Chapter 240: Chapter 240

’This silly man, Brad, is back to the world from his seclusion! Finally! I thought that I was going to lose my sustenance!’ Brad’s first friend thought to himself just as they had gotten to the estate.

In fact, Brad’s three friends, even though they had come in separately in their plush cars, had been having an interesting ’fun’ conversation between themselves in their cars via call.

"Do you know why Brad invited us this spontaneously?"

"You sound like you don’t like it, but you ended up running to his beck and calling!"

"... and what are you doing? Sleeping?" The second responded with a thick sarcasm, rolling his eyes simultaneously.

"But seriously though, why do you think he called us over suddenly? I barely had enough time to throw on a t-shirt and jeans at the urgency he hinted at."

"It’s Brad, what do you expect?"

"But he had been MIA for weeks now. Come to think of it, do you know what happened to him? Last I saw him, he looked like a shell of himself, which was disturbing!"

The thick male voice of the third person boomed on the loudspeakers inside his friends’ two cars as they all travelled on different routes but towards the same place, Thornston Estate.

"I don’t know, but I have learnt not to ask too much."

"Why are you tagging along anyway? I distinctly remember you saying that you would never hang out with Brad again when you discovered he would not be the heir after his brother went off the grid. Remember? You said, ’I only roll with the big guys!’"

"What has that got to do with anything?" The sarcastic reply came, making the other two laugh in their cars.

"With the way you remember the silliest of things all the time, your father will be happier if you put that ’good brain’ of yours to help the family business instead!" The laughter went down to snickers and chuckles, but they could hear the irritation in the voice that kept on talking snappily. After this, the three kept quiet but the calls were still connected, with each lost in their own thoughts.

They had been friends with Brad for as long as they could remember, but in an actual sense, they were not as close as ’sworn brothers’ would be. They just happened to roll in the same societal circles. The four would be considered more than acquaintances but not as close as friends who would have each other’s backs.

Nonetheless, the three liked Brad’s company, as did all the other youngsters in their generation and circles. This was for the simple reason that Brad was more approachable than Ian and the two brothers were from the most powerful family in all of T-Vino Island.

All parents from the affiliated families wanted the best advantages for their businesses and ’encouraged’ their children to latch on to the Thornstons as much as possible.

Surprisingly, these three, as well as almost all others around Brad, may not have understood their parents’ intentions. They did befriend Brad, but their relationship became one where they took freely from him because Brad never cared and never even knew how much he had on himself at each moment.

Conversations that could take place were an eyesore to most people.

’Hey, man! Give me 10K to cover these drinks, and I’ll return it to you by tomorrow!’

But those monies were never returned, ever! Brad had too much at hand to even care about those, and he never asked for those ’small’ monies back. His so-called friends knew this, so the act went on and on.

’Can I borrow your motorcycle for a late-night spin?’ Another would ask but never return it after the spin. That was how Brad lost his two favourite power motorcycles.

’Let me use your red Porsche for that party. You know it matches that new limited-edition shirt. It would be epic if I could make that grand entrance!’

In this particular case, the car was crushed badly, and all Brad got back was, ’Yo, my man! I’m super sorry! I barely escaped with my life!’ Brad had to stop any pursuance on this.

Brad spent his free time and never held anyone accountable, so these things happened a lot with his circle of friends, especially the three closest to him.

Brad just let them be, thinking that in order to keep that friendship, he would not need to hold them accountable for anything. That all changed after that morning and the visit from Ingrid and Gabriel. Of course, Gabriel taught Brad this lesson on how to make a comeback with his three so-called friends.

When Brad came to be in the known, he looked at the innocent Gabriel with a different eye. Brad would have never believed it himself if he had not placed his phone to record his own actions.

It all started the second time that the children had visited his room.

"Uncle Brad, can I have that pretty car?" Gabriel had gestured towards a fancy miniature sports car that could fit an adult’s hand, but Brad loved that and had even auctioned for it. He did not see himself giving this to anyone until he did. The problem was that Brad could not remember doing that at all.

