Cry For Me

Chapter 35

A horrified expression flashed on Amir’s face, but he quickly masked it before grabbing Omar by the elbow and attempting to move him away from the microphone. He could see that people had taken their phones and were recording everything that was happening, for the wrong reasons too. He had planned an ideal night ahead of everything, but things had taken a turn for the worst. And for the life of him he had no idea why his son was doing this, especially after making the next CEO.

“What is the meaning of this? Are you mad?” he demanded lowly, eyes aflame but unfortunately for him, his stern tone did nothing but embolden Omar.

Shrugging off his dad, Omar chuckled before turning back to the unsuspecting crowd. “You know, I always knew you were a sinister man but the things you’ve done over the last few months are both low and detestable,” he spat in disgust, and scratched his brow.

He cleared his throat. “So, I’m sure all of you are all aware of the rumors that spread a couple of months ago about Andrea Dos Ramos, Emilio Dos Ramos’ daughter, seducing me and purposefully becoming pregnant by me just so she could weasel her way into our family. Well, that accusation is dead wrong and far from the truth. You see, I fell in love with a minor and got her pregnant accidentally. She is just a victim of malicious lies and a whole lot of other things that she neither caused nor deserved,” he stated with an unwavering certainty.

He looked at his father and gestured towards him with an outstretched arm. “My father had always bee abhorrent of the idea of me owning up to my mistakes. I was supposed to marry Andrea when she became of age, but my father wouldn’t have it. He hatched an elaborate scheme to bring her close and tried to kill her not even two months ago. But before that, he tried to kill her by poisoning her when she visited London, and that was a scheme he hatched with my brother Hakim.”

All eyes flew to Hakim, who began to squirm under the petrified and shocked gazes of the guests. His mother, Nasim, was the one most shocked. “You did that?” she asked him in disbelief, hand up to her mouth.

“I-I,” he wanted to speak but his speech failed him. He never imagined that he’d ever be under the scrutiny for something he did in fact do, something he had thought would never come out in the open.

Navid leaned across the table and tsked. “Guess the cat’s out of the back, huh? You thought you’d get away with it, didn’t you? All so that you could frame dad and become the next CEO. I wish I’d never gone along with your stupid plan,” he muttered, earning a contemptuous glare from Hakim.

Omar continued. “That’s not all. My father went and recruited a couple of high schoolers who have an axe to grind with Andrea and had them leak the fake news. I believe their names are Sydney Reale and Rhett Saunders whom I plan on suing, along with my brother and father, for defamation. How could you stoop so low, dad?” he asked rhetorically. Amir remained silent, face hard. He was sweating in his Armani suit, because he knew that if Omar was blatantly exposing him like this, it was likely because he’d gathered enough information to sink him so deep, there would be no way out.

“Son, please don’t do this-,” he had begun to beg, something he never did, but Omar cut him off with a scoff.

“Did you think about not sending those two men to kill Andrea and my daughter? I’m so grateful to God that she didn’t die because I’d have died with her. You killed my child and that innocent driver all because of your selfishness. At first, I couldn’t believe you’d do such a thing, but then…you’ve killed countless times before. You hide behind this white-collar persona, even though you’ve got your foot in the underworld as well,” he yelled so loudly that there was no doubt other people in the hotel might have heard him.

Amir tried stepping closer to him, to try to apologize but Omar wouldn’t have it. At this point, all he could see was red, so he did the one thing he had been dying to do for years now. He landed a good old-fashioned punch on his old man’s jaw, that sent him flying across the stage. Walking over to him, he lifted him by the collar and looked into his hollow eyes. “I hope you rot in jail and hell. Just know, I’ll never forgive you for any of this,” he spat acidly before shoving him back down and walking off the stage and straight out the door.