Chapter 161: Dark Alliances
Meanwhile, in an apartment located in the city center where Eric used to live, blam, Jason stormed inside. His face looked like a total wreck, his eyes were bloodshot, and dark circles under his eyes signaled a severe lack of sleep. His jaw was clenched tight and his beard was a messy stubble. He tossed his keys onto the dining table, then slumped into a chair, hanging his head between his hands.
"How did it go, Jason?" Vanessa asked from behind him.
Jason turned to look at his mother, who looked completely exhausted, noticeably thinner than before, and visibly unkempt with messy hair, looking far older than her actual age.
"Dad wasn’t at his office... I even went to his lawyer’s office, but they wouldn’t say a thing... nobody’s giving us any info... If what I read in that email is true... then it’s all over... Why does that bastard still get a piece of Dad’s inheritance?" Jason asked bitterly, slamming his fist onto the table.
Hearing Jason’s words, Vanessa’s heart squeezed tight. No matter what, Eric was still her own blood, and hearing her son call him a bastard left her with a swirl of conflicting emotions. On one hand, she felt heartbroken seeing the son in front of her treated so unfairly in her eyes, but at the same time, she desperately missed her other son, who had achieved massive success in such a short time. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Naturally, Jason paid zero attention to his mother’s state behind him, far too consumed by his own mess,
"At this rate, even if I staged an accident to get Dad killed, I still wouldn’t get a single dime. Everything goes straight to Eric and Ruby. How am I supposed to fix this? What am I supposed to do? Damn old man," Jason muttered in his head, clutching his hair.
While lost in his spiral, ring, his smartphone chimed. He pulled the smartphone from his pocket and looked down at the screen. The incoming number wasn’t saved in his contacts, but he noticed the area code belonged to the state they were currently in. He answered it,
"Hello," he grunted curtly.
"Bro... Jason... it’s me," a man’s voice said from the other end of the line.
Hearing that voice, Jason shot up so fast he nearly flipped the dining table. His hand began to shake,
"You... Blake?" Jason asked.
"Yeah bro, they gave me a single phone call in prison, but I didn’t know who else to hit up, so I called you. Look... I need a favor. Got a minute to talk?" Blake asked.
"What kind of favor?" Jason asked.
"Can you loan me $10,000? I got some business to handle in here," Blake said, his voice trembling slightly.
"Hmm... what kind of business?" Jason asked.
"Here’s the deal,"
Blake went on to explain that he had enlisted the help of a cellmate who still had connections on the outside. For $10,000, he could get help tracking down his sister, Melissa, and monitoring her movements, all because he intended to ruin Melissa out of vengeance, while also targeting Eric and Chloe for putting him behind bars. Hearing this, a twisted plot sparked inside Jason’s head,
"Which prison are you in? Tell me right now, I’m driving down there tonight," Jason said.
"Serious, bro? Awesome, write this down," Blake replied.
Jason quickly jotted down the address Blake provided, then promised he would bring the cash along when he arrived,
"Thanks a ton, bro... seriously, thank you," Blake said over the line.
"Yeah... I’ve got my own skin in the game too. We work together," Jason replied.
Suddenly the call cut off as Blake’s allotted time expired. Jason stared at the address written on the paper in his hand,
"Jason... what was that?" Vanessa stammered.
"Stay out of it, Mom. Just stay put right here. I’m going to make Dad, Eric, and Ruby suffer over there," answered Jason, who clearly had lost his mind and couldn’t think straight anymore.
Hearing Jason’s words and looking at her son’s face, Vanessa suddenly turned deathly pale. The man standing before her was no longer her son; she didn’t even recognize who was standing in front of her. It was in that exact moment she realized Jason wasn’t who she thought he was—or rather, Jason was showing his true face, the one she had failed to see behind his sweet and promising facade all these years.
"W... what are you going to do? Please don’t do anything that will get you into trouble... enough, Jason... enough," Vanessa begged, grabbing his arm to keep him from leaving.
"Shut up, Mom! If you weren’t so weak and hadn’t let yourself get tempted by Uncle David all the time, we wouldn’t be in this mess!" Jason yelled, yanking his arm away to break free.
