To Hate My Stepbrother

Mason’s POV

Aisha’s second trial approached faster than we thought that it would. The things happening around us have made us lose count of the time.

Khalid had just survived an attempted kidnap and the bodyguard I’d employed also got caught up in it all. I couldn’t help but be thankful for the passerby that was brave enough to confront the kidnappers.

Khalid had to be admitted because of the pain he was complaining about in his chest and he’d also had to go in for surgery. The doctors tried their best to explain what was wrong with him to us but I still couldn’t understand, I was just glad that he appeared fine now.

Ava and I attended the trial and Aisha was charged for Rape, assault, physical abuse and child endangerment all of which she was guilty of.

“Miss Aisha, you’ve been found guilty of all the crimes that you’ve been charged with and this court sentences you to 30 more years in prison with hard labour.” The judge finished as he hit his gavel.

Ava and I went back to the hospital hurriedly to check on Khalid and there we were told that his health is deteriorating.

“What do you mean he’s not getting better, he just had surgery and he seems fine to me.” Ava argued with the doctor who urged her to calm down.

“He does seem fine but he isn’t, he has some internal bleeding and seeing as he just got off surgery, it would be a bad idea to take him back in there.” He explained and the more he spoke the more confused I became.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my heart racing and the doctor’s facial expression wasn’t helping. I knew better than to allow myself to be cajoled by the doctor.

“What I’m saying right now, Sir, is that we really tried to save your son and I want you to know that he was strong because he fought really hard…” he started and I couldn’t believe my ears.

Is he about to tell me that my son is dead?

Ava was sobbing and I tried to console her but I knew that I also needed consoling, “we lost him. I’m sorry.” The doctor finally broke the news before leaving us.

I was numb, I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard and slowly Ava and I went to sit on the bench as she placed her head on my shoulder to cry it all out.

*****

The past days haven’t been easy with the death of Khalid, we mourned him and made sure that he was laid to rest properly. Ava and I have grown to love him so much and his departure has left a huge hole in both our hearts.

Gradually, we ended up being able to handle his absence well even though we both knew that we would never forget him and he’ll always be with us.

We had other things to worry about, especially with money still missing from the company and also the search for those behind Khalid’s attempted kidnap when he was still alive.

I knew that Ava was finding it difficult to deal with the constant presence of a guard following her around all day and the death of Khalid was also taking a huge toll on the both of us, especially Ava since she got to spend the most time with him.

Deciding to take a break from work for a while, I asked her to stop working and I’d also stopped the guard from constantly following her around but asked him to still keep his eyes on her until she’s fully settled.

Taking the liberty to inform people about Khalid’s death, I called Nicole and hoped she would be able to come help comfort her friend but she couldn’t since she was on a business trip but she sent her condolences.

Our parents came to help and I was glad because her mother was there to comfort her and I could see that she was getting better and moving on.

Trying to concentrate on the file I was working on because I will have to send it to the client as soon as I was done working on it, I got an email notification from the IRS.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

‘We’re writing to inform you about the progress of the investigation MISSING FUNDS FROM COMPANY ACCOUNT. We’re glad to tell you that the money was traced to an offshore account and we’re still investigating to find the culprit.’

As soon as I finished reading the mail, my phone rang and it was a call from my Private Investigator. Closing the mail, I picked the call.

“I just got an email from the IRS but they’re still investigating, what’s up?” I asked as soon as I answered the call.

“Yes, they might still be trying to investigate but I think I know who it is already,” my private investigator answered and I stopped everything I was doing at the moment so I could focus on what he was trying to tell me.

“Now you know no one can be too careful and we traced the account to some of your employees so do any of the names here ring a bell? Chad Williams, Zachary Caleb and Milo Oliver?” He asked and I couldn’t help the cold shiver of shock that ran through me.

“They’re all my employees.” I answered after a while of silence. I was too stunned to speak because I couldn’t believe that Ava was right the whole time but I didn’t act on what she told me because there was no evidence.

“You have to stop them from working as soon as possible but we’ll have to do that discreetly because they’re all joint signatories to the account and they’re the one stealing the missing money, we can’t let them know that we know.” He explained further.

“Thank you so much, I’ll work towards it.” I said into the phone before hanging up to think about my next line of action.