CHAPTER 38
Noah looked at his wife, who stared at him with angry, disappointed eyes, and he knew the day had finally come. This was the moment he had dreaded ever since he resumed his mission. He sat on the bed and didn't mind that she hurried away to the other end. He did this. There was no fixing or forgiving what he had done.
This stupid mission had started some years back when his family had been forced to leave Miami. It was a slaughter. He had lost his parents, uncles, aunts, siblings in a war that no one could have foreseen. That night, while the Smiths murdered them, Uncle Mason, Nathan's dad, had been able to take him, Gabriel, Nate and Samantha out of the Miami war zone through the back door in their house. He was able to put them in a stowaway car. While being driven off, the Smith had fired some shots. Uncle Mason had been hit. And though they escaped. He didn't survive.
Aside from them, no one had survived. Gabriel was angry. He wanted blood. But they had no power and no resource to pursue their enemies. So they did what could be done; changed their last names, find their hidden stashes all over the places and began to wait for their time. None of them was young. The youngest then was Nathan, and even he understood that this was a battle they had to fight someday. So, when Adriana Swiss became a lawyer and was called to bar, the news travelled far and wide.
And Gabriel, who had been watching the TV that day, suddenly had an idea. "Noah." He called his cousin who was in the room fixing the roof or whatever it was he does. "Noah!"
Noah came in looking all greasy and dirty. He flipped his clothing in the laundry machine and asked his cousin what was wrong.
"Look at the pretty lady."
Noah hissed. "You're telling me you called me out, like a jackass so I can see a pretty..." He looked at the screen. The woman was pretty indeed. Shaking his head when Gabriel murmured, he forced himself to look at the irritating man, "You called me to look at a woman." He finished off.
"Yes. And you'll agree she's pretty." Gabriel teased.
"I've got things to do." He said as he cleaned his greasy hand. He tossed the handkerchief in the laundry too and began to walk away.
"Noah."
Noah tensed. He hated that tone. Hated when Gabriel used it with him. Since his father, Mason, died, Gabriel had assumed leadership because, by birth, he was older than every one of them. But he couldn't run the company. He didn't go to college and didn't learn the logistics of the company. So even though he was the leader, Noah was second in command but more respected. He controlled the company's daily running and activities. But Gabriel being a gang leader and trouble maker, consistently enforce his rule. He managed to keep anyone out of order to behave. Like the typical Monterey, he murdered whoever pissed him off.
Still, Noah hated when he used the gangster tone with him. They were both leaders. He was more of the one keeping the family together. Gabriel was hot-tempered, too hot for business. Most of the deals gone sour had been his fault. And Noah hated having to clean up after him. A lot of times, he let his gun control his brain. It was offensive. Though everyone cowered in fear around him, he refused to. And that irritated Gabriel more. Noah didn't care. He knew he was needed to keep the family running as well as to clean up their misdeeds, so he enjoyed getting on Gaby's nerves every now and then.
Gabriel, on the other hand, knew how to get him worked up. All he needed was to lose it. Like he did now. What he failed to realize was, it was like barking an animal to a corner. Someday, the animal would feel cornered and be forced to fight back.
"I'm still talking." Gabriel said to the stubborn brat who still had his back to him.
Noah turned around and looked at him, angry. "You call this talking? Okay. I have to balance the accounts. What say you? Finish it while we talk?" He mocked.
"Look, sit your ass back down and listen to what I have to say." He was beside Noah in a swift stride. The two glared at each other, both daring the other to throw the first punch. Samantha walked in then and went to the two.
Wriggling in between the cousins, she asked, "What is it this time?" She chested Noah to the other wall. He was the reason of the two. If she did that with Gaby, she'd be dished a hot slap. She whispered to Noah to let it go and gently went to Gaby. "It's okay." She said. "Please sit you both and let's talk about this."
The two men grunted and sat down. Samantha went to get some drinks and gave both. Gabriel received his, opened the can and finished the glass in one gulp. Samantha shook her head in irritation and passed him another. "What is it?" She asked them
"We should have Nathan here. Since you're here, we might as well make this a meeting. What I have to say is important." Gabriel said, casting Noah a look before opening his drink again. Samantha brought out her phone and called Nathan. "Can you be home ASAP?"
"He's at the door." She informed the men.
By then, the news had ended, and the pretty lawyer wasn't on screen anymore. Gabriel brought out his phone and logged online to the News network for the story. When he found it, he played it and paused the part where Adriana Swiss was being talked about.
Nathan walked in then. Samantha passed him a drink, and he sat down wondering what was going on. "Did I miss something."
"You're about to find out as I am too." She told him.
"Here's what I was trying to tell...." He looked at Noah, still angry. "I was telling him about this pretty lawyer." He played the News, and everyone watched. "Adriana Swiss." He looked at them all. "You all know the Swiss. Miami." He said, trying to joggle their memory. "The lawyer family that sent all Monterey to jail, and we planned on having our revenge."
Not liking where this was going he asked. "How did the Swiss offend us exactly?"
"For one, they sent us to jail. Isn't that bad enough?" Gabriel replied sarcastically. "And if I'm right, the war started right there. Everyone died in their cell. Should I go on with the gory detail?" he looked at them all and finally settled on Noah again, "Your parents died in that cell too, bro"
Noah stopped him. "Hey, they were murdered by the Smiths, not Swiss."
