#THE_SACRIFICE
EPISODE 34
© Sir Zach
“Sir, Mr Adrian is here” Grandfather Beau’s butler reported to him in his be-droom. Grandfather Beau eyes wi-den in surprise at the news. It has only been a few days that he had asked his men to contact him, and he was here alre-ady? Knowing the kind of person Adrian was, and his line of job, he knew he was not an easy person who’d show up on such short notice. Truthfully, he had expected it to take some weeks, or maybe months for him to show up given the fact that the man was a busy man and was always on the move.
“That’s good” He nodded. “Tell him I’ll be with him shortly” Grandfather Beau instructed his Butler. He rose up from his be-d and got himself re-ady before heading to the patio to receive his guest.
Mr Adrian rose to his feet when he saw grandfather Beau approaching.
“Chairman” Mr Adrian greeted with a slight bow. The chairman signalled him to sit and they sat down on the single seats opposite each other.
“You s£nt for me” The man went straight to the point. That was the kind of person he was. He had no time for frivolities. Mr Adrian turned to the butler with a cold glint in his eyes. The butler who stood by the side felt chills run down his spine un-der the mans scorching gaze.
Grandfather Beau signalled his butler to step outside and wait for him while he had a pri-vate talk with Mr. Adrian.
“I guess you most know why I’ve called for you” Grandfather spoke as he stared intently at the man before him.
“Hillary” The man replied non-chalantly as he sipped from the glas-s of Scotch which he had been served. Grandfather nodded in concurrence.
“She’s back and she’s not giving up and I can’t st©p worrying over the safety of my grandchildren”
“What do you want me to do?” The man asked with a pokered face like he was unfazed about grandfather Beau’s concerns.
“I want you to trail her and report back to me. I want a detailed report of her daily activities, who she meets, where she goes and what she does even in her leisure time” Grandfather Beau ordered with a frown on his face. The thought of that woman irked every p@rt of him and he has lost all his sleep since her return. He looked at Mr. Adrian expectantly, eagerly waiting for his reply. He would only be at rest if he has Adrian on her trail.
Adrian was the only person he could entrust with such a task. He was the right man for the job. This has been Adrian’s line of work in the last ten years since he was discharged from the army. The man was good at what he does, he wasn’t an easy man to approach, and he was very discreet with his job. The only thing he didn’t like was that pokered look that always sat on his face like he was too lazy to be disturbe-d by the measly affairs of this world.
Above all Adrian and his son Henry, had been close friends and he was still family. When he thought about the right candid@t£ to watch over Hillary, Adrian was the first person who c@m£ to his mind.
Grandfather Beau anxiously waited for this man reply as he continued staring at him. Adrian looked back at the old man for a couple of minutes like he was deciphering his thoughts. He could see the worry etched the old man’s face and he perfectly un-derstood it.
“Okay” The man replied. He didn’t have the heart to turn this request down after all this was related to his family.
Hillary’s pres£nce back in the country was a threat to both Jake and Blake and that was a fact, since they were all aware of her interest. And Hillary wasn’t someone who’d let go of her anything that had piqued her interest.
This has always made him wonder why Henry had taken her for a wife after his wife died. Adrian looked at grandfather Beau and he could tell the old man had something else to say but he was hesitating. He sighed lazily and asked, “What is it?”
“I’m sorry, but Adrian I must make one more request” Grandfather Beau said hesistantly. He didn’t want to probe or over task the man, but he had no choice to make one more request from this expressionless man sitting before him like a mountain. If Grandfather Beau had not a fair share of the ha-rd p@rt of life he would have whimpered at the sight of this man. The cold expression that was always plastered on his made him unapproachable and difficult to talk to.
Adrian sh0t him a impatient look urging to spill what ever he had to say.
“I want to transfer Charles to a new location” Grandfather Beau said in a low voice almost as if he didn’t want someone hearing him.
Adrian looked at him briefly like he was considering his request.
“Tell me when you’re re-ady to” he replied pu-lling his face cap over his face as he stood up to leave, while grandfather Beau nod.
