AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
MIKHAIL
As crowds go, this one is impressive and from my position behind the dark tinted windows, I can see everything without anyone realizing I’m here.
Just the way I like it.
“Why are we here again?”
Damien sighs heavily beside me and I know he’s pissed. That’s not unusual. I tell him nothing and expect him to understand how my mind works. Even I don’t know how my fucking mind works, so I reply with more patience than I would normally grant him.
“Carter Lamont is about to make an announcement.”
I peer through the glass and sharpen my anger when I consider the man who has unknowingly shifted into my world.
His name spilled from the lips of a whore on a private island in the dead of night and revealed he may know something that is worth more than billions to me.
The identity of my father’s murderer.
“Fucking activists.” Damien snarls and I cast my disparaging gaze on the assembled protesters.
They are deluded if they believe any number of placards and loud chants against the man who’s about to star center stage in their nightmares will make any difference at all. It’s the way of the world. Money wins every fucking time and Carter Lamont has more than enough to build his energy plant at the expense of the large forest that has remained untouched for hundreds of years already. The home to rare birds and wildlife that don’t have a clue their life is about to be torn apart in the pursuit of greed and commerce.
I study the crowd, bored already because that is not why I’m here. To be honest, I can’t answer Damien’s question because the answers I seek won’t be divulged on the ever-crowded sidewalk outside.
A film crew is set up behind the roped off area and appear as bored as I am as they yawn into the crowd as they adjust their wide angled lenses. This will be business as usual for them and routine coverage for the six-o’clock news.
As crowds go, this one is small, and I study the activists who are merely along for the ride. Many of them hop from one protest to the other and some are paid by rival businessmen to disrupt so they can conquer. I even recognize some of them from my investigations because dealing with protesters at my own family’s business interests is something I do for fun.
A movement on the edge of the crowd distracts my attention away from Lamont Industries where the great man will emerge into the glorious rays of the sun, assured of his own success. He will bathe in his own pomposity as he tosses another billion dollars on top of the vast pile he has already accumulated through the tears of the damned.
A slight figure catches my attention: dressed in black leggings and a coat, with a baseball cap pulled down low on their head as they advance toward the crowd. I watch with interest as they grab a placard that has been discarded underfoot and hold it aloft as they grip their huge coat a little tighter.
I shift to get a closer look and my eyes burn through the glass as I sense something is wrong.
“What do you see?” Damien reminds me why I employ him as he senses my unease with his usual sixth sense and I drawl, “I’m not sure.”
I peer closer and comment, “Now why would someone wear a huge coat like that on a blistering hot day?”
He stares in the direction I’m looking in. “I take your point.”
We watch the slight figure push through the crowd who are chanting obscenities as the clock ticks down to eleven am, the time chosen for Carter’s important announcement.
My hand instinctively reaches for the door handle and Damien says quickly, “What are you thinking?”
“That I need to take a closer look.”
I vacate the car quickly and without drawing any attention to myself I walk calmly into the crowd, adjusting my shades as I edge through it.
A sharp elbow in my ribs is swiftly pushed away and the culprit soon sprawled on the dusty street as I swipe his feet from under him. Fucking activists, give me ten minutes alone with each of them and I’ll change their outlook on life.
Damien presses in behind me and we move through the crowd, my eyes never leaving the figure in front of me for a second.
The clock ticks down in my mind as the crowd’s excitement builds. A loud roar goes up when the door to the building opens and the great man himself heads out, closely surrounded by his security.
Yes, Carter Lamont loves to perform and enjoys the attention his notoriety brings with it. He is rich, powerful, crude and unsightly but his billions act as a rose-colored mist that follows him around and becomes a magnet to anybody with aspirations of their own, be it business or gold digging.
I watch the figure move forward, holding the placard above their head as if they are part of the movement, intent on disrupting the announcement.