"All is the same to me. Anyway, my point is, they played a triggering role in the war and should be punished for it."
"I agree with him there. If we are starting our revenge, then the Swiss need to pay too. We could have won the war if most of our men weren't already dead in the cell on their order." Nathan said.
"Finally, some sense." Gabriel was happy to have a second vote. Most times, everyone just went with whatever Noah said.
"So, what exactly are we saying now? Getting back our revenge?" Samantha asked the men.
"Yes." Gabriel said.
"Are we ready for this?" She turned to Noah.
Noah shrugged, "Financially, the company is still struggling."
"We are not starting the war right now. Will you please stop jumping my gun and listen to my proposal. There's a reason I brought up this woman." He pointed to the screen where Adriana Swiss was about to give her speech. He paused the screen again and showed them. "Listen. She's a Swiss with all the money. To kick start the plan, I want us to get into her family through her. If possible, a marriage." He laughed wickedly.
"How do we do that? And most importantly, why marry our enemy." Nathan didn't see any sense in that.
"Keep your friends closer and your enemies even closer. What better way to know more about the Swiss than to marry into the family and become part of them?" He laughed at his own brilliancy. Not even Noah had thought about it. And they call him the brain of the company! He laughed again. The three members looked at him like he was insane. He mocked them too.
"Who is married to such a fancy lawyer. She's smart." Nathan pointed out. "Me?"
"No.." Gabriel replied immediately. "I think it should be Noah. As you said, she's smart. She will see through you instantly. Noah, on the other hand? No."
"I can't do that." Noah refused. "She didn't do anything."
"She, alongside her fancy parents, murdered your parents. They killed my father." Gabriel said. "I believe you're the man for the job."
And while they argued back and forth, Samantha knew that the battle had started, and it wasn't going to be an easy one. She intended to travel far away when the time came. Though she had lost a lot in the last one, she wasn't in any way interested in the act of revenge skim. She heard Gabriel shout at Noah. "Have you forgotten how my dad died in the pool of his own blood?"
"No!" Noah screamed back. "I'm not doing this!"
"Because it wasn't your father? Wanna know how yours died?"
"Are you going to tell me or not?" Adriana asked, watching her husband closely. Noah sighed and seemed to be back in the room with her.
"Yes. I will." He said and began to explain how his family had been murdered.
Adriana listened as he talked about the family he lost during the ensuing war because his family had murdered many people. But she knew she wasn't interested in all that. She had heard enough from her parents. Still, she let him talk. The part where she was interested in, however, was how her family had been wrapped into their plot and why she was picked for their mind games.
"We escaped with Uncle Mason, but a bullet penetrated his backbone." he closed his eye in agony. "He bled to LA. We couldn't go to the hospital for fear of being captured and..." He swallowed hard, "Murdered. So, we had to treat him at home. Gabriel. Gabriel is my cousin. Uncle Mason's second son. He did all he could. There was just too much blood." He stood up from the bed and went to lean on the wall facing his wife. And spreading his palm, he said bitterly. "He died on my hands. He was drenched in a pool of his blood."
He closed his eyes as a tear trickled down his left eye. Adriana forced herself not to let his pain cloud her anger. He had messed with her emotions to avenge his family. He deserved no pity from her. "What happened after?" She forced herself to ask, hoping he would launch into the part where she became his pun.
Noah opened his eye and brushed off his tears. He shifted his weight on his right leg while still leaning on the wall. "Our family might have been murdered brutally, but our businesses thrived. Outside Miami, of course." He shifted his weight again. This time, he was resting his weight on his left leg.
Adriana could see his discomfort. That was when she realizes what he was doing. He left the bed to put a distance between them. She found that interesting. It only meant one thing, he was getting closer to that part-the part where she would bleed.
"Gabriel was the eldest. He assumed leadership. But I knew more about the business. I was the one trained to take over."
"You're saying that you're the brain of the company?"
He nodded and said yes before realizing what she was implying by that. "No." He quickly added, "For the company, I ran the operations. I did everything by the book. Believe me." He smiled sadly. " Coming to you wasn't my idea. It was Gabriel, and I had no choice."
Now, here we are! Adriana sighed, not believing him. "He forced you." She smirked.
He didn't bother trying to convince her. He just went on with his story. "We got the business up and running. Everything was finally back to normal until Gabriel saw you on screen. Of course, we have always known the day would come to have our revenge. The day you got called to the bar was the day our revenge started."
Adriana laughed hysterically. "That day, at the courtroom, you approached me intentionally." She had been right. He did know her right from the beginning. She felt disappointed and sad. "I've been longing to ask. That day, at the courtroom, you were waiting for me." She stopped to look at him, "How did you happen to be the only one?"
"No. The Monterey might have left Miami, but our deeds preceded us. All we needed to say was the name to get everyone out of there."
"We?" She asked.
"Yeah. Gaby was there. He came to make sure I went through with it."
That was the man who had been walking away. "So, for revenge, you ruined my life." She started to cry. He came closer, but she pushed her hands to stop him not to come any closer. "And the kids?"
"I'm so sorry." Was all he could say. Adriana began to cry, full-blown, back rocking sobs, and he couldn't console her. He stood watching as his world shattered right in front of him.
