AWAKENED INTO GODLIKE

Chapter 6: Shattered pride

Inside of a quiet private study, a matured man, sixty years old with salt and pepper hair sat behind a polished mahogany table arrangement with files, his eyes fixed on a magazine in his hand.

Suddenly, the door of the room burst open, slamming against wall. Jackson Blackthorn strode in, his loafers weaponized against the expensive marble into gunshot that echoed study that was earlier quiet.

"Dad!!" His voice cut through the room with the anger of a knife. "You can't believe i was humiliated and rejected like a nobody! Like i meant nothing!!"

Alexander Blackthorn didn't look away from the magazine, he didn't even shift the slightest.

Jackson swept off books from the table angrily. The books clattered across the marble.

"Im talking to you, Dad!!" His voice rose to an octave, bouncing off the wall. "I was embarrassed! Are you going to keep quiet and just stare at the book when I just got slapped in the face!"

Alexander paused hearing that. He looked away from the page and looked at his son's face intently like it was another interesting page.

"Jackson," he called, his voice steady. "You got beaten outside and came back running to me for shelter? When are you going to stop hiding behind your father and fight for yourself for one."

Jackson Walked up and down the room, his finger digging through his hair as though he was going crazy.

"I was slapped, Dad. Metaphorically. $10 million was torn at my feet by that pathetic nobody! This is an insult not just to me, but to you too!"

Alexander Blackthorn looked at him with interest for the first time since he barged into the study. He set the magazine on the table.

"Zane," his voice carried quiet surprise. "the gambler, the useless son-in-law of the Sterlings family rejected $10 million?"

"Absolutely!"

Alexander scoffed. "When you're ready to tell me exactly what happened over there, you speak." He was about to turn away, believing Jackson had lost the money and attached it to the proposal rejection.

Jackson slammed his palm on the desk angrily.

"I'm speaking the truth!" He snapped, breathing heavy and shallow. Faint sheen of sweats clustered over his face, dripping to his collar. Alexander knew his son could be anything but the look in his eyes when he turned to him again. He couldn't dismiss the seriousness in his eyes. "I'm speaking the truth, Dad. He tore the paper to cheque to my face. It was $2 million at first. He rejected it. I thought he was just geedy for more. I increased to $5 million. He rejected it. Then $10 million which he still rejected and told me I was offering peanuts. Even if I offer something more, he'll still reject it. He acted like he's more. And there is something new.. something different about him."

Silence fell inside the Private study again, but this time it was occupied silence. The kind that was slowly filling with tension.

Jackson forced his breath to steady now.

"We need that girl. She has the voice that can make our entertainment industry skyrocket again. If I marry her, I'll be able to control her and she'll be our instrument to make more money. That is the demand in the business world."

Alexander Blackthorn exhaled sharply. "You can marry another woman Aside Tara. She's not the only one with such talent."

Jackson shook his head firmly.

"It's no more just about marrying her, Dad." Jackson said, his voice rough and laced with determination. "It's about proving to that Bastard the worth of the Blackthorn family."

"I never raised you up to fight over woman, Jackson."

"And you never trained me to back away when I got slapped in the face in front of everyone."

Alexander Blackthorn exhaled softly. As a man accustomed with power, he knew how people with power behaves. People who actually have power in secret. Zane, the useless son-in-law of the Sterlings family could possibly have a secret away from his gambling world that gave him the new boldness to humiliate his son. And he wasn't the kind to sit back when his son got humiliated.

"I'll look into him, Jackson." He said, picking up his phone from the desk. He gave out the apparent information he knew about Zane. The gambler, the worthless son-in-law of Sterlings family. But he wanted something different, something that could hint if Zane was more. So, he instructed the investigator to dig deeper.

His phone buzzed after five minutes. He picked up, planted the phone to his ear.

The voice of the investigator filled the room.

"He's a gambler, an alcoholist, a junkie. He's an addict to everyone mentioned. He's penniless with a huge loan on his neck in the largest underground casino.."

"Tell me something more. This is typical of Zane." Alexander leaned forward slightly. He wasn't interested in what he was hearing.

"That is everything, Master Blackthorn, but..." A brief pause that made Alexander Blackthorn sat Straighter. "Go on." He urged, voice tight.

"Zane shouldn't be alive," He said. " I got the information from one of my guys who work in the casino where Zane took the loan. He was killed and his..his heart was ripped out to Pay up his debt."

Alexander raised a brow, his mind processing what he just heard.

"Are you sure about what you just said?"

"Have never given you a wrong information, Master Blackthorn."

"I know, Shadow." He clipped with an edge.

"When I get any other Information,will feed you, Master Blackthorn."

Alexander Blackthorn disconnected the call and dropped the phone on the table.

His finger table on the edge of the desk in steady rhythm.

"He should be dead and her he's alive." He mumbled. Then his voice hardened. "I don't care whatever he is. He humiliated my son. He'll pay the price."

Zane and Tara arrived at Life Priority hospital. Even though he was going to work something big out, he needed somewhere Tara would stay so she'll be safe and that place is definitely not the Sterlings family house.

His best friend, Max works in the hospital. He could help them with temporary accomodation before he plan something out in this new world.

He walked to the receptionist with Tara by his side. The lobby buzzed with soft hums of conversations.

"My name is Zane. I am here to see Dr. Max."

The receptionist looked up from her desk. "So you have an appointment with him?"

"Appointment? Did I need to before I see someone that's not a stranger to me?" Zane narrowed his eyes.

"Definitely. Without an appointment, you can't be allowed. This hospital has follow certain strick protocols."

"Protocols aren't for me." Zane said audibly, making the woman raise a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Call him. Tell him Zane Mercer is waiting for him here." Zane said firmly.

At that moment, a man came rushing out of a room. It was Dr. Max. He stumbled across the room, his loafers clicking sharply and urgently. Behind him, three nurses moved at his pace, pushing a gurney.

"That's him. No need to appointment." Zane turned away from the receptionist desk, watching Dr. Max and the team stumble out of the hospital.

Dr. Max stumbled in back, gurney rolling across the room by the nurses. An old man, sixty-one, laid on top, breathing heavily, blood stained his suit. A young beautiful woman followed, but her face was filled with panic at the moment.

"Please save my Dad.." Her eyes were filled with tears.

"Ms. Hedge. Please you need to relax. We'll do everything to stabilize him." Dr. Max assured.

Zane narrowed his eyes to the old man. He scoffed, seeing his sickness was just something minor but it was at the critical stage.

He walked over to them. "Long time, friend." He greeted with a faint smile on his lips.

"Zane? What the.." Dr. Max looked at him in surprise. His gaze met at the receptionist desk. "Is that Tara? The stammerer girl you told me you were gonna dump his *ss. Don't tell me you came here with her to convince me to borrow you money again. I have an urgency. You should wait around."

Dr. Max wanted to move but Zane pulled him back.

"What the heck, Zane!"

Zane stared at him with a was serious.

"That old man is going to die in the next ten minutes."