Chapter 21: Chapter 21

It is unwise to live with a person of bad character who is also unwilling to change; you can help wayward people, but do so from afar.

- Grace Chanbee

[Author's POV]

The car screeched to a halt as it arrived at its destination and upon the passenger seat door being opened by one of the stewards, Gilbert Sanders in an unusual fashion stormed out of the car, a frown on his face and feeling angry and betrayed altogether.

The servants trembled and bowed their heads low. They sure knew that he was always grumpy and probably annoying as well, but this look of outrage and bitterness seemed deadly and no one in his or her right senses could dare get more on his nerves now.

As it was, irrespective of how gentlemanly a suit and tie portrayed, he however seemed nonetheless vicious and making the slightest mistake could therefore make him fire the offender, hence the mode of panic they were thrown in.

Without waiting for the doorman to swing the door open, he opened it with so much pressure and force that could have cracked the handle itself supposing it lacked durability and stepped into his magnificent living room; one of the many living rooms he possessed in his mansion.

Standing directly in the centre of the spacious living room, he yelled out Daisy's name, annoyance evident in his tone of voice and anger written all over his face.

Eunice heard her husband scream his niece's name from the kitchen where she was monitoring the broth prepared by the head cook and as he screamed her name, it made even her tremble.

"Hold on a minute, I'll be right back," She said in a calm voice to the cook, wondering what was making her husband yell this time around.

She had been much more better after the police called a day after Amber was missing to say she was safe and was in Calisto, Arroyo Grande. Ordinarily, she would have expected her husband to rush to see her immediately and bring her back home but that wasn't the case this time around.

He unusually remained calm and relaxed about the matter and when she inquired from him what he was doing watching a football game instead of going to get their only daughter back, all he had said was that she had gotten to live with them and experienced what it felt like to be wealthy and live lavishly.

He was of the strong opinion that when she was tired of living in ruins and abject poverty, she was going to return home to them on her own accord.

Eunice had reasoned with her husband and had been patient, even begun to eat and sleep well once again, but soon, it didn't feel like fun anymore.

Of what use was it to selfishly gloat over the disappearance of your child without even being certain of her whereabouts or if she was in proper care?

She was a mother and blessed selflessly with emotions and a kind heart unlike her self-centered and egoistic husband who still loved her even in all his pride and prejudice, so upon her insistence, he had gone to see Amber today.

He didn't want her to go upon her request so he had no other choice than to yield in to her demands. She had only asked him to make sure she was doing okay wherever she was and not drag her home, even though that was an option if she was suffering and in a pathetic state.

Rushing to the living room, she met her husband looking stern and vicious, wrinkles on his forehead, chin and neck, making his anger really evident.

"Uh-oh," She muttered.

They had been married for nineteen years and so, she knew that look when she saw it. It was the look he had on whenever he had just been betrayed.

He had that look on the time his brother betrayed him and tried to kill her, he had the same look on when his then personal assistant now of blessed memory, was shown to have embezzled millions of dollars from the company's account, he had that same look on when it was presumed that Amber had lied about her amnesia.

Eunice knew at once that he was in a bad state and had to choose her words carefully in order not to anger him the more to make sure he didn't spite her nor transfer his aggression to her.

"Gilly, what's wrong?" She asked in a soft tone.

"Where's Daisy? Hunh? Has she suddenly lost her sense of hearing?" He barked.

"She should be around somewhere," She responded.

Facing an onlooking servant, she said, "Go to Miss Daisy's room, inform her of her uncle's intention to see her."

The servant nodded, affirming he understood her correctly and ran upstairs, all the way to the third floor to get Daisy down.

"Are you all right, darling?" She asked.

"Do I look all right to you?" He retorted.

Brushing aside the immediate annoyance she felt at his response, she told him sweetly, "Sit on the couch, I'll tell one of the maids to get you a can of Diet Coke to chill your nerves," She said.

"I don't want no soft drink, I'm fine," He said.

She rolled her eyes then pouted like a toddler. "Gilly, come on, sit. You need it," She said.

He heaved a deep sigh and with just one look at his beautiful wife's face, he knew that once again, he had to yield in to what she wanted.

With a murmur akin to a childish grumble, he sat on the couch, resting heavily on it and feeling immediate relief, stress mildly underplayed in his joints and muscles.

Eunice beckoned unto one of the maids who was waiting on them to instruct the head cook to carry on with making the broth and also to get a can of chilled Diet Coke from the refrigerator for her husband.