"I was... threatened... He knew about Eric... and... if I didn’t obey him... he would..."
"Dad already knows," Jason said, cutting his mother off.
Vanessa felt as if lightning had struck her mind upon hearing Jason’s words. Her face was a picture of complete disbelief at what she had just heard.
"What... did you say? That’s... impossible," Vanessa said.
"Impossible? That guy went to see Dad himself... and Uncle David was right there... He already knows that Dad figured out Eric isn’t his son," Jason countered curtly, completely unconcerned with his mother’s feelings.
Thud.
Vanessa’s legs gave out instantly, and she collapsed to her knees on the floor in front of Jason, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Jason stared down at his hysterical mother before him, a sneer twisting across his face. As he stood up, the look in his eyes made it abundantly clear that he blamed and despised his own mother.
"See? It’s all your fault, Mom. If you hadn’t complied with that guy, we wouldn’t have ended up like this... Get it now, Mom?" Jason asked, twisting the knife even deeper.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Vanessa screamed at the top of her lungs, gripping her hair with both hands as tears streamed down her face. A whirlwind of emotions washed over her features, ranging from feeling utterly foolish to suffocating in deep regret. This time, Jason didn’t help his mother. He grabbed his jacket and keys off the table, walked out of the apartment, and slammed the door shut, leaving Vanessa to scream inside.
Once inside his car, thump... thump, Jason furiously pounded the steering wheel, then slammed his forehead repeatedly against it.
"Damn it... Dad... Ruby and Eric... they’re all the same. I’ll destroy every single one of them. Damn it... damn it all to hell," Jason swore in his head.
He lifted his head. His forehead was red, but he didn’t seem to feel a thing. He fired up the engine and peeled out, tearing out of the apartment complex at breakneck speed.
***
Meanwhile, inside the apartment, Vanessa kept crying, beating herself over the head as her frustration boiled over to a breaking point. She even sprinted to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, but as she went to drive the blade into her own neck, her hand froze. Her eyes darted back and forth. Clang, she dropped the knife, sending it clattering onto the floor.
"I... I can’t... I can’t do it," she muttered in her head, sobbing.
Suddenly, ring, her smartphone chimed. She turned to look at the coffee table where her phone was sitting. Slowly and with great effort, she pulled herself up using the kitchen counter. Then, dragging her feet, she stumbled over to the coffee table. The moment she saw the name popping up on the screen, she scrambled to answer it.
"Hello, Vivian... Auntie needs your help... stop Jason... he’s on his way to that city right now, don’t let him hurt Ruby, Eric, and Uncle Martin... hurry, Vivian!" Vanessa begged.
Vivian stayed dead silent, saying nothing before the line went dead. Vanessa collapsed onto the sofa, weeping hysterically while clutching her smartphone. Meanwhile, back at the convenience store, Vivian, who was squatting by the storage room shelves to restock items, turned ghost-white. Her hand trembled as she held the smartphone. Clang, she dropped the canned drink she had been holding.
"D... damn it, I didn’t even mean to call... I just accidentally hit her number while squatting down because I forgot to lock my screen... W... what is Jason planning to do to Eric, Ruby, and Uncle Martin?" Vivian asked herself, her face pale as she shivered. Thud, she collapsed into a sitting position right in front of the shelves.
Vivian hugged her knees, visibly terrified. She knew exacty what Jason was capable of, yet she realized she couldn’t warn Eric and Ruby directly because of what she had done. But while she was lost in thought, ding, a notification popped up on her smartphone.
With trembling hands, she picked it up and saw an Instagram post from Melissa. She opened it to find Melissa sharing a selfie from the hospital with the caption, "Finally back here. Please keep me in your prayers so I can recover quickly." Without second thoughts, her fingers shaking, Vivian typed out a comment under Melissa’s selfie,
"Melissa, you have to tell Eric, Ruby, or Uncle Martin... Jason is heading over there right now and intends to cause trouble for them. Don’t tell them this info came from me... I got it from Aunt Vanessa,"