UNWANTED SON-IN-LAW

CHAPTER 2

Nathan stared at the message until everything became unclear.

“The commodity is prepared. Send the signal.”

His digit trembled above the display. Thirty-six months of quiet. Thirty-six months of acting deceased while society moved on.

A single phrase could shift everything.

Yet not right now. Not this evening.

He erased the message and returned the phone to his garment.

“Nathan.” Victoria’s voice broke through his thinking. “Collect the dishes.”

Disregarding the hurt in his middle, he rose and began gathering plates. For a quick instant, their hands made contact as he approached Victoria’s place. She pulled away like she had been scorched. “I regret that,” he whispered. She replied, “Simply complete your task,” though her gaze shifted. Shame? Revulsion? He could no longer distinguish.

As Nathan transported the plates to the cooking area, Marcus’s tone rang from the dining area. “Father, regarding the Redwell city Heights Development. Are we confident the authorizations are authentic? I sensed discussion that the Municipal Development Council might”

“Those discussions are being taken care of,” Edward cut him off. “Some board members simply require the correct incentive. Cash is persuasive, Marcus. Keep that in mind.”

Nathan paused in the passage, out of view. His thinking became clearer.

“What happens if they refuse?” Marcus questioned.

“We discover other techniques to convince them.” Edward’s voice grew quieter and more ominous. “The Blackwell family did not construct prosperity through politeness.”

Nathan retained every phrase. Redwell city Heights Development. Municipal Development Council. Corruption. It was not significant, yet it was something.

In the cooking area, he positioned the plates and retrieved his phone again. He unlocked the secure message system he had not utilized in many months and entered quickly.

“Require data on Blackwell Industries. Redwell city Heights Development. Municipal Development Council participation. Approvals.”

The reaction appeared instantly.

“Receiving now. However boss, how much longer will you continue this role with these individuals?”

Nathan’s face tightened. “However long is required.”

“They will terminate you eventually.”

“Let them attempt it.”

He erased the chat and went back to the dining area.

That evening, Nathan rested on the thin sleeping surface in the area they had arranged for him. It was scarcely bigger than a storage closet, featuring just one window overlooking the front entrance. The coils hurt his spine, yet he had rested in harsher situations.

His ribs ached with all inhalation. He positioned his palm on his flank and felt the puffiness. Certainly hurt, possibly fractured.

A rap at the entrance startled him.

“It is accessible,” he announced, though he realized they never sought approval anyway.

The entrance opened slightly. Victoria appeared, still dressed in her professional attire, her appearance unmoving.

Nathan sat up gradually. “Did I overlook anything?”

“No.” She secured the entrance and positioned herself beside it, limbs folded. For an extended period, she simply observed him. “Why do you remain?”

The inquiry stunned him. “Pardon?”

“Why do you continue residing here?” Her expression intensified, nearly hostile. “You permit Marcus to strike you. You permit my guardians to demean you. You consume minimal food like an creature. Why?”

Nathan held her regard. “What alternative exists?”

“Anywhere. Genuinely anywhere would be superior to this.”

“Is that true?” He maintained his expression neutral, unfelt. “I possess no finances. No career. No relations. Your father guaranteed that when he prevented my entry to all businesses in this area.”

Victoria’s expression changed slightly. Only somewhat, yet he observed it.

“Therefore I remain,” Nathan proceeded, “because minimally I have shelter here. Minimally I am living.”

“You term this existing?”

“I term it making it through.”

Victoria’s expression moved like she desired to communicate further, yet the terms would not manifest. Eventually, she steadied. “Tomorrow evening. The gathering with Harrison Vale.”

“I recognize.”

“I am participating.”

“I recognize.”

“And I am examining Father’s proposal. Regarding the separation.”

Nathan experienced the sensation of a blade, yet his expression stayed unmoved. “I recognize.”

“Do you?” Her utterance fractured, only marginally. “Do you realize I cannot maintain this situation? That each interval in this alliance diminishes my credibility in commercial environments? That individuals ridicule me because I am connected to… to…”

“To nothing,” Nathan finished quietly. “You may articulate it.”

Victoria’s jaw compressed like she was managing rage. “I did not desire this either. You imagine I wanted to unite with you? It was Father’s decision. An obligation to your father before his passing. An obligation I have borne ever since.”

The allusion to his father transported coldness through Nathan’s body. “My father possessed integrity.”

“Your father was an imbecile who had faith in incorrect individuals.” Victoria rotated toward the entrance. “Exactly like you.”

“Victoria.”

She paused, her palm on the threshold.

