THE AWAKEN RAYMOND WEST STRIKE BACK

Chapter 2

With anger flashing across his face, Raymond snapped, “This is nonsense! What kind of nonsense is this? Copied? How? How is that even possible? Forged?” 

His voice climbed with every word. “This was my idea mine! I sat down for three straight weeks working on that blueprint. I have everything with me every draft, every detail, every file and now they’re saying it was copied? That it was forged? How is that even possible? What the hell is going on?”  

He began pacing the office, one hand gripping his forehead, the other clenched at his side. “This has to be a mistake,” he muttered sharply. “There’s a misunderstanding somewhere, and it needs to be cleared up immediately.”  

Immediately the secretary nodded, her expression anxious. 

“Yes, sir. It does sound like a mistake, but they… they sounded very serious on the phone. What are we going to do now?” Her voice trembled on the last few words.  

Raymond stopped pacing and lifted his head. 

“Then I’ll contact a lawyer,” he said decisively. “Or better yet, I’ll go to City Hall myself to clarify everything. I’ll take the blueprints with me. I was among the first ten people who submitted proposals on the City Hall website the first ten. I did this myself, so why should I be afraid of accusations of forgery or copying? That’s not even possible. I’ll go there myself.”  

He moved toward the door, but then stopped. His thoughts were jumbled; everything around him seemed to tilt. For a second he stood still, trying to gather his breath, trying to make sense of it.  

Then he turned back toward his secretary, his voice lower now, uncertain but edged with defiance. “Wait,” he said slowly. “If they’re saying we forged this and copied it from someone else… who did they say we copied it from? they must have made mention of a name.”

At that moment, when Raymond asked the question, his secretary hesitated. She stood still for a brief second, her fingers tightening around the file in her hands. Then, in a low and careful voice, she said, “City Hall is saying the idea was copied… that it was forged from someone named Simon Brown.”  

The name didn’t strike Raymond immediately. Simon Brown. The words echoed in his mind, empty at first. Who is this Simon Brown? he wondered. I don’t even know anyone by that name.

Then everything clicked.  

In an instant, memories came rushing in. Simon Brown. He was not a stranger at all. He was someone very close to his wife, Megan. No not just close. Raymond remembered now. They hadn’t simply been friends. They had once been engaged.  

Simon Brown had traveled out of the country years ago, and only a month earlier, Raymond had found out that he had returned. That return had been one of the main reasons Megan’s parents had started putting heavy pressure on him again. It was also why Raymond had recently noticed a change in Megan the way her smiles didn’t last, the way she avoided certain conversations, the way she tried too hard to act normal, as if she were desperately covering up everything connected to Simon Brown.  

She had tried to make it seem as though there was no tension, no pressure, no pull drawing her back toward Simon Brown. And Raymond, trusting his own determination, hadn’t read too much into it. He believed that if he worked hard, if he succeeded, everything would fall into place.  

For over a month, he had pushed himself beyond his limits, spending sleepless nights on this contract, determined to make it work, determined to prove himself. 

He had believed that once this deal was secured, he would finally silence everyone who had looked down on him.  

And now this was happening.

That was when Raymond’s jaw tightened even more, the muscles locking hard as the truth settled in. His veins stood out, his hands clenched into fists, and his jaw began to tremble. Everything was clear now. This wasn’t a mistake. It was a betrayal and not from just anyone, but from his own wife.  

Megan was the one who had stabbed him in the back. 

She was the one who had driven a dagger straight into his heart when he never saw it coming. She was the one who had taken his idea and handed it to her ex‑lover. She knew the blueprint she knew how it was structured, every idea he had poured into it, every calculation, every detail. Word for word, line for line, she knew it all. 

He had even given it to her to read through, trusting her, wanting her to understand how demanding and tedious a contract like this truly was.  

He couldn’t believe Megan would do this to him. Not when he was this close to achieving greatness. Not when he was on the verge of making a name for himself. Not when he was finally becoming the man he had always dreamed of being. 

Not when he was so close to proving everyone wrong to a future where no one would mock him again, no one would look down on him, no one would talk to him like he was nothing, like trash. No one would dismiss his ideas or belittle his efforts.  

Not when he was so close.  

And yet, the one who chose to betray him was his own wife the woman he had fought for, worked for, exhausted himself for, just to give her the best life possible. She didn’t respect his labor or his sacrifice. Instead, she took everything he was about building and gave it to her ex‑lover.