ILL FATE

THE DARK PAST. (RICHARD)

The gloomed, thick exhaust from the fire grew stronger as the tall, handsome, and powerful Don Richarlison Rochester waded his way into the countless rooms that once glorified his mansion.  

"Leon! Valentina!" he roared, raveling through, looking for his wife and little son. "Brother!" he heard a familiar voice call out to him.  

"Richard! Is that you? I can’t find my family!" he roared worriedly.

"Boss, we must leave now." His seven-foot bodyguards came to drag him out of the already collapsing shelters of the mansion. Richard wouldn’t let that happen; under his watch, all the plans he made for his wealthy brother would go to waste.  

"Brother, let’s go check the rooms ourselves; assign your men to the other part; I am confident I heard Mariana say she was going to Leon’s room," Richard mischievously uttered. Don Rochester rode on the waves of deceit and waddled into the burst flames to save the only things that were worth more than money and even his own life.  

"Leon! Valentina!!—Mariana!"  He fuzzed out, exhausted, and steamed up in dark flames. The wall panels were folding up, and the beautiful pictures on the wall came crashing to the ground as the wind of fire got hold of them.

"Boss, the helicopter is ready; we must leave now! Our enemies are coming!"  His right-hand man, Silverrios, followed him after noticing he didn't return, and neither did the guards he sent to get him.  

Richard grumbled angrily as he followed them skeptically.  He took out everyone in his way, and he was prepared for Silverrio. "It’s either you pay with your life, Silverrio; nothing will stop my plans tonight."  He hollered, pulling out his silent pistol.  

"The mansion is wide; your guards have gone to the west wing, so I came to help you, brother." He fumed, holding his face, and he sighed exhaustedly.  

"Thank you, I still haven’t found them; Leon’s room is in the east wing; someone in our squad betrayed me; this fire is an accident, Richard—" Don Rochester brimmed, clenching his fists in a fit of rage.  

Richard smiled, pulling Silverio aside.  "How about we split?  We are miles away from the door, and the entrance is even on fire; should we exit through the back door or the security room?"  He advised heinously.

"I agree; you go get the door secured, Richard; I trust you, Silverrio, get the children; I’ll go to the master’s bedroom to make sure Valentina isn't there," Don Rochester ordered.

"No, boss, you’re not safe; our men are stuck at the seaside; it will take a while before they get here, and the rest are fighting downstairs; Leave them alone, boss; we should go!"  Silverrio felt scared and unsure of the fate that might befall his master,Don Rochester.  

"Trust me, bring Leon back to me," Don Rochester pleaded, aptly patting him on the shoulder as he returned to the doomed search.  

"We should go; the exit and the east wing are the same way, right, Silevrrio?"  Richard asked him. Silverrio must have had a hunch about his deceit, but he wasn’t sure.

 "Go now! It’s a command!"  Don Rochester yelled. Silverrio took to his heels alongside Silverrio, who was at his back.  "It’s time you die, Silverrio; you’re too loyal; I couldn’t even tell you my plans," Richard spilled icily.

" What! I knew it was you! All along, you wanted the party to be held here; you insisted on it—Oh no! the helicopter, I need to warn him!"  Silveriio threw a fist at Richard, but he was faster. His middle finger pulled the trigger on the silent pistol, and Silverrio was down on the floor.  

"You bastard! You won’t get away with this, Don Rochester! I failed you!"  Tears grilled down Silverio's cheeks as he lamented. "Goodbye, Silverrio; it would have been great to have you on my team and not my stepbrothers!" Silverrio raced after him, shooting him twice before letting go.

"One down, one to go," he blew the smoke off his gun, racing back to the master's bedroom where Don Rochester was headed.

"Don Rochester! Where are you?" he yelled, cutting through the doors. The drapes were catching fire, and he needed to move faster.  

"Right here, I found Marianna! Come help us!" Don Rochester responded; his voice quaked and whirled like he was in pain.  

"What!" he yelled with fury. "I thought she had left already! Oh No! I have to change plans!" Richard grunted, punching the wall. He strode inside the room, and it was on fire. Don Rochester had risked his life to save Richard’s daughter. "I guess she was scared; don’t worry, it’s just a small burn on my leg. Did you find Leon and Valentina?" Don Rochester asked him, writhing in pain. The chandelier came crashing down on his back when he tried to bring Mariana out of the closet.  

"You fool, still playing the hero?" Richard muzzled in his head. "Yes, they are in the black helicopter," Richard responded affirmatively.  

"No—we were to use the camouflaged one to wade off my enemies," Don Rochester argued. "There are three now, brother; the first one left already; I told Silverrio to leave and came after you," Richard uttered consistently as he tried to convince him. He knew that was the last strike.

"If he doesn’t take this, I’ll put this gun to his head right here and now," Richard said, panting as his hands vibrated, thinking hard about what to do if he chose not to go with the black helicopter.

