pretend anymore because it was already obvious. The only person he was lying to was himself.
"No, I'm not going to divorce her"
"Why?"
"I don't want to lose her yet"
"Yet?" Lucas was quite surprised by those words.
"I don't think I want to spend my forever with her"
"Why is that? Lucas asked, already confused.
"I don't deserve her"
"What makes you say that?"
" She is a happy woman and I am just me. I don't think I have the power to make her happier. I might even make her go through something she isn't cut out for "
"And who is supposed to decide that?"
Xavier was about to say something, but he realized he had already said enough and that was all thanks to Lucas who had a way of snatching information from someone.
"I don't love her" he blurted out, taking Lucas by surprise because that was the exact opposite of what he said minutes ago. He never for once mentioned he loved Amelia, but Lucas wasn't stupid.
Lucas wasn't so dumb not to know his brother was happy with her. Since Amelia came into Xavier's life, Lucas began noticing a noticeable change in him. His eyes weren't as dull anymore. Lucas could see life in them for the first time in a long time.
"You are just lying to yourself Xavier"
Xavier was about to part his lips to defend himself, but it then occurred to him that Lucas was right. He did love her. There was no need to hide it. he had already told her this before. There was no need to hide the fact that Xavier Garcia was in love with Amelia Wilson.