Their Rivalry

5

We're all in the same game, just different levels, dealing with the same hell, just different devils.

London, England ~ Frederick's POV

I stood behind the closed door, listening in on my son narrating to my daughter the events which led me to hate him. He was right about everything, except for one little thing.

In the beginning, even when I knew he wasn't mine, I loved and cared for him like any father would. Now, I continued to provide for him alright, but my love for him was long gone and replaced with hatred.

His existence almost cost me Ava's life when I had worked so damn hard to get her. I had never touched my late ex-wife, Beatrice, in any sexual way, and she had never given a damn. I was very much aware that she was seeing Andrei even before we got married.

I had hoped that we'd later fall in love with each other and raise a family of our own, but no. Nothing I did was enough for her to consider ending her adulterous affair with the bastard to commit to our marriage. I eventually gave up trying to woo her. She hadn't been worth it anyway.

Without her knowledge, I had her watched from the shadows as she snuck out every day for her nightly rendezvous. Twice, I had been so close to giving out an order that both she and Andrei be killed on the spot.

She and everyone else thought I only found out about her infidelity after Henry was born, and I preferred it that way. Immediately I laid eyes on the boy, I just had the gut feeling that he wasn't meant to take my place. Not only that, he also had Russian blood, a mafia we weren't too friendly with.

As he grew older, I realised he wasn't meant for the mafia life in general. The problem wasn't that he was bad at it, for some reason he just didn't want to put any effort into his training. It was as if he had no motivation at all to commit to this life.

No one else realised this about him but me. Five years of nurturing the kid while his mother whored around paid off. When I got to know what was really wrong, I knew I needed another heir. Someone who would be willing to take the burden off him. Bea immediately found it suspicious that I was suddenly getting touchy around her and started taking birth control pills.

When my patience had finally run thin, I had her knocked out for a month, during which one of my personal doctors inseminated her with my sperm. When she was conscious again, she was pregnant.

To prevent her from going through with an abortion, I had a team of guards and maids keep a close eye on her 24/7. When she was in her room or in the bathroom, maids were there. When she stepped out of her room or the mansion, the men were close behind.

Her every meal was tested first. Alcohol was forbidden. It was that way for nine good months until my baby girl was successfully delivered. After all that work, I was seconds away from seeing Ava's throat get slit by her ovum donor.

A lone tear slid down my cheek as I reminisced that night. Thursday, the first of December, 09:06pm. I was gripped with fear for the first time in my life as it dawned on me that any wrong move and she would die.

I wiped away the tear with the sleeve of my coat and returned to my office. It was time I took action, for the sake of my mafia. I picked up my phone and dialled the foreign number I had memorized years back.

"Mi amigo." He boomed, clearly enthused to hear from me after all these years.

"Lorenzo, I have thought about your proposal. I would like for us to meet so we can further discuss it." I replied.

"¡Excelente! My territory, tomorrow morning. You know where to find me." (Excellent)

I slumped down into my chair with a sigh after the call. I hoped I wouldn't end up regretting this. If I agreed to his offer knowing things might either go according to plan, or not. We were both manipulative jerks, but this time he was clearly the one with the upper hand.