CHAPTER 100: ALL DONE!

Currey dragged the man slowly towards whatever his fate was. The man’s pathetic cries echoed throughout the room, leaving a stunned silence behind. However, the scene of his pulling the man would be forever engrained in their minds—Currey in his sleek business suit, arms so thin that they were like twigs. Compared to the man being dragged, one wondered if Currey’s arms would break from all that weight.

When he got out of sight of his audience, Currey blinked away with the man and returned empty-handed. It took all but a few seconds for that to happen. For appearance’s sake, though, he leaned against a wall to enjoy some alone time before returning there.

But then,

"Can you show me how you did that?! It’s so cool!"

Currey turned so sharply that he nearly twisted his neck. He was usually very good at sensing people but this time, he had not heard a thing.

A little figure stood by him with his head raised, eyes shining and waiting expectantly for whatever he thought he would be seeing from him.

"When did you get here?"

"I was always here!"

Currey knew Gabriel and Ian’s suspicions about him. But –

"Where did that man go? And why was he crying? What did he do? Did he do something really bad? Is that why you were dragging him like that? B-"

Currey could feel a small headache start to form from all the back-to-back questions being thrown at him.

He went down on his knees and looked intently into Gabriel’s eyes.

"You did not see anything happen here. This was all a dream... T-"

"You are a very weird man. Why would you say that I did not see anything when I saw everything? Mama Shelby says that it is not nice to lie, and you just did! I will have to tell her about it."

Currey dropped to his bum in surprise as he gaped at little Gabriel. The boy just continued his insistent query as if nothing had happened, and in his opinion, nothing had!

The boy had just defied everything he stood for!

"Anyway, what is your name? Why have I never seen you here before?"

"Uhm- I-"

Just then,

"Gabriel! What are you doing?!" A demanding voice was heard, and Gabriel turned to see his oldest sister stomping up to him.

"I was just talking to this weird man here, he-"

"What man?"

Gabriel turned and found the empty space beside him. A big sigh escaped his small body.

"You let him run away, Sam!"

Samantha dragged Gabriel by the hand, thinking it was one of those episodes when he talked about seeing people who were not around.

After the two disappeared around a bend, Currey reappeared and looked thoughtfully around the bend that the two had disappeared to.

Whatever had happened there just confirmed the theory that he and Ian had come up with. The next thing he had to find out was how a Fae child found his way into a human orphanage. He turned and started heading back to the main receiving area.

***

To say that James was a miserable mess was an understatement. Those who knew the real James and not the one he presented to society would not feel an ounce of sadness for him despite his sorry state.

His neck was swollen with clear palmprints that had turned as red as his face. He still felt as if Ian was holding onto his neck. His brain had made sure that the memory imprint of Ian’s hands remained on his neck. His throat was so raspy as if a sandpaper was being rubbed there. It was more like he had a bad cold.

It goes to say that James would forever remember that day for the rest of his life, but the question remained if that near-death experience was enough to make him consider his ways. James had been prepared for anything but the scene that he had just witnessed. He had thought that he was fearless and committed many unspeakable crimes in his life, but to do it in front of this audience with no fear of repercussion was not something he could stomach.

His hand creeped up to his neck as he realized just how lucky he had been.

He trembled so much that he almost slipped off the chair on which he sat. It was barely mid-morning, but James felt as if he had lost a decade of his life by coming there.

If it was possible for him to rewind time, skip it forward or even disappear from there, he would have done that. Sweat trickled down his back; his hands turned so cold that it added to his shivering as he stared at the lifeless body. This was not his first time seeing a dead body, but it was definitely his first time seeing a scene like that unfold. He found himself saying out loud:

"I’ll terminate the contract! I don’t even want the penalty fee."

Ian turned to him with his eyebrow raised.

"You’ll do that for me, father-in-law? That is so nice of you!"

James gulped, his throat protesting from that small action.

"However, people will think me a monster if I don’t pay you the penalty fee. After all we were once a family." His use of past tense escaped James at that time. James had all but forgotten about the fact that he had invariably relinquished his parental rights on Shelby by using the catalogue bride system.

That clause had been put across so that parents who forced their children into such marriages would not benefit. Most people who signed up for the catalogue did so themselves, and James was the first in a very long time to enrol his daughter. He was, however, the first to have done so entirely without his daughter’s input or consent.

"Katie!"

"Yes!" She almost jumped out of her skin but responded to the call.

"My father-in-law seems to be in discomfort. Get him some of that calming tea as well. I think it would do him good."

To an outside ear, the father-in-law endearment sounded like Ian cared so much for the man but that added to the terror that James felt then.

Katie scrambled away to get the task done, and even in her state, she sent a pitying look towards the man who had been so rude right from their first meeting.

’I don’t think he deserves any pity!’

Alex watched on and had given up already.

"You do what you have to do. I am going to lie down a bit."

"You really turned old so soon. It’s a pity."

Alex glared at his son for that statement and then added a bit softly so that they were the only ones listening.

"I hope you know what you’re doing!"

"You worry too much, old man."

Alex took one deep look at the body and then went back to Geneva.

"Was the shock that much for you?"

He whispered to his wife and helped her up.

"I’m just surprised that he did that on his first day... But I know my son best."

Alex nodded and guided her out of the room towards their chambers in the North Wing. The older couple never talked about the incident again as they walked back.

"Is everything ready?" Ian asked Currey.

Currey nodded and then placed a paper in front of James. They had intentionally left the body there as if to intimidate James, and it worked like magic.

Currey explained what they had given him in detail. It sounded like they cared for his interest, but they did not.

"S-o, if the contract is annulled, will s-he be coming home with me?" James dared ask the question that had been on his mind despite the chaos.

Shelby sat up quickly at that statement, knocking off the teacup that had been given to her by Suzie. The loud crash disturbed the quiet atmosphere again, and Ian pinched the middle of his eyebrows.

Shelby was nervous and mostly scared.

’Will he send me away?’

She let her mind go as absurd scenarios started to form, but that did not last long.

"Tell me why I would let you take my wife away?"

"B-but didn’t you say you wanted to terminate the contract?" James was genuinely puzzled.

"Currey?"

"Yes, Chairman!"

"You have to explain this to him again as he did not listen to a word of what you just said."

Currey nodded severely and pulled up a seat by James, making him flinch. He laid down the new set of papers that had already been prepared and would have been used way later, in front on him.

Ian looked on for just a little while and then turned to his little girl, taking long strides back to her side.

He held her hand firmly and led her out of the room and out of prying eyes.

"Actually, we do not need to do this now. The termination is already in effect as none of the terms will be adhered to from our side. You will not get your daughter back into your household ... ever! Get that part real clear!"

Currey brought his phone and pushed some buttons.

"I ha-"

’Who are you to order me around? Are you Ian?’ James itched to say these. Currey stopped talking as soon as James opened his mouth.

"You have something to say?"

James shook his head. He knew when the fight had already been lost. Against his will, he signed the new contract that made him relinquish all his and his wife’s parental hold over Shelby, but he did go off with three times the compensation price, to his surprise. He could be considered a billionaire from the sheer amount of money that had been transferred to him.

It was then that he realized how powerless he was. Even with just the assistant, James could not muster the courage to do what he really wanted to. The fear had already been engrained in him. He gritted his teeth as two strong-looking men ’kindly’ escorted him out of the premises.

*********

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