THE HEIR'S REVENGE

Chapter 11: The Iron Gate

The iron gate of the Blackwell mansion that usually felt like security sounded like a prison door slamming shut. The envelope that Dr. Rachel gave to me was still heavy in my hands as I took them inside. 

Inside the house was very silent and it smelled of old money as usual. Henry was waiting for me with a glass of amber scotch in his hands. 

“Young  master, are you back?” 

“Yes, I am.” 

I answered. 

Henry's expression shifted from curiosity to concern. “You look tired. You don't look like the man who inherited a fortune. You look like a ghost, young master.” 

He was sure not lying. 

“You were gone for a while and I was really worried something might happen to you.” 

“You don't need to worry about me. Okay?” I said, walking to the desk and laying the envelope down on a desk. 

“Go on, read it.” I pointed at it. 

Henry took the papers in his hands. For a minute, the only sound in the room was the ticking of grandfather's clock and the rustle sound of the papers he kept turning. 

As Henry reached the final page, I saw colour drain from his face. 

“Oh no.” Henry breathed. “The dosage.. it wasn't just an error. It was calculated.” 

“Exactly. It was murder, Henry.” My voice was cracking. “It's obvious Victoria didn't wait for my mother to die, she planned all along.” 

Henry was speechless just like I was a few minutes ago. My mother whom I felt I didn't spend so much time with because she was busy with chores of the Pierce family, was actually killed. Her time with me was cut short by another human, someone I called my step mother. 

It was really unbelievable.

“I'm going to find her and I'm going to make sure she rots in jail but first, I'll destroy her.”

“No.” Henry’s voice was sharp. “Don't try to do anything harsh, young master.”

“Harsh?” I asked Henry, surprised that he was saying that to me. “Look at those dates, look at the signatures. That woman murdered my mother and you are telling me that I'm being harsh.” 

I was already so angry so I was trying to control myself so that 

“That's not what I mean, young master? We need to be careful.” Henry spoke like he was choosing words. “We don't know yet  what the truth is.”

“Truth?” I didn't quite understand him. 

“Yes, we do not know who this doctor is.. I'd wonder why she's finally revealing this to you now.” He paused, then continued. “And honestly speaking we don't know how dangerous that woman is." 

I knew how dangerous she was. 

Victoria Pierce was the kind of woman, strong and powerful. She was the kind of woman that would do everything and anything to get what she wanted. 

I've seen her do that so many times. She was willing to kill just to get even the jewelry she wanted. 

That was how heartless that woman was.

“As you advise, I just sit here and do nothing? Or maybe go smile at her and tell her how happy I am to be her step son.” I was sounding sarcastic and it wasn't helping matters. 

“I advise that you first strategize before doing anything.” Henry continued. 

Of course,I was going to strategies but I was so angry that I just wanted to rush to Victoria and put her in jail today but I knew better than that. 

I knew that this was a power tassel and I just had to be careful. 

I already had my plan even though it would take a while.  I was going to build alliances within her company, then I'll secure the board's loyalty. When it's finally time, she won't just be gone, she'll be totally erased. 

I looked at the envelope, my anger like a hot coal on my chest but Henry grabbed my shoulder. 

“Patience and precision young master. That is what we need.” 

I reached out for the envelope. The paper was just ordinary but it contained the closest thing to justice my mother had ever come to receiving. 

“I have a plan.” I said,more to myself than to Henry. “It'll take a bit of time but it won't end well for that woman,I know for sure. 

Henry studied me for a while and nodded. 

I walked to the safe, Henry showed me when I got here, unlocked it and set my documents aside. 

“By Tomorrow, you'll have your first full day of work so you should rest for a while. You have a full day of meetings with the corporation's division heads, Gerald Thompson.” 

I hissed. 

With all the commotion, I'd already forgotten that I had meetings scheduled for the next day. 

"What time?"

"Eight in the morning. The driver will take you."

I nodded and turned away from him. I didn't know how I felt but I knew I was in the mood for more conversation. He must have read the room and decided to leave me alone. 

“Get some rest, young master.” Henry said. “Tomorrow, we start.

As I stepped into my bedroom,I knew there was no way I'd sleep tonight and true to that, I couldn't sleep. I just kept turning and turning in the bed. 

I lay in my bed with heavy thoughts and wondered if things would have been different if my mother didn't get poisoned and died. 

Maybe I wasn't a member of the Pierce. If maybe Dad didn't marry Victoria, would things have been different. 

Maybe I wouldn't have ended up poor and wretched as before. Maybe I would have gone to school earlier. So many maybes. 

But I was thankful. 

Yes. I found my family even though I couldn't spend time with them. I was given a chance to remember them and lead a life worthy of living. 

This was my chance to prove that I deserved this. Yes, I deserved to be here. I deserved to be Ethan Blackwell. It is my name and bloodline. 

The next thing was to gain power. A lot of it. 

Because power was the only language Victoria Pierce would understand when the time finally came.

And I intended to become fluent.

___________________________

The Blackwell Corporation looked different this morning than from the other days. Back when I was young, as I drove past it, it was just like a tower that had glass and steel, a place where I could never reach. 

