Kylie looked at me bewildered. “How can you possibly not understand that our success comes with a price?”
“Because, unlike the both of you, I have put my heart and soul into building this company and I am not going to watch it tumble. Have you ever bothered to visit the village hit with the bacteria? The villagers looks disgusting from head to toe, there is no where the disease avoid. How much commotion do you think will arise if just one image is posted on the internet? Not only our reputation is at stake, but we can all go to jail. I am going to take things into my own hands.”
Mathieu knew this day would come. He knew that this could wreck their friendship, he knew that he should have prepared a flawless reply to everything Daniel had mentioned, but he could not. He was not ready to lower his status to persuade a friend, he knew he was being a coward, but he just could not.
Daniel is just making empty threats. Just stay cool.
Daniel furrowed his brow, eyed Mathieu like a hawk to notice any change of emotions, then with a breeze of cool wind, Daniel pointed a handgun at Kylie’s temple. The almost melodious background sound of the air-conditioning suddenly turned into the sound of whisper from a phantom. The whisper then diminished into silence.
Daniel finally knew he had the upper-hand. It boosted his confidence, but he dared not shoot. Crossing his heart, he hoped that Kylie would cooperate with the act. After all, if Daniel added his and Kylie’s company share, Mathieu had no say whatsoever. Carefully consider the options and act without hesitation.
Daniel pushed the gun even more abruptly at his wife’s temple. He declared, “Give me all your shares!”
Kylie could not comprehend the situation. “Daddy, when did our world begin to turn so fast that I feel dizzy? Daniel, stop all this nuisance.”
Kylie was like a puppet, being manipulated by her husband. At that moment, she gave up hope that her dad would cut off the strings and let her escape for he seemed to be too preoccupied caring about his own shares. “The both of you are being complete fools!”
The deathly silence threatened a response. Why did Kylie had to marry this crazy Daniel? “You are a fool to have married Daniel and you are calling me one?”
Daniel’s eyes fumed with madness. “Mathieu you are out at you wits end!” he yelled.
He pointed the handgun towards the ceiling and fired three consecutive shots. “Sign the piece of paper before I blow up all your intestines. Kylie, pick your side carefully or risk getting you head blown off. Mathieu this is your last chance to redeem yourself. But, I am not going to kill you now with my gun. Unlike you, I don’t commit murder. I am going to send you to the village. You are going to experience a slow and agonising death. Taste the pollutants of the river from the mine. Savour every bit of it. Live every moment of it because it would be one of your lasts. Live it. You have lost the trust of your own daughter. Kylie. Who are you now to judge me?” Daniel snickered.
Mathieu hoped that the shots would have caused chaos but no one else heard it except for the three of them. He used to think money solved everything, but in the face of death, it is not a reliable savoir. He picked up his pen with shivering hands and stared at the blank space.
Kylie eyed Mathieu and yelled at the top of her voice, “Dad run for your life, quick go!”
Kylie swung her fist at Daniel’s face and kicked his groin with all her might. Daniel’s handgun fell out of his hand and clattered on the hard floor. “At first, I thought you are doing all this for the company and I sympathize with you. But through tonight, I have learnt that you are even worse than my dad. You think that the death threat was enough to win everything over. Was everything about our love also an act? Is it one of the stepping stones towards your final goal? This is ridiculous!”
Kylie picked up the handgun, aimed it at Daniel’s face and fired.