“During your interaction with Harrison Vale tomorrow,” Nathan articulated deliberately, “maintain caution. The Vale group is not genuine.”

She examined him, bewilderment and uncertainty fighting on her expression. “What reference are you making?”

“Merely… maintain caution.”

For one instant, something resembling worry manifested in her features. Then it faded, substituted by frozen indifference. “Do not act like you have affection. And do not act like you comprehend commerce or the Vale group. You represent nothing, Nathan. You perpetually have.”

She departed, the portal shutting with decisiveness.

Nathan occupied the obscurity, his thinking racing. Harrison Vale. The designation transported recollections of combustion and suffering. Of his father’s ruined form in an infirmary. Of the paperwork that verified the Vale group had sabotaged the Porter household enterprise.

Documentation that exclusively Nathan possessed.

His mobile vibrated. Yet another dispatch from an unidentified contact.

“Information regarding Redwell city Heights: Blackwell Industries is employing fraudulent approvals. Municipal Development Council members are obtaining funds. If disclosed, Edward Blackwell encounters prison. Should I activate?”

Nathan responded immediately. “Negative. Not presently. I require additional.”

“Additional? Boss, we maintain sufficient to obliterate him.”

“Obliterating him remains insufficient. I desire total control. His enterprise. His standing. His household’s inheritance. All aspects.”

“Regarding the spouse?”

Nathan wavered, his digits suspended above the display.

“She remains excluded.”

“You maintain certainty? She maintains Hayes standing.”

The inquiry continued to occupy his awareness long past he eliminated the chats.

Outside his portal, a gray automobile descended the vehicle path. Nathan observed as pair of individuals in formal garments exited, examining the environment with specialized accuracy. Personnel. However not Blackwell personnel.

The driver’s entrance unsealed, and an additional individual rose.

Even from remoteness, Nathan identified him.

Harrison Vale.

His circulatory system transformed to frozen substance. Why appeared Vale currently? The interaction happens not until tomorrow evening.

Harrison advanced toward the principal entrance with the sureness of an individual commanding existence. The protection remained comparable to his companions.

Nathan retrieved his mobile and recorded frantically. “Vale appears. At the Blackwell Estate. Currently. Identify cause.”

Subsequently he navigated to his entrance, positioning his auditory canal on it.

Discussion descended downstairs. Edward’s resonant noise. Caroline’s cheerful acknowledgment. Subsequently Harrison Vale’s fluid, refined tone.

“Pardon the advanced arrival, Mr Blackwell. Yet when event materializes, one must respond instantaneously.”

“Certainly, certainly! Kindly come within.”

Footsteps transferred toward the workplace.

Nathan unlocked his entrance partially and glided into the passage, remaining inconspicuous. He shifted toward the workspace, his cardiac rhythm accelerating.

“I will be transparent,” Harrison’s voice transported via the marginally accessible entrance. “I desire Blackwell Industries.”

Stillness.

Subsequently Edward expelled amusement. “My enterprise remains unavailable, Mr Vale.”

“Everything maintains expendability, Mr Blackwell. For sufficient compensation.”

“Which compensation were you considering?”

“Fifty units of funds. Monetary. This evening.”

Additional quiet, prolonged this instance.

“That remains… appealing,” Edward articulated deliberately. “However Blackwell Industries possesses significantly enhanced assessment than”

“Fifty units of funds for an enterprise approaching scandal?” Harrison’s intonation froze. “I comprehend the Redwell city Heights approvals, Mr Blackwell. I comprehend the compensations. I comprehend all unlawful shortcuts you have engaged in. Therefore I shall restate: Fifty units of funds to disengage unscathed, or nothing when authority officials are engaged.”

Nathan’s exhalation halted. Vale recognized. Yet how?

“You are deceiving,” Edward articulated, though his intonation faltered.

“Am I? Verify your communications. I supplied demonstration.”

Extended interruption. Subsequently the sensation of input instruments. Edward’s abrupt, stressed inhalation.

“How did you obtain these records?”

“Is significance present? Significance is that by Monday beginning, each communications establishment in the city will maintain replicas. Except we establish arrangement this evening.”

“This constitutes coercion.”

“This constitutes commercial practice. Currently, shall we examine provisions, or shall I engage my governmental relations?”

Nathan retreated from the entrance, his thinking escalating. This modified total understanding. If Vale occupied Blackwell Industries, Victoria and her household sustained annihilation. Plus Vale would possess entry to all their systems, all their associations.

He required to commence action. Instantaneously.

Yet before movement, a palm pressed upon his mouth from behind.

“Maintain quiet,” a female’s whisper emerged in his auditory opening. “Or we both expire.”