CHAPTER 4
Out of all the things, Louie had not expected his son to walk away from him. Fred had not only walked away from him, but he had also asked his father to stay away. How could he stay away? He had spent all these years feeling guilty about what he had done and now he would make it up to him.
“Fredrick!” He shouted, making him turn around. “I have found you and I will not abandon you! Not again”
Those words are useless when someone you love is leaving you when you were a kid.
Fred fell down to his knees and sobbed. “Where were you dad?” He cried. “Mom needed you. I needed you.”
Louie ran towards him and sat down near him, engulfing him into his arm.
Sobs racked his body as he cried out of relief. His anger melted away with his tears as he revelled in the fact that his dad was back.
He finally stopped crying and looked up at his dad. That is when he noticed all the similarities. His eyes and nose were like his father’s. His face also twitched when he was sad or upset just like him. He chuckled.
“I am glad to have you in my life, Louie. I need some time...”
“It is fine. I am sorry to let you down. Please forgive me.You are my kid! I will give you everything I can to show you my love as your dad. ”
Their private car arrived. Fred sat in the car together with Louie. He looked around and realized that the seats were made of premium leather and the driver looked like he was trained and could also protect the passenger in the case of an emergency.
“Where are we going?” He asked.
“A favourite place of mine, you’ll love it.” He looked at the driver in the rear view mirror and gave a slight nod.
“So tell me about your wife,” he asked Fred after a few moments of silence. “Miss Rose Brown, right?”
“Well,” Fred blushed. “She is beautiful, kind, smart and has a heart made of gold. Sometimes I even wonder why she chose me.”
Louie laughed. “That’s how you know you have married the right one.”
The car soon pulled up in front of a big hotel as the father-son duo got down.
They entered the lobby and Louie went to the reception with Fred following behind him. He had seen such hotels only from the outside when he would go out with the Browns. They would take him along only to humiliate him and make him wait in the car while they went inside and ate. They would say that he was far too poor to dine in such lavish places.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see his father walking towards the restaurant with the manager until they had reached the door.
“Dad!” He called out. “Wait for me.”
But before he could run inside behind them, he was stopped at the door by a man in black suit.
“I am going to ask you to step aside, sir.” He said.
“No, I need to go in.”
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “As if a man like you could ever afford a place like this.”
“I am being serious. My dad is inside!”
“Oh, how convenient. You cannot go in no matter how many lies you come up with.”
“I am not lying,” Fred seethed. “Let me in! Or else I will call the manager. He went inside with my dad!”
But before he could dial his father’s number, the manager himself came out hearing all the commotion. He looked at Fred from top to bottom and gave a disgusted look. He was wearing clothes that looked relatively old and had not been washed or ironed properly. “What is this man doing here? Throw him out.”
The man in the suit walked towards him with a sneer but before he could touch Fred, he bent out of his reach.
“Dad! He shouted in a way the entire restaurant heard him.
“How dare you disrupt the peace of this place -”
“What is going on here?”
They all heard Louie exclaim. “He is my son! How dare you talk to him like that! Do you not know who I am?”
“I don’t care who you are!” The man in the suit said. “I’ll throw you both out!”
“Victor!” The manager said. “I will throw you out if you touch this man or his son. He is the owner of the hotel!”
All colour drained from Victor’s face. “I – I am sorry, Mr. Clinton. Please forgive me. I did –”
“Shut up,” Louie said. “You are fired, man. Please respect the clients, thank you.”
“Can I ask you something, Louie?”
“Anything.”
“How did you know Rose’s name? And how did you get my phone number? Have you been spying on me?”
“No, no. not at all.” He gulped. “It’s just that… with my business and everything, I – I have contacts who help me with these things…”
“Contacts?” Fred said. “What kind of spy contacts do you even need for Kodam? I know you’re successful and rich. You own many hotels and businesses and are practically a business tycoon. In fact, the most successful and the richest in the country because the Browns desperately want to sign a deal with you.”
“I – I will tell you but I don’t want you to know, I want you to be involved.”
“I don’t know what you mean, dad. How? I don’t even know how exactly it works.”
“I want you to be the CEO of Kodam.”