But now, that tower was mine. 

Henry walked beside me as we passed through the lobby. He briefed me on what to expect and what not. 

“The head of the idiot has prepared a short overview of their departments so try not to get overwhelmed with the amount of information to be passed out.” 

“And if they ask difficult questions" 

“Well, Gerald Thompson will but some of the staff will. A man from the pharmaceutical division, the head of that department, Reeves.  I've heard of him quite a lot. He might try to throw you off guard with technical questions.”

I nodded. Henry knew I hated men like that. Men who didn't care about others but to make themselves feel alright.

“Tell me the kind of questions I should expect from him.” 

"Drug approval timelines. Clinical trial data. Regulatory filings." Henry glanced at me. "You don't need to know the answers. You need to know how to respond without showing weakness."

I nodded. 

The elevator opened and we walked into the conference room on the forty second floor. It had a long polished table, expensive chairs and a kind of silence.

When I walked in, six people were already seated. They stood up when I walked in. 

I recognized Gerald immediately while others had to introduce themselves, I looked around the room. .

That was when I saw Reeves. He was exactly as Henry described. He was in his mid fifties and had the expression of someone who has been waiting long for this day. 

I was also introduced to Anderson, a younger man who stayed with me with interest, Stacy who ran real estate and Park, who oversaw the media. 

They all shook my hands firmly.

I was also introduced to the oldest man in the room, Harlow. He was from the backing and finance team. He had grey hair and a stillness I admired. 

“Thank you all for showing up.” I took my seat at the head of the table. “I'll keep the introduction brief. I'm new to this and I don't plan to pretend. All I need from you today is a clear picture of what every division is about and the decisions that are waiting to be made.” 

There was an awkward silence that made me wonder if I had said something wrong. 

They all nodded but I watched Mr. Reeves. He said nothing, in fact he had no expression but I was sure he felt taken aback. 

He had expected that I would defend myself and probably talk about how high and mighty I was but I didn't. 

That was what mother taught me. How to be humble even when you have every reason not to be. 

The presentations began.

By the end of the first hour, I was drowning and already tired.

Outwardly I looked put together and fierce. My eyes moved from whoever was speaking to the document that had presented to me. It was all too overwhelming for me but how could I admit that. 

I was the boss. I was expected to know the terms they kept mentioning or the numbers they kept calling. 

The numbers? 

They were enormous and the decisions waiting to be made were so much that as they were being listed, my heart kept beating. There were three different tech projects that were supposed to be evaluated but nothing yet. 

Then a major real estate deal in the district city. The pharmaceutical division has a drug on the late stage trial that we needed to test out which needed to be approved.

I just kept glaring and nodding. 

Maybe that was why Reeves turned to me. 

“The approval time for the drug has been pending since Mr. Blackwell's illness.” He turned to me. “We've been waiting for executive authorization to proceed. I'll suggest you sit with the..” 

He was telling me what to do?

“I'll review the filings.” I interrupted him just in time. 

Reeves paused for a while. “Or courier you will but as I was explaining" 

“Send it over to me tonight.” I held his gaze. "I'll review it. If I have questions, I'll come to you. If I don't, we'll discuss authorization at the next meeting."

There was another silence, a supposed awkward one but it was different.

Harlow, the finance man, made a sound that might have been a suppressed laugh.

Reeves sat back. "Of course, Mr. Blackwell."

The meeting ran for two more hours. Two hours of nodding my head and agreeing with people just because it felt like they put their heart and soul into this. 

After Reeves, I didn't say much anymore. I asked questions when I didn't understand. Direct questions that might have made them uncomfortable but I didn't care. 

There was no point pretending that I knew everything when I didn't. I was not going to bring disgrace to a Company my grandfather built with his sweat just to be sure I couldn't admit that I was wrong. 

When the meeting finished, Gerald waited to speak to me. 

“You did well and you handled Reeves perfectly 

“He was just trying to claim a territory that didn't belong to me.” I said with a smile. 

Gerald seemed impressed. “You caught that on the first meeting 

“Well, I've spent nineteen years watching people take things that didn't belong to them.” I said. “And I'm great at recognizing patterns too.” 

“Your grandfather would have loved to work with someone like you.”

That was the first unprofessional thing anyone was saying to me about Richard Blackwell. It was just mere words but it really meant a lot to me. 

"Thank you," I said.

After he left, Henry and I took the elevator and walked to the lobby. It was busy there with employees moving through it with focused energy. Many of them must have heard of the new owner because they all stared and whispered to each other as I walked by. 

Some stared and looked away while others held my gaze long enough for me to know that they were paying attention. 

Good. Let them pay attention.

On our way home, Henry handed me a folder.

“You can check it out when we get home. There is tonight's material 

“The one Reeves talked so passionately about?” I asked, taking the document from him. I opened the first page and took a look. 

Outside the window, the city moved past, fast. It was unchanged. The same street I walked on without a name, without money, without anyone on my side. 

I thought about the envelope at home, her photograph, Lily's crayon drawing on the refrigerator.

Then I turned the page and started reading.

I had a lot to learn.

And I had a reason to learn every bit of it.