A Blind Fall

chapter eleven

Taking in his surrounding with a scornful, sour expression, he admitted half-heartedly that this was luxury at its finest. From the vastness of the living room to the opulent furniture and imported puffy rugs, down to expensive electronics. And it all had to belong to Archibald's boy. His archenemy. Daniel pursed his lips further, utterly displeased.

An impatient, least disrespectful voice snapped behind him. "Did you come here to stare at my marines or will you state your business and get out."

Daniel's jaw twitched at the brazen rudeness and his knuckles ached to break the boy's nose. Leon was a Mayor and the closest friend to his father thus Daniel had reasons to believe he knew of his father's and Daniel's past. Daniel had committed a few atrocities against the Mayors but he didn't regret a single act. They'd been so self-absorbed and they'd had it coming. Whatever fate met Ellen Mayor was absolutely deserved for choosing that self-absorbed Archibald over Daniel. He'd loved her, he'd cherished her. They could have built an empire, an unshakable Sylvester dynasty but no, the wench had gone and thrown herself at Archibald. And look where that got her; raped and suicidal!

It was only a pity that their love story had to end so tragically but there wasn't a possibility that Archibald would be happily married to the woman Daniel loved while he settled for a superficial, obnoxiously materialistic woman for a wife. What irked Daniel even more was that Archibald had gone and overthrown him from being the best whiskey distiller by conniving with his little minions to buyout majority of his whiskey company's shares. The man clearly never learned and conspiring with his son, Leon and that daughter of his, Rose- who Daniel despised to the last breath for poisoning his son's -Morgan- mind and turning him from a ruthless, level-headed businessman to a love sick sissy that'd been too desperate to move on, enough to choose an even more venomous black mamba for it- was all the evidence Daniel needed.

If at all what had brought him to Leon's penthouse was confirmed true, Daniel wasn't sure he'd let this particular Mayor walk off scot-free. Slowly, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants, he turned to face Leon, a sardonic smile etched on his lips. "My business, " Daniel mused. "Hmm, I should state my business," with a shrug, he finished. "Okay!"

Leon's muscular arms were crossed over his broad, puffed up chest as he scrutinized the older man. "You have a minute and I'll be honoured to toss your traitorous backside out." Leon said, his face hard and unsmiling.

"Uh," one of his hands had now come up to toy with his silver-grey beard, the other still deep in his pocket. "With all the goodness you've been spreading, running around trying to build homes for dirty, little pigs, one would think you have more courtesy for an old man like me."

"Thirty seconds." Leon said casually, the malevolent glint in his eyes however selling out his true feelings.

Daniel straightened up, sensing he'd see to his words about kicking him out without having said his mind. "Whoa, boy_"

"Twenty, Sylvester."

"You have a son." He announced blandly, his gaze trained on the younger man's.

With a chuckle, Leon pointed towards the door. "There's the exit, use it."

That seemed to anger Daniel. "Don't mess with me, son. I'll destroy you if you don't go and take your little bastard from my daughter. What? You think you can just impregnate a Sylvester and walk away from it. Bad news, son; never."

Leon regarded the man before him, detecting for any sign all these was bluff but he found none. Why would Daniel crawl from his gilded hole to come make such claims? Christ, the old fool wasn't even claiming, he was stating. Saying that Leon had a son with a Sylvester. And the only female Sylvester Leon had taken to bed was one gorgeous enchantress but it'd been for all the wrong reasons; revenge. For hurting his family uncountable times, Leon had sought to destroy the most precious one of them all -Debra Sylvester- by using and discarding her. His plan however had gone and backfired seeing as no one found out as was his plan. She'd disappeared for months, only for Leon to learn she'd moved to another country. And now it made sense; she was running. Hiding herself and their son from him. Dang! Dang! Dang! How could he have let that happen?!

"Seeing as you're not disputing my facts, I'll be on my way. But you make sure you act, boy. Or I'll ensure you have one more homeless worm in the streets." The smug expression on Daniel's face made his stomach churn, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
Still frozen in place, Leon watched as Daniel began to retreat, whistling triumphantly to himself. But Leon suddenly grabbed his hand, causing him to skid to a halt. "Where are they?" He demanded, unflinching.

Daniel's gaze travelled from the firm grip on his arm to his assailant's menacing gaze. With a smirk, he said, "find out," he patted Leon's jaw. "...boy." Jerking his arm away, he walked out.

***

"Darling," the woman dressed in a pale pink dress, paired with pearls and white heels cooed over the phone. Her back was to the vast bedroom, her front facing the extensive, manicured lawns watching the younger version of herself walking the toddler whose giggles served as irritation to her ears, from the balcony. Her smile faded suddenly. "Is he coming to get them?"

The voice from the other side answered. "Not a doubt. He seemed determined enough to call his pilot immediately."

"Good." The woman said, her smile returning. "It's about time our daughter returned home. With Morgan gone and Oscar too wild to tame, Debra is our only hope back to glory." She said, her tone cold.

The man agreed. "True. And this is an opportunity for me to avenge myself to that thief, Archibald. With that little, grandson of his, I'll exploit a lot from them."

"My daughter remains unhurt, Daniel. Whatever derangement you're suffering from that makes you so adamant in your quest for vengeance, let it not resort to harming my children." Though she seemed calm, her tone was edgy.

Laughter erupted from the other side of the line. It ended with a sinister hum. "Your children need taming, Maureen. As long as I get what I want, no one bleeds."

"Daniel_"

"Addieu, wife. Watch that daughter of ours closely." And the line went dead.

Dragging the phone from her ear, Maureen smiled. Her guess had been accurate. The restlessness she'd finally discerned as the emotion that had flickered fleetingly in her daughter's eyes when Maureen mentioned the Mayors, was all the clue she'd needed to figure out who fathered Salvatore, Debra's nine months old son.

It was both a good and bad thing. A relation with the Mayors would have them highly esteemed as the family had more money than they knew what to do with. But on the other side, the bad blood between the families would cause problems. Maureen knew of her husband's little backstabbing act to his then friend, Archibald Mayor and she doubted anything cordial could occur between the two, leave alone marrying their children. Then there was that maid that turned out a Mayor their family adored and heeded to, that'd never allow for a match between her brother and a Sylvester. But that was far from the point, Maureen needed Leon to fly to Rome and take his bastard, so that her daughter would get her head from the clouds and continue being the obedient girl she was.

Sure she'd get hurt, but that would be temporary compared to years of rotting away, utterly engrossed and absorbed in Salvatore's world. Debra wasn't ready for motherhood, she was meant for a glorious life which only would come when her tiny distraction was eliminated. And who better than Leon to make it happen.

Loud giggles brought her from her thoughts and she averted her gaze to the lush lawns below to find Debra tickling her son, making idiotic faces like the lunatic the boy had made out of her.

With displeasure, she snarled. "Enjoy it while it lasts, Salvatore."

***
A/N

Okay! So there's an update.

Now, this story is linked to ROSE IS BACK WITH THORNS and that means there might be references that might confuse a reader if you're yet to read the book. It's an awesome book and I'd recommend it.

So...yes! Leon knows he has a son and it's courtesy of bad ol' Daniel (I can't stand the man) however, he didn't divulge information about where Debby is and that means problems. And why do you think Daniel made his wife think he'd divulge everything? And what does this mean to Leon's developing emotions for Gabrielle?

*sighs* now, I'm looking foward to your comments (I reply to all comments) and that little star down here (after the chapter you've just read) is waiting for your tap. I really would appreciate if you gave it one, not two, just one that doesn't require any energy huh? Thanks for the love.

:-)KEEP smiling. The world should be a happy place, aye