"NO!  I am going with the camouflage-themed helicopter; where is Silverrio? Did Valentina give you the neckpiece?"  Don Rochester asked him.  

Richard's hands vibrated more visibly, and Don Rochester could see him anxiously aggravating. "What is happening?  Did they die?  Say something, Richard!"  Don Rochester asked, pushing him and standing on one leg.    

"Go Marianna, remember what Daddy told you?" He spoke to his little daughter, who was still traumatized from the incident.

"I am scared, father; I want to stay with Uncle. let’s go together with Uncle," Marianna pleaded with her innocent, teary eyes.  

"Go now! Leon and mother are waiting for you; Uncle and I have to talk."  Richard hugged and kissed her. The exit was safe, just as he planned it. "No harm will come to you, my love," he said, kissing her.

 "What is going on? Why did you tell the little girl to go on her own? Are you insane? Where is my family, Richard? Don't." Don Rochester struck out and was lost for words. The scenes were beginning to round up in his head, and it pummeled him.

Richard had it all. He muscled up the veins in his hands and pulled the gun on Don Rochester. "I have had enough of you, brother; I had it all planned; it was so hard, and it took me ten good years!!!!" Richard yelled. Closing in on injured Don Rochester like a predator to its prey.  

"Don’t do this; you will regret it, Richard!" Don Silverrio starred as his breath thinned and his throat dried up.  

"I have lived in regret, a shadow to you, my junior; why always you? These men were ready to lay their lives down for you. All of them are downstairs, giving up their lives to save you. What’s so special about you, brother?" Richard roared hatefully. The rage in his eyes deduced the spiteful plans he had towards his brother. It took him ten years to perfectly plot and execute a rebellion against the strongest billionaire in all of Madrid.

"I will give you all you want; don’t hurt my family, please," Don Rochester pleaded tiredly.

"Look at you, still selfless; you're a weakling, but they don’t see that; you're always ready to sacrifice yourself, but father still passed the baton to you!" Richard fired the first shot at his bleeding legs, and he fell awkwardly like a log.

Tears trickled down Richard’s face as he watched him writhe in pain on the floor, standing beside him and he spat on his face remorselessly.  

"I will take over everything; it should have been mine; you will die, and thousands of your loyal men will go with you; as for your family, they should be dead by now," Richard said with a smile.

"You’re evil! I didn’t strive for our father’s fortune; I toiled and built everything with my own sweat. You wanted what you didn’t sow, Richard!" Don Rochester mustered, bloodshot, and confident.

"I always hid my face because of you; everyone wanted Rochester; the whole world loved Rochester; and even the woman I have always cherished—she chose you too, brother! I have had enough!!!" Richard roared, shooting his left leg, noticing that his voice was fast as he coarsed, lurking on a thin brink in the hope that he still had his life.  

"You never give up, do you?" Richard kneeled, facing him. "Never! I will die winning, Richard, and do you know why you will lose?" Don Rochester laughed hysterically, like he wasn’t wounded or in pain. His face was lit up, and his hair was let down, bouncing on his broad, muscular arm as he rested on the wall. He took out a locket from his pocket and kissed it.  

"Go tell Father in Hell!" Richard roared, blasting him in the heart and the second shot on his head.  He took the locket from his hands and closed his eyes. "You still smile even in the face of death? You're gone for good!" Richard barked, rushing out of the building.

"Boss? Should we blow off the black helicopter now?" Richard's rebels asked. The floor was filled with dead bodies, and a wild exchange of gunfire blistered the whole place. Marianna was safely kept in the camouflaged helicopter with a woman duct taped and her hands tied.  

"No need to. I solved that problem already. Where is Leon? I told you to keep the both of them till I came!" Richard bleated angrily, shooting in the air.  

"The maid—goddamn she took him," his rebel army leader voiced as he went on his knee. "You’re useless!" Richard roared and steered up to go back in for Leon and the maid.  

"You can't, boss; we have programmed the bomb to go off in one minute; this place is big, and there’s no way you'll survive," the rebel conferred.  

"They will die in one minute; she can’t survive it, boss," he uttered convincingly. Richard stared at the mansion, and he agreed that the rebel was right. He would be engulfed in flames before he got far.  

"I paid so much just for you guys to flop? Let’s go!" Richard bluffed, annoyingly. Leon would be a great threat to him if he remained alive.  

The mansion exploded while the helicopter was just a few feet away, giving Richard an extreme view of the doom he had brought to the Rochester’s family.  

"I don’t care if you burn and rot in hell; I hope your son and that goddamn maid burn in hell with you!" He muzzled, vilely arching his hands on the belt.

The helicopter landed on the other side of the mansion, and they stood up, watching the once glamorous house that stood out go down into ruins. Richard couldn’t care less; he took his cellphone hurriedly to make another call. "Give me an update; did you find them? This could ruin all of my plans, nincompoops!" He growled.

"We’re sorry, they’re nowhere to be found." They responded with certainty, which dented the perfection of Richard's plan.