CONSPIRACY 4: Vengeance is mine

Chapter 4

We were ushered by the guard inside. When we stepped inside, the mansion was an orchard of varieties of tree bearing fruits. Oranges, apples, pears, nuts, sugar maple. Far right, were plantations of strawberries. On the left end, grapes in different varieties were cultured for wine production. Hundreds of employees were scattered doing their respective tasks. Such an enormous piece of land.  Sad thing, there were thousands of melancholies mellowing like a billowing of the winds when the night falls. Such a lonely place to live despite of the opulence of the owner.  I shrugged my shoulder. When we reached the guest room we were told to wait. The guest room was spacious and made of one way mirror walls. Really sophisticated design.

We waited for 30 minutes. 30 minutes turned to an hour. A grumpy old man came in.

“I am sorry to keep you waiting. The boss is not here yet. You know, there is an opening salvo in the city of one of his business associates. He and his wife are special guests. Most probably, they will be back at night. You may come back tomorrow.”

“Liar! He is here.” I talked to myself.

“No, we wait. No excuses. We need to talk to the owner before the night falls." Mom was so stubborn.

“But Mademoiselle.” Quoted the grumpy old man.

“Now you are talking in French.” Still talking to myself.

Mom said sternly, “We wait.”

The grumpy old man had no choice but left.  He took a capsulize elevator down to the basement.

"Sir, they are adamant to leave. That lady demanded to have a personal talk with you about the land she said that you grabbed from her parents.”

Blue arched his thick eyebrows upward and touched his chin before he talked. “What? I am not a grabber. That stupid lady she should never accused me. I bought the lands legally. I’ll handle this myself. Thank you, Marco. Now you can leave and prepare us a dinner.”

Blue had to peep first at the one way mirror before he entered the guest room. Blue abhor people intruding into his tranquility whenever he was at his home. Although, he engaged in doing philanthropic endeavors there was still a sneering arrogance in him. He doesn’t treat hoi polloi inside his mansion except for media purposes. Except for pufferies, a strategy that he usually enjoyed to let the people buy him  The man standing at his back seemed familiar to him but he wanted to make sure that his hunch was right. When dad turned around, Blue was shocked. It was Malcolm Peters. Blue hired dad before to work in an electromagnetic project in one of his oil expeditions in the ocean of Texas. Indeed the project turned out to be stupendous. He paid dad six figure. Roughly estimated to $500,000.00. What happened to that gargantuan money was a big question to Blue because he thought that dad was still a poor man. Without the knowledge of anyone, dad deposited the money in one of the stable banks in Los Angeles. Dad pretended to live a frugal life.  Not even mom knew this. 

“Malcolm what are you doing here?” There was an excitement in Blue’s voice.

“Blue, what are you doing here?

“I own this mansion and the 20 acres land.”

Dad almost gulped. He never expected to meet Blue again. That was approximately 10 years ago that he done a project with Blue. That project changed his status as one of the affluent man in Texas.   "My wife's parents owned a piece of land before in 20 acres of your land. I heard his brother, Cain sold the lot to you.”

“Who? Cain? Oh yes Cain. She convinced my wife, Barbara to buy the lot. At first Barbara was hesitant. Cain told Barbara that it was with the consent of his sister, Sabrina. Cain urgently needed the money. He smuggled cocaine. That was his business. His lovely wife, Dorothy divorced him two years ago. He turned hell to be crazy about Dorothy for divorcing him. Changing him with another man who can carry his ass for a living. You see Dorothy is a femme fatale. Any man desires her. He was depressed and resulted to drugs.”

“ That bitch,” Mom was furious.

“Barbara is your wife? Barbara Sanders is your wife?

“Yes.”

“She was my best friend since were kids. Her house was just a block away from us. Our path separated when we were in college. Since then, we never heard from each other. I read in the news that he married a wealthy man, an oil magnate which turns to be you, Mr. Richards.  I was indeed happy for her but I felt that I have to keep my distant because of the parity of gap between us. You know like the story of the Prince and the Pauper.”

“Oh small world after all. She talks much about you,” beamed Blue. His nicotine tainted teeth showing. He was a smoker to his name.

“Good to see you again Blue.” Dad and Blue shook their hands firmly.

“Good to see you too.”

“I think we don’t have other choice but to look for a new home here in Council Bluffs, honey.”

“No no no. You can stay here. I built a small cottage at the back of the mansion. Just a walk away from the mansion.  It consists of 3 rooms, living room, dining room, laundry room, kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. And plus factor, you’ll be safe here. There are lots of criminals lurking around waiting for their prey.” 

I felt Mr. Richards had a kind-hearted soul. I felt also that he needed dad. 

"I am not afraid of criminals, Blue. We are such of burden if we opt to stay here.”

A gorgeous woman came-in.  Dressed in black Prada dress. Slim. Slender legs. Lips covered with thick colored fuchsia lipstick. She walked like a model. What money could do? What money could buy?

“Darling, who are you talking to?”

“Barbara.” Mom almost shouted.

“Oh Jesus, glad to see you Sabrina after all these years.” They hugged each other.

“You looked so beautiful.” Mom mused.

“No Sabrina. Being beautiful is in the heart. You know that. I admired you always for that. I am just lucky to wear expensive dresses.” Barbara whispered into mom’s ear.