He sighed in relief. Now that he was as-sured that he could worry less since Adrian was now in the picture.
“You shouldn’t tell them I was here” Adrian paused and said by the door without looking at old man.
Grandfather could only nod. He continued sitting there as he thought about his son, Henry. The thought of his son and how he had died had never for once left his mind since his death. What bothered him most were the sons he had left behind without any warning and the avaricious wife who was lur-k-ing around like an impending doom.
His mind flashed back to Hillary’s threat when she last visited, and he had contemplated telling Jake about all this, but he feared Jake would be too br@sh and would probably start a war with Hillary, putting himself in harms way. But who he was greatly scared for, was Blake.
Although Jake had a temper and was easily riled up most especially when it c@m£ to his family, he could still make some right decisions, but Blake, he always acted on his whim. He disregarded that thought, telling them about the will and Hillary’s request for it was the last he’ll ever do. This kids were all he had left, and it was his responsibility to protect them, and he was bent on doing just that.
There was no way he’d allow Hillary get her hand on his grandchildren heritage or l@ya hand on them.
___________
Jade was shocked when she saw her mother and Kelvin impatiently waiting for her by the door. They had rushed out when the heard a cab st©p just outside their house. Grace had been so anxious to hear from Jade about her interview. She withheld herself from calling her. She didn’t want to be the reason Jade would miss this opportunity by interrupting her meeting with her call.
Kelvin was not left out of it, he was also anxious and he had gone as far as informing his friends that his sister will be promoted from being an intern to a full time staff. Well, he wasn’t sure if she had gotten the job, but he believed in his sister. There was nothing she couldn’t do.
As soon as Jade saw them, herl-ips curved upwards as a silly thought flashed throu-gh her mind.
Grace and Kelvin hurried over to her with broad smiles on their faces, which suddenly dissappeared when they both noticed the low and gloomy-like look on Jade’s face. Her shoulders were slouched and she looked defeated.
Grace felt uneasy when she noticed how downcasted her daughter was looking. She st©pped a few steps from her with Kelvin standing by her side looking all tensed up.
“Jade, what’s wrong” Grace asked softly, her voice was filled with worry and motherly concern. Jade slowly lowered her head like she was too embarras-sed to look at them, before slowly shaking her head. “I didn’t get it” She said with a croaked voice.
Grace pu-ll-ed her into a ti-ght hvg as she slowly pat her back. Her heart began to ache for her daughter. She sighed. Kelvin also joined in the hvg with his hand stro-king his sister’s back.
“It’s okay. You’ll get it next time” Grace said as she pu-ll-ed away and cu-mpped Jade’s face with hands.
“Sis it’s okay. Don’t cry, you’ll always have better opportunities” Kelvin consoled her.
Jade felt guilty in her heart when she saw her families reaction. She had almost backed out, smiled at them and told them it was a joke, but she decided not to when she heard Kelvin’s next s£ntence.
“Don’t worry about that silly video game set. Who nee-ds it anyway. I have to pay attention to my school work. So don’t bother about it, if that’s what’s troubling you” He said when he noticed she still looked downtrodden. He wanted to make her feel better, because he knew she’d feel sad that she might dissappoint him. Jade was surprised when she heard that. Who was this? Was this really her brother?
When has he ever paid attention or cared about his school work? And now he was saying it so fluidly like he loved school and he doesn’t nag her and their mother every morning about why he has to go to school daily.
“Are you sure?” Jade asked.
“Of course” Kelvin replied without hesitation. Sincerely, Kelvin had told everyone who had cared to listen that his sister would be getting him a new game set, most probably the latest one, and he had invited them to come give it a try once it arrives. But now…
Well all that doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t mind being tea-sed by his friends as far as his sister wasn’t sulking.
“So you won’t be mad if I don’t buy it for you?” Jade probe-d. It seems this brother of hers was really growing up. But this time it was Grace who answered.
