1 Chapter 1: Just Business

"You can't do this to me... All of you can't do this to me!! Do you know how much I sacrificed??? I worked day and night for 5 years with my brothers and father just to build up my company from nothing, and now you want to take everything away from me???" Alex shouted with tears slowly flowing from his face.

"Alex, this is not personal. It's just business. I hope you understand." A man in a maroon suit with grey hair and a thin moustache said. It was his father-in-law.

"But it's not business for me! It was never just business! It was always personal! My family, the Thornton family, we build everything!!!" Alex started pounding his chest as his shouts got louder.

"I did too. I am just as involved with your father in the mailing company." The father in law said as he gestured to Alex to calm down.

"No!! Who do you think you are??? You left him and stole his money to build your own company, and now you want to say you are involved?? You should be kissing on his grave right now!" He shouted again as he could feel his throat starting to soar.

"This is what the investors want." The father in law said.

"The investors??? Last time I checked the only letters that asked to buy my shares were sent by you and your family! This is what you want! To see me and my family's legacy gone." Arthur shouted as he tried catching his breath from crying so much. "And my father... And my brothers, they have disappeared for some reason, that nobody knows, just from nowhere, they are suddenly gone. My father was first, and then my brothers, now what? Would you make me disappear?? What are you, Houdini?? Come on! Make me disappear!"

His father-in-law's poker face suddenly turned into a smile as he heard what Arthur said, "Ah, so you knew... Well, this should make everything much easier!" He said as his smile got only more comprehensive.

Arthur stopped crying and stared at the old man in front of him, "What did you do to them? Did you kill them? Sell their organs? Torture them???" Arthur shouted without breaking eye contact.

"I did anything that I could think of. But you could say I did all that to make my job easier. I knew that your brothers and father gave you the right to inherit their share. So I didn't have much use for them, only you." The father-in-law said as he walked towards his mahogany office table, took a contract that was placed perfectly on the table, and picked it up.

"I might be bad. But I am not a monster. Your daughters, I will let them live, if you give your shares. I will also send in your account enough money to take care of them every month. But if you don't..." Before he could finish his sentence, Alex shouted.

"I understand! I will sign the contract, just leave my daughters alone..." Alex said as he walked towards his father-in-law.

"Seeing you like this is just so pleasing..." A familiar feminine voice said.

As Arthur turned his back, he saw his wife, "Hollie?" He asked as he couldn't believe what he had just heard coming from the mouth of his own wife.

"You know what? You won't be getting your daughters too. If you die, the shares will be given to me." Hollie said as she walked up to Alex.

"Huh, why didn't I think of that?" His father in law asked.

"Don't tell me, the only reason, you married me, was to use me from the very beginning?? You told me that you weren't like your father!!" Alex shouted.

"And you fell for that? It's just as you said, dad. All young men are the same." She said she stared at Alex's watery eyes.

"But I loved you... Don't tell me that in all the moments that we spent together, you never felt anything?" Alex asked as he could feel his heart shattering like a wine glass dropping on the floor.

"You misunderstood me. I never loved you, not once. The only thing that was attractive about you was that pocket of yours." She said as she tore the contract that was given the Alex.

"Fine! I will give you my money! My property! You want my company? I will give it to you! you can have everything that I own. Just let me live with my daughters. Please, that is all I asked. I swear, I won't mention a word about you. I beg you!" Alex shouted.

"That sounds good. But unfortunately, I want everything." She said as her face drew closer to his.

At that moment, he could feel his heart burning with fire; his hands moved by themselves and punched her in the face. "You wench! You are taking my daughters! Do you understand me?!"He shouted before jumping at his father-in-law with a pen in his hands to stab him.

But before he could deliver the attack, a bodyguard jumped towards him and punched Alex's stomach, after which he kneeled and started vomiting.

Hollie, whose face had been visibly bruised, took out her phone and used it as a mirror, "You know, this would be very useful for me. If you bring me to court, I could always use this photo as a defense."

Alex's face sunken deeper as he realised what he had just done. His only option, which was the law was no longer an option, but it was never a viable option, to begin with. The McDaniel family, the family that Hollie McDaniel is a part of, had control of the court, and even the Supreme Court, fighting against them, was suicide.

The guards dragged him out to the back of the company and kicked him out to a place that was no different from an alleyway.

"Hahahaha... Mom, I should have listened to you... Why was I so stupid!" He shouted as he continued punching his own face. He could still remember what his mother said, "I don't like Hollie, trust me, Alex, a woman like her smells like nothing but trouble." was what she said.

"I can't believe, I fought you, for a woman like Hollie..." Alex continued crying as he hid beside a trash bin.

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