"Rolling Stones gather no moss"
How to get to her? It was the only question Nathan could ask himself. She had remained to herself with her eyes glued to her phone.
It was like she didn't even care he was here.
"The files!" His mind got working.
Nathan doubted the files having his signature would be in the house but he had to give it a shot.
Talk about way over your head!
"So...Now that Boulderfist is yours what do you intend to do with it?"
Adriana gave him a bemused look crossing her slender legs in the most intimidating manner.
"What makes you think I want your company? If it was left to me I would have it to the ground but he has other plans."
Her answer got Nathan more curious,
"Who? Your father!"
She didn't reply. She stared back into her phone and began to type.
"About your father—I didn't mean to betray him, my…"
A knock cut Nathan short.
Who could be at the door?
"Get it, Nathan!"
She had turned him to her b*tch but he had to do it...he had to kiss her feet until he got what he came for then he would make them pay.
The painted white door opened to reveal a familiar face.
No!
Another nightmare was right in Nathan's face.
"Hello, Nathan." The man's voiced, his tobacco breath making Nathan's stomach tighten.
"Hello, Thomas."
Thomas was a stout man whose head was now covered in greys and fine lines, a scar that wasn't there when they met now resided on his forehead, his silver eyes had lost their glow and were now bloodshot.
"You must be surprised to see me after you let me rot in penury."
Nathan took a deep breath as old memories flashed in his head like family photos.
"I'm sorry Tom..."
"It's okay Nathan, u have everything you stole from me but I have to thank you for helping me build it. It would be perfect to merge Boulderfist and Transcorp as one. Just like I had dreamt, a tower."
Thomas took a seat near his daughter and I could barely see the resemblance between the two, Adriana had a deceptive demeanor that would make you lose your mind but the new Thomas looked like a hood gangster, a shell of his former self.
"Adriana wanted you here to know we have won." Thomas continued reaching out to a portfolio Nathan hadn't noticed before and brought out the signed document.
Nathan rushed for it but stopped halfway.
Not with a silver revolver pointing dauntlessly at him.
"No!—No!" Thomas warned, toying around with his weapon.
"Not a step closer." His firm voice, a reminder that it was not an empty threat.
"No one will believe I sold Boulderfist. They'll believe you forced it out of me. The shareholders will.."
"The shareholders hardly care who is in power, they are fine as long as their cash inflow doesn't stop," Thomas said with utmost confidence.
Nathan was even losing to their mind games. He had to try a bit harder, hardening his face and speaking in a deep voice he couldn't even believe he could muster, it was something he only did as a child.
" Well, there's the court, I'm a respected elite and I think the law will favor me if I said I was threatened. Claire revealed to me what you used to get to her or who rather!" Nathan threatened. A smirk on his perfectly accentuated face.
“Well, there's the court, I'm a respected elite and I think the law will favor me if I said I was threatened.”
Adriana's phone repeated what Nathan had just uttered, they were recording.
You sly daughter...!!
Nathan cursed, prancing around the room like a wounded lion that he was.
"The court would really like to hear that!" Tom snickered.
Nathan had to admit, This was a failing battle but there was a weakness he could see in them both, Pride. If he played his part well, he should get on their good side.
Nathan dropped to the floor. His head pulsing nad making his sight blurry.
He could feel what it meant for the world to come crashing down on one but apparently, his world wasn't done with him yet.
"I don't have a job— it would be a disgrace for a former CEO to wor—..."
Thomas was enjoying Nathan's grumbling and more importantly, his pain.
He walked towards the poor child and whispered to his hearing.
"Isn't that sad? There is a job for you if you can take it."
Nathan almost erupted in a mad laugh. He hadn't taught how easy this would be. Thomas and Adriana just wanted him broken and dejected and once they saw him that way, they felt they had a hold over him, an authority they wanted badly.
"Anything!" Nathan stared hopefully into his savior's eyes, the silver orbs penetrating his dark souls.
"Adriana's assistant."
Adriana's attention shot at Nathan then to her father.
"What! You couldn't give him something lesser, it wasn't easy..."
"Hush child!" Thomas cautioned his daughter and she obeyed grudgingly.
"So what do you say, Nathan?"
Nathan paused for some time, he did not want to jump at the offer. It would make them suspicious.
Baby steps! he reminded himself.
"Do you want it or not?" Thomas's impatient tone was a go-ahead for Nathan.
"I accept."
"Very good. Smart choice Nathan."
***
"Could you be a darling and get us a drink from the kitchen," Adriana ordered.
Nathan stiffened at her words but obediently disappeared to get anything he could find.
When Adriana saw Nathan disappear and out of sight, she pulled her father almost roughly and whispered to his ear.
"Father, what was that about?"
Thomas stroked his chin with his bony fingers, folds of skin forming art patterns on his body. He was aging.
"My dear Adriana..." Her father began, running one of his bony fingers down her cheek.
"Nathan thinks he's going to win this game but I think otherwise. I gave him the position for a reason. Accidents happen, don't they?"
Her father's question sent her the creeps and was even more confusing. What could he be up to? What was he even getting at?
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you'll play dumb and let him think you've broken your walls. When he thinks he's gotten what he wants, you bust him, he's deemed a criminal, society will hate, the hood will reject him, he'll finally be the outcast he has always been."
Adriana could not express her shock when she learned a little about what her father had in store for Nathan.
Sure, she wanted him to suffer but her father's plan was way too intense. Would she even go through with it?
Thomas noticed his daughter's reluctance. She did not want to go through with this and he knew how to get the soulless Adriana back.
"Adriana, you are just like your mother, worried about doing the worst even to the worst of people but remember what Nathan caused Adrian!"
Adriana's breathing rate increased tremendously with her heart beating fast and pumping adrenaline of hate into her system.
How could she forget?
How could she feel pity for Nathan?
Nathan was nothing but a rabid so that needed to be chained or rather killed.
This is for Adrian!
"How those it feel having the rage back Adriana?" Thomas quizzed.
"Good!"
Adriana knew her mission and she had to take a step to make her father's intended future for Nathan become a reality and to get that, she had to pretend to break down her walls, get to know him inside out.
A little part of her wanted nothing to do with a fellow human's downfall which would make her just as bad as Nathan whom she detested. Maybe it was her conscience but it didn't prick her, it just nudged, a gentle one at that.
It was now her choice to make.