“Jade don’t bother yourself about that. He said you shouldn’t buy it. Just cheer up and don’t worry yourself”
Jade continued looking at Kelvin. She wanted to see if he’ll say something like ‘you can always buy it when you get the job later’. This brother of hers always does something like that. Freaking game add!çt.
“I won’t be mad. Just leave i….”
“Amy! Lair!” Grace called interrupting Kelvin. She had seen them first, because she was facing the entrance, while Jade had a back facing it.
“Aunty!” Amy greeted as she hopped over to Grace with a wi-de smile. Jade was shocked when she heard that cheerful voice behind her. What was she doing here?
“Good evening Aunty” Lair greeted as she walked in with two boxes of pizza and a bottle of wine.
Kelvin also greeted them. His eyes lit up when he saw the pizza in Lair’s hand.
‘Foodie’ Lair said to himself when he saw Kelvin drooling at the pizza. It was common knowledge that the little man loves pizza.
Oh no! Why did they have to come now? Jade could feel a headache coming. She knew Amy would expo-se her.
Grace could only f0rç£ out a small smile, she wasn’t happy with what had happened to her child, but she could only smile since they had visitors and most especially a cheerful one like Amy. Lair noticed the awkward expressions on their faces most especially Jade who was frantically signaling Amy with her eyes.
“Aunty you must be so proud of our Jade right” Amy said with a proud smile. Grace let out a sigh at Amy’s word. It seems Amy was not aware that Jade didn’t get the contract, so she wouldn’t get the job.
“I still can’t believe she won over Cale and his girlfriend. Girl I’m so proud of you” Amy rattled as she hopped over to Jade’s side and wra-pped her arms across her shoulders.
Grace and Kelvin stared at Amy in confusion. It was at this point that Amy noticed something was wrong with the way they were staring at her.
Jade sighed exasperatedly as she silently glared at the girl by her side. Amy had ruined everything. She wasn’t throu-gh messing with this little fellow.
Amy noticed Grace and Kelvin weren’t aware that Jade had signed the contract so she hurried back to Grace’s side.
“Aunty, Kelvin let me share some goodnews” She said ma-king them turn to look at her grinning face.
“Jade is getting the job!!” She said excitedly. Mother and son both turned to Jade with wi-de-ned eyes asking her to confirm what Amy had just said. Jade had no choice but to nod affirmatively.
“You got the contract?” Grace asked.
“Yes”
“That means you’ll be getting the job and you will buy my video game?” Kelvin asked anxiously.
“Yes” Jade nodded. Grace and Kelvin gaped at her with their eyes wi-de-ned for a moment, before a scream ensued.
They both delved in for a hvg and Jade felt like she was been squee-zed to death as her punishment for lying earlier, nevertheless she was happy too. Amy quic-kly joined the hvg too, Lair watched them amusedly, shaking his head at the squealing women and one little man.
“Wait!” Grace said breaking the hvg abruptly.
“Why did you lie?” A frown appeared on Grace’s forehead.
“Yes why did you lie?” Kelvin asked squinting his eyes at her.
“Because I was just checking to see if my brother loved me more than a game set” Jade replied. Kelvin looked at her incredulously. He couldn’t believe Jade just said that.
“That’s it. You’re buying a PS5. And of course I love my game set more” He said glaring at her, while Jade scoffed.
“I knew you were only pretending, game freak” Jade tea-sed, poking his head.
“Whatever” Kelvin was angry that Jade had to do that. Here he was trying to make her feel better and she just had to mess with him? ..how inconsiderate.
The others watched the exchange between the siblings in amusement.
“It’s okay. Let’s all go inside” Grace said putting an end to their endless bickering.
Suddenly they heard someone approaching. It was the delivery man who had come to deliver the food Jade had ordered.
“Wow sis did you order all that?” Kelvin asked, with his eyes were shining brightly as the sight of all the food. His anger had dissipated completely by the sight of all the food gloriously standing before him.
“Yep”
“I guess it’s a celebr@tory dinner” He yelped excitedly ma-king the others laugh.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 35
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