"So did you get to see Amber?" She asked, sitting beside him on the couch.

He nodded, not saying a word.

"Okay, that's good. You think she looks all right over there?" She asked.

He sighed. "Yeah, doesn't even seem like she misses us," He responded.

Eunice rubbed her palms together and tried to put on a smile which later moulded to a faint one, but still, it was worth the try.

"But why's she acting that way? I thought we were being good to her. Why doesn't she like it here? Did you... Did you ask her why? Did you even get to speak with her?" Eunice asked, confused as to why her daughter was unwelcoming towards them.

Gilbert shrugged. "She did tell me to say hi to you..."

"Oh, really?" Eunice asked, feeling elated upon hearing the news, cutting in on her husband's statement without even letting him finish, an act Gilbert so dearly detested.

Ignoring his anger at what she had just done, he decided to continue, understanding she didn't mean to get on his nerves and had only been caught in the moment.

"She however did make it clear that she wasn't coming home with me," Gilbert said.

"Really? Does that mean if I go there, she'd come home with me?" His wife asked, unable to get the gist.

He shook his head, an act that showed he was responding in the negative to her question. "No, darling. It's not about me, it's about the boy," He explained.

She racked her brain, trying to get a grasp on the information he was trying to pass across, but her brain was void of reasonable thoughts, making her resort to asking him a question of two words: "What boy?"

"Justin, the same wretched opportunist she's crazy about, the one who she thinks helped her out when she was helpless," He said, scoffing.

"What do you mean "she thinks?" The boy and his grandmother actually helped her. There wasn't a time we ever had a discussion that she didn't speak so highly of him and his grandmother, Grams, is it? She kept on saying they were very nice to her and treated her like she was family," Eunice said, vouching for Justin and his grandmother's generosity.

Mr Gilbert had on a sneer. "And helping her means they are good people? Please, spare me that," He said, unwilling to budge.

"All what I've mentioned doesn't portray them as good people? I don't blame you though. If you were a good person, you'd know certain acts like giving shelter, food, clothes and love to someone you don't even know is kindness," She said.

"You're saying I'm not a good person?"

She shrugged. "You said it yourself, not me."

He scoffed. "I'm not a good person yet I have three different foundations for the homeless, the orphaned and the disabled? I'm not a good person yet I donate to schools and various organisations? I'm not a good person yet I..."

She raised her hand, telling him to stop, indicating that she had heard enough. "You know who good people really are, Gilly? They are people that don't make a noise when giving to show off to the public because they have more than enough. Good people are those who help with the little they have without expecting fame, worldwide praises nor a payback for their good deeds," She said with a firm voice.

Her husband swallowed, unable to comprehend that he was actually giving a thought to what his wife had so truthfully and amicably spoken.

Emotional blackmail seemed to be the next on his agenda as he said, "Darling, you're actually arguing with me and raising your voice because of the relatives of the same person who embezzled money from my company?" He asked, appearing hurt and pained.

Still, Eunice stood her ground. "The fact that your personal assistant of ten years decided to wake up one day and steal your money without you even doing a proper investigation on the matter doesn't give you the right to believe everyone related to him is just like him," She said, being truthful and sarcastic at the same time.

Gilbert came to the sad realisation that he had officially lost the battle, nothing seemed to make Eunice change her mind. "You got it wrong though. Drew Al-Hassan worked with me for twelve years, not ten," He said as correcting her seemed to be the only way to get back at her.

"That's even worse and more cruel," She backfired.

He ran his hands through his hair. "Where's the person I sent to get Daisy?" He asked, deciding to change the topic once and for all.

"She's on her way," A voice they didn't expect to hear spoke up.

Looking up, they saw it was Richard dressed in a t-shirt on plaid trousers, who had spoken, seemingly coming from inside.

"He's always here," Eunice muttered, making her statement only within the hearing limits of her husband.

Then throwing in a fake smile, she stared back at him, "Richard, we didn't know when you came in. Where had you been?" She asked.

"He was definitely in Daisy's bedroom," Gilbert Sanders responded even before Richard got a chance to.

Richard seemed quite flustered. "Yeah.. yes... Umm... I was in her... In there with her," He managed to say, stuttering all the way.

"Doing what?" Gilbert asked as his wife looked in total amazement, surprised at her husband's questions as he was the one who always came to Richard's defence.

