The tension in the office thickened amid all the storytelling. Tony's walls were closing in faster, and his desperation began blossoming, accompanied by cold sweat. He needed to stop it all. He may not have had the plan yet, but he knew he needed to find a way to put a stop to Thomas's theatrics. His guilt-stricken eyes began hovering around the room, under the watchful eye of the polished young man and Thomas. However, Thomas savoured every twitch and flinch of his desperation, for he knew the curtain would crash down soon enough. He took another glance at the time, and the small corners of his lips curved subtly, barely noticeable, except to Jeremy, who began to question the intentions of the story, but he was too deep to end it at that point.
"What did your associates do? I guess they tried to persuade you...If you were as powerful as you make it sound, then it means you played an integral role in the entire operation", Jeremy pressed with a steady tone despite his growing suspicion of Thomas. Tony darted a cold, sharp, deadly gaze at Jeremy, his hatred reaching a new peak. Although he could feel it, Jeremy kept calm, his eyes fixed on the storyteller.
Thomas smiled mischiviously, "Great question....", Jeremy's question presented another opportunity to taunt his prey, "At first, it was the simple pleas, oh please don't go....change your mind....you know, the simple persuasion, meaningless gifts..and all. Then came the seduction...the most unexpected one -", Jeremy looked at his uncle in shock causing Thomas to break out in laughter, "No..not him...give the man some credit. It was Glenda..."
Thomas later became aware of Glenda's feelings towards him, and the more he became aware, the more brazen and daring Glenda became. At first, it was thrilling, even for him. On the night before the day he was supposed to leave, he was drunk and decided to give in to the lust, "after all...Glenda was what you young folks call it, hot. Her touch was bewitching and captivating, and the silkiness of her tongue as she whispered some of the things I couldn't help but imagine made it hard for me to resist her... but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to convince me to stay, and she was no Rose. So a part of me understands why she came up with that evil plan. After all, we were all a bunch of greedy people taking what wasn't ours, and I just gave her a taste of what could be, so I understood her anger and frustration to some extent. But YOU...." His gaze suddenly became colder and unforgiving, landing on Tony like a steel-iced blade, "I don't understand why YOU went along with it...You knew how I felt about even putting her in the slightest of danger, how many deals I had to let go to protect her...and people I had to threaten for her sake. Linda needed her mother!"
Tony's eyes began dancing around the room, avoiding meeting the daggers being shot by Thomas, because all of it was true. But he couldn't pass up on an opportunity to put even the slightest dent in the King's empire; besides, he had his own plan. John... he needed someone he could control in that chair... so he was also playing his own game.
With a sorrowful face and a voice overwhelmed with guilt and regret, Thomas lamented, "..it was supposed to be a plane crash and with it, my previous self was supposed to go up in smoke and I be reborn someone new... but without me knowing, you pulled something that heinous... but still I let it go for old time's sake, but that was not enough, was it?...",
Thomas would have shut down the operations when he left, however, out of respect for his day 1 partners, he allowed Glenda and Tony to keep the operations active, however, to avoid complications on his plan, he only requested that his name be kept as far as humanly possible from it all, "...But to my surprise..and by chance too, I found out my name was still being used, and I was very much still active, and why is that Tony?",
Tony retorted angrily, growing impatient with whatever game being played by Thomas, "What do you think?? People only wanted to work with you...to buy from you. Do you know how many clients we lost when you left?? The only way to keep operating was to keep using your name..."
Thomas shook his head in disbelief at his arrogance, then turned to Jeremy on his side, "...now imagine that Jeremy...I must have been too nice because they had the audacity to pull such a stunt, and they were sloppy, too, because we now had Interpol looking for a dead man. My name was flagged, I couldn't even enjoy that freedom I so sacrificed for - Karma, I guess. It's only thanks to that young man behind me and his connections that I was able to get ahead of it....and convinced them I was dead, and that bought me time to start collecting my evidence. I had so many chances to take you and Glenda out...But I am no killer, and to be quite frank, I had grown quite weary of running, and I couldn't help but feel quite guilty towards Linda. She had to live without a mother because of me. Not only did I steal her wealth, but I also stole a beautiful childhood she would've had if her mother had been alive, because Rose was a good person. She had a heart of gold...just her parents, but her, she was a saint who didn't deserve that kind of death...which brought me to today...."
He put out the last of the cigarrette, while puffing its last smoke, clouding the air for the last time as if preparing for the final curtain call, "I managed to gather evidence on almost all your business ventures (which I couldn't care less about), but I needed that small piece of information connecting you to Rose's death, and you so happened to have kept it safe...all these years. You poor thing, you weren't even aware that what you had was a double-edged sword. The police are already collecting Glenda as we speak. I guess I should also mention that your evidence implicated a lot of people in the justice system, and they so happened to find out. Many of them are not willing to lend a hand because they feel betrayed by you for secretly keeping files of your dealings."
"You bastard...", Tony groaned angrily and helplessly, "Why are you betraying us like this? You could've just asked us to stop using your name - you didn't have to go this far...and you knew my goal was to see the Kings crushed, and when the opportunity came, I took it. Rose wasn't part of the plan, but it became easier to get John up there with her gone...and my plan worked, for that short period..."
Thomas suspected that was the plan, yet he still tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. He chuckled in disbelief, "No remorse I see... then expect no remorse from me. Don't talk about betrayal when you're only loyal to yourself. This is why you needed parenting; you are very sloppy, and someone is always needed to clean up after you. You know it...and all your clients knew it. That's why you are losing money, Tony, and that's why your family business fell. You are not as smart as you think...litellary it took my daughter no time to uncover that "secured" information of yours...everyone is always a step ahead of you...Glenda, Linda, your nephew...hell, even your own shadow! It's only John...well, I guess that should count for something..."
"Shut up!", Thomas yelled furiously, "Stop talking! You are the last person I'd expect judgment from, you coward! Greedy coward!"
"True...that's why we are both going to get it from the court", he intently glimsed at his wrist watch and stood up, "It's time..;", he turned his back to Jeremy who was now also on his feet, weak, but standing, "Young man, it was nice to meet you, and I hope you attend the court case...it will be a lot of fun...I promise."
Just as he turned to Tony, he was met by a custom-made pocket gun pointed at him,
"I am not going anywhere with you because hell is where you're headed, you prick...", and with those words, Tony pulled the trigger, but in a split second, Jeremy used all the strength he had and jumped in front of the bullet, and it was lodged in his flesh. He fell light as a feather into Thomas's arms, becoming damper and redder by the second, and spilling into Thomas's clothes. In a state of urgency and panic, he held him close, crying and yelling helplessly, heart pounding heavily, thinking of Linda, "No..no..no...not you too... You said you would not make her a widow.". He shook Jeremy while the polished young man was kneeling beside Jeremy, desperately pressing hard on the gunshot wound.
With blood bubbling out of his mouth, Jeremy mumbled and muttered, barely audible, "Y-Y-you promised to apologise....remember...now you have no choice because you owe me. I took a bullet for you...", as the light in his eyes began to dim, allowing him to sink deep into darkness, leaving only echoes of cries and whimpering from Thomas, who for the final second sounded like Linda wailing.
"God, please don't let me die. It's breaking her heart...", is the small prayer he offered as the voices faded further and further away, until it was complete silence and he was floating in complete darkness.