When he had seen Gabriel playing with it another time, Brad had gotten furious, but Gabriel had innocently told him,

"You gave it to me, Uncle Brad; why are you being weird?"

"I did? You brat! Do you think that I will not remember doing that?"

However, Brad knew that despite Gabriel’s mischievousness, the boy was overly honest to an impossible level. This went on for a couple of times with other more ’precious’ things until Brad decided to record himself and his actions when the children were around and what he saw surprised him.

In the videos, Ingrid’s clear, beautiful, single voice can be heard. In fact, in order to keep a clear perspective and not get into another trance-like state, Brad had to mute the video. It was not even the beautiful voice but his own actions that disturbed him.

Gabriel, who looked like he was not affected in the least by Ingrid’s voice, would strategically ask for whatever he wanted when Ingrid was singing. Brad would always be in that trance-like state, and Brad willingly gave Gabriel everything the boy asked for.

’WTF!’ Brad dropped his phone in freight. The main question was, how did Gabriel know to ask at that exact moment? Brad had no idea, but as he had willingly given out the things, he did not have the heart to ask for them back. It pained him so much, but he still stuck to his guns. Brad began to look at the two kids in a new light after discovering this little fact.

Maybe it was because of the unnatural experience Brad had gone through in Shelby’s hands, so he did not overly think that this was strange. Brad decided to try an ’experiment’ with his friends, who had taken enough advantage of him over the years.

It was a good move, as the three friends also came with their own agenda that day. Their eyes raked the room, settling on the new guitars that had been placed on display since their last visit. It did not take a genius to understand that they were cooking up stories to take those away with them.

However, Brad was unbothered. He grinned as they all entered his home studio. He preferred this place for whatever he had in his mind.

The three friends did not understand why Brad wanted them to meet his niece, but they shrugged and took random seats in the room. They were already familiar with the place, as was Gabriel.

Ingrid’s clear, melodic voice filtered and surrounded them in the studio, interrupting the words and worming its way around them like the embrace of a loved one. It relaxed them, making them display foolish smiles of astonishment.

In the one-way-looking glass into the room that Ingrid was in, and as Brad knew, Ingrid was singing to herself, and an evil smile spread across his face.

He sat by the first friend, unaffected by Ingrid’s sounds this time round because upon closer look, one could see small ear plugs in his ears. Brad needed his wits about him to get his task done.

"Don’t you think that you should pay what you owe me now?" Brad asked,

"Of course, my man! Why won’t I pay? I am not that petty!" The guy responded mechanically. He brought his phone out and made a wire transfer to Brad instantaneously.

"Thanks, man!" Brad smiled. He had never known it could work, and he was very surprised.

"Anytime!" Came the reply.

Then Brad moved to the second one,

"Bro, you owe me too much, I don’t even know where to start from...."

"Sorry, Brad. How about I -"

"Maybe a blank check?" Brad suggested mischievously.

"Sounds like a good idea!" The second friend replied and signed the check. He even went ahead on Brad’s insistence to email his bank on this fact to prevent any surprises.

Brad grinned and did the same with the third one as well.

His smile turned goofy as he looked at the three men who looked and were acting nothing like themselves.

Brad shuddered. "My niece is a pot of gold!" He whispered, thinking of what he could do in the future.

At the end of the day, Brad retrieved a blank check from one, 50 million from the other, and 20 million from the third!

’This is enough to cover all that they owe me over the years! They will understand that there is no free lunch!’

Brad wrote an enormous figure on the blank check because this person owed him the most. He sent it to his banker to be cashed almost immediately. A shrew businessman will never let this go!

Gabriel looked at all these and said, "Uncle Brad is bad!"

"Hehehehe.... Says the boy who taught me! You’ve got to have a money mindset, my little fake angel nephew!" Brad grinned like he had never done in his life just as Ingrid stopped singing, and the trio came to their ’senses.’

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