"Just... Umm... Consoling her over the... The disappearance of Amber," He said.

Gilbert scoffed. "Really? And who do you think is a fool here?" He asked, with a knowing smirk.

"What's going on, Gilly?" Eunice asked, trying to stop her husband from transferring undue aggression to Richard.

"I don't understand you, Mr Sanders," Richard said, perplexed.

Gilbert scoffed. "It's not surprising. Someone who can't keep his thing between his legs for just one woman can never understand anything," He said, sarcasm laced in his voice.

"Gilly!" Eunice screamed.

Gilbert stood up from the couch, staring at Richard who was now trembling, aware that for him to have made that sort of statement, he had already gotten wind of what he and Daisy always did behind closed doors.

"Richard, I don't ever want to see you in my house again!" Gilbert thundered.

"But...but..."

"Quiet! I called you and advised you like a son after finding out what you did to Amber on the night of prom, hoping you'd change and majorly because of the longtime friendship I've had with your father, even though my wife was strongly against it," He said, full of regrets.

"I'm sorry, sir. It wasn't intentional," He pleaded.

"It wasn't intentional, you say. I forgave you before on the account that you were drunk, but you coming here everyday and going into Daisy's room to do whatever you want with her in my very own house is not just disrespectful, it is abominable! Don't you have any iota of shame? And you're still telling me it's not intentional? Pathetic!" Mr Gilbert Sanders hollered, eyeing him with so much disgust and contempt.

Richard hung his head low, unable to meet his eyes anymore, then slowly proceeded outside the house.

"Richard!" He called.

Richard turned around immediately, a tiny hope engulfing him and making him have faith that everything could somehow be all right.

"Make sure you say hi to your father, and also tell him that merging our companies in the nearest future will never be possible because he has a pathetic animal for a son," He stated with his stern voice, showing he meant business.

Richard nodded and walked away slowly, feeling so stupid. His father was in huge debts and merging his company with that of Gilbert Sanders own had been the only hope he possessed but because of lust and Daisy's seduction, he had ruined it all, thereby ruining the only chance he ever had to ever be the CEO of two companies in one as Gilbert only had a girl. Now, he could say that he was a certified useless idiot and not fit to be called a son.

Meanwhile, Daisy finally decided to grace the occasion with her presence after being called innumerable times for the past thirty minutes. Richard's penis was so good that she hadn't heard her uncle screaming her name from downstairs and it took her a whole lot of time to hear the knock on her door due to the loud music she had put on to tone down her moans of ecstasy while grinding Richard's groin so hard.

She had immediately washed herself and had sent Richard down first to pass time while she erased all the smell of sperm on her body with soap and afterwards, the sweet smell of cologne.

She was nervous about why her uncle had summoned her downstairs and was quite worried, a state she had been in ever since it was revealed to her by the mastermind that the paid assassin sent to end Amber's life for good had failed and even worse, backed out of the mission.

Although the mastermind had tried to calm her nerves down by telling her it was even much more preferable for her to work for him from outside compared to working within the house and had even increased her cut from the properties from 15% to 30%, her mind was still not settled.

No one ever wanted to be labelled as a criminal and it was worse that she was the daughter of an ex-convict who was only out of prison because he sustained an injury which led to his legs being amputated. He had the rest of his life to live in misery and regrets without being able to do anything.

Thankfully, Gilbert had adopted her and taken her in, saving her from living in the streets and changing her life for the best. When she was leaving, her father had made her promise to be of good behaviour so she could one day, have a share of her uncle's properties, but stupid her had let evil desires take control of her life and now, she could only hope and pray that she was still in the good books of her uncle.

"Daisy, pack your things at once," He ordered, jolting Daisy from her thoughts.

"Wh... Why?" Daisy asked, panicking.

"You can no longer stay in my house. I'll give you a week to tell your friends and classmates goodbye, but after that, you must go back to your father," He said.

Daisy knelt on the floor and pleaded with her uncle to not throw her out of his house, mumbling different words of apology.

"Darling, what's going on with you? Why are you being like this? First, it was Richard. Yeah, I understood that part, but Daisy? Even if she did something bad, sending her off to her father doesn't seem like a good idea," Eunice said in a pleading manner.

"Why? Isn't she grown enough to take care of herself? She has started having sex, pure evidence that she is now grown up; not to talk of scheming and lying," He said in a harsh tone.

