The Heir

Chapter Twenty

HARVEY STOOD UP immediately Michael rushed in and began to lock the doors of his small bungalow in Brooklyn.

"What's going on?" He asked in surprise.

Michael glared at him. "When did you begin to care?" He asked, "You took everything away from me in an attempt to make it all mine. Now, I'm running for my life!"

Princeton sighed. "What happened?"

Michael sank himself into a sofa with a sigh. "I tried to kill Richard by abducting Phyllis to trap him yesterday. I was almost successful but I wasn't able to kill the bastard. She got in front of him and took the bullet for him".

"What are you worried about?"

Michael looked up to him. "My house is under surveillance, same as yours. I can't go anywhere near them. Same as the factory I'm in charge of. In short, Queens is all against me. NYPD is looking for me! They'd be here if they knew I'd be here".

Princeton nodded. "You did the right thing by coming here".

"What...?"

"Just this morning..., I sent $10 thousand to every worker in RolRay's HQ and I told them to quit their jobs... Maybe if RolRay can face a little problem, then —"

"That's so stupid!" Michael cut in sharply. "You think they're all gonna quit their jobs for 10K? Sure it's big money but, hey, Richard has billions of dollars! He can buy them back with a hundred".

"And what will he do?"

"He's gonna do every fuckin' thing to make 'em his!" He scoffed, "Dad..., I thought you were smart. Or maybe I was smart to want to do this on my own!" He stood up suddenly.

"You can't leave now. You might be watched".

"I'll rather die a shameful death than to be shameful in life!"

"Michael..."

"Maybe you shouldn't have been my father at all..."

"Your mother used to tell me the same thing before she left me", said Princeton, looking and sounding rather solemn.

"This is business. Don't bring in family matters!"

"You wanna know her name?"

"Why did she leave you?" His tone changed to a sad one.

"You know how I am..."

"Then, why wouldn't she leave you?" He yelled, "You're such a loser in everything", he said and sighed, "I need some shut-eye", he added and walked out on him.

Princeton sighed at his own failure and almost began to blame himself for antagonizing Roland and Richard all his life. He'd failed his son too.

He cleared his throat and glanced at the door Michael had gone through.

**************-************

Phyllis was staring out the window quietly, watching the borough beneath and wondering when she'd get out of that 'bondage', after staying in the hospital for over 3 days. Richard would go in the morning and return in the evening and after he'd stay with her till she fell asleep. She felt he was stressing himself a lot for someone with a bullet wound but he didn't seem to care at all.