Cry For Me

Chapter 24

There were certain lengths that Navid was willing to go in order to remain in the good graces of his father but plotting the downfall of another family was not one of them. Granted, he had always been the eyes and ears of Amir in and about the company, the city, hell even the whole damn continent but that was solely for business purposes. Because at the end of the day, what mattered most to him was the future of their company and he wouldn’t allow anything to come in between.

So when he received orders to hunt down Humberto Dos Santos and talk to him about the nature of the agreement that was birthed between him and Emilio Dos Ramos, Navid knew then and there that is father had reached new levels of insanity. What did he hope would be the outcome of such an encounter and how would his father benefit from it? Only time would tell.

Never have being one to go against his father’s wishes, it wasn’t long before Navid had made arrangements for a flight using the family private jet, which he seldom got to use. Although his better judgement told him to not go through with this, he ignored the inhibitions as he packed his suitcase for what he hoped would be the briefest trip of his life.

A knock came to his door, and he told the person to enter without looking up from what he was doing. “I see that you’ve agreed to go along with father’s request,” Hakim voiced indifferently, leaning against the doorframe.

Navid snorted. “You, say that as though I have a choice, Hakim. You know how he is, it’s either his way or the highway. I quite enjoy my position in the family business, thank you very much,” he sniffed sarcastically and began to zip up his suitcase.

“You could always say you couldn’t find him. Last I heard, Humberto had gone off grid after the falling out with his son. I think you’d be hardly able to find him, given the fact that he’s a rich old fool who doesn’t want to be found. Besides, don’t you think this has gone a little too far?” Hakim asked him and Navid stood up straight.

“So now you decide to have a conscience after you found someone to literally poison the Dos Ramos girl and her fetus?” he countered matter of factly, and Hakim laughed.

He shrugged. “I thought you’d be happy about that, since I gave you credit and all, but it seems I misjudged you. Have your balls evaporated to dust, dear brother?” he taunted, a malicious smile stretched on his thin lips. “We had a deal, Navid. We’d help dad carry out his wicked schemes, have him carry most of the blame and then when he’s out of the picture, everything will be ours. Or have you forgotten?”

Navid sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Yes, I do recall that we had that deal, but things are getting a little to complicated for my liking. I won’t lie, I hate the way dad has been running the company and I believe a coup is in order. But I don’t think we should get involved with his elaborate scheme to destroy the Dos Ramos family? As far as I know, they haven’t wronged him in any way. And we both know Omar doesn’t deserve this in the slightest,” he pointed out and Hakim rolled his eyes.

“You and both know that Omar, whether he knows it or not, has always been dad’s Achilles’ heel. He got the expansion in the States, which he didn’t deserve or work hard enough for. He’s a filthy playboy with no business sense. Him impregnating that little girl was the best thing that ever happened, and it is the golden opportunity for us execute our plan and taint dad’s reputation forever, which will then be easier for the board to vote him out of the CEO position. We can then have our chance, because you know damn well we’ve been doing a lot for that company, more than he ever did,” he said with bubbling anger.

He came to stand right in front of his brother and held him by the shoulders. “Navid, this isn’t the time for you to fold on me like this. I need you to do exactly what dad tells you to do, but at the same time, make sure to cover your tracks. Make sure he takes all the blame. And I’ll play my part and keep on planting this absurd ideas in his head.”