"But what did she do? If it's about sleeping with Richard behind Amber's back, then punish her by taking all her electronic gadgets and withholding her pocket money, but all these is seriously uncalled for. Gilly, you're taking it too far, she has no one but us, how do you expect her father to cater for her?" Eunice asked.

"I'll be sending her money every month, but I can't have her in my house any longer. She has started lying and cheating, it may become worse tomorrow. That's exactly how her father started," He said.

"I didn't lie about anything, I swear," Daisy said, sobbing pitiably.

"Shut up, you wench. Darling, can you believe Amber caught her with Richard and Daisy told her the way to sneak out of the house, even gave her money for her fare," He said, really annoyed.

"Wait. If she knew Amber could easily turn the tables, why then did she lie about that?" Eunice asked, perplexed.

"Exactly! I haven't been able to know why she'd lie so terribly and confidently knowing fully well Amber could easily counter her words. That's why I'm sending her away before she does more harm to us than good," Gilbert explained.

Daisy sniffled, tired of crying and knowing that her uncle wasn't going to change his mind. Now, she could only settle for what the unknown man or the mastermind was offering her outside the house.

She stood from her kneeling position and wiped her false tears. "It's fine, I'll pack my stuff, I was tired of staying here anyway," She said through clenched teeth and walked off, leaving her uncle and his wife in awe at her behaviour.

"Could you imagine? She shows no signs of repentance, good thing she's leaving my house," He said.

Eunice nodded, satisfied that at least, not only she had doubts about Daisy, but her husband did as well and was going to do the right thing by sending her packing even though she would have been better off knowing the reason Daisy lied exactly.

"But Gilly, did Amber say she'd come back home once Daisy is out of the house?" She asked.

Gilbert groaned. "No! I already told you it's because of the boy, Justin or whatever his name is," He yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Okay. So you just did this on your own accord, nice. But I thought the boy said in the video call that they should forget each other. He seemed like he just wanted to be alone now, so why hold on to our daughter instead of telling her to come back?" Eunice asked in wonder.

Her husband rolled his eyes. "No, darling. They're not even together. The reason she's like that is because he's not out of prison. If I tell the police to let go of him, he'll be out of prison within a twinkle of an eye and she'd come back home," Gilbert explained.

Eunice was unable to believe her ears as she opened her mouth in a gasp, staring at her husband, dumbfounded.

Seeing her expression, Gilbert knew that he had messed up really bad by uttering his previous statement as he searched for words to try to change what he had just said.

"You mean the poor boy is still in jail?" Eunice asked. She had been unaware of it the whole time and was now puzzled at her husband's inhumane treatment to someone who had saved their child's life.

When he didn't respond, she spoke up again, "You're unbelievable, Gilly. How could you? That boy supports his family and he helped our daughter. Why then is he in prison? You're repeating history, isn't it? First, his father and now, him. That's cruel," She reproached.

"He's a suspect. What was my daughter doing in the trunk of his van? Assuming that was the truth, why didn't he report to the police?" Gilbert asked, defending himself.

"That's because he was afraid that someone like you is her father and would misunderstand him and throw him in jail. Congratulations on making his wildest fears come true," She said, eyeing her husband with so much disgust.

"You can say what you want to say, darling. Even if bringing him out of prison will make our daughter come home, I still wouldn't give in to that. He's a criminal," Gilbert said firmly, not mincing words.

Eunice scoffed. "And who asked you to release him for our daughter's sake? If you're to do that, it's because that's the right thing to do. Be reasonable for once, Gilly! Disgusting!" She yelled and walked out of the living room, amazed at her husband's harsh treatment.

Gilbert sat down and buried his head in his palms, wondering if he was actually on the right path. His wife hardly scolded him and raised her voice at him, but she had done that. Could it be that he was wrong this time around?

However, somewhere out of the eyes of other people, watched the mastermind, grinning at the lack of orderliness in The Sanders' home and rubbing his palms together.

Gilbert was never going to change his mind and let the boy out of jail as he never went back on his word meaning Amber Sanders was probably never going to come back to the house. What more? Daisy had been sent packing and although, he had never seen much like a threat but Richard was also out of the way.

It was finally time! Soon, he'd have all he had ever dreamt of and more. He wished to laugh boisterously and cackle at his victory, but he didn't want to arouse suspicion by getting all eyes on him.

His patience, his calculations, his speculations had finally given him what he wanted without him getting someone's blood on his hands at the end, and he wasn't gonna ruin it just yet.