Silence was an understatement. The seconds hand of the wall clock rang so incessantly loud as if it would burst everyone's ears open. Such was the quiet left screeching after the scent of blood hovered in the boardroom.
"Nobody has anything to say?"
Mr. Li finally gathered his voice. "Four of our shareholders have died."
"Such a tragedy," Jinhai continued to stare, as piercing as ever.
"Is it a coincidence?"
"What do you think?"
His jaw clenched. "We are not stupid, Liu Jinhai."
"Then you should have heeded the warning I gave four years ago."
'Don't brew troubles whose consequences you won't be able to handle.'
"At what point did you think I was kidding?"
"...You had planned this long ago," Mr. Li came to the realization. "You said you will take over at twenty-five. It was always a year before. Things wouldn't have fallen like dominos otherwise."
"Slow, but you got there," he ever-so-faintly smiled.
"Don't you think this is too much?"
"As opposed to what? Manipulating behind the curtains and making my father lose his face? Plotting his forced exit? Or…"
A glint of pure cruelty shone in his dark eyes. "Trying to hurt my brother just because your bad deeds got exposed? I won't tolerate it if anyone touches my family. But somebody was stupid enough to try to hurt my brother. I guess Mr. Sun understands that, which is why he is strangely very quiet about this."
Mr. Sun didn't respond.
Jinhai smiled. "Which is also reason why you are alive, Mr. Li, don't you think? Guess you were only brave enough to play schemes against my father, not hurt my family. The ones who did…"
Mr. Li angrily chuckled. "This is too blaringly unnatural, Liu Jinhai! Do you think the world is stupid? Four important shareholders are dead within a single month. Nobody will paint you as someone innocent!"
"And?" Jinhai blinked. "What will they do?"
He froze.
"Or should I ask - what will you do about it?"
Nobody could think of a coherent response - not because there wasn't one, but because Jinhai was simply untouchable. None of the investigations even remotely pointed to him - he was that good.
"Shouldn't you worry more about your daughter, whose body is ridden and poisoned with drugs? You will soon be handling her funeral with the way things are going for her."
His lips parted, stunned.
"I am just saying I believe you have more important things to worry about rather than four empty chairs in this boardroom. I also believe it's a good time to retire. If you insist on being a sore thumb, I would be happy to turn a fifth chair empty."
It was such a matter-of-fact tone that even the seasoned and ruthless businessmen let out a shudder.
Twenty-four…He is only twenty-four…
After a long drawn silence, Mr. Li eventually rose from his chair. He didn't meet Jinhai's eyes and instead said, "I will rest for sometime."
He left without saying another word. With four shareholders dead and another fifth exited, voting for Jinhai's candidature for the CEO's post was a moot point at this point.
Mr. Sun exhaled a small breath and said, his gaze neutral. "You won't have to wait for my retirement papers."
"You are not retiring."
"Excuse me?"
"You have a long way to go."
Mr. Sun stared at him. "Are you serious? You know I never favored Liu Hai."
"So why didn't you join the dead gang?" he asked, half-casual, half-serious.
His gaze darkened. "I hate twisted tactics!"
Jinhai smiled. "Yeah, that's cool with me. You neither liked the dead gang's tactics, nor Dad's. At least, you are fair."
"I don't like yours either."
"You still worked with Dad because you liked his work. You will work with me because you will like my work as well."
"Where…in the world is that overconfidence coming from?"
"I would call it wisdom."
"You can get all the loyalists you want. It doesn't have to be me."
"You are one of those loyalists. Loyal to the interests of the Liu Corps, not a chair. Which is why I want you."
He grimaced.
Jinhai's smile vanished and he looked him straight in the eye. "It's a good chance to work with Liu Jinhai you wanted all along."
He froze.
"You were close to my grandfather. I guess that's where the love and trust for him comes from."
His breath caught in his throat and he clenched his fists in silence. "I refuse to believe you don't know what your father did."
"Mr. Sun."
Something in Jinhai's gritty voice made his heart drop a beat.
"He was a good businessman. He wasn't close to being a good son and a brother. Neither did Dad tolerate his family getting hurt nor will I."
After a long spell of silence, Mr. Sun, too, rose.
"I will take my leave."
"I will be waiting for you tomorrow."
He glared back. "You are infuriating."
"Thanks," he shrugged.
When the boardroom got empty was when Jinhai's gaze drifted beyond the glass door, watching Hai standing afar. He rose and stepped out as he approached him. But he noticed Hai's steps to be faltering a bit. Before he could stumble forward, Jinhai took a large stride and caught his shoulders - shoulders which trembled faintly. Eyes that seemed glassy lightly.
He helped him sit on a nearby couch and knelt. His gaze dropped to his quivering hands, and he squeezed them within his fingers.
"It's all okay now."
Hai peered into his eyes, breathing unevenly.
"I…There was a time I snatched everything from that name. Now I am giving it back to that very name."
"Life comes full circle."
"You didn't mind…shedding all that blood?"
Jinhai blinked once. Then smiled. "We match now, don't we?"
Hai froze. His eyes went wide slightly. A voice of the distant past echoed in his ears.
'So it's fine if I look red when you hold me. I willingly told the cops what I decided was right to tell. That red is now my sin to bear too.'
Hai's gaze lowered, finding his feet still chained with shackles.
"Where do you see yourself free, Hai?" a voice laughed in his mind.
All of a sudden, Hai felt being pulled away into a dark abyss without his control - only this time, a hand caught his arm firmly, so tightly in its grip as if it would never let him slip.
"He is free now," Jinhai's dark eyes glinted within that darkness with a voice that rivaled the chill of that abyss.
"My father is free now. So very disrespectfully